Sometimes these legacy lines can get a little stale and predictable, but G.I. Joe Classified keeps it pretty fresh with interesting updates and curveballs like the Ghost Viper revealed today.
Revealed yesterday at the Hasbro press breakfast, Pythona is pretty purple perfection. I love all the crazy organic weapons from her opening sequence in the movie and the sinewy texture of the “clothing”. It’s a bit of a departure from the cartoon design of sort of interlocking ovals, I like it. The faces are perfection and while not pictured here, the cape has the hood shaped like the cartoon’s unique look. The only downside for me is that it’s a convention exclusive to shows I won’t be attending. Wish me luck when it goes up on Pulse.
The Target Exclusive two pack of Steeler and Short-Fuze are right up my alley and gets me a long way toward that complete original 13. I do like that they have leaned more into the comic look for Short-Fuze with the glasses and the alice frame for the mortar looks good. Steeler looks great, but does feel a little like an admission that we are not doing a MOBAT, especially since the Haslab ended up being the Snowcat instead of that iconic tank.
The Steel Corps sentry and defense post is, not surprisingly, a repaint of the Cobra armored fortification. I was expecting green walls, but I’m not mad at the gray. I’m not sure green sandbags makes logical sense, but it does make me think of when the green army men sets would come with green fortifications, so I like it. The weaponry looks deadlier than what Cobra got and seeing two of them together does help fight the porta-potty allegations. The official photography on this set makes it look fan-fucking-tastic.
I was initially concerned with the Desert Scorpion being a higher priced figure and pet set because I only wanted to army build the soldier, not the animal, but seeing them in action in some of the photos for the Joe Defense Post makes me want an army of these guys too. I think it was Shooting the Galaxy who took those photos and they gave me a real Starship Troopers vibe. The trooper himself has some nice looking soft goods that go with the desert them, so this is looking like a real highlight. I never really thought I needed to see this particular soldier’s face, but the inclusion of the face plate adds a lot of character.
The main retail wave of four figures were looking nice. I’m intrigued by the statement at the panel that Mainframe’s laptop fits in the pack, because it’s not immediately obvious to me how that works in practice. I may have misheard that, because I could see that little pad he has sliding into the laptop. I really like the hat and com on the alternate head because it feels more like he’s back at the base manning the controls in the dark command center. Sci-Fi and Wet-Suit are solid updates and hit all the right notes for me and I can’t think of anything I’d want more from them. Well maybe another gun for Wet Suit. I really like Sci-Fi’s swappable face plates, I just hope they stay on solidly. I kinda forgot to take a picture of the Grim Viper because he kept falling over in the case.
Overall, I’m super pleased with the offerings from G.I. Joe Classified this year. I am a little disappointed we still haven’t heard about a Thunder Machine, but the line still seems healthy, so I’m feeling good that we’ll get one. I feel like if Marvel can produce these made to order sets, we ought to be able to get a Thunder Machine made to order. It’s a little small for a Haslab unless they decide to redesign it into a monster truck. Hmm…
