Ever wonder what happened to, or will they remake, the forgotten pilotssuch as Windmill, Ghostrider, Dogfight, Barrel Roll, or Major Altitude? or the ground vehcile pilots like Armadillo, Wild Card, Hotseat, or Steam Roller?

I know for a lot of these characters, they seem to be "just drivers" but several stand out as individuals. Toolbooth is supposed to be pretty much the Joes Military engineer. Several drivers have stood out on their own like Covergirl, Ghostrider, and Wild Card.

so,... your thoughts?

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There is love for these characters, but Hasbro's obviously sticking with tried and true characters.

The latest TRU sets are great examples.

The Air Command set gives us ANOTHER Wild Bill and ANOTHER Ace. Ace got plenty of screen time during the NS era, as did Wild Bill. WB is getting plenty of figures during the 25A run, too. While the inclusion of Skyduster/Starduster was perfect, Ace should have been Skystriker and Wild Bill should have been Windmill. The set would have sold for the Starduster figure alone, making the Skystriker and Windmill figures bonuses.

The Sea Command set gave us a so-so Cutter, but ANOTHER Torpedo and ANOTHER Deep Six? Replace Torpedo with an Admiral "Keel Haul" Colby and replace Deep Six with... okay, so there were only a few Naval/Coast Guard drivers. But how 'bout a DS not in some kind of dive gear? Perhaps as he appeared in the comic book around issue #28?

The Iron Grenadiers set threw another Destro and two boring IG figures on the pile. Why not a Ferret, a Nullifer (probably easy to due with the snap-on NS armor), and a Wild Boar?

And the Target set...

The Joes: I was happy to get a Short-Fuze and the tan Steeler with the Target set, but we've already seen 4 or so 25A Stalker figures. Why couldn't that figure have been replaced with Wildcard or Hotseat or Heavy Metal?

The Cobras: It's hard to complain about the very logical choice of the HISS driver and the new gunner figure. But Cobra Commander and Destro (even if Destro is a great figure)? Why not two WORMS or two Moto Vipers instead?

Hasbro does deserve a little credit with the last waves of figures, though. While we didn't get any drivers, this was a diversified set including several new characters (Matt Trakker, Paraviper) and tribute figures (a Glenda-flavored Scarlet, a Ninja Ku-flavored Storm Shadow). I'll bet we see more vehicle drivers return by the middle of '09.

one of my favorite drivers has already been released: Crankcase.

i'm being completely serious.

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I wish some of these drivers got some love, too. Skidmark and Ferret are two of my all time favorite vintage figures. I've accepted they will never get a new release, but I still wish they would.

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What's not to love about the guy? He didn't get much of a characterization in the media, but his uniform is pretty damned cool.

- R

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Past Nasty is close with fixes to those 3pack sets

the sea/divers set could have kept the cartoon style torpedo in it, or...whoa, add a wet suit! when is he getting released (preferrably with the devilfish!)

i know i've posted somewhere about making a 5 pack set or TRU set of Vehicle Drivers that could include people like Tollbooth, Keel Haul, Steamroller, insert 2 others not named duke, snake eyes, or wild bill here.

I'm wondering about the wild bill thing. are they trying to trick parents into thinking he's a cowboy? He's been done to death now. It's ok to step back and not put out any more wild bill figures for a while.

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I don't mean too sound negative, but is the 25th line gonna be considered a "fail" if we don't get Hot Seat? I looked up 1989 vehicle drivers and he was the first name that grabbed my attention, but I couldn't tell you what the hell he looked like (Was he the red bearded guy with the goofy helmet?)

I hate too play the "Y NOT THIS GUY" card, but seriously there are far more important characters that haven't been released I'd rather see (Zarana, Dial Tone, Footloose, Sneak Peek or Crazylegs, Big Ben)

Um unless you remake Battle Corps Wild Bill Custer!

I would love to see a modernized Tollbooth

Heavy Equipment 3 pack: Tollbooth (with Sledge), Steamroller and Cross Country

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I think Hasbro is on the right track.They gave us an awesome Copperhead,hopefully the future will bring us some of the more ignored characters.I would love to see a Keel Haul or Heavy Metal,a new Frostbite would be cool or a Thrasher with the Thunder Machine.I think as long as the line continues we will eventually see them,let's just cross our fingers.

Not to be argumentative but It all depends on who you consider important. Zarana or Zandar isn't high on my list but Tollbooth who was the only Joe engineer for quite some time is. I would argue that, at least to me, Tollbooth is more important then a few Dreadnoks.

Another point along this vein is that, to some, the GI Joe vehicle made the line, so guys who drove those famous vehicles like Steamroller and the MCC, Sky Striker and the Tiger Rat ( one case where the driver is cooler than the vehicle) or Track Viper and the Hiss II are higher on the wish list than another paratrooper or communication trooper.

Moral of my post, this is just a discussion on who we'd like to see released and who we'd pay money to see not a contest to debate whose more important.

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The question is, since we haven't seen many of these drivers/pilots since their first version, why would they be given the the 25th treatment now?

They weren't loved enough by Hasbro to get an ARAH or even a new sculpt repaint

I personally can't care about most of them because they didn't get any play in the cartoons or comics

Hasbro will throw us a few bones. While the character was in the cartoon and not a driver, the 25A Doc is the first Doc figure since 1983. Same with Airborne. Sooner or later they'll reach far enough down into the bag of obscurity and pull up the names "Hot Seat" or "Long Range".

actually a lot of them were featured in the cartoon and comics. Remember a large group of them were killed in the comic, others have their own moments (Ghostrider, Wild Card, Hotseat, and Long Range did have moments in
the comic, WildCard had several); and Cross Country, and Payload, were important enough to be released WITHOUT the vehicle. Lastly,.. we've already gotten Copperhead, Slipstream, Cutter, Ace, Wild Weasel, and Wild Bill.

yes there are drivers that quite frankly, are forgettable (I cant even remember who drives the RHINO, and I own three of them!)

however, there are several cobra drivers that are VERY important, we've already had a single carded Hiss Tank driver, why not a Track Viper, or Pitt viper, or Motor Viper, and especially a Strato Viper?
I do know some drivers are probably required with their vehicles (like Rollbar or Steam Roller), but others would make some cool characters. a Ghostrider or Dogfight would be cool for collectors or people who bought multiple conquests and tiger rats.

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Doc was killed in the comic = Hasbro wouldn't make new figure (until 25th) and there were a couple new sculpt Sgt. Airbornes. First one was the one that was also Halo Jumper (Ripcord) packaged with Tele-Viper

Skystriker is a jet, not a person.

That's my gripe and I'm sticking to it.

So nyah.

Otherwise, I agree. It would be fun to see Wild Card, Steamroller, etc.

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