Have you ever had a figure you really wanted, only to find it and be totally underwhelmed by it? Especially wen you were a kid? I can remember two distinct instances where that happened to me growing up. One was Static Line and the other was Snow Storm. Both of them looked so damn cool on the card backs. I remember hunting and hunting for Static Line and when I finally found one, I was just kind of shocked by how underwhelming the figure seemed to me. I didn't even get him. Snow Storm was kind of the same. I kept hunting for him and managed to find him at the local Playco. The disappointment didn't really hit until I got him out of his package. He just seemed so much cooler to me before I'd opened him.

Oh, yeah; this happened a few different times. A couple of examples:

-Dusty 91: When I saw the tiny picture of him on the back of the 91 packages, I knew instantly that he was the one I most looked forward to getting. Once I finally got him in hand, I was disappointed to find that the cool, tough-looking tan-and-brown figure in the picture was actually a yellowish-tan and rust-colored figure with bright red hair and kind of a crappy sculpt. I barely used him.

-General Flagg 92: Same scenario: his card image looked pretty cool, and I really wanted a figure that looked more like a commanding officer. The actual figure, with its gigantic, ill-fitting hat and Jerry O'Connell face, wasn't nearly as cool.

-1994 30th Anniversary figures: I couldn't have been more excited for these guys. I watched for the mailman every day for weeks waiting for my Joe Colton figure, and then made ridiculously frequent trips to Target to check for the boxed figures. When I actually got them, I found that their weird, low-detail sculpts and gigantic shoulders didn't do much for me. The only one I still like is the astronaut, and that's largely due to his capsule. Even the raft that came with the marine was a let-down.

Ashiko and the Cycle Armor. Super excited when I saw the pics from Toyfair and then disappointed to find out it was possibly cancelled. Heard it was at Ollie's and sent the wife for one. Out of the package its an okay figure with lots of recycled parts and the bike is cool. After that the armor transformation and usage is iffy at best. And the bulky armor makes the figure nearly useless and it falls off at the slightest movement. I'm still glad I got it since it is a new character and one helluva concept.

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This. I was so excited for it, but the armor makes it nearly unplayable. I'm considering just gluing it in, and trying to track down a second one.

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two figures come to mind so far...

* Captain Grid-Iron, whose accessories on card made it one of the first ones I wanted from its series, but was disappointed with the figure's concept - he looked out of place with the field commanders with his "costume", and was eventually delegated to the background.

* Battle Corps Dial-Tone - well, I was just too excited to get a new version of Dial-Tone, one of my favorite figures, but somehow, the figure's design, and its accessories, doesn't have the wow factor of the original one.

I experienced this a few times:

The Range viper - Based on the cardback art, I knew I was going to love this figure, and I did. His accessories were another story. I didn't like that he came with two grenade launchers and no machine gun. I remember buying more than one Red Star figure, just to use his AK-47 with my Range Viper.

Slaughters Marauders - Most of these were characters I did not have the original figures of, so I super excited to get my hands on these repaints. Once in hand I was disappointed to find they didn't feel the same as my other Joe's...then the thumbs started snapping off. Those figures found a home at the bottom of a random toy box I let my mom's daycare kids play with and I made it my mission to track down complete versions of those characters I had missed.

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Everything Ninja Force lol

I distinctly recall having childhood " WTF is this ?" moment after opening a few of them. The action features (ugh) ruined it but the gaudy colors and T'Jbangs chest armor looked far less cool out of the package.

I don't know what i was thinking back then....

Slice did that for me. He looked so cool, plus had a neat play feature but those stupid torso tabs made no sense. TRU Viper 3 pack would be another one. Skipped them initially, tracked some down amid the nostalgia hype, and then discovered they weren't made very well.

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Almost every Marvel Universe figure I've got has come with some level I'd disappointment, but none more do than Multiple Man. I was so pumped for this character. I planned to try and get at least 5. I found two, and I'm glad I stopped there. Wish I had only got the one. He's got that terrible super skinny body and they all just feel so flimsy.

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ARAH when Battle Force 2000 came out. It was an awesome concept. Futuristic Joes with obvious influence from the movie ALIENS. Problem was the figures all had this weird hunchbacked bodies, and many of the vehicles felt like slightly lower quality plastic. Throw in that figures and their vehicles were separate purchases, and then that the "fortress" was just a bunch of bits from the vehicles you laid next to each other, not interlocking parts, and Joe kind of died for me. After that, I collected out of habit for a while, but the figures just got lamer and more hunchbacked.



This. Joe scaled Marvel superheroes was a dream come true, but the bodies were inconsistently articulated, I'd say under articulated as well, and many of the early head sculpts were just plain awful.

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There's been several but I think I'll agree with the Battleforce 2000 statement. I was really anxious to get those when I was younger. I thought the images were great. I was waiting for a mobile base that can be built from vehicles. That was awesome... until I got it. All the parts just sort of sit there and really don't have any particular point to the layout. It almost looks like a junk pile of parts.

I did like the Vector Jet though and used it quite often. More than the Skystriker. That huge gun in the back was a great counter balance to the Rattler for me. Plus there were many missions I'd do where the jet would go out and land in a clearing so the gun pod could be disconnected and set up. Later the pilot would bring enemies toward the location for sneak attacks.

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Biggest Joe-related disappointment in my life came after my mom called to tell me she'd found a box of my old figures and vehicles about eleven years ago. I was so stoked at the memory of all the good times I'd had playing with them. But when i opened the box and saw the figures themselves, i realized how i had romantically exaggerated their awesomeness in my nostalgic miond.

Fortunately i discovered JoeCustoms shortly after that, just after Hasbro ressurected the brand.

More recently it was the PoC Jungle Viper. Beautiful visual design, totally impractical in execution. Too awkward and cumbersome to pose properly or eveb stand on its own.

The 25A Viper has almost no redeeming qualities, imho. The helmet being two seperste pieces with no Trooper head underneath so gimmicky electroplated chrome could be put on, combined with the too-long calves and crummy arms makes it the biggest letdown in all of Joedom to me; compared to how much I wanted 50 of him.

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As a kid, it was the Marx superheroes. They were brittle as Hell and my Batman broke at the thigh with just one holding between finger and thumb.

Nowadays it would be a toss up between some of the Marvel Universe and Schleich Bayala. The Schleich offerings are terrible. Worse than anything they have ever done before. On the Marvel Universe, I just cannot understand the vast differences in the body uses. Perfect example, the single carded Black Panther. This sculpt is off the hook. It has internal joint articulation in the knees and the upper thigh is classic MU. The torso is massive yet detailed and the hands nice and clawed. If anyone was ever wanting to have the ultimate base for a multi-articulated Batman, this would be the base I would suggest. It just reeks awesome.

But he is the only figure like that. They could have done Kraven with this mold. They could have done many of the other built dudes with this mold. They didn't.

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Legacy Wedge. Although a new style head, the rest was classic five POA stuff and he wouldn't fit in the cockpit of my X-wing. Fortunately I found the Target exclusive Wedge. Great, full articulation and he fits in the X-wing.

As far as Joes, the four Adventure Team figures. Limited elbow movement because of the arm choice and the vest, otherwise, very neat looking figures.

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