Although I voted for Red Laser, I share your opinion on the SWARM figure. It was really great work that obviously required incredible custom skills, but I don't get a Joe feeling from it at all. Not my cup of tea I suppose.

_________________

See, that's my feeling on the Ripcord. It doesn't feel like a Joe to me. It feels more like a BBI or 21st century figure. SWARM, on the other hand, would make a cool Cobra addition. It'd obviously get "dumbed down" a bit detail-wise to be mass produced (I doubt we'd have seen a LED in it for instance) but that's a chance to see something new that we couldn't have expected regardless of the contest. I could see Hasbro having Ripcord or even Red Laser already planned for production... it's not a stretch for them to do them given the parts and that they are established characters that they can fall back on. To paraphrase Mike T., I'd rather see something new and unique mixed in with my nostalgia but I'm getting more convinced that I won't find that or the support for that in Joedom.

_________________

Agreed, agreed, and agreed again.

_________________

I'm with you on that. I like new ideas when they're well done. I'm one that enjoyed seeing new characters during the "new sculpt" time. I like seeing progression.

The Rip Cord figure looks like another version of Stalker to me. I never did check back because I figured the ones I liked wouldn't win. Another reason (besides lack of time) I didn't even want to enter a figure.

_________________

I'm not dead set against new characters or troop types being introduced, I'm just not interested in more Cobra robots. BATS are cool and all, but I prefer flesh and blood troops rather than the Sigma 6 type of Cobra with an all robot army. I can definitely see that the SWARM concept would be very cool and interesting to a lot of people, but something about it just isn't for me.

_________________

A nice figure and everything, but you do sort of have to wonder if the votes weren't counted oddly or something to let it win. Fans a bit upset that Marlon Wayans would be playing Ripcord in the movie and then oddly enough a Ripcord figure wins the contest. Gee isn't that a nice excuse to give us a more traditional Ripcord figure at about the same time we have to wonder what a Wayans figure is going to be like. Strange how that works out so nicely for Hasbro that way.

I thought SWARM was awesome. I just didn't recognize it as a Joe Custom - which is why I voted Red Laser.

But now that I see Ripcord won, I feel compelled to accept SWARM into my heart as a new Cobra character.

My suspicious nature was peeked when the DQ's happeend, this almost confirms it. No offence to the winner in the stlightest but really this feels like a set up. THe DQ's almost confirm it, I think without those in the recent history we wouldn't have this discussion.

I'm kind of disturbed here by what I'm reading from a lot of you guys. This is the kind of snickety conspiracy talk I expect to see at other sites. If you want to blame the final three on the way MC handled things that is one thing. But the final vote happened on Hasbro's site.

I didn't vote for the Ripcord figure. That was my choice. But it is a good custom and I can certainly see why a majority of people would vote for it. Besides all of the cool accessories he has, he is the most recognizeable of the three. He represents a sort of iconic version of Ripcord which is essentially what the 25th figures and packaging is all about. I wish more people would give the guy his due respect for creating something that appeals to a bigger demographic.

_________________

I don't know though. I normally agree about that but with all the stuff that happened to get to the result that moves on to Hasbro's site, then an out of nowhere extension to voting from Hasbro... it's that sort of thing that ends up tainting a contest and gives rise to thoughts like this especially when there was no running count or votes during the contest (at least at Hasbro). More transparency would certainly have helped.

I'm not knocking the winning figure. I think it's a cool custom. All of the finalists were great figures. I just have a hard time thinking that something as inspired, creative and well-done as S.W.A.R.M. was beat by what I guess I see too much of by running this site: the same ol' Joe but NOW loaded with gear. Does that mean there wasn't a lot of care and work in it? Nope. Does it discount the customizer's talent? Nope. I just have a different outlook on it since I've run a site about customs for YEARS and seen more than my fair share of figures so when something comes along thats as unique and as fresh as SWARM I have a hard time seeing it beat out by things that feel more commonplace to me.

_________________

While my comments wasn't necessarily going down the conspiracy road, I don't exactly feel that Rip Cord was the best of the best. Looking at it, all I feel is it's Stalker with a new head and parachute pack slapped on. I don't get a feel like I do with some of the other figures that were entered. I didn't follow the contest because I know how these things always end up.

I have been a judge in contests in the past. In person I've been a judge at model contests. I've seen other judges skim over models that belong to people they know but then pull out the magnifying glass for models by people they don't know. They were not rigging the contest, and actually winners were people they didn't know. It's just that mentally, people do these things. They may not mean to, but that how it goes.

This figure that won, I'm not claiming anything like that happened. That example was just one of many reasons I usually don't enter contests or follow them. I just have a bad taste now for contests. This figure that won is just yet another reason I don't like them. The short answer is, I feel there were better customs entered.

_________________

Beav, I think your reasons for wanting to vote for SWARM are also a pretty good reason I can see a majority of fans NOT voting for it. Let's face it, Joe fans do not react well to change. New sculpt, Sigma 6...the 25th line which I love and I know most others do too is doing fantastic due in large part to its slavish rehashing of the classics. The figures that don't adhere to that, most notably Serpentor, just aren't as well received.

Yep, I can see it. Would add yet another reason why I'm getting fed up with Joe fandom too. Just cruise along on the laurels and give out only the same ol' same ol'. Anything new or different gets "LASER BLAST" on or ignored. It's stagnant.

_________________

Swarm rocked!

Ripcord??? Good figure, congrats to the winner, but the figure isn't very original with all that BBI gear. I say we've been had, people!

Torches, check
Pitchfork, check
Angry mob, check

Let's ride!

_________________

Damn, I never even clicked on the link. I could have sworn I read somewhere else that SWARM won. I just now saw that it was Ripcord. Nice figure, but I thought SWARM was better. It seems a lot of others thought the same. So.... I'm just sayin'.

_________________