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 Post subject: Retaliation Waves 2 and 3
PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:01 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:19 am
I took a quick field-trip to Target this morning and lucked into what appeared to be a freshly-stocked set of pegs full of the Wave 2 and 3 figures, as well as the new 3-packs. Having just popped them open, here are some quick impressions:

-Lady Jaye: an OK figure, but nothing spectacular. The Renegades Scarlett body is rail-thin and very strangely-proportioned (check out the length of the calves relative to the thighs). The head isn't all that flattering, either, but it's not awful. She's already ear-marked for a custom.
-Alley-Viper: not a big fan of this guy. The color scheme and choice of parts are both a step backward from the PoC version for my tastes. It's probably a bit closer in spirit to the ARAH version, so that might be a draw for some people.
-Cyber-Ninja: I'm not entirely sure why I bought this one; I have no idea what I'll use the parts for. It's a frankensteined figure that unfortunately pairs a very short set of thighs with an equally short set of lower legs, creating a figure that's very short in stature. That's not a bad thing, necessarily, but it's odd. The design is OK, but it doesn't feel particularly "Joe-y" to me. The one thing that made him worth the purchase was the zipline handle-thing that was (I think) originally slated to come with PoC Firefly. It's a nice accessory.
-Flint: the body appears to be the same mold as the Wave 1 Duke (I don't have the Duke on hand to confirm that, but it sure looks the same to me). So that sucks. The head is nice, though, and the removable beret is a great accessory.
-Sneak-Attack Storm Shadow: a bunch of parts that we already have with a slightly different paint scheme. It's not a terrible figure, but it's not terribly exciting, either. I bought this one for custom purposes, and he's already in pieces.
-Joe Colton: the press photos of the figure look decent enough, but in hand it's not that great. The upper body is PoC Recondo's, and they just left the strap in the middle of his chest unpainted. It looks like he's got a Caramello bar under his shirt. The head isn't a bad likeness, but my sample's eyes are a bit too close together, making for a very...special Bruce Willis. Still, there are a lot of parts that will be very useful on this figure, including the welcome return of the RoC Hawk shoulder-holster and a shotgun that I haven't seen before.
-Roadblock: I was expecting this figure to sport the same limited articulation that his Wave 1 counterpart had, but I was mistaken. He does have the unfortunate rocker ankles, but everything else has the recent super-articulation. I've got customs that will make good use of parts of this figure. It's much nicer than I had anticipated, and while the modular-weapon thing isn't a huge draw for me, the execution is surprisingly good.
-Ninja Duel Snake Eyes: a pretty cool figure, all in all. Again, I could do without the rocker ankles, but I can fix that. The sculpt itself is nicely detailed and has a bit of a Metal-Gear-Solid feel to it (a plus for me). The knife sheath on his belt is very well-done.
-Dark Ninja: there's nothing to critique; it's a great figure. It's a straight recolor of the Renegades Storm-Shadow, right down to the hard-plastic knee joints and the ball-jointed ankles. And the dark color scheme looks really nice, especially since the figure is actually a dark grey with black details on the gloves, boots, etc.

And, the 3-packs:

-Snake-Eyes: it's the v.54 SE with new webgear. That's not a bad thing, since that figure is one of Hasbro's crowning achievements in the modern era. I'm glad to have more of them for customs.
-Sgt. Airborne: I've been wanting to get my hands on the Data-Viper mold since I saw it, and now I can. I love this figure: it's very monotone (the only details are the head, gloves, and boots), but it's a great modern-flight-suit body and it's versatile as hell. I love the head, too (another part I've wanted since we saw it on the 30th Law figure a while back).
-Mouse: another great custom-fodder figure! This 3-pack is gold for customizers. The Joe Trooper body is a nice sculpt, and the new arms make it that much cooler. Even the head will be useful for something: it's younger-looking than most Joe figures, which could be handy.
-Storm-Shadow: the only figure from the 3-packs that I don't care for. It's a bunch of parts we already have, and the head sits ridiculously low on the neck, making ol' Stormy look very cold.
-Firefly: it's as cool as it looks in the press photos. The new upper body is really nice, and the rest of the parts choices work well. I'll probably replace the gear on the legs, but other than that it's ready to go as-is. The highlight of the figure for me are the removable pipe-bombs attached to the webgear. That's the kind of detail that makes a good figure great.
-Cobra Invasion Trooper: shockingly, my favorite figure from either set. I just love the way that sculpt looks in red. I don't know what I'll use it for, but I really like it. I'll be getting more of this guy.

And, for good measure, a review of the Wave 2 Firefly that I found hanging all alone on a peg last week:
-Firefly: this figure sucks. It suffers from a variety of problems, and has only one redeeming value. It's got the reduced articulation common to the Wave 1 Retaliation figures (single knee joint, no ankle joints, and in this sorry bastard's case, no wrist articulation), and while it's probably greedy to ask for more (especially since the level of articulation that this guy sports is essentially the same as the post-84 ARAH Joes, which were the high-water mark of poseabliity for my entire childhood), I've grown accustomed to the super-articulation of recent years. Firefly also has translucent forearms that glow when attached to his battle-luge thing. I'm sure that's cool and all, but I have no idea what the logic of it is other than providing something visually interesting. The figure's jacket also has a douche-y design on the back, making him look like a heavily-scarred model in an Affliction ad. The one bright spot: his head. It's a pretty cool head. Oh, and the holsters are removable, so that's kind of neat, I guess.


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 Post subject: Re: Retaliation Waves 2 and 3
PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:36 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jan 07, 2010 1:04 pm
Yeah, I dig the firefly. Not as good as the version 1 but I would say the second best after that. Anybody know why roadblock's vest sheath is white?


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 Post subject: Re: Retaliation Waves 2 and 3
PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 10:45 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:19 am
I don't know what the deal is with the white sheath, but every sample I've seen (a couple at the Target I found them at and a few on eBay) has the white portions very poorly painted. The while is sloppy and uneven on all of them. There's some white on the back of the vest, too, where the baton-thing attaches (and it's equally poorly-applied). Maybe it's movie-accurate? I haven't really paid attention to the trailers.


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 Post subject: Re: Retaliation Waves 2 and 3
PostPosted: Mon Feb 11, 2013 11:01 pm 
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I want the wv 2 Firefly just because its a new and totally different take on the character. And hey, battle luge!


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 Post subject: Re: Retaliation Waves 2 and 3
PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 11:07 am 
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So what's wrong with rocker ankles, I actually like them a great deal as they make for much more dynamic poses.


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 Post subject: Re: Retaliation Waves 2 and 3
PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:01 pm 
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They are ok if you need to stand with your legs spread wide... Or a sprained ankle. That's it. The swivels are far more useful, IMO

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 Post subject: Re: Retaliation Waves 2 and 3
PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:03 pm 
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Strong Fat Tongue

Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:19 am
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Lance Sputnik wrote:
They are ok if you need to stand with your legs spread wide... Or a sprained ankle. That's it. The swivels are far more useful, IMO


I have to agree. I don't mind the ninja figures having rocker ankles, but for stability's sake, I prefer swivel.

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 Post subject: Re: Retaliation Waves 2 and 3
PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:03 pm 
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Plug
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Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:19 am
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I've yet to find rocker ankles that can hold that pose for very long. They haven't perfected that joint style yet to sustain over time. I like them for some characters like ninjas, but for the most part the hinge and swivel does the job a lot better.

Your Colton isn'y alone. The derpy eyes have been on all production versions.

Battle Kata Roadblock is amazing. I've said it before but I can't stress it enough, that the only thing keeping me from army building him is the ultimate version coming out in another wave.

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 Post subject: Re: Retaliation Waves 2 and 3
PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 3:04 pm 
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I'm still not sure what the deal is with Battle Kata Roadblock's white pouch. I have seen 3 total so far and all have the pouch as white on the vest. I thought that was a preproduction thing? It's black on the package and most proshots.

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 Post subject: Re: Retaliation Waves 2 and 3
PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 4:40 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2007 10:19 am
zedhatch wrote:
So what's wrong with rocker ankles, I actually like them a great deal as they make for much more dynamic poses.


They're just a matter of preference. Lance Sputnik, Kilcarr, and pluv put it better than I could have. I just find the previous style of ankle joint to be far more versatile. The rocker ankles look great in certain poses, but terrible in others. The ball-jointed ankles look about the same in any pose. A lot of people seem to like the rocker ankles, though, so they'll be very pleased with a lot of the Retaliation stuff going forward. It's not too big of a deal for me, because all it takes is a bit of cutting, dremeling, and drilling to convert them.

And pluv, I agree about the Wave 2 Roadblock: it's a really well-done figure. I was very surprised by how much I liked it. Between this one and the "ultimate" version, I'm going to have a lot of spare The Rock heads lying around.


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