I know we're a couple weeks removed from the Con, but it takes some time to take hundreds of pictures and do reviews of so many different figures!

Check it out!

Next in the hopper, Fred and I will return to "team up" format to cover 2008 Wave 5 and the first wave of vehicles! Stay tuned for that.

Justin

_________________

Great review Justin. I wasn't that keen on this years set, but seeing them all together in your review changed my mind.

Nice work.

Great review

_________________

Wow. I knew I'd seen that line up of Joes before, and now I realize where. The con set idea was nicked from Retaliation. I guess Devil's Due isn't the only one not above borrowing your Ideas Justin.

As for the figures: An almost total strike out.

I LOVE bats, but the combination of the too large head with the torso, then the awful Overkill legs and waists, makes this the worst looking bat ever, including the limited articulation Sigma Six style one, which fell apart if you played with it. (Speaking of that Bat, the Sky bat was just a recoloring of it, and would have been a great sky bat - if they'd bothered to put wings on it...). The lower arms did not mesh well with the uppers, and even the kick ass arm attachments and the pretty darned cool holograms couldn't save the figure.

The use of the rock viper lowers on the Headhunter Stormtroopers is also a real disappointment. If they have kept them a darker color to hide the substitution, I might not have noticed. Instead they painted them up with bright gold stripes, that don't look all that great, but can't be ignored.

The Headhunters coloring was pretty bad. I just don't enjoy looking at the figure, THe Driver is better, but only because he looks a lot more like the original, which I already have a few of.

Gristle is an improvement, and I have to admit that that is the definitive Long Arm. The Shockwave is just Ok, because of the lowlight parts substitutions, and the Low Light isn't really fantastic, kind of reminding me of the Unreleased Walmart one. Bullhorn is again, kind of unremarkable with his surefire parts.

I think that this set rates just slightly above the Dreadnok one, and below the viper set. They had some good ideas, and picked some great molds, but didn't come through with good coloring. These are figures that fade into the background, and at about $500 for the set, you want stuff that stands out in your collection.

But if you buy the set, you can always act out your own version of Retaliation, which was a damned fine dio back in the day.

- R

_________________

I love that Sky B.A.T.
Great reviews as always!

_________________

Heh. I like the way he says "they must have read my mind!"

No. They read your story.

(Reading your mind would imply this set was about a dio you haven't done yet. This was about one you did years ago.)

And Justin, I can't let your comments on the comic pass...

"not some of Hama's best" ... that's because it's NOT Hama's work. He wrote one story; David Lane changed it to the point that Hama asked for his name to be taken off. And THAT is the reason why there are grumbles about Sure Fire's inclusion. Heck, I used Sure Fire extensively in one of my dios because I found a great use for him. But I didn't create a new character called the Elf or something who was suddenly the main character of my dios. If I had, people would have grumbled... and rightly so. It's the use of that character in a major role BY the guy whose name he bears... and in a story that's supposed to be about the convention characters.

Otherwise, great reviews.

I did a double-take when you showed the Headhunters' weapons. I haven't seen that pistol! I only opened one of my Headhunters so far, and he had two shotguns and the AK. I just assumed that's what they all came with. Now I'm very curious to get home and open the other one.

Oh, and one of Hotwire's guns is new sculpt Blowtorch's flamethrower!

_________________

Good review. I always look forward to your reviews of the con sets to see if there's anything I really want to try tracking down, and I must admit, with all of the Joes in it, the repainted Hammer looks pretty darn cool. It'll probably be a while before I even try to get those those four figures and the vehicle though, since prices are so high right after the convention.

_________________

I enjoyed the review. I was actually wondering if you were going to do one or not.

I have to say... that Sky BAT is just odd looking. And I think Hotwire still has Blanka's fangs.

So... MC has given us CC, Baroness, the Twins, Zartan and the major Dreadnoks (except Zandar and Torch and Monkeywrench), Overlord, Bludd, Firefly, Black Dragon, Destro, and now Gristle.

I think it's time for Mindbender.


bearcatcc

Does it explain why Bullhorn is wearing his pants? Was it a sleepover, have to rush cause the SWAT beeper went off thing?

- R

_________________

I was thinking Techno-Vipers - - this could be a match!!

Don't forget Copperhead.

Out of all of the 'Named' Cobras from the vintage line, they haven't done renditions of:
Stormshadow, Wild Weasel, Torch, Dr. Mindbender, Zandar, Monkeywrench, Serpentor, Cobra-La, Big Boa, Crystal Ball, Raptor, Croc Master, Voltar, Darklon, Overkill, Cesspool, Interrogator, Sky Creeper, Headman, Slice and Dice, and Night Creeper Leader.

They seem to have a predilection towards the earlier stuff (pre '87) (Which would be the first 7 I listed), but I also believe we haven't seen some of these yet as Hasbro has a yearly list of who they Can't use. I would suspect thats why we haven't seen Stormy or Serpy as of yet.

Darren

Love the gratuitous Gristle crotch.

_________________