Okay, so I bit into my finances a bit today and snagged the TRU HulkBuster set, the Hulk figure with the three interesting-looking Hulkbuster soldiers.

Not going to bother to review the Hulk here. I'd rather take a quick look at the Joes -- I mean, the Hulkbuster soldiers.

Okay, one thing -- how the HECK did they strap these things in with those blasted wire twist-ties!? Some of the securing points struck me as almost physically impossible! These things are annoying enough whenever I encounter them, but when I have to CUT APART THE PLASTIC THAT THEY'RE STRAPPED DOWN TO in order to free the figure and THEN remove the wires -- that's getting pretty ridiculous.

The three figures are cool enough. Clearly from the newsculpt era of shorter bodies and longer legs. Bit wide in the shoulders, too. Date on the bottom of a boot reads 2004. The swivel arm looks a little odd. I'm honestly not at all sure which body parts were used to create these figures.

I'm assuming the helmet is new. It looks like it should be removable, but it isn't. It's glued in place onto a human-looking head that's been molded in grey and left unpainted. I'm assuming this was some sort of cost-saver along the way somehow?

The figures stand well, and look decent alongside most G.I.Joe figures. The uniform coloration is impressive, even the green visor.

Now I just have to decide how I want to work these guys into the concept.

They are the New Sculpted Steel Brigade helmets as stated in a earlier thread on if people were going to use them as more Steel Brigade troops or what. http://www.yojoe.com/action/06/redzone.shtml is one of the figures in the Steel Brigade line and our own Luke Ellison. (sorry if I mispelled your name)
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=9692 is one thread and
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=9988 is another

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Has anyone said what bodies these figures use? I couldn't really tell from the packaged photos.

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You know, I thought they looked a bit Steel Brigade-ish, but since I never bought that set, I wasn't sure. Makes sense in the long run, I suppose, too. If they had wanted to make entirely new helmets for this set, it probably would've been just as economical to make new HEADS as such, rather than glue a helmet to an existing head.

They still look cool enough. I don't see myself integrating them into the Steel Brigade, but maybe some elite triad of troopers beyond that that uses their technology.

They're VvV Shipwreck bodies. I picked up a set the other day & while not worth $25 as is, it's a fun pack. The major downer to me is the craption clap Hulk, but that's easily remedied. I've disabled the action feature & I'm customing him up into Zombie Hulk. Overall, the set's worth picking up.

Has anyone boiled the helmets off yet to see which head is underneath?

No pics yet?

The V/V Shipwreck body does suffer from proportion issues, so that dampens the set for me somewhat. And I have zero interest in the Hulk, so he goes right into the garbage with the box. Is $25 worth it for 3 new-sculpt era Steel Brigades? I'm thinking "no".

It looks like the unpainted head is also from VvV Shipwreck, making the body 100% used from that figure.

Overall, I am happy to see the life that the "new" sculpt Joes have found. These are nice colors and while the price was higher than I wanted to go, I was happy when I opened it.

I would note though that on the back of every box I have seen, there is a white sticker that covers some text:


Odd, since the jawline on the figures looks like they are also gray-molded Shipwreck heads. Maybe they would have had eyes and hair painted with a camo face (I imagine gray and black...to an effect kind of like Hit&Run) ?

I'm dying to get an extra figure to fully remove the helmet. I just don't want to buy a whole set to do it.

Yeah, that sticker covers a phrase that says "REMOVABLE HELMETS!" Best guess -- somebody figures a drop of glue was less expensive than several colors of paint.

Yeah, YoJoe has all the info on these, parts used, etc.
http://www.yojoe.com/magazine/2008/09/02a.shtml

Thank you! Most useful, as YoJoe always is when it comes to this sort of thing.

Since they went thru the trouble of making a whole new mold of the guy that came with Blonsky in the original 2pack, I'd think it's a 'don't have small pieces that the little kids can choke on' issue more than paintjob cost saving. I'm not sure what age range they're aiming the Hulk line at, but I'd guess they're going for an earlier beginning point in the age range since they made them bump-n-go ATVs.

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Epic Tunnel Clash is the only set i'm interested in, strictly for the Steel Brigade figures. They look like they will go nicely with the convention SBs released a few years back.

But, for the life of me, i can't remember an "epic tunnel clash" actually occurring in the film.

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Deleted scene to be included in the dvd?

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I was at my local TRU and didn't see them, i didn't even see the new Hulk w/figure packs, they should all hit at the same time, one would think.

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