All the 5-, 6-, or 8 packs. No comic packs and ARAH only.
For BJ´s just look at the Cobras.
Crimson Guard force is for both Tomax and Xamot packs.
Let us know which multi-pack you like best and please explain why!

http://www.yojoe.com/action

Tim 121RVC

Gotta be the 2004 TRU Cobra Infantry Pack. Best army building 5 pack...ever.

Tough one. I went with the Blueshirts, but I love the shadow guard too.

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voted for: Python Patrol - love 'em all!

did not vote for:
Imperial Procession - I have 100 Guards, but luckily got most in a lot and the other sets for $4 shipped from Amazon. The weapons were lacking (thanks Marauder John!)

B.A.T. pack- I love the BATs and got a bunch last year, but Overkill hurts the set. If the color was similar to v1, it would be OK

Infantry Forces - I'm not an Officer/Solider blueshirt fan, but I did get a nice deal on these. The accessories that came with the set were bad (thanks again to Marauder John for saving the day!)

Strike Team Urban Division - Night Creeper and Nullifer rule, but what to do with the rest?

Crimson Guard Force - hate that you had to buy two sets to get both of the great Tomax & Xamot figures. Not a fan of CGs, but I like removable helmets. However, I had already bought a bunch of mail-in Agent Faces before all of these came out

Ninja Cobra Strike Force - I prefer the true Red Ninjas from the comic pack

BJ's - only 2 army builders and Undertow didn't come with his cool mask. Too expensive to ship

Crimson Shadow Guard - As I said, I'm not a CG fan and how is black crimson and why are they ninjas?

Night Watch - Again, not of fan of the plain Officer/Soldier type-mold

HEY -- YOU LEFT OFF THE VIPER PIT SET! Believe me, that would've been my vote.

As it was, I went with Python Patrol. Very cool set and very ornate detailing, but this was a tough call overall. I really liked the BAT Mail-Order Set, especially the transparent red Inferno BATs, as well as the Crimson Shadow Guard. And even though it was a newsculpt set, I also liked the BAT Attack 6-pack, which introduced us to the BAT v.5 figures.

went witht he night force, mainly because those, Viper pit, and the crimson shadow guard packs were the only sets I could actually obtain and army build in mass numbers (I got like 54 shadow guards and 36 night watchs)

although I did love the ninja set..

and i agree, where is the Viper Pit, or the plague troopers?

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The Cobra offerings were stronger. The Shadow Guard set gave us one cool figures 6 times. Had the Shadow Guard been in the Crimson set in lieu of Firefly, then the Crimson set would probably get my vote. The Crimson set was strong with the figure choices, but gearing up the CG's like they were field infantry troops wasn't the right move. Plus, the helmets are a bit too bit for the figures to be truely meaningful replacements for the common vintage figure.

The Ninja set was poor with horrible accessories (they didn't even use newly sculpted swords that would have been better than what we got) and uninspired figure choices. The BAT set had 3 solid figures with the Bats. But, the '91 BAT accessories aren't all that much fun in multiples (original BATS look much better) and the Inferna BATs and Overkill pretty much ruined the value of multiple purchases to add more black BATs.

The BJ's set really shouldn't be on this list. The FBV was good, but no accessories made it moot. The Night Watch was an attempt to repeat the lightning that was the Cobra Infantry Team. On that level, it failed. But, now that I'm not as inundated with so many releases of the Cobra Trooper/Officer mold, the Night Watch have gained some appreciation. They're not my favorites, but are a strong set and probably rank as #3: ahead of the Viper Pit. The Viper Pit was cool in that the Vipers got some new weapons (heavy machine gun) but was lame in that they basically sold us 6 of the same figures that we got in 1986 only with crappier legs, crotches that snap when you move the legs and tight O-rings. Had it come with some differently colored Vipers, then it might have won out.

The obvious choice is the Cobra Infantry Team. The figures were spectacular and the army in a box was awesome. But, again, the accessories killed the figures. The weapons were so bad that you had to rearm every single figure. That's not something that's prudent to do. When you compare 6 CIT figures with bad weapons for $20 against 3 TRU Cobra Troopers with equally detailed paint jobs but perfect accessories from 1998 for $10, I'd take the $10 set every time. With that comparison in place, I simply can't give the Infantry set the #1 slot.

So, I go with the Urban set. It had a figure we hadn't seen in 20 years in Scrap Iron, the best Firefly ever released up to that time, a decently colored and properly accessoried Strom Shadow who was a crappy mold and 3 perfectly painted army builders: two of whom are the best paint jobs ever used on that mold. The accessories were strong with only Scrap Iron being left out and the overall presentation was spot on. So, I'm going with the Urban Team as the best of the lot.

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I tend to agree with Mike T's basic assessment that the Cobra offerings were stronger, although I wasn't that fond of the Ninja clan set. I think I would've been all over it if they hadn't paint-wiped most of the figures the way they did, but that sort of killed that one for me.

I think part of the problem was the peculiarity of some of the Joe sets. The Anti-Venom and Desert Patrol sets had identical color schemes (if different camouflage patterns), and it wasn't all that impressive a color scheme. And the G.I.Joe Infantry Set, which should've been the "Greenshirts" version of the excellent Cobra Infantry set, was pretty horrible, and carrying it over into the Heavy Assault Squad, which had figures in it that weren't even listed on the package (and vice-versa) was no help.

Overall, I have to say I enjoyed the sets, as it was a generally good means of continuing the traditional-style figures.

Which one do you think I picked??

Python Patrol all the way. HEAT Viper, Saw, Laser and Rock Viper all combined with a Lamprey and Major Bludd rendered in the ultimate Python squad. Badass....

Damn, I overlooked the Viper Pit. But looking at earlier edited polls, not everyone revotes, so I think I just leave it this way. Unless someone really wants the poll to be reset by adding a Viper Pit option.

Tim 121RVC

Damn, I overlooked the Viper Pit. But looking at earlier edited polls, not everyone revotes, so I think I just leave it this way. Unless someone really wants the poll to be reset by adding a Viper Pit option.



ARAH only.

Tim 121RVC

I agree that the Cobra Infantry Forces is probably the strongest set. But the question isn't which set I think is strongest, it's which one I like best.

I voted for the CG set.

It has it's weaknesses, like the accessories and the fact that you had to buy two to get Tomax and Xamot. Also, ending up with two identical Fireflys wasn't cool.

However, the Twins in buiness suits were nice. Plus, in 2005, building up an army of Siegies was tough without spending a small fortune on Ebay. But more than anything, these two sets and Operation Crimson Sabotage are what got me back into Joes in '05. As a kid, I dreamed of having a CG army and these sets finally made this possible. I've been on the Joe bandwagon ever since.

OB

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Python Patrol wins for great paint and weapons selections with nice figure molds. It also brought back and updated a classic sub-team.

All the others were nice though. Cobra really came out better than the Joes on every one of these sets. Army builders, new colors, classics revisited, even some new heads and helmets. None were pure ugly like some of the Joe sets (I'm looking at you Lifeline/Dusty/Stretcher amalgam.)

Eh, just do a poll sometime of ALL the multi-packs of this type, Cobra and Joe in one poll. The overall results might be interesting, and you can get the Viper Pit set in that one.

This was the hardest poll yet for me to cast my vote.

Ultimately, I chose Python Patrol v2.0. To me, this set was the definition of what a themed multi-pack set should strive to become. You had six unique, rarely seen molds in a brand-new original color scheme that both captured the concept of Python Patrol and also re-defined it into something much more aesthetically pleasing.

The big thing for me is having a figure that actually has care and consideration put into their accessories as, in my opinion, the accessories define and give a unique personality to the figure. This set truly proves that point (except for that one LAME sound attack weapon for Lamprey) and what we end up getting is a set that has correct accessories, great new color scheme and it revived an old, long-time favorite sub-team (even if SAW Viper looks like a road worker).

What you ended up getting out of this set were five troop builders and one team leader who used a very unusual set of figure parts with the 1991 Super Sonic Fighters Zap and 1994 Battle Corps Major Bludd - it was a really unique parts-choice and served the character and sub-team well.

One thing that caught my attention over the 2003 Python Patrol set was that most of the figures in the sub-team were originally released in 1980/1990 - the same time frame as the original Python Patrol. A neat coincidence in my opinion.

So, yeah, this set gets my vote.