I know opinion's split on the movie figures, but I think there's a general appreciation out there for how fun many of them as toys. The accessories work, the articulation's good, they're fun. Aesthetically they might be lacking (I think there's too much urban camo in the line) but overall there are some really great ideas.

Let's talk about them!

I'll throw mine out: Shipwreck. This is, by far, my favorite Shipwreck figure since 1994's SEAL Shipwreck. I've always liked the character and felt like he deserved a battle-ready uniform. That SEAL representation was a great figure with a rebreather and a great set of guns.

The 25th Anniversary line gave us a pair of fairly nice (and fun) Shipwreck figures, but no battle fatigues, Devil's Due or SEAL Shippy.

When the ROC version leaked from China, I was blown away. An amazing headsculpt, great gear... this thing had it all. And when I got the figure home from the shop, I wasn't disappointed.

I love the knife he comes with. And the brutal looking pistol. I love the way the facemask fits on his head. He's got the stocking cap like the Devil's Due Shipwreck. He's got a place for Polly to hang out on his backpack. He's got it all. Especially awesome is the fact that he's short.

Just a great, fun toy and a really neat version of a cool character to boot. Thoughts?

I never liked SEAL Shipwreck, considering we'd gotten three SEALs prior and Shipwreck filled out a more unique niche prior.

That said, the figure IS quite good.
I personally made him into Torpedo using a Clone Trooper head.

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Cobra Commander. Lot of detail went into that sculpt, and I know people hate the mask, but honestly, I think it works, and would likely be close to what an IRL CC woud wear.

I'm also looking forward to Desert Zartan.

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The delta suit figures... When I first seen them I was like WTF is this crap. But man they are customizing gold.

Pit commando another great fodder figure with tuns of gear...

How about James 9.. Thats a pretty kool figure.

There has been alot of win in the movie figures with a lot of potential..

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Dr. Rex. I knew I'd like all the accessories he comes with, but the figure itself is actually very cool. I never thought we'd get a wig as an accessory, or at least not for someone who wasn't a master of disguise.

The accelerator suits in the movie wasn't a concept I liked a whole lot. But kids and fans bought the hell out of them. Like Sharkbait, I was surprised by their customizing potential. Their a great starting point for any hi-tech armored suit from Iron Man to Halo.

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I noticed a lot of the really good ones are the off screen characters. All the on screen ones just kind of suck. I think modeling figures after actual people is probably a new thing for most of the Joe designers.

So here are my favorites from the line.

Crimson Neo Viper somehow the red and the accessories made this figure so much better than the regular one. They remind me of the Cobra La Guads. I think I might paint up a Nemesis Enforcer to match.

The Elite Viper was awesome the vest makes the figure and the accessories are great. I love the two machine guns he comes with, and the axes.

Both the single pack eels and the target Eels came out really good.

Flash is awesome. And he's really versetile for customizers you can make a lot of different guys with him.

Other honorable mentions include arctic assault "chip'n'dales" Storm Shadow, Dr. Rex, Destro, PP SE, and Agent Helix, and Sgt. Stone. All cool figures.

Destro. It looked like a neat display piece to begin with, but it surprised me how cool of a toy it actually was. If I was a kid, this would be my favorite figure. His portrayal in the movie was perfect to me, so that would help it even more if I was a kid.

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Movie Shipwreck is awesome. His head sculpt screams Secret Mission to Spy Island.

Movie Kamakura is also very cool. Didn't have a blue ninja in my collection and he makes a great Ryu Hayabusa substitute.

Rescue mission SE is simply amazing. The awesome resolute body with the cool Paris pursuit head.

Good mention to Breaker's body which is quite versatile to make customs.

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The off-screen characters are my favorites so far. Hasbro has done a really good of rehashing/mixing/recoloring parts to give us new characters and old favorites.

Zartan/Pit Trooper - I like him enough that I got several to put in various positions when I build my display. A nice figure, just not as Zartan.

Camo Duke - I really like this figure for an army of desert guys. Just swap the head and it's ready to be an all new character. I have 5 of these for a nice group of sepcial operatives.

Cobra Eel - I just figures here's a repaint show horned in to be a Cobra Eel. Actually he's a cool figure and the launcher doubles as an underwater jet sled.

Viper - I wasn't totally happy with the look of the vipers when first shown. Many of us wasn't, but the look does grow on you and the figure is fun. It's also rather neat seeing the different versions.

Red Fang Ninja - Here's another one I thought would just be a figure they're trying to get more use of a mold and it's not going to work. It ends up being a neat character and one that you can turn into other characters real easy. He can be a Cobra Viper Sniper, an Elite Viper, a ninja, an assassin, and the list goes on. I like him.

Shipwreck - Yeah I'll name him too. I wasn't thinking he'd be a good figure, but he regains me as a fan with this one. It works. Now we just need a bird with folded wings to go with the flying wings.

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I'm going to take this in a different direction. What surprised me about the movie figures was the lackof actual figures as seen in the movie. We got some in the initial waves, and some of those were somewhat off (Breaker,CC, and Dr Rex come to mind). Why hasn't Hasbro gone back and "updated" them to better correspond to their movie look? How about some of the other guys featured in the film but not in toy form (mass release of Destro in a suit, Zartan without the face paint, MARS dudes in proper gear, Dress uniform Duke, Ripcord, Rex, or SS and SE as kids)?

The Target exclusive Wet-Suit with Jet Ski is one of the most aesthetically pleasing figures and vehicles in the new mold series. The knives don't fit in the holsters which bites but otherwise it's the best figure in the movie line to me.

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The whole movie line surprised me! See, when I first saw pics of the 25th figs, I was all excited and thought they were the bestest thing since sliced bread. But when I finally got them in hand, I was sorely disappointed by them (cheap feel, poor likeness, wonky proportions, limited articulation, etc.) and stopped buying most of em.

With the movie line it went the other way: when I first saw pics online I was all set to hate them and figured I would not buy a single one. When I saw them in stores, I thought they looked very cool, so I bought a few and was blown away with the quality. They fixed almost everything I hated about 25th! Movie figs have great sculpting, natural human proportions, nice heads, totally cool gear (I love the wide variety of exotic, yet real guns they include), good paint apps, and mostly fixed articulation, especially arms! To my great surprise, I have bought like 90% of the movie line, except repaints.

I know some people say the figs all look too similar in color scheme, but I don't mind, it is added military realism. Remember the OG 13, they were similar to each other. The attention to detail reminds me of the old days. Those fans skipping the movie figs are missing out.

Some stand out figs:

Reactive Armor Duke: Put a Steel Brigade helmet on him from Pit Commando, and he looks totally badass. Reminds me of the real-life "Future Force Warrior" look that the army is working on. Check it out: http://www.military-quotes.com/forum/u- ... 35363.html

Reactive Armor Scarlet: Perfect female version of above.

Destro: Best version ever! (and this coming from an o-ring purist!)

Ice-Viper: Feels so big and bulky, unlike any other figure.

Cover Girl: One of the best female sculpts, but she doesn't bend her arms

Heavy Duty in green camo: A realistic looking 'big guy', not some comic book Liefield muscle freak.

Helix: I'm not big on female figures, but who doesn't love her? So poseable and such cool handguns!

Dr. Rex: Makes a great Cobra hitman/assasin. (Just pop Flash's head onto him)

Elite-Viper: Coolest of all the 'troopers.' Fantastic gear!

Para-Viper: Much better colors on an already amazing figure.

If next year's line continues the quality and effort of the movie toys, I will be a very happy Joe!

The movie line is SO good, it made me break my No Repaints, and No Army Building rule!! And I was pretty strict about both! In fact, if this trend continues, I may have to CHANGE MY SIG!!

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The movie figs didn't really surprise me, as I knew I'd like the figures regardless of how I felt about the movie. I was glad I wound up liking the movie as well. I think almost all of the movie figures are very well done.

I liked Agent Helix, just because she was an all-new female character in the line, and the one-shot comic gave her an interesting backstory. Okay, the figure is a bit too tall to work with traditional-style figures, but -- heck, maybe she played on a women's basketball team before signing up with the Joes...

I've mostly been concentrating on the vehicles, since in principle, they'll work with any existing format of figures, and here I have been very pleasantly surprised, since Hasbro has obviously had to come up with (a) a number of vehicles that weren't in the movie, and (b) bring back some old favorites in a movie-agreeable format.

The one truly movie vehicle has been the Cobra Steel Crusher, and I was very impressed with this. And I still want to know who owns that all-black Hummer that parks in a shopping mall near my home. Slap some Cobra labels on it and you're there.

I know not everyone likes the Dragonhawk, but I do. Yes, it's on the smallish side, but it has a good design. And I've been pleased to pick up the new incarnations of a number of vehicles that I ignored during their original releases during the newsculpt run (which was for financial reasons as much as anything). And some of the forthcoming vehicles as shown in recent issues of the Club Newsletter look pretty cool, too.

Figurewise, I have to say I've been impressed with some of the names that Hasbro has come up with for Cobra trooper divisions -- Terra-Viper, Aqua-Viper (Officer), Nano-Viper -- all very interesting names.