I got Raptor today, and this figure turned out so much better than it had any legit right to.
😆
I've got both Raptor and Road Pig scheduled for delivery today (from Pulse and Target respectively). I waited to open Gnawgahyde once I have RP, so I'm gonna be having a sweet animal party soon.
@vicious7171 How's the stripe on CC's helmet?
Mine's from Amazon US and his stripe has two tiny spots where it is missing paint right on the helmet's plastic seam running from side-to-side halfway through the length of his helmet. So it's good but not perfect. I have some really nice Golden brand SoFlat matte white acrylic paint to fix these kinds of issues. He also has a little splotch on the chrome mask, but it's only noticeable at close distances in the right lighting.
I'm in a conundrum. I have retro CoCo. Dig the chrome and bright blue and overall construction. The one feature of CoCo I've never really liked ever where his pants and short jacket. I don't know why. I really like the first release CC as it was instantly recognizable as him, and the boots and cape and longer jacket just worked better. But I don't know what to do with either of them now. I took the cape and knife harness off of v1 and put it on retro, and it works somewhat, but not totally satisfied with it. Who gets displayed? Who gets hidden in the background? Do I make them fight? Is one a LMD? Or Fred VII? Alternate outfit for a rainy day?
use the time honored practice of dictators around the world. Body doubles. One is the real CC, and the others are impersonators. CC can even alternate outfits with his doubles, to keep people (and enemies) guessing.
The short jacket and pants look, aka the Retro, is for me the standard "field" gear for CC. Everyday wear. Whereas the long coat version is more of a regalia, something to wear when he is meeting other leaders, or to ceremonies.
I'm not sure how I'm going to display them; my long coat version is flanked by CI Troopers. The Retro will likely be displayed with characters he interacts with in the cartoon a lot, like Storm Shadow, Destro/Baroness, and that scumbag Scrap Iron.
Stopped by a target today by work on a whim that said they had limited availability of the Tiger Paw. Luckily found the very last one on the shelf. Went to customer service to see if they could price match the online 30% off and they did. Got a Halo Jumper in store as well and and they applied the the $10 off Target Circle also. I"ll happily take both for $68 and change!
@vicious7171 I saw someone else post about the faceplate and a slight bubble as well.
Sounds like the Retro CC helmet is an issue in general. Maybe the factory had an off couple of days when the heads were being done? Or maybe they just couldn't pull off the helmeted head due to the contours and paint apps? Either way it sounds like it may be a more common issue than I originally thought. Although it doesn't seem like a glaring issue overall.
The paint issue on the helmet is right on seam lines separating the front and back plastic halves of the helmet so it's no surprise. No doubt the tampo just didn't apply cleanly due to a bump from the molds being combined. I don't know why they couldn't have just made the blue helmet one piece of plastic but they didn't and it caused the little missing spots of paint (on mine).
I think the blue part of the helmet IS one piece, it’s the mold that’s two pieces, which causes the seam.
Sorry that's what I was trying to say...taking a look at my Joes it looks like most of the helmets are constructed the same way, with at least one outlier in HA Roadblock who has his mold seam from front to back.
Guess that would be the most likely culprit then for the deco problems. Since I don't know anything about design and molds is that just poor design? Or is it something that isn't really avoidable?
I got to open all of these, starting with the oldest to the newest.I've got both Raptor and Road Pig scheduled for delivery today (from Pulse and Target respectively). I waited to open Gnawgahyde once I have RP, so I'm gonna be having a sweet animal party soon.
Gnawgahyde may be old news to most of you, but he also feels like old news to me. The reuse of that Gung Ho body seems appropriate but cheap. The weapons also seem familiar, right? That's Low Light's sniper rifle? And is it Stormshadow's compound bow? The boar and monkey are fun additions, but that monkey is tough to pose since he's a solid slug and the tail gets in the way of the legs' ability to stand flush. The boar is probably the highlight, but absolutely ludicrous that it would be a pet companion.
Road Pig, despite having that name, doesn't come with a pig. But the pittie he comes with is great, just as good as Junkyard. Road Pig himself is refreshing, being on that overweight body. I agree with KD that the tattoos are overdone on him, especially that belly tattoo. Whoever removed it, thanks for showing us the potential. I've posed him with his classic cinder block hammer and the meat hook, but the pig-themed hammer and helmet are pretty awesome additions. I'd consider getting a second one just to display with those parts if I had more post-apocayptic looking characters to keep him with. I did score this one on sale at Target, so that's a win.
Raptor is my favorite of the bunch. I dig his sleek build, the head dress, the arm talons, and the wing pack. It's so similar to MCU Vulture and Falcon-Cap. The weakest aspect of this set is the included falcon. Would have been nice to get an open wing option like Freedom got, or even a swivel at the neck. I don't remember much of Raptor's original bio or origins, but to me, in my collection, he was like some kind of shaman. In this incarnation, he definitely seems like a zealot with an unlimited budget.
Having Raptor makes me reminisce on some of the other wacky dudes who came out that year. I've no need for Crystal Ball unless they come up with a clever update, but someone I loved as a kid that I haven't seen mentioned much is Fast Draw on the Joe team. I loved his card art, the helmet looked so good, but in execution, at that scale, it looked silly. His missile pack on mine broke, so I would up subbing in one of those wind up motorized backpacks that had a cannon that shot over his head. But I think Classified could do a great job on him today.
Finally picked up the diver with Target’s sale to make the Action Force SAS Frogman fix-up I’d been wanting to do.
Not sure if my little Classified SAS team will grow anymore past this, but I like them together like this.
@canprime I'm no expert but I imagine it's a lot less work to make and fill the molds if they're both open halves and not one big square mold that has the shape cut out on the inside.
Unrelated but lol at how they keep referring to the animals as characters and calling them multipacks. Like even Raptor isn't called a deluxe figure but instead a two-pack, as if that little rubber capsule toy bird General Ledger* is an equal part of the package as the figure 🤣
*Edited out of respect for a high-ranking Cobra terrorist
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