target online yesterday raised the prices back to 54 for the tiger paw. Then over knight dropped it back down. Said there was some In jersey at a target at 4 in the morning few minutes later they were sold out wtf? Had to be a worker. Anyway they are back on sale today wtf? Just had 2 and then gone in mere seconds. Same thing happened in the middle of the night. 

Raptor is a fun figure in-hand but I agree with NORM that his neck articulation and the fit of the claws are low points for the figure.  It can't be understated that his head articulation is very poor; he can't look up or down, basically at all.  If you're envisioning your Raptor flying through the sky like Superman, I'm sorry to say, it's not happening without modifying the figure.  He can't lift his arms up very far, either, mine are capping out at around 45 degrees out from his body.  Disappointing!

I am not having any issues with the backpack though.  The plastic plug is more firm than a lot of the older figures' bags and plugs far into his back-hole unlike problem figures like Viper Troopers.  

Overall mixed feelings.  Posing the wing pack is a ton of fun but I realized a lot of the time I spent posing was finding cool poses that worked around/despite the poor neck and shoulder articulation.  It's disappointing to see this line regress in range of motion for so many recent figures.

EDIT:  Was watching a video review on the upcoming Retro Cobra Trooper...he can look up almost completely vertically...maybe it's a better bet to just give him the wing backpack and let Raptor sit at home with his birdie.

Went to target, walmrt and worst buy and saw no Road pig

(by the way, its NightWolf, had to create a new account, deleted my old acc by mistake ☹️ ☹️)

Amazon says my Retro Cobra troopers should be arriving tomorrow. Looks like Retro Cobra Commander will be having his old school guards at the ready. 

@vicious7171 maybe they're planning to do the hang glider version next?

Amazon unexpectedly dropped off my two Retro Troopers today. I’ll always take a more vibrant figure over a darker one. 

I feel bad demoting the Cobra Island versions to a box after how hard they were to get during Covid, but I just don’t have much use for them anymore. 

Retro troopers looks like the new recruits with fresh uniforms. The CI troopers look like they’ve been out in the $hitter for awhile. 

My eyes just can't hack how blue these new guys are.  I wouldn't mind swapping out a couple of my CI Troopers' vests for the harness, but I can't see myself buying two whole figures just for some suspenders.

I also finally got off the fence and cancelled my retro CC order.  I don't think the Retro line is for me.

The more I mess with the retro CC the more I want to open up the Haslab one to stand them side by side and I am a weak-willed collector. 

One of my weird collecting quirks is I often have kind of a quick head canon about certain figures, and I've got it in my head that the Cobra Officer figure, because his uniform and gear is so retro compared to the Infantry and Trooper figures (which I accidentally army built a bit - I think I've got six total of those two figures) is some kind of roving agent for the bigwigs at Cobra. The other troopers don't know WHY he's more important than them, they just know he's got way more authority and free rein to get away with stuff so they're all vaguely afraid of him. 

I've decided the retro cobra trooper, since I'm only going to have one, and because his uniform is so bright and clean looking, is an intern. Lowest man on the totem pole, completely incompetent, consistently TERRIFIED. 

I've also got this head canon that the two different Python Patrol officers have never been given clear instructions who outranks who, are completely at a loss about the general chain of command for Python Patrol in general, and I usually have them set up on the shelf like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, arguing but somehow surviving every encounter through dumb luck and the fact that nobody cares if they live or die. 

Posted by: @docsilence

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One of my weird collecting quirks is I often have kind of a quick head canon about certain figures, and I've got it in my head that the Cobra Officer figure, because his uniform and gear is so retro compared to the Infantry and Trooper figures (which I accidentally army built a bit - I think I've got six total of those two figures) is some kind of roving agent for the bigwigs at Cobra. The other troopers don't know WHY he's more important than them, they just know he's got way more authority and free rein to get away with stuff so they're all vaguely afraid of him. 

This is funny... mostly because I spent all day creating my own damned file cards for the Joes and Cobras I have, solidifying my head canon in print. And one was for Scarface using an image of the Cobra Officer because that's good enough for me. If, in a couple years, they haven't made a real Scarface figure, I'll likely finally paint his mask, cobra symbol, and helmet emblem red and add the scars on his face. Since information on Scarface is kinda scarce on the internet (most of the file cards I made were cannibalized from various actual ones, like I used the original 80s Baroness one but also slipped in some updated information from the comics, same with Storm Shadow) I had to kinda fabricate where he came from (or maybe I'm remembering from the comics but think I came up with it). Either way, I had way too much fun doing this.

Sidenote, I know I was maligning the Lady Jaye figure last week, but I've since bought one. Her file card mentioned a "faint Gaelic lilt" due to doing graduate work at Trinity College in Dublin, and it was almost like Larry Hama (40 years ago) wrote that just to make sure I had to have her figure.

Posted by: @docsilence

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I've decided the retro cobra trooper, since I'm only going to have one, and because his uniform is so bright and clean looking, is an intern. Lowest man on the totem pole, completely incompetent, consistently TERRIFIED. 

Awesome, and brilliant. And I COMPLETELY get why you needed to reason this out.

Posted by: @docsilence

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I've also got this head canon that the two different Python Patrol officers have never been given clear instructions who outranks who, are completely at a loss about the general chain of command for Python Patrol in general, and I usually have them set up on the shelf like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, arguing but somehow surviving every encounter through dumb luck and the fact that nobody cares if they live or die. 

I cannot possibly express to you how much I love this. I only have one Python Patrol officer, the one with the rest mask, and he's my only PP figure at all so I actually have christened him as "Wraith". This is because I think it's a cool name and in the comics, the Python Patrol uniforms were called "wraith suits". He's the only infantry/trooper/officer figure I have not wearing the helmet, to distinguish him even further.

But Rosencrantz and Guildenstern has made me want the other PP officer more than anything else ever has. And of course the guy I have has two heads, so I could have one PP guy and my Wraith character....

I thought I was finally slowing down on this line, just a bit, but apparently not. I've added Hawk and Helix to my wishlist now, and still have four 'not yet made or announced' I'm hoping for... but I imagine there will be more coming I haven't realized I want yet either.

@ru1977 I am so glad I'm not alone in my compulsion to tell a story with these figures. I find Python Patrol to be pleasantly ridiculous and as i was reorganizing my collection a few weeks back I looked at the two officers and just started writing dialogue. 

"I'm pulling rank."

"You can't. I outrank you." 

"Okay, serious question. Is Copperhead in charge of our division? Cos that guy shouldn't be in charge of ordering lunch let alone running a..." 

"Look all I know is the Crimson Guard is above us and he's a d*ck about it." 

"Yeah **** that guy. Sidebar: do we outrank the Viper?" 

"I have no idea."

Explosions in the distance. 

"Look, we can just hide over here and I won't rat you out if you won't rat me out..." 

Also, the single most put-upon character in my collection is the Stinger driver. Officers and named characters are always demanding a ride and this guy is EXHAUSTED. 

@docsilence it's always amazing to find someone writing dialogue in the internet that's actually entertaining. Stoppardesque. And they're absolutely right about Copperhead. I've always loved the guy but he belongs in front of a massive fan not troops.

@boy_wonder I'm going to be mixing and matching the troopers in my display, probably I'll maintain one of each "type" - CI Trooper, Cobra Infantry, Cobra Officer, Retro Cobra Trooper - in my display.

I'm just going to use my one Retro Trooper as a lackey for Retro Cobra Commander.  Hopefully I don't end up buying more (these Joe drops are rough on the wallet).

Gonna be  hectic expensive day for joes here--the night force two pack, Road Pig, and the replacement Marauders Sarge I got on sale are all showing up (along with some Marvel stuff, oh boy). 

@ru1977 I was looking at lore for Python Patrol trying to figure out where they belong in the hierarchy of Cobra and there's a bit of "We... think? Copperhead is in charge?" and I'm like yes definitely, put the smuggler with a gambling problem in charge of an entire paramilitary unit, great idea, Cobra. 

Thanks about the dialogue - snappy patter is kind of my professional specialty. Before I got into writing superhero projects I was a screenwriter and aspired to Stoppard-style dialogue. Nothing brings me more joy than writing dialogue between two fools who are in over their heads trying to puzzle their way out. My first publisher was baffled by my dialogue style til someone in-house pointed out I'd just read too much Stoppard and Beckett. My interior monologue all day is really an interior dialogue between two idiots. 

I also have a running dialogue in my head for the HISS fire team. The trooper and officer think (*know*) the Range-Viper is openly psychopathic and do everything they can to avoid talking to him. 

Range-Viper walks by. 

Trooper: "Hey man, nice day huh?" 

As soon as the Range-Viper is out of earshot. 

"I saw him kill a bunny for fun today. For fun. I know we're literal terrorists but he scares the **** out of me, man." 

Beat. 

"He's standing right behind me, isn't he."