@panthercult if you're thinking of using a new head, there may not be a problem, but the 'mask' isn't removable.
Oh I knew that part - was definitely planning on swapping heads. I actually have the head from the Defenders of the Earth Lothar I thought might work. I ended up using a Roadblock head on Lothar because I thought it worked better - the Lorthar head was a tad small. Thinking that spare head maybe could work out on this body... it might be too big, I'd have to see.
@panthercult RE: amazon scalping, I think it's a number of things. This is the first Joe wave in a while I can remember where they "sold out" the preorder phase. No clue how many they sold, but they put up *some* and sold them out. Enough that scalpers nabbed 'em and threw them up for $40ish, which Amazon is using as a guide to price them at $30ish.
I wonder if this has to do with them changing factories, they did warn us that would be "a thing" this year. Like maybe they have some first runs of these and then will make more? To me the oddest thing about this wave is that a small amount shipped out earlier this month, while other websites still say August. We're used to Classified release dates jumping forward but it's rare for these things to not be available on Amazon at MSRP on release.
These aren't even popular figures, lol. It's no Retro Duke, and I doubt people are army building any of them. Nobody is army building Leatherneck to justify $10 over MSRP, lmao. He seems like a fine figure but he absolutely looks like the kind of Classified that drops to $18 after a couple months.
These aren't even popular figures and I doubt people are army building any of them. Nobody is army building Leatherneck to justify $10 over MSRP, lmao. He seems like a fine figure but he absolutely looks like the kind of Classified that drops to $18 after a couple months.
Right... that's the thing. I think Hasbro is happier this way for now. Obviously they want to sell as much as possible, but they don't want people thinking of this as a line that they can just wait for everything to hit clearance prices to buy. So, you deliberately under-produce a wave or two. Make them hard to get, make people who waited for discount miss out. Drive more pre-sales of the next batch, get people back on board looking for the line, hunting for the figures. Obviously this plays into "scalper" hands too, but that's part of it. You have to punish the "wait for clearance" crowd to shift them to pre-order it or buy-it-as-soon-as-you-see-it mentality to get those sales numbers back up and restore retailer confidence. They can always do a re-release of characters in the future if there's enough unmet demand.
As a customizer - I enjoyed when the Classified figures would drop to the $15 dollar or below range so I could grab some fodder for mix and match opportunities. Recently those opportunities have dried up. Most of the figures (with a few, unuseful for my purposes exceptions - Tomax and Xamot) have rebounded in price back up over $20, even Lady Jaye. I think Hasbro is trying to correct the market and reshape consumer behavior. They just have to be careful they don't shrink their market too much with the approach.
Zandar's butterfly joints on my copy were stuck in the front behind his chest. From watching some reviews, this seems to be a common issue (not that I saw any of those reviewers point it out). But it's fixable; they're not supposed to be like that. Heat him up, run something non-sharp like a toothpick along the inside of his chest and you should be able to free the butterfly joint. They seem to get stuck back there again pretty easily. I trimmed off a fair amount of plastic and smoothed the front edge of the butterfly joint and now it works pretty well. Overall really like this figure!
Clearly I have a problem since I went to town on this line, and now I can't quit so I'm getting Cobra troopers and officers to do even more unique guys. Mostly simple swappings, like the next one will probably be an Officer with the harness from the retro trooper to do a Viper pilot.
GI Joe day!
Should be some fun info to drop today.
Thwipp!
I am awestricken. That (and the Sky Hawk) are my most wanted vehicles right now, and that AWE Striker doesn't disappoint, at least from the render. Spots for three figures? A travel mug?? Give it to me now.
I'm not attached to Slice & Dice, so I can take them or leave them. I kinda only want that SNAKE armor if a pilot can fit inside.
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