Yeah, very cool for those of you who love this kinda stuff.
All the extra stuff is a little too self-consciously try-hard to me but I'll probably make a card-art head to put on the base body and that'll work for me.
I actually kinda wonder if the head for Crystal Ball is supposed to be like Mysterio's clear plastic head for Marvel - like it's a hallucinogenic effect to scare people rather than him actually being like, a disciple of Cthulhu.
In any event, if they're going to try something weird, I'd rather it be Crystal ball than like, a major character I love. (Also wonder if they release a straight up normal card-backed retro version of him next year.
they don't need a guy from Engine 10 helping out.
I'll have you know, guy from Engine 10 grilled 115 hotdogs for the 2023 Shriners event, volunteers at Big Bothers/Big Sisters, was the engine driver for every veterans parade for the last six years, has rescued a grand total of 79 grandmas, 32 cats, 15 kids, 147 acres and 1 goat from danger, and was cover model for the annual fire fighters fund raiser calendar from 2010-2019. He's Joe material.
@docsilence if they include an IDW Alan Moore head, I'll get him.
Also, I knew this before but was reminded of how Crystal Ball was created by Stephen King and his son:
Sleeping Beauties may be the first book they’ve co-authored, but as mentioned above, it’s not technically Stephen and Owen’s first professional collaboration.
That honor belongs to Crystal Ball, a villainous G.I. Joe character they concocted together back in the mid-‘80s, when Owen was a 9-year-old. Stephen wrote down a pitch, and sent it to Hasbro, which mass produced the toy in 1987 and put him in the Marvel comics.
“It’s true,” Owen says, sounding a little bit chagrined, and handing the credit (or blame) off to his dad. “I think that he’s much better suited to explain because, I think my contribution to the creative element was more limited to being like, ‘Yeah, Dad, that sounds awesome.’”
“Oh, I mean that is such bulls—,” Stephen King replies. “It was his idea! He had all the G.I. Joes and we watched it on TV, and we read the comic books.”
Stephen has pretty specific recall on that day. He says it was winter, snowy outside, and the two were going around the wide yard on cross-country skis. “He said, ‘Dad, it would be great if there was a G.I. Joe who could read minds.’ And I said, ‘Oh, yeah, that would be really great. What would you call a character like that?’ And Owen said, ‘Crystal Ball!’”
The character has a lenticular holographic shield and looks a little like Vincent Price crossed with Paulie Walnuts from The Sopranos.
“I think the character that we wrote wasn’t particularly well-liked, which is the funniest part,” Owen says. “This is one of the reasons why I always feel like it’s dicey to even talk about this, because the G.I. Joe people don’t really like him.”
This does not wash with Stephen King, who dropped a mention of the toy in his 1987 novel The Tommyknockers. “I think Crystal Ball was one of the most popular ones!” he insists. There’s a clacking of computer keys on his end of the line. “I’m looking right now on the internet…”
“No,” Owen assures him. “He’s not particularly popular, but I like him.” Hasbro did, too, and the company was so grateful for the contribution that they named another G.I. Joe good guy, the recon ranger Sneak Peek, “Owen King” after the young fan.
The typing stops. “I’m gonna make you very unhappy,” Stephen says, like a doctor who has a folder full of bad test results to share. “I just scrolled through ‘The Top 50 Greatest G.I. Joe Characters of All Time,’ and… he’s not on it.”
“Would you believe — put this in the article somewhere — I don’t think Funko has sent him a Pennywise,” Owen says, eager to change the subject.
“The most popular G.I. Joe is what, Owen?” his dad asks. A pop culture test for the child of the ’80s.
Owen guesses Destro – the silver headed arms-dealing villain, who works with Cobra on its quest for world domination.
“No,” Stephen says, with a tsk of his tongue. “Snake Eyes.”
“Oh, yeah. That makes sense,” Owen replies.
Crystal Ball may not rank at the top, but that dastardly hypnotist still stands for something special. Most dads can buy their kids a toy, but not many can invent one with their son.
Crystal Ball appears to come with a lot. An extra head isn't ordinary for this series. It's very possible he will be Vulture-priced.
They have their own specialized fire specialists... they don't need a guy from Engine 10 helping out.
Oh totally. So far I've been using these guys as generics, usually for either Joes to look like they're rescuing/helping, or for Cobra to terrorize. I guess that's why I like them, like right now I have Doc tending to the Action Soldiers while Snake Eyes covers him. Almost like the named characters, good and bad, are superheroes by comparison.
But army-building does conflict with the deluxe price point, so I can see how these are a mixed bag to many. Personally I think these would be perfect in two-packs around $50-55 with just one full set of accessories, but again, might not be as marketable that way.
I totally get the military purists not being into the weird stuff.
I may be an outlier, but *especially* as I got older (1978 baby, for context) I found myself being less intrigued by the “army men” aspect and way more about the line being something of a catch-all for fun, articulated action figures. Like Star Wars was always Star Wars, but G.I. Joe could be *anything*. Bikers, sailors, supervillains, ninjas, toxic freaks, drug kingpins and, yes, monsters and supernatural stuff. And of course, full disclosure, I’m a huge monster/supernatural/weirdo guy, so that stuff is way up my alley. But I’m also all about neon-orange flamethrower troopers (wooooo Ice Cream Soldier), reformed illusionists with orange Mohawk hairdos, mercenaries with bionic arms, and psychopathic machine gunners who wear eggplant-colored thigh boots.
GI Joe, at its best, has always been such a highly creative exercise in maximalist action figure coolness. I hope we keep getting Crystal Balls right next to Leathernecks, and that they lean into the Legacy line even as they are giving me zombies, mad-scientist creations, and even vampires and Lovecraftian abominations.
I’ll buy them all, as long as they are awesome.
@detectivehoag I think tying him to Cobra-La, at least through the packaging, is a good way to go with the supernatural/weird part of the line/lore. I could see him being a human devotee of Cobra-La who managed to work his way into getting a favoured status that allowed for him to gain some special abilities. Thus he was sent to help Cobra Commander, and keep an eye on him for Golobulus.
@aceofknaves i totally get that stance. It's weird because star wars and Spiderman were my main things as a kid, and a lot of these weird Cobras would absolutely make it at least to the second interview with the Sinister Six. But I dunno, I guess I wanted something else with Joe and Cobra, so I tend to veer away from fantasy and sci fi aspects. But I definitely see the appeal for all of those.
but G.I. Joe could be *anything*. Bikers, sailors, supervillains, ninjas, toxic freaks, drug kingpins and, yes, monsters and supernatural stuff.
Right... for those that wanted Joe to be a straight paramilitary thing there was enough of that - but for imaginative kids who wanted much wider boundaries, G.I. Joe was there...
So, honestly, this is sort of the appeal to me with Masters of the Universe too... Barbarians, Sorecerers, Fish Men, Mutants, Snake guys, Robots, Space Cops, Cowboys, giant cats you ride like horses, but also humanoid cat people you interact with like people... literally anything you could think of could work in more or less.
Crystal Ball is joining my Dreadnoks. Along with Raptor. They seem like perfect additions to that ragtag group of misfits. I won't be using the mystical stuff for Crystal Ball, so I don't really care about its inclusion.
I'm loving the animal figures Classified is making. They're something different and something the action figure market has been missing. Along those lines, the 60th Fireman is one of my most anticipated figures for this line. I hope real world (Real American Heroes) figures continue to come out via the Anniversary program/branding. They can be used as background players for Joe and Marvel photographs and dioramas. And even as front and center stars. I've been wanting poseable figures of firemen, police, paramedics, and construction guys for a long time. While they're somewhat evergreen in toylines like Lego, Playmobil, and cheap 5poa lines, they don't get collector-style figures. I think it's almost a shame some people aren't interested in figures of real world heroes. But yeah...count me in for several of the firemen.
@aceofknaves I'm the same. I've said a bunch of times in this thread give me the weirder the better with Joes, because I don't really care about military realism. And frankly after living surrounded by jingoism for decades, too much realism stresses me out. In fact, figures like Clutch and Vamp are so well designed to realistic in Classified they make me uncomfortable - I want a separation between my action figures and like, my cousins who spent years in the desert and came back sunburned and bearded, y'know? But much respect to the folks who love the realism. I just would rather my tough-guy mustachioed Marine be in sea-foam teal with a ridiculous chest tattoo than in perfectly accurate military garb.
BUT! I do think Classified is in a position to make both types of collectors happy, because for every Breaker or Clutch we get a Dreadnok or Snake Eyes. They do a magnificent job of balancing realism and absurdity in this line, and I feel like that honors the GI Joe tradition of balancing realism and absurdity in the toys and comics. Room enough for Grunt AND Sci-Fi in the line and that's why I love it.
Although specifically thinking of Crystal Ball, Cobra has pretty much always been a circus side show. A weird Lovecraftian wannabe wizard is exactly the kind of lunatic Cobra employs. Joes? We need functionally weird. Cobra? Razor-thin grasp on reality, totally welcome. "This guy thinks he talks to Great Old Ones from across the Void." "But can he hypnotize a captive soldier? Yes? get him a W-9!"
(EDIT: Meant to add, haven't been buying the anniversary figures because they're too realistic, but if they were available in two-packs for cheaper with less gear I'd probably be sold on them. They'd get me for a couple of greenshirts with two guns and a helmet easy.)
@docsilence absolutely agree about them being able to make everyone happy, and seems like we're all really patient and open about what we get or excited for what the others are into.
When did the Dragonfly actually come out? Missed that convo, so all the criticism of the pack-in figs is new to me - what's wrong with them? I pretty much only stick to the females in this line and was thinking of picking up Glenda at some point. The ones on Ebay don't look spectacular but is this a bigger issue?
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