G.I. Joe Cycle Armor
Any one here remember Robotech: The New Generation?
You guys who grew up here might know it as Genesis Climber MOSPEADA, the original title. In the States, they took that cartoon, as well as Superdimensional Fortress: Macross and Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and smooshed them together to form a 3 season cartoon series called Robotech. The three stories really had nothing to do with each other and the only thing they had in common were the robots, which were prolific throughout the 3 seasons.
MOSPEADA was an acronym that stood for “Military Operation Soldier Protection Emergency Aviation Dive Armor”, which referred to the transformable motorcycles that featured heavily in that portion of the cartoon. The vehicles could be converted to powered jumpsuits, exoskeletons that would protect the rider, allow him or her to fly short distances, and had firepower up the wazoo.
This was, suffice it to say, cool as all get out.
The mecha designer for the series, Shinji Aramaki, got the idea while he was working on the Diaclone series (also anglicized as The Transformers for American consumption). I had always wanted one of the Robotech toys back in the 80’s. I remember going down to the toystore and finding these awesomely heavy, die-cast monstrosities packaged with a big figure that could actually wear the armor. I bought a Scott Bernard figure from a yard sale once, but it only had a few pieces of the bike it had once come with, which wasn’t as fun.
Fast forward to 20 years later and I get a second chance. Sort of.
This is the G.I. Joe Cycle Armor, a G.I. Joe Alpha Class vehicle that was just released at the recent Captain America Toy Launch. The set was announced way back in one of the conventions in 2009 (I think it was the Joecon). That’s a long wait.
The figure comes in a seriously sturdy package with a thin printed outer box over a heavy-duty, corrugated skeleton. This sucker means business. Sadly, there’s not a lot else going on here. The front is dedicated to a large clear window to see the vehicle and the figure. The interior is printed with a matte painting of a devastated industrial complex.
The back of the box has a single photo of the bike and the figure again with text in four or five languages detailing the features of the toy. There are also several copies of Ashiko’s file card around the sides of the box, each in meant for a different nationality. This particular toy was apparently meant for international markets.
When I first picked it up, I wondered why there weren’t any photos of the armor mode. The reason became obvious to me later on, but lets start at the beginning.
The set includes one G.I. Joe 3.75″ figure and one Motorcycle. I was surprised to find that below the main compartment that held the figure and vehicle was another section that held a small baggie of goodies. There were several rifles, sub-machine guns, blades, and a pistol.
Ashiko can use any of these weapons, but there’s no way he can store any of it on his person. He’s got a knife with a sheath, but no way to plug the sheath into his suit. Likewise with the SMGs and their hooks. No way to latch them onto his armor. Not the biggest of deals, but definitely evidence that this wasn’t a review that would end well.
The figure itself is another kitbash from parts of that Snake Eyes that was used for Wraith and for the Alley Viper. You can see the tiny hole on his chest where the Snake Eye’s knives were supposed to go. The biggest diferences from the original mold was the huge ports glued onto his thighs and the fact that he’s sporting the head of the Rise of Cobra Flash figure.
Most of the armor pieces are removable, though; gauntlets, chestplate and helmet all come right off easily and are just as easily replaced.
Though he can’t store any of the weapons (well except the sword which has a scabbard with the standard back post), he still looks great with them. These are mostly the same guns we saw scattered around the Pursuit of Cobra line. See my Pursuit of Cobra Snake Eyes review for more info on some of them. If you have a Pursuit of Cobra Beachhead, you’ve also seen some of the others.
The figure doesn’t really float my boat, though. It doesn’t feel like anything more than it is, a rehash. He looks neither like a ninja, nor a motorcyclist so the blurbs on his filecard are baloney. At least the Ninja Armor Snake Eyes from the Sigma 6 line looked like cohesive effort.
The haphazard way Ashiko was put together also affects the potential of the set as well, not just the figure, but we’ll get to that.
Detail on the bike is pretty awesome though. The engine block is really just a facade, but it looks decent, as if there might actually be moving parts underneath. The handle bars have been changed from the initial prototype (which you can see illustrated on the instruction sheet) to allow the figure to actually grasp them while sitting on the vehicle. The front has a pair of machine guns sculpted into the spot near the head light, complete with sculpted ammunition belts. The tires are HUGE and wide.
The set also comes with a small sheet of stickers (be careful you don’t lose this when you open the box). There are directions on where to put them included on the instruction sheet, as well. They really do wonders to make it pop, but I wish they included more, especially those old ones that said “CAUTION!” and “DANGER!” and “NO STEP!”.
Taken by itself, the bike is a great piece and reminds me a lot of the Hardy Daytona.
The Ashiko figure fits nicely on the bike, though because of the chest piece, his shoulder movement is somewhat limited so he looks like he’s always holding his elbows too close to his sides. Still, you don’t really have to force him to fit into the seat, so that’s something. The bike is MUCH bigger that the Rip Attack Jet Storm Cycle or the Moto-Terminators but not disturbingly so. It looks something like a two-wheeled tank, which is good.
The Cycle Armor is mostly a “parts-former” which means in order to transform it from bike to exoskeleton, you need to take it apart first, and then re-assemble it. Honestly, this is the point where Hasbro lost me. Parts-formers feel like a cop-out to me and are hardly ever fun.
Case in point.
The wheels and fuel tank become his backpack and those machine guns up front and the seat become his arms. The only part that doesn’t need re-assembly is his legs, which come from the bike’s engine block, split in half.
Remember those huge posts that were welded onto his legs when they re-worked the Snake Eyes mold? Well they serve as anchors for the armor’s legs. There’s a posts on the inside of the pieces that plug into the holes found on his legs. It’s an in-elegant solution that doesn’t work very well. For one thing, the posts on his legs come straight out from the front. When you plug in the armor, the resulting toy looks bow-legged. And because G.I. Joes don’t have thigh swivels, it doesn’t have the necessary articulation to remedy the problem.
Plus, Ashiko is the ONLY Joe that can wear this armor, since the anchor points are necessary to keep it on. So you won’t be giving Snake Eyes his own custom ride.
The arms are similarly problematic. Well, what passes for arms here, anyway. The seat portion of the bike splits in two and then again, plugs into a post on the removable gauntlet that Ashiko comes with. This is bad for 2 reasons. It means that only Ashiko, or a figure that can use his gauntlets can use the armor, and second, the “arm” tends to spin around because the gauntlet is not secure.
Plus they’re puny. Like a T-Rex’s hands.
There is no headpiece to the armor, since the designers apparently thought the motorcyle helmet would be enough. The backpak instead has straps that fit over the head and help hold up the weight of the massive jet pack.
You’ll also have to display it facing foward since he doesn’t actually have a back. Turn him around and you can see that the figure kind of just hangs there.
To sum up, the armor mode for this set really blows. Poor articulation, lazy engineering, and ugly proportions all combine to give us an awful looking toy. This vehicle doesn’t hold a candle to the MOSPEADA bikes I loved as a kid. Guess that means I’ll have to buy one of the actual items at Great Toys instead.
If I had to do it over, I probably would have passed on this purchase and just gotten one or two of the Captain America figures. While as a bike the Cycle Armor looks awesome, I still prefer my Moto-Terminators.
Plus, I’m not sure about the price. P1000.00 is kind of pricey. I guess you could think about it like you’re getting a vehicle for the price of another 3.75″ figure, but it still doesn’t sit right.
If your just looking for an escort for your Rhino or ROCC, this thing isn’t so bad. If you were, like me, looking for an ass-kicking mechanized assualt exoskeleton, you’re shit out of luck.
Sci-Fi Revoltech
Iron Man Mark VI
Revoltech’s track record seems to being heading down. From awesome toys like Danboard, Yoko, and Pocco, we’re now seeing crap like the Revoltech Predator. The main problem of the line as I see it, is also it’s unique selling point; the Revolver joint.
For those of you who don’t collect this line of Kaiyodo figures from Japan, the Revolver joint is basically a removable, racheted swivel joint with two pegs at either end that plug into holes in the figures extremeties. The construction of the proprietary joint allows for some pretty fine articulation, but by nature, it easily falls apart.
From Kaiyodo’s Revoltech packaging
Even more than the odd proportions of these Japanese interpretations of science fiction properties, the fact that the designers need to engineer the toys AROUND this existing joint template severely limits the way they can model a figure. It worked fine when there were only a few joints to worry about and the characters were relatively simple anime heroes, but these new figures have a points of articulation count to make a Marvel Legend blush.
Such is the case with the recent Revoltech Iron Man Mark VI, number 24 in Kaiyodo’s Sci-Fi line.
Above is what you get when you buy the figure. As I said, Revoltech toys are put together with the Revolver joint, which means they can be disassembled. Though the system affords great range to the joints, it makes them astonishingly fiddly. Every time you move a knee, his leg falls off. If you like to pose and re-pose toys as much as I do, this is all kinds of aggravating.
In addition, a warning; Don’t try what I did above. The figure sports some lilliputian Revolver joints that don’t take kindly to being removed from their holes. I broke one just trying to disassemble the thing.
Like most toys of this kind, the box is a hopeless space hog. The figure and accessories only takes up some 50% of the volume inside the paperboard. The rest of it is wasted space. It’s not perticulary sturdy either, though the plastic trays and sheets seperating the various painted parts of the figure do alot towards keeping the figure mint.
Kaiyodo’s photography really leaves the American toy companies in the dust. The Japanese really seem to know how posing an action figure can really sell it to an audience. Like the graphics on the box for Takara’s Animated Ironhide, there are several different photos with a unique pose to give you an idea of the range. There’s still that crowded look to the layout, but it’s a toy meant for the Japanese market, so I won’t gripe aobut it.
Inside, you’ll also find a small gatefold catalog with all the other Sci-fi Revoltech releases, including the Alien Queen, Jason Voorhees, Jack Sparrow, Buzz Lightyear, Skeleton Warriors, Godzilla, and other Tokusatsu monsters and robots. I was initially tempted to get more of these, but after the Revoltech Predator and Iron Man, my enthusiasm is gone.
Comparisons with the Walmart Iron Man are inevitable, and warranted. Though it stands slightly smaller, and has a slimmer build appropriate to Japanese aesthetics, the figure is still 1/12th scale at about 6″ tall.
The contest is a toss up however, as the Walmart version wins on faithfulness to the movie model and on playability, but the Revoltech version has the leg up on articulation. The joint system really does shine here, allowing the figure to approximate some of the more familiar poses from the movie posters.
Essentially, the figure has a double swivel/hinge joint at the following points: base of the skull, base of the neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, mid torso, hip, knee (this joint is somewhat extended to allow a bend of more than 90 degrees), and ankles.
It also surpasses its Hasbro counterpart in the accessories department. In addition to having a selection of alternate hands like the Walmart version, the Kaiyodo figure also has a stand that looks like exhaust from his boot jets, and two Repulsor blasts that fit into either his palms or his boots, so that he can be posed in flying positions.
Sweet.
So why the thumbsdown? Oh, it’s a great display piece. It’s just not a good toy.
The word “toy” implies that there’s a level of playability to the figure. That you can pick it up and while away the time with it, pounding Titanium Man into pulp, without having to worry about losing parts or breakage. Unfortunately, Kaiyodo’s foray into the Marvel Universe is something that is more trouble that it’s worth.
If this thing had been about Php 500.00 cheaper, things might have swung it’s way, but at a pre-order price of Php 1,800.00 (about $40 US) and retail at Php 2,400.00 or so, this is a rip off.
Not to mention the quality issues of this figure. I hadn’t had the thing for a day, and the right hip completly split apart, falling right off the white peg. I had to glue the thing back together and because it’s such a sensitive area, it’s now just loose as hell.
Still good for Hulk to pound on, though.
Shameless Plug! Toys for Sale!
It’s funny how you hear from old friends and you find out you’re not the only one who is a total geek.
I got a message from someone last year and it turned out to be one of my high school classmates who had started reading my blog. Found out he was into toy collecting, too. He recently imported some Dark of the Moon Transformers and has a little sideline going on selling them on the cheap. Checkout his store on Sulit.com.ph
Buy Megatron, Shockwave, or Skyhammer below SRP!
I also got a note from an old college classmate a few months ago asking what kind of toys were worth importing. Turns out her boyfriend was also into toys and was bringing stuff in to sell.
Tonight, I got a note from her that the stuff arrived. It’s a start, but already there’s some stuff I want to get from the batch.
You can see more at www.facebook.com/toystash
If you do buy from either of them, tell ‘em slangards sent you. Maybe they give me discounts, yes?
Pursuit of Cobra
“Desert Battle” Storm Shadow
If you still haven’t got yourself one of the Pursuit of Cobra figures, get off you lazy ass and do it now, soldier!
G.I. Joe has never been better than it was with the first 4 waves of this sub-line. Sure we all have a soft spot for the bright colors and the insanely silly characters of the old TV show (if you don’t know what I mean, read this article at Toplessrobot.com), but Pursuit of CObra turned things around and gave us more “realistic” takes on the formula.
I’ve done the Desert Battle Snake Eyes from Wave 3 and the Cobra Shock Troopers from Wave 3 so let’s go back to the start and look at Wave 1 with the Desert Battle Storm Shadow.
If you’ve never heard of Storm Shadow, educate yourself:
“Storm Shadow is a ninja mercenary who works for COBRA. As the desert battle rages, he hunts for Snake Eyes, the G.I. JOE ninja and his sworn enemy. The COBRA martial arts master is prepared for battle in samurai desert armor and armed with connectible katana swords and a manrikigusari chain weapon.”
So there. You can’t have Snake Eyes without Storm Shadow, good without evil, light without dark, Transformers without Michael Bay. I’ve got several pairs of the two ninjas, including the Sigma 6 versions, and a few from the movie line.
This figure in fact, is partly a re-tooling/ re-accessorized version of one of the movie figures. The pants are clearly a holdover from the Rise of Cobra line, and if I’m not mistaken, the body is entirely the same as the Artic Assualt Storm Shadow (which has the same kind of white pants and sneakers as the previous Rise of Cobra figures) and also bare chested. However, the head and forearms are new.
Like the Arctic Assault figure, this Storm Shadow also has a collar that rings his neck. The old one was supposed to be the remains of his shirt I imagine. This one is more like the veil that Tuareg males wear than a the mask and hood of the shinobi shozoku. It’s in keeping with the armor that they’ve given him, which has more of a Prince of Persia theme than a ninja’s traditional clothing. The collar is removable (if you take off his head first), but the wrap around his stomach is rather permanent, unless you’re willing to disassemble him.
Like the other Pursuit of Cobra figures, the beautiful thing about this figure is the gear. He has got something like 13-16 pieces depending on what you want to count as an accessory. Here’s the list:
What’s even better is that if you’re a bit creative, you can store all this gear on the figure! There are slots on the back of his skirt that can accomodate the kodachi swords, the shuriken fit on small pegs on his armor, and the ninjato swords and manrikigusari are modular, so you can just fit that sucker right onto the ends. That kind of forethought put into a figure is always a treat for collectors.
Though he wasn’t my first priority when I started with the Pursuit of Cobra line, Storm Shadow quickly became one of my favorites. The Arabian aesthetic is a nice counterpoint to the Japanese root of the character and it’s definitely nicer than some of the simple repaints. The armor skirt he has is much better than what the first Rise of Cobra Storm Shadow had to deal with and it doesn’t affect his articulation all that much.
His articulation, by the way, is just as good as any other G.I. Joe figure in recent years. He doesn’t share the awesome wrist articulation that the later waves have, but what they gave him is perfect since he doesn’t need to shoulder any rifles. His one bad joint is his ankle; he suffers the same limited range as all the other figures that share his pants do.
Overall, the Desert Battle Storm Shadow is a clear win. Unique sculpt, well crafted and detailed, excellent articulation, no deal breaking quality issues, and accesories up the wazoo.
To give you even more incentive, he isn’t even short packed and was included in most of the later case assortments of waves 2-4. I actually got 3 of him after buying several sets in order to complete my line up (I subsequently sold the extras).
Here in the Philippines, he retailed for about Php 500.00 (just over $11 US) but you could easily find him cheaper from collectors or hobby stores needing to unload extras. Though he’s since sold out at Toy Kingdom, I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to find him now.
Go get him.
After watching the new Thor film, I had this irresistable urge to buy something Thor related. This isn’t uncommon. My toy shelf is filled with toys I bought the day after something came out. Case in point: Thinkaway’s InterAction Wall-E and EVE. If I really like a movie or show, I tend to want to get my hands on the merchandise. If they had Sucker Punch action figures, I’d have been all over those.
Having already bought all the good Hasbro Thor toys, I was at a loss as to what else I could buy to feed my craving. Luckily, one of the guys on Plurk posted something about Jollibee’s latest Kiddie Meal freebies:
Image from www.jollibee.com.ph
The Thor Battle Gear set is a little different from the Rio Happy Meal toys I bought a while back. Instead of figurines with action features, these are more like role playing toys. Since the official Hasbro and Nerf role playing toys would cost me my left testicle, I felt it would be better to just get a Php 70.00 meal and get one of these for free.
There are 3 different toys to collect (as of this writing, all 3 were still available at the Jollibee on Emerald Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City).
Image from www.jollibee.com.ph
The first one (the one I’m reviewing today) is called the Hammer Disc Shooter and was available when the movie opened two weeks ago, which is why I got it first. The other two, the Smash Propeller and the Blazing Top Spinner have just recently arrived in stores.
It’s odd that they decided to release the Disc Shooter before the others since it kind of caused me to re-think getting the others. I would have probably released the Top Spinner first so that kids would get that while nothing was out, then when they come back the next week, release the Disc Shooter (the second best) and on the third week, release the Smash Propeller. That way, you get more out of them. But then I’m the kind of sucker who forks over Php 70.00 for a tiny hamburger, three gulps of Coke and a cheap Chinese toy.
The Hammer Disc Shooter comes in a plastic baggie with the instructions printed pretty clearly on the front. How I wish Transformer instructions were this clear. There’s an “Also Available” box on the lower right to showcase the other toys that are weren’t actually available at the time. Good going, J-Bee.
Display value is nil, so you MOC men are shit out of luck.
Once you open it, you’re greeted by the sight of a tiny Mjölnir (complete with cloth strap), and three plastic discs about 1″ in diameter. Each of the small, blue discs has a completely different design on it. None of them are particularly appealing. I tossed them in my bits box almost immediatly.
The hammer works like this:
This causes the disc to be flung out the top of Mjölnir to strike down some unfortunate action figure you’ve placed in front of it with the wrath of the God of Thunder. Or at least that’s what’s supposed to happen. Since there’s no real way to aim the thing, you’re lucky if you can hit the Marvel Universe Loki you’ve scheduled for execution.
He’s standing there sneering at me now.
So yeah, the action feature peters out after a few tries, but the thing is, it’s still motherfuckin’ Mjölnir.
Sure it’s not as detailed as the one from Diamond Select or Museum Replicas, but hey. Php 70.00 versus $1,499.95? What do you want?
The toy doesn’t have the iconic “Whosoever holds this hammer…” oath etched into the face, though. Instead it has a big, unabashed “THOR”. It doesn’t look bad, and hey, it looks awesome over a set of 4″ figures.
That’s good enough for me.
If you're looking for biased, one-sided views of toys and other assorted geekery, then you're in the right place. If you want objective, you'll need a blog written by someone who isn't an obsessive geek.
These are my views on various toys, movies, places, and things, along with assorted pictures and the the occasional link to stuff I find sufficiently geeky.
Enjoy your stay and leave a comment.
Slangards
I may give you a half-way serious answer.
