Yeah, the Fang Boat is pretty badass. They were all sold out at my local K-Mart (I'd like to get another), but I got a couple other goodies:



Grabbed the Cycle and AWE Striker at K-mart on clearance. Wasn't going to buy them, but I'm kind of weird about collecting drivers, even if they have reduced articulation. Scored the JV at Walgreens, which I'll have to start checking again, because they're restocking with POC stuff. The Steel Brigade and Zombie came from TRU, which is also restocking with 30th Ann. wave 4.

The AWE Striker is awesome. Hasbro gave it a new rollbar, so you can do this:



Thinking I'll go back to K-Mart and grab the other one I saw and customize it to get rid of the Arashikage symbol on the front. It's only $8, but probably gone by now.

Also grabbed these:



Neither of them considered GI Joe's finest moments, but they complete sets. Thanks for looking!

FSS is live!

A VERY SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE G.I. JOE COLLECTORS’ CLUB. Re: FSS

The launch of the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club Figure Subscription Service is imminent; we will notify you the link when we make the service active. While we are loading the final details, here are some things to remember:

1. You must be a member of the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club to take advantage of the Figure Subscription Service.

2. There is NO reason to rush the site or be in a hurry as this is a build to order system. We will build as many as you order, so we cannot run out. YOU CAN ORDER AS MANY AS YOU WANT, there is no limit.
3. What you do need to be concerned about is the closing date of the subscription service, which ENDS on September 4th at midnight.

4. You can either pay In Full or by Installment. There will be 3 installments. When you subscribe and choose pay by Installment, you will be billed for the first two months’ shipments. Then sometime during the second month, you will be billed for the 3rd and 4th months’ shipments and sometime during the 4th month you will be billed for the final 2 months’ shipments.

5. Your free surprise 13th figure will come with your final shipment during the 6th month.

6. The figures will be shipped in random order. All members receive the same figures each month. The figure pairings will not be preannounced. So if you don’t mind, when you get your shipment each month, PLEASE do not go online and tell what you received. We want each shipment to be a surprise for as many members as possible.

7. The cost is $294 if Paid In Full (plus shipping) or three Installments of $98 (plus shipping). Please note that there is a $3 online processing fee for each billing. We take Visa, Discover or MasterCard. Unfortunately we cannot accept Money Orders or Checks for this offer.

8. If you pick a shipping service that does not include insurance or if you don’t pick the insurance, we do not have any responsibility for replacement of lost or damaged or misdirected orders.

9. If you move or need to change your credit card during the program, you can log into your account and change it there. This will change all of your future FSS billings and shipments. We will also be sending you reminders to check your address and cc before each billing/shipment goes out. We are not responsible for shipments that are lost due to incorrect shipping information on file.

10. We are waiting on the final schedule from China so we don’t know exactly when the first figures will ship. We hope it will be by Christmas. We will announce this as soon as we get the final schedule.

11. Some of the figures (single figures) MAY be available in the Club Store after the subscriber’s figures ship. These will be at a price of $32 per figure. There is no guarantee of availability of any of the figures in the club store. If you want to ensure getting these limited edition figures, you need to subscribe to the service.


/ Considering I paid $40 for Jinx and Zarana, $30ish for these doesn't seem so bad. After missing Voltar and Darklon, I think I'll grab this sub.

Nice. How is the Shockwave Tank? I haven't seen any review on it yet, though I really like the new HISS mold.

It is pretty ridiculous, and again, I've decided against it. I doubt Mattel will let the line die- I'm sure the only reason it got the greenlight in the first place is to build awareness for a movie, which they seem to be getting serious about (finally). I'll be damned if I'll let a toy company dictate to me what figures I'm going to buy, and that's that.

I find it hard to believe they'd just call it quits, though. Maybe scale everything back a bit and try that first. An all-or-nothing approach will just turn more people off.

If the Fighting Foe Men were dropped, I'd subscribe, especially now. The Star Sisters were the reason I didn't subscribe for this year. The money I saved by not buying them more than covered the aftermarket markup on figures I missed day-of this year. (Except Sorceress. Can't find a cheap one of those.) Had that been a three-pack of Horde Troopers, Mattel would have all the subs they needed the first day.

It really sucks that all those resellers made a quick buck and dropped all their subs, and guys like me who cherry-pick the line are the ones who get vilified. (Not here, but elsewhere.)

Ah. I was under the impression they were next year's figures. I'd consider it, but stuff like Netossa and the Fighting Foe Men are a little too hard to swallow. I really don't have the ability to throw $90 at the FFM 3-pack, especially when I doubt I'd be able to sell it. I'm a vintage MOTU cherry-picker, with occasional NA dudes thrown in.

It does sound like the line's in serious trouble. It was stated that Mattel only has 46% of what it needs to make it worthwhile. Guess all those resellers abandoning the line has revealed what the market really is. I doubt they'd avoid going forward with their plans if they didn't get all the subs they needed; they'd just go in a scaled-back capacity.

I received Spikor today:



It's a great figure. Give me Ram Man, Two Bad, Mantenna, and (hopefully) Gwildor, and I'd see it as a terrific run. I can't believe Mattel managed to do so many figures in a collector-focused internet-only line in a crappy economy, and I'd like to keep buying them, but I have my limits.

I wouldn't miss con exclusives at all. I was OK with Slaughter, since there was no other way that was going to happen, but I only had to pay somebody on ebay $30 for him. Zarana was OK to complete a set, and was a figure I would have bought at retail, but Jinx isn't a character I have that much affinity for.

I could do without Club exclusives too. I enjoyed getting Dial-Tone, but Footloose was kind of 'meh', probably because of price. Or I'm still butthurt about the movie delay and down on the property because of it. I don't know.

Before Watchmen is pretty good stuff. Well, it doesn't suck, anyway. Minutemen is probably the best of the books by far, at least IMO.