Barricade (Figure Subscription Service)

by generalsjoes | Apr 10, 2016 | 30th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Toys, review-no-frontpage

While many a G.I. Joe fan will bemoan the Battle Corps era for its outlandish colors, spring-loaded weapons and plethora of sub teams, I remained quite interested in G.I. Joe even through those somewhat strange years.

It’s nice to see the Collectors Club pay some attention to the Battle Corps years within the Figure Subscription Service, though I have to admit, somewhat begrudgingly, that the execution leaves a little to be desired.

Back in the day, Barricade was a “Bunker Buster” soldier, the guy who broke down the doors, took volleys of gunfire, but led the rest of the team into the breach.  The vintage version of the figure was very large and blocky, yet managed to maintain the great range of motion of those classic o-ring figures, a combination that I really loved, even if some of the colors of the time were questionable.

This version of Barricade seems to want to continue that philosophy, but ends up looking more cybernetic than armored (likely a result of a lack of parts choices that fit the aesthetic well).  Using parts from the Rise of Cobra Accelerator Suit figures, the parts are exceptionally well sculpted and have great articulation, and from a pure visual perspective, the figure parts look outstanding.  Instead of the Accelerator Suit arms, the Club went with Battle Armor Cobra Commander arms, which is a little unfortunate, as the elbows aren’t quite as flexible as some others, and the arms end up looking just a little “stumpy”.  They’re also pretty distinct for Cobra Commander and it’s tough to see them utilized in a different way.

The head sculpt here is a re-use of the 25th Anniversary Chuckles  Rise of Cobra “Aqua Viper Officer” which has been used here and there (I believe it was also Dice’s head sculpt) but it works okay as a generic head that doesn’t look too much like anyone else.

In the past, the Club has had a tendency to take really bright figures and mute their colors somewhat for a more modern release.  Barricade is actually somewhat the opposite.  The blue used is brighter than the vintage version, and even though they added some paint wipe detail to the deco work, the gold ends up looking a little brighter as well.

As for the paint applications themselves, that’s where I really struggle.  There is a ton of sculpted detail throughout these Accelerator Suit figures, but Barricade himself is just mostly gold with just a few hints of the blue.  He could have been much better served with some additional areas of blue deco where there was armor separation, even if it didn’t completely match the vintage paint masks.  Looking at Barricade from the front, it just looks like there’s way too much gold, and they don’t quite capture the “metallic” look of the original.

ACCESSORIES

One thing I have to give the Club some props on with Barricade are the accessories.  The figure gets a nice spring-loaded grappling hook launcher, a great shotgun, very nice submachine gun, removable pistol and helmet, as well as a really cool breacher tool/battle axe.  There’s a lot of gear here, and a lot of it looks really great.  I love the blue pistol, even if it does look somewhat futuristic (either that or it’s some kind of taser).  Regardless, I really like the blocky barrel and how well it fits in the holster, even though the holster really struggles to stay flush with the leg.

He’s got the Accelerator Suit helmet which doesn’t jive real well with the original look of Barricade, but it’s still a neat helmet that I really like the design of.

Barricade has been one of my favorite characters and vintage figures, and I was really excited to hear the Club was bringing him into FSS 4.0.  Unfortunately the end result isn’t quite as good as I hoped it would be.

Check out the YouTube video review below!

Law & Order (Figure Subscription Service)

by generalsjoes | Mar 6, 2016 | 30th Anniversary, G.I. Joe, G.I. Joe Collectors Club, G.I. Joe Toys, review-no-frontpage

Any day that I’m sitting down to review a G.I. Joe figure is a very good day. Heaven knows, those days feel pretty few and far between these days, and with rumors abound that the G.I. Joe Collectors Club may be losing the license after 2016, I shudder to think what the outlook will be next year at this time.

Regardless of the depressing part of this review, I was ecstatic to see my FSS 4.0 figures arrive today! That could be because I’ve been without new G.I. Joe figures for so long that this is like a cool glass of water in a desert, but actually, the figures themselves are pretty nice.

First one up is Law, a figure build that should be very familiar to anyone who collected the 30th Anniversary figures, because it uses the same parts, from head to toe. The main structural difference here is that he’s wearing the 25th Anniversary Wild Bill vest to better mirror his vintage ’87 look than the tactical vest the 30th Anniversary/Renegades version wore.

I love the use of modern parts. Renegades Duke was a tragically unsung figure during that same era, with some simple parts that looked relatively generic, yet had fantastic articulation and range of motion. Really happy to see those parts used here, giving this figure a great look and feel.

On top of those modern parts, Law has a much more vintage themed paint scheme with the olive green pants, red shirt, and blue vest, all topped off with the white helmet. The colors don’t perfectly match the vintage, but taking into account the modern construction, they do a pretty good job of approximating what an update would look like. The result is a modernized version of this character that looks much more in line with his ’87 look, and thus fits in better with his peers from that era.

Now, obviously the vest doesn’t have a sculpted badge, so the Club approximates it with a tempo to mixed success.  Still, I suppose I have to admire their effort to get things as accurate as possible.

ACCESSORIES

Law comes with a relatively basic accessory load out, similar to what he came with in the 80s, including an Uzi, helmet, and the pistol  that comes default any time these legs are used. He also comes with his trusty Order, a very nicely decoed version of his familiar German Shepard.  It should be noted that Law does not come with the silencer that is typically seen alongside this pistol.  According to the GIJCC there were some factory production issues and the silencer was omitted from every figure.  Considering I have about 32 of these silencers kicking around, I don’t consider that a huge loss.

This figure isn’t ground breaking in any particular way, but it uses an extremely effective modern parts template with the right combination of vintage colors, giving folks a nice update to Law. Heck, the 30th Anniversary version isn’t all that easy/cheap to come across at this point either, so this kills two birds with one stone. Nicely done on this one.

I have also done a YouTube video review for this figure.  You can check that out below: