Opinion time!

Here's what I think of everything I bought:

Deep-Six: Hug you, Hasbro, this is TORPEDO! Never owned the 25th Torpedo mold before. Love the colors they used, although I'm disappointed they didn't do the camo on the lower body, especially when the sculpted details were already there... I can't help but feel like to have TRULY been in the spirit of the movie, they should've gone with the Cobra Diver's fully-masked head. Oh, and even 26 years later... that harpoon gun of his still sucks. They should've given him an MP5.
Still, this was my first ROC purchase so if you don't own the Torpedo mold yet (or love it), pick it up!

Paris Pursuit Storm Shadow: An awesome figure, although the paint on the head, especially the hair, is disappointingly lacking, not even getting to the border of the sculpted details. Although I was initally unreceptive of Stormy's movie look, it's grown on me and I like the white jacket and pants. The dual scabbards, ninja swords and sais are great, although I'm a bit disappointed his gun is a weird ray gun instead of an actual handgun. I still fail to understand the purpose of that suction cup with motorcycle handlebars.... Disappointed he doesn't come with the giant shuriken launcher the masked and skirted Stormy has.
In spite of its flaws, though, it's thus far the best ROC figure I've bought.

Neo-Viper: Interesting design, although his chest armor's collar gets a bit too high. Both his rifles can peg into his backpack, although he has no intentionally-designed place to store his raygun pistol, which is the same one Storm Shadow has. Fortunately, since it's hollow, you can fit it in the backpack. Rifles are very sci-fi esque, and I'm not sure what they're intended to be... I love that they painted lines in the helmet's sculpted details though.

Cobra Viper Commando: Same base mold as the Neo-Viper, with a different head, armor and weaponry. I like the head and armor better here, the "snake scales" look works wonders. However, attaching the shoulderpads to the arms instead of the chest armor makes it look goofy when his arms aren't straight down to his side. Points down here, Hasbro. His backpack has a grappling hook that's oversized, and a winch system, so it can work nicely. There's also a place to store an icepick-style knife. His rifle is huge, and looks intended to be an assault rifle, but he can only hold it over his shoulder like it was a rocket launcher. Disappointing. He also has a raygun pistol, smaller than Storm Shadow's and the Neo-Viper's, which can fit in a holster on his removable belt. I like this guy better than the Neo-Viper but honestly I don't get the army builder bug from either of them.

Steel Crusher: Big officially-licensed Humvee that can go from civilian to assault in a heartbeat. I kind of wish there was a way to hide the giant plow, but at least they made it removable. Gunner's hatch has a hole, possibly for a machine gun or launcher but thus far nothing wants to clip. Love the transformation aspect, though, it's like MASK minus all the suck of MASK. Tiny missiles in the rear doors are very oldschool. Overall a great urban assault vehicle, perfect for sneaking in and unleashing the hardware.
Nitro-Viper: On this toy we see two of Hasbro's flaws: 1) picking a body+armor thinking no one will want to take off the armor, because the HISS Driver's armored chest is right under the Nitro-Viper's Motor-Viper armor, and 2) Not bothering to paint. This thing is incredibly barebones, it's disappointing. With his new head and armor this guy had the potential to be great, but sadly a poor body choice coupled with a complete lack of paint apps makes this one a downer.

Rockslide: Interesting snowmobile design, with the driver well-protected and in the warmth of a cockpit, unlike the Polar Battle Bear/JvC Rockslide. Very nicely armed with two machine guns, two torpedo launchers and two missiles, the latter which are sadly stuck to the torpedo launchers and can't be removed at all. The rear treads can readjust to the terrain, and the front skis can turn side to side in unison. I love this little toy and look forward to using it in winter dios... only downsides I can think of are the non-removable missiles, and the fact that the cockpit is so darkly tinted the driver can never be seen, which is disappointing from a dio standpoint.
Snow Job: Cool redeco of the original figure, although apparently we're going to get one single-carded with the rifle and ski gear, so there's some redundancy. I like the green straps and grey camo, although I question what good a revolver is in sub-zero environments. Since Snow Job is a sharpshooter, I was disappointed to see he didn't have a rifle (although I expected it). Fortunately I had a few of his original rifles leftover from the Joe 5-pack so I gave him one, even though I hate that rifle with a passion it is better than nothing.

I can not agree more.

Just got the Steel Crusher thing today, and that nitro-viper/motor-viper is extremely disappointing. If it looked bad in the box, it's worse in your hands. However, if you enjoy customizing, you'll like it.

So here I am looking at it and wondering how to make it better. The visor is huge. I want it to go, or at least to resemble the motor-viper more, or replace it. Barebones is right.

Some quicky opinons of what I have seen.

Paris Pursuit Snake Eyes. It seems so odd that a simple trenchcoat would make me go Ga-Ga over SE, but it does. Just makes him seem a different figure. I said at the begining of the year I wouldn't buy an SE or SS again and already I have broken that promise.

Ninja Merc Storm Shadow. I simply fell in love with the new look for the movie. It's original while still keeping the basic clasic Storm Shadow iconic look at the same time. Can't say enough.

Viper Commando: That head sculpt really won me over, I am not too enamored by most of the Neo and other vipers thus far, but that is cool.

Heavy Duty (Uniform): Really had kind of looked over him until I saw him in the store, I am really impressed and he now replaces my V1 (Yes after all the HD's released in new sculpt era I kept the V1 as my default).

Some I have seen and not bought (for reasons listed):

Cover Girl: That's not a model that's a man, baby!!! Ok the square jaw on her really turns me off. I thought I would use her as an almost Toon acurate versiion of CG, but I can't bring myself to pick her up.

Scarlett (camo): Can anyone say crappy head sculpt. Wow that face looks like it was rejected from....well I am not sure what but its bad.

Destro: Not bad, but not as great as the 25th versions, Thus I passed.

Baroness: seems to be a pattern with the females in this line, another horrid head sculpt. Just like CG, besides the headsculpt I like the fig otherwise.

Ninja Commando Snake Eyes: I am probably in the minority but I don't see anything really different here. I will remark I don't like how his joints take away from the mold (hard to describe but its there). But overall its another "Man in black" that I have tons of in different ways. Another reason the trenchcoat surprized me in how much I liked it.

Sgt. Stone: I was all up about a new character until I noticed those arms, he's been "eating his spinich" if you know what I mean.

Vheicles: OUCH, the prices are just too high. Might get steel crusher but there is that eating thing I like to do too.

Not seen a whole lot more else first hand (ie Ractive Armor scarlett, Cobra Commander, ect) so won't comment yet.

sadly, I dont like any of them. I was in target and they had helix, cover girl and baroness and they looked worse than joan rivers!

the neovipers look like a bad customed vapor figure. Congrats you can all divey up my share because I dont like them.

Wow! You found Helix? I keep finding the same figures over and over. Still waiting for Duke in the D6 suit and the PIT Commandos.

As for the figures....

GI Joes;
Cool outfits. Love the reactive armor and D6 suits. The Urban Camo....ehh! BBQ...ok, why go from day-glo orange to mustard yellow? Is he even in the Movie?(didn't buy him, BTW!) Ship wreck and deep six I like! Not impressed with breaker. How did countryboy Alvin Kibbe suddenly become Arabic? hmmm.... (Didn''t buy him either!) Scarlett...in Black, ok...urban Camo...yuk! Fix the head...and covergirls, too! You can make that clown Daman Wayans and Sienna Miller's action figures dead on....give us a decent covergirl! Heavy Duty in regular cammies and duke in desert...PASSED!!! hmmm...any Joes I missed? The biggest dissappointment is the weapons! Most are Crap! And the Missile launchers...did the 90's teach Hasbro NOTHING? The only guy that has cool weapons is Heavy Duty in Reactive Armor. The oversized Mini gun actually accents the figure!



Cobra's;
Forget it. Might as well be the Bugs from Starship Troopers! Other than Destro and Baroness, I can't recognize Cobra! The Vipers, elite Vipers, etc don't look anything like the Cobra I knew!Didn't waste my time with Zartan. Arnold Vasloo is a good choice to play him, but make him look cool. Not like an Air force reject! StormShadow looks too "Reloaded" for me....looks like something out of "Kill Bill". The Only figures from Cobra I like are the APV driver, Ice Viper and Firefly rehash! I saw most of the unreleased figuers. The new Eel looks promising if they could get a brighter clearer picture of him! And the Para Viper looks sweet....why didn't they make the original in these colors instead of the Day-glo highlights!?!?

The biggest heartache I have with these toys is PRICE! A RockSlide, Armadillo and Ferret remake for $16.99? These used to be "b" level vehicles that were usually about $5.99 - $9.99. And $29.99 for a APV? What about that PITT? Even the Terror Drome didn't break the $100.00 mark in it's day! I understand inflation, but doesn't it seem like these toys are a bit TOO pricey for what they are? I'll wait for a clearence! Maybe they should have cut out Marlon Wayans for Comic relief!Then they wouldn't have to take us to the cleaners to recoup his paycheck!

Couple of more acquisitions!


Sgt. Stone: You know who this guy reminds me of? Hammer, from Lanard's older O-ring Corps toyline. Between the beret, the button-up shirt, the urban camo and the bullpup rifle are definitely reminscent of my favorite Corps! character. The Hammer character is described as an Airborne Ranger who specializes in sniping as well as knife combat, and Sgt. Stone here has a scoped rifle (ideal for sniping!) and a switchblade! First thing I did when I got home was try on a spare Original 13 webgear to enhance the ressemblance, but sadly his torso was too large to fit that on. I now ponder if I could fit Roadblock's webgear on instead. Anywho, as far as the figure itself goes, it's solid. Great-looking sculpt although his forearms are a wee bit too big, good head sculpt MOLDED IN FLESH TONE WOOO and a nice bunch of accessories. Where it's a bit of a letdown is that he has no sheaths or holsters to store the very small switchblade and the pistol, and he has no backpack... His missile launcher is worth mention, as it's the best one I've gotten yet, for a simple reason... it's mounted on a stand. It's not a bazooka, it's a small artillery piece, complete with a control handle! Very cool thing to have.

Paris Pursuit Snake-Eyes: Snake-Eyes is a lefty! Seriously, his sheath is curved so the sword can only be drawn from the left, and his hands are made so he holds his rifle best from the left hand. This is a very cool touch since Ray Park, the man portraying him on the big screen, is also left-handed. The trenchcoat, as expected, hinders articulation a bit, but not enough to detract from this figure's awesomeness. His mask, unlike regular Snake-Eyes's, lacks the "molded mouth" which means it looks just great. Although Snake-Eyes' trademark weapon has always been an uzi, I love that here he's got a kickass G36 assault rifle. On the downside, much like Sgt. HammerStone up there, he has a pistol and a knife but no places to store them. He also comes with a black Timber, which is made from the same mold as the Timber from the last 25th Anniversary 5-pack.

Accelerator Suit Ripcord: As everyone has said, the Accelerator Suit body is a great high-tech armor figure, and the two-part mask just seals the deal. I'm kind of disappointed at his lack of wrist-mounted weapons like Duke has, and Sgt. HammerStone's bullpup rifle isn't much of a consolation. I don't really know what to say about this figure that hasn't been said by others already except: watch the paint job on the facial hair. I came across three Ripcords that had his soul patch pointing to the right before I got one that had it properly placed. Hasbro Quality Control sucks.

Picked up a few new ones today: Elite Viper, Eel and some others. Will try to list my thoughts about them here.

Elite Viper: A nice figure. Comes with two weapons, an ax-like thing, a pistol, and a backpack. The figure can carry all the equipment on the backpack and holster, keeping his hands free. The armor is nicely detailed, and the holster belt has various pouches and equipment molded onto it all around.

It is a nice figure, probably would be nicer within a small squad of other Elite Vipers. The card description says this is a mercenary, works for Destro. Maybe these would be better used as an officer to lead neo-vipers and the like.

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Cobra Eel: The new Cobra Eel, in ROC style, leaves me with a mix of impressions. Firstly as a figure, it is nice. It's all black except for the vest and air tank. These are a type of deep brown--although not pure brown. There's another color in there that kinda makes it offset from being a pure brown. He comes with flippers that resemble the Cobra Diver style, a new rifle, a side arm, a knife, vest and air tank. The air tank looks to be the same as with the Croc Master and Terra-Viper, but the hose portion is straight-ish. The tank attaches to the back of the figure, as is expected, and the air hose plugs into the back of the figure's head. This really makes the figure look weird. The side arm fits securely into the side holster on the leg. The knife can fit securely, but unfortunately, rides a bit high, restricting leg movement.

I would probably just get a few of these Eels for photo purposes. But in my opinion, this figure could've been really awesome. There isn't any helmet type item--no diver's mask, no 25th Eel like helmet. It's almost barebones. The air tank is small and has been used before in other figures. Probably saved Hasbro some costs, but leaves the impression that the figure is lacking something more.

I have Firefly, Snake Eyes and Desert Ambush Scarlett. So far they are the only ones that appeal to me. I've seen some pictures of some others coming that look cool, but right now I am content with just these three.