I will never dis the original ARAH line because it was the reason all of us are here, but I chose resolute. It was all that I loved about the ARAH line with a adult themed twist to it! The figures were 25th style with most of the bugs worked out of them and the line had the potential to be a monster. Instead Hasbro chose to go exclusivly ROC which gave us great figures but lame characters. I was not a fan of were they took GI Joe and some of the characters.

__________________

99% ARAH.
01% others.

__________________

ARAH

__________________
My Flickr Page


"It was long ago, and it was far away, and it was so much better than it is today."

I chose Modern Age. I think just about everything we got with 25A was re-released. Plus, it was a continuation of the 25A. The sculpting is better, articulation for the most part is awesome and for fotography, they are very nice to use. I still respect the ARAH for starting everything of Joe that I love(d), but there's something about the classic outfits w/ new style that I really like.

ARAH with Rise Of Cobra coming up second.

Real American Hero gave us groundbreaking figure construction (granted it had been used before by lesser lines, but never with SWIVEL ARMS or ball-jointed heads!), a metric buttload of characters (in 12 years, we got fewer Snake-Eyes figures then than we get in a year now ), and even when they were doing remakes of characters, they had the decency to make them look considerably different from the originals (see: Snake-Eyes 83, 85, 89, 91 and 93), but the big focus was on new characters. There was also always a great attention to detail, right down to picking the right accessories. While they didn't have jointed ankles or wrists, they still did things best compared to later lines.
The accompanying fiction varied... the comic was wonderful and never talked down to its audience while featuring great character interaction. The cartoon? Even as a kid I felt insulted at looking at this "highly trained special mission force" acting like goofballs 90% of the time... but it did manage a few noteworthy episodes like There's No Place Like Springfield, and at least it isn't Resolute.

Everything between GIJoe Vs Cobra and DTC was crap. Ridiculously wonky proportions all around, undetailed head sculpts, random choice of accessories and poor bios all around.
The accompanying fiction, while still no Resolute, was really poorly written.

Sigma Six was great in concept, the problem was the cartoon was quite subpar and the figures were too expensive to get into. They lacked customizing potential too.

25th Anniversary... was just ARAH designs with even more parts reuse abuse (it took until ZAP came out before Original 13 characters got different legs from Snake-Eyes!!) and a new articulation style. New figures like the Para-Viper were great but they were just a needle in a haystack.

Resolute... Ugh. For a cartoon aimed at "older audiences" it was more immature than children's cartoons like Ben 10 or Transformers Animated. Oh, sure, you had deaths, but personalities got de-evolved to lower levels than they had even in the 1980s cartoon, the plot fell apart after a third or so (maybe even a quarter) of the webisodes and it featured wallbanger scenes like Duke and Scarlett standing right in the middle of a crossfire without getting hit or having to dodge fire once, and Duke figuring out how to reroute the doomsday weapon in five seconds.
In terms of writing quality, this thing ties with DiC as the worst GIJoe's gotten, ever.
The few figures they made for it were decent, although they went apenuts with elbow pads and knee pads.

Rise Of Cobra comes in second. There's that same level of attention to design and weapons (except the missile launchers, obviously), and it has the expanded articulation of 25th Anniversary, but sadly the line has flaws that prohibit it from reaching ARAH's level of greatness.
The line is still in infancy, so there just isn't as huge a choice of characters to go for. The vehicle drivers lack in quality, often sporting the very strict minimum in terms of paintjob. A lot of the female head sculpts are just icky (although to be fair, ARAH had that same problem ).
But overall, considering how wonderful a lot of the figures out and a lot of upcoming figures are, coupled with the great new things they're trying (compared to 25A's "same as the 80s but with a different construction") makes it come a distinct second in my favorite eras.
The movie rocked too, that certainly helps!

__________________
RIP Minouche, 1994-2009.

ARAH. The thumbs and crotches break too easy, especially with age, but from 82-90, it was gold. After that, more miss than hit.

There are a few gems in the "new sculpt" era, but it's a mess. By the time it got its act together (better proportions, injection molded shoulders and elbows) it was done for. If from the get-go in 2002 the figures had been like 2005 VvsV Snake-Eyes and Barrel Roll, I think the line might still be going today in some form. That era did give some years for ARAH style releases to appear, too, which was a good thing.

No interest in Sigma Six, if it's not 3 3/4" scale, I don't collect it, decided that years before.

I wanted to like 25th, but the scale, the scale and initial inability of most figures to sit down (no humanoid figure is super articulated if it can't sit close to how a normal human can), made me lose interest fast. Wasn't happy about the footpeg change, either. And the mid torso joint made a few figures odder looking than they should've been. The retro packaging was cool, and were the older vehicles.

RoC, I got two figures. I tried. Still too tall, can sit down better....sort of. Figures a bit less awkward looking in most cases. Movie didn't inspire me to buy more.

I went with 25th. The best representations of the characters as I remembered from my childhood, created with today's toy-making technology. I honestly don't think there's any way they could ever top that!

__________________

is on indefinite hiatus...

Even though ARAH is my first love and always will be, I still like a lot of the other eras too. Although the new sculpt stuff was hit and miss, especially with proportions, I'll always be grateful for Crosshair. And DTC was mostly very cool, especially for the best ever versions of Lowlight and Major Bludd it gave us. S6 to me wasn't even Joe. The 25th era lost me instantly due to the new construction style, and the fact I already had all the characters anyway. Resoluteis not much different to 25th . And the movie stuff with it's "redefined" characters? Not enough relevance to the regular Joe line for a stubborn old diehard like me.

__________________
"The future's uncertain and the end is always near." - The Doors "Roadhouse Blues".

Word.




Just for the record, Sigma6 played with a different scale (yeah, so what? deal with it) and power suits. It's believed that Hasbro has always had a fascination with motorcyles ( be it transformable or not), power suits (S6. it was said that the Robot Rebellion was going to have small scale in power suits, and ninja (no comment). So people say S6 turned them off. Be it larger scale or the anime-istic power suits (yeah, whatever), but the ROC has a few of the characters in power suits. You can't overly dis S6 because ROC plays on that.

What's really bizarre, I LIKED S6. But making the small scale version of the figures w/ power suits, I just can't go for it. I'm with Self-Mod. The 25a/ModernEra gave me MORE of what I always wanted from the old ARAH. The concept of swivel wrists was awesome. I wish they'd have done the swivel thighs (ala Firefly JvC).

I'd might support Resolute IF Hasbro pushed forward. I did send a letter to Hasbro, "QUIT giving up on themes. GO with it. Resolute, HELLO?!?!"

Maybe S6 was expensive then, but hell... $15 for a deluxe figure. $10 for a basic figure. And yet, look at the ROC singles now. $8 msrp. You got a ton for a $15 S6 figure. You got a CASE! Usually a ton of, ahem, 'junk'. Still... $8 might be good for a PIT COMMANDO but take Sgt Stone. $8 for a guy with no pistol holder, no neat accessories... C'mon. The 8" figures were pretty good in terms of value. And the scary part, they were FUN!


My stance on the JOe movie. Ok popcorn movie, but it's not GI Joe to me. I'm glad I didn't waste my money on it. Yet, it has it's moments. Like Sienna Miller. Or the fact that the ROC label is pushing SOME figures ahead. Take Flash. We never got an updated version from the Bastard Era. We got Stone, which is alright. CoverGirl that never got light from 25A. I can't get overly behind the strict movie figures, but I like the abstractions. Flash, Helix, Pit Commandos, etc.

Because of Shane, I ended up with a 5-man squad of ROC Neos (4 neos, 1 elite). I decided they are part of Bludd's private army. That's how I play it since I like my 'classic' Neos!