PLEASE!

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To me the two are completely incomparable. Here's a prime example:



I love both figures a lot. In fact vintage Fett is my favorite figure from that line, but he's by no means comparable to a counterpart that came some 28 years after, nor visa versa. Two separte eras, two separate lines. You can't blame the oiginals for there sculpting "imperfections", in the 80s they were the sh!t.

It's a pretty even split with this as far as love vs. hate. In the end it'l be "agree to disagree" which what I've settled upon.

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I've stated many times, the ARAH is part of my childhood. THe 2002+ stuff (the bastard era, eh?) was my way back in. A lot of the figures were bulked up (which they needed to be, imo), had better sculpting, outfits, etc. There WERE a lot of hit and misses. But I found the ARAH stuff looked like lil sausage links (ie; no shape) when compared to the Theme years.

The 25A are great but they serve a different purpose for me. I still have decided if I really want to do a dio with them. I've been buying up a LOT of stuff on ebay as of late. What that means is that, I see how ARAH collectors didn't like the 2002+ stuff. They wanted what they knew best. To an extent, I'm the same way. Yeah, the Cobra Trooper (25A) is nice and all, but if I can't get them in bulk AND at a lower price point, I'd rather go with the DTC Blueshirts! Which kinda means, my dios will most likely cater to the Theme Era over 25A. But the 25A are nice.

I was out in Glasgow the other day getting up to date with the Joe comics. It's a bit far to go for the comics I suppose, but on the other hand I got everything I was looking for.

Quite by chance I found another comic shop, someway away from the usual areas of shopping in Glesga. Anyway I went in and to my horror I saw two Commando Sigma 6 figures. Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. Thats the first time I have saw them here in Scotland and I hope it's the last! It did however make me ask the guy in the store if he had any other Joe items...

He did have, two weeks before my visit unfortunately! They had the 25th Anniv stuff and I had missed it by 14 days or so! Bugger! I was genuinely disapointed! I do hate the figures with a passion. But I really would have bought some. Just to see if they are really as bad as they look. Also from a collectors point of view I'd like to have the 25th anniv stuff boxed, as it does mean something to me. Just a shame Hasbro made an arse of it!

I find myself almost surprised though, that I was actually disapointed when the guy said he was sold out. I never expected to find any Joe's at all.

Maybe I'm a closet lover of the 25th stuff? I hope not!

Dave

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* Pavel is a Geordie! *

I'm still disappointed we didn't get the final product we were promised waaay back in January.
The pictures we were shown initially and the product promised isn't what consumers have ended up with. I still remain overly cynical towards the 25th line.
Infact 15 years ago i would of sawn my arm off, poked myself in the eyes and added vinegar to several contusions to my scrotum to get some gijoe at retail even at release.. it's come down to me looking at the new figures with such contempt.. here is why:

Articulation improved significantly since the 80s. - Ok that's good they've identified that under today's current action figure standards the 80s figures just aren't going to cut it. So they tweak and redesign the whole figure but keep the character based the same.
This would work had the articulation not encountered any problems. Now by fair play lets say if it was a new company we give them a decent cut.. I mean.. it's not like hasbro are new to this market? They've been designing figures and releasing them at retail for over 20 years. So it's not like they couldn't notice the elbow problem, the beehatch tits (manflab) or the lack of seating.

Secondly.. over all the lines they've released they seem to be riding on the nostalgia thing. I'm still worried that those looking at these figures and buying into the line are doing so without looking at the overall product.

I want hasbro to get this right, I want a gi joe figure I can be proud of and want a product that the majority of fans will be happy with.

Going onto the O-ring .. or lack of o-ring in the new figures, this worries lots of old style figure collectors, or purists as they probably see themselves. Figures in general can be just as moveable without o-ring. The design on some WCW figure I saw made by marvel a while back caught my attention. It didnt use O-ring but it was of similar torso constructions and design to the gi joe of 25th Anniversary style.
Had the actual design and torso been good and actually benefited the figure, had the figure not had such hideously underdeveloped muscles.. in some cases Gung-Ho. Hasbro will get this right, they'll make changes to the figures as they already have started to realise.. but in all real honesty..
WHY .. why must they release at retail figures from the beginning that have such huge design flaws?

I can't say that the figures don't look refreshing or different, and in all fairness sometimes you have to take a gamble and hasbro have done that, they've gambled big time by changing the figure the way they have they've signalled their intentions at moving the toyline forward.

Those wanting RAH sculpt style figures released at retail better pray for a VR machine or time travelling machine because as much as the truth hurts.. this isn't going to happen..

I do think deep down under the horrible mess theres a figure line worth saving on the 25th line. Maybe when the movie comes out they'll redesign some areas and improve them.

I have issues with certain figures that have been released. Lots of people love the 25th Firefly, I can't stand him. His arms are way too skinny for a start.
I could sit here and pick a flaw with each 25th figure if I wanted, but most who have contributed to the thread know exactly the frustrations that are set amongst the fans of the older figures and the line so it's not needed.

Hasbro are actually behind in toy manufacturing and ideas, over the last few weeks i've seen figures that are way better articulated and poseable than the 25th stuff, they work and are in scale, they aren't owned by Hasbro but they are made overseas.

What really disappoints me is that they seem to be waiting on the film now, to further expand the line and releases, rather than introduce the comic or the cartoon to back it up.. the reality is that nostalgia will only last so long.. then when the buyers have ran out of steam or got frustrated with hasbro's lazyness and repaints.. they'll drop the line like they did back in 94/95.

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I'll just buy the figures from characters that I like and just if they come out in a good way for me. But what I was really expecting for the 25th was something like the old comic packs.

Hasbro could at least keep up with the comic packs like on VvsV and DTC for the old sculpt lovers like me and others here.

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You won't "catch hell" from me for voicing a valid opinion! I agree to an extent, and ARAH figures were never perfect (what toy is?), but for me they are a heck of a lot better than the 25th stuff.

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

Oh they are Dave, they are!

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

Craig, don't you only have the 1st 2 5-packs? Those are pretty bad examples when compared to the stuff that's been coming out recently. I can't even tell toy collectors (be it joe fans or just toy fans) to look for those 5-packs. Even the 1st wave is so-so. But once you get to the Beach Head and the Zartan waves, they are pretty darn good. By now, you've probably seen the Wild Bill figure coming out. That's a great looking figure right there.