G. I. Joe (Retaliation) Data Viper 2013

Professor blog: 000013 Subject: Data Viper Brand of product: G. I. Joe Retaliation Original Release year: 2013

Data Viper is what you would consider a miracle in the toy collecting world. He was a toy that got canceled for the Pursuit of Cobra line up and people were upset. As you can tell he is a beautiful toy and he comes with a treasure trove of weapons / parts. He was also the only toy to ever use the American stealth drone too. He was canceled with the Kwinn’s action figure because the Pursuit of Cobra sales were down and Hasbro started to pump out Retaliation toys. Now fans did not care as much until they displayed him and Kwinn in the 2012 vault for canceled toys and showed people first hand how amazing he was supposed to be. This got fans so angry that Hasbro actually started to take notice and scheduled him and Kwinn in their third wave of Retaliation!

Now Data Viper came with a lot of armor for his data vipering or something along those lines. They actually show him in a few comics piloting the drone through remote control by using the suit. Now the best part of the third wave to Retaliation is that they all had figure stands again! This would have been horrible for Data Viper because he is extremely top heavy. He is one of the heaviest toys I have ever dealt with for Joes. It is all in that armor.

The helmet has a little trouble going on and off and the yellow handles rub off on the hands so please be careful when touching this toy. He looks amazing posed but is pretty clumsy for playing with. This would be great for a diorama or just to have posed in your collection. Just be weary of losing parts!

Background of the toy: This particular Data Viper came to me unopened from the Bigbadtoystore.com website. He arrived into my collection in August 2013. He has no breaks or chips and his paint looks amazing. He is complete with all his weapons and the instructions. He is the proper color and has no damage.

Transformers (Generations) Scoop with Holepunch and Caliburst 2014

Professor blog: 000012 Subject: Scoop with Holepunch and Caliburst Brand of product: Generations Original Release year: 2014

Scoop is amazing. I own the original toy as well as this and this is an extremely impressive upgrade. The transformation instructions are a little confusing but it is a great upgrade for one of the old Targetmasters. Now the main toy is Scoop and he comes with two tiny Transformers named Holepunch and Caliburst. Now Caliburst was renamed from Burst for the original toy but everything else is the same name wise. Holepunch and Caliburst both transform into guns or they can be combined into a giant gun as well. The guns can attach to the sides of Scoop in vehicle mode or on top of his legs. We are looking at a total of four pegs that can hold either gun.

The comic is a little of a disappointment. In wave one of the IDW comic / toy packs, the toys had individual comics and were completely new. The third wave, which Scoop is a part of, is just reprints of the Dark Cybertron. It is good if you never bought the comics but a low blow if you get them from the comic store like myself. Now this comic is Dark Cybertron Chapter 2: Black Metal. Scoop is in a few panels but not a main character. It is actually pretty humorous actually. Still a great deal for those who never got it though!

I can say that there is a few comic packs that I would consider a good investment. Waspinator was good. Skids was good. Scoop is good. Some are not. The reasoning why is that a good chuck of these comic / toy packs are simple repaints of different molds. Scoop is a new mold and a great character. If you do not own him, get him right away! He is a popular character and will probably fly off the shelf just as fast as Skywarp, Skids and Waspinator.

Background of the toy: This particular Scoop with Holepunch and Caliburst came to me unopened from Toys R Us. He arrived into my collection in February 2014. He has no breaks or chips and his paint looks amazing. He is complete with all his weapons, a comic book, and the instructions. He is the proper color and has no damage.

G. I. Joe (Figure Subscription Service) T.N.T. 2013

Professor blog: 000011 Subject: T.N.T. Brand of product: G. I. Joe Collector’s Club: Figure subscription service Original Release year: 2013

T.N.T. (Theodore N. Thomas) was a part of the G. I. Joe Collector’s Club Figure Subscription Service for 2012-2013. He was a part of the first series / volume one for the F.S.S. He was paired with Barrel Roll and Blackout. Now, this particular toy is actually based off of the T.N.T. toy from Argentina back in 1986 by Plastirama Toy Company / Hasbro. He came with a huge variety of weapons and looks spot on to the original toy.

Now this particular toy was one of many foreign Joes to make it into the average collector’s collection. Hasbro / G. I. Joe Collector’s club were slowly incorporating various foreign G. I. Joes into the modern toy sculpt style. Now this is great because we can all get a fancy foreign Joe and gain some kind of attachment or even hunt down the originals. Now the sad thing to this is that the Collector’s Club is making them. They tend to make a small number of official toys and if you don’t get it from them, you will be paying 2-10x the original cost. Now these toys were not as rare as their convention sets but it is always a good idea to sign up for their deals.

T.N.T. is a great little toy. He comes with a huge stock of bomb defusing equipment and various weapons. The club even changed the color of the figure stand so that you can tell he is different from other Joes! Most collector’s do not go for the foreign Joes because they declared them impossible to get. I, personally, love the foreign Joes for that very reason. There is a sense of mystery to them and every toy has a story to tell. This toy is great for collector’s to pose. Plus he is unique and only one was made of him so far.

Background of the toy: This particular T.N.T. came to me unopened from the G. I. Joe Collector’s Club. He arrived into my collection in July 2013. He has no breaks or chips and his paint looks amazing. He is complete with all his weapons and the instructions. He is the proper color and has no damage.

*Original T.N.T. picture was borrowed from Yojoe.com.

G. I. Joe (Kreo) Cobra Ninja Viper 2013

Professor blog: 000010 Subject: Cobra Ninja Viper Brand of product: Kreo Original Release year: 2013

Ah, a Kreo toy. Cobra Ninja Viper is probably my favorite Kreo toy but G. I. Joe Kreos have some serious problems. The first issue is that they are pretty hard to find the cobra troops. People in the G. I. Joe world tend to collect cobra troops and never get just one. This is why the term “army building” was coined in the collecting world. Collectors feel like they need to have multiple villains and it makes it hard for the average collector or kid to get. I had a pretty tough time getting this toy. I was very tempted to order him offline and he was running $10 at the time for a $3 toy. We’ll after three separate runs to the Toys R Us, I finally got him. The other problem is that this toy is a Toys R US exclusive. I may be wrong but not to many cities have more than one Toys R Us. If you fail to grab him at your local one, then chances are, you are forced to go online and order him.

Now for little Kreo guys, these toys are pretty neat. You have to assemble them yourself but they come with all kinds of neat little weapons, a figure stand and instructions. The toy’s instruction came with neat little art work and is for that specific Kreo toy. So every single Kreo has his own version of the instructions. When it comes to the Kreo single set toys, they all come In the exact same wrapper. These wrappers are called “blind bags” because we do not know what is in them. Now the trick to getting a specific toy, or making sure you don’t get the same guy twice, is to look on the back. On the back of every blind bag is a set of numbers. The last two numbers in that set usually indicates who is in the bag.

I would personally recommend Kreo toys if you never had them before. These toys are very neat and gives a fun alternative to the toys we all know and love. They are easily pose-able and there is vehicle sets and lots of characters to collect. Just be extra careful you don’t lose the little pieces and best of luck actually finding them before other collectors!

Background of the toy: This particular Cobra Ninja Viper came to me unopened from Toys R Us. He arrived into my collection in June 2013. He has no breaks or chips and his paint looks amazing. He is complete with all his weapons and the instructions. He is the proper color and has no damage.