Transformers (Beast Wars: Fox Kids) Dinobot 1999

Professor blog: 000018 Subject: Dinobot Brand of product: Beast Wars: Fox Kids Original Release year: 1999

We all know Dinobot is one of the most popular characters from the Beast Wars cartoon. That is clear from him surviving in his regular beast form for half the run of the series. He is a great character in the series and his toy is pretty decent for what it is. This particular Dinobot is a repaint of the original toy. It is branded as the “Fox Kids” repaint. The reasoning behind this is that in 1999 Fox Kids was broadcasting Beast Wars and the new Beast Machines cartoons in their time slots. They also had a reissue of toys made for just them. Now the toys were painted different colors so they are considered new toys from the old ones.

Now this Dinobot is exactly the same as the older one except for the color choices. He tends to stand out more and does not have any technical differences. Now this toy is great if you never had a Dinobot before but if you already own him, it is exactly the same. If you want to own the complete run of the Beast Wars toys, then this bad boy is a must get. And since most collectors do not want to own a reissue, he is fairly cheap! I picked mine up for less than $10.00 complete without instructions or tech specs.

The only things that I do not like about the Dinobot mold are the lack of proper hands and the face mask. The toy still looks great with the mask but it is terrible trying to get it open. The hands are annoying but something you can expect. If you watch the cartoon, you clearly see him use his hands in that hilarious style. Now this toy has plenty of pose ability when he is in robot mode but that diminishes greatly when he is in beast form. He can wiggle the arms, open his mouth and move his legs but technically he is just a trophy toy. Out of all the beast wars toys, this one is lower on the design scale than some of the other great ones like Ravage, Spitter, etc. If you already have a Dinobot, don’t feel pressured to get this guy but if you don’t, pick him up while he is still cheap. He is great for holding key chains in that mouth!

Background of the toy: This particular Dinobot came to me in the mail from Transformerland.com. He arrived into my collection in January 2013. He has no breaks or chips and his paint looks amazing. He is complete and has all his weapons. He is the proper color and has no damage.

G. I. Joe (G. I. Joe Collector's Club: Figure Subscription Service) Black Out 2013

Professor blog: 000017 Subject: Black Out Brand of product: G. I. Joe Collector’s Club: Figure Subscription Service Original Release year: 2013

Now lets be frank. I hate this toy. He was cool for a mystery toy but when I sat down and actually looked at him. I found so many flaws in him. The first major thing that I was disappointed in was the little bullet they provided. This is the same bullet that came with Pursuit of Cobra Low Light. I put a penny next to it so you can see scale. What do you think the chances are of you losing that? If you remove it from the case, you might as well kiss that little guy good bye. The case is the easiest way to keep him in one spot. Now the next thing I hated is the sniper rifle. You actually need to try to get his hands into the holes on that. I fought my toy and almost broke it so I gave up and took a picture of it. That gun was not designed to be held in anyway it seems and having it come with a toy that is designed as a sniper is pretty low. The next thing we are looking at is that hideous art work. Now the art work for the Figure Subscription line was pretty good but this guy looks like a Muppet. It is a shame that they actually let that get produced.

I will not try and butcher this little guy anymore. He does have a few perks. He comes with some cool gear for a sniper. He has the tripod and scope for aiming, goggles, a stand, a case of bullets, and his rifle that he can’t hold. He also has a neat character design. He looks pretty cool next to his fellow Cobras. Now the funniest thing about him is that he has a crazy resemblance to Will Ferrell. I am assuming this was unintentional since Will Ferrell did not endorse the toy himself.

I would recommend this toy and not recommend this toy. He is great for collectors who want to complete their Cobra armies. He is bad for people who just want to own him. There is an extremely high chance of losing pieces and his card art is hideous. He looks good posed on a shelf so it is your call. I am happy I got him for free with my subscription but I would not recommend paying top dollar for him. Try to get him for as cheap as possible!

Background of the toy: This particular Black Out came to me in the mail as a part of the G. I. Joe Collector’s Club Figure Subscription Service. He arrived into my collection in June 2013. He has no breaks or chips and his paint looks amazing. He is complete and has all his weapons and the instructions. He is the proper color and has no damage. He originally came with Barrel Roll and T.N.T. and was considered the 13th bonus figure for subscribing.

Transformers (Generation One) Dead End 1986

Professor blog: 000016 Subject: Dead End Brand of product: Transformers (Generation One) Original Release year: 1986

And we are back with a Transformer’s (Generation One) review! I decided to do this one about a combiner. The combiner I chose to start off is Dead End himself. The good ole depressed Dead End from the 1984 cartoon series. Now this guy was one of my favorites in the show but his toy looks nothing like him. I inserted a picture of his cartoon self so everyone can see what I am talking about. I borrowed the image from Google.

Now the combiner toys were more simplistic than the other Transformers (at the time) because of them being able to combine into a bigger robot as their main gimmick. Dead End is one of the pieces to the dreaded Menasor robot. He was packaged individually and the other members were Drag Strip, Motormaster, Wild Rider and Breakdown. Now he did not come with any of the parts needed to make Menasor like the arms, feet, etc. All of those pieces came with Motormaster. The only things Dead End came with were his little gun and two pieces of his car cannon thing. He has the famous transformers rub / heat sensitive sticker on his hood too.

This toy is o.k. but it is pretty boring without the other pieces to the combiner. He can barely move his arms and his legs are fixed in one spot. When you combine him and his counterparts, you can either make him an arm or a leg. If you choose the arm, his head lowers to form a perfect ninety degree angle. This makes it to where he could attach to Motormaster and make up one of the arms. On his original card, you can see a picture of Menasor with Dead End being the left arm. One piece of advice I can give you is to not lose his little gun. That is actually the most expensive part of this toy. I do not recommend this toy UNLESS you are trying to complete Menasor. He is pretty much an ornament unless he is combined. He has little play value unless he is in vehicle mode.

Background of the toy: This particular Dead End came to me from a Craigslist seller in Metairie, Louisiana. He arrived into my collection in November 2013. He has no breaks or chips and his paint looks amazing. He is complete and has all his weapons and the instructions. He is the proper color and has no damage. He even has his original stickers applied!

Interview with SnowSerpant11 from Hisstank.com

1) Greetings. Can I ask your name, for formality reasons and where you are from? Yes of course! My name is Christian Nowzari; I was born in Iran, moved to France after the revolution and have been living in Canada since my early teenage-hood.

2) What is your best life moment with G. I. Joe? I have had many wonderful GI Joe moments in my life: playing with them, watching the cartoons, trading with friends. Now, its really about making new friends and sharing our passion!

3) What do you do for a living and what do you like to collect? I am a Test Coordinator for one of the major Canadian banks in Toronto. Basically, we test the codes deployed on our phone systems (IVR) and agent desktops. It’s actually quite an exciting career field of work! Coming from a military background, I have always been fascinated by history and the military. As a child, I always played with some sort of military figures (12 inch GI Joe, Playmobil, Star Wars, batteries from old toys I would file in ranks, model figures I would paint) but the GI Joe line is the only one I ever collected!

4) What G. I. Joe in your collection do you love the most and why? I have many characters I like but if I were to name jut one, I would say Serpentor/General Rey for being good and frontline leadership. Flint would fall in the second place for the same reason and Firefly for just being a badass and cool!

5) Name the one G. I. Joe in your collection that you would consider the rarest and tell us a little about it. I am not one to care about the rarity of a figure but the cancelled Blue Resolute Baroness which I have “improved” is one that could fall into that category.

6) What is your favorite part about this hobby and least favorite? Haha! I think for those of us who customize, that is the aspect which we enjoy the most and find most exhausting at the same time.

7) Is there anything special you would like to tell your fellow Joe fans? Yes, funny you ask! I have been secretly working on a project for our collector community with my friends at Greatbeard.com. It is now ready and I am proud to introduce it now. I am naming it the “King Cobra Command Chair” and it is a throne for your 3¾ - 4 inch action figures. Take a look at my thread: http://www.hisstank.com/forum/genera...ml#post4609537 I hope people will like it as we really worked hard at it! Thank you for the interview and hope to meet some of you at this year’s GI Joe Convention in Texas!

G. I. Joe / Funskool Metalhead 2003

Professor blog: 000015 Subject: Metalhead Brand of product: G. I. Joe (Funksool) India Original Release year: 2003

This is a figure that only came out in the country of India. You are looking at Metalhead from the Funskool toy line. Funskool was licensed to make G. I. Joes in India and they did a very… interesting job. Colors that you would never paint your walls ended up on some of our favorite toys! Since these figures are from a different country and tracing down parts would be a little hard / impossible for most, I have decided to review them without them.

Now Metalhead is a popular character and got imported to India. They decided to change his main colors to black and orange. One of the best parts about Funskool joes is that they did such a terrible job on painting their toys that it adds character to everyone! I love my Funskool joes and sadly it is really hard to complete the set. India has some of the rarest joes ever made. We are glad to announce that Metalhead is not one of them!

Now if you look up the India Metalhead on yojoe.com you will get this: http://www.yojoe.com/action/int/india/metalhead.shtml . As you can tell, they gave the most ridiculous weapons to the India joes. Metalhead actually came with paint / grenade mix… It is the most interesting toy set up to this date in my book. He is such a goofy toy. If you are into international toys, give old Metalhead a shot!

Background of the toy: This particular Metalhead came to me from an Ebay seller in India itself. He arrived into my collection in May 2013. He has no breaks or chips and his paint looks amazing. He is missing all his weapons and the instructions. He is the proper color and has no damage.

G. I. Joe Leatherneck 1986

Professor blog: 000014 Subject: Leatherneck Brand of product: G. I. Joe Original Release year: 1986

Today we are looking at good ole Leatherneck. This is the original toy that came out in 1986. Now this guy was a famous character from the G. I. Joe: Real American Hero cartoon. He is supposed to be a stereotype marine and always seems to wear the same uniform no matter the scenario. He is actually one of the better comic reliefs because he always fights with Wet Suit. Now his appearance in the comic series is not as high as some of the others but he is usually in the back ground for no real reason.

Now his toy was nice and simple. He came with a rifle and a back pack. Now the rifle is the same one he uses in the cartoon but the color was black in there. He is also seen in the cartoon wearing his back pack. He is one of the few toys, besides Lady Jaye really, that appears in the cartoon with all his weapons.

One of the best things about the “A Real American Hero” toys is the file cards. Leathernecks file card is extremely detailed. It gives a little biography into his life as well as other stuff. You find out his real name for instance and where he is from. Ironically the cartoon had this “pro American” thing going until DiC took over the cartoon franchise and made them “international.” Now the best part about this toy is that he is easy to complete. You literally only have four things to get and they are pretty common. He was first 80s joe that I was able to complete and his parts are pretty main stream. I would suggest his toy for everyone. It is a nice way to start your joe collection and he is pretty easy to maintain. The only parts that really break on the 80s joes are the thumbs, heels, and heads. Just be careful to get them from a toy dealer or trusted seller on ebay or look at it with your own eyes!

Background of the toy: This particular Leatherneck came to me from the Joearmory.com website. He arrived into my collection in September 2012. 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.

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.