G. I. Joe Retaliation Roadblock 2012

Professor blog: 000007 Subject: Roadblock Brand of product: Retaliation Original Release year: 2012

This particular Roadblock was part of the first wave of the G. I. Joe Retaliation movie toy line. He comes with a missile launcher, a missile, a shoulder piece and a weapon that mounts on the shoulder. This figure was based off of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He is also bigger than most of the other G. I. Joes. The average G. I. Joe, since 2009, is about 4” tall. This figure is actually a tiny big bigger than the others, giving the impression that he is massive.

Now, to be perfectly honest, this figure was a big bust for the movie line up. He looked good and impressive for a toy but he had some serious flaws. The first flaw is that his right hand has a fake gun molded into it so it is technically useless. You can not do anything with it but pretend to punch people. The next big thing is that he has no ankle joints. This is a very tedious thing if you are trying to use that big bulky shoulder gun. One thing to notice about the Retaliation line is that they changed the file cards. We changed from a detailed biography with information about their life to these… tiny card things with little to no information. I included a picture of what Hasbro considers the new bio cards. The last one is the saddest one. The first and second wave of the G. I. Joe Retaliation line actually had no figure stands. This was unique for the modern G. I. Joe toys. Every modern Joe came with a figure stand since 2009.

Now this particular joe is modeled off of Mr. Johnson. He looks quite amazing if you take the looks into account. He is one of the only toys that was specifically designed to look like the real actor (the other being Joe Colton / Bruce Willis). Now, even though this figure is quite bad, they released another toy for the Rock that is quite good. That is the 2012 Ninja Dojo set. That version of him is quite good and has articulated feet as well.

Background of the toy: This particular Roadblock came to me unopen from Walmart. He arrived into my collection in September 2012. He has no breaks or chips and his paint looks amazing. He is complete and has all of his paper work and weapons. He is the proper color and has no damage.

Official Hasbro images of the new Dinobot toys

Hasbro released images of the official Dinobot toys. The toys are for the Age of Extinction line up and it looks like they did some changes. Swoop has been renamed Strafe, Slag is renamed Slug (which has been done in a few other Transformers issues), and we are missing Sludge and Snarl! It looks like we still have five Dinobots but two of the original members have been replaced. Was this a Hasbro move or the writers of Age of Extinction? No one truely knows. The two new Dinos that we have are Scorn and Slash. Will they be Autobots? Only the movie will tell. The real question is on how this movie will change the value of our beloved Generation one dinobots. Will Grimlock, Swoop and Slag get another price rise? Pictures from Hasbro's official press release.

Toy Fair 2014 Kreo sets for G. I. Joe

Hasbro has announced the next sets of the G. I. Joe Kreo line up. Hasbro has thrown its muscle behind the Kreo brand and it looks like it has been a huge success. Fans have cried for years that Hasbro will never make a new Terrordrome and here we go! This Kreo line up looks beautiful. I did not acquire pictures of the singles packs but those will come as soon as I see them. The pictures are from of Hasbro.

HIT NEWS! G. I. JOE ANNOUNCES AND DISPLAYS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY TOYS!

Here is the 50th Anniversary G. I. Joe toys coming out soon. You will notice that almost 1/2 of these toys were cancelled toys in the 2012 G. I. Joe display case for their "vault." This is the perfect collection for fans because like the Kwinn and Data viper of 2013, we assumed that these toys would never hit the shelves. It looks like Hasbro is going to reuse Low-Light, Snow Job and Blowtorch from the Pursuit of Cobra lines with little to no changes. As a fan who did not want to pay the $60+ for the rare Low Light in the P.O.C. line up, this is perfect for us! All of these pictures are from the Toy Fair of 2014 and brought to us by the G. I. Joe Collector's club.

G. I. Joe Star Brigade Lobotomaxx 1994

Professor blog: 000006 Subject: Lobotomaxx Brand of product: Star Brigade Original Release year: 1994

In order to properly appreciate Lobotomaxx you need to know a few things. The first thing is that he was released in 1994. This means that he was one of the last G. I. Joes to get released before Hasbro cancelled the original 3 ¾” toy line. The next thing is that Lobotomaxx belonged to the Star Brigade line up. This series produced some of the rarest joes ever in the U.S.A. They are not rarer than the mail in Joes but they are rare enough for me to mention.

Lobotomaxx was one of three alien monsters that the Joes were fighting in space. Why do you ask why the entire team of G. I. Joe had to fight three monsters? Well it is either because Cobra recruited these monsters for diabolical reasons or that someone from Hasbro let an intern do a design story and got himself fired shortly after sending in the final drafts for the toy bios. The story is indeed kind of stupid but they were scheduled to release more monster toys in 1995 but Hasbro discontinued the toy line. So we get three. They are Carcass, Lobotomass, and Predacon. For those Transformer fans out there, you will notice the last one. Hasbro continued the copy righted word into G.I. Joe to preserve it and then back to Beast Wars to reuse it.

Now Lobotomaxx is one of the cooler looking G. I. Joe toys. He is also one of the rarer ones as well. Sadly he is one of the most unposeable toys I have ever dealt with. He comes with a tail that is barely moveable. His legs are neat but very… solid. The only real pose this figure can do is in one spot. Now we normally make fun of Hasbro’s 1992, 1993, and 1994 color choices for their G. I. Joes. They are neon and all kinds of other horrible color schemes. This toy actually has a color scheme that works in his favor. He looks like a bounty hunter with armor. The look Hasbro wanted! Now on a quick note, his weapons are the same weapons that were used in all of 1993. They are almost identical to the Dr. Mindbender set for 1993. If you decide to get this toy, I suggest you do it because it is rare and unique. I do not suggest attempting to play with him. You will be pretty disappointed. Now this figure has a cousin in the rare Mexican version. I do not have comparison shots but I suggest to google him if you are interested in international G. I. Joes.

Background of the toy: This particular Lobotomaxx came unopened from 2012’s G. I. Joe Convention in New Orleans. He arrived into my collection in the middle of 2012. He has no breaks or chips. His weapons are all accounted for.

Transformers Action Masters Prowl with Turbo Cycle 1990

Professor blog: 000005 Subject: Prowl with Turbo Cycle Brand of product: Action Masters Original Release year: 1990

From everything I have experienced, I feel confident enough to say that most collectors consider Action Masters the death of the Transformers original toy line. They came late to the game and were basically Transformers that did not transform. Because of this reasoning, most collectors won’t even buy the toys. It is sad to see such great looking toys go to waste.

Now, all the Action Masters had a little gimmick. Prowl’s gimmick is that he comes with a cool bike that transforms! I would have shown pictures of this transformation but the plastic on the bike is brittle with age. Luckily for all of us, we have the pictures of the box to give the idea. The bike turns into a gun turret. It actually looks pretty cool. I do not suggest for you to attempt it unless your toy is in a semi-non brittle state. Prowl comes with his bike, two missiles, a gun turret on the bike, his instructions and a sticker sheet.

Now the only thing Prowl can do is stand there. His only articulation is his shoulders, his head and his knees. His legs can spread a little but nothing to really brag about. Some genius at Hasbro thought it was funny to give him square thigh joints to his crotch. This makes it to where he can’t even sit down. Well the good thing is that, even if your joints are loose and floppy, Prowl will still stand strong!

The art work on his box is beautiful. It screams Generation one with pure nostalgia. It shows various other Action Masters and gives a little bio for Prowl and explains why they can’t transform. It pretty much states that they gave up their abilities for more power. Then they gave those abilities to cars, etc. Odd story but clearly different. This was probably the first truly hated concept in Transformers history. Fans have kept that hatred strong with each new branch of the franchise. It has spread from Beast Wars to Michael Bay’s movies but these were the original hated guys. It always pays to be the original!

Background of the toy: This particular Action Masters Prowl came opened, complete with even the box, instructions and in great shape. I acquired him off a gentleman from Craigslist. He arrived into my collection in September of 2013. He has no breaks or chips. His weapons are all accounted for. He is the proper color and comes with his original stickers still attached.

G. I. Joe Retaliation Joe Colton 2013

Professor blog: 000004 Subject: Joe Colton Brand of product: Retaliation Original Release year: 2013

Joe Colton was one of the main stars in the G.I. Joe Retaliation movie. He was played by Bruce Willis and is one of the only characters besides Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson that was purposely made to look almost exactly like the movie star in real life. The other toys resemble their actors / actresses but this looks more like the actor than a G. I. Joe. This was one of those joes that was a hit item because of the actor. Because of this, Hasbro took some considerations and gave us cheap weapons. We have your regular movie launcher, the last G. I. Joe movie made these so famous, an orange gun and a few regular guns. Now it was extremely disappointing to get another Joe with a launcher but I will cut this one some slack. It was pretty cool to get a Bruce Willis G. I. Joe. We only got a few joes based off of real people and we get the Rock and Bruce in almost the same set. Now the rock has a good figure and a bad figure so we lucked out that they only made one Bruce. Now the best advice I can give for these joes is to ignore the launcher. You will actually frustrate yourself with these things. Bruce is best with his two hand guns and shotgun!

Now the figure only has two major flaws. He can barely move those ankles and he does not come with a stand. Hasbro tried to do away with the stands in this line up and infuriated fans everywhere. They got people so mad that their sales actually tanked. That’s pretty impressive in my book. Now they reintroduced the stands in the next set but that’s another story. Now this figure would be good besides those two details. He is very well painted and resembles Bruce to the letter. You will notice, once you get your hands on a figure, that those brown straps next to his shoulders make it pretty hard to move his arms up. If you feel like removing them, you will have to take the figure apart. It is best to just leave them. This figure is a good buy for anyone who likes joes. The Retaliation sets one and two were pretty disappointing but this was one of the golden eggs of the second set. I recommend it for everyone. What can you say? For everything that is wrong with the figure, having a 3 ¾” Bruce Willis really makes up for it!

Background of the toy: This particular Joe Colton came unopened from Toys R Us. He arrived into my collection in early 2013. He has no breaks or chips. His weapons are all accounted for.