Tuesday, November 28, 2023

2010 Convention Flint - Random Photos of the Day

About a decade ago, convention figures were just ignored.  Even the now sought after characters were cheap and unimportant.  Joe characters would sell for under $20.  I even missed the green version  of the 2010 Convention Flint that sold for about $4.  But, the stupid market of 2020 impacted convention figures more than pretty much any other group of Joe toys.  Now, even common, unliked army builders are $50 figures.  And, named characters can run over $700!  That's just ridiculous.  But, guys are hoarding figures, especially those with low production runs and there just aren't any in the market.  They're going to come in the next couple of years, though.  Until then, I'll just watch the insanity.

The parachute drop figures at the conventions were, at best, a mixed bag.  Some were great.  But, many were just outright bad.  The 2010 Convention Flint is somewhere in the middle.  If you have a liking to the character and great colors, he's great.  But, if you hate fun, you also probably hate this figure.  Which is why so few Joe collectors actually use him in any photos.

Content using this figure is pretty sparse.  There was a time when  this Flint appeared frequently enough.  But, that was 12 to 13 years ago.  Now, I can't even find enough content featuring him to fill an Around the Web post.  So, instead, I'll just drop some random photos of this Flint.  I've found he's a great complement to the under-rated 2002 Paratrooper Dusty.  And, he works well with many figures of the repaint era.  

2010 Convention Flint, 2002 Paratrooper Dusty, 2023 Ripcord, Night Force

2010 Convention Flint, 2002 Paratrooper Dusty, 2023 Ripcord, Night Force

2010 Convention Flint, 2002 Paratrooper Dusty, 2023 Ripcord, Night Force


2010 Convention Flint, 1993 Mega Marine Clutch, 1991 Badger, 1994 Dialtone




Thursday, November 23, 2023

2023 Cobra Mothership - Weekly Tracking Week 6

I was on vacation this week and missed a couple of check-ins.  Not much change, yet.  We'll see how it goes over this weekend.  I expect the needle to move some.  But, even if it doesn't, I'm still not convinced that the item won't fund.  Here's the numbers for this week:

11/18/23 - 1438 + 0
11/19/23 - 1438 + 0
11/20/23 - 
11/21/23 - 1441 + 3
11/22/23 - 
11/23/23 - 1443 + 2
11/24/23 - 1443 + 0

5 new backers this week.  Not much moving of the needle.  But, starting next week, pretty much everyone will be within their same credit card statement for the end of the campaign.  So, buying it then vs. buying it the last day won't really matter much.  We'll see if people get interested.

The upside is that, this week, Super7 clearly communicated that the Mothership was compatible with vintage o-ring figures.  They haven't shown pictures...likely because they can't.  But, this is why a quick collaboration with any toy influencer out there would be ideal. That person could show vintage Joes in  the ship and allow the photos/video to circulate online.  So, there's more that could be done.  

Super7, Cobra Mothership, 2023, Haslab, Cobra Commander, Cobra Trooper


Tuesday, November 21, 2023

1989 Downtown - Around The Web

I'll always believe that Downtown started his life as an updated Short Fuse.  The similarities are just too great.  The one difference, though, is that Downtown is a pretty good figure.  He has interesting and unique colors, the sculpt is top notch and his accessories blow away  those from the 1982 Mortar Trooper.  Despite all this, the figure lives in obscurity.  While there's some nice content on the figure out there, you really don't hear much about Downtown or see him as a major character in too many collections.

The figure's quality lends it to photography.  And, you'll see that some folks in the links have really been able to showcase just how awesome Downtown can be.  So, check them out below!

1989 Downtown Profile

1989 Downtown by retroworld_n

1989 Downtown by thedustinmccoy

1989 Downtown by g.i.boyz

1989 Downtown by gijoebarcelona

1989 Downtown by Hit and Run

1989 Downtown by elevatemetoahigherhumanform

1989 Downtown by dantedmc37

1989 Downtown by thedustinmccoy

1989 Downtown by jogunwarrior

1989 Downtown by evilface

1991 Super Sonic Fighters Rock and Roll, 1989 Downdown


Saturday, November 18, 2023

1991 Sci Fi - Around The Web

The 1991 Sci Fi is a rather popular figure.  Really, he solves for pretty much all of the criticisms of the 1986 debut figure.  This later redesign features a removable helmet, smaller rifle and an overall sculpt that is less bulky than the original.  In all, the figure is a strong update to a character who isn't all that high on most collectors' lists.

There's some nice content featuring the figure out there, though.  For many collectors, the figure is their laser trooper.  And, all the figure's gear allows for some cool posing.  You'll see a bunch of these in the photos and content below.

1991 Sci Fi Profile

1991 Sci Fi by viper_space

1991 Sci Fi by evilface

1991 Sci Fi by TunnelRat

1991 Sci Fi by gijoe_c4_panama

1991 Sci Fi by albafica

1991 Sci Fi by Slipstream80

1991 Sci Fi by gvilla74

1991 Sci Fi by cowledcollector

1991 Sci Fi, Super Sonic Fighters Zap

1991 Sci Fi


1991 Sci Fi, 1986 Conquest, 1994 Star Brigade Ozone


Friday, November 17, 2023

2023 Cobra Mothership - Weekly Tracking Week 5

This week, Super7 did some promotion for the Mothership.  Their Twitter account starting posting some new pics of the toy.  It showed just how big the ship actually is.  And, they showed off some of the interior of the ship.  They promoted the 5 figure army building packs.  And, they appeared on a podcast.  The result of all this effort was...little.  After gaining only 4 backers last week.  It gained 7 backers this week: three of those occurring on Friday afternoon.  Not a great return.  But, at least it was free promotion instead of paid shilling.

I missed a day this week.  Just got busy.  I expect the same to happen next week with the holiday.  But, with only 7 backers in a week, the daily totals become less important.  For now, the only real value in the tracking of the numbers is to see if the 10% in the first week and 90% in the last week comes true.  We'll see.

Here's the breakdown:

11/11/23 - 1431 + 0
11/12/23 - 1433 + 2
11/13/23 - 1433 + 0
11/14/23 - 
11/15/23 - 1435 + 2
11/16/23 - 1435 + 0
11/17/23 - 1438 + 3

Next week is Thanksgiving in the US. Typically, the Friday of that week is the biggest shopping day of the year and the day that people often commit to big gifts.  So, I don't expect the needle to move much next week since I'll post an update early on Friday.  But, the week after, that will cover Black Friday and Cyber Monday, should see an uptick from people who want to gift this item to themselves directly or by proxy.  And, we should be within the next credit card statement date for most people, meaning that ordering it over next weekend vs. waiting for December should still get the charges on the same statement.  After that, we'll have about 2 weeks left in the campaign.  I still expect a surge on the final day.  We'll see if it's enough to make this thing come to fruition.

Super7, Cobra Mothership, Haslab

Super7, Cobra Mothership, Haslab