This new Stinger features some different color shades and a new driver based on the recently released 2022 Cobra Officer. It will come in a vintage inspired box and not have the driver be a carded figure like we've seen with the Transformers releases. The price point is $33.99. After taxes and shipping, two of them will run you a little over $80 in the U.S. We'll talk about pricing more later, though. On to the vehicle itself.
The other notable point is that the Driver has wonky eyes. Now, this Driver is the same mold and paint masks as the just released Cobra Officer. And, the Officer figures had fine eyes. So, I expect this to be corrected upon release. However, the Officer does have bad knee joints that are too large to allow for a full range of motion. Again, I expect this to be corrected on the Stinger Driver. Though, I'm not convinced it will happen.
The new box back gave me a good laugh. It does not actually feature the new Stinger or its new driver. Instead, the picture on the back features a vintage Stinger with vintage Driver. It's odd for sure since the two are so visually different. I assume it was because the box back photography was already done ahead of the prototypes being available. So, they went with it. But, it's weird and reminds of the 1997 Rage box that features a hand painted 1989 Alley Viper done by a collector instead of the figure actually included in the box.
I was surprised that this vehicle was only $33.99. I figured that Hasbro would have tried $40 or more. But, at the same time, a re-released vehicle with a more expensive figure type was released at retail in 2020 and 2021 for $24.99. So, this is a $9 increase in under a year for, essentially, the same product. After the sticker shock on the Transformers vehicles and figures, though, this Stinger seemed like a bargain. That's not great. It will be interesting to see how this sells in coming weeks. As original Stingers have now gotten stupidly expensive while also turning brittle, the Stinger is a welcome addition to the Pulse line. And, I'm really glad it wasn't a Hiss Tank or FANG this time around.
After just 1 day, the Stinger sold out. This is odd as no o-ring items have ever sold out beyond Snake Eyes and Stormshadow being out before coming back into stock and then put on sale since so many are left. Hasbro mentioned limited quantities of them would be available on Pulse. So, it's pretty likely that this Stinger will show up at another retail partner at some point later in the year. I wouldn't panic if you missed it...yet.
as a long time collector I'm leaving this pulse era stuff to the kids and scalpers. im too old to be playing games with a billion plus dollar corporation chasing faux limited editions,putting in for grossly overpriced preorders, and crowd funding shitty new versions of toys I've had for decades
ReplyDeleteThe Stinger is cool, but I never liked the missile system, I much preferred the dual machine guns on the VAMP.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope this price point was not a mistake too.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Hasbro got the message with pricing.
ReplyDeleteWhat is this Stinger? By that I mean, it's apparently NOT the 25th remake, as the shovel is molded to the hood. They had one on a live stream, so it's not a digital mock-up or some such. The original Stinger molds seem to have been modded back in 2000-2001 to make the Desert Striker. Did away with the metal axles and sonic welded wheels among other things, for snap on ones.
ReplyDeleteI missed the preorder in part because i was waiting for my two pack to arrive and I refused to preorder anymore retro 3 3/4" until I had an item in hand. That was silly, but since the trooper/officer set never sold old, who knew the Stinger would? And WHY? Maybe some nutter army builders want more rows of the same vehicles or just stacks of them MIB. Maybe the run is low?
I got two. If the Stinger hits retail like the HISS did at Walmart, I would likely get more like I did with the HISS. They were two vehicles that I never had as a kid and I could never army build anything back then.
ReplyDelete"The main reason I do this, though, is because one of my great regrets is not better documenting the Joe releases of the early 2000's. Now, most of the info regarding case ratios, release dates and clearance pricing has been lost to long extinct forums."
ReplyDeleteThis is so true for such a startling amount of stuff. I wouldn't be surprised that it's hard to find info now on stuff from '01 and '02, but there's information evaporating on shit as new as 25th figures. A while ago I wanted to write about the early sample 25th Major Bludd, which had a different sculpt and articulated arm compared to the retail figure. Completely gone. Couldn't find a picture of it anywhere, despite that it was somewhat controversial in late '07 and early '08. I think some info about cancelled ROC/POC toys is starting to disappear too.
yeah, it's really bad. i was just looking at the forums on the yojoe site, and they are full of blank spaces where pictures used to be and dead links to websites that are gone.
Delete