2005 Heavy Assault Squad Snake Eyes

The 2000's brought us a great many failures within the Joe line.  The line flopped at retail several times.  Individual products could pegwarm at unprecedented levels.  And, Hasbro's commitment to making quality products was often called into question.  But, there were good times, too.  There are several figures from that era who stand apart.  Most were nice updates of more obscure character molds.  A shining example is the 2005 Heavy Assault Squad Snake Eyes figure.  All told, this is, probably, the best paint job of this 1991 Snake Eyes repaint.  While it's far from perfect, the HAS Snake Eyes figure features decent colors and a useful purpose.  

The HAS Snake Eyes is something different for the character.  While he retains the signature black color, it's not prevalent all over the figure's body.  The pants, most noticeably, are grey and blue.  (The blue is a bit too close to Cobra blue, though.)  The cammo pattern is a bit distracting.  It's the same set of paint masks as were used on the 2004 Desert Patrol Snake Eyes: just done in different colors.  The figure's upper half is the exact same as the Desert Patrol figure.  So, this Snake Eyes felt overly familiar upon its release.  Thirteen years later, those similarities remain, but they are less fresh in the collective mind of the Joe community.  

Accessory wise, this figure is terrible.  The HAS set was useful in that it dropped a ton of accessories into one set and gave collectors a quick way to gets lots of extra weapons.  But, this was also bad since most of the weapons included with the set were awful.  Snake Eyes was given a Snow Job rifle and a Major Bludd rocket launcher.  The gear was not matched to the characters in the set so you're left with a good Snake Eyes figure with no real weapons that help define his character.

The hallmark of the 1982, 1985 and 1989 Snake Eyes figures was signature gear that complemented and enhanced the figure.  While the 1991 figure featured a poorly colored gun and sword, the gear was still unique to the character.  This HAS Snake Eyes lost that personalized touch that was so evident with the weapons from his prior releases.  So, you're left to the aftermarket to outfit the figure.  Fortunately, easily found 1989 Snake Eyes weapons are a good figure for this figure.  And, if you can find them, you can get a golden version of the 1991 sword and gun from the Night Fighter Guile figure.  The figure even works with an Iron Grenadiers Uzi.  It's not great that you have to go to the aftermarket to get some worthwhile gear for a full factory release.  But, this was pretty much Hasbro's standard in 2004 and 2005 and collectors came to expect it.  (The one big upside is that Hasbro's laziness with weapons helped to spawn Marauder's Gun Runners who did brisk business during this time releasing nice weapons that were far better fits for the retail G.I. Joe figures than anything Hasbro came up with.)

For me, this Snake Eyes is an encapsulation of the early 2000's era of G.I. Joe.  He was a product made for collectors, marketed to collectors and sold to collectors.  Yet, he didn't feel like a collector geared figure.  In the end, this Snake Eyes feels somewhat cluttered.  It's a fun take on Snake Eyes and it's nice to get the character in a different mold.  But, the lack of gear and somewhat offset color scheme take away from what could have been a solid release.  Hasbro made the HAS set as cheaply as possible.  I would have rather that they dropped one figure and released 5 better figures instead of 6 figures that were all flawed.  But, that didn't happen and it left collectors very frustrated.  One of the reasons that the ARAH style exclusive sets started to fail was for that reason.  Every set had so much unrealized potential and all had one flaw that simply made no sense.  

As a mold, this figure got no use and then got a ton of use.  The first Snake Eyes to utilize the mold was released in 1991.  This figure was not carried into 1992, though, and was rather obscure for many of the early years of online Joe collecting.  The 1995 Night Fighter Guile that utilized the body was even moreso.  The figure didn't reappear in any form until 2004.  The entire body first appeared in the fall when the Desert Patrol set featured a full 1991 Snake Eyes, but painted in better colors.  Then, the head appeared on the amazing Winter Operations Snake Eyes.  (This figure is one of the top ARAH style Joes Hasbro created in the 2000's for sure!)  While this HAS figure isn't bad, the tan pants are a different look for Snake Eyes and keep this figure from being the definitive release of the mold.  In the summer of 2005, this HAS Snake Eyes appeared.  The mold was then retired.  While it might have been cool to finally get a definitive repaint of the mold in a DTC or convention release, that was not to be.  But, the mold has all good releases and there's enough untapped potential for an enterprising collector to kitbash together better figures without much effort.

The HAS set had a production run of around 16,000 pieces.  It's release window, though, did not help it at all.  The set appeared after the infamous 2005 G.I. Joe Convention.  You know, the one where Hasbro pulled the set from their display after collector backlash and claimed it was an early sample not ready for public consumption.  Mind you, the EXACT set appeared at retail just a couple of weeks later.  By the time the set was released, Hasbro had succeeded in killing off any remaining interest in the Joe property.  The sets stagnated both at retail and online.  Most collectors decided to wait the set out and see if they could get it on clearance.  And, many did.  Amazon.com blew their remaining stock out for a fraction of the original price.  The set actually sold off faster than some of the Cobra army building sets that were also clearanced.  But, that's more likely a function of Amazon having greater inventory of the Cobras (Hasbro made 20,000 of the Cobra sets during this time compared to only 16,000 of the Joe sets.) than the HAS being more popular than the Crimson Shadow Guard or the Imperial Processional.  

You don't see nearly as many loose Toys R Us six pack figures as you used to.  And, as such, you will see dealers offering this figure for around $25 and actually selling a few to impatient collectors.  If you're willing to wait, you can often get the figure for around $6, though.  And, if you want a loose set and find a lot with in there, you can get the Snake Eyes even cheaper.  Boxed HAS sets will sell in the $50 range...making $25 for just the Snake Eyes a somewhat foolish purchase.  It's a far cry from the days of $6 sets online.  But, more than a decade separates us from this figure's release and the massive overstock bought at clearance prices has now been either dispersed or lost in some former collector's basement.  

1994 Joseph Colton - Around the Web

The final mail away of the vintage line was the first character who established the G.I. Joe universe: Joseph Colton.  At the time, this figure was highly sought after and quickly became a favorite of 12" Joe collectors who wanted the character in all his forms.  Since then, the demand for this figure was sated with the massive amounts of overstock that were left over from the original mail away.  But, the figure still holds a cachet.  The fact that it's a high quality mold certainly helps it out.  He's a decently popular character.  Here's the best of him from around the web.

Joseph Colton Profile

Joseph Colton Mail Away Insert

Joseph Colton Diorama

Joseph Colton Video Review

Joseph Colton at JoeADay.com

Joseph Colton at 3DJoes.com

Joseph Colton at Retro Reaction

2004 Vypra (Version 2) - Ninja Strike

In the early 2000's, army building was all the rage.  Collectors army built any figure with "Viper" in the name and pretty much everything else that had a Cobra logo, too.  By 2004, though, Hasbro had finally started to catch up with army building demands of the collecting community.  By the 2nd half of the year, collectors had seen cheap Bats, a nice Python Patrol set, retail army building two pack, a Crimson Guard body mail away, the long awaited and insanely popular Cobra Infantry and a nice pack of Urban army builders and characters.  There were also ridiculous amount of army building figures, two packs and single carded figures for those who preferred the Joe vs. Cobra sculpts, too.  The calvacade of troopers didn't end as Hasbro ended the year with a Cobra themed ninja pack.  In the set were 5 army builders: 3 repaints of the V1 Stormshadow and 2 repaints of Jinx, named Vypra.

In 1998, Hasbro released the first Vypra figure.  She was a radically different repaint of Jinx and wasn't hated by the collecting world.  (The notion of Jinx as a Cobra had been inserted into the Joe mythos with an early 90's DeSimone Convention figure, too.)  She collected dust at Toys R Us stores into 2000.  By 2001, though, Vypra had taken on a new life through fan fiction, dio-stories and other medium.  The 1998 figure had gotten stupidly expensive and hard to find.  For many collectors, Vypra was annoying since they had passed her by dozens of times at retail, only to now see the figure selling for insane amounts.  No doubt, Hasbro saw this too and took advantage of a chance to get a similar character back out to retail.

As a character, though, this Vypra has no relevance to the original figure.  This character is one of a set of twins who guard the Arashikage mystic sword forge.  All but the last line of the filecard is about the swordmaster and his amazing swords.  Vypra and her sister guard the forge.  There is no mention of why they work for Cobra and wear Cobra sigils on their uniforms.  The entirety of the figure's filecard rehashes a comic book arc from about 15 years prior to the figure's release and doesn't bother to explain why these sisters share a name with another Cobra nor why Cobra owns the swordsmithery.  The sisters are also not, technically, army builders.  They are unique characters who have an army of two.  But, with as horrible as the 2000's era filecards were, there was little chance that collectors were going to head them and be content with just the two figures.

Really, the who thing is kind of silly.  But, the explanation is that it was 2004 and Hasbro was starting to give up on G.I. Joe.  The brand managers of the time hated vintage style figures and wished they would go away.  Meanwhile, the new sculpts for 2004 had backed up at retail and pretty much everyone knew the line's second coming was nearing its end.  You can see the lack of effort the team put into the products as you follow the chronology.  The 2003 Toys R Us offerings were pretty great.  The first four 6 figure pack exclusives for 2004 had great figures, but relatively poor weapon choices.  By the time these Ninjas and the Desert Strike set were released, the figures were getting as lazy as the accessories.  In 2005, the sets turned into an embarrassing mess that not even Hasbro would admit to.  So, we're left with these figures without a decent explanation of who they are or why they affiliate with Cobra.

As for the Vypra figure...I'm of mixed opinions.  At her core, seeing the mold in colors so similar to Jinx seems highly derivative and unimaginative.  Both figures could have been done in Cobra blue, all black or even white to make them more distinctive than the original character for which the mold was created.  The artistic prints on the figures, though, are fairly well done.  The masks are intricate, voluminous and in line with the character.  But, we know that paint masks comprised a huge part of every set's expense during the 2000's.  (It was actually second behind packaging costs.)  So, all of the Ninja Strike's budget went into these paint masks.  This meant that there was less money to improve Stormshadow or even include some more interesting accessories like a new set of 1984 Stormshadow gear with any of the three V1 Stormshadow molded figures in the set.

While I can appreciate the paints masks on this figure, I feel that the money could have been better spent making the whole set more appealing and enduring.  15 years later, the Stormshadow figures are all but forgotten: replaced by better factory custom figures that were free of Hasbro's limitations.  The 1988 Stormshadow isn't a release most collectors would even recall.  It was a terrible design for Stormshadow and the colors fell flat.  Had the set made a few key improvements in paint applications and included better gear, it could be held in regard with things like the Anti-Venom set where collectors still appreciate the entire effort since it was mostly done right.

One big issue with the Ninja Strike set in general is the figure quality.  For some reason, the quality slipped a bit with this set.  The figures feature tight joints, easily rubbed paint and will have frozen rivets hindering movement.  It's very noticable when you compare a figure from this set with a figure from the Urban Strike, Desert Patrol or Anti-Venom sets which produced around the same time.  Collectors of the day noticed right away.  And, more than one collector stopped buying their army since they had no desire to acquire tons of poor quality figures.  At the time, you could accomplish that far better figure releases from Funskool.

Vypra's accessories are somewhat lame.  Her weapons are a black version of the 1989 Snake Eyes sword and a pair of nunchuks from the Ninja Force era of figures.  While you can't disparage the fact that she includes ninja type weapons, the complement of gear seems haphazard and lazy.  Despite two Jinx molds in the mix, the set did not include any of Jinx's original gear.  And, since they had used her gear in 2003, we know it was available to Hasbro.  She also includes a long skirt.  Here, the paint masks really come out.  The visual of the figure wearing it helps differentiate her from Jinx.  But, the skirt is very rigid plastic and greatly hinders the figure's movement.  It's a situation where appearance reigns over function.

In the early 2000's, female figures were still seen as collector bait.  As the Joe line was short on overall female figure options, all the females that Hasbro had available saw re-release after re-release.  The Jinx mold was no different.  After the 1998 Vypra release, Jinx returned as a member of Tiger Force in 2003.  In the summer of 2004, Jinx's body was used for the Comic Pack Scarlett.  These two Vypra releases finished off the mold and Jinx never appeared again.  (For Jinx fans, though, there is also the vintage version from 1987 and two variants of Sonya Blade that use Jinx's body, but a new head and different feet on the movie version.)  While there was always more that could have been done with a vintage figure mold, Hasbro got their money from Jinx and fans of the mold have far more to collect than exists with other characters of Jinx's release year.

It's hard to get a gauge on this Vypra's pricing.  It seems you can get loose, mint and complete Ninja Strike sets sell in the $40 range.  Yet, the 2 Vypras alone will often set you back $30.  This version, alone, seems to sell in the $13-$15 range if she is complete and has the filecard.  Since the Red Ninja Vipers aren't bad and the Black Dragon Ninja has some uses, too, it seems that its far more economical to just buy a full, loose set.  Hasbro made around 20,000 of these sets.  And, while they sold out at retail during the 2004 holiday season, they were never hard to find and any collector who wanted a set or six could easily find them both in stores and online.

For me, this figure is rather insignificant.  Jinx has never really resonated with me.  And, this figure just looks like Jinx with a paint job that ate up all the development money from this set and cost me decent Stormshadow gear for the better figures.  If I want to use a Vypra, I'll use the 1998 figure since it's something different.  But, lots of collectors love this figure.  That's why they still sell for a decent premium today.  The paint masks are intricate and show what Hasbro was capable of doing when they actually tried.  But, Joe interest was dying off as 2004 turned to 2005 and sets like this Ninja Strike were part of the reason why.  The set seemed so great and then delivered so little when it actually was released to collectors.

2008 SDCC Cobra Commander - Around The Web

With San Diego Comic Con going on this weekend, it was a perfect time to look back at the time, ten years ago, when Hasbro dropped an awesome G.I. Joe exclusive at the show.  While this figure's body was from an Indiana Jones figure, the overall look for the early Cobra Commander worked out pretty well.

This figure isn't nearly as popular now as it was upon its release.  So, there isn't that much content on him left out there.  But, here's the best of him from around the web.

SDCC Cobra Commander Profile

SDCC Cobra Commander at JoeADay.com

SDCC Cobra Commander at CoolToyReview

SDCC Cobra Commander at HissTank.com

2000 Law - Around the Web

When Hasbro released the ARAHC figures in 2000, collectors were ecstatic to see Joe return to retail.  The first wave featured almost all excellent repaints of figures that collectors wanted to see.  The Law repaint is a substantially different look for the character.  I won't say it's better than the 1987 version since that release is iconic.  But, it probably is.

Here's the little of him from around the web.

2000 Law Profile

Law Dio 1

Law at GeneralsJoes.com

Law Dio 2