New Figure Time, It’s G.I. Joe’s 2008 Wave 5
After long weeks and lots of speculation, Hasbro FINALLY has new G.I. Joes to show us. Thank Krom, it’s been way too long. They debuted the images on G.I. Joe Club.com, but I posted the images here and provided my super important thoughts.
Hawk
I feel like I’m going to divide half my G.I. Joe audience, but I’m sorry. Hawk was always a secondary character to me. Growing up, Duke was the leader of G.I. Joe and Cobra had a number one single with “Cold Slither”.
Bazooka
Holy crap on a cracker, I need this guy. Bazooka is the lovable oaf that I’d love to adopt like a stray dumb puppy. Now they just need to make Alpine so I can create some of the greatest comedic moments from the show.
Barbecue
I was never really into Barbecue, but this version looks fugging kick ass. Speaking of Barbecue, someone was questioning his usefulness on a forum that I frequent. I think the fact that he’s armed with an ax and a flame thrower is answer enough.
B.A.T.
B.A.T. troopers are super sweet. Any respectable evil army must have robots in its ranks and the B.A.T.s fill in nicely for the forces of Cobra. They also can be blown up and sliced in half, something you really can’t do to human foes in a cartoon meant for kiddies. FYI: The first thing I’m going to say after I release the B.A.T. from his packaging is, “I AM A STABBING ROBOT!”
Snow Serpent
I like snow and I like serpents, but I’m not really feeling this guy. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a great sculpt. I just am not hot with the fur parts of his costume and I never have been. Still, my Snowjob is feeling awfully lonely in the cold…
Storm Shadow
Oh boy! Another Storm Shadow variant!!!!111
That’s sarcasm kids. This time he’s black, which makes a little more sense to have him black for concealment purposes, but if I wanted a black Storm Shadow I would have painted him myself. Please Hasbro, don’t turn Storm Shadow into the next Wolverine. I used to really like him until he appeared in every single Marvel comic published ever.
April 8th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Point of Nerd Info: BBQ is a fire-fighter, and that’s a fire-suppression thingamabob he carries, not a flamethrower. Still, your point is taken; he has obvious uses. Mostly looking cool.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:43 am
I’m stoked for this wave if only for Bazooka.
As for the others. I agree on Hawk. I guess it comes from only caring about the show when I was younger. Frankly, I don’t remember who Hawk is at all. (I’m still collecting up the original 13 in their remake forms)
Bazooka and Barbecue. I’ve wanted these guys to be made fro a while. I got frustrated when they started to show off the last few waves of repaints, variants and general lameness. I completely assumed I’d be dropping the line due to the next two or three waves being devoid of anything I cared about buying.
The BAT is kind of cool but I really like my Cobra soldiers.
I agree on the Snow Serpent. Hes’ kind of meh but Snow job (and other possibly future Snow joes) are lonely.
And Storm Shadow as the next Wolverine? Haven’t we gotten like 10 Snake Eyes in this line so far? If anything he can make a fun “Black Ninja” generic to complement the “Red Ninjas”.
April 8th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
LBM, in my mind he’s a fireman… much like Ray Bradbarry’s 451 characters were firemen. heh
Josh, thanks for the comment. You could make an argument for either Snake Eyes or Storm shadow being Wolverine. They’ve both had just about as many variations. I think there are at 8 Storm Shadows due total so far and seven Snake Eyes figures out or due out, but maybe I’m missing a few…
April 8th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Hawk looks like he’s 12.
If you push a button, does he say, “I’m a big boy?”
April 9th, 2008 at 2:55 am
Don’t feel too bad: even those of us who recognize the clear superiority of the comicbooks don’t think much of Hawk. Until he showed up in this costume, I don’t think ANYONE knew who he was. And at least the cartoons had the good sense to give him brown hair, so he didn’t look like Duke’s twin brother.
Other than Black Storm Shadow (what’s the story on that one, anyway?) this line looks to be all killer, no filler…
April 9th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
The story on the Black Storm Shadow is that he’s a nod to “Ninja Ku” (an international repaint of SS, with darker skin) much the way the Red Ninja is a nod to “Sei-tin.” Word is that the filecard will somehow incorporate “Ninja Ku” in some way, perhaps as a third Ninja clan, along with the Arashikage and the Red. Since the rest of the wave is so awesome, I don’t think it’s a big deal. And, as straight repaints go, the black with the gold weapons is pretty sweet.
April 10th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Oh yeah, it does look quite sharp - it’s just that I, you know, already have a Stormshadow. I didn’t buy any of the Red Ninjas either, and I’m familiar with them from the comics…
April 10th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Well, I have 8 Red Ninjas, so I won’t be opposed to adding a “Ninja-Ku/Black SS” or two to break up the color scheme. I think it’s a sweet repaint, but I totally understand if people aren’t interested in ‘em.