GI Joe Sci-Fi 30th Anniversary/Renegades Action Figure Review

One of the longest running 1:18 scale figure lines has to be GI Joe. When people compare lines like Marvel Universe or Microman they often use the term "Joe-scale". Over the years Hasbro has bumped up the overall quality of the line. Here we take a look at a fan favorite, GI Joe laser trooper Sci-Fi. His package is the same as usual and he's shipped along with some GI Joe Renegades characters. The card art makes him look strikingly similar to Robocop in the mouth and facial expression department. STOP CREEP.

Sculpt for Sci-Fi is out of this world, if you'll excuse the pun. He does have re-use parts as do all of the current offerings and removing his vest reveals the Arctic Snake Eyes body and upper legs. But his head, helmets, and other parts are unique. They look incredibly detailed such as the armor plating on his legs and battery packs plugged into his thighs. The facial work and balaclava hood underneath stand out as they could have just molded him in-helmet.

Articulation for Sci-Fi is excellent. He has all the range of motion you'd expect from a Gi Joe including hinged wrists to aid in his laser-accuracy. Even though he's sporting some heavy gear and hoses there's no sacrifice in movement. Paint apps are detailed and tho he's mainly neon-green plastic there's two tones of silver, black straps, and other details that are painted with no slop at all.

Sci Fi's has not one but TWO helmets, one with the blast shield halfway up and fully closed. One could use the closed helmet for a trooper or biker custom easily and this was a great addition. His battery backpack and gun have little red dots where you connect the hose, perhaps meant as fiber optic? The sculpt on the laser rifle is great and it stores on his pack. There's plenty of paint work on the accessories which is surprising, good job Hasbro.

The verdict? I really have to say this is my favorite figure of the series so far. He has the nostalgia factor as I owned the original as a kid, comes in bright colors that still mix well, the updated design is fantastic, and all that combined with a great base body makes Sci-Fi a character to own. Our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store had him in stock but he disappears quickly. Amazon has him at a decent price and you might get lucky at a Walgreens or CVS pharmacy as they still stock this line at the time of this review.

Big Bad Toy Store's GI Joe "Dreadnoks" Exclusive battle Set review

Here we have part 2 of BBTS' exclusive GI Joe sets, the Dreadnoks Battle Set. Like the Slaughter's Marauders set in the last review you get 7 figures but this time they're all new characters to the lines with no repeats. Zanzibar, Burn Out, Clyde "Gnaw" Hyde, Road Pig, Thunder, Zandar, and Zanya have never had modern figures made as of yet. They all however are original Dreadnoks members tho Thunder's name use to be Thrasher and Clyde was Gnawgahyde, name changes usually being copyright cases. Either way you get 7 brand new figures.

Sculpting on all of these are top notch and it really shows in the brand new headsculpts. From Road Pig's scowl to Zanzibar's facial scars, every detail can be seen. Zanya, Zartan's daughter has an excellent sculpted head of dreads as does Burn Out. Dreadlocks are often very hard to capture sculpt-wise and here we see them in minute 1:18 scale done right. The bodies while re-uses are matched perfectly and have great sculpted detail.

Articulation is the same across each figure with no major surprises. All the Dreadnoks have the same range of motion and points of articulation. While there are no hinged wrists here there's also no weird knees. Each character can pose just about any way you'd need them to in battle or stealing someone's vehicle. Some characters have long gloves that turn fully while others turn at the wrist. These variations in articulation add a little extra touch to the characters that have them like Thunder and Zanya.

As mentioned earlier each body is a mix of re-used parts but were picked perfectly by Hasbro to represent the character. The battle-cut Storm Shadow body was used for Zanzibar where so the cuts match his facial scars. Zandar's upper arms are Zartan's, fitting as he's his brother. Re-uses like this save Hasbro on tooling costs keeping the cost of figures down while giving us a brand new character.

Paint apps are top notch in this set and there's a lot of detail on the accessories/removable clothing as well. Zanzibar and Road Pig have detailed arm tattoos, the fur on Clyde's vest is highlighted, and every piercing on Zanya's face are painted on along with some great fishnet arm stocking design. The color choices for Zandar may seem a bit on the pastel side but that's how the vintage character looked, tho his scarf is huge this time around.

The character backstories on the back of the box are well written and informative. This reveals that nobody really likes Road Pig that much and Clyde likes to cover himself in rancid hog fat. To keep his scent hidden while poaching of course. You get seven stands included in the box and the figures are easily removed. Their weapons may give you trouble as some are tiny and taped in well.

Speaking of weapons the assortment in this set is amazing. Burn Out's flamethrower gear and sawed off shotgun, Zanzibar's flintlock and cutlass, to Road Pig's Brick hammer are all sculpted and painted great. Road Pig's brick is so well detailed it could pass as the real thing and the removable clothing that characters like he and Thunder wear have cool metallic scuffing. Clyde has a removable back knife and Zanzibar can stow three of his weapons on his person in various holsters and sheathes. This is always a bonus.

So what's the verdict? This set is even cooler than the Marauders one. You get 7 brand new figures all with a ton of great accessories, nicely painted and articulated for only $49. You have to order them from Big Bad Toy Store directly because they're an exclusive set but at this price you're paying less than retail for each figure. My favorite of this set is Road Pig. Everyone I knew owned him as a kid and his cinder block hammer was iconic for the character. So head over to BBTS and get your set while they're still in stock because popular characters like Zander, Zanzibar, and Road Pig will have it sold out quickly.

Big Bad Toy Store's Exclusive GI Joe "Slaughter's Marauders" Battle Set Review

GI Joe is a military staple in action figures and has been since its creation. The smaller 3 3/4" figures have an assortment of vehicles and bases which the 12" ones couldn't justify for a decent price. Today I cover Big Bad Toy Store's exclusive battle set of Slaughter's Marauders. This review is going to be longer than others because the set contains 7 figures, some characters you have and some brand new to the line. I will also be doing part 2 of the review later which covers BBTS' Dreadnok's battle set.

The sculpts on these figures is amazing. How Hasbro manages to pack so much detail into under 4" is great and the faces really bring the characters to life. Felix "Mercenary" Stratton is an ex-Cobra Viper and you can tell he's wearing a partial uniform. His serious face looks like he's seen it all and he has tiny sculpted earrings. Felix also sports an anti-Cobra tattoo which is clean and crisp. He's one of the new characters as only Spirit, Barbecue, and Low Light appeared as part of the original toy team.

Articulation for these figures is excellent. Ball heads, arms, and legs, allow just about any posing position you can think of. Some characters like Low Light and Barbecue have hinged wrists allowing them to angle their weapons in a new way. Basically if you need them to get into a pose, each figure can do it. Bull's kneepads do seem to keep him in sort of a bent-leg position but not too badly.

Each character is a mix of parts from other figures from earlier sets. Hasbro made excellent choices here as the parts match up perfectly for each character. Some keen-eyed folks will notice Red Dog's torso as Bazooka's and Falcon's lower legs from the earlier Resolute Duke. This saves on tooling and gives us unique figures each time. Hey, it's just like customizing your own Joes. The heads on the four new team members are all new sculpts however, nice!

Everyone gets a nice amount of accessories in this set. Most figures come with 2-3 weapons and a blade. Neat features include Falcon's removable beret, Bull and Merc's removable knives, and Spirit's removable arrow clip from his gun. Each of their vests or web-gear can be moved or repositioned as well. Bull comes with some great accessories, a joe-scale football and removable necklace/headband that fit on him perfectly.

Speaking of the accessories you also get stands for each character and bio-cards you can cut out from the back of the window box the figures come in. Take care not to lose anything while unpacking the figures. Merc's pistol has a tiny removable silencer and Low Light's glasses come off. One hasty tug and these will vanish into your carpet so take the figures out carefully. Falcon's grenade launcher actually cocks in half and has a TINY flip up sight.

Paint apps are plentiful here with the exception of Falcone whose upper shirt looks like it's missing something. The character's eyes feature two tones of color instead of the classic black pupil on white. Now there's brown iris as well. Low Light's vest has a great shading wash to it and Barbecue's armor has sooty highlights and metallic scuffing. Spirit's chest tattoo is amazing and you can make out every edge of Red Dog's tribal tattoos.

Each character has their own backstory and traits. Bull's burly beard and twin pistols make him stand out and Merc's ex-Cobra Viper history is very apparent. You can tell Barbecue utilizes fire with his flamethrower, Spirit is an Indian tracker, and Red Dog use to be a football player. It's things like this that set the Marauder's set apart from others. You really get a feel for the characters here and will enjoy having Sgt Slaughter (assuming you have one from the SDCC already) leading them into battle.

So what's the verdict? Slaughter's Marauders Battle Set is an excellent addition to anyone's GI Joe collection. You get 7 figures, 4 of which are new characters to the line, a whole bunch of accessories, stands, and all for just $49.99. That means each figure is a buck under what you'd pay for them separately at retail, and these are exclusives. Being store exclusives you can only order them online from our sponsor Big Bad Toy Store so get cracking. If you miss out on these you'll be stuck paying twice as much on ebay or even more for them individually from sellers. And don't forget to check back tomorrow for part 2 of the review featuring the Dreadnoks Battle Set.

GI Joe Cobra Trooper "Zombie Viper" Review

If you haven't noticed Zombies are all the rage these days. From the Walking Dead show/comic to countless independent and mainstream movies, these shambling corpses are here to stay. Now feast your eyes on what has to be one of the coolest GI Joe yet, the Zombie Viper. Here we have a truly horrifying Cobra Trooper that's been given Compound Z, a mysterious chemical that turns them into these creatures.

Right off the bat you'll notice the extreme attention to detail. Every boil, wart, suit tatter, and chunk of hanging rot is perfectly captured in tiny 1:18 scale. The face is really well done and has a gooey, mindless look to it. There are removable sleeve sections that can be easily lost so be careful. But they look great hanging from the arms. The removable harness is done great too and appears to have some sort of pipe bombs and detonators on the side.

Then we get to the accessories. TENDRIL LIMBS. That is all that's really need to be said here for you to snatch every one you see and army build. Pop off Zombie Viper's lower arms and these long, creepy, plant-like tendrils attach on. They look great and have five tendril-like digits. Mine say L and R but I have to reverse them to match up with the bicep sculpt. He comes with a helmet and container that plugs into it as well as the harness back.

The articulation for this figure is excellent as well. Both wrists have hinges so you can get all the creepy reaching poses. His bare feet have hinges and everything else is standard Joe articulation. A quick note, there are four ports on his back and three holes in his helmet, I suppose if you want to add more canisters tho he only comes with one. But with the army-building possibilities for this guy I'd say load one up with extra juice.

The paint apps on the Zombie Viper are really great as well. His whole body has a grimy wash to it as does his suit. Even the harness has a black wash making it look old and dirty. I noticed the card art shows ZV having dark hair but it's not painted here. Nor are his kneecaps being made from that unpaintable plastic. I suppose you could paint a few of these with different hair colors and mix up their look if you wanted.

So what's the verdict? Another must-have action figure especially if you're into the 3 3/4" scale. Head over to BBTS now and snag him because he won't be there for long. This is an army builder at its finest and I hope to see repaints or variants down the line with different heads or parts. Where else can you pit the Joes up against the undead? Er, chemically enhanced nearly-dead?