Hasbro had a lengthy Yo Joe! June Fanstream last Tuesday and work was too busy for me to take time out to watch all of it and so I haven’t been able to get time to write out my thoughts until today. I needed to get them out, so read on if you still want to bask in the warm glow of week old toy reveals.
The first interesting development was that there was no Emily on the show because she’s too busy with SDCC prep and BMAC took her place today. BMAC seems like a great addition to the team, though I did miss Emily’s unique energy. Related to that, they announced that their HASLAB would be revealed at SDCC this year. They mentioned how some displays would have to be re-sized to show it off, so between that and the Rattler logo on BMAC’s t-shirt, I feel even more confident that we’ll see the heavily rumored Rattler at SDCC. I’m scared to find out what a massive plane would cost at this scale. Hopefully not more than $300, but that’s a lot of plastic, so I don’t know if that’s realistic for Hasbro.
The two render reveals for this Fanstream were Dial-Tone and the S.A.W. Viper and both are looking great to me. It’s interesting to me how classic Dial-Tone’s costume looks compared to the bulked up tactical look of the S.A.W.. Dial-Tone does get some modern concessions with a fun little cell-phone holster on his gun and his belt and what looks to be a throat mike around his neck. It’s kinda fun to get a cell with him since a lot of the online chatter is that Breaker and Dial-Tone and Mainframe’s gear could all be replaced by a cell phone in modern times. The actual S.A.W. on the S.A.W. Viper looks also looks to have a removeable mini-chainsaw and different style of trigger than I’m used to seeing for that weapon. The chainsaw is a little on the nose in a fun way and I imagine the lower slung weapon is probably necessary for the figure to hold such a large weapon with all the bulky gear. I just home there is a cut between the chest armor and the waist so he has more mobility than the Alley Vipers.
Alpine was the first of the new four figure standard retail wave shown and he looks really good to me for the most part. I do think it’s weird he doesn’t come with a backpack, but I like the idea of being able to loop his grappling hook through the loop on the front of his belt and the way the climbing hooks store on the back belt loops. I could go for some more climbing style grip hands for him.
We had heard confirmation of the Iron Grenadier B.A.T. months ago from the Full Force Monthly podcast and I have to admit I was not too excited by the prospect of another B.A.T. repaint until I saw it. The vibrant gold make the color scheme pop and clear chest piece is long overdue from an official B.A.T..
I had imagined the Iron Grenadier to be more a classic, all-black soldier, so when I first saw the carded leaked image, I was a little disappointed they went with a more modern version. That said, the leaked image didn’t show the helmet on and the action shots the next day sold me on these guys 100%. I’d still like to see a more classic standard trooper with the more t-shirt look at some point as these guys in their sort of SS looking jackets and ties feel a bit more like officers. It does kind of fit the original bio from back in the day talking about how the IG’s are a mix of commando and salesman though the sci-fi helmet and all the gold me think of some of Ming’s troops from Flash Gordon. I also love the way they all look in a group shot and especially with the easy swap of B.A.T. head and hands on the Iron Grenadier body. It was interesting to see that these guys and the B.A.T. sold out on Pulse already. Though they are available now on Amazon.
The final regular wave reveal was Storm Shadow Version 2 and this one gave me pause. I hated it in the original packaging shots that leaked the day before. It looked so stiff and bulky and the super low hood pinched in the tray looked extra derpy. In the excellent action shots from @shootingthegalaxy, however, it looks pretty nice. I still have some reservations about the bulky skirt pieces and the swords look off to me, like they are facing the wrong direction and on the wrong side of the body, but the action pics seem to show that it’s still fairly mobile. The consensus I’m seeing online is that they will release a retro carded version without the red accents. I’d be good with that, but I’d like a simplified belt too without the skirt or swords.
Speaking of retro-carded figures, they also revealed a wave of those starting off with Stalker. Now I pretty much got used to the more muted green color scheme from Stalker’s first Classified release, so I wasn’t clamoring for this one, but I do really like how they matched the camo pattern on the uniform and beret to the original card art. That’s pretty neat. I’m not 100% sure I need it, but I think I might grab it.
I have a ton of the first two Cobra Trooper releases, so I don’t think I’ll be army building this repaint with Stalker’s accessories. You can tell the blue is brighter than the original, but I wish they had a couple of those on hand so we could see the difference better. I do like the freer articulation afforded by Stalker’s web gear, though it can look a little ill-fitting in some poses. I think the the secondary blue color on there might tie it in well with the existing troopers, but I’ll have to see some comparison pictures. I’m definitely in for one to try out at least.
I was thinking that the rumored Cobra Commander retro figure would be a re-release of the H.I.S.S. figure with just a fixed Cobra symbol, so I was pleased to see they did a bit more here with new gloves and paint for a more Sunbow Cartoon style overall. I love the vac metal head too so this is a must have. I still haven’t opened my H.I.S.S. Cobra Commander figure because I thought it would be pretty much the same thing as the retro release, just with a new symbol, but the changes are enough that I kind of want to crack my H.I.S.S. figure open. I don’t know. It’s probably going to get replaced on the shelf with this guy when he shows up, so maybe I should just keep it carded…
There were also a couple of repaint exclusives with Spirit and Low-Light in their Slaughter’s Marauders color schemes. I think the interesting thing here is that they repainted Spirit’s eagle, Freedom, to be a new bird in a golden eagle color scheme. It’s also kind of fun that the accessories are remixed a bit with Spirit getting some weapons and pack from Outback and Low-Light getting Tunnel Rat’s pack and goggles and the sci-fi looking sniper rifle from the Deluxe Zartan. This pack is a Pulse exclusive. I’m not super excited for these two, but I do have Barbecue already and I think I’m getting Sarge so I might just finish the team.
The Sarge also gets repainted in Marauder colors and picks up some accessories from Big Boa. Oddly enough the inclusion of the soft goods duffel bag is probably the big draw for me. It just feels super useful for storage and fun for photography. He’ll be up on fan-channel retailers and Amazon.
The final reveal was probably my favorite, the Stinger!
The VAMP is just an amazing toy, so I’ve been looking forward to the Cobra version joining the line and I really like how it’s looking so far. I don’t have much to say about this one other than I need it! Oh, I do wish the blast effects attached to the missile launch rack so you could pose it firing forward. I wonder if I could just cut a dogbone peg shaped hole into it to make that happen. This will go up 6/18 and is also a Fanmazon exclusive so there are going to be more spots to get it than the VAMP, which is a good thing I think.
They also ended with a name only reveal of upcoming figure Footloose! He’s not one of my faves, but I’ve seen a lot of requests for him in the community. They did mention there would be some check ins throughout the month including a VAMP unboxing, but this was the reveals for the month. Plenty more to see at SDCC I’m sure. What were your thoughts on this Yo Joe June Fanstream? Do you prefer the big info-dump early on in the month or would you have liked smaller streams throughout the month like previous years? I think since so much was already known, the big news all at once seemed like a good way to go. Le me know in the comments!
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