G.I. Joe Retaliation-Ultimate Storm Shadow

When I walked into Five Below the other day, on a tip from John over at the Clawful , I didn’t expect there to be many Joes. Maybe a couple Retaliation peg warmers, like the green suited Duke or the Roadblock with the unsightly deformity. I certainly did not expect the Ultimate line of Joes to be freshly stocked the way they were, and for the low price of 5 dollars to boot! These guys were going for big bucks on the bay and that’s not even factoring in the shipping costs. O.K. so they had Roadblock, Budo, Flint and most of the others from the line, big I knew for sure Storm Shadow wouldn’t be there. Stormie was going for bucu dollars online and I had already come to terms with the fact that I would probably never own one. If  I could pretend that  I was O.K. with not owning a Renegades Storm Shadow then I could do the same for the Ultimate version. BOP! Why did I walk into Five Below and find two Ultimate Storm Shadows hanging stealthily behind a Roadblock and Joe Colton figure! After the initial shock finally wore off, I chest bumped an old lady  standing next to me.I finally had an Ultimate Storm Shadow figure in my hands, and he was coming home with me.

G.I. Joe Retaliation – Ultimate Snake Eyes

There really are too many Snake  Eyes figures, and this one  would have remained on the pegs had I owned the 25th  Ann. version, which manages to  capture the look of Snake Eyes V.2  very nicely. I don’t have the 25th Ann. version so this one was a must-add, considering the price and availability. It pisses me off, though, that Hasbro wasn’t able to add a more accurate head sculpt instead of just opting for the repainted Ninja Duel head. Every time I look at this figure I think about what could have been. A proper head sculpt and this figure would have gotten an easy 10.I could try to switch this head out for another one but I’m not one to mess with the integrity of a figure. If It came with the head sculpt,It stays with the head sculpt.Enjoy the pics!

Sorry about some of the pics being so dark. Snake Eyes is one of the hardest figures to photograph because of the all black uniform.Any suggestions on how to better photograph dark figures are welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Styrofoam Fort!

The other day my better half brought me some Styrofoam. She said that I might be able to use it to sound proof some of the walls in my soon-to -be music studio. They had given it to her at her job and she really didn’t get a good look at it until we got it home and out of the boxes they came in. Unfortunately they were too odd shaped to use as soundproof paneling,but just right to build a kick ass fort for some action figures! I was pretty excited about the various shapes and sizes they came in, seemingly made specifically for building playsets. This is not your average Styrofoam. It’s a lot more sturdy and less messy than the ordinary, more common white Styrofoam. The pieces come apart easily and can be  mixed and matched to make some pretty cool designs.The fort looks like something out of Minecraft ,lol.

Here are some pics w/ action figures.

I added a couple of guns to the sides and top of the fort.

Here are some inside shots.

 

Jboypacman Trade Acquisition

I got this little fellow from jboypacman in a trade we completed a little while back. love the color scheme on Med-Alert but most of all,I love the fact that he’s packing heat! Most Joes in the medical field are pacifists but such is not the case with Med-Alert.My man is ready to let off at the drop of a dime,but don’t worry.Med-Alert’ll put one in you,and then patch it up afterwards.No hard feelings.

Love the boot detail!

YO JOE!

G.I. Joe Retaliation- Ninja Duel Snake Eyes (Revisited)

This was the version of Snake Eyes I had waited for since the first mentioning and trailers of the Retaliation film. I loved the look they chose to go with here and the figure is pretty much spot on. I will say ,however, that this figure was a bit overrated. Even I made more of it than I probably should have when I first posted about it a while back. Alot of people who’ve reviewed this Ninja Duel Snake Eyes fail to point out the odd looking long hands and under detailed leg sculpts. I like a booted Snake Eyes and this version seems to be sporting some low top cross trainers. Overall a great figure and fresh take on such an iconic character, but far from a perfect rendition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

G.I. Joe POC – Low-Light (Revisited)

I’m not sure if this qualifies as a “Revisited” post ,because I don’t think I’ve ever spotlighted this figure before. Low-Light has appeared in various collection pics here on AF&T ,but never got his own post with corresponding pics. That is until last night, when I was bored out of my mind and decided to spend some QT with this awesome Pursuit of Cobra G.I. Joe action figure.I guess I never got around to Low-Light because of the over exposure this figure received over the net and in toy blogs everywhere, so me doing a post on him back then would have felt a little redundant. This will subsequently be a pic heavy post so I can finally “high-light” … Low-Light?

 

This Was My Playset!

The U.S.S. Flagg,Defiant Space Shuttle,Tacticle Battle Platform and the Terror Drome all had one thing in common-I never had any of them! I had lots of figures and a few vehicles here and there but no playsets. No worries, though. My OCD coupled with an imagination that would make most  kids my age question my normalcy,  would never allow for any of my Joes to go HQ-less. That’s when my brain would kick into overdrive. It was commonplace to walk into my room and see quilts folded and fluffed into  makeshift caves. Or mom’s wicker spice rack, which served as a lookout post for Cobra! But my all time favorite, miscellaneous “found-around-the-house” item was the oh- so versatile packaging Styrofoam ! I realize that today many action figure backdrops and dioramas are made of similar Styrofoam materials,to a degree of realism where it’s hard to tell if your looking at an actual brick wall, or an elaborate creation made out of  insulation foam boards. I’ve dabbled in that myself. The only problem with those  is that once they are sculpted and painted,that is all they can ever be . As an adult collector who relies on  backdrops for picture purposes, these dios really come in handy,but as a kid , a couple of oddly shaped packaging Styrofoam/cardboard inserts served as blank canvases and could be anything I wanted them to be. Standing upright or laying on their side, those  Styrofoam blocks could morph into everything from an elevator shaft to a computer terminal!I recently unpackaged a brand new mini cup cake maker to do some baking with my daughter, when I stumbled across these Styrofoam blocks inside the box. You never know where you’ll draw your next little bit of inspiration from and in this case, a night of baking with my baby girl resulted in the following set of pics! Enjoy 🙂

G.I. Joe ROC-Red Fang Ninja (Revisited)

While I did spend a little time at my parents house for Thanksgiving , I opted to skip going to the in-laws to wrap some gifts and get some things done while the wifey and kids were away . With a little free (peace and quiet) time to kill , I decided to re-organize my figs/weapons, as most of them were scattered in a drawer cart . Everytime I do this , one particular figure always seems to stand out and catch my eye again . This time it was this ROC Red Fang Ninja figure . I’ve taken pics of him before but with the flash on . This time I took the pics without flash to get a better , glare-less overall  image of  what I think is an awesome Joe figure.

Cobra Commander V.5

Excuse me while I channel my inner 8 year old to say that Cobra Commander is one of my all time favorite “bad guy” leaders.I got a soft spot for C.C.,especially when he got played by Destro,Mindbender and Serpentor  in the classic animated film.I used to love when he got hands-on with the Joe’s.You know,actually jumping into a vehicle and taking it to Dukes doorstep with a squad of lackey yet loyal,Cobra troopers behind him.That’s why I like this figure so much.Jboypacman(John) over at The Clawful Punch sent this little gem of a C.C. figure over in a trade we completed a while back,and I’m really diggin’ the firepower that came with it.It took me a minute to figure out where the two missiles went,but realized where they went soon after.Now I gotta find the electronic  back pack that came with it originally .Apparently it   spat out various commands and i’m wondering if it actually sounded like the C.C. from the cartoon series.Enjoy the pics!

“Get your Cobra Commander action figure with bust-a cap action today!”

 

 

G.I. Joe 1992 Ninja Force-Scarlett

Sorry for the lack of posts.I’v been kind of down lately and actually starting to annoy myself with these toy posts if that makes any sense.Maybe the rolling rock that was toy collecting is beginning to loose it’s momentum.Who knows.I will however go over some of the cool items that I’ve acquired via trade from fellow bloggers John over at The Clawful Punch and Buzz from Action Figure Adventures.This figure came over from jboypacman’s “clawful” of cool ass figures!I gotta tell ya i’m digging this version of Scarlett more than I thought I would.Initially this was going to be given to my daughter who absolutely loved Scarlett in the ROC film,but apparently the green and yellow get up didn’t appeal to her.She’s a purist,what can I say.So Ninja Force Scarlett ,which btw is so friggin’ cool to say,sits in a baggie with the rest of my Joe stash awaiting proper display 😉 YOJOE MO’FO!