Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0

Sigma 6/8" fans rejoice, General Hawk reviews the newest wave of commando figures! You Snake Eyes fans will love this: 2 Snake Eyes figures in this wave!

No the retailers were scared. Blame them. In fact, many of the things blamed on hasbro such as the demise of alternators, hiatus of gijoe 2 years ago, Classics not coming back till next year, are actually the fault of the retailers. Its their fault we can't get 6 seekers at retail.

Did it split off from the bandolier?

They probably did it just to pack everyone evenly, I know the cases with the new Bumblebee has everyone packed one per case. Usually in transformers and many other toy lines, the main characters are packed more than others or overpacked, and tend to shelfwarm. Classics Prime was like that(Classics Megatron was only packed 1 per case), Batman, Superman, Smashblade He man, gold Skeletor(Mattel is notorious for their case packs), Snake Eyes, Duke, Storm Shadow, and many others. I wonder if the leaders are packed evenly, because recently I went to a crappy walmart and the only leaders they had were 4 Brawls.

Minority could turn into the majority depending on how good it could turn out. I don't want a shrunken down 1/48 however, I don't think the 1/60 VF-1 would need a removable randome, movable flaps and airbrake. Those are just more parts prone to looseness over time and prone to losing. It could be prominently plastic with minimal use of diecast, copying the 1/48 transformation and missle attachement pylons which were superior on the 1/48 than the 1/60 VF-1. I'd love a VF-11B in VFX-2 colors, that skull scheme is spectacular in the game. The VF-11B is one of my favorite designs, and I hope Yamato makes it, since as of now its the only Macross Plus main valkyrie left to make. I want FAST packs, and the atmosphere boosters Isamu used when he was the chase pilot for Guld. Rather than pack them seperately, I want them all included in one set, like the first VF-11B toy was.

They are starting to now. Walmart and the other stores underestimated the demand and as a result, we now have "power rangers circa 93 deja vu" occurring. Walmart ordered heavily for the fall season, and some of it is hitting stores now, I saw the Bumblebee deluxe wave, but as most of you, found the drones but no Bumblebee, Final Battle Jazz, or Arcee. Over at hisstank, one of the fellow mods says a lot of transformers are hitting his local target. TRU is supposed to be recieving large shipments now. The only time I saw Arcee was one I found that was already opened and mistransformed, perhaps even broken in package. Either someone with no patience or had no second thought of even looking at the instructions bought it, or some stupid kid decided to transform the toy in the store without buying it and gave up halfway. Seriously I hear parents in stores at times telling their kids "oh that toy comes in parts bla bla". These movie toys are not that hard to transform. There is also a reason why they put age recommendations on the box. These parents should transform alternators before complaining. Also, do they not realize the notation Hasbro puts on all instructions saying that some parts are made to detach to if excessive force is used? It annoys me that people who don't even appreciate the toys will keep them out of the hands of fans that really will.

Thats what I expect, I will be glad to know if it doesn't turn out that way though. Funny thing, Snake Eyes and Wolverine were both penned by Larry Hama, Larry Hama wrote Wolverine until the mid 90's. Often Snake Eyes is said to be the "Wolverine" of the joes due to popularity, but its interesting to know that the same writer wrote both.

Serpentor's helmet is from his current look of the DDP run. Since he was supposed to be based on the vintage design, theres no doubt in my mind that a vintage based version will come out soon enough. No idea about Stalker but I wish he came with his jetpack and toned down colors, though this look is accurate to some of the earlier issues.

According to some fellow joe fans who were@SDCC, Serpentor was supposed to have his cowl and be based on his vintage look, but by the time some of the team found out what happened, it was too late and this one was already on its way to production. This one is based on his recent costume from the DDP comics. Also, Red Ninja has an all new head based on his look in issue 21 of the marvel run(if I remember correctly, the panel where one shows his sais to threaten Snake Eyes and Snake Eyes responds by throwing a grenade at him). I am definitely buying Firefly and probably all of these sans cobra trooper since he is similar to the battle pack version which I already have.

Images for single pack waves 2 & 3 viewable here

No pics of Blade Destro yet, though I have a feeling he will be unveiled@joecon next month. I agree on Duke's wrist rotation spot, it breaks the sculpt. I want Hasbro to reissue the Destro Dominator, the tank that turns into a helicopter. Now thats a great IG vehicle right there. I stupidly passed it over when it was $12.99@target 5 years ago.

Whats the reason for that?

Its animated by the same team that did Teen Titans. Megatron is G1 colored in both Cybertronian and earth modes.

He did both Silent Interludes, the original Marvel one in the early 80's, and the DDP one which is more recent. He may have actually drawn the Marvel one if I remember correctly. Though he is mostly known for his writing, Hama isn't a bad artist either, its just not well known that he drew a few issues.

If thats the same issue I remember, its the one where he names his top fav and top hated joe characters. The ones he hated where the Fridge, Drug Elimination Force(DEF) from 93, and Duke. Among his favorites were Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Cobra Commander and Zartan. Not surprisingly, Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes, and Cobra Commander tend to be the top 3 favorite characters of most fans. I think the issue was #81, though I might be wrong, it was written back in the late 90's. Yes Hama did write that. He wrote Gi joe from 1982-1995. He returned to the joe comics a few years back when DDP got the license, and wrote a few issues. He did issues 21-22 on the DDP run, a 2 part story of Storm Shadow finally overcoming his brainwashing from Cobra(something Hama planned for the marvel run in 1995 but did not get to write in), and issue 21 of this DDP run was an homage to Hama's "silent interlude" issue 21 from the marvel run. Mike Zeck did the pencils for the DDP issue 21, and like its predecessor, was also silent. Hama also wrote Gi Joe:Declassified last year, and Gi Joe:Frontline. Hama currently writes Storm Shadow, which is currently hitting shelves. The 3rd issue was delayed and came out last week. Baroness is European and witnessed her older brother getting shot in Vietnam.

Happy Birthday David, and thats a nice looking cake! BTW guys, the Target G1 repaints(Starscream and Jazz), are still on schedule, they are not delayed and set for october like the other figures.

Thanks man! I'm a fan who is willing inform fans of what they may have missed out on. BTW guys, Hasbro just answered round 3 of their bi-monthly questions from various gi joe sites. I'd give the link to hisstank.com's summary but I can't seem to access the thread at the moment. For now, check out general's joes' q/a link. BTW, general's joes has links to rounds 1 and 2 from various sites linked on that page as well. That page is maintained by General Hawk/Justin, who some of you know from the sigma 6 central website. Of note is this particular question asked by joecustoms.com: These questions from joereloaded.com in particular caught my eye: So what we can get from that, is that Hasbro is directing much of their focus to the 1982-1995 run of A Real American Hero, in essence the joes much of us grew up with. That is the classic era. A neat fact, is that Gi Joe ARAH line actually outlasted Star wars at retail. Star wars did return to retail until 1995, after the Hasbro and Kenner merger. BTW guys, since there are no vehicles for the 25th anniversary line thus far, a good substitute is the Power Team Elite line. You can find them@Big Lots for dirt cheap prices. TRU has some under their Elite Operations line, but only a couple of their products are Power Team Elite, the others are from Chap Mei and other cheaper toy makers. The F/A-18@TRU is $22.99 and the A-10 is $29.99. The A-10 is in grey, a lot better than the BBI Combat Command A-10 that came out 2 years ago, a lot bigger than the Cobra Rattler, and the only thing I was dissapointed with, was that it lacked a shark mouth sticker. The F/A-18 comes in either grey/green camo or black with red/white stickers and red trim on its weapons. Its a 2 seater and a must buy. The A-10 can be found@TRU and Big lots, but the F/A-18 seems to be a TRU exclusive. Aside the F/A-18, Big Lots seems to be the place to be for Power Team Elite merchandise. Also, though the prices for vehicles and figures are a lot lower than gi joe, don't let them fool you, these are of high quality, and very reminiscent of the ARAH 80's gijoe era, especially the vehicles. The F/A-18 even has folding wings and a moving airbrake. The A-10 has rotatable turbine fans. Both come with boarding ladders. The A-10 even comes with an air traffic controller! Both of these planes are just a bit longer than the skystriker, and very comparable in size. Trust me, they fit right in with your joes. I like these planes a lot better than the gijoe Thunderwing from 2004. In fact, I think the power team elite vehicles as a whole fit in better with the ARAH joe vehicles, than the joe vehicles from 2002-2005 do!

Retailers might still have something to do with it, Walmart did underestimate sales on the toys, and in accordance, may have not ordered as many toys, which results in Hasbro having to play catch up. Thats just my opinion though. I doubt it will get like that for TF. SW has a much bigger franchise and fanbase. Unlike SW, TF has not had many consistently hard to find figures each year. I think the fact that SW figures cost less has something to do with it too. Also, before the movie, the figures were not hard to find for TF. Once Hasbro catches up I predict it won't be too hard to find the figures. I don't know the future but I hope the toys are easier to find. For what I know, its never gotten as bad as star wars though. I do agree that SW figures are hard to find, especially the Scorch and McBoba. Actually, the Mcquarrie figures aside Chewie are all hard to find and are still packed 1 per case.

Gung ho was the most dissapointing figure of the joe battle pack. Decent figure but he holds the shotgun at an awkward angle, even if you make an incision to make the trigger finger able to grip the trigger. They were going for the 80's comic appearances/iconic look for the figures. I agree completely about commando Snake Eyes. I would rank the joe figures in the battle pack like this: Snake Eyes Roadblock Scarlett Duke Gung Ho. Duke turned out much better than I expected, he can grip his gun with 2 hands, and his elbow hindrance does not bother me much(full 90 degree rotation hindered by the sleeve sculpt). Walmart just lowered prices. Here they are: Adventure Team:$17.96 Commando/Combat Squad:$12.96 Soldier:$8.96 I'm still trying to find out whether Target will still carry the soldier class. I have not seen any during the reset. Prices for Target: Adventure Team:$19.99 Commando/Combat Squad:$14.99 TRU has slightly higher prices for Adventure team and the soldier class: Adventure Team:$22.99 Commando/Combat Squad:$14.99 Soldier:$10.59

News flash: Some target stores are not expecting restocks of scout, deluxe, voyager and leader assortments till October. link here

No prob man, Justin's s6 review site is the best for s6 reviews. Sigma 6 and the 8" line are going away after this year. Combat Squad 2 is one of the last waves of the year(the one with Torpedo, Sgt. Boulder, and Recondo). The remaining 8" series for this year are Combat Squad, Adventure team, Commando class and Soldier class. Adventure Team wave 2 may not make it out this year. Another company may have had rights to the name at the time. This is why Heavy Duty was brought into the new line during 2002. Hasbro did regain the rights to Roadblock in 2003 or 2004, as they used the name on an Energon Transformer and Roadblock in the gvc/spytroops line. Already slated for a future wave. His filecard name is Blade Destro.

No problem man! Samurai SS and SE are seen in the s6 webcomic "A Ghost Story" seen here. The sigma 6 cartoon is done, and these designs were not on there, I'm not sure if they were ever slated to show up on there either. These are relevant versions of each character, the only samurai versions thus far ever made for these two characters. Torpedo utilizes the first sigma 6 Snake Eyes body and has accessories from Scuba Duke. I hope he also includes the harpoon switchfire attachement that Scuba Duke had, as well as the belt/harness that can hold the switchfires at the sides(the switchfires are the 2 pistols plugged into Torpedo's raft at the sides). Try this link to go to Justin's Sigma 6 Central site.

Samurai SE and SS should be coming soon, SE is commando pricepoint($14.99), SS is soldier pricepoint($9.99), which is funny considering Samurai Storm Shadow has more accessories than the first commando version. Mastercollector.com/gijoeclub.com has them in stock I think, however they should hit retail soon, so wait just for a little while. The best site for reviews is Sigma 6 Central. Justin takes great pics, writes up informative reviews, and has most of the figures in the line. Click on the size classes to see links to the reviews. Here is a thread with pics of Dark Ninja Master and Samurai Snake Eyes. S6c review of Samurai Storm Shadow.

The new Commando Snake Eyes(with Kung Fu grip, red cap case), Adventure Team Storm Shadow(the one that comes with a tiger), and the upcoming Samurai versions. If you want a dedicated ninja Storm Shadow, the first one is the one you should track down. The first Snake Eyes has a more "traditional" appearance as well, with an uzi, knife, and 2 katanas as well as 3 swappable visors. However in my opinion, the new commando version is better. Adventure Team Storm Shadow is slightly better than the first Storm Shadow, but both are worth getting. The Samurai versions are must haves in my eyes.

Get the sigma6 figures you want now, the line is dead after this year. Not sure on Baroness, but I think that question will be answered next week in round 3 of the gijoe q/a's.