I know my reviews have slacked a bit, but only because I couldn’t find these items in stores!  Finally got my hands on what I wanted, though, and the most in depth reviews you’ll find anywhere have been posted to the Rise of COBRA Review Page!  Also, follow the links below.

• The Baroness (Paris Pursuit)
• Pit Commando

Two VERY cool figures.  Awesome additions to the already impressive Rise of COBRA library.

Good?  Great?  Somewhere in between?

I’ve gotta spend a few minutes setting up the scene.  Last night was an adventure and a half.  The three plus hour drive to Warwick, Rhode Island was mostly uneventful, though I did hit some Targets on the way down and got myself some Wave 3 troop builders…  but no Pit Commandos, dammit.  However, once the Charity Screening event started, it was just that…an event!  Mingling in the crowd with so many other folks from the general public as well as Hasbro people, Stephen Sommers, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, media folks, and yes, Rachel Nichols, was an amazing spectacle.  Something a small town boy like me doesn’t get to experience very often.

Perhaps it was the high from the event itself, or perhaps it was because I was in the front of the theater on a monster screen, but the film was..well…it was nuts.  Tons of action, lots of stuff happening all at once, yet not too much to keep track of.  My head was sorta swimming a bit, but now that I’ve had some time to mull it over, I’m ready to post my review(s).

Yeah, I did two of them.  How lame is that?  A lot of the info in the two is the same, but I’ve separated them into a “Spoiler Free” version and a “Spoiler Full” version.  You can choose which path you take.  A word of warning, the Spoiler Full one has a LOT more detail, because, obviously, being able to talk about character specifics and specific events helps me to flesh out the review a bit better.

I knew it was going to be a good night when Stephen Sommers stood in front of the crowd and said “If you have to use the rest room, use it now, because there won’t be time to do it when the film starts”.

He was right.

• G.I. Joe: The Rise of COBRA Review (Pick your poison)

GeneralsJoes guest reviewer Carlos chimes in again, this time with a review of the Wave 1 Neo-Viper.  You can also check out the review page here.

These four hour sleep nights are catching up to me, but I’ve got four more reviews done and posted on the Reviews Page.  The reviews are as follows:

• Agent Helix
• Anthony “Flash” Gambello
• General Hawk (Attack on the Pit)
• Storm Shadow (Arctic Assault)

I’ve still got a small pile of figures and a ton of vehicles to wade through, so they’ll keep coming, but don’t be surprised if the pace slows down, at least a little bit.  If folks are wondering why so many of these initial reviews are, for the most part, really positive, it’s because I’m doing my favorite stuff first.  You’ll see reviews with a bit more balance coming down the pipe…especially when I get to Snake Eyes v.1. 

I’ll warn you right up front…  the Rise of COBRA reviews are going to be pretty frenetic as I kind of scoop up figures here and there, but for better or worse, the first five figure reviews are uploaded now!  Check out the brand spanking new Rise of COBRA Reviews Page with links to all of the reviews I’ve posted so far:

• The Baroness
• Destro
• Shipwreck
• Scarlett (Reactive Armor)
• Sgt. Stone

Overall, I’m quite impressed.  There are plenty of kinks to still work out, but by and large, these figures have retained the increased mobility and articulation of the Anniversary figures, but are infinitely more “playable”, the feel more durable, and more interactive.  All the benefits of the Anniversary styling, with a fraction of the drawbacks from a “toy” perspective.  Yeah…I’m definitely impressed.

I think once Hasbro kinds of burns through the typical Reactive Armor look and the various shades of blacks and grays, the design aesthetic could get VERY cool, and I think the best is still to come.  I’ll be looking forward to it, and I’ll be looking forward to doing the reviews for it.

Our first introductions to the movie figures were samples of the Baroness and Breaker who appeared on overseas auction sites in blurry pictures, and frankly the appearence wasn’t very flattering.  In fact, I was feeling pretty discouraged about what the movie figures might have to offer, but then we saw Shipwreck.  Shipwreck almost single-handedly turned my opinion around about the movie stuff, and gave me a bit of hope, and that hope has continued to rise as more Rise of COBRA figures have been shown.  Now, I really find myself being pulled into the movie “universe” and while there is nothing at this point that will match the beauty of Resolute (in feature or toy form), I’m starting to like a lot more about the movie figures than I dislike.

So when faithful GeneralsJoes follower “davy” offered to lend me his personal version of Shipwreck that he dropped money on, just so I could review it…well, I jumped at the chance.  I was honestly shocked with the generosity and the trust in me to not only send this figure back, but even to open it!  He sent me the figure MOC and told me to open it up and take as many pictures as I needed, so…well…I took a bunch of ‘em.

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Ever since Destro debuted on the Black Sheep Toy Store a few weeks ago, many US-based Joe fans have been getting this figure in their mailbox, and now I can count myself in that camp.  I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the figure and do up an impromptu review for those interested.

The character of Destro is indellible in the G.I. Joe mythos, and some might argue he is as important to the story, if not moreso, than COBRA Commander himself.  He brought a sense of honor and tradition to the super villain role, and successfully walked the line between soulless evil-doer and a man of integrity.  Some might say he actually walked that line a bit too well, for being a weapon supplier for terrorists.

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