Toys - New GI Joe 2 packs

Hasbro just released some pics of wave 4 of the New GI Joe 2 packs. I have to say they have really hit one out of the park with this line. I mean look at Snow Job and Flash..perfection. I've have nothing but good things to say about this line up until this point....so I'm gonna say some bad things.

Joe, like most toy lines has a HERO character that drives the line. The HERO character, based on how popular he/she is, according to most toy companies, sell more units than the others. Batman has Batman, Spiderman has Spiderman, X-Men has Wolverine etc, etc.. So what most companies do is place their HERO characters heavy into each wave of figures. So for Joe, you have the BIG 4: Snake Eyes, Duke, Storm Shadow and Cobra Commander. Hasbro's been pretty good about trying to make their HERO characters somewhat distinctive each time they re-release them. For example they try to release them in a different outfits, like Snake Eyes in his original costume and then Snake Eyes in his ninja costume. This is good for Joe cause our HERO characters have many different versions, so even though it's repetitive at least they are different somewhat. This leads me to the New GI Joe 2 packs.

FIREFLY & STORM SHADOW

COPPERHEAD & SHIPWRECK

DUKE & RED STAR

You can see more pics HERE.

Out of these 6 new figures, we have 4 of them already. Now granted, they are somewhat different. But the new Joe line is only on wave 4 and already we are seeing way too many rehashes. The great thing about G.I.Joe is that the Joe universe is very vast. There are over 200 characters in the Joe universe. This make them very unique. Most toy lines top-out at about 20-30 unique charters. I mean there are just so many Superman figures one can make (although DC Direct keeps trying), but Joe on the other hand numbers in the hundreds. Now I understand that toy companies feel they need to place one HERO characters into each 2 pack. They feel that without them, no one will buy them. For example as much as I like Tripwire and Raptor no one is gonna buy a 2 pack of those guys. I just think that this wave missed the boat. For example, why another Shipwreck? What not Cutter. The figure looks more like Cutter then Shipwreck anyway. Shipwreck's not even what I consider to be a HERO character. It's a simple new head sculpt and that's it. See this mock up, come on Hasbro how hard is that. Also why Duke in military fatigues? He never even had a costume close to that. That Duke figure looks more like Grunt, just make him Grunt. Why can't Grunt fight Red Star? I'm sure he hates communists as much as the next guy. I know I'm ranting a bit here, but these seem like simple choices that would make the fans very happy and not effect overall sales one way or the other. So for this reason I'm giving these 2 packs a

2 of 4 Ass Money

COMICS - wtf Batman hits Robin

Happy new year all. Sorry the blog's been a bit sparse as of late. Between the holidays and not too much interesting to blog about I haven't updated much.

I did happen on this today. It comes to us from "Teen Titans - Year One" which hit the stands last week. I picked it up cause the art looked cool and I thought a "Year One" story might be fun. Boy was I wrong. Way wrong. Not only does Batman hit Robin, which is all of stupid (or maybe Frank Miller wrote it), this book has a horrible story and outrageous dialogue. Plus it suffers from the typical "even though these Year-One stories are from the past, let's write them like it's taking place modern day" or to simplify "let's use the internet it can solve all our problems". ugh. I mean I guess it's possible that Batman was taken over OR is not really Batman, but to be honest I don't care.

Anyway I hear this is written by a writer of the Teen Titans cartoon. So maybe this is suppose to be in cartoon continuity, even though the characters are completely different. Who knows...All I know is it's dumb and the new year is not starting out well, it gets a

1 of 4 Ass Monkey