classified – Page 4 – European Joe's

Noblesse Oblige

When the Classified series was announced, I was very sceptical about the new size and how the figures would look. As soon as I received my first figure though, I was convinced that G.I.Joe was back on track to being a good selling toy line. Since those first figures, a lot more have made their way over to Belgium – see my previous posts. One that kept eluding me, however, was the Baroness figure with the C.O.I.L cycle. Yes, I wrote ‘was’, because here she is, in all her European Nobility.

G.I. Joe Classified Cobra Baroness with Cobra C.O.I.L.

To be honest, I was doubting if I was ever going to get one. They seemed to go up in price all the time and the online offers were very scarce, hence also awfully expensive. During one of the Fan Friday events, Hasbro announced there was going to be a re-release of the set and that did raise my hopes a bit, but still I wasn’t holding my breath. I did keep an eye out though and sure enough, it seemed more and more became available online. The prices were still high though. Eventually, I was able to strike a deal on eBay and after a short wait, I can add the set to my collection.

The head sculpt is really nice and the gold details on the glasses matches the golden gun and dagger handle nicely.

As with all the Classified Series figures, the artwork is top notch. The bullet (laser beam?) that pings of the windscreen is a nice touch. I also like the golden Cobra (I’m assuming the dagger handle) popping up from behind her.

On the side of the box is another great piece of artwork.

A nice addition to the collection. #13 in the set of Classified Series. If anyone at Hasbro is reading this. We could really do with a nice guide or checklist to keep track of them.

That’s it for now. See you again soon with more new additions to the collection. Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

You lose some, you win twice

I incidentally channeled my inner Bob Ross and had a happy little accident on eBay. I was still missing 3 figures from the Classified figures, namely, The -00- Snake Eyes, The Baroness with C.O.I.L cycle and the Cobra Trooper. This last one seemed like the easiest one to find, so I started looking online to score one for a reasonable price. I actually found 2 on eBay that were fairly priced and so I placed a bid on both hoping that I could win one of them. And then this happened…

Yes, I won both. I guess I’m an army builder now. I was hoping that they might be variants, there appear to be figures with a black collar and then others with a blue collar, but alas, both have blue collars. I can’t really complain, at least I was able to find one. Ok, two.

The box art is again quite superb, and the trooper does like very menacing. The black, the blue and the orange hue in the background really do blend well together. And there is a H.I.S.S tank there, could it be?

I guess you could call this a win-win, but still, they weren’t exactly cheap, so I may end up selling one. This could help me save up and one day pick up a Baroness or Snake Eyes… For now, I’ll just keep on admiring my army of 2.

Until next time! Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

The very next day

As I was writing the previous post (the next day), the bell rang again and the mailman delivered the Classified Major Bludd figure. I honestly didn’t think I could have gotten that one easily, but here goes to show that you shouldn’t lose faith and never stop hoping.

Once again, the art on this box is awesome. Check out some close-ups below. During last Friday’s YoJoe June Fan Friday event, they told us who the artist behind these pieces of art are. Karl Kopinski. Check out his website for more of his awesome art.

While we’re on the topic of the YoJoe June Fan Friday event, I really enjoyed it. Sure, we’re getting another Snake-Eyes, but he comes with Timber this time around! And yes, there is the 4th (yes, the FOURTH) edition of Roadblock in the Classified series, but he does look the coolest of them all. They announced Breaker and the R.A.M. Definitely not a deal-breaker. I already have put in my pre-order for the Heavy Artillery Roadblock figure over on Amazon. I’m hopeful that I will be able to get the other figures as well. I really think the issues we have seen have been a wake-up call for Hasbro and I personally hope that we will be seeing higher production numbers and sales figures.

That’s it for now. Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

The mailman rang just once

I was quick to open the door, knowing what he was bringing for me. I was expecting my Classified Flint and Lady Jaye pre-orders and Duke, Cobra Commander and Lady Jaye from the Retro Line.

Let’s start with the Classified figures of Flint and Lady Jaye. I really like how Lady Jaye turned out. You’ve probably seen enough pictures of the figure by now, so I’m just going to post some shots of the artwork (did I mention how amazing the art from the Classified Series is?).

Moving on to the retro line figures, I’ll start with Lady Jaye. I’m not a huge fan of the art, I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something is off there. The head sculpt though is looking really good.

Moving on to Cobra Commander. Not much to say here, he’s donned in his old school battle helmet and Cobra Blue uniform. Always has been a very good look and it is done really well here again.

One honorable mention should go to the Commander’s gun. It really does look like his original gun. Nice touch!

And then finally, we have the Joes’ Top Sergeant, Duke. The card art is cool, the figure is something nightmares are made off.

That’s all for now, but I’ll be back very soon with another update. Stay tuned.

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Costly new deco’s

The new deco variants of Scarlett and Roadblock showed up on the InDemandToys website a week ago. I had held off on buying them for a while from other shops, but when I noticed them there, I decided to snatch them up.

They are the first figures that have arrived from the UK where the taxes weren’t paid in the UK but should be paid upon delivery. And boy, did I have to pay. The value of the 2 figures was listed as 35 GBP (around €40). The import duties and VAT add up to €15. Which is reasonable I guess (until you look at the calculations), but the ‘administrative costs’ our local postage service charges of €24 is anything but that.

Like I mentioned before we should look at the calculations. They calculate the VAT not only on the product value and the shipping costs. Oh no, they also add in the import duties and the ridiculously high ‘administrative costs’. So you have a total value of €40 (products and shipping), then they add the import duties (around €2) and the €24 gives a total amount of €66 where you get charged the 21% VAT on (€13.86). So, the total of Import Duties and Taxes add up to €15.86. Add this up with the costs they charge, and you get almost €40 extra. Crazy, right? Forgive me if I sound bitter (I am) but when I hear people over in the US complain about having to drive to a few stores to buy these figures for less than €20, I can’t sympathize with your ‘struggles’. Yeesh, people, you don’t know how lucky you are. Just shut up.

At least the figures do look great! So there’s that.

That’s it for this update. I’ll be checking on my bank account a lot these days until the next paycheck comes in…

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!