Classified – Page 2 – European Joe's

I’ve had a red, white and blue Christmas.

I’ve had a red, white and blue Christmas with my new Joes
I won’t be blue playing with my troops
Classified packages under my Christmas tree
didn’t stay there, I guess you know what I mean

Well, the mailman came by today with 2 parcels that will find their way under the Christmas tree. I’m very happy to add 3 new Classified Series figures, technically 4 if you think about it, to my collection. Check out which ones below.

Can you guess which figures are inside this box?

This box contained the Classified Breaker figure with RAM Cycle. These recently dropped in price drastically in the States and I just happened to be browsing the In Demand Toys website when I noticed they had them on sale as well. Since they had another figure I really wanted (see below) and was going to order, I decided to add another Breaker to my collection. One to open and maybe customize someday. Both figures got sent in the Hasbro slip box of the Breaker figure.

The second figure I ordered from In Demand Toys, was a figure I wasn’t counting on getting anytime soon and probably not for a reasonable price as well. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to order one from them and as always, the service was excellent. If you haven’t yet checked them out by now, do so now, this I command! (Seriously, how cool would a Classified Serpentor with air-chariot be?) Anyway, let’s get back on track with the 2nd figure I got.

Can you guess who’s in the box? He doesn’t even know who he is sometimes. A ninja? An old man? Another ninja? A swordsmith’s apprentice? An expert archer? Ripcord? Who knows? Well, keep on reading and find out.

Yes, the Hasbro Pulse Exclusive Classified Series Master of Disguise Zartan figure is here! I already have the regular Classified figure and like I said before, I didn’t really count on getting this figure for a reasonable price. Sure, I could use a parcel forwarding service and buy it from Hasbro directly in the US or the UK, but with the extra shipping costs and taxes and duties, I was looking at close to €100 for just this figure. Luckily, I noticed him being available with In Demand Toys and I didn’t hesitate to snatch this one up.

The figure has a special feature similar to the original 3.75 inch figure, he changes color when left out in the cold. He arrived on a cold morning and was very deep blue. By the time I started taking the pictures, he had already warmed up and so his skin tone was back to the regular pinkskin (yes, that’s a Star Trek reference, I vote for Jeffrey Combs to play Zartan in a future movie, he has some knowledge of playing different characters).

The figure has a lot of accessories, not in the least 6 different heads to wear as a disguise – not counting his own head. The bow and arrows of the Arashikage are a nice touch to remind us of his actions in the comic.

I’ll end this Zartan portion with the artwork, which is sublime yet again. This series is truly delivering on the art side of the packaging. I can’t stress this enough. I hope Hasbro has the brains to put them all together in some sort of art book someday. Instant purchase for the coffee table.

And now, the end is near and I still have to show off the final figure or figures, I’m still debating this point, I received around Christmas. I may have missed out on the “00” figure because Zavvi canceled my pre-order, but this time, they came true and delivered.

See, looking at the box and reading the bottom line, I have to conclude that it’s 2 action figures, or better 1 action figure and his animal companion. Although, both are Commandos, it says so on the box. It’s confusing, but man am I happy to have these figures (yes, I’ll stick to the plural) in my collection. Snake Eyes comes with his trustworthy UZI, knife and some rifles while Timber has a second head where he looks simple ferocious. The sculpt is fantastic.

As I stated before, here again the artwork is very nice. Just see for yourself.

That’s it for now and probably for 2021. Thank you all for visiting the blog and for the community feeling over the year. It has been another strange year, but we made it to the end and we scored some nice toys along the way. Let’s hope 2022 will bring a lot more Joes our way. Stay healthy, stay sane and above all, stay collecting! May the new year bring you lots of joy with friends and family and above all a good health.

As always, I will see you next time. Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Third time’s the charm.

I could have gone for all good things, come in threes as well. But I like a bit of charm. This time around, we’ll take a look at the latest Classified Roadblock figure, the Heavy Artillery Roadblock. A.k.a. Marvin The Third.

This is the Roadblock figure we should have gotten first. It resembles best his original look if you ask me and frankly, we could have done without the other 2 figures.

As always, the art is awesome. In classic style, he is aiming just next to the beholder and he’s looking angry, strong and totally in control. I pity the Cobra Troopers that he has in his sights.

Although I still don’t see why on earth we’d need so many Roadblock figures in the Classified line. Or rather, this early in the line. But I’m not complaining. This figure looks the part and is a great addition to the collection.

See you back soon. Until then, Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

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!

6 inches of pure evil and silent red danger

2 new 6″ figures arrived in Belgium this week and they are not the friendly kind. First up, we have the Red Ninja.

The question here is, are the Red Ninjas part of the Arashikage Clan or a part of Cobra or somehow both? You see, the art (see below) depicts the figures with the Arashikage symbol on their foreheads, whereas the figure itself has the Cobra sigil there. What’s the deal here? Anybody know why this is? A miscommunication between art en production team? A mistake made somewhere down the line or just some insignificant detail to drive some of the collectors nuts as they try to understand why this is…

Symbol aside, the figure looks really menacing and is stocked with some very deadly weapons. A long sword, a short sword, 2 dagger like weapons (who I know are actually defensive tools called sai), 2 axes and 2 scythes. They probably all have cool Japanese names, feel free to comment them below. Knowing is half the battle after all, and clearly I don’t know them all.

Next up we have the big Cobra honcho himself, Cobra Commander (they will make Serpentor sometime down the line, I’m sure of it, but in my book, CC is the leader of Cobra, Serpie is just a science project gone wrong by Dr. Mindbender).

It was pretty obvious that Cobra Commander would get a figure in the Classified line. It’s actually a nice updated look on his original color scheme. I really like the deep blue and the small gold details. I don’t care for the weapons all that much. The gun looks like he stole it from a pirate somewhere (probably in Disneyland) and the sword looks very ceremonial, as in used by some obscure cult leader to slice open a sheep for an even weirder ritual… Anyway, the figure is great. And talking about great things, just look at the artwork. True pieces of art yet again.

That’s it for now. Believe it or not, but even more figures are in pre-order! So hopefully I’ll be able to show them off here in the not too distant future. This post will go live after the Hasbro Pulscon will hopefully have revealed some new figures. Fingers crossed we get some new goodies coming very soon. Until then, see you again soon and …

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!