European Joe's

I’m not feeling Super…

This is partly because I’m still struggling with my health issues, hopefully I’ll be back to normal health in a few weeks. On the other hand, the title can also be seen as a review of the Super 7 ReAction figures. I’ve said before that I wasn’t going to pick them up, but who was I kidding? You all knew this day was going to come some time. Here are my first 2 ReAction figures.

The Super7 Reaction Figures are a line of collectibles known for their retro-inspired designs and nostalgic charm. They are typically around 3.75 inches tall (like the O-ring Joes) and feature a simple, classic aesthetic reminiscent of action figures from the 1970s and 1980s. They are designed to pay homage to beloved characters from various pop culture franchises, including movies, TV shows, cartoons, and video games.

The Super7 Reaction Figures prioritize capturing the essence and iconic traits of the characters. The figures are characterized by their minimal articulation, with typically five points of articulation at the head, shoulders, and hips. So not so much like the original O-ring Joes. They have simplified sculpting, vibrant colors, and packaging that evokes the vintage toy packaging of yesteryears.

They do resemble the O-ring style cardiacs including filecards.

The Destro figure is pretty straightforward with regards to his looks. The bare chest with necklace, the collar, and wrist rockets all take after the original look as we all know and love from the comics and cartoons.

The other figure I got, is not known from the comics, but solely from the cartoons (only 1 episode) and doesn’t even have a regular O-ring nor Classified figure (yet). Let’s take a look at Raven.

Raven only appeared in one episode of the Sunbow cartoon, but it is one of the best ones if you ask me, and they should have done more with the character, both in the cartoon and maybe even in the comics. The episode is called “In the presence of mine enemies” from the second season. It was aired on November 18, 1986 and features Slipstream and a female Cobra pilot that both crash on a mysterious abandoned Cobra base which hosts a failed biological project from Dr. Mindbender.

When I said it was one of my favorite episodes, that is because it’s one of the episodes that got a VHS release (in Dutch) here in Belgium. I’ve must have seen that tape 100 times if not more. I still have the original tape in my collection, now I just need to get a VHS recorder/player someday.

The filecard gives a synopsis of the episode.

Am I blown away by these figure? No, the lack of articulation is a big drawback. They do look great though, but I still feel they are overpriced. I really wanted the Raven figure and when I became affordable on Amazon.com, I looked around to find another figure so the shipping costs would be split across both figures, making it more interesting. I settled on the Destro figure, since he is my favorite baddy. I’m not saying I won’t be getting any other figures from Super7, the bigger figures do look great as well, but they are priced even more ridiculously than these ReAction figures, so I’m not seeing that happen. I’ll keep my eye out for these if (and when) they are cheap to get, but I won’t lose my sleep over not getting any more of these.

That’s all for now. See you soon. Until then, Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Spoiled mystery box

You’ve all seen the GameStop Funko Mystery Box and all of it’s contents online before. It has been pretty hard to find one over here in Belgium, but I’m glad to tell you that I had one shipped out to me. Let’s check it out (again).

GameStop Exclusive Funko Pop Mystery Box

The box itself features the classic G.I.Joe art with the original Joes and the MOBAT. The colors are really lively and bright, and very sharp as well. The contents are thrown in quite loosely and therefore rattles a bit when shaken.

Profit Director Destro/Pimp Daddy Destro, call him what you like.

The ‘biggest’ piece in the box is this Director Destro Funko Pop figure. Based on the 1997 figure (3.75”), but definitely taken more after the Classified Series Profit Director figure, this one sports the leopard collar and leg pieces, along with a gold suitcase and a stack of burning money. I’ve been collecting some of these Pop figures over the years (not just the G.I. Joe ones, but also some of the other classic toy based ones (Care Bears, My Little Pony, Trolls – I have 2 daughters who like them) and also some Disney ones (Aladdin), Movie/TV ones (Jurassic Park, Knightrider, Star Trek, Back to the Future, Ghostbusters). They have just about every possible franchise covered and they are reasonably priced and they just hook you in I guess. Not everyone is a fan, but I really like them.

The rest of the contents consists of a Snake Eyes keychain (Funko Pop Style) with filmcarrière, a G.I. Joe sticker, an official Membership Card and a G.I. Joe dog tag. Nice to have, but not that must-have things as you’d like from an Exclusive box set. Still, it will all look great in my collection.

That’s it for now. It has been a while since I posted something, I’ve been struggling with some health issues, but I’m working through them and I hope to be back to full health soon. I hope to be posting some new things rather sooner than later. Thanks for sticking around and keeping the views/visits to the site growing every day.

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Time for a Let’s play!

Renegade Game Studios have been releasing several G.I. Joe related stuff recently. I already had the RPG Core Rulebook and the Deck-building starter set, but I also pre-ordered several necessary tools to play the RPG. They took a while to arrive, but they’re here now!

A dice set and a dice bag are the basic essentials for the RPG game. The dice set contains 6 different dice and are made in bright blue. The dice bag is a soft black material with the modern G.I. Joe star logo on it. I recently found out that they also made a Cobra themed dice set and bag. I may have to look out for those too.

The other part of the order was the new Emerald Oubliette scenario that comes with a handy Game Master screen. The inside of the screen is showing rule tables and references, where the outside shows the artwork we’ve seen on the Classified Series.

The art on the dice set and bag packaging looks like the Classified art but something is off. I must admit, it’s not that good looking. Scarlett in particular is looking a bit strange. Maybe it’s the angle or the lens flare from Roadblock’s head, I can’t really put my finger on it, it just doesn’t click with me.

That’s it for now. I have some other pre-orders incoming as well, there will be a post about those soon. Until then…

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

I’ve got you squared!

We’re back with another great G.I. Joe related product! I’ve been searching the web for all things Joe and sometimes I come across something truly special, something rare or something genuinely weird.

In the 80’s everybody tried getting in on the G.I. Joe hype train. This puzzle was released by a Spanish company called Dalmau Charles PLA. The company was founded in 1904 and was mainly specialized in the publication of school books, biographies, encyclopedias. They were also a pioneer in Spain for board games and role playing games. In the 80’s, they also released G.I. Joe products, mainly several of these puzzles in plastic cubes.

This version has 6 different puzzles (each side of a cube shows a different part of the image). We’ve got:
– Bazooka
– Flint
– The Crimson Twins (Tomax & Xamot)
– The A.W.E. Striker
– The H.I.S.S.
– Shipwreck (and Polly)

I’ve been looking online for other examples and found one in a completely closed box… Hasbro just started this with their figures, so they weren’t the first to do this. This one has the SkyStriker, Snowcat, Moray Hydrofoil, the Silver Mirage and 2 battle scenes (one displaying the Motorized Action Packs, the other one showing a battle on land and air).

I haven’t bought this one, it’s a bit overpriced if you ask me (currently at €50). But I’ll be looking further online to find other ones and more G.I. Joe themed stuff. See you around!

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

An officer and a not so gentle-woman.

It seems like I’m getting a nice stream of new figures every week now, you’d almost think that their is a lot of stock everywhere. The sad reality is though, these are all figures that have been on pre-order for quite some time. Whatever the case may be, I’m happy to say that some new figures have arrived again.

First up is another Crimson Guard, the Classified version this time around (remember, last time we had the Retro Carded version). The figure itself looks pretty much the same, although this version has a black helmet and holster on his left leg, where the Retro Carded one has a silver helmet and red holster.

We’ve had the officer, next up is the woman. And what a woman it is. Let’s take a closer look at Zarana.

She is fierce looking. Definitely not someone to mess around with. She also comes with quite a set of weapons in the form of a dagger, a (bloody?) red bladed knife and a rifle with what looks like a small circular saw underneath. If that doesn’t scream, Stay out of my way, I don’t know what will.

I’m not the biggest fan of the headsculpt. It’s nice that you can change her hairstyle, but the face/expression is a bit to hard for my taste. The details on the jacket are really beautiful by the way. The zipper, the silver shoulderpiece and the strap on her left shoulder truly make the figure stand out. That and the bright pink.

She looks so much better in the artwork. Kind of reminds me of Harley Quinn or maybe Danger Girl from J. Scott Campbell. In any case, Marcus Williams really did an awesome job on this. I’m not saying that the artworks are the best thing about these series of figures, but I’m not denying it too. The style reminds me of the 90’s-00’s comics we got from DDP, somewhat cartoony maybe, but I really like it.

I want to end this post with a shout-out to TBHstore.nl. I bought these 2 figures from them (and have a lot more in pre-order). They always package the figures with the greatest of care. They can keep some things in storage, so you can group pre-orders and save on shipping costs. They are truly passionate about action figures and that shows in their service and dedication to their customers to deliver the best possible shopping experience. If you haven’t checked them out, do so now and I promise you, you won’t regret it.

That’s all for now. More is on the way, but you’ll have to check in later to find out about that. For now, as always…

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!