G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

[RoIIo Tomassi]

Tempting, but I'm too honest. Even thinking seriously about that would give me diarrhea.

How about I do it, then send you the 'manufacturer's defect'...

"Ohmigosh, somehow the Chinese factory accidentally put this Slipstream figure in the Rattler box. How clumsy of them!"

[anarky]

I got the Conquest today. No sign of the Rattler. I'm definitely liking Slipstream. He looks like (no joke) the movie version of Snake Oiler wearing the massive fucking goggles from the cartoon version of Snake Oiler.

The Conquest actually looks better than I recall. It's a bit short for a plane, but I can forgive it since it's a totally made-up futuristic plane. Once I work up the balls to weather some of these vehicles, it'll look a lot better, though.

[Rollo Tomassi]

I want them to make a Tomahawk. I loved that thing when I was a kid. I never had it, but I loved it.

[mabudon]

Dammit sorry to get technical but wasn't the X-30 based totally on the )I think totally abandoned) X-29... the one that was made so it could get from cold to ready-to-launch in 2 minutes, except that the computers (which were absolutely necessary to control the thing since it was not made to be a lift-focussed aircraft) took a full 7 minutes to boot up??

Sorry, just had to mention that

[jjreason]

I want them to make a Tomahawk. I loved that thing when I was a kid. I never had it, but I loved it.

I heartily concur. That thing was the balls.

[Ran]

I saw a Crimson Guard and Firefly vs. Joe Infantry battlepacks at Toys R Us. They also had a 3 pack of a red Cobra Commander plus two Crimson Guard.

[anarky]

I have discovered something not too good.

I checked the stores online to see who had the Rattler. Three of the six stores in the general area said they had it. I jotted down the DCPI and made a trip (as the way they boxed the fucker means, even with current gas prices, it'd be cheaper to drive an hour to get it).

Turns out the DCPI listed online for the Rattler is actually for the Rattler/Conquest assortment. Considering everyone wants the Rattler, and few want the Conquest, I had no luck, but found a shitload of Conquests.

Rogue II, as the person here I'm most likely to see in person before Comic-Con, would you mind keeping an eye out for the Rattler in Vegas? I can PayPal you the money the minute you find it and work out how to get it here then. I asked my parents to watch for it, too, but I can't get much more specific with them than "blue GIJoe plane in a huge box with a red pilot," and I only expect them to remember for one trip, maybe two, to Target. I'll let you know if I find it first.

[Ran]

I'll keep an eye out for it. Do you just want me to buy it on sight and work out the rest of the details later? What's it going to cost? $20-ish?

[anarky]

It's $25 (which I think is actually less than it was originally). If you see it and have extra money (I don't want it to be a burden), I'd appreciate you just grabbing it. Like I said before, I have a feeling the Conquest will be shelfwarming and few Rattlers will last on the shelves for even five minutes.

[Ran]

No problemo.

[anarky]

Scored the motherfucker.

I saw online this morning that it was now in stock at a Target that is about 30 miles from here, and was within walking distance (albeit a hell of a walk) from my old house. I'm not going to disclose on a public forum which one it is, but it's out of the way, not visible from any major road, rather small, and fucking amazing when it comes to looking for toys. (Honestly, I dunno how this one is still in business. No one ever goes there.)

They had the mammajammin' Rattler after all. I figure it was worth the drive.

BTW, I also saw this morning that fuckers on yojoe.com have threads like "How large is your Rattler army? I'm keeping mine small; I only have ten. LOL I got u good bich."

[Ran]

Well then I won't look for it.

[Ran]

Its a good thing you found the Rattler. I've been to 2 Targets, a WM, and a TRU and the best I've seen was the $24.99 sticker on an empty shelf.

[anarky]

Looks like Blowtorch is supposed to be in an upcoming wave, though pics haven't surfaced. There's also three more reprint comics coming (with horribly painted new covers). One is the original 25th anniversary issue (#86), so I'm guessing we'll get a modern figure of The Original GIJoe. There's also an issue from the Cobra Civil War (I forget the number; it's the one with Serpentor, Fred, and Baroness facing off). Since we've seen pics of a Cobra Commander II with Fred head, I'm assuming that's how he'll be released. Even if the other figure sucks hard, it'll save me the $7 to get a comic pack vs another CC2 (if I can find one) and the comic pack with the Fred-Series Crimson Guardsman and customize my own.

[anarky]

The three new comic packs are:

Fred VII Cobra Commander vs Gung Ho (green outfit)
Deep Six and Rock 'n' Roll (why? this one makes zero fucking sense)
Iron Grenadier and Viper

The last one will be especially useful as an army-building tool. Unfortunately, it's the issue that should've come with Colton. How do you make a comic pack reprinted a comic that's essentially one huge "in joke" about the original GIJoe toy and not fucking make the original GIJoe?