Reasonably Intelligent Rambling: zombie viper

Showing posts with label zombie viper. Show all posts

Monday, November 21, 2016

Sinister Allies/Zombie Patrol Review

Time for a look at the two troop builder two packs from Hasbro. Just a reminder, I've passed on the Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow two pack. Great figures, but I really don't need them. If I happen to be out at a Toys R Us and spot the set, I'll probably grab it, but it isn't a high priority.

First up is the Zombie Viper two pack. These guys are basically just the same figure from a few years ago with just some minor paint app differences. The picture above is an original zombie on the left and the new zombie on the right. The easiest difference to spot is the right knee; the new version has a paint app that makes the zombie look like his knee is exposed.
This is a great two pack; great for the guys who missed out on the zombies when they were first released. I was lucky and was able to score quite a few before the prices jumped on the secondary market. I've got six of the originals and have now added four of the new zombies. Still awesome.

Next up is the Sinister Allies two pack with the Iron Grenadier and the Cobra Viper. Personally, I would have liked a two pack of the Viper.

The Iron Grenadier was a great figure when they first appeared as Destro's soldiers. I remember buying quite a few, but they're all gone now. I was initially excited by the prospect of a new modern version of the Iron Grenadiers but I' a little disappointed by the result. The body just doesn't work well enough for me to do some serious troop building.

The Cobra Viper? Hasbro did a hell of a job. The initial 25th anniversary figure was pretty crappy, but the Pursuit of Cobra/30th Anniversary figure turned out great. I kinda went a little nuts about them and wound up with about sixteen of them. I got lucky and even snagged two of the blue gauntlet versions.
There's really no difference between the 30th and this year's version. Just one significant difference. Instead of a chrome faceplate, Hasbro chose to go with a clean silver paint job. This new paint job actually works quite well. I think I'll wind up switching out the lower arms with these two new Vipers with the blue gauntlet Vipers. I suppose that when I make that switch, they'll be my Viper officers.

Well, that's about it for Hasbro's GI Joe offerings for me for this year. I'm glad that GI Joe is still alive. Somewhat...

Hopefully, Hasbro has some decent plans for the future of GI Joe. I don't know if it will involve their huge crossover event with Rom, MASK, the Micronauts, and the Visionaries, but it should be interesting. I hope it resonates with kids.

Friday, July 1, 2016

Zombie Twins

ZOMBIE TWIN POWER...

ACTIVATE!!

Friday, November 27, 2015

Black Friday Deals!!

OH MY GOD I HAVE TO HAVE THIS!!!

I think I first became aware of this yesterday through a Facebook post. A check of my email confirmed it. The Zombie Initiative set was going on sale as one of the Club's Black Friday deals.

I've got to admit, that's a damn good deal! Yes, the Club is expensive. I know that. Everyone knows that. But this deal brought the price per figure down to basically regular retail prices.

Fifteen figures for $150 plus shipping! Sweet!
Dang, I'll take this as my whole Christmas!

This would be a great set to display and I've got a bunch of Zombie Vipers already and I've got Cesspool and he needs Toxo-Vipers and the Eco-Force guys are cool and Tj'Bang looks great! And I NEED THIS IN MY HANDS!

But then I started thinking. I needed to read through some reviews , get some other opinions. In my opinion, Justin Bell does some of the best reviews of GI Joe figures out there in the interwebs. Sure, there are others. Fred Meyer does some good work as well.

I decided to plow through Justin's review of the whole set again. Justin is pretty honest with his opinions and I appreciate his views on these silly ass toys.

A quick read though of all of the figures began to question my enthusiasm. The Eco-Force crew was pretty well done by the Club. Tj'Bang looked really well done; he would be a great addition to my martial art crew. Outback and the Steel Brigade Commander were less than desireable. I had done a very similar custom with the same parts that the Club used to make Outback, so I really didn't care too much about the new one.

The bad guys all looked pretty good. The Toxo Vipers and Zombies looked really great. Even Repulsor looked well done. Lab Rats? Not so much, but they would work as background scenery.

Justin's review didn't really tilt my opinion as whether to buy or not. At around 11:00 pm last night, while watching my kids play video games, I just really had to consider the value that this set would bring to my collection. Yes, I know it would be really fun to get ahold of and play with and make dios and photograph, but did I really need it?

Want and need have become important as I have gotten older. For so many years, I bought figures and toys mainly out of "want," I don't need any of them.

I decided that I don't WANT them enough. There are other GI Joe items that I WANT and needed to make a choice. None of us NEED any of this stuff. All of it is just pure WANT.

I guess it's probably pretty obvious by now that I'm not buying this set or any of the other Club Black Friday items. There are figures that I want in the future and who knows what Hasbro's plans for GI Joe are.

Hell, maybe I'm just getting older and becoming more reflective of this stuff. Contentment is a big issue. And STUFF... how much STUFF does one person need? Check online or the news for all the insanity regarding Black Friday for just a bunch of STUFF.

I am content with my collection, I have enough stuff right now, and that's good enough with me.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Zombies, Freakin' Zombies...

So Hasbro went the popular culture route and added zombie vipers to the GI Joe - Cobra mix. It's not like they haven't done it before back with the Toxo-Zombie back in 1992.

Times have changed and it's time to revisit the zombie.

The concept based on the file card is that these are Cobra troopers that have been subjected to Compound Z and they have been turned into nearly mindless drones. So they really don't meet the classic concept of an undead flesh eating zombie.

But they still look cool as hell!

I would hate the idea of Cobra creating a virus that reanimates the dead for the purposes of undead soldiers. That could easily turn on them as well as the intended target.

So what the heck are they? One possible scary idea is based on what is hanging from both sides of the body harness. I first heard this mentioned on the Flag Points podcast. An excellent podcast, by the way! Twitziller noticed that the zombies have pipe bombs with detonators strapped to their harness. Holy crap! Cobra has created mindless drones to act as weapons. Just send one staggering into a Joe encampment or whatever type of target and BOOM, threat disabled.

The GI Joe design team at Hasbro did an excellent job with these creepy suckers. A highly detailed sculpt highlighting the zombie's rotting flesh.

Creepy goodness!

A lone Steel Brigade trooper gets caught in the grip of some Z's. Can he break free and save himself?

My custom mix of Shadow Tracker and Night Adder - renamed Voodoo - walks among the Cobra zombies. He fears no man, alive or undead.

My Cheetara custom figure gets ready to dispatch a couple Z's. Hope she sees the one behind her! I'm sure she has already caught its scent.

Female Joe agents in trouble, I guess. Helix shouldn't have a problem.

And another spin on the use of the zombie figure. Using perhaps the finest sculpted figure from the entire Playmates Star Trek run, species 8472 examines these curious creatures.

The idea was originally that the alien has released a bio-weapon into the atmosphere and the final organisms that were resistant to the new arrivals begin to die away, eventually leaving the planet ripe for colonization.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Zombies...

Cobra Zombie Vipers are some serious crazy stuff. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how these things fit. Stay tuned!