When Emily said,"...our new photographer, Matt..." I thought,"Hmmm I wonder..."

you most DEFINITELY deserve it. You are by far my favorite toy photographer and one of, if not THE best in the business. At times it's difficult to tell if your images are actually of toys. Congratulations.

Ha yeah, Thank you so much! I wasn't expecting to get so much spoken reference on that stream at ALL. The Joe team is truly fantastic!

I finally remembered my password for Toyark, and one of the first things I had to say is, You really do incredible work! I've spent so much time admiring your Star Wars photos, but my main line is Joe and the fact that you are bringing your talents to help elevate the Classified line is a blessing to us collectors.

In thinking about it, a lot of my love comes from the wonderful Sears Catalog photos, fast forward to today you have leveled up the quality to unprecedented levels.

Dude! Thank you so much! I'll definitely try to keep up the quality. I'm definitely enjoying having the chance to really branch out and photograph some new stuff

The retro figures are up for pre-order on Pulse. Premium until 2pm EDT then open to all.

I actually came across a lone BAT at a Target today.

Finally got the chance to open and play with my Alley Vipers, the small circular cutouts on the shields serve as perfect shooting ports for the Submachine guns. I like the AKs they come with too, but the submachine guns are much more iconic weapons for the AVs.

https://www.toyark.com/attachment.ph...1&d=1648600581

https://www.toyark.com/attachment.ph...1&d=1648600581

I'm not a fan of the magazine placement on those guns because they constantly get knocked up from the fiction against the arms.

Agreed, they are just strange design for the placement of the magazine in general. How would one change magazine on that gun? You’d have to reach under the weapon and to the other side near your arm! But it is true to the original 3 3/4” figures’ design.

I have yet to see any AVs at retail yet... paid scalper price for one AV just in case the rumors of a bunch of them showing up during Summer don't pan out here. So I have 1 Classified AV, 1 25th AV and 2 Kre-o AVs. Wouldn't mind getting another ARAH AV... the ARAH AV was literally the last G.I. Joe I owned... I went through a phase where I was destroying all my ARAH Joes in crazy experiments. LOL.

Same, and same, though my last Joe was Ninja Force Snake Eyes- such disappointment.

I haven't seen any new Joe at retail at all since Origins started choking the shelves here, and they've sat there since, keeping Lando, He-Man, Skeletor, and The Eternals company.

I had a similar "experiment" phase, half of which was a half-assed attempt at customization, the other half being outright destruction; I distinctly remember melting 1990 Subzero on a lightbulb, and freezing a Headhunter in a block of ice, then taking him outside and smashing him on the pavement. No wonder the old stuff is so expensive and HTF in good shape!

I haven't seen any at retail either. I saw the left-over Gung Ho couple of times hanging on the shelve. The AVs and BATs are long gone. Got mine from Hasbro Pulse.

Good old days before the notion "this may be worth something someday" came across any of our minds! Ha ha. But those were FUN days!

LOL. Not just the old stuff. The thing I noticed is that only adults take care of their toys... kids sure as heck don't. I remember my nephews had all the 2008-2010 Clone Wars toys and I remember telling them they should take care of the toys because they will be worth a fortune later on. And I was right... when Clone Wars Season 7 came back in 2020 all the old Clone Wars toys went through the roof on the secondary market... even loose stuff was expensive... prices have since come down however. But my nephews destroyed their toys though by playing with them so rough... like literally crashing the star fighters into the wall pretending to be shot down... I winced every time.

Toys are wasted on kids, I always say!

I have never seen an active toy line just completely stall out at retail the way Classified Joes have... the last new figure I've seen at retail was Lady Jaye and Flint last summer I think... then tons more Lady Jaye and Flint over Christmas. Have never seen a BAT or AV at retail and the newest batch of figs are MIA.

I’ve seen the left over Gung Ho twice, in 2 different Targets, so they are out there…somewhere. Online is the best way to get them now.

Most of the Walmarts and Targets in my area are clogged with the Snake Eyes movie figures, Gung-Ho, Cobra Commander, Flint, and Lady Jaye. I've seen the BATs a couple of times. The only time I've seen the Alley Viper was at a Target when they pulled out a new case.

Really? Because it's been happening to all of Hasbro's toylines. I haven't seen any new Star Wars figures since the Mandalorian's first season and even before then, it's been dry.

Power Rangers latest wave is the first one I've seen in stores in about 4 waves.

I'm still waiting for the Build-a-Bear and Armadillo Marvel Legends waves to hit my stores.

The fact that Lady Jaye, Flint, and CC clog so many shelves from GI Joe bewilders me when it's pretty much impossible to find anyone else.

Dr. Mindbender, looks to be an exclusive:

https://news.hisstank.com/2022/04/09...ndbender-77150

Came across these two at Walmart today... for $17...

https://i.imgur.com/StwVnjU.jpg

Yeah...I found a couple of BATs and AVs the other day at that same price. Probably clearing out room for the upcoming Spirit/Retro waves.

I wish I could find some AVs. I didn't even want the BATS originally, and yet, those are the ones I keep coming across.

Still haven't seen BATs and AVs in the wild yet, seen Gung Ho several times though. Not that I'm looking for them, I got what I needed online.

I saw two BATs for the first time at Target late Sunday afternoon... but then like 30 seconds after I put them back on the peg someone came down the aisle and got them. LOL. IDK why, but for some reason I was never interested in BATs... never bought a single 25th BAT and didn't even have any BATs as a kid.

I never had any army builders as a kid.

However, I've come to the decision due to what happened with those three Target exclusive Cobra Soldiers in 2020 that any time I come across an army builder in the store of a line I collect that I'm just going to buy them then and there and if need be, regret on the money spent later as opposed to regret not buying the figures later.