BBTS has the CI Troopers again if anyone is interested.

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Produ...Details/216762

My set was shipped from Amazon with a label slapped on the outer hasbro SIOC box. The outer box was a little bent and dented, but the actual packaging was fine.

But I am happy with the figures. I wasn't that excited about this set, but I really like the alternate heads and they seem to have more personality than the original versions of these molds. Also the inner packaging is a lot better/interesting than the windowless Marvel Legends packaging, with the printed tray and separate box for the weapons.

And they still have the artwork on the box cover. Not just a sucky poorly posed photo of the toy inside.

Right. I just received the Knull/Venom 2-fer. Something I was honestly surprised by was the experience I had while opening the package. For some reason I actually enjoyed removing the figures from the bag as opposed to the almost violent removal from the plastic trays of yesterweek. That was genuinely unexpected. I didn't even realize I was "having an experience" while opening figures. I've never given it a moment's thought until now.

I've given Hasbro a ton of shit for the "plastic free" packaging crap. But a positive experience was unexpected.

I finally got around to making my own Night Creeper using Trivial Psychic's recipe. Thinking I may want to adjust the head height but I am calling it complete for now.

He looks great Kirathis!

The Cobra Ninja has a longer neck that was designed to sit the original head above its clunky shoulder armor...so what I did to adjust the height was to shave down the ball joint about halfway, and then widen the cavity inside the head so that it sits lower on the neck, with the bottom of the head wraps sitting just above the collar of the armor. You will lose the slightest bit of articulation, but since the Cobra Ninja's neck is so long, you will still be able to have your Creeper look up and down with no issues.

I have Creeper as the leader of my Cobra Ninja squad, which has gotten out of hand since I can't display them all in this shot. I'm quite happy with this group!

I need to shave the area for the neck. I did not realize that was the cause until I had deepened the cavity in the head. I may end up needing to pack the head some to adjust the height once I account for the neck issue. Thanks for the tips and photo. I know what you mean about squads. I am up to something like 12x B.A.T.s and at least that many of the combined Troopers and Infantry.

Thoughts on today's panel and the figure reveals? I am a sucker for robots in generally so naturally the Crimson B.A.T.s were an easy repaint sell to me and at least 2 will be joining my collection.

I managed to place my Serpentor order but am a bit surprised they are allowing 2 per person with the limited stock and exclusivity of the figure.

The panel itself was as great as they always are. This team really knows how to kill it. Seriously every other team needs to take notes from them, especially the Power Rangers group.

Reveals were great. I can't wait for Shipwreck, but I have been priced out on army builders, so no Snow Serpents for me. I might pick up a female soldier though.

I'm looking forward to seeing what General Hawk and Buzzer look like.

I originally had no intention of getting Outback and Falcon, but I preordered them just in case as the figures look pretty damn awesome.

No interest in the Crimson BATs.

Absolutely agreed on the panel and their presentation. I do not currently regularly collect any other Hasbro lines but have watched some of the presentations and the other teams never hold a candle to the Joe team. It is obvious they all have a passion for their jobs and Emily has an upbeat personality which helps with their overall presentation.

I am quite happy to have some female Troopers and suspect I will pick up a few to fill out my Cobra ranks. I would also appreciate if Hasbro adopted a similar model to the Valaverse army builders where the body is entirely covered and the figure comes with alternate heads of different ethnicities.

I would still prefer less ARAH aesthetic but I am definitely in the minority.

Got my orders in at pulse for zarana falcon covergirl and one other i forgot,

Im with ya too. I wont say no to it but i did like a lot of the updated look with armor n what not. It makes sense. Granted some of the bright gold stuff felt outta place but the redecos looked much better. Maybe they will eventually do accessory packs with vests n stuff.

I was generally happy with the presentation and the announcements, but I will admit that the announcement of the regular Bazooka and Outback has made me consider cancelling the preorders for the TF versions that haven't shipped yet. Happy about Shipwreck, not sure if I care about the repaints of the BAT and Barbeque. But it's hard to get excited about figures I will not have for a year.

I was able to place an order for Serpentor, so I guess that's good. I had forgotten that I had also ordered Mindbender back in the summer. I think I have 13 o4 14 preorders out there for various Classified figures now, and most of them will not ship until next year.

I completely understand the pre-order sentiment. I have had to create a small database to keep track of it all. I kept getting surprised when items arrived or that I had ordered more of a particular item than intended.

Yeah, that's how I ended up with 2 Alley Vipers and 2 retro carded Gung-hos. Really I was pleasantly surprised that the AF Spider-man and Doc Ock/Silk sets shipped earlier than expected and kind of hoped that some of the Target exclusive preorders would ship early, but I got an email this morning wanting me to approve a request to delay Outback for a week so who knows.

I also received the Outback delay request. The fact they want the buyer to approve the change or they will cancel the order is asinine.

Yeah, I don't get that.

I got an email from Amazon in the middle of the night saying that either Tomax or Xamot will be shipping soon. I can't remember which one, but the other and Stalker is still saying beginning of November. Having one of the twins but not the other is kind of lame, and why I wish that they would of been a 2 pack like pretty much every release of those characters.

Apparently Hasbro is all like, "Oh, you've got yourself a full time teaching position now? Well here, we're going to have every item you preordered ever ship out NOW, even the items that aren't supposed to be out until March of next year."

Yeah, I currently have impending charges on my card for three Classified figures from Target, 3 Classified figures and a Black Series Tarkin from Amazon, and I leave on a week long vacationon Saturday morning. I know the Target stuff probably won't ship, but I'm hoping the deluge of Amazon packages will show up Friday, but I am not optimistic.

Hasbro essentially went with an "under promise and over deliver" mentality in relation to their orders. That would be a fantastic idea if everyone had already paid for their orders. When they have not and are receiving a deluge of charges simultaneously it only leads to animosity.

There are positives and negatives to both types of pre-order payment methodologies but in this case, it is seriously impacting the budgets of many of their collectors.

This Is good stuff coming and is especially nice to get gijoes but hold up I had this budgeted out a bit there . I just had to cancel a few mcfarlanes because too many are showing up at once early . I was expecting the twins next month ok but surprise tomorrow" shipped" along all my viper 3 packs and stalker. also coming tommorow -shehulk, star wars BS boosh .Had to cancel rest of marvel legend controller wave since the rest finally popped in also. Im expecting more star wars any moment like darth maul. I hope all this fits into the Amazon locker I use.
all neca predators I have pre ordered past few years are showing possibly oct ship date. but I doubt it Neca seems focused on rolling out ninjaturtles .though the new video game aliens showing up were cool surprise. all this crazy timing aside im really excited ,looking forward to having all these in hand .

Given the choice I think I like pre-payment over pre-ordering, but really I understand why a lot of websites don't want to mess with taking money up front. I'd like to see the option someday on sites like Amazon.

^ I never knew Xamot and Tomax had a last name until I saw that Classified packaging.

And Retro SE's headsculpt looks so weird and unsettling to me... I much prefer the regular Classified commando headsculpt. Thankfully so far Retro Gung Ho is the only Retro Classified Joe that I consider a must have. I did find a Retro Lady Jaye yesterday and bought her just for her improved face paint apps though.