Got another email to approve another delay for TF Outback. New date is November 4. At this point I expect to get the regular Outback before the TF one.

That’s so weird to me everything is getting pushed forward except the items that have been in order the longest.

I also received the Target approval request. Target's overall shenanigans with their pre-orders have become tiresome. My brain has begun crafting conspiracy theories as to why they are developing this "approve or we will cancel the order" scheme when they have already been assessing multiple holds per month against the credit cards of purchasers who have been sticking around.

On another topic, I have received both the Snake Eyes & Timber v2 set as well as the Viper boxed set. I am surprised how much I like the new Snake Eyes and Timber as I nearly did not purchase it. As for the Vipers, the overall figures and accessories provided is fantastic. However, am I misremembering that all 3 were initially different colors in the solicitations? I was mildly thrown off when I first opened the set. As someone who was a fan of the more sci-fi esthetic, I was pleased that a couple of the weapons were not as modern in appearance as the rest.

Apparently today is Joe Day for me. I just received my packages containing Tomax, Xamot & Stalker from Pulse and Kamakura from Amazon.

After having opened Kamakura, I must agree with the sentiments expressed around the web that he is absolutely not worth the price premium. He has maybe one more weapon then the weapon heavy figures, like the Red Ninja, and an extra head. This is all while lacking the gear overlay and holsters/sheaths (outside of a tiny back peg item) common to the line. As such, he has no means of holding the extra weaponry. I would have gladly taken the figure without the unmasked head for a normal price.

I got my Kamaura today, and I am kind of surprised at how little they reused from the recent Storm Shadow figure. The torso, groin, and feet are all that is reused. I figured that the masked head would of been the same sculpt, and maybe the legs but they don't match with SS. But I will agree that it the price doesn't really make sense compared to the price of the blue ninja set and what all came in it.

But I do like the figure, and the armor parts of his wrist, knees, and shins are nice. I like the unmasked head that gives it some personality. But after getting 5 ninjas in the past few months I am kind of tired of ninjas and ready from something else.

Additional Mindbender and Serpentor pre-orders will be going live today after the Premium event and at 8:00pm EDT for non-premium.

Another email from Target wanting me to approve another delay for TF Outback, new date is Nov 11.

Same

I'm glad that they made Serpentor and Mindbender available again for the people that missed out on the first orders. Those were a lot easier to get than the Master of Disguise Zartan, which was the impossible to get exclusive that made me stop trying to get everything that released in the classified line. Of course the ones that I have chosen to not get have mostly been the viper three pack and the TF and PP repaints, so it's not like I am skipping out on new sculpts.

But some of Hasbro's pricing is confusing. Kamakura is like $10 less than the Blue Ninjas set, every Boba Fett figure is a deluxe release for some reason, and in the Power Rangers line the the silver ranger with the bike is the same price as the Turbo Blue Senturion figure that is just a figure, while the Joe figures with bikes were twice the price of a standard figure.

I just got an email from BBTS that my Sgt. Slaughter pre-order has arrived and is in my pile of loot.

Same. Too many things coming out all at once, it's driving me crazy. I wasn't budgetted for things from Dec through April to come out already.

It's been a fun and at times frustrating dance of the wallet. In the stockpile he goes.

I'm seriously super duper digging the new Trooper tease but dreading the price, especially after they treated the Viper effects as adding a whole 'nother figure to the MSRP. I really want to army build Cobra, but they keep doing weird stuff like jacked up pricing or disproportionate numbers of officers to troopers, normal-ish color schemes being under-produced store exclusives, etc, that's making me extra picky about this line.

https://i.imgur.com/wu7yM1c.jpg

This is the Lightning Collection Trex Sentry fiasco all over again. Doubt Nov 11 happens.

I apparently missed something somewhere. The female Troopers look fantastic.

They were shown off at a con in the UK, along with Big Ben and a pipeline announcement for Shadow Tracker... Big Ben especially looks incredible.

...on edit, there was also a mention of a "mole rat", whatever the F that is. There's a lot of speculation over on Hisstank as to whether or not it's a new troop-type*, and some have even suggested that it's a slip-up and Emily meant Tunnel Rat (which is kinda ridiculous, considering he was already announced a ways back). Someone also mentioned it could be a corporate codename, as names like "Mayfly", "Dung Beetle", and "Jupiter" have been for past figures, but they've never announced characters like that before- those codenames were discovered by people digging around in retailers' inventory, so that can't be right either. Time will tell, I guess.


*One of the more prevalent speculations is that it's the Terra-Viper from the ROC line that was essentially a gray repaint of that era's Croc Master that, and came with a "Mole Pod" earth-borer type vehicle https://www.yojoe.com/action/09/terraviper.shtml

I sincerely hope that's not the case, but Hasbro needing to re-use what would essentially be an otherwise one-off mold would lend some credit to the speculation.

I doubt it's any connection with the film. Hasbro is aware that Rise of cobra did not hit the bell with fans. They aren't Disney and don't pretend that disasters are fine. Though as they announced shadow tracker I would love for them to do helix too.

On a side note I've been able to build my Cobra army quite nice through this event. Aside from vipers so far. 11 crimson guard, 6 troopera, 5 alleys and 3 bats. I may get two of the female packs and two of the viper packs later to balance out the ranks.

I have been lucky as many other properties they control aren't putting out characters I feel a need to have. It lets me focus on Joes, tmnt neca and at times fortnite which i use as a zany un style of joe team. Works well with the ghost and shadow set up.

If they are going to look to the PoC/RoC lines for figure ideas like Shadow Tracker, then I would hope for a Classified version of the PoC Spirit, which was a great figure and basically Billy from Predator. While I am fine with the recent classified figures that are modern 6" versions of the 80s figures, the Rise and Pursuit lines had some great updated versions of the figures. Like the Alley Viper, cause as much as I love the original version with the bright orange and blue splotches, the darker grays and red on that series figure made more sense for an urban assault trooper.

Much have been discussed over at Hisstank, as it should be, but here're my take:

Big Ben: LOVE IT! I've always appreciate exchange soldiers from other countries for special forces, that's actually realistic to real life. (Big Ben from British SAS, Skymate from Australian SAS, while Backstop was born in Canada, but he's not from Canadian armed forces). The inclusion of the gas mask head is pure genius! Because most people's image of British SAS has always been the "jumpsuit/gasmask" look from the Iranian Embassy siege, but the original Big Ben went for the Falkland look instead. (his filecard even mention his involvement in the campaign). The gas mask head allow customization to the figure and even army build a SAS squad. Genius!

https://www.thedrive.com/uploads/202...7.56.30-PM.png

Female Troops 2-pack: Love it! Definitely getting at least 2, because they already come with 4 headsculpts/helmets to make 4 unique troopers. I know there are complain about the color of gold/tan gears, and how the uniforms don't match the existing Cobra troops, but that's non-consequential for me. Cobra is such a mish mash organization, they have different uniforms for everything! They'll mix right in a group along with other Vipers/troopers.

Mole Rat: I wouldn't be surprised if Emily just said the wrong name, but on the other hand, I'd be very excited if it's actually a brand new character to fight Tunnel Rat, which was already announced. I was one of the few people that was excited when Classified first came out, and they were taking a more modern look of the characters, but of course, we know that didn't go well and Hasbro ended up just remaking the original 3 3/4" figures in 6" scale. But now, with the success, they're more adventurous about releasing lesser known characters (like Kamakura and Shadow Tracker), it would be great if they're going to create brand new characters. I'd be all for it!

So I generally do not get to the point where I want to rage at a store about toys and pre-orders but at this point, Target can get f***ed. They have been pinging my card for the TF Outback, PI Viper and PI BAT multiple times a month for a year without issue. That includes a current charge of $138.05 sitting on my card today for who knows what.

However, I have now received an email stating they cancelled the order because "We were unable to collect funds because of an issue that prevented us from processing the payment". No actual details and their charge is sitting on my card right now. Considering I am not even a fraction of the way toward my multi-thousand dollar balance on this card, it is not as though there were insufficient funds. I am so done with Target and their ridiculous crap.

Customer No-Serivce's solution: "Order again and I will give you a $15 credit for the inconvenience". OK, what do I do about the item that is no longer available for pre-order? "I am sorry for the inconvenience you have faced for the last year".

The pending charges are definitely unique to Target, but the crap from retailers regarding pre-orders are not unique to them at all!

I had an amazon exclusive ordered for over a year and every time the date changed I approved it, then when the release date finally rolled around they canceled my order. Wal-Mart did the exact same thing from toys I pre-ordered from a collector event on their site and after almost a year they canceled the order.

The worst part about both these situations is the retailer listed them as in stock the same week they canceled the orders due to stock....

Definitely some 1st world problems, but consistent frustration from simply trying to make a purchase is getting tiresome. Plus GI Joe being a pre-order or you miss them makes these problems even more glaring!

Sorry to hear that, I expect that to happen to all of us soon. That's what they did with the original Cobra Island Vipers, for those that were able to place an order within seconds of it being sold out, eventually Target gave some BS reasons and all the orders were canceled. However, more than a year later they made them available again via their Collectors Event. So there's that...maybe. Target sucks, no argument there!

That frustration caused me to stop collecting action figures entirely back in 2018. It seemed so pointless to spend my time and effort going out of my way to find them and even moreso getting irritated by an inability to connect little plastic people. Even in these few minutes of hindsight, I am again struck by the ridiculousness of it all and my initial frustrated reaction. Amazing how a few minutes of reflection can alter ones state.

Not trying to fan the flames, but the price and procurement is actually why I recently decided to stop collecting Joes!

I find that more and more of what is being released is just not for me and the large jump in price versus the drop in quality and value just makes me feel like I am being taken advantage of.

I have recently been having the same sentiment with most of the offerings but then Hasbro releases something like the Blue Ninjas which I absolutely loved. So much so that I purchased additional sets. As with Legends, I need to start cherry picking Classified rather than ordering everything as I have been.