Post by countzackula on May 4, 2014 22:21:39 GMT -6
I honestly just found out this year that one may order a GI Joe convention set WITHOUT actually attending! I joined the collector's club when I got the news they were making more of the Oktober Guard set and I had no trouble getting the Nocturnal Fire set (bagged) for a decent price on the secondary market. Knowing is half the battle! I guess now I should have no trouble (ideally) getting my Joe fix in the future. Anyhow...on with the show, here...
Waaaaaay back when Hasbro started the 25th Anniversary GI Joe line, it seems all the classic characters were being made, and every fan had their own little wish list of guys to be made up in the new body style. No one probably EVER thought we'd get many or ANY character produced in the "nasty nineties"...yet, here we are with a new set of Eco Warriors figures. How do ya like dat? There was once a time I would have never considered getting the original Eco Warriors guys...Hell, I never owned any as a kid, even though I did pine for some of the bad guys. Enough blabbin' though, because like it or not, Eco Warriors is back!
...also...
With the 2014 convention, we get an extension of the zombie theme first hinted at in the 30th Anniversary Joe line. We got two figures that made reference to the famed Zombie Apocalypse (God, I hate that phrase) in the form of the Hazard Viper and the Zombie Viper. There was a proposed 7-pack of zombie characters that never seemed to make it into reality, although the Cobra Commander released (in extremely limited quantity) in the second to last wave of movie Joes still carried a bomb weapon with the Compound Z design to it.
Now, I like zombies and horror and monsters as much as the next guy, but you gotta admit that for years now, pop culture has really drawn out the whole zombie thing. I actually started to get sick of it all. Seems you couldn't walk into a book store without seeing stupid (my own opinion) fake zombie survival guides and fifty bazillion comics dedicated to the undead. For a while I liked it, but it soon became overdone and redundant. By the time the Hazard and Zombie Vipers came out, my interest in those undead creatures I saw on every t-shirt, poster, book, and novelty sporting goods item was almost lost. Still, the idea of an official GI Joe zombie was cool...AND we hadn't had once since the early 90s in the form of the Toxo-zombie...so, I bit (pun intended)! I had heard rumors of a full-on zombie themed run of new GI Joe toys, but it never happened.
This Zombie Initiative set caters to anyone who actually LIKED the 90s Joes, specifically Eco Warriors (now Eco Force...or is it the other way around? Eh.). It also lightly caters to the whole zombie schtick. Despite the name, this set only has three zombies in it and twelve regular humans...oh wait...one zombie dog! So, four. The set is broken down into the Cobra forces and two small factions of Joes: the ECO Force and a band of zombie huntin' Joes.
Again, I never had any of the Eco Warriors. They came out at a time when environmentalism seemed hot and a lot of kids' toys seemed to at least try to address stuff like pollution and what not. Although Eco Warriors are often the blame for opening the gates to the horrid color schemes many of the 90s Joes had, admittedly, we were getting a few doozers here and there before that. Poor Eco Warriors...*sniff*! Always getting a bad rap! Here we get the initial or main three Eco Warriors guys done up in the new sculpt. Eco is now ECO, which stands for Emergency Chemical Operations. I like that. In general, the colors seem to have been toned down and we lost the gigantic weapons. Not a bad set.
Flint is a really nice redo that captures the spirit of the original toy while toning it down from all that pesky 90s neon. The addition of the black webgear and removable beret are a great touch. Aside form a standard army gun, he comes with a grenade launcher to shoot off Compound Z antidote. Yeah, it's GI Joe, so they always fix problems up squeaky clean. Lastly, Flint has a new helmet. Actually, the "new" helmet was made for Ozone, but they just repainted it for Flint since it's close enough. I actually don't mind this. So, technically, there are no new parts for this toy. I really like this Flint, despite the colors. Probably my favorite of the ECO Force guys. He just has that cool futuristic cartoon warrior look to him that appeals to the kid in me!
Next up is Ozone. He was a new character introduced via Eco Warriors. He actually got reused twice (I think) in the future in either an aerial or space-themed subset of GI Joe. He is a clever mish mash of old parts with a new head and helmet sculpt by Boss Fight studios. He really looks pretty damn close to his vintage counterpart! My only real complaint is that the helmet does not seem to fit as nice as it does on Flint's head...which is weird considering the helmet was clearly designed for Ozone in the first place. Oh, well. Unlike Flint, Ozone here comes with a backpack weapon. All the 90s Eco Warriors had water squirting back packs. They were quite large and actually functioned. You seriously could NOT miss these in the toy store! Now we get a non-working, streamlined backpack used to administer Z+ to zombified hordes. Aside from that, Ozone comes with a sidearm pistol and a canister of Z+ with a breathing mask attached to it! Neat.
Last up for the ECO Force is Clean Sweep. Flint was a classic character that already got used and would be used again. Ozone got his start in Eco Warriors and made the cut later on. Clean Sweep...was kind of a one-shot character. He was "born" in Eco Force and STAYED in Eco Force. As with all the Eco guys, he came with a water squirting weapon, but instead of some type of backpack or cannon, he came with what can only be called a glorified floor buffer. So, for all intents and purposes, Clean Sweep was the GI Joe janitor. Yepper. Ecological disaster strikes, so he gets an upgrade and a pay raise as part of Eco Warriors...at least that's how I see Clean Sweep. Honestly, most fans agree his head sculpt made him one of the least handsome (aka UGLY) Joes of all time. No offnese to anyone, really, but in a jokey sorta way you hafta admit that he never really looked that great. He was balding and had a crappy moustache. Back in the 90s, I'm pretty sure his style of 'stache was indeed NOT "in". Poor guy.
Well, Clean Sweep is BACK. Moustaches are hot now and he seems to have either gotten Rogaine or Bosley or something to give his head a visual boost. He's lookin' kind "metro" if you ask me! Aside from the new noggin, Clean Sweep gets a new hazmat mask. He comes with a antidote gun, as well as a briefcase with a built in computer and weapon storage. Great upgrade, but part of me wishes he had his old floor buffer.
Onto the bad guys! Unlike the Eco Warriors Joes, I actually WANTED the Cobras as a kid. Why? Cobra was always more scifi-ish anyway, so the goofy costumes and garish colors made more sense to me. Sadly, I never got any of the figures. In a way, this is a dream come true for me.
In truth, when it was announced that the Toxo Viper was getting redone, I had hoped it was the 80s version. I had wanted that figure SOOOOOOO BAAAAAD as a kid, but it was one of the many figures I wanted and never got. I still have hope we might get a vintage style one, but I really like this redo of the 90s Toxo Viper. Nothing new about the toy except the helmet piece. I think they successfully upgraded this figure without straying too far from its roots. The is now more angular as opposed to the rounded armor of the 90s one. He now no longer has fully armored shin guard or a full codpiece. I think this improves the overall look of the character. Weapon-wise, we get a small sidearm that fits in his holster and a futuristic gun. Toxo Viper also has an airtank backpack and a missile launcher weapon that fires. The projectile is colored blue to go with the Compound Z color theme. Great, GREAT figure. Part of me is tempted to get three more off the secondary market...but this set cost enough to begin with!
The next step of the Toxo Viper "evolution" is the Toxo Zombie. The original one was meant to be a normal Toxo Viper exposed to a mixture of chemicals, turning him into a mutant of some kind. Here, the Toxo Zombie can more or less be considered the same thing. The new Toxo Zombie, unlike the old, has the same color suit as the Toxo Viper. See, the old one was made to look washed-out or bleached...battle damaged by a concoction of corrosive chemicals (say that five times fast). This zombie uses the same body pieces except for the left arm, leg, and head. The arm and leg are reused from the Zombie Viper and the head sculpt is all-new from Boss Fight studios. The actual helmet part does not come off as with the normal Toxo Viper. Accessories are much lighter with the zombie...only comes with the small pistol and a bomb which appears to be a carrier of Compound Z! The zombie looks great...however, I do wish they'd have added some more paint apps to make it look like he's dripping with Compound Z residue.
All in all, the Toxo Zombie is great. I think they did a fantastic remake here, but the figure itself is not the problem for me...it's the fact we got three troops that all have the SAME battle damage pattern! I had honestly assumed the club would give us three unique Toxo Zombie figures. It would, in a geeky way, make sense for all three Toxo Zombies to have different damage patterns. At the very least, the could have given us different ravaged zombie limbs on each figure. This bugged me greatly way before we even got the set. I still wish the powers that be would have been more fanboy friendly and made each zombie look different! My only true complaint about the Zombie Initiative set as a whole.
Repulsor is a new character...sort of. He's meant to be the leader of the Toxo Vipers under Cesspool. So, he's head of security. The figure itself has no new parts. The body seems mostly that of the Techno Viper, the head is the same as Red Star (from the Oktober Guard) with a new hair color, and the helmet is a clever reuse of the Zombie Viper one. Honestly, when I heard Repulsor was a new character, my mind fantasized what he'd look like. He was the last to be revealed, after all. I assumed he'd be a hulking zombified monster henchman of some kind. Of course, I realized that Repulsor was one of the original working names for the Sludge Vipers, so my dreams were crushed (in a way). According to his filecard, the position of Sludge Viper seems to be extinct and Repulsor wears remnants of their uniforms as a sort of tribute. The character itself looks close enough to a Sludge Viper but not quite. I think the head really throws it off along with the fact the body used seems bulkier that the Sludge Viper was back in the day. Honestly, with a new head sculpt, they coulda used the Toxo Viper body and made a great Sludge Viper for the set! Alas, no true Sludge Viper. Repulsor himself is still pretty damn cool. He comes with a sidearm and a shotgun, aside from his non-working backpack and gun combo. Visually, this guy is just an optical orgasm to me! I love it! So 90s super villain!
Dawg is Repulsor's...well...dog! He's technically an accessory, but he's still a character, dammit! Animals have rights, even if they are mutated by strange chemicals. According to the comic that comes with the set, Dawg is either wounded or killed (it doesn't get too specific) and Repulsor, not wanting to lose his beloved pet, exposes him to Compound Z. He's a solid figure with no articulation as is usually the case with GI Joe animal companions. Nothing much less to say other than the fact he looks pretty cool as a zombie dog.
Now that the main bulk of the set has been spoken of, we move onto...other realms outside of Eco Warriors remakes. Before I hit up the zombie hunting Joes, we still have some Cobras to cover! These last two are the Cobra Labrats. Yep, after years, we finally got some type of standard Cobra scientist figure. In the cartoons or comics, there were always nameless evil scientists working for Cobra behind all their mad schemes. Fans have clamored for some type of basic scientist for years. Now we got one!
Nothing too fancy, but still an effective Cobra scientist. As expected, nothing majorly off the wall. A guy in a blue Cobra uniform with a labcoat over top. Add a covered noggin (repaint of a Dusty alternate head) and some cool sciency accessories and you got yourself a neat little mad scientist. He comes with a computer or data pad of some kind, the classic briefcase full of chemical canisters (Compound Z), and an inoculation gun. A dream achieved...a simple dream, yet still a dream nonetheless! Now I have someone for my Dr. Mindbender figure to boss around.
The last leg of the Zombie Initiative set are the zombie hunters. While the rest of the figures are mainly homages to the 90s Eco Warriors, the three hunters seem to just be random Joes picked to fill the roles of those who are maybe out in the field fighting zombies during a theoretical outbreak of chemical induced zombism!
First up is Outback. Now...in my opinion, the idea of the zombie hunters in this set caters again to the zombie outbreak mythos that is oh so prevalent in today's pop culture. Really, any of the Joes could fit the bill considering these guys are a team of highly trained specialists, and the best of the best. However, for the sake of presentation, we get a small set of three featured zombie hunters. Outback is an obvious choice considering he's the team's resident survival expert. Granted, all the Joes should be able to survive if they are indeed the military's best, but Outback is (I guess) the HARDCORE survivalist! Nothing really new about the figure. Funny thing is, he borrows his head and some accessories from a version of Snow Job! I actually didn't realize this fact right off the bat. I'm not a completist, but am try to be...I still don't have every single figure. I try to avoid repeat characters...which is why I probably didn't realize Outback has Snow Job's head. It works, though. Part of me jokingly considers this figure to be "Summertime Snow Job" for when he still has to fight Cobra in the middle of July on the Equator.
Outback comes with a bunch of guns and sharp weapons, along with a backpack containing a water jug and a communication device. Sadly, the storage rack on the back is a tad empty, since the Snow Job accessories were not needed for this figure. This leaves unsightly gaps. You can wedge some weapons in the grooves, but they sadly do not fit in well. Speaking of which, the only true flaw of the figure is the hands, since they hold certain accessories very loosely. Aside from that, he's a really neat version of Outback. He truly looks like a grizzled survivor who'd be dodging and ducking in ruined city scapes, fighting the hordes of the undead!
Next up is Tj'bang...or T'jbang...or Tjb'ang...GAHHH!!! That damned apostrophe!!! I can never remember where it goes! For the duration of my little write-up, I'm totally cutting it out...so he's Tjbang. Anyway, he seems to exist in this set to not only go with the 90s theme, but also to add a martial arts melee combatant to the hunters faction. Instead of adding version 23 million of Snake Eyes, we get another Ninja Force guy: Tjbang. I never had the figure as a kid, but he always stood out because of his name. It was and is a weird'un! It's kinda just a noise, I guess. A lot of folks hate the idea of ninjas on the Joe team to begin with, let alone brightly colored ones, but I don't mind it a little. I actually like Tjbang and am quite glad we got him in updated form. He seems to be a mix-up of martial arms figure parts with a new head from Boss Fight. He works out GREAT! He comes with a backpack that holds two hooked swords as well as a sickle-nunchuck thingie (kasuri gama?) and a crossbow. I'm guessing this guy pays a distant homage to both Michonne and Daryl from 'The Walking Dead'. I would honestly not mind seeing a convention set in the future featuring 90s Ninja Force guys...but the wounds of the Retaliation movie line probably are still fresh in fans' minds.
Finishing off the set is the Steel Brigade Commander. He was originally planned for a retail release and was show off at a few cons, but never came out. Well, we got him! And...he fits in with the 90s theme! Those colors, man. The Steel Brigade figures were never true retail releases, historically. They were always mail-aways with the gimmick that kids could more-or-less, customize the filecard of the character. I always thought that was neat. Of course, I never had one. The parts changed form year to year, but the color scheme was always similar. This guy pays homage to a particular 90s release that totally went against the grain in terms of colors. They ended up making him the commander of the Steel Brigade in modern times!
The SB Commander is your standard "tons of guns" figure when it comes to accessories...and one knife. He also has a removable helmet and a rocket launcher with an attachable Z+ shell. The only zombie hunter to have at least one non-fatal weapon. The only weak point is the backpack...not for the way it looks, but because the gold paint they used on the shovel is very sticky/tacky to the point I'm afraid to touch it against anything. Anybody else have that problem? Still, I really like the idea of making this version the commander of the rest of the Steel Brigade.
I really like the idea of using the Steel Brigade for the whole zombie outbreak story. To me, they are the perfect GI Joes for the job since they are one of the few figures that show no flesh whatsoever. So, no blaring exposure to zombie bites! Well...ideally.
There was also an add-on set of three zombified Steel Brigade troops which would have been a character used in a proposed zombie 7pack of figures. So, we got that figure. However, since the add on figures tend to cost a lot more on the secondary market...I skipped 'em. You can just pop on Zombie Viper heads, if you want to. True, the 3 pack did come with a battle damaged helmet and a new zombie head, but not everyone is a millionaire! We also got a two-pack of rescue themed Joes: Ice Storm and Clutch. I also did not get those. Again...money. Ice Storm is neat but I can live without him. We got a full Arctic version in the first movie line. Clutch is actually damned cool with zombie armor and a chainsaw. So, in a sense, I'm bummed I couldn't get the rescue pack.
As a set, the Zombie Initiative one is pretty darn neat. If you are a 90s hater, then you might not go for this level of nonsense...all the neon and day-glo colors...the weird over-the-top scifi angle...you know. I however actually like the fact it got made. I think it works as a convention set since, again, it never seemed like Eco Force was really celebrated amongst my peers. Part of me would not mind if we got the rest of the Eco Warriors in the Fan Subscription Service at some point. Barbeque might be neat, but Deep Six is easily THE MOST HORRID GI Joe toy ever made. I do want an "official" Sludge Viper with a more accurate helmet, though. Eh...who knows...and if we got that 7-pack of zombie guys at some point, I'd also probably pick that up.
I do like the addition of a zombie theme, even though in my mind, zombies are kinda almost passe to me at this point in time. I wouldn't want to make it an ongoing thing for GI Joe, yet part of me would LOVE to see the idea spread a bit further. It would have been nice to see these figures released at retail. Ironic as it may seem...maybe the undead could have given life to a new base of Joe fans?
Well-pah...too late now, I suppose.
Waaaaaay back when Hasbro started the 25th Anniversary GI Joe line, it seems all the classic characters were being made, and every fan had their own little wish list of guys to be made up in the new body style. No one probably EVER thought we'd get many or ANY character produced in the "nasty nineties"...yet, here we are with a new set of Eco Warriors figures. How do ya like dat? There was once a time I would have never considered getting the original Eco Warriors guys...Hell, I never owned any as a kid, even though I did pine for some of the bad guys. Enough blabbin' though, because like it or not, Eco Warriors is back!
...also...
With the 2014 convention, we get an extension of the zombie theme first hinted at in the 30th Anniversary Joe line. We got two figures that made reference to the famed Zombie Apocalypse (God, I hate that phrase) in the form of the Hazard Viper and the Zombie Viper. There was a proposed 7-pack of zombie characters that never seemed to make it into reality, although the Cobra Commander released (in extremely limited quantity) in the second to last wave of movie Joes still carried a bomb weapon with the Compound Z design to it.
Now, I like zombies and horror and monsters as much as the next guy, but you gotta admit that for years now, pop culture has really drawn out the whole zombie thing. I actually started to get sick of it all. Seems you couldn't walk into a book store without seeing stupid (my own opinion) fake zombie survival guides and fifty bazillion comics dedicated to the undead. For a while I liked it, but it soon became overdone and redundant. By the time the Hazard and Zombie Vipers came out, my interest in those undead creatures I saw on every t-shirt, poster, book, and novelty sporting goods item was almost lost. Still, the idea of an official GI Joe zombie was cool...AND we hadn't had once since the early 90s in the form of the Toxo-zombie...so, I bit (pun intended)! I had heard rumors of a full-on zombie themed run of new GI Joe toys, but it never happened.
This Zombie Initiative set caters to anyone who actually LIKED the 90s Joes, specifically Eco Warriors (now Eco Force...or is it the other way around? Eh.). It also lightly caters to the whole zombie schtick. Despite the name, this set only has three zombies in it and twelve regular humans...oh wait...one zombie dog! So, four. The set is broken down into the Cobra forces and two small factions of Joes: the ECO Force and a band of zombie huntin' Joes.
Again, I never had any of the Eco Warriors. They came out at a time when environmentalism seemed hot and a lot of kids' toys seemed to at least try to address stuff like pollution and what not. Although Eco Warriors are often the blame for opening the gates to the horrid color schemes many of the 90s Joes had, admittedly, we were getting a few doozers here and there before that. Poor Eco Warriors...*sniff*! Always getting a bad rap! Here we get the initial or main three Eco Warriors guys done up in the new sculpt. Eco is now ECO, which stands for Emergency Chemical Operations. I like that. In general, the colors seem to have been toned down and we lost the gigantic weapons. Not a bad set.
Flint is a really nice redo that captures the spirit of the original toy while toning it down from all that pesky 90s neon. The addition of the black webgear and removable beret are a great touch. Aside form a standard army gun, he comes with a grenade launcher to shoot off Compound Z antidote. Yeah, it's GI Joe, so they always fix problems up squeaky clean. Lastly, Flint has a new helmet. Actually, the "new" helmet was made for Ozone, but they just repainted it for Flint since it's close enough. I actually don't mind this. So, technically, there are no new parts for this toy. I really like this Flint, despite the colors. Probably my favorite of the ECO Force guys. He just has that cool futuristic cartoon warrior look to him that appeals to the kid in me!
Next up is Ozone. He was a new character introduced via Eco Warriors. He actually got reused twice (I think) in the future in either an aerial or space-themed subset of GI Joe. He is a clever mish mash of old parts with a new head and helmet sculpt by Boss Fight studios. He really looks pretty damn close to his vintage counterpart! My only real complaint is that the helmet does not seem to fit as nice as it does on Flint's head...which is weird considering the helmet was clearly designed for Ozone in the first place. Oh, well. Unlike Flint, Ozone here comes with a backpack weapon. All the 90s Eco Warriors had water squirting back packs. They were quite large and actually functioned. You seriously could NOT miss these in the toy store! Now we get a non-working, streamlined backpack used to administer Z+ to zombified hordes. Aside from that, Ozone comes with a sidearm pistol and a canister of Z+ with a breathing mask attached to it! Neat.
Last up for the ECO Force is Clean Sweep. Flint was a classic character that already got used and would be used again. Ozone got his start in Eco Warriors and made the cut later on. Clean Sweep...was kind of a one-shot character. He was "born" in Eco Force and STAYED in Eco Force. As with all the Eco guys, he came with a water squirting weapon, but instead of some type of backpack or cannon, he came with what can only be called a glorified floor buffer. So, for all intents and purposes, Clean Sweep was the GI Joe janitor. Yepper. Ecological disaster strikes, so he gets an upgrade and a pay raise as part of Eco Warriors...at least that's how I see Clean Sweep. Honestly, most fans agree his head sculpt made him one of the least handsome (aka UGLY) Joes of all time. No offnese to anyone, really, but in a jokey sorta way you hafta admit that he never really looked that great. He was balding and had a crappy moustache. Back in the 90s, I'm pretty sure his style of 'stache was indeed NOT "in". Poor guy.
Well, Clean Sweep is BACK. Moustaches are hot now and he seems to have either gotten Rogaine or Bosley or something to give his head a visual boost. He's lookin' kind "metro" if you ask me! Aside from the new noggin, Clean Sweep gets a new hazmat mask. He comes with a antidote gun, as well as a briefcase with a built in computer and weapon storage. Great upgrade, but part of me wishes he had his old floor buffer.
Onto the bad guys! Unlike the Eco Warriors Joes, I actually WANTED the Cobras as a kid. Why? Cobra was always more scifi-ish anyway, so the goofy costumes and garish colors made more sense to me. Sadly, I never got any of the figures. In a way, this is a dream come true for me.
In truth, when it was announced that the Toxo Viper was getting redone, I had hoped it was the 80s version. I had wanted that figure SOOOOOOO BAAAAAD as a kid, but it was one of the many figures I wanted and never got. I still have hope we might get a vintage style one, but I really like this redo of the 90s Toxo Viper. Nothing new about the toy except the helmet piece. I think they successfully upgraded this figure without straying too far from its roots. The is now more angular as opposed to the rounded armor of the 90s one. He now no longer has fully armored shin guard or a full codpiece. I think this improves the overall look of the character. Weapon-wise, we get a small sidearm that fits in his holster and a futuristic gun. Toxo Viper also has an airtank backpack and a missile launcher weapon that fires. The projectile is colored blue to go with the Compound Z color theme. Great, GREAT figure. Part of me is tempted to get three more off the secondary market...but this set cost enough to begin with!
The next step of the Toxo Viper "evolution" is the Toxo Zombie. The original one was meant to be a normal Toxo Viper exposed to a mixture of chemicals, turning him into a mutant of some kind. Here, the Toxo Zombie can more or less be considered the same thing. The new Toxo Zombie, unlike the old, has the same color suit as the Toxo Viper. See, the old one was made to look washed-out or bleached...battle damaged by a concoction of corrosive chemicals (say that five times fast). This zombie uses the same body pieces except for the left arm, leg, and head. The arm and leg are reused from the Zombie Viper and the head sculpt is all-new from Boss Fight studios. The actual helmet part does not come off as with the normal Toxo Viper. Accessories are much lighter with the zombie...only comes with the small pistol and a bomb which appears to be a carrier of Compound Z! The zombie looks great...however, I do wish they'd have added some more paint apps to make it look like he's dripping with Compound Z residue.
All in all, the Toxo Zombie is great. I think they did a fantastic remake here, but the figure itself is not the problem for me...it's the fact we got three troops that all have the SAME battle damage pattern! I had honestly assumed the club would give us three unique Toxo Zombie figures. It would, in a geeky way, make sense for all three Toxo Zombies to have different damage patterns. At the very least, the could have given us different ravaged zombie limbs on each figure. This bugged me greatly way before we even got the set. I still wish the powers that be would have been more fanboy friendly and made each zombie look different! My only true complaint about the Zombie Initiative set as a whole.
Repulsor is a new character...sort of. He's meant to be the leader of the Toxo Vipers under Cesspool. So, he's head of security. The figure itself has no new parts. The body seems mostly that of the Techno Viper, the head is the same as Red Star (from the Oktober Guard) with a new hair color, and the helmet is a clever reuse of the Zombie Viper one. Honestly, when I heard Repulsor was a new character, my mind fantasized what he'd look like. He was the last to be revealed, after all. I assumed he'd be a hulking zombified monster henchman of some kind. Of course, I realized that Repulsor was one of the original working names for the Sludge Vipers, so my dreams were crushed (in a way). According to his filecard, the position of Sludge Viper seems to be extinct and Repulsor wears remnants of their uniforms as a sort of tribute. The character itself looks close enough to a Sludge Viper but not quite. I think the head really throws it off along with the fact the body used seems bulkier that the Sludge Viper was back in the day. Honestly, with a new head sculpt, they coulda used the Toxo Viper body and made a great Sludge Viper for the set! Alas, no true Sludge Viper. Repulsor himself is still pretty damn cool. He comes with a sidearm and a shotgun, aside from his non-working backpack and gun combo. Visually, this guy is just an optical orgasm to me! I love it! So 90s super villain!
Dawg is Repulsor's...well...dog! He's technically an accessory, but he's still a character, dammit! Animals have rights, even if they are mutated by strange chemicals. According to the comic that comes with the set, Dawg is either wounded or killed (it doesn't get too specific) and Repulsor, not wanting to lose his beloved pet, exposes him to Compound Z. He's a solid figure with no articulation as is usually the case with GI Joe animal companions. Nothing much less to say other than the fact he looks pretty cool as a zombie dog.
Now that the main bulk of the set has been spoken of, we move onto...other realms outside of Eco Warriors remakes. Before I hit up the zombie hunting Joes, we still have some Cobras to cover! These last two are the Cobra Labrats. Yep, after years, we finally got some type of standard Cobra scientist figure. In the cartoons or comics, there were always nameless evil scientists working for Cobra behind all their mad schemes. Fans have clamored for some type of basic scientist for years. Now we got one!
Nothing too fancy, but still an effective Cobra scientist. As expected, nothing majorly off the wall. A guy in a blue Cobra uniform with a labcoat over top. Add a covered noggin (repaint of a Dusty alternate head) and some cool sciency accessories and you got yourself a neat little mad scientist. He comes with a computer or data pad of some kind, the classic briefcase full of chemical canisters (Compound Z), and an inoculation gun. A dream achieved...a simple dream, yet still a dream nonetheless! Now I have someone for my Dr. Mindbender figure to boss around.
The last leg of the Zombie Initiative set are the zombie hunters. While the rest of the figures are mainly homages to the 90s Eco Warriors, the three hunters seem to just be random Joes picked to fill the roles of those who are maybe out in the field fighting zombies during a theoretical outbreak of chemical induced zombism!
First up is Outback. Now...in my opinion, the idea of the zombie hunters in this set caters again to the zombie outbreak mythos that is oh so prevalent in today's pop culture. Really, any of the Joes could fit the bill considering these guys are a team of highly trained specialists, and the best of the best. However, for the sake of presentation, we get a small set of three featured zombie hunters. Outback is an obvious choice considering he's the team's resident survival expert. Granted, all the Joes should be able to survive if they are indeed the military's best, but Outback is (I guess) the HARDCORE survivalist! Nothing really new about the figure. Funny thing is, he borrows his head and some accessories from a version of Snow Job! I actually didn't realize this fact right off the bat. I'm not a completist, but am try to be...I still don't have every single figure. I try to avoid repeat characters...which is why I probably didn't realize Outback has Snow Job's head. It works, though. Part of me jokingly considers this figure to be "Summertime Snow Job" for when he still has to fight Cobra in the middle of July on the Equator.
Outback comes with a bunch of guns and sharp weapons, along with a backpack containing a water jug and a communication device. Sadly, the storage rack on the back is a tad empty, since the Snow Job accessories were not needed for this figure. This leaves unsightly gaps. You can wedge some weapons in the grooves, but they sadly do not fit in well. Speaking of which, the only true flaw of the figure is the hands, since they hold certain accessories very loosely. Aside from that, he's a really neat version of Outback. He truly looks like a grizzled survivor who'd be dodging and ducking in ruined city scapes, fighting the hordes of the undead!
Next up is Tj'bang...or T'jbang...or Tjb'ang...GAHHH!!! That damned apostrophe!!! I can never remember where it goes! For the duration of my little write-up, I'm totally cutting it out...so he's Tjbang. Anyway, he seems to exist in this set to not only go with the 90s theme, but also to add a martial arts melee combatant to the hunters faction. Instead of adding version 23 million of Snake Eyes, we get another Ninja Force guy: Tjbang. I never had the figure as a kid, but he always stood out because of his name. It was and is a weird'un! It's kinda just a noise, I guess. A lot of folks hate the idea of ninjas on the Joe team to begin with, let alone brightly colored ones, but I don't mind it a little. I actually like Tjbang and am quite glad we got him in updated form. He seems to be a mix-up of martial arms figure parts with a new head from Boss Fight. He works out GREAT! He comes with a backpack that holds two hooked swords as well as a sickle-nunchuck thingie (kasuri gama?) and a crossbow. I'm guessing this guy pays a distant homage to both Michonne and Daryl from 'The Walking Dead'. I would honestly not mind seeing a convention set in the future featuring 90s Ninja Force guys...but the wounds of the Retaliation movie line probably are still fresh in fans' minds.
Finishing off the set is the Steel Brigade Commander. He was originally planned for a retail release and was show off at a few cons, but never came out. Well, we got him! And...he fits in with the 90s theme! Those colors, man. The Steel Brigade figures were never true retail releases, historically. They were always mail-aways with the gimmick that kids could more-or-less, customize the filecard of the character. I always thought that was neat. Of course, I never had one. The parts changed form year to year, but the color scheme was always similar. This guy pays homage to a particular 90s release that totally went against the grain in terms of colors. They ended up making him the commander of the Steel Brigade in modern times!
The SB Commander is your standard "tons of guns" figure when it comes to accessories...and one knife. He also has a removable helmet and a rocket launcher with an attachable Z+ shell. The only zombie hunter to have at least one non-fatal weapon. The only weak point is the backpack...not for the way it looks, but because the gold paint they used on the shovel is very sticky/tacky to the point I'm afraid to touch it against anything. Anybody else have that problem? Still, I really like the idea of making this version the commander of the rest of the Steel Brigade.
I really like the idea of using the Steel Brigade for the whole zombie outbreak story. To me, they are the perfect GI Joes for the job since they are one of the few figures that show no flesh whatsoever. So, no blaring exposure to zombie bites! Well...ideally.
There was also an add-on set of three zombified Steel Brigade troops which would have been a character used in a proposed zombie 7pack of figures. So, we got that figure. However, since the add on figures tend to cost a lot more on the secondary market...I skipped 'em. You can just pop on Zombie Viper heads, if you want to. True, the 3 pack did come with a battle damaged helmet and a new zombie head, but not everyone is a millionaire! We also got a two-pack of rescue themed Joes: Ice Storm and Clutch. I also did not get those. Again...money. Ice Storm is neat but I can live without him. We got a full Arctic version in the first movie line. Clutch is actually damned cool with zombie armor and a chainsaw. So, in a sense, I'm bummed I couldn't get the rescue pack.
As a set, the Zombie Initiative one is pretty darn neat. If you are a 90s hater, then you might not go for this level of nonsense...all the neon and day-glo colors...the weird over-the-top scifi angle...you know. I however actually like the fact it got made. I think it works as a convention set since, again, it never seemed like Eco Force was really celebrated amongst my peers. Part of me would not mind if we got the rest of the Eco Warriors in the Fan Subscription Service at some point. Barbeque might be neat, but Deep Six is easily THE MOST HORRID GI Joe toy ever made. I do want an "official" Sludge Viper with a more accurate helmet, though. Eh...who knows...and if we got that 7-pack of zombie guys at some point, I'd also probably pick that up.
I do like the addition of a zombie theme, even though in my mind, zombies are kinda almost passe to me at this point in time. I wouldn't want to make it an ongoing thing for GI Joe, yet part of me would LOVE to see the idea spread a bit further. It would have been nice to see these figures released at retail. Ironic as it may seem...maybe the undead could have given life to a new base of Joe fans?
Well-pah...too late now, I suppose.
