Is it me or do new Joe toys seem cheaply made?

[spockoda]

I have noticed Hasbro getting a little sloppy with some of their paint jobs on the Joe line the last six months to a year so I wrote them about it. That same day I had bought the Tunnel Rat/Storm Shadow new comic book two pack. I bought it just to get the Tunnel Rat so basically I plopped down $13 for one figure. I know that was my choice, but then I had to write them again as the figure's right arm was barely staying in the socket(from the elbow down)and would pop out of the socket with the slightest touch. I wrote them to ask for a replacement figure as I couldn't know about the defect until I opened the package and then I obviously couldn't really return it to the store. The paint jobs and overall quality seem to be maintaining on the Star Wars line and from what I've seen on the new Marvel Universe line although I haven't purchased any of the latter thus far. I'm not sure what's up with the Joe line lately but there are certain figures that it's nearly impossible to find with what I would call acceptable paint jobs. Joe still has to be considered a very popular line for them so the apparent inattention is puzzling.

[lwizardl]

I just opened ten 25th anniversary figures and they all seem to feel like those cheap knock off figures. i know they are made in china but does it seem like hasbro went cheap on materials.

figures i opened are
snake eyes
road block
cobra hiss driver
cobra slash
rock n roll
mutt and junkyard
major bludd
python officer x3

[stampede]

There are points to admire about the 25th and also a couple of things which detract from them. They are very "fiddly" figures and some of them have a hard time keeping their balance. Guys like the Eels (great figure!) seem especially delicate.

I think the 25th range is really meant for collectors though and are not as durable as the original range was. They are more for displays and diorama than an afternoon in your aunts muddy garden in the rain. (A great afternoon that was.)

The counter to that is more detail and intricate parts. I combine the lines, I like the 25th for some figures (like croc master) but I much prefer the originals over some of the re-releases. I would take v1 mutt over the 25th version any day. But thats just me.

[lwizardl]

exactly my thoughts on these. I bought a total of like 20 figures and opened the doubles and I think I'm either done buying any of the 25th anniversary figures or if I do buy any of them they will be only used for displaying MOC on my walls and thats it. the last time I bought some joes was the spy troops series figures and they still felt like they was the same build of the older joes.

[stampede]

Too right. Some of my favourite figures are from the late 90s early 2000 joes. Especially the Spy Troops, Valor vs Venom and of course the great comic packs. They were not all good of course.

I remember one of the biggest things that put me off the 25th line was that while a lot of the figures are bigger, some of them just look too scrawny and I always hated the shape of Flints head from the 25th line. It kind of scared me.

Comic pack Flint is still my favorite.

[lwizardl]

yeah after about 10 mins messing with the figures today (after i opened them) i start noticing how difficult the joints was, how hard it was to get them to stand even on the base, and some of them just fell like there is almost no plastic in the figure (cobra slash comes to my mind)

[lwizardl]

so far my favorite that I have opened would be the snake eyes and storm shadow pack from like 2003-2004. that one didn't seem to have the issus but I haven't bought a lot of joes in a while

[stampede]

What annoys me is that I have to use Press Stick (er...tic tac I think its also called?) to hold the weapons in their holsters.

Again it's a trade off, it's nice to be able to actually interact with the weapons and the holsters and such, but if you lose one of those knives that comes with the 25th Eel, good luck finding it again.

I was really hoping for 25th Vipers like Toxo or my favourite, Hydro. Don't know if we will ever see them though.

That being said, the 25th version of the Lamprey looks pretty awesome.