2005 Zarana

Posted on June 5, 2023 by mwnekoman

2005 Zarana

I didn’t plan on writing about a Zarana figure again anytime soon, after all, I just wrote about ‘86 Zarana not all that long ago, and that post still reflects my feelings really well, both on the character and her sculpt. This Zarana however, is a comic-pack figure, and those are melting so fast, I wanted to take at least of few extra photos of mine while she still looks okay.

V1 Zarana has always been relatively cheap and common, and this figure’s updated head sculpt arguably looks worse than the original’s. Relative to your other options, I don’t mind it very much, but it doesn’t look great. In the 3-pack, the main appeal was Cobra Commander and Zartan, while Zarana was just kind of a toss-in. Still, this wasn’t a terrible comic-pack, in fact, it was a pretty good one overall. Besides the ugly head, Zarana’s main flaw is just that she wasn’t really as needed as a new Zartan and Battle Armor Cobra Commander. Despite that, this sculpt still seems a lot more fresh than most of what they put out with the comic-packs.

Overall, the colors are a lot more desaturated and toned-down compared to early comic-packs. Zarana’s pink shirt and bluejeans look really dull now, but that’s not horrible, just different. Bright colors seem more suited to Zarana since she’s really a terrorist punk, but not a commando, so dulling her down is mildly counterintuitive. The duller colors used on these Dreadnoks would’ve translated better onto some of the prior comic-pack releases such as the First 13 guys, but like with many lines of GI Joe toys, Hasbro learned about a year too late.

Fortunately for me my figure seems to be aging well, though I know for others she’s discoloring badly. I recently audited my comic-pack figures and found myself to be lucky that not so many of my figures are discoloring or developing torso-cracks. Of course, it’s probably just a matter of time before she turns; my Thrasher looked okay until maybe just a year or two ago, but now he’s quickly joined the ranks of Scrap Iron and the JvC Alley Vipers.

Something I do find to hate about this Zarana though, is her loose grip in her right hand. She’s packaged holding her cutter by it’s stock, so virtually every copy of this figure has a really loose grip on her right hand. I tried fixing it a little with hot water, but that’s fiddly and it didn’t improve much after my first attempt. I find myself endlessly irritated that the figure was negatively impacted by packaging I immediately threw away.

She comes with both of ‘86 Zarana’s parts, a backpack and her cutter, so that’s really nice. Both parts are also rendered in nice black plastic, which I like a lot. Not because black is the best color, but because Zarana has a fairly nice and seldom seen backpack. In red, it doesn’t look swell with too many other figures, but this black one could go well with quite a few. Also, it’s nice they brought her cutter back, but it still sucks and I never use it.

A mint complete ‘05 Zarana seems to run around $20. Sealed in her 3-pack, you can get one around $60. Back when the whole set barely ran $15, there really wasn’t a lot to lose, but for that much money these figures are a waste of time. Looking around, I don’t see too many Zarana’s discoloring badly, but they have the possibility of doing so at any time. She was okay as a pack-in, especially if you normally didn’t feel inclined to bother with a V1 Zarana and her crappy glued torso. For $20, there’s a lot of better figures you could get, especially ones that aren’t made of sus plastic.

2005 Zarana Links:

Forgotten Figures

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Half the Battle

2005 Firefly

Posted on June 13, 2022 by mwnekoman

2005 Firefly

The 2000‘s comic 3-packs were pretty notorious for their poor execution. This Firefly, however, has always been considered an exception to that, by most. It stands out, as for years most of these figures saturated clearance isles and were things nobody wanted from the aftermarket. There’s some reasons why this Firefly is a step above the standard fair for these releases, though, I also imagine he’s popular just because he’s Firefly.

Probably the worst thing about this figure was that he came stuffed in a pack with Scrap-Iron and Serpentor. Really, that shouldn’t be a bad thing, but it should be obvious that Firefly is way more popular than his packmates. A problem with multi-packs, is that the strongest figures rarely as often help oddities sell as it is that the oddities drag down those strong figures. Generally, Serpentor is not so popular, and there’s pretty much never been anyone with a desire for play-doh Scrap-Iron. I was able to get the whole set MOSC years after it came out for near retail price.

A recurring trait that ruins many of these figures was their ridiculously small heads. Firefly is nice, because for some reason his head is only somewhat small. He also has a really tight head-sculpt with a pronounced expression under his mask. It looks intense and has a bit more character than his first sculpt. It’s certainly one of the few cases where this head is a decent alternative to the vintage head it replaced, which usually was not the case with these releases.

His colors are fairly strong. Hasbro had done pretty much anything you could possibly want from the Firefly mold up to this point, so returning him back to his original grays was a good choice for a send-off. Another thing I like about this figure, is that it’s much easier to see a lot of his nice sculpted details in comparison to V1 Firefly. In contrast to his light gray tones, he features a lot of black and silver on his various straps and holsters, which does well to highlight those details.

For parts, you get all of ‘84 Firefly’s gear, just now in black. That includes his KEDR-B submachine gun, his backpack with tool tray, and his tiny walkie-talkie. That’s not too special for Firefly, but it’s another thing that strengthens the quality of this release regardless. I was always much more fond of the olive color used for the original parts, but the full roster of gear in black looks okay. It’s weird how Firefly’s gun is somewhat married to the character, I guess KEDR’s might’ve been a little rare until they were fully produced in ‘94. Though in a Joe-fan’s mind, you’d think this would be a decent sidearm for all of your HISS Drivers and Motor Vipers, ignoring the suppressor.

Somewhat of an oddity that this figure made me realize, is that most people take horribly boring photos of Firefly. That includes myself, as most of my photos to this point are ones of Firefly standing around in the dark. It seems with others if Firefly isn’t in the dark, he’s being used almost interchangeably with an army builder or some mook. It’s just something odd to me, as you’d think the beloved Cobra saboteur would be in a lot of places doing exciting things, but most of us just seem to show him standing around. It doesn’t have much to do with this figure, just something I noticed I’d like to work on, personally.

Comic pack Firefly goes for about $18 loose and complete, and from $50 to $70 sealed. It’s a nice figure, so in the current market I can understand why he’s developed some value. The people paying $70 for sealed sets however, are certifiably nuts. It will be funny once the bubble bursts and “I paid a lot for that!” becomes a common catchphrase. Paying huge premiums for common, junk comic-pack figures is about is absurd as it gets, especially when you consider that many of these figures are yellowing in package, or now feature cracking chests. It’s very telling of the market insanity that people would pay so much for figures this shoddy.

2005 Firefly Links:

2005 Serpentor

Posted on June 1, 2021 by mwnekoman

2005 Serpentor

The 2000‘s comic packs did a lot more wrong than they did right, but that was not always the case, such as with the #49 set. The reason this set’s so nice, is because you got arguably the best o-ring Firefly, and excellent update to Serpentor, and a hastily degrading Scrap-Iron who’s easy enough to sit aside.

I’m sort of ambivalent to Serpentor as a character. He’s unnecessary as a concept, and as I feel GI Joe relies so heavily on Cobra Commander as a central character in the plot, it’s a bad idea to try and replace him. Regardless, both the cartoon and the comics tried pretty hard to make the character appealing, so I have some interest in him for that. The Arise Serpentor, Arise mini-series was one of the more fun Sunbow storylines, likewise, I associate him a lot with the Cobra Civil War from the comics, which was another highlight. Put another way, the character is corny and irritating, but also a decent plot device you can associate with some of GI Joe’s better stories.

Unlike many of his comic portrayals, this Serpentor comes in bright shades of green and yellow, with yellow paint making up a lot of his details. Like with many comic-pack figures, he features a new head with a scowling face. I dislike how small it is, but it looks alright with his helmet on. The head can be put aside, and it leaves you with a fun, brightly colored repaint. The end result is a figure that retains the overall look of Serpentor while still providing something new and interesting, which is exactly what this figure needed to be.

For me and likely others too, one of the biggest appeals of this figure is that it’s one of the few Serpentor figures that’s decently easy to get and keep in good shape. The original ‘86 Serpentor has the infamous gold-plastic-syndrome plastic, which means the figure is overly fragile and virtually a ticking time-bomb, especially now that most of them are about 35-years old. The only other release of the character before the ME stuff was the ‘02 ARAHC repaint, which is virtually an unreleased figure. And then there’s this one, which was available for years with unsold overstock of these sets, available at or below retail price. Essentially, this one wins by default.

On that note, it’s sort of weird there isn’t more Serpentor toys. Even after the shift to 25th Anniversary style construction, there was two haphazard attempts at the character, before he was to be put away once again. He’s iconic enough that you’d think he’d be around a little more often, but alas, such is not the case. Joe fans rarely even seem to complain about his absence, which mildly gives me the impression there’s still more disdain for this character than there is fondness.

As for his parts, you get about everything you could hope for. Included is his cowl/backpack, a removable helmet, his tiny little knife, and a nice yellow cape. Something extra to make him a bit more interesting would’ve been nice, but I guess you get that in the form of the helmet. He’s really a figure where all of his parts are unique to him and can’t be switched with anything else, lest you worsen the figure’s look. With that in mind, it’s nice he’s one of the few vintage sculpts to retain most of his original parts.

For the longest time, this whole set Serpentor was included in was cheap and common. I got mine sealed, years after the fact from Amazon for something like $10, which was probably stock from when they managed online sales for TRU. Right now, anything can for random and absurd prices, but generally this set’s never been worth more than $30, sealed. With the current state of both Joe prices and inflation, that’s still a pretty good price for what you get.

2005 Serpentor Links:

2005 Storm Shadow (Comic Pack)

Posted on February 9, 2021 by mwnekoman

2005 Storm Shadow (Comic Pack)

In modern times, I have mixed feelings about the 2000‘s comic pack figures. Most of them were not very good, and they had all the negative hallmarks you’d expect from a post-’94 figure. Yet, compared to now, most of these sets seem like dreams. 3 figures with accessories and a comic for something like $10? In a world where AWE Strikers run $25 at retail, I really miss the ability to get that kind of value in a GI Joe item.

Storm Shadow here is an especially nice offering from the line, as it’s the closest thing Hasbro’s ever given us to a V1 Storm Shadow reissue. I think people have a tendency to overstate the degradation of vintage plastic, but discoloring happens on a much more regular basis, to the point that I think for some figures it’s inevitable. I don’t mind it so much anymore, but it’s nice having a stark white Storm Shadow, who’s also a little more safe to play with.

For the most part, the entire vintage mold is intact, save for the biceps, which were switched for ‘91 Dusty’s. The size of those muscles doesn’t really blend well with the early-80‘s sculpting, but overall I’d say it looks good, and I like the more comic-accurate appearance. It’s not better than ‘84 Storm Shadow’s look, but it’s an okay alternative, and introduces some nice variety if you already have a few version of the mold.

Paint applications are very similar to the ‘84 figure here, but done in style of all of the 2000‘s Joes with a smaller, more intricate Cobra symbol, and peachy-skin. The skin tone really drives me nuts here, particularly because this would be such a good alternative to the ‘84 figure were it not for this. It’s also kind of weird for a Japanese guy to be such a peachy-reddish tone, as I don’t know of any Asians that would tan this color.

His parts are okay. The excellent kit from the original Storm Shadow, which was kept with the ‘97 release, is unfortunately gone here and replaced by a new-sculpt sword and scabbard. It works as something different, but I think these parts pale in comparison to the original selection. The softly sculpted details on the scabbard/backpack look especially out of place, which was a common problem when Hasbro paired new accessories with old sculpts.

Overall, he’s not the best comic-pack era figure, but he’s certainly decent and is made better for being a solid alternative to ‘84 Storm Shadow. 16 (almost 17) years since his release, the figures are holding up pretty well (unlike contemporaries such as Scrap-Iron), which is nice, seeing as how I can play with this figure without the fear of damaging an overpriced original. Nowadays, I see sporadic auctions for this figure that go for well more than $20, but there’s no consistent pattern to the pricing, and examples sold carded or in lots are often going for less than ones sold by themselves. I chalk that up to nooby tomfoolery, and I don’t think anyone should pay more than $10 for this figure.

2005 Storm Shadow Links:

Half the Battle

Joe a Day

2005 Scrap Iron (Comic Pack)

Posted on April 27, 2020 by mwnekoman

2005 Scrap Iron (Comic Pack)

During the 2005 Comic Pack line, it was a rare day when you saw a set that featured three good figures. More of the time, you’d get one or two good figures, and one figure that was completely unnecessary. Such was the case with this Scrap Iron, who’s easily the worst release of the character, but also has an egregious flaw that’s not come to light until recent years.

The truth is, I do not now, and never have really hated this figure. Objectively, it’s a barebones repaint in neon colors with bad accessories, though it does still have some appeal. If you like brightly colored repaints, it’s pretty fun seeing the Scrap Iron mold rendered in ridiculously bright colors that are similar to the Cobra Soldados. It’s curious and stands out particularly well, so there’s some novel appeal if you like that.

The mold is a full repaint of the Urban Division Scrap Iron from 2004, which was already a great version of Scrap Iron and a solid recreation of his original tooling. With that being the case, it really makes me think this slot would’ve been better used on some other repaint besides a Scrap Iron. Plenty of good ARAH molds got overlooked in this era for a figure like this one, who seems unnecessary. In it’s own right, this repaint is passable, but it reflects how Hasbro rarely made the best choices during this time.

The last nail in the coffin for this figure is the yellowing. In 2020, it’s more often you see these badly discolored than you do in mint condition, and that’s very disheartening for a figure that’s barely fifteen years old. Even MOC examples are turning green at an alarming rate, while the Serpentor and Firefly packed beside him remain pristine. It points me to think that this figure yellowing is a foregone conclusion, and one’s that haven’t will eventually. Here’s a montage of sealed examples I found on eBay, just from a recent search:

gi joe scrap iron comic pack hasbro 2005 valor vs venom

Other figures from the early 2000‘s are having similar issues (Spy Troops CC, Alley Viper, ect), but it appears most pronounced in this guy. Truthfully, it’s a relief that a boring figure like this one is what must be doomed to discolor, rather than a better release from the same period. Still, it speaks to me that the quality of 2000‘s plastic formulas may not be as good as we thought when these figures were new.

Parts are a pretty big issue with this figure. He includes the 1992 Destro pistol, the Shockwave pistol, and the bazooka with the muzzle from 1991 Zap. I guess you didn’t see that Zap bazooka everyday, so it wasn’t typical, though it feels far from natural with Scrap Iron. The Destro pistol is a good part, but it played itself out in the 2000‘s and was far too generic. Then you get the Shockwave pistol, which really is just a terrible and oversized part. Overall, a generic selection of mediocre parts.

These Scrap-Irons aren’t worth a lot. Typically they go for around $5 on the seldom occasion you find one apart from the Firefly and Serpentor he came with. With the other two, you can still get them for as little as $15. If you can’t get this guy as a freebie with Firefly and Serpentor, there’s really no reason to bother. Even if you like the look of the figure, there’s no guarantee it won’t just spontaneously discolor at a given moment, which erodes what little appeal this figure had in the first place.

2005 Scrap Iron (Comic Pack) Links:

Yo Joe

Joe A Day

2005 Lonzo R Wilkinson

Posted on September 17, 2019 by mwnekoman

2005 Lonzo R Wilkinson

The Comic Packs from the mid 2000‘s really got a lot wrong, which is probably why they floundered so hard at retail. Many of the set’s and especially the early sets were an endless sea of deep green and yellow, which made for a boring and tired retail line. This early impression one might have of the line really overshadowed the great figures that came from it later, such as Lonzo R. Wilkinson.

And, if you have even a cursory knowledge of the Marvel comics you’ll know Lonzo here is Stalker, but from when he was a soldier in Vietnam instead of a GI Joe member. It was a great issue of the comics and the perfect inspiration for a comic pack set, as the included Tommy Arashikage and CLASSIFIED figures are also quite good. It’s unique, interesting and new, while avoiding a concept that’s too niche to make for fun figures.

The part combination used for Lonzo is pretty solid, with a few issues that are emblematic of the era. The figure makes use of Duke’s torso, Tunnel Rat’s upper arms, Gungo Ho’s lower arms, Roadblock’s waist, General Hawk’s legs, and the older comic pack Stalker’s head. The General Hawk legs are the weak link in this recipe, and like many of the 2000‘s ARAH sculpts, the head on Stalker is very, very small. The colors and uniform look good enough that this would be one of my favorite Stalkers were it not for these issues, but they can still be overlooked.

The colors are pretty nice on this release too. They’re vivid and rich, but without relying on the obnoxious amount if neon comic colors that prior figures had opted for. While the green color is very rich and bright, the brown-yellow trim is muted and looks reasonable.

For accessories, you get the comic-pack era M-16 sculpt, and a SAW Viper backpack. The M-16 is a good sculpt, and very nice that they took the time to include a period appropriate gun with the figure. The backpack is pretty dumb though. Was there nothing else they could have included that might’ve looked a little more standard for a Vietnam War soldier?

The comic packs are now unfortunately hard to find, I’ve learned this from experience while trying to fill gaps in my collection. Lonzo on his own seems to float around $15? They pop up so infrequently it’s honestly hard to tell, but this figure and his entire set was fairly popular without being too common, so that sounds about right to me.

GI Joe marvel issue #26 stalker snake eyes storm shadow classified lonzo r wilkinson tommy arashikage

2005 Lonzo R Wilkinson Links:

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2005 Zartan (DTC Comic Pack)

Posted on November 5, 2018 by mwnekoman

2005 Zartan

In 2005, GI Joe was low on my collecting radar and Toys R’ Us was a seldom stop for me. So most of the comic pack figures came and went without my knowledge. My collecting interests changed a lot as the 2000‘s came to a close, and with a bigger interest in oddball 2000‘s items like these, I picked up most of the good comic pack figures around 2010 and ‘11. The overstock was so bad on these they were available for years after release at retail price and even below that, which provided me with a good avenue for some unfamiliar sculpts. One such sculpt that I had never owned, was Zartan.

I think Zartan could be argued as one of the most important villains in the GI Joe storyline, but unfortunately, he doesn’t have a great history of action figures. After the classic V1 figure, you have a strange but decent Ninja Force release, a terrible ARAHC figure, some novel Joecon items, and a pair of sub-par New Sculpt era figures. As someone who wasn’t even born in the 80’s, it was always frustrating to have to few options for such a cool character.

For a comic-pack release, this Zartan is really nice. The colors are nicely different from the V1 figure, but aren’t so much of a departure that they look wrong. Of course, he no longer changes colors like the V1 figure, but some collectors might appreciate that gimmick being lost. Save for the head, the sculpt is entirely recycled from the V1 figure and marks the only other time it saw a retail release. If there had been a handful more of good or even decent repaints of this figure, this release might not have been as worthwhile, but such was not the case.

Speaking of that head, I have mixed feelings on it. Like a lot of figures from the time, it’s a little small. The face sculpt is pretty good, although I think the shape of the cowl looks a little exaggerated. The face paint is also strange looking, with black going all the way up his forehead.Has he ever looked like this? The sculpt looks a lot worse without that trademark diamond pattern on his face.

I never liked Zartan’s removable chest and leg pads. Like with the HEAT Viper, it seems they serve no purpose beyond getting lost. This figure loses Zartan’s iconic pistol and disguise and replaces it with a bow, arrow and quiver. The convention figure didn’t have it either, so I assume it was lost in the transition between Funskool and Hasbro. These parts were a huge appeal with the original and it’s a shame they were lost. At the very least, the new bow and arrow set’s nice in it’s own right, and is an appropriate part for the character.

V1 Zartan’s aren’t cheap or easy to get, and the later figures are all either novelties or are crappy. So if you want an alternative for a decent Zartan figure, your choices are this one and the Funskool figure. They certainly aren’t as easy to find as they used to be (what is), but the sealed set with a nifty Fred Cobra Commander, Zarana and a reprint of #74 barely tops $20, so that’s not a bad option.

2005 Zartan Links:

Generalsjoes

Yo Joe

Joe A Day

2004 Cobra Officer (Comic Pack)

Posted on November 23, 2017 by mwnekoman

Amid waves of excellent Cobra trooper repaints from The Black Major and a few from Hasbro, there’s bound to be some figures that become overlooked. One such figure is the Comic Pack Cobra Officer, a figure that was rather well appreciated at one time, that has now fallen into otherwise obscurity.

Army builder mania was still strong in 2004, and Cobra Troopers that had been absent from the GI Joe line since it’s reboot were staunchly demanded. That year the popular Cobra Infantry Forces set was released and quickly sold out, leaving plenty of demand for another Cobra Trooper/Officer release, which came in the form of the comic packs. Mind you, most collector’s vastly preferred the Infantry Forces to these figures, but it wasn’t uncommon to see where people had army built these back then.

The figure makes some unfortunate mold changes from the Cobra Infantry Forces Officer that hurt it comparatively. The Thunder arms from that figure have been swapped for V1 Roadblock’s, and the waist has been changed to Roadblock’s as well. The arms, while being seen generally as a poor replacement, aren’t horrible. Likewise, I feel the waist works reasonably well, but the question that remains is why they would switch parts in the first place. It’s possible the entire part recipe was made in error for this figure given the penchant Hasbro had for such mistakes at the time. If my memory serves me correctly, the head was intended to be the new sculpt from the Infantry Forces set and was swapped due to a miscommunication with the factory.

The detail is fairly good on this figure with a few subtle touches I like rather well. On the sides of the helmet there is a Cobra sigil, and a good amount of silver detailing on the buckles and buttons of his web gear. Combine that with the vibrant, comic-based colors of the figure and you do end up with both a fairly unique and moderately attractive figure. A downside here is that the paint you do get is rather thick and poorly applied, a sad quality issue that is hard to overlook in some instances.

It’s almost not even worth mentioning the parts for this figure, as like most figures from this era he includes a small group of poorly chosen parts. The Baroness riffle that nobody likes, the large AK47 from Red Star, and the V3 Dusty pistol. This is a load out of parts ranging from decent to awful and it’s the same parts that a few too many figures included. That Dusty pistol was packed with more than twenty figures through that era!

All in all, this is a figure with a few flaws that was a mediocre stand-in for the vintage version back in 2004. Nowadays however, there’s so many Cobra Trooper/Officer repaints that this one has ended up with somewhat of it’s own niche, one that it really used to not have. The bright colors and mold changes make him very different to the vintage figure and there’s certainly no bootlegs that resemble him, so he provides something different in his own way. If you look around for him, you can get these for $5 a pop, sometimes less. For that much, it’s an alright figure to have around and provide some variety to the collection.

2004 Cobra Officer Links:

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Tag Archives: Comic Packs

2005 Zarana

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2005 Firefly

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2005 Serpentor

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2005 Storm Shadow (Comic Pack)

2005 Storm Shadow (Comic Pack)

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2005 Scrap Iron (Comic Pack)

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2005 Lonzo R Wilkinson

2005 Lonzo R Wilkinson

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2005 Zartan (DTC Comic Pack)

2005 Zartan

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2004 Cobra Officer (Comic Pack)

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