Tag Archives: ROC

2009 Surveillance Port

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2009 Surveillance Port

As a brief Walmart exclusive during the Rise of Cobra line, Hasbro unexpectedly released a series of Battle Station sets, most of which were previously thought to be “lost” forever. It was a rare example of fans asking for something over and over, finally getting it, and being happy enough for it to sell out in most areas before Christmas. Well, at least it sold out in my nerd-heavy town, there’s always that one guy who got a pile on clearance for a dollar in some state where nobody lives, but whatever.

2009 Surveillance Port gi joe

Of course, there was a lot of bittersweetness in all of that: like the fact that the Battle Stations that were “gone forever” for years on end, were suddenly “found” just in time for the big movie push! It’s almost like no one was really trying to get the molds back whenever these were asked about before. I’m always really dubious of the “lost molds” excuse because of things like this, as to me it seems more like the revolving door of nobodies just can’t get invested enough (or stay on Joe for long enough) to bother finding them, but like with these sets, they’re out there. We were also going to get a Mauler release in ROC before the whole line was killed, makes ya’ think doesn’t it?

For the most part, the 2009 Surveillance Port is the exact same toy as the 1986 version. Some new colors might’ve been fun, but releasing it without many changes was also a welcome sight. The foot-pegs were altered to fit the smaller, 25th-style feet, and some new stickers were added. For the most part though, the two toys are practically interchangeable. Of course, the new one seems to be made of some insanely cheap plastic, as there’s odd stress marks all over various parts of the toy. I have two copies of the thing I bought new when they were released and both are like this, which is pretty lame. The decal sheet is probably the only source of any major changes, with new monitor stickers for the inside, and a standard Cobra marking replacing the unique design on the front. The new monitors are okay, but don’t contrast as well since the stickers are too dark now. I also don’t understand why they ditched the “snake binding a globe” decal, as it looks a lot more generic without it. Oh well.

The Surveillance Port itself is a very odd little toy, I’ve never been entirely sure what it does, besides surveil people. It seems a little excessive just for spy equipment, and with the guns it feels a little more like an improvised bunker or fortification of some sort. I somewhat speculate that it was really just meant to be a new Cobra Bunker with more play-value, but at the same time there’s nothing wrong with that, and I don’t know enough to make light of it. Some of the dumbest looking GI Joe items like V2 Mercer’s gun or the RPV were mostly based on real-world equipment, so you really never know.

Random bit of trivia: the smaller machine gun for the Surveillance Port is reused from the Slugger. So if you only have the gun from the Surveillance Port, you can use it as a substitute for the Slugger’s. It stands out a little bit more on the green ones, but it’s a decent match for the grey plastic of the ’97 release.

Like the other Battle Stations, the strength of the Surveillance Port was that it gave you a play environment at a very low price, about at much as a single-card in ‘86. For that much, it’s a very fun piece that interacts with figures nicely and has a solid amount of value for play or just to display. The 2009 release kept this appeal, as it retailed for a mere $14.99 and included two Anniversary-style figures, and a fold-out cardboard display. Since figures retailed for about $8 back then, it was a surprisingly generous offering.

Fair pricing for a 2009 Surveillance Port is similar to a 1986 one, probably because the toys themselves look fairly identical. So with a little hunting you can get one for around $20, even sealed. The Hobby Mafia will charge upwards of $75 for a BiN on this one, but that’s grossly overpriced if you compare it to what an auction tends to run. With that said, this set really doesn’t provide anything that the original doesn’t besides newer plastic, so it’s only worth considering as an alternative.

TBM Cobra soldado group shot gi joeTMB Red Shadows Night Viper gi joe

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HISS Tank

2009 Rockslide (Past and Present)

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2009 Rockslide (Past and Present)

Well guys, I made it almost a whole year of posting on the blog without missing a week (that I can remember). That was until this week though, when I got some kind of fairly bad sinus infection that had me away from doing… much of anything. So with not quite the photos I wanted for one post and not many options for others, I was left asking myself what toys I realistically don’t feel like taking new photos of: the 2009 Rockslide fit the bill almost perfectly.

The Rockslide, formerly known as the Polar Battle Bear, is really a fantastic toy. So when I say I don’t feel like taking new pictures of it, it’s not because I dislike it; rather, it’s just because I’m a boy of the deep south. Outside of a freak stint of snow I got in the 2010‘s, it almost never snows here. So I don’t get to use arctic vehicles very much, and trying to find some method of making fake snow with copious amounts of white powder never turns out the same. Plus if I put that in the yard, the local homeless population might mistake it for free smack.

Hasbro making a skimobile in 1983 was a pretty bold choice, especially given that the only figure that really went with it was Snow Job. It has a nice size to it and is fairly reasonable looking, which is a staple of the early line, but I always do appreciate it. The rotating skis, and linked chin-guns add a good bit of fun to something that could otherwise get tired pretty quickly. It’s easy to take little things like that and the removable engine cover for granted, but when you compare it to a similar item like the LCV Recon Sled, you can see how a niche vehicle like this provides a decent amount of play value, whereas the Recon Sled gets boring… as soon as you touch it.

Of course, this post isn’t about the ‘83 Polar Battle Bear, it’s about the ‘09 Rockslide. So, here’s some weird tidbits about this release: First, the boxart is a new asset for the set, not vintage art. And instead of showing the included Snow Job figure, it shows what’s pretty clearly V1 Frostbite driving it. I assume this is probably an artifact of a canned 25th Anniversary release, since I remember there being computer listings for an entire wave of vehicles we never saw in any capacity. Other than that, it’s basically an unchanged ‘83 Polar Battle Bear, as even the foot-pegs are left in the vintage size. Like with the Snow Job included, the white is a slightly cooler tone than the original, which frankly I like the look of a bit. Also, I think the date stamp was 2002 on the bottom, from that time they gave it a big dumb missile launcher.

Oh yeah, another weird thing about this release is that it’s part of the Past and Present series. Hasbro had planned a full lineup of figures that would be released as Target exclusives (if memory serves), which would give you an original ARAH figure (represented by a 2004 comic-pack repaint) and the present version, which would be an unchanged copy of a ROC Joe. This exciting (not!) little idea never came to fruition after the entire ROC line failed at retail, this set especially. Nothing of value was really lost, though I always thought it was funny that Hasbro had stuff like this planned, but then just a year or so later all of the original o-ring tools fell into a black hole or something.

So the whole boxed set now fetches around $45 to $50, though I assume the, uhhh, “ARAH Rockslide”? -The old one, would probably go for much less on it’s own, but good luck finding one. This is one of those items that was pretty nifty when it came out as being a way of getting a very old vehicle in new, clean white plastic. Most of that appeal is gone now though, since it’s way harder and more expensive to get one of these than a nice vintage PBB.

gi joe past and present rockslide polar battle bear skimobile gi joe past and present rockslide polar battle bear skimobile

2009 Serpent Armor

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2009 Serpent Armor

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, was a botched toy line in more than a few ways. It did however give Hasbro the opportunity to make some lovably odd toys, like the Serpent Armor. The original SNAKE which this toy is based on, is not the most compelling item from the early line, but getting a new one in black was more than welcome by me.

So, the Serpent Armor is technically a new mold, though as far as I can tell the sculpt is identical to the original SNAKE. The original tooling went to Funskool in the 90‘s, where I assume it was used until it broke, since they opted to make a new mold. Originally, the SNAKE was going to be featured in the 25th Anniversary line, but the last wave of vehicle sets were canceled. If memory serves, we never saw much of these besides a WalMart computer listing and possibly a test-shot from China. Either way, it serves to explain why Hasbro produced new tooling like this for a line of Target exclusives, which also featured some even more questionable releases like a new Jet Pack.

The Serpent Armor is a pretty simple toy, it has four interchangeable arms, and the torso and legs open up, which allows you to either insert a figure or place the included black stand. I never stick figures in this thing since that feels like a waste, so for me it just bounces around with the stand. The hands include a machine-gun, a missile, a claw, and laser-gun. The claw and laser look pretty lousy, so for me these almost only use the other two parts. Other than that, there’s not much you do with it, but it’s a decent little vehicle for it’s size.

As a toy, I get the sense that the BAT was essentially just a more refined version of the SNAKE armor, since they’re both robots and have similar gimmicks. As a concept, I think the SNAKE seems a little less absurd and therefore, a little cooler than the BAT, but the BAT wins for it’s practicality. Again, it’s not very fun to put a figure inside the SNAKE, and there’s really not much it does besides stand there. If the goal was just giving Cobra a robot weapon with swappable arms, the BAT’s superior. Also, the BAT has a place to put it’s spare arms, which the SNAKE does not, and that sucks.

The black colors on the Serpent Armor were really nice, and broke from the trend of most post-’08 vehicles being reissues to some degree of an 80‘s item. It’s also pretty nice that the toy features a handful of silver paint applications on it, which you don’t see on other versions of the mold. For me, my favorite part of this toy is that matches really well with a lot of my early Cobra items; black puts it perfectly in line with HISS Tanks, FANGs, STUNs and everything else from the period where black was the main color for Cobra vehicles.

Serpent Armors often hit $30, but can easily be had for $20, boxed or loose. This price lines up roughly with what a Black Major SNAKE will cost you, as well as a decent ’83 example, so it makes sense. These were fun to grab at retail with an included figure for $10, but $20 isn’t an appalling price to me. I can’t say the SNAKE armor is my favorite toy, but it’s fun enough the have around.

gi joe rise of cobra serpent armor snake 1983 2009 target exclusive gi joe rise of cobra serpent armor snake 1983 2009 target exclusive

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Photo by Scarrviper

2010 ROC (POC) Elite Ice Viper

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2010 ROC (POC) Elite Ice Viper

I feel like my readers aren’t going to be much into this one, since this blog mainly focuses on classic o-ring molds, but since Forgotten Figures is having rarities month, I thought it’d be fun to profile a few pre-production and unreleased goodies from my collection. Of course, I don’t have that much unreleased Joe stuff, so I have no choice but to profile a movie toy…

Watching GI Joe the Rise of Cobra when it came out on DVD in 2009 was an actual chore. I’m not a connoisseur of bad films, but to this day I feel it was one of the worst movies I’ve ever forced myself to watch. I also feel that’s a pretty fair opinion, as since then, the movie proved to be a financial failure, most actors associated with the film regard it as a low-point of their careers, and toyline ended in premature cancellation, hence why this Ice Viper was never released. I could rant about all of these things, but the main point that continues to astound me, is the fact that Hasbro still insists that GI Joe’s future hinges on live-action movies.

Visually, the Ice Viper was one of the more attractive offerings from the Rise of Cobra line. The figure looks bulky, unique, and doesn’t venture too far out from what you might’ve seen in ARAH. Of course, for a GI Joe item, it’s relatively monochrome and somewhat unimaginative looking, but it’s not that much worse than something you’d have seen in Valor vs Venom. Overall, the figure features a fairly decent winter-uniform that doesn’t have the ugly alien look you saw on the horrid Vipers and Neo-Vipers from the same time.

The figure’s main issues are a greater reflection of the issues with the 25th Anniversary style construction. It’s a fully articulated figure, but because of it’s large and thick winter jacket that hides it’s barren and undecorated torso, the figure’s not much for posing. The sculpt has overly bulky legs that render it incompatible with almost any vehicle, but the jacket stops the legs from even posing at the waist. Overall, it’s still a decent looking army builder, but the point is that the toy can’t do much besides stand there…

The main attraction to the Elite Ice Viper, is that the colors are slightly tweaked to feature lots of red, and no camouflage. I notice a lot of people aren’t fond of red and white color schemes like you see on certain arctic figures from the Black Major, but I think they work, especially in this figure’s case. Ultimately, one of the worst things about the ROC toy line, was that the toys were flat, and colorless. Everything you saw was a sea of black and gray, which makes a toy like this more appreciable. The red highlights make the design more fun and look like a GI Joe toy, which I see as a major upgrade over the standard colors.

The parts are pretty bad, which is better than average compared to most of his contemporaries. You get the ugly sci-fi pistol that most ROC Cobras came with, as well as a bandaged version of one of the Neo-Viper’s riffle, and a ski-torpedo missile launcher. The guns are ugly, though this figure can hold them well enough, which is not something you could say about every figure from this time period. The missile launcher is just a waste of plastic and doesn’t solicit much comment.

Like with many midnight-run figures, it’s a canceled toy for a reason, and for years this figure was both plentiful and cheap. Since the early ‘10‘s, the supply of these from China has mostly dried up, and you don’t see them so much any more. However, the only thing that’s changed about ROC’s popularity, is that now there’s no more hipsters left to shill for the film, so you won’t likely ever see this toy become a coveted possession. If you’re in the market for one, I wouldn’t pay more than $25… But that’s not an endorsement of this figure.

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elite ice viper POC ROC Gi joe hasbro rise of cobra movie pursuit of cobra
elite ice viper POC ROC Gi joe hasbro rise of cobra movie pursuit of cobra

2010 ROC (POC) Elite Ice Viper Links:

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