JoeCanuck

Yeah it is strange how things are playing out right now in the community (Youtube especially).

My thoughts on the topics are:

1 - As shitty as it is, that is what business does.  The company that bought YoJoe.com clearly didn't do it's homework on the site and just saw an opportunity.  However if they had done their homework they would have realized that it probably wasn't a good buy.  However it is their business so they can take the loss, just sad that it will take down a beloved Joe site with it.   At least there is still 3D Joes as a visual resource.

2.  Michael Mercy has some great content and I have enjoyed a bunch of his videos over the years.  Retroblasting seems like a deeply unhappy person who uses his channel to spread his opinion in negative ways.  I have only ever seen a couple of his videos and the time he and Scott Nietlich (Toyguru) had a debate on GeekDadLife.   During that video he came across as fairly unlikeable and bitter, which is saying something when you are in the same video as Scott Nietlich who is also not well liked.

3.  I have watched a couple of Viper Island videos over the past couple of years.  I thought he was a good channel, but having seen the drama around his channel lately my opinion has changed.   It's kind of the same situation with Retroblasting/ToyGuru.   I think the 3POA channel is way too negative.  I have tried to watch a couple videos but each time I have to tap out because it seems like they don't even like collecting toys, but rather they just want to go on and bash people/companies and claim they are just being "honest."  Others like A Toy Kinda Mood and The Full Force have also had issues with Viper Island and seeing the evidence of what they claim VI has been doing makes it clear that the guy is, at the least, shady since those two channels are hardly known for being bad faith actors.   That has made it easy for me to avoid VI because those kind of actions are crap moves and not worth supporting.

The GI Joe community is one of the smallest collecting community if you compare it with Star Wars, Marvel, Transformers, ...

We already lost YoJoe.com, now YouTubers are fighting at each others. Saddly, Canadians are involved:

1. A Canadian compagny bought YoJoe to almost close it.

2. Canadian Michael Mercy is fighting against RetroBlasting for an AirWolf Kickstarter project in which he wasn't involved.

3. Canadian Viper Island is filling complaints against Sh4rk, 3POA for copyright issues on YouTube.

No one wins... it's sad.

If you are looking for the Tiger Paw (Tiger Force Ferret), Toys Snowman has it for preorder:
https://toysnowman.com/collections/g-i-joe/products/g-i-joe-classified-series-137-tiger-force-wreckage-tiger-paw-atv-preorder-nov


You also get 5% off with my referal code:
https://toysnowman.com/account/register?ReferralCode=A36EF54BTunRdt

So I picked up the HMS last night.  Didn't have a chance to open it yet.  Anyone else get one?  Thoughts?

I got mine delivered on Monday.   Same here though that I haven't had a chance to open it yet.  I know I'll love it anyway, and it should look great connected to the HISS. 

From what I have seen online it is much bigger than I am expecting, which is good considering how much it cost.

So I picked up the HMS last night.  Didn't have a chance to open it yet.  Anyone else get one?  Thoughts?

So it looks like Canadian e-tailers jumped the gun and accidentally revealed this years SDCC exclusives.   The good thing is we will have an option to get them if we want without having to go to SDCC.   Well as long as Super7 doesn't pull them from the Canadian market for this screw up.

Anyway this year's Joe exclusive (Ultimates) is a redo of the recent Zartan.  From the pics I saw it looks like there isn't much different.  There are some new accessories for an episode specific appearance of Zartan.   The one where Cobra kidnaps the scientist with the heat/lava/whatever tech.  So Zartan will come will a full brown robe, the Cobra headband that mind controls the scientist and the Cobra camera in the basket (along with the horn to make it "dance").   Then the Zartan figure looks to have slightly darker paint.  There was a side-by-side pic and the exclusive is the exact same as the general release but the colours are just a bit darker.

This is the kind of exclusive I am good with.  It isn't an essential character, and as such not something that I feel I need to track down.

Optimus as a Mobat? Lame.  Considering the dinky sized G1 toy he got, Warpath would have been a better pick.

I think it comes down to limited options for what they could make Optimus Prime turn into from the Joe vehicle list.

The more obvious choice might have been the APC which would have give us a "cab" mode for Prime and the back could have converted into a battle base of some kind.  However I think the size of the vehicle might have been an issue.  Same thing goes for the HAVOC, which would have been my preference for Prime.  Could you imagine Optimus Prime as the HAVOC?  The front end could be Prime and the back end could be a naturally folding out base mode while the hover sled could be Roller.  Of course there might be an issue with the giant windshield and how to hide it in robot mode, but I would think the simplest thing to do would be to just remove it in robot mode.  They had no problem with parts-forming Megatron to hide his face in vehicle mode so why not the same for Prime?

Again though, considering the cost of Soundwave I would hate to see what they might try and ask for something as big and complex as Prime as the APC or HAVOC. 

As the MOBAT, if true, it give them an alt mode that is slightly smaller and being a traditional tank also gives them easy options to make the transformation work and hide the robot mode.   I mean they have been doing tank alt modes forever so I would hope they can do Prime justice this way.   The one thing is that I am fairly certain it will not have the motorized function.

Optimus as a Mobat? Lame.  Considering the dinky sized G1 toy he got, Warpath would have been a better pick. 

Just snagged a Big Boa from TRU with a 25% off coupon.  Came out to just over $36 after tax so I saved a couple bucks compared to regular retail price. 

Man is he a great Classified figure in general, but just even moreso because of being Big Boa with his zany look.  I love the unmasked head and bloody wrapped hands.  And the weights!!!  If only they could have given us the punching bag/stand that would have put it over the top for me.  Although I know that would have raised the price.

Agreed on the 60th figures - the accessories are the selling features.  The figures I don't really have a desire for, and the price tag of a deluxe figure has left me skipping them.  But if they ever go on sale (maybe on Amazon) I would grab them.

Techno-viper is a great figure, just wish the hose was a cm or two longer.   And yes Airborne is way better in hand,  not a single quality control issue, and the paint applications are crisp.  Only gripe is his gun.