JoeCanuck

I know some people have problems with issue-specific characters like Grunt (not saying you do), but I think that's kinda the point of these releases - they're like "official customs".  The way they captured Grunt's comic look with the headsculpt especially is pretty amazing.

While I don't care, Zap's torso is technically incorrect.  He should have the non-grenade/knife torso.  And yeah, a helmet would've been nice.  But otherwise I really enjoy seeing a Joe figure with the red collar from the comic.  I wish these sets were officially available in Canada!

As of saturday, they had about a dozen 3-packs, both 4 & 5, $19.99 each.

They also had two of the sound attack 8-packs for $54.99 each.

So who the heck is Ricochet anyhow? I looked on ebay and it looks like a repaint of Jazz but I don't remember this character. Anyone got the 411 on this one?

Rico is a new character in the US continuity (if the reissues are considered "canon").  He is basically our version of "Stepper", who was released in the Japanese Headmasters line (I think).  He's a Jazz repaint, basically the colours are reversed and the chrome is made gold.  He also has a Targetmaster partner and the cool thing about the new Stepper/Ricochet release is that the original release was sort of lacking; he had the targetmaster pretty much but the new one has all the Jazz weapons too, and the ability to use the Targetmaster as a pistol, shoulder cannon, and even a cannon in vehicle mode.  So, essentially, for us Ricochet is like a new recruit from Cybertron and also a cool way to get what was once an insanely priced Japanese exclusive (Stepper was difficult to get for many years I believe).

From reading various reviews and such about modern Joes, it has become apparent that I'm not the only one who thinks the weapons/accessories included with the figures are pretty lacklustre overall.   I think it actually started in 93 with the Battle Corps uncut-sprue thing.  As for the newer stuff, I find it is possible to add some life to a figure with the proper equipment - for example, VvV Tunnel Rat was a really boring figure to me until I gave him Wide Scope's gun.  And, Alley Viper II was heading for complete obscurity until I gave him that big double-triggered Cobra assault rifle and Torch's backpack (the black one that came with w3 VvV BAT - yeah it doesn't make sense but it looks cool :thumbsup: ).  Now, it isn''t the greatest figure by any means, BUT it does look better to me and I feel now that I didn't completely waste $5 on the figure.  Basically I think a lot of the newer figures, especially "troop"-type figures, can benefit from a decent weapon/backpack look.  For the original ARAH figures, especially the earlier ones, their equipment was part of who they were, like 83 Gung Ho or Tripwire and the figure wasn't really complete without it.  Since the new stuff doesn't always come with specific accessories (a lot of it seems just tossed in) it becomes necessary to equip them ourselves and recreate the feeling of the (usually) uniquely-accessorized originals.  Any thoughts?

Your best bet is smalljoes.com to get bulk figure stands.  

http://smalljoes.com/supplies_stands.shtml

My problem is I need like 1300 of them.  Sigh

Gee that's all   ?

Thanks for the response.  Hopefully my collection will soon be standing again!