Well those PulseCon reveals were definitely a step up from the past year.
I love how the Joe team really brought it after a year of disappointing reveals,and interaction with the fan community. I know that the Hasbro Marvel Legends team was considered the gold standard for reveals, interaction this year, but I love that the Joe team was considered the best panel at PulseCon by a lot of the general fan community.
I also love that they seem to be getting away from the early days of heavily updated looks for classic designs. Instead they seem to have taken that back quite a bit. These new reveals seem to evoke mostly the classic looks with modern updates, but those updates are more about accentuating the classic look rather than the reverse.
So for the reveals. I LOVED EVERYTHING!!!!
I was glad to see that Tiger Force and Python Patrol will be the Target exclusives this time. I much prefer that store exclusives be repaints of existing characters, rather than the only way to get actual mainline characters.
The winners for me (well they were all winners really) were the BAT, Alley Viper, Spirit, Storm Shadow, Croc Master and Outback.
That BAT was everything you could want in a Classified update. It retains all the great things about the original, but adds a few extra touches to update it for today. I love that they thought of putting a removable protective panel on the chest. Not only does it make sense, in a real world sense, but it adds a nice uniform look to the body. All the attachments are great, as well as the battle damaged head.
The Alley Viper is straight out of the ARAH line. I love the crazy, no reasonable rationale, colour scheme. The shield is perfect, and the backpack load out looks great. The only thing I am worried about is the body armour being a problem like with Firefly. Again it makes sense in the real world, but it definitely hurts the figure's poses and articluation.
Outback is outstanding!!!! That head sculpt is incredible, and they used a new body for him. So now they have a body that is bigger than the standard joes, but not as big as Roadblock. That should come in handy for future releases. All his accessories really add to the whole "survivalist" specialty. Also I think we all know this means a regular version will be along sometime, hopefully soon.
Spirit was wonderful to see. I really though they would try to get away from his original look due to concerns about diversity, representation and stereotypical depictions of Indigenous people. However they stayed with the original look and did a great job. Again the minor tweaks/updates add to the figure. I love that Freedom has 2 sets of wings to change up how you display him. As well you can perch him on different parts of Spirit, and you can have him grabbing Storm Shadow's arrow in his talons, just like in the cartoon!!! What a great little touch.
Storm Shadow. CLAP, CLAP, CLAP, CLAP!!! Well done Hasbro. This is the Storm Shadow I see in my minds eye when thinking of Classified. It is such a great update to the classic look with, again, minor tweaks. I just see this as a perfect modern representation of Storm Shadow. You get the option of hooded, or unhooded, and all the weapons you expect. I had to laugh that the team mentioned they originally had the bow and arrow able to shoot about 4 feet. Then QA (Quality Assurance?) got ahold of it and told them it couldn't shoot. SO CLOSE!!! Oh well.
Croc Master. I have Snake Eyes and Timber from Classified. They did a great job with that set, so I didn't think they could one up themselves, but boy was I wrong. This set is the next step up from SE/Timber. Croc Master looks great, in all his cheesy looking glory, yet the update and little details make his figure just incredible. The use of crocodile skin for his outfit, and the way they detailed it, really makes him pop. The accessories are great. The whip and meat hook really evoke that sense of "he is not a nice guy, especially to his crocs." Then of course we get to Fiona and her babies (Diablo & Georgie). WOW! A nearly 12" long crocodile, with articulation and a bendable tail!!!!?? And she can carry her babies in her mouth just like a real life croc??!! Man the team really went all out on the details for Fiona.
Python Patrol BAT. I love the look of this, especially since this is a never before released version of the BAT. The PP colour scheme really works for the BAT. Although I can see the complaint people have about how the torso paint scheme makes it look like it is wearing a shirt. I also like that they put the PP logo right on the removable chest plate.
Python Patrol Viper. Not a big fan of this look. I do like the subdued take on the colours. It makes the yellow really pop when it doesn't feature as prominently on the rest of the figure. However overall I just find it ok, definitely the weakest of the reveals.
If these reveals are any indication of the future it looks very bright.