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I'll be brutally honest here...I really haven't gone out of my way to track down the new 2.5" figure sets yet, and just happened to do it when the prices dropped and there were some free shipping offers from Hasbro Toy Shop. While I really love the 2.5" vehicles from a design standpoint, the figures continue to do little to excite me, because...well...they're not really figures, they're "Green Army Men" for the 21st Century. Of course that's what Hasbro has intended all along, and from that point of view, they've been successful with what they've been doing, but I got into G.I. Joe nearly 25 years ago because of the way the figures could pose and move...what they could do. If I wanted "army men", I'd be an army man collector. ;)
Still, Hasbro does try to do as much as they can with this format, and I've got to give them some props for making some of these sets fun, this set especially.
PACKAGING
Another 2.5" set, another example of dynamic, exciting packaging. Great art, and as usual, the Mission Manual is a lot of fun.
Written somewhat for kids, sure, but still a neat read, and a great "added value" especially for the new five dollar price point.
The Toys
This three pack of figures is just full of unposeable goodness (or not-so goodness, depending on your personal point of view). All three of these figures are permenantly attached to rock-style bases and contorted in very specific positions that don't lend themselves to versatility. It's too bad that this is Zartan's first indoctrination to the 2.5" realm because he's stuck in a pretty static pose.
However, from an all around standpoint, the sculpting on this 3-pack looks pretty good, the paint applications are actually cool, with the phasing transparent look, and I love the character selection, too, working Hi-Tech and Zartan into the 2.5" realm pretty well. Granted, a better Hi-Tech is available with the Iron Hammer, but still this is a neat rendition of the character, even though he's contorted into a hunched, permenantly gun-firing mode. I do like seeing Hound there as well, blasting away alongside his master. Snake Eyes I can give or take, since he's the same one that came with the Nightblade set in the last wave, but transparent figures always look at least somewhat neat.
As I said with Zartan, he is stuck in a somewhat strange pose, but I like the fact that he's using his arm-mounted crossbow and the other weapon in his left hand is eight inch authentic (even though I'm not real excited about the weapon itself). I love the partially phased look to the figure, though I'm not real excited about the lack of articulation. His right shoulder does have a ball joint which allows for a bit of flexibility, but just a bit. The "Hideburner" chain weapon is removable, which was a somewhat pleasent surprise, but still not a whole lot you can do with the figure.
Hi-Tech is probably the neatest figure of this set, though that's not necessarily saying a whole lot. Even though he's in a crouched pose and has very limited movability, the pose he's in is pretty interesting and I like him rattling off a few shots with his BFG. I'm not sure why he's sort of slumped over, and I really don't know what he's holding in his other hand, but the way he's standing there firing, with HOUND right by his side, all comes across fairly effectively and makes for a neat looking mini-figure. I'm still not a big fan of the sculpted gun fire that's kind of rubberized and doesn't hold a lot of impact, but the character sculpting itself is actually pretty impressive for something of this size. Hi-Tech is in a dynamic pose with HOUND right by his side, and I like how they stand here.
Snake Eyes? Well, he's quite obviously just a "toss in" figure here. The figure itself is simply a re-release of the pre-posed Snake Eyes that originally came with the Mission: Nightblade set in the last wave, only inexplicably cast in totally transparent plastic. I can appreciate why Hasbro feels the need to work their most popular character into this set, I just don't think it works real well, and the figure itself just does nothing at all for me.
Overview
Joe fans by and large don't seem to have much use for the 2.5" figure sets, and I can't really blame them. They do some times present some pretty cool looking mini display figures like Heroclix or other collectible mini figs, but for the most part G.I. Joe collectors are about the versatility, playability, and poseability of their figures. Of course, Hasbro really isn't gearing this line for us, so that point isn't necessarily a strong one. As I stand back and look at my shelf stacked with these miniature renditions of the Sigma 6 universe I can't help but feel like the figures are still kind of neat and make for a cool display even as they are. Still, there seems to be some missed opportunity with the potential poseability and options for a smaller scale line of figures. I do see some improvement in the dynamic sculpting and interesting positioning of a lot of these Wave 2 figures, honestly, but they still miss the boat in what a lot of collectors want to see.
