Happy New Year!

It’s the start of a new year—but not just any new year. 2026 marks the 10th year of Robots, Monsters, and Misadventure! That’s right, Zone Base turns 10 this year, and as always, I’ve got some fun content headed your way.

Thank you all for supporting the site and sharing it with one another over the years. It genuinely means a lot.

Happy New Year, Zone Base readers! 

Soundwave Dreadnok Thunder Machine with Ravage, Zartan, and Zarana [G.I. JOE x Transformers]

The G.I. JOE X Transformers Collaborative series has turned out some really neat toys, but there’s one I find specifically neater than the others. And that’s the subject of today’s post: Soundwave. Not just any Soundwave though — this one turns into the Thunder Machine! The Dreadnoks have always been among my favorite groups in G.I. JOE, so this particular team-up hits all sorts of thematic high notes for me. It also happens to be a pretty great toy, which makes for prime posting material.

I actually picked this set up at Ross last year around this time. Those in the know are well aware of the phenomenon of liquidation stores — particularly Ross — getting boatloads of semi-recent toys and selling them dirt cheap around Christmas time. This yearly tradition is fondly known as RossCon among toy nerds, and man… getting this set for twenty-something dollars still feels like I committed a crime.

The set isn’t just Soundwave either — he comes with a few extras worth talking about first. Zartan and Zarana are included at a compatible 3¾-inch scale, and they’re even packed on traditional cards inside the box. While these are recreations of the original figures, the presentation gives the whole package a fantastic vintage feel, especially paired with the box that resembles a classic G.I. JOE release.

I do wish Zandar had been included to round out the Dreadnok siblings, and I’m honestly surprised Thrasher — the original Thunder Machine driver — didn’t make the cut. That said, I’m very happy we got two figures instead of the one you might expect.

Both figures come with accessories. Zartan includes his pistol, mask, and backpack — which can actually hold the mask. I don’t know who he’s fooling, Zartan slips the mask under his hood and behold: Liam Neeson. Truly, the master of disguise. Zarana comes with her backpack and that wonderfully weird rifle with the spinning blade on the tip. Both figures also include display stands.

Also included is a surprisingly well-done Ravage. Recent Ravage releases have left a lot to be desired, but this one is genuinely solid. He even transforms into a cassette that fits into Soundwave’s chest. I didn’t realize this at first, but he’s apparently a recolor of the Masterpiece Ravage mold! It’s been so long since I’ve handled mine that I didn’t make the connection — but yeah, no wonder he’s so good.

Ravage isn’t in his usual black and silver colors either; he’s blue and red. While that works nicely for a Cobra-aligned version of the character, it’s actually based on Ravage’s pre-production concept colors from the original Transformers cartoon. It also makes him resemble Howlback or the blue Microcassette Robo MC-02 Jaguar from the Microman Micro Change line. So no — this isn’t just another Ravage among the sea of Ravage toys. He’s quietly carrying a whole chunk of Transformers history. His trademark rockets are molded into his hindquarters, and he comes with a collar and chain accessory that Zartan or Zarana can hold.

Soundwave himself is big. I’d say he’s around Leader Class size, but there’s more mass here than you’d expect. Despite transforming into the Thunder Machine, he still retains a lot of classic Soundwave design cues — including his cassette door chest, which opens to store Ravage. Since Ravage is a Masterpiece cassette, Soundwave could probably hold any MP scaled cassette. Neat.

He’s also very well articulated, allowing for some expressive poses. The Thunder Machine kibble integrates into robot mode fairly well. The roll cage attaches to his lower legs, giving him an almost hockey-goalie look. The vehicle’s front fenders sit on his forearms, creating a unique armored appearance, while the wheels mostly stay out of the way. The roof forms a backpack with a long antenna sticking out — it’s removable if you’d rather not have it there. I kind of wish it doubled as a weapon. Imagine him whipping Autobot ass with that thing.

Several Thunder Machine features convert into weapons. The front dual Gatling gun becomes a handheld chain gun of doom. The barrels rotate and move the ammo belt as they spin, which is oddly satisfying. The massive rocket engine becomes Soundwave’s shoulder cannon, and it’s huge. It honestly makes me think of the Machine Wars version of Soundwave. He also comes with a big military knife, which I find weirdly endearing. Like, if he can’t hit you with bullets or rockets, he’ll just stab you. I imagine him sitting around sharpening sticks with it.

Transformation to vehicle mode is fairly straightforward — I didn’t even need the instructions. A few glances at the back of the box were enough to figure it out. The roll cage and chain gun need to be plugged in, and Zartan and Zarana fit easily inside the cabin to drive. Figures can also stand behind the dual chain gun or ride along various points on the vehicle’s exterior.

I had a little trouble getting some parts into place at first, but that was on me — a bit of extra adjusting solved it. Once complete, the Thunder Machine is stable and sturdy. This is a very well-made Transformer, and honestly pretty impressive.

A really nice touch is the vehicle’s design itself. The Thunder Machine is a Mad Max-style mishmash of parts with a rocket engine, and the front end is made from licensed Pontiac Firebird components. That’s such a small detail that could’ve easily been ignored, but it wasn’t.

This is a genuinely premium feeling toy — one I somehow got away with buying for way too little money. Soundwave is visually impressive, loaded with extras, and incredibly unique. What an awesome way to end one hell of a year.

Weekly Update: 5/16/22

 

I had a pretty good weekend. Saturday the Mrs and I had just a few things to do. It was time to upgrade my trusty S10 after two and a half years of service. I'm going to miss it, but this is the way of mobile devices. I now have a shiny new S22+ for the next few years and thanks to device share, it's got all my old stuff still. Though it's definitely an upgrade. We then made a quick stop at the nearby Best Buy for a new case. Got to take care of my investment and personal electronic companion!

We visited the the PopShelf store that recently opened near us. It's actually in the former location of Spirit Halloween, so we're well acquainted how to get there. Don't worry, Spirit moved a few buildings up last year due to this being constructed. PopShelf is a pretty neat little store. It's owned by Dollar General and a new chain of household stuff at fair prices. Think of it as a hybrid of Five Below and a general store. It's actually pretty nice inside and almost feels like something fancy.

They had a great little toy section full of blind bags. I got a Beyblade micro, a BotBot (haven't opened those yet), a little wind up ghost, and a Legend of Zelda Four Swords capsule. I did open my Zelda capsule and got a green Link! The series is by Tomy and each capsule has one of the four Links from Four Swords games. The figures are pretty nice and articulated mini figures with the gimmick that where you turn Links head, his eyes look that way. He has a sword and shield as well. There's so much personality in this little guy. I also got a G.I.JOE Snowcat building block set. My favorite JOE vehicle.

We then went to Walmart where I picked up Legacy Bulkhead. Friday the Mrs had grabbed me a Legacy Arcee. Here's hoping this one came with everything after the last one didn't. Thursday I had picked up Legacy Skids after a doctors appointment. Just a good few days for Transformers! The Sandstorm and Nightprowler I pre-ordered should be arriving this week. I decided to take my chances with finding Buzzsaw at retail. So I hope my luck continues next weekend. 

We ordered from Johnny's Pizza for dinner. I enjoyed a salad and two slices of pizza. I had mapped out my sodium intake all day and somehow ate two giant slices of pizza within my daily allotment. The Mrs fell asleep on the couch soon after leading me to watching Voltes V. She woke up near the end. It's pretty funny watching her reactions to my shows. She still doesn't believe Masterforce is Transformers and couldn't believe the name of what I was watching was called Voltes V. She swears I made the name up and asked why Voltron was fighting the devil. 

Sunday was a relaxing day of watching Ghost Adventures, napping, and playing Kirby on my Switch. Mom came over for dinner and we were going to cook out. However a sudden rainstorm led to cooking on the Foreman grill instead. It was still delicious and next Sunday there's a Squishmallow event at Five Below to prepare for. Looks like I'll be bringing home some more Bakugan!

I'm watching Haunt TV and drinking a Melon Ramune as I write this. I like to have a bottle of Ramune on the weekend. It's a silly tradition, but a good one. I don't drink  alcohol anymore and always have liked Ramune. Somehow that weekend beer became a weekend Ramune and I think I like it better that way. Of all the millions of Ramune bottles I've tossed, I've never saved the marble. Wonder if I should start? Thank you for continuing to support Zone Base. I've got a fun week planned and as always I ask that you please share with your friends! 

Double Dragon 4: Underground Nightmare!

I was a big fan of Double Dragon as a kid. Don't get me wrong, I still love it, but back then... man. I'd draw the characters, play out adventures using action figures and so on. I still remember the first time I played Double Dragon. My brother and I would go to the neighborhood Circle K. We'd play the arcade games, eat candy, and drink Slush Puppies. It was a pretty popular place for kids in the neighborhood. Much to the obvious annoyance of the cashier.

Occasionally the games would be swapped out and one day there was new game called Double Dragon. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before (never played Renegade until years later on the NES). You had these cool guys fighting other guys, they could pick up things to hit the other guys with, and they all looked like Mad Max. It was amazing. I spent the rest of the day talking about it until I was finally told to not say another word for the rest of the night. Which I did and gt in trouble. I was surrounded by folks who never played Double Dragon. They didn't understand.

Soon enough I was hooked on the NES version and it's sequels. What really added to it all was the instruction manuals. Back in those days game manuals were usually more than just instructions booklets. Often they were the source for a lot of the games fiction. The backstory and characters would get covered with some cool art usually. It was somewhere during this time that I came up the perfect Double Dragon game. Double Dragon 4: Underground Nightmare! Being 12 and not having much of an understanding how the video game world worked, my solution to creating this game was to write and draw the story and characters for the instruction book. Then send it in to the game companies and they'd just throw it together. To be fair I was 12 and admittedly a pretty weird kid. Not at all like the well adjusted adult I grew to be.

*cough*

That story? Those characters? After the events of Part 3, Jimmy turned evil again (he was the villain of the original after all) and kicked Billy out of the Double Dragon dojo. Now homeless, Billy lives underground in the sewers (like the TMNT). It's there that he finds his long lost other brother Timmy! Timmy also is  martial arts master and reveals Jimmy has been evil THE ENTIRE TIME and was behind the events of part 2 and 3 THE ENTIRE TIME! Jimmy also wasn't really their brother, but an evil robot from the future (like T2). Now that Billy is living in the sewers and has found Timmy, Jimmy sends The Black Shadow gang to get rid of them once and for all. But now, they're all mutants!

To be honest, I kinda still want to see it made.

Ninja Strike As If A Force... Of Ninjas

The new Snake Eyes movie is coming out soon and with it new toys. The GI JOE Classified series has been running since last summer and has been a challenge for most to collect. Fortunately for me, I haven't been too concerned. Between the Dollar Tree figures and the Jada series my needs have been filled. Though I would like some new action figures and the movie tie in line is delivering exactly what I'd like.

When it comes to GI JOE, I like the more far out stuff. Included with that is the various ninjas. This new core Snake Eyes line pretty much a modern version of Ninja Force... and I couldn't be more happy. I say core line as it's not in the Classified series (don't worry, there's new stuff for that line as well), but more of a mainline set of action figures. 

Like Power Rangers and Star Wars toys I tend to prefer those (but I do get the occasional 'collectors series' figure). These are not 3 3/4, but 6" figures with what looks like a fair amount of articulation. Similar to core class Power Rangers toys by Hasbro. Which I've been loving. There's some fun stuff here. Of course Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow are there, as well as Scarlett and The Baroness. There's also Red Ninjas and Night Creepers which fills me with pure joy. I hope more characters follow suit in this new core class series. This is more what I look for in GI JOE toys than Classified. Not to mention... I don't anticipate having as much of a hard time getting these as Classified fans have trying to get their figures. Yikes.

Bios: Predacon

Birthplace: The Badlands, Planet Trilenium

Primary Specialty: Alien Tracking

Secondary Specialty: Arm Wrestler

A vicious Lunartix alien, PREDACON makes his living by capturing criminals and selling them back to the Galactic Authorities. If the authorities reject the criminals, Predacon imprisons them in his private alien zoo. This four-armed monster is loyal only to his tribal clan on planet Trilenium, and he's proud to wear its ancestral medallion on his chest plate, along with Lunartix hieroglyphics that are etched into his arm guards.

GIJOE In Discount Missions

On my birthday last month, the Mrs. ended my quest for the new Dollar Tree GIJOE figures I had talked about before. Taped to each present was one of the much searched for figures (and some Tiny Turbo Changers, but we'll discuss those later) and I was overjoyed. Today seemed like a good day to talk about them. I hardly ever plan anything on this site ahead of time. It's complete anarchy. Just chaos.

These are mini figures of GIJOE characters sold at Dollar Tree and other similar stores for $1 each. They're small, about the size of a M.A.S.K figure without any articulation. The sculpts are pretty nice and so is the paint. Destro probably got the worst paint job, with his exposed skin being the same shade of grey as the trademark mask. It's not terrible though, just a little better paint detail would go a long way. 

I think my favorite is the Cobra Red Ninja followed closely by Snake Eyes. They just came out the best in my non- snaked eyes. I really like this type of mini figures sold at Dollar Tree and other similar stores. Basic inexpensive figurines of characters I like. They've got a particular charm about them and there's a thrill of buying a handful of them for $1 each. I hope to see more figures released. I'd love wacky colored repaints.

Hasbro Pulse Fan Fest

HASBRO PRESENTS “HASBRO PULSE FAN FEST” – A NEW VIRTUAL EVENT DEDICATED TO THE HASBRO FAN COMMUNITY

 

On April 9th Hasbro will host the first-ever “Hasbro Pulse Fan Fest,” a collector-focused event featuring exclusive activations, engaging panels, and product reveals across collectors’ favorite Hasbro brands. 

I'd Like To Buy That For A Dollar

Reports of new dollar store GIJOE mini figures have been floating around recently. I've been hot on the trail, but so far they've only been popping up at 99 Cent Store locations. I don't have any of those in Georgia. I do have plenty other discount chains though, and many closer by since moving this past summer. Realistically I could just make a day out of hitting them all up looking for these guys.

The toys are small, under two inches (I've seen them next to a M.A.S.K figure in comparison pictures) with no articulation. The figures look pretty great. There's also a Power Ranger series I'd love to find. Not sure if they're new though. I've just seen then on the pegs in pictures. At a dollar each (maybe more at some places) I'd scoop up one of each on sight.

By the end of summer when these stores start ramping up their Christmas stock I should be able to find them. If not sooner. I could see a fun morning spent hitting up each discount store on the hunt. It's been awhile since I've been on one of those drawstring backpack adventures. Just fill the thing up with dollar toys. Good times.

GI JOE Will Send Death On A Ski

Few vehicles can match the GI JOE Snow Cat in pure badassery. Essentially a half track truck, the Snow Cat is mostly used in snowy conditions as it's name would imply.

Make no mistake about it, the Snow Cat is being deployed to kill somebody in winter weather. It's a military vehicle so that's pretty much the assumption. With a missile launcher in the back and plenty of places a JOE could stand and shoot at some Cobra soldiers. The Snow Cat is perfect for some cold weather killing.

In order to kill you in the snow are ski based missiles. As in, in case the missile launcher wasn't enough, it has missiles on skis. Just rocket propelled missiles on skis flying across the snow. Right across some fresh powder and up some Cobra ass.

Weekend Report, Do You Copy

The weird thing about a normal weekend after a holiday one is completely obvious. It's shorter than the one you just had, so it just kinda vanishes on you. However it was still a pretty good weekend. Saturday morning after I got home, the wife and I headed out to check out a few things. I had two missions in mind. Find Shawn a Slitherfang and find myself Eternia Minis series 2. 

After a quick Wendy's breakfast in the Dollar Tree parking lot, the Mrs. and I went inside to discover all they had to offer us. We bought quite a bit of Halloween treat bag supplies. Let me clue you in to our Halloween plan. Two different buckets of treats for the kid to choose from. They can pick candy or toys. That way we can account for allergies or various issues with candy. Also, so the wife can spend her Sunday's putting together little treat bags. She loves that sort of thing. We're going to have the best house in town.

We then went to Target which had a halfway set up Halloween section. More treat bag goodies were bought as well as odd decorations. We'll wait a little closer to the date for candy. Because I will eat it. Upon approaching the Transformers area... no Slitherfang. A ton of Rung, but no Slitherfang. Dammit. Nothing else I needed either (or was allowed to get, Christmas). Oh well, off to Walmart!

Walmart had a lot more Halloween stuff stocked and we spent a lot of time looking through it all. Some more decorations were grabbed. They have a cool 18" blow mold that's the same sculpt as a mini one I got last year. I plan on grabbing him next weekend. My plan is to get a little at a time so I don't go home empty handed all spooky season. The blow mold is a recreation of a vintage one that I admired quite a bit as a child. I've been content to have the mini one, but there's no way I'll miss big one.

As far as Transformers go, Walmart had stuff I already have. Dammit. No Slitherfang. As for MOTU, they had a ton of Skeletor and 4 series 2 Eternia minis. All four were the same two guys, so I grabbed one of each. There was no new Star Wars I was allowed to buy (Christmas, yo) but they did have the new Playmates Final Wars Godzilla figure. I've been taking my time with the Godzilla vs Kong figures since the movie isn't' out for a few seasons and to be honest. Christmas. These are easy things to tell my Mom I don't have yet. Yes I'm 42, but for the rest of my family my interests are confusing. I try to make things easy for them. It's this or get random "do you have this" texts all December.

The Final Wars Godzilla I mentioned? It's part of the Godzilla/Kong line Playmates has been selling at Walmart which took the place of Bandai's line (it's a weird business deal or something). The Shin Godzilla they had in the assortment was swapped out with this new Final Wars figure that's surprisingly really good. It gives me vibes of older vinyl figures and yes, it's a normal vinyl. Not hard vinyl. Neat. We got other things while there, but you don't care about my socks. I hope you don't. Please don't.

We then headed to the neighboring town (it's maybe a 20 minute drive) and the Walmart and Target located there. That Walmart was completely Halloween stocked. It was great! We bought more shit. They also had a full shelf of He-Man and only He-Man. The MOTU Origins figures come one character per case. Stores tend to stock one case at a time. They also had an entire shelf display of series 2 Eternia Minis. I picked out the ones I needed and put what was left of the boxes content's on the shelf. I took that beautiful Snake Mountain display box home with me! I really should have done that with Castle Greyskull. The Transformers, GI JOE, and Star Wars? You guessed it, Christmas. 

Target was kinda a wet fart for Halloween stuff. This one always takes forever with any seasonal stuff other than Christmas. They did have this years Halloween cat scratch houses though. We get one for Halloween and Christmas every year. It won't last the entire season, the cats will destroy it. Target also had none Slitherfang. None. But they did have new Micromasters that I was allowed to buy.

I checked with Shawn to see if he was in need of those micro dudes and no, he was not. My quest for a smol robot snake continues. I will be victorious. Even if he already has one by the time I find another, he's getting it. We got some Subway and went home. They have a BOGO on subs BTW, was eating that shit until this morning. We ate our subs and watched some TV before I needed to take a nap, which turned into waking up around 8am Sunday morning. Dang. To be fair, I decided to take that nap at 8PM Saturday night. I has been up since 2:30PM Friday afternoon.

Sunday was filled with some household work, a visit from Mom which resulted in a massive Olive Garden take out order, and watching a lot of spooky shit. Between ghost videos and me taking a look at some more Halloween content (I make a point to watch it first, you can never be cautious enough yo). Today was full of errands and posting toy pics on Instagram. The same pics that will be used for future posts here. Happy fall y'all! 

Of Cobra Commander And Positive Dental Habits

The commercial above has nothing to do with this story, but I thought it would be a good way to showcase some of the cool GIJOE toys in India. I'm taking a little time to lament a pretty cool toy score I passed on a while back. For the longest time in summer, there was a monthly antique sale that would be held near Atlanta. I usually went, it was a pretty good time. A small admission price to enter a city of vendor booths and food trucks. The sale was a mix of actual antiques, folksy hand crafted things (furniture, food, art), and a surprising amount of toys. This is a longer post, so I'm gonna use a break here. Walls of text are just the worst.

This Weekend In Report

This weekend was a pretty laid back weekend. Not a super lot to report on, but felt like a lot was accomplished. One big thing on our to do list after moving in was to get an air conditioner for upstairs. A month and a half after moving in, we finally crossed that off. After I came in from work Saturday morning we headed out and got one after a little shopping around. Thankfully our upstairs now is a lot cooler than it has been. We live in a pretty hot state and there's about two more months of heat until things cool down.

Walmart came up empty handed on toys I was hoping to find. I need Winston and Stanz to complete my Real Ghostbusters vintage line and despite having them plentifully in stock for the past few weeks, not so much when I came calling. They had plenty of the Plasma series which I plan to complete once I finish the vintage line. Which if they don't restock anymore soon, might be sooner than I planned.

They were sold out of G.I.JOE, which I was happy to see. I still haven't gotten any, but I will. No Master of the Universe in sight. Neither Origins or WWE. Origins is new, so I understand, but the WWE line is frustrating. I've only seen the first wave ever and the rest just never show up and sell out instantly online. I'd be more patient if I didn't see folks posting their hauls of everything the store had posts in MOTU groups.

There was plenty of Siege Transformers. I still need to get Megatron and Sideswipe, but considering the mountain... I'm going to play clearance lottery. The Ultra Magnus magically went to clearance after I bought one, so I'm gonna play the odds here. They did have candy corn though! Got a bag of mellowcreme pumpkins to eventually eat. Also some Super Mario figurines I haven't seen yet were grabbed. After some Culver's and sleep I stayed up all night assembling my wife's new vanity which got Fed Ex'd during the week. I watched Headless Horseman, Mr. Boogedy, and Bride of Mr. Boogedy during the course of this. Disney Plus rules.

Sunday after waking from my all night furniture jam coma, I took the wife's jewelry to the jewelers for their warranty inspection. We stopped by Dollar Tree and Target on the way home. Dollar Tree had begun putting out there Halloween stuff! Not a ton, but a pretty good bit for late July. Target usually has a great Halloween selection, but it's still a little early for them.

They did however have that Repugnus Cyberverse set I spoke of last week and a few Tiny Turbo Changers. I was able to pick out Jazz and Sideswipe from the repeats of wave 1. They also had the new Star Wars Mission Fleet figures. I literally just learned about these the night before while checking Instagram and was surprised to find them already. I'll post about them here later this week but grabbed Boba Fett while there. I plan to get them all, but after buying an air conditioner the day before... I kinda didn't feel like spending much more. This is where I'd type lol in a text.

For those not in the know, Mission Fleet is a new Star Wars line with mini figures of characters which attachable back packs based on their related vehicles. Boba Fett, for example, has a jet pack based on the Slave-1. The figures are a bit stylized which adds to their charm. They have accesories and give me strong Microman/Micronaut vibes. Dig it.

The rest of Sunday was spent doing some room organizing and eating a BBQ dinner that we smelt all day cooking in the crock pot. Another weekend or two and my room might finally be serviceable for my purposes and not just some boxes that I took out of the garage. I normally don't mention Mondays here on these posts, but our order from a decor distributor came with some Halloween blow molds we missed last year. In it was a combiner number robots set the wife added in with the order and I already love them. I look forward to building the somewhat amazing looking combiner with them soon!

I Like Smol Bots And I Cannot Lie

A few things been popping up today on my robot meter, and they happen to be things I like! Jada, makers of the Nano Metal Figs that I'm pretty fond of has their newest batch of tiny cars coming soon and in the assortment is the sweet G1 Transformers assortment. The movie set came last year and finally getting this to go along with it is a treat. The little cars (and jet) just look so neat and I love the G1 box art on the package. It's a nice looking little set that won't cost much at Walmart when they show up. There's a G.I.JOE set in this assortment I want as well.

A lucky person found the newest wave of Tiny Turbo Changers at Target recently. This is that person's picture btw. I'm jealous of that person btw. I hope I'll find these dudes at Target, but most likely will find them at Kroger like the last few batches of Tiny Turbo Changers. Aside from that last movie series that apparently got shipped to the Bermuda Triangle that is. Which is fine as Kroger's holiday section is the bomb ya'll.

Last year they had so many great blind toys in neat displays. This wave unfortunately is mostly reissues of wave one aside from a few new bots. That's ok, at least I only have to dig for a few bots instead of all of them. No matter how used to I am of looking at codes on my phone, there's always that one person staring at me like I'm crazy. Which if they're worried about my sanity, shouldn't they move along just in case I do something crazy?

The Mamba And The Mummy

THE COBRA MAMBA, a fast attack copter with laser guns and missiles on both sides. A giant purple and black menace featuring two detachable attack pods and twin rotor blades that looked amazing when they weren't hitting each other. In 1988, while on a spring break spent at my Grandma's house, THE COBRA MAMBA went on it's most devious mission yet. A museum robbery. Did I mention I was in the 4th grade?

Sometimes GI JOE fights monsters

G.I. Joe is the code name for America's daring, highly trained, special mission force. Its purpose: To defend human freedom against Cobra, a ruthless, terrorist organization who apparently has a ton of monsters just laying around. To be honest, I'm kinda at a loss at just how Cobra looses all the time. Even without monsters they have ninjas, punk rock pirates who's leader could just morph into other people. Some weirdo in a metal mask, a guy with a robot arm, a freaking mad scientist, a bootleg Dr. Strange, robot soldiers... and that's before you get to the secret city of snake people and the second (and better) leader who was a damn Frankenstein Monster with a portion of his parts coming from Dracula himself!

At some point Cobra decided to outright just start using monsters, because why the fuck not? The hell with those twins, we've got Mega Monsters! GI JOE had to make another special team called the MEGA MARINES to drive up in their Monster Blaster A.P.C to shoot a big ass rocket with. But not to be outdone, when Cobra took their antics to space, GI JOE had to utilize space robots. The Manimals would have come in around then, but something happened and they didn't see the light of day until the early 2000's. What are the Manimals you ask?

Freaking mutating solders that's what. I was lucky enough to score a couple on clearance at Kay Bee Toys and let me tell you, Manimals were freaking amazing. In case the Mega Monsters, snake people, and drug dealers weren't enough... mutant soldiers that changed into terrifying monsters should do the trick. With toys like Manimals, there's no rational reason for GI JOE not to still be on shelves. In the immortal words of Ronnie James Dio, it's always a mystery.

What if mutating soldiers and giant monsters STILL aren't enough? Well, just pull out the zombies I guess. Both Cobra and GI JOE have Eco Warriors teams. Utilizing things like toxic waste for evil, Cobra's cool Toxo-Vipers are awesome enough on their own.  Packing chemical sprayers and a shotgun... I just can't love these neon colored warriors enough. But you can't just go around squirting toxic sludge around and despite all the amazing stuff Cobra has, they have terrible quality control. Toxo-Vipers suits will eventually leak and create a new soldier called the Toxo-Zombie. I'm not kidding, they literally just call workplace accidents a new type of soldier. Somehow these new zombie soldiers were trusted with more chemical sprayers. At this point why the hell not?

At some point Cobra decided accidental zombies weren't enough and developed Zombie-Vipers. According to the bio-card on the back, Compound Z is a chemical that just turns Vipers into zombies. Zombie (a monster known for dragging it's limps) soldiers with big tentacles hanging off their arms. After ten years of The Walking Dead and people dispatching zombies with sticks, starting to understand how the Joes keep winning.

Korean GIJOE childrens sneakers

It sure has been a while since I delved into the world of Korean licensed children's shoe commercials. I don't know why either, each time I do it's completely amazing. Here in America, licensed characters on shoes hardly get a spot in a stores sales papers, let alone a TV commercial. These productions alone are worth the view and man this one is some kind of wonderful.

Our host is on an adventure for some sweet new kicks. Fortunately he's in the exact jungle that has a pair of velcro GIJOE sneaks that feature Falcon about to shoot a fool just lying around. I assume it's Falcon, could be Flint... soldier man in beret YO JOE! What's really notable is that dope hard plastic carrying case the shoes come in. It seems as if the shoes come with a sticker and the host implies we can put other stickers on the case... that just blew my mind. Though, what am I to wear while carrying my shoes in that carrying case?

G.I. JOE Crusader

A few years after the Defiant play set was released, the space shuttle from it were released separately as the Crusader. Not a bad trade off for us who didn't get a Defiant for Christmas (that's another story for a few months away) those few years earlier. The Crusader was technically a vehicle, but was practically a play set all on it's own. With the mini-shuttle 'The Avenger' ready to fly from it's cargo bay and a cool space walk, you could have all sorts of fun. Probably one of my favorite GI JOE vehicles ever. Though in hind sight, I have no clue how Tunnel Rat stayed alive up there in space.

Sgt. Slaughter is a Real American Hero

It's the 4th of July! I can't wait for the cook out and shooting fireworks!

Snowcats chase Snowmen's scarfs

With July the 4th just around the corner (actually tomorrow, but I couldn't figure out a clever way to start this post), I can't help but to think about GI JOE. It just goes with the holiday, ya know? There's been a number of Transformers and GI JOE crossovers over the years and with just due. The two series are forever linked, not just fictionally, but Transformers essentially came from GI JOE. One of my favorite crossover figures (more of a homage I guess) was from Energon. Snow Cat was a Decepticon that turned into the Snow Cat.

The Snow Cat was and is by far my favorite GI JOE vehicle. Just a cool all terrain truck thing decked out in missiles for those missions where the JOE's needed to go somewhere deep in the snow and kill the hell outta it. When I first saw Energon Snow Cat, I was absolutely ecstatic. At the time such a thing was unheard of, dreamed of maybe, but not heard of. If you dared spoke of it, you'd be told how ridiculous and stupid of an idea it was by somebody allergic to air conditioning. That same person later said it was the exact thing they've always wanted and Hasbro should have already made before having some sort of problem when ordering from Subway. I hate that guy.

On the cartoon, Snow Cat was a reformatted Cyclonus for some reason. In robot mode Snow Cat has fold down ski's and can hold his missiles as ski poles... he can ski and he did so in space and it was just majestic. Outside of the silliness of the ski gimmick, he was a pleasantly chunky robot with solid proportions and articulation. The back mounted missile rack could fold over his shoulders for an attack mode. In white with grey and burgundy highlights, Snow Cat was a good looking toy. One of my favorite touches was his windshield wipers could move and even had molded in frost that was cleared away by the wipers, like in the original GI JOE toy.

A little later in Universe, Snow Cat got a repaint in a really nice black and orange deco that looked great! Though personally I has hoped for Tiger Force version (and considering Fun Publications involvement in things, it's weird that it never happened), but I suppose one could argue that this is the Night Force version... though that one never happened... aside from this I suppose. Regardless of versions and which ones, the deco looks really good on the toy. I almost wish it was a different character as in these colors, Snow Cat looks less like a polar expedition vehicle and more like a cool sci fi military thing. I could see Monarch or the Science Team rolling around in this.

Snow Cat was an imaginative toy in a time when Transformers brought more original ideas to the table in each line. While I don't have any complaints about modern Transformers, things like Snow Cat are the kind of thing I'd love to see more of. Just something that was neat, fun, and homaged Transformers older brother in a unique way.