GI Joe Sigma 6: Cobra Iron Grenadier

When Hasbro took the GI Joe franchise a new direction with Sigma 6 I was turned off like a lot of other fans. However once I allowed myself to experience a figure hands on I started to change my mind. Growing up with the 3 3/4" scale it was hard to accept the larger scale, but I started to realize that Hasbro hadn't turned their back on the iconic franchise. Hasbro was simply trying to breath new life into a stagnant brand and while it may not have been as successful as they wanted, it still yielded some cool toys.

One of which was the Iron Grenadier and it quickly became one of my favorites. Different from the ARAH version, yet similar, this was a fun toy that came with some pretty cool weapons and accessories.

I will point out these are some old pictures that were buried on my old laptop. I've since sold the figure in an effort to downsize my overall toy collection. 

Like with most of the Sigma 6 figures, there are ports (or holes ) on the figure that allow accessories such as armor to be attached. In this case you have a backpack of sorts that contain the red hoses that travel across the figure. I'm not sure if that supposed to be some kind of breathing apparatus or what, but it sure does look cool! The straps on his thighs are elastic, something else Hasbro tried with this series...using materials other than plastic.

The head sculpt is great in my opinion. You've got a stylized gray helmet with a Cobra logo off set to the right. The face is basically a large black mask with round, sharp red eyes. Combine the eyes with the red hoses and the Iron Grenadier has a very intimidating look.

These faceless troopers came pretty well armed. A large rifle with a removable yellow tipped projectile along with a removable magazine that held two additional projectiles. This magazine could also be attached to the rifle itself, basically making the figure self-contained when it came to the accessories.

Overall I thought the designers did a great job with this army builder character. Great design meets articulation. Had I had more space to designate to GI Joe in general, I would've made space for Sigma 6 as most of the figures I owned I really enjoyed. I've often wondered if Hasbro would ever go down this path again since the Joe brand is essentially dead right now (at least outside of the official GI Joe club), but let's just say I'm not holding my breath.

New Comic Wednesday - 09/19/18

Another week has passed and more new Marvel comics have been released. I don't have all of these new books in my possession yet, but I was able to pick up a few books from my local comic shop that I didn't order from DCBS. Reading the synopsis for these issues has me very eager to read them, but first I've still got to work through my backlog!

Avengers #8 kicks off a new story line and a new team of Avengers. I believe they also unveil the Avenger's new base, Avengers Mountain. Hmm...

I originally wasn't going to bother with West Coast Avengers, but I picked up issue #1 on a whim and liked it. When I saw that Tigra was going to play a part in the ongoing story (and appear on the cover of #2) I knew I had to at least see this story out. 

Spinning out of the Infinity Wars story comes new characters, such as Soldier Supreme. I love the mash of Captain America and Doctor Strange, plus it plays a part in the larger role of the story and as a bonus it has a Humberto Ramos cover! Interested to see how this plays out.

Doctor Strange #5 still has Stephen in space...something that intrigues me. I'm not his biggest fan, but when I heard they were sending him into space I thought I'd at least check out the initial story arc.

Right on the heels of the Captain Marvel movie trailer premiere comes the 3rd issue of The Life of Captain Marvel. I don't always buy variants, but I have opted to buy the variants for this series. For issue 3 Joe Quesada provided the pencils. The regular cover is on the left and the variant is on the right. This series re-explores the origin of Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel. I'm really looking forward to reading this mini-series.

Immortal Hulk #6 - Bruce Banner is alive...and he's begin chased by the government, Alpha Flight and even the Avengers. Still a lot of mystery going on with this title.

Venom #6 continues the story of Eddie and his symbiote and his new power set? There has been a lot of noise about this series and what Donny Cates has been doing so this is another new series I eagerly await getting caught up so I can read.

I loved the huge Spider-Verse story line from a few years ago so I've been eagerly awaiting Spider-Geddon. Edge of Spider-Geddon #3 tales the story of an Uncle Ben from another timeline that has Spider powers. This oughta be good!

That's it for this week. Catch you back here with next week's haul.

New Comic Wednesday - 09/12/18

I watch a lot of people post their weekly comic pickups each Wednesday on Facebook and YouTube...but I'm not a video guy. However it got me thinking about starting my own weekly comic post each Wednesday...so here we go!

Now in order to be able to afford new comics, because lets face it...they aren't $.60 cover price anymore, I order from DCBS and have my comics shipped once a month. However I do like to support the local brick and mortar comic shops, both locally and when I'm out traveling for work. I will stop in and grab a new book that perhaps that forgot to order or grab that variant cover that I like.

This week I stopped by Nikelspot Comics in Fort Mill, SC to grab a few books I didn't have in my DCBS order.

  

I really like the idea of the True Believers issues as it gives you a chance to read an old story without costing you a fortune or having to worry about damaging the original issue. 

Because of my reading backlog, I'm not up to date on the current Amazing Spider-Man series, but between the issue solicitations an covers, I can't wait to get caught up!

I slept on Champions when it was first released, but thankfully I went back and picked up the back issues so I could get caught up. Even though I'm an old fart now, I still like the group of young characters and it's been a fun read thus far.

I'm not the biggest X-Men fan, but I love Gail Simone's writing and David Baldeon has done a great job with the art. Plus this initial story arc has featured one of my favorite under used female characters in the Marvel Universe, Diamondback!

I'm glad to see the FF back on the shelves. I've never been a huge FF fan, but I'm going to at least try out the initial story arc since I've been following the events of the first family since they disappeared in Secret Wars.

I love anything cosmic Marvel has been doing so it pains me I'm not caught up with my reading. All of the Infinity Wars books have looked very interesting and I'm ready to jump in!

Of course I picked up the newest issue of Spectacular Spider-Man! Love me some Spider-Man...and Chris Bachalo is handling the art!! That's a win-win for me.

Weapon H has been an interesting read so far. I kind of picked up the first two issues on a whim, but I've stuck with it so far. Looking forward to this issue and especially the next issue since Man-Thing makes an appearance.

I hope others find this new series of posts interesting. I'm always intrigued to see what others have bought and what they are reading so this is just my contribution. See you next Wednesday!

Marvel Super Hero Mashers Micro: Groot vs Rocket Raccoon

I'll be honest with you, I didn't pay any attention to Hasbro's Mashers line of interchangeable action figures when they were on retail shelves. I only picked up these mini versions when I found them uber cheap on Walmart.com. I'm glad I purchased them and wish I had now paid them more attention as they are fun little toys to mess with.

The premise of the Micro sets are the same as the regular Mashers, just the character's body is much smaller and non-articulated. The interchangeable pieces however are compatible with the larger figures.

You can see some of the other two packs in this wave, such as Hulk, Star Lord, Hulk Buster Iron Man and Black Panther. I really wish I could've found either of those two sets.

The figures themselves stand at about 1 1/2 inches tall. The paint apps are minimal to down right missing. Groot got some green highlight all over where as Rocket's body is is sorely missing some paint to bring out the design in the mold. 

Rocket came with two weapons for him to wield while Groot came with an additional hand to switch out.

In my humble opinion, Groot is the clear standout winner in this two pack. I especially like this additional hand he came packaged with. I'm not sure why, but I do.

Part of the draw with all of the Masher figures is the ability to switch their parts create new characters so to speak. I used Rocket's body along with some Spider-Man, Dr. Octopus and Groot parts I had near by.

Overall I found these toys to be a lot of fun as-is, but the more Micro sets I opened and the more parts I had I started to see the interest in the part swapping. I really hate I missed out on these when I had the opportunity to readily pick them up, but I'm glad none the less to have the few sets that I do.

Comic Book Show Haul

This has been a busy summer for me with work, hence the lack of new content on this blog and most of my others as well. However I'm still out there collecting the things that bring me joy and this includes comics. A few weekends ago I attended my old LCS' quarterly show up in Concord, NC with my older brother. I hadn't planned to go as I was all tapped out of expendable funds, but I guess my brother was eager to hang out with me so he offered me 20 bucks, no strings attached to go. How could I turn down that offer? Seeing how I was essentially spending my someone else's money I found myself being a little more picky with my purchases. Was it a coincidence that I had one of my most productive hauls?

I typically like to stick to the $.50 boxes at shows as I can still find a lot of what I'm looking for, but as I'm filling in holes in my various Spider-Man collections it's getting harder and harder to find books I still need in the cheap boxes. Thankfully I was able to find this issue of Web of Spider-Man for #7 for less than cover price!

Shortly before calling it a day, I came across a dealer that had a great sale going on, but didn't do a very good job advertising his sale. Any book that was marked $4 or less was $.50 and any book marked $5 to $8 was $2. At this point in the show I didn't have much of that 20 bucks left so I stuck to the $4 or less books and I couldn't believe some of the stuff I found. Most of the issues of Amazing Spider-Man I lack I won't find for cheap...but on this day at least I was able to score several books I needed.

Before I collected Spider-Man, I was all about Captain America. I've got a very nice run of the first volume, but anytime I can find Bronze age issues of Cap in my price range I'll bite. Aren't these Mike Zeck covers so good? And for $.50 each too!

I've only recently started to go back and build up my Bronze age Iron Man collection so I was thrilled to find some earlier issues, especially for $.50 each!

I've found myself piecing together small runs of Daredevil as well, especially when John Romita, Jr. was handling the art. I found a few other issues, but elected to grab more books of Spider-Man, Captain America and Iron Man instead.

ROM is another title that I've been slowing building for years. I was able to find these two issues in those boxes on the floor, underneath the dealer's tables. I'm getting too old to go through those boxes on the floor, but I can usually good deals if my back and knees can hold out long enough!

The last book to round out this trip was an issue of Man-Thing. This character has always intrigued me and I've loved when he would appear in other books, but I've never bothered with his own title until recently. Earlier this summer at the annual Heroes Con that is held in my hometown of Charlotte, NC I was able to pick up issues 1-3 of Man-Thing. Seems pretty perfect I was able to find issue #4 next.

My older brother is the one responsible for getting me into comics so anytime we have a chance to hang out together and talk comics it's always a good time. Toss in some good deals and it just makes the time even better.