After an eventful Yo Joe June, the amazing Haslab HISS Tank performance, and a warning from Lenny that this panel would not be a reveal-fest, I was not expecting much in the way of new information at Hasbro’s SDCC panel. But between the name only reveals, figure reveals, and early sculpt reveals, I left that panel an extremely happy Classified fan.
First off, Emily and Lenny’s livestream style translated well to the Comic-Con stage. I appreciate their natural conversational style so much, but I also love that they kicked the thing off with expectation setting slide summarizing what was going to happen.
The name only reveals were two great ones with the sniper Low-Light and the Tele-Viper Trouble-Bubble pack. The Trouble-Bubble for me is one of the iconic vehicles from G.I. Joe and I’m super stoked to see continuing vehicles in the line, not to mention another great Viper class. I’m thinking if they can do something like the Flight Pod, a Cobra C.L.A.W. should be totally doable in the same type of sku.
They also went over the features on the Tank including the working lights and at one point, Emily shone the Cobra symbol on the wall. They also told an amusing anecdote about how they transport this model around in a TJ Maxx shoping bag. They did clarify that the tank will not come with blast effects, but will be compatible with 2023 items that will come with blast effects.
The first figure reveal was retro-carded Snake Eyes and I have to admit to not caring about this at first until I got down in the booth. I’m pretty Snake Eyes’d out at this point, but they made this one so super classic that I think they got me. I love the new head, the satchel, the lighter web gear and weirdly the little tiny printed label on the grenade. I’m thinking he’s got a lot of Stalker parts on there, which makes a ton of sense since that’s what happened in ARAH.
The Crimson Guard didn’t make a ton of sense to me since I thought the original Classified one looked pretty ARAH, but the red pack and the brighter red color is more like how I remember the classic toy. I don’t know quite the origina of the silver mask. Here’s a comparison between the two with the retro on the left and regular on the right:
The big mam-jamma reveal was Serpentor and his Air Chariot which will be available for pre-oder at the upcoming September Pulse-Con. He comes in a box similar to the upcoming Mindbender packaging.
This had leaked earlier and I didn’t 100% love the cobra mask, but it works way better to me now that I can see the hood is a separate piece. It looks fantastic in the booth and I love the way the scales are not uniform and sort of stretch around larger muscle groups. There is also a bit of a technological armor flavor added in that you can really see on the thigh armor and to a lesser extent the chest and ab armor plates. He’s a real bruiser and looks physically formidable and that arm claw weapon is a fun addition. I can totally see this guy kicking Sarge’s ass.
The face also has an excellent imperious sneer and I really like the effect of the snake pattern stamped into the soft goods cape.
The air chariot looks amazing and has this great, substantial feel. The detail level on the sculpting is very high with tons of rivets and techno-greeblies and the classic GI Joe warning labels look so rad as tampos. I like that if you get up close on the front vents, you can see there is another layer of sculpted material texture under there, so I lightened up one of the pictures below so that detail is easier to see.
Last, but certainly not least, we got to see some uncolored digital sculpting outputs for three characters they announced as name-only reveals during Yo Joe June. These were early, so there may be changes, but I am in love with what I’m seeing. First off Rock ‘N Roll is my favorite Joe and they nailed the classic look and weapons while adding some interesting Classified style details. I absolutely love that he has that V1 collar to his shirt, but they really pumped up those arms and added such lovely details in his hair and beard. The Classified Beard Sculpting game is second to none.
Torpedo looks pretty super-heroic in his wet-suit and I love that they added an arm sling for his weapon. More of that, please. All the gear looks like it will be removeable and the portrait is fantastic
Copperhead also gets a way more detailed take on his classic look and I especially like the skull (maybe kraken squid in there?) on his belt buckle, the killer looking weapons, and the clothing texture. Look at the intensity in those eyes! And that’s without pupils!
Finally we get the exact Shipwreck I wanted to see, with the classic look and Polly. No sweaters, no knit caps, 100% bell-bottom sailor gear, little white hat, and wide open shirt collar. He also comes with a regular pistol and hat-free swappable hair for those fans who are triggered by the flintlock and cap. I like the length of rope that you can put over his shoulder and think it’s a great logical extension of his ARAH boarding hook accessory. Also, another amazing beard.
They also did a QnA and my main takeaway from that was that they can do vehicles, want to do vehicles, they just have to figure out the best way to do that. They said that the HISS success just helps them pitch more cool stuff because management can see how much enthusiasm there is for this stuff. Overall the presentation was a great way for me to close out the con and I left feeling optimistic and happy about the line. They are hitting so many of my favorite characters, I’ve got to start rethinking my most wanted. I know Clutch and Vamp have shot up to the top of my personal list.
About Post Author
Source: Fwoosh
