For a few years now the G.I. Joe: Classified Series has been my favorite ongoing action figure line with one solid release after another. The most recent series of figures has started showing up, consisting of Cover Girl, Mad Marauders Barbecue, Falcon, Outback, and a Crimson B.A.T. I skipped the B.A.T. for now but I received everyone else in the mail on Thursday. This series is maybe the first that I've felt disappointed in. It's not a terrible series of figures but there are definitely some weak links here. Three of the figures are straight up repaints (Barbecue, B.A.T., and Outback) and the three figures with exposed faces have some weird issues with their headsculpts. It should also be noted that while their have already been a few plastic free packaged releases, this is the first full series to have the plastic free packaging, a fact that makes the flawed faces seem particularly egregious. I'm starting things off with Courtney "Cover Girl" Krieger as she's probably my favorite figure in this series. The vintage Cover Girl was before my time (she was included as the driver of the Wolverine in 1983) and she didn't get another figure until the 2006 comic pack that was part of the DTC releases. That was the first Cover Girl I owned, though she was called Agent Courtney Krieger on the packaging. Obviously a trademark/ licensing issue. I'm glad Hasbro has Cover Girl out in the line and overall I like this figure quite a bit, but there's something just a bit off about the face. Let's take a closer look at Courtney "Cover Girl" Krieger after the break...
Height: 6 inches
Articulation: Swivel/ hinge ankles, boot swivels, double hinged knees, swivel thighs, ball jointed drop down hips, ball jointed waist, balljointed torso, butterfly pecs, swivel/hinge shoulders, bicep swivels, double hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, ball jointed neck base, and a barbell jointed head.
Accessories: Shotgun, pistol, wrench, tablet, holster, tablet case, and a jacket shell.
Non-Scalper Price: $25 dollars
* Cover Girl looks really cool and Hasbro did a nice job of keeping her recognizable while also updating her. She's still wearing a similar outfit but she's sporting a more complex tool belt (it's a separate piece, though not removable), cargo pants with built in kneepads and textures, boots with armored panels (something the vintage figure did have), and a jacket that's really nicely detailed. The "jacket shell" (the vest-like piece that covers the torso) is removable, though since the sleeves aren't there's really no point in taking it off. The color selection for the plastic and paint is excellent, giving Cover Girl a very real world sensibility. I really like the bit of fur lining on her leather jacket, too. That's something the 2006 figure had and sported in the Image comics, so it's cool to see it added here.
* Cover Girl's sidearm is one of the best in the line: A customized automatic pistol with a compensator, a red dot sight, and a stylized pistol grip. It even looks like Cover Girl has added a floorplate to the bottom of the magazine. The slide also gets a silver paint application. This pistol is sweet!
* Cover Girl's pistol fits snugly in the leather holster on her left thigh. You can even see the detailed stitching on it. There's also a little object hanging down from her belt. Maybe a little flashlight or a telescoping magnet for picking up dropped screws?
* Since she repairs battlefield vehicles, and probably everything else, too, Cover Girl comes with a crescent wrench. It's actually a pretty detailed sculpt for such a small piece with the screw for the removable jaw visible.
* There's even a loop for the crescent wrench on the back of her belt. Convenient!
* The vintage Cover Girl figure did have some sort of device on her left hip but he Classified Series version has modified that with a modern tablet. This is a simple piece though there is a cool image of the schematics for the Wolverine tank.
* The tablet lides securely into the carrying case on Cover Girl's left hip.
* So, let's talk about Cover Girl's portrait. I'm very mixed on it. On one hand, it is pretty recognizable as Cover Girl. She's had different hair lengths and even a couple different colors, but she's always been attractive since part of her backstory is that she's a former model who has joined the military and often has to deal with guys thinking she can't handle the job because she's "too pretty." Cover Girl's eyes look fantastic and her hair is really nice with a lot of detail. But... (and you know if I deal with the portrait at the end there's going to be a but)
The Negatives:
* There's something off about the sculpt. Maybe it's something off from the printing or maybe it's that she has too much forehead, but she probably has the least impressive portrait of any of the women in the Classified Series. Why's that? Again, considering Falcon's really horrible sculpt and facial printing and the weird face printing on Outback, I'm thinking something was off with a factory or something for this series.
FYI:
* Cover Girl does come with one of the oversized cardboard footlockers that the figures in the plastic free packaging have come with. It's numbered and has her name on it, but it largely feels like it's there mostly to take up space in the box.
This is the first figure of Courtney "Cover Girl" Krieger I've reviewed. For more G.I. Joe Classified Series reviews check out the following:
Cobra Viper
Cobra Viper Officer & Vipers
Cobra Viper (Python Patrol)
Crimson Guard
Croc Master & Fiona
David L. "Bazooka" Katzenbogen (Tiger Force)
Cobra Viper Officer & Vipers
Cobra Viper (Python Patrol)
Crimson Guard
Croc Master & Fiona
David L. "Bazooka" Katzenbogen (Tiger Force)
Snake Eyes & Timber: Alpha Commandos
Spirit Iron-Knife
Storm Shadow
Stuart "Outback" Selkirk (Tiger Force)
Tomax Paoli
Spirit Iron-Knife
Storm Shadow
Stuart "Outback" Selkirk (Tiger Force)
Tomax Paoli
I saw from a youtuber called IronKen3000 that Hasbro's production line is getting shadowly substituted by Kenner, which is a Hasbro sub-company. They are making different ball-head joints, articulations and accesory ports AFAIK so custom figure makers can't reuse parts from some figures to other ones. About the Kenner lesser quality, seems it comes from the Black series Boba Fett deluxe pack. Hasbro ROTJ version is really nice and solid but i heard that Kenner re-release got way worse even when the molds for all the items and the figure are the same, with cheaper materials and way weaker joints. Maybe 2023 will be Classified's last year of operation?
ReplyDeleteAlso, isn't Cover Girl's shotgun a Benelli M1 Entry instead of a Benelli M4? Somehow for me it looks more like the M1 than the M4. Maybe because it reminds me of the Reinbeck shotgun from the Payday:The Heist game (which in turn is based in the M1 Entry).
For the sculpts, it's also a Kenner problem. New SWBS figures sculpts started looking mediocre thanks to Kenner, and as Hasbro is "Kennerizing" their production lines...
Still, a nice review, like always, and i will wait to see your Mad Marauders Barbecue one, surely with new and fresh puns. Well, intstead of fresh, grilled!
Oh, about the Crimson B.A.T. you are bot losing much. Basically the standard B.A.T. painted on red with black arms and the new container/locker with the name and number of the figure, and some numbers on the chest plates.
DeleteMad Marauders Barbecue is the only repaint that actually confuses me for the colors. Normal Barbecue looks like a firefighter but MMB being so blue+green reminds me more of Mr.Freeze or a liquid nytrogen trooper. The design is great, don't mind me wrong, but it's the colors what confuses me.
So Hasbro acquired Kenner in 1991, operated it as a separate division until 1999, and closed it in 2000, just merging the brands they had into Hasbro. They still own the name, and use it on vintage styled Star Wars products, but it's not some separate division that still exists.
DeleteOther than just not being completely sold on the portrait on Cover Girl and Outback and just flat out being creeped out by Falcon's mug, I'm not seeing any noticeable quality change in the figures themselves and I haven't heard anyone el either complain about plastic quality, joints, etc in any lines. Some of the Marvel Legends figures have had some weird facial paint apps too (I'm thinking of Avalanche). I'm going to wait until the next series to get truly alarmed, though. Maybe Hasbro will address this in the livestream this week?
There's been a lot of problems with the animated D&D line. Bad paint apps, hard to move joints and sometimes the parts just break off when you try to move them.
DeleteOh, I forgot about those as I don't have any interest in the, but you're absolutely right. That line does seem to be riddled with QC issues and bad design.
DeleteAt this point, I'm back to hoping Super 7 will make $20 retro 5 POA versions.
DeleteI can't do many acrobatic poses with my "articulated" 6" figure the way she is right now lol
DeleteHasbro really seems to have had a bit of a rough time with those. I do wonder what the real story is? I had heard some speculation that because of the design of the figures it's possible they were developed a few years back and have just been waiting to go into production, but that still doesn't explain the poor quality control.
DeleteDex, did you see that Super7 is doing ReAction figures based on some characters and art from the older art an books? They look cool, though who knows if Super7 will do anything beyond what they've shown.
I did! I'll probably grab the Sorceress since that's the cover of the first D&D set I had.
DeleteShe's definitely the coolest of the three. If I picked her up I'd probably put her with The Worst figures.
DeleteDefinitely too much forehead!
ReplyDeleteThat definitely seems to be a large part of the off likeness. That's called a five-head, right?
DeleteStill happy they made this figure despite the sculpting issues. I did not notice the loop in her belt for the wrench. I had a 1/12 scale Wolverine 3D printed last year from a customizer. Can't wait to put her in it.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's pretty cool that you have a Wolverine for her. I'm anxious to see the pics.
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