Seems like the 2002+ stuff has gotten a bad rap. Why do you think the 2002+ stuff sucks rocks? Why do you think it's the greatest stuff ever made???

Most of the more recent new sculpts have been pretty good, and no one can deny gems such as Crosshair, Lowlight, Major Bludd, Gung Ho, etc. Plus, the sharper sculpting is to be applauded (like the heads on the comic pack figures). The main problem I have with some of the (mainly earlier) new sculpts is the ridiculous proportions, like long legs Heavy Duty, or giant feet Flint, or gorilla arms Scarlett. The proportions need to be right for the figure to look right, no matter how good the sculpt or colours.

I know what you think about proportions. I did some homework for the university about gold number. The old greek have found it and used it on their sculpts. Da Vinci did it to. Hasbro could put their sculptors learning something about them.

Yeah, the problem is a lot of figures' proportions were WAY off... and there was no consistency between designs. Just for example, Spy Troops Destro is badassitude incarnate, but his package buddy Red Spot is all full of bad proportions that just make me and baby Jesus sad.
Likewise, a lot of guys like Blackout and the CLAWs Commander ended up with their hands positioned weird. What was up with that?

The final reason why I don't do the new sculpt thing much, and this isn't to insult it, is that it looks off next to all my old sculpt figures. I don't like mixing them together because they don't look good together. So, I decided to just stick to old sculpt, because that's what most of my collection consists of. I've still picked up some figures, like wave 7 Snake-Eyes, DTC Low-Light and the helmeted Cobra Commander, to name a third of my new sculpt collection.

Viva 80's...for lack of a clearer option.

No- o-rings soured the line from the beginning. Arrogance on Hasbro's part (assuming fans would take what they given) or a cost saving measure or both?

Proportions and odd sculpting hang-ups on Hasbro's part:

Quite a few Tiny heads, someone forgot CLAWS were humans under that mask. This hurts a cool design.

Bicep arm bands, EVERYONE had them in 2002. Some sort of obession with hiding the swivel joint? An homage to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Goatees were pretty common, too.

Torso design and details that hinder arm and even leg posing. Torsos with wide shoulders or shoulder armor, the fact no-ring Cobra Commander couldn't even sit down! Sitting down the first Heavy Duty damages leg detail on the figure, and his shoulder has a sculpted on pad that hinders some poses.

Those arms CLAWS Commander and the first Mindbender. Ugh. Neo-Viper's left arm is like that, as is Black-Out's.

That whole wave 3 done by Takara sculpters was a mess, except maybe Cobra Commander, who might not have been fixed by them.

Big shoulders, noticable most on the females.

Inconsistent scale. Or no scale. Just sculpt Shipwreck 7' tall, Tunnel Rat 7' 5" tall and make Destro shorter than Cobra Commander.

Plastic "skirts". I hate them. Either make them so the figure can sit down, make them removable or don't make them. Battle Helmet Cobra Commander, applauded by fans...can't even sit on a throne, drive a vehicle. The type of figure as a kid, I'd leave at base or get killed off early in battle.

Action attack figures, made worse by T-crotchs. I never got that VvsV Destro because it was packaged with that Kamakura, easily one of the worst 3 3/4" Joe figures ever.

If only the line had started out with figures like Major Barrage, VvsV Torch and VvsV Snake-Eyes, and maintained that level of consistency...but it didn't and still doesn't (because so few of those style figures even got made. ) Even just starting out with o-rings would've made a difference.

To sum it all up: Should've been better than it was. The same things appilies to much of Hasbro/Kenner's 1995-1997 Star Wars efforts, too.


There's good figures from 2002+ but a lot of stinkers. And as noted, you often had to buy a stinker to get a good figure.

Bravo, Lava Boss. Plastic skirts? I don't have much need for a figure that can't sit or be used in any vehicles. T crotches? Didn't buy any of 'em, and frankly had Hasbro stayed with that figure construction, I would have been out of Joe altogether. I hope Hasbro read fan sites like this so that we can get more stuff like Lowlight.

I couldn't agree with you more Jay! Most of my collection consists in figures released in the 80`s and 90`s too. When I first saw the new ones I felt very frustrated for some reasons, the main problem is that the new ones are completely different from the old ones.

Gatilho

Lava Boss, there`s nothing more to say! Your post is perfect, a list of Hasbro`s error regarding new figures.
I my opinion, there`s a lot of good figures but are some problems that makes me sick such as the little head of VvV Scarlett or the Cobra Claws knees close to his feet.

Gatilho

I couldn't pick just one so I went with viva la 80's. The proportions on some of the figures were poo. Sure there were plenty of good new sculpts in the Spy-Troops waves but when Valor vs. Venom hit stores I knew that it was the deth of teh line. And I was right, at least in retail, ignoring sigma 6 of course.