Welcome to the first ever "review" of the customs blog. FULL disclosure, I am not keeping 2 figures. I'm trading them away for other things. Neither will be pictured here. I will take a few moments to talk about each. Wetsuit is perhaps the most blah of all seven. He is yet another Torpedo repaint. A new backpack, partially redesigned. His breathing tubes insert into the corners closest, and not the back like the original figure. Next is the most confusing of all the figures. Spc. Altitude. The design to the classic fan screams "Ripcord" aka Walace A. Weems from the file card. Yes, I have to go to the file cards to tell this story. It is not however Wallace A Weems renamed Altitude and bumping out the Skypatol's John-Edward O. Jones, the original Altitude. This figure is actually Freefall aka Phillip W. Ardnt who seems to have taken a demotion in his title, because E-4 is Specialist or Corporal while E5 I thought was Sergeant. Anyways, Ripcord/Freefall/Altitude/Brains Scrambled cuz I jump out of plane is going to get me a Dr. Mindbender from the Cobra Set.
Onto the ones I'm actually keeping.
Hit & Run
Pretty boring. For the most part its a Cobra Trooper with what appears to be either an Airborn or Flash head in his cammo face paint. Being the Iowan on the Joe team means he probably knows how to cook sweet corn better than Roadblock, and that's it.
ChucklesHe's slightly more interesting. Made from a Shipwreck body, with General Hawk's holster. You can stretch that out to go over the shirt lapel without too much trouble. It's a nice touch, the second pouch is even Shipwreck's as well because you can see the perch for Polly built into it. I suppose some day I'll have to take a picture of Polly on that perch with a Jimmy Buffet CD booklet as the background.
Outback
Outback is a nice figure overall. I've gone ahead and done a slight bit of tweaking to rid him of a neck that is too long even if you leave on his web gear. I like him without it, much more original that way.
Zap
Zap completes the original 13 (YO JOE!!!!). And he doesn't disappoint. He is built off the Snake Eyes Commando body entirely. He has a belt with holster and canteen on the back. His backpack comes with 4 removable rockets. The rockets fit inside the hole of the bazooka. And the Bazooka splits in 2. Not to mention, they actually try to make him look Hispanic/Latino (probably Puerto Rican) as opposed to his original release that didn't work at all. The accessories are great. Now, why couldn't they do that for Shortfuze?
Recondo
Let's just hold any pretense, the hat is removable. Yep, that's it. That makes him automatically cooler than the rest, and any version of Recondo ever. The body Dusty's. He has his harness straps, as well as the same holster that Chuckles has. The backpack doesn't match the classic version, but is painted up nicely. Oh, and did I mention the hat is removable?
Overall, this set should be a pretty easy buy for most. The pricer per figure once you include shipping, is roughly the same if not a little bit less than what current store bought figures cost. That's right, an exclusive is cheaper per figure than a single card, so that away makes it a decent buy. The fact is that many of these figures are unique to this set and some like Zap are ones that have been asked for for nearly 4 years, should make all but the most ardent 25th Aniversary hater buy it without blinking an eyelash or breaking the bank (too much).
