| (September 1, 2002) Custom of the Week! - Last week I got custom of the week on American Dream Comics website. I know I should have actually typed something here last week, but honestly I saved it for something to type new with my September update, hehe. It's still so slow around here seeing any new stuff, and nothing new in the G.I.Joe world has really been happening that I've had first hand knowledge to talk about. Anyway, the Custom of the Week thing was about my Zartan bust! I thought it was pretty cool. I'm not exactly 100% pleased with the Zartan bust because I sort of gave up on it after I realized I made it bigger than a mini bust. I finished it out, but didn't do all I wanted to do. The remake of Zartan will be what I planned though! - Joe |
| (September 1, 2002) Update on local stuff - I finally found some wave 1.5 at Target. They only had a single shipment though. You know what else? The idiots restocked wave 1 after selling all of wave 1.5. It's like who has a brain that works these stores? Wave 2 is showing up in force all over the place, but not here. There's still more than enough wave 1 figures that you could melt down and build a house out of! That's probably the only way they're going to leave the stores too. I do hope though that by Christmas these stores will be on the ball. I don't know if it's that the product isn't selling at all or what, but still if it isn't selling, why get more of the same? I know I see the new figures disappear fast when they actually get them. I have a case of figures on order from Sean at storeon44. Trouble with that is that they've been on order since the 12th of August. It isn't exactly Sean's fault because he's having trouble with his credit card machine, but I'm feeling like there's a conspiracy to keep me from getting wave 2! Hehe, ok, yeah I'm going off the deep end. But seriously, it gets crazy after a while! - Joe |
| (September 2, 2002) Coming Soon! - Really this project is a while away. I'm not ready to even say what the project is actually. Why am I even bothering to say anything you might ask? I wanted to give you, those who actually read my comments, a heads up to look for a big upcoming project. It's something I've had bouncing around in my head and I think everyone will like it. You'll have to put aside reservation on this medium to take it in though. Let me just say, I finally completed the art on a joint effort with a fellow G.I.Joe fan. He's writing, I'm drawing. I won't say what it is because that's for him to announce. Needless to say though, you might be able to figure it out from what I just typed. My project is of the same, but a different approach. It's a revamp idea on G.I.Joe. It's actually a take on what's currently popular with kids, and something I've seen many people say they'd like to see. Granted some of the loud mouths out there shoot these people down. It'll be a free project for all of you to read though. If it's not well liked, it didn't cost anything, hehe. If it is something that gets good response, I'll continue the project. There will be more info to come so just keep an eye open for further news! - Joe |
| (September 7, 2002) Wave 2 - Thanks to Sean at storeon44 I have Wave 2 figures. Due to a change up in the way Hasbro packed the case, I didn't get the Scarlett vs Zartan pack. Instead there was 2 repaint packs of Snake Eyes vs Storm Shadow. This is no fault of Sean's of course. I'll just get the pack I need later, but it does add to my feeling like something trying to keep me from getting this wave, hehe. It would still be nice if the stores in my town would be up to date. Come Christmas, many kids locally will be without something they may really want just because some loser working in the toy departments around here won't do their job. I have the reviews up on my Figure Rating page for anyone interested in seeing my take on them! - Joe |
| (September 7, 2002) Articulation - Hasbro really did great with this one. They really listened to what the fans have been saying. Many, including myself, have been saying how great wrist articulation would be and also adding how other points of articulation would be neat. Well most of us only dreamed that the wrist could become a reality. Hasbro has brought more than that and truely added some innovative ideas into the 3 3/4" scale figures. While they did really great with that, the plastic being used is a little too soft. I almost had Nunchuk's wrist tear off and it could have happened on the left ankle too. This is the only down side to this. Hasbro is currently experimenting, but this could become a probelm. The only thing I can come up with is to have a harder piece of plastic with snaps on each side. This piece would fit inside holdes on the hands and the wrists. Hasbro could keep the soft plastic then, but a harder peg inside would keep from having torn off hands and/or feet. If the wrists break on you, you can go to my custom wrist fix section to see a way to repair it. This doesn't help the kids, but maybe you're the parent of one of these kids and are looking up information on how to fix the problem? - Joe |
| (September 17, 2002) Wave 2! - I finally found Wave 2! It has been what, 2 months late? Most people started finding these quite a while ago. I really don't understand what the hold up was. Well I do but I couldn't say exactly! Wave 1 figures were restocked every time the stock went low. Wa-Mart is still doing this to this day. I watched Target for a solid week with just 3 packs of Wave 1 on the shelf. Target was even the only store that got a shipment of Wave 1.5. Had I not ordered them online and found the few that Target did get in, I wouldn't have been able to get any of this wave. The sad thing is, stores do not even care. They could care less about the collectors, and more so, they really don't care about the kids. All departments are like this in stores though around here. Late with stock, over stock when it does come in. Then while trying to move a current over stock item, something skipped over until over stock sells. Does this sound familar? I do need to point out that Target is 100 times better than Wal-Mart. K-Mart isn't even worth mentioning they're so bad. From the day Target was brought into my town, I've visited this store more than any of the others. I'm beginning to get a headache everytime I have to go in the other stores. The employees are so much better with their attitude, they may be late at times on stock, but they do get their stock. Plus a big thing is that Target really has a nice feel when the holidays come around! - Joe |
| (September 17, 2002) Articulation Pt. 2 - I had spoke with Derryl DePriest (head of the G.I.Joe division with Hasbro) about the Nunchuk figure. He let me know that the test figures they had didn't present the problem I had with my figure. I thought I'd do a follow up for what I had said previously. I bought another Nunchuk today because I have a custom idea I'm interested in creating. When I opened the pack, I found the same problem actually. The wrists were a little tight again and had I twisted the wrist around without working out the tightness, the wrist would possible tear. This isn't meant to scare anyone from buying the figure. He's a truly amazing figure to own! He's one of those figures that you'll be kicking yourself later if you don't buy him! This is probably just something that happens with the figure when it's new, still in the pack, an when it gets exposed to heat. In other words when the figure ships to the store and when you buy the figure and go home with it. Just be careful with the wrists the first time you turn them and it should be fine. On a side note, the Zartan figure's swivel wrists had no problems, and even the second Ninchuk's legs worked fine. - Joe |
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