Joe AF: Kollector Set (part 3)
4 years and 40 figures: counting down my favourite Classified Series figures in my collection. Numbers 15 to 1
In between taking pictures for this grand finale and writing it up, I went on a shopping excursion and saw the Mutt and Junkyard set at Gamestop. The acquisition of that set, at this time, would throw out the entire balance of the Kollector Set countdown, so I didn’t get it. Also, I have it on pre-order elsewhere, already paid for. It’s not quite the existential blogging substacking crisis (or Toy Kollector Problem, if you will) I could make it out to be.
As well, I’d passed on Ripper and Buzzer and now I’m reconsidering both before my 2024 shopping restrictions come into play (more on that next week). The point is, this Joe collection is going to keep growing. It’s an amazing line with incredibly detailed and accessorized figures that are tremendous fun, even if nostalgia carries no weight.
Back to the countdown…
#15 Gung-Ho (Retro Card - 2022)
I’ve already compared Retro Carded Gung-Ho to his early wave counterpart, and I like them both. I definitely prefer the Retro look though. I’m always going to go for brighter colours if not nostalgia. Plus, removable hat.
#14 Shipwreck (CS#70, 2023)
Another of Lady Kent’s favourites. I don’t have any real connection to this guy from my childhood experience with G.I. Joe, but I love the boot cut denims. If I have another action figure in denim I can’t think of it (I sold my DC Direct Cassidy from Preacher quite a long time ago). As much as I like the swappable hair/hathair, I prefer a removable hat which keeps him from being higher on the list. Also, I think his anchor needs a rope (not included).
#13 Arctic B.A.T. (CS#69, 2023)
The third B.A.T on the list. I love this B.A.T. but then I love (almost) anything Arctic (I did not get the Arctic Mission Storm Shadow, because, yuck). If anything disappoints me about Arctic B.A.T. it’s the lack of swappable hand parts like the other B.A.T.s have. I mean the chainsaw is very close to making up for it, but it comes with the standard B.A.T. backpack and nothing to really stow in it. The new chest plates and swappable heads are fantastic.
#12 Snow Serpent (CS#93, Deluxe, 2023)
To reiterate, I love (almost) anything Arctic, so I love this figure. As a deluxe figure, he comes with all sorts of gear, including a snowboard, and the wolf pelt and headdress…goggles, snowshoes, and a bazooka. The combination of looks is quite incredible, but I don’t really need multiples of his gear running around, so I don’t really want to army build. Are there standard Arctic Troopers?
I just learned that the 25th Anniversary Series of G.I. Joe had an Arctic H.I.S.S. Tank with a driver that looks much like our Snow Serpent here. I managed to resist the just-released Haslab H.I.S.S. but if they rerelease it as an “arctic” version through Pulse, I’m going to have an even harder time keeping my money.
#11 Stalker (CS#46, Wave 9, 2022)
Stalker looks gooooood. He’s in some really subtle camo, with a stylish and practical desert scarf and his trademark beret (REMOVABLE, thank you very much). I was certain he was going to make top 10, but he’s been edged out by newer and or flashier characters. When the Kollector Set gets to 75 Joes, we’ll have a look again. I really really dig this fig.
#10 Major Bludd (CS#27, 2021)
Most of the classified series exclusives to Target have been repaints (Tiger Force, Cobra Island), and Wal-Mart has been getting deep-cut characters as their exclusives (Big Ben, Wolf-Spider, etc) but Major Bludd is not a minor Joe player and for him to have been released only as a store exclusive drove people bonkers at the time, and continues to drive collectors mad now. To make matters worse, he’s an incredible looking figure. That robotic arm is cool as fudge, and the face sculpt and paint apps are so incredible. He’s got his vintage weapon, and, best of all, his helmet is removable.
#9 Spirit Iron-Knife (CS#36, Wave 7, 2021)
When Classified Series started, and we weren’t entirely sure how long-lived it would be, Lady Kent and I had our wishlists. She obviously wanted her favourites, like Flint, Lady Jaye and Dusty, while I wanted things I knew we wouldn’t get until deeper into the line, like Big Boa and Televiper. But our lists certainly crossed with two figures that were must-haves, one being Spirit, the other is still to come. Spirit looks incredible with or without Freedom. No notes. Just a great figure. I know I said we’d keep the pets out of this, but I can’t help but have a shot with Spirit and Freedom together.
#8 Bazooka (CS#62, 2023)
I love a ringer t-shirt. Always have, always will. Also removable helmet. Also moustache.
#7 Tripwire (CS#78, 2023)
One of my least favourite things about the Classified Series this past year was how many damned figures and sets wound up as Hasbro Pules exclusives, mainly because they were all some of my biggest wants of the line (Tripwire is the first of 3 in this top 10). Hopefully they stop that $#!* it in 2024. But Tripwire is great. He comes with two sets of gear (the overlays are swappable and work fairly well in their “fastening” mechanic) for heavy duty bomb work, and, I guess, his more traditional vintage gear for lighter bomb work. I love a weapon that’s corded to a backpack, but this is a metal detector or bomb detector that can’t even be considered a weapon (it’s a sensitive piece of calibrated equipment, he shouldn’t be using it in fights). Plus the face sculpt looks like comedian Joe Pera, which makes me laugh, just give him glasses and move the part to the right.
Besides Lowlight, he’s the newest figure in the Kollection so there may be some recency bias with his placement in this countdown. And my affection for him may diminish depending on how the Classified Series team adapts Sci-Fi.
#6 Firefly Classic (CS#84, 2023)
The first Firefly figure was an early Target exclusive and, if I recall, fans were displeased with both lack of availability of the figure and the figure itself. He came with chonky overlay that hindered poseability and generally didn’t fit the mind’s eye of Firefly. This new version, I think, made all those complaints go away. This is the classic Firefly people were looking for. If I’m being perfectly honest (and I’m nothing if not perfect, and honest) I don’t recall if Firefly was one of my guys as a kid. I think so, but somehow I don’t actually remember. Plus, he’s got a Diabolik-esque balaclava so, i’m in.
#5 Zarana (CS#48, Wave 10, 2022)
She’s been popping in the backgound of almost every picture of this series. Are you surprised she’s top 5? Am I?
She was another Lady Kent selection (if I’m being honest, Lady Kent vets the majority of our Classified Series selections) and a character I know nothing about, except that she’s Zartan’s sister, maybe? But a great looking figure is a great looking figure and she is an incredible looking figure, right down to the unintentional bit of muffin topping happening at the waist joint. She’s an absolutely fierce looking woman with two very distinct, swappable hairstyles. That she ranks so high in my collection is surprising, yet not. She’s totally gon’ to cut ya.
#4 B.A.T. (CS#33, 2021)
The other character, besides Spirit, that Lady Kent and I immediately wish-listed for the Classified Series, and the B.A.T. did not disappoint. At all. As an update to the classic figure, it’s damn near perfect (if only there were a way to make the chest plate lenticular). My only gripe with this first B.A.T. release is that the dumbell joint for his head is a different size than all the subsequent B.A.T.s that have been released, so no easy head swaps happening. I stopped myself from army building a bunch of these, but I think I still need at least one more.
#3 Chuckles (CS#75, 2023)
I cannot express the amount of anxiety I had over Chuckles being released as a San Diego Comic Con exclusive, especially when I came to learn that Chuckles was much more of a niche character than I had previously believed and likely wouldn’t get a mainline release. I came to love the character in the outstanding comic book series G.I.Joe:Cobra (it’s like what Andor is to Star Wars) and so he was an absolute must have for me. I was thankful when Pulse opened Chuckles up for public pre-order and sat on that website for hours until I could click that “buy now” button. To be honest, Chuckles could have been executed terribly and he’d still be in my top 15, but he’s a really, really great figure and he hits the top 3.
#2 Tiger Force Outback (CS#39, 2022)
I know less about Outback as a character than I do about Zarana, but from first time I laid eyes on him (I think on The Fwoosh Weekly [now the Weekly Rewind])…I dunno… it’s not love, but utter admiration. I look at “Old Man Outback” and I see life goals. Hit one’s mid fifties, gone all grey, and get all buff, grow a beard and put on an orange t-shirt with a tiger’s face on it. That’s the plan.
He was my #1 figure of 2022 for those reasons, and will forever be an all-time favourite action figure (at least until I hit my late 50’s, still haven’t buffed up to fill out that t-shirt and just get angry at Outback for being a constant reminder of my own failure to follow through on things… you know, Toy Kollector Problems).
#1 Snow Job (CS#67, 2023)
Another damn Pulse exclusive that I absolutely had to have. I don’t remember if I had dreams of Snow Job before the figure was announced, but once he was he was all I could think about for days. I eagerly anticipated ordering him from the dreaded Pulse. I eagerly awaited word of his shipping. I eagerly craved his arrival. And since his crossing the Kent household’s threshold in September, I’ve been eagerly awaiting snow outside to play with my snow man toy. If Snow Job winds up ceding the #1 spot back to Outback it will be only because playtime in the snow didn’t go as expected. This dude is kitted out and I think he’s absolutely incredible, one of the best figures of the year.
And there we have it. 40 figures in 4 years, and unlike, a few of my other Kollector Sets, I’m keenly and eagerly anticipating more and want to keep accumulating more incredible figures from the line.
What I realize looking at my top 15 is I want colour and vibrancy out of my Joes. I’m less interested in the military side of things and more excited by the comic bookishness. I would think that’s what most people want out of Joes, otherwises there’s Valaverse/Action Force, but I guess some people really like the mix of fantastical and military. I wish Hasbro would make some red and blue lazer effect for the guns, like the old cartoon, just separating itself from the military industrial complex just that little bit more.
For what I have on order - Mutt and Junkyard, Big Boa, and Televiper - I have a feeling that two of those three might be top-ten contenders in the future.
But we shall see when we get to 75 Joes, which at the rate these things are being churned out will definitely be in less than 4 years.
The new B.A.T is indeed perfect, and makes me so happy.
Obviously a lot of my favourite figures depend on how much I love episodes of the cartoon they were in. Like Shipwreck, who was in one of my top 5 fav episodes. Plus he had a pet (my favourite figs as a kid were usually the ones with pets). I agree with your high placement of him. And of Zarana :)