| python patrol
Oh python patrol, we do have quite a love-hate relationship. Such good figures, such bad color schemes. These are just the kind of figures that I find and wonder... I really do like Cg's, Vipers, etc. but do I really want them next to all my others? Inevitably the answer is no. I do not plan on buying any of these except for the stinger-moccasin and I do this only begrudgingly since Copperhead is one of my favorites like so many other fans. Almost every Joe fan I have heard voice an opinion on the subject went something like this, "All right a Water Moccasin that looks just like the original. Is that an unpainted Copperhead? Wait, why would they include that one when we've already seen Copperhead exactly as he appeared with the first vehicle?"
To me the biggest problem with the line right now is a combination of things, not the least of which is the comic packs. Two packs are not common for G I Joe, though they have happened. Tomax and Xamot are an obvious choice but most others feel forced to me. Torch and Ripper??? Um... What happened to Buzzer, Beachhead and Main..er... Data frame? Don't get me wrong, these figures are much appreciated but they don't seem to fit the two-pack theme. The whole thing just feels forced to me. Not to mention, we miss out on having Torch and Ripper packed individually on their own cards!!! Their card-art was just as kool as the next thug and I want it all the same! Especially Torch, but that might just be me since he's my favorite of the 3. The comic packs have their place though, but I fell it is with repaints and previously unreleased figures (snake eyes and hard master come to mind). But I hate having to get the two pack with that other Shipwreck just so I can have Copperhead, which also undermined the MOC appeal in my opinion. Comic packs have never been successful, not the first time they tried them and not now.
I am of the opinion, if the comic packs hadn't come about, we would have single carded dreadknocks, scrap iron, breaker, hawk, and even red star. We would also likely have Copperhead in original colors with the Water Moccasin. Oh and seriously... Who would buy those recolored comic packs with scarlet, duke, and CC? Talk about ugly. Seems to me the fans would be much happier if hasbro used the comic packs as a way of releasing previous figures rather than include them with revision of the new waves. So the people that missed them would get another chance.
I will totally agree about the claw vehicle thing as well. There's simply no excuse for such awful repaints! It feels to me like the fans have been pretty clear with what they want to see and Hasbro is half listening. Ex: They give us this nasty copperhead as the driver to a vehicle we want, they give us bad repaints of figures we might otherwise enjoy. But some of their ideas are either incredibly transparent attempts to get our money or just blatantly bad. I, along with many other people am excited about the upcoming arctic pack. But I have yet to hear from legions of fans who can't wait for the desert pack. Which fans is that pack for? The tiny minority who want to army build desert scorpion, who by the way is MISSING from a desert pack. My prediction: The arctic packs are splendidly successful and the desert packs move like molasses.
It really seems unfortunate that Hasbro seems to have bouts of listening to the fans. The armybuilding is the worst example of this. I maybe only speaking for myself but how about a specialist pack instead of that desert one? Include those awesome EELS, BATS, Snow Serpents, etc. The cobra legion pack and the 5 packs at TRU are failed attempts to let the fans armybuild what they want. Hasbro doesn't seem to understand that we don't want to army build black cobra commanders, alt paint storm shadows, terrible claw pilots, python patrol (there are some exceptions to this), and all the other atrocities running around.
Hasbro has made us picky. I go to wal-mart or wherever else and see crimson guards and vipers on the shelves. Even more astonishing, I just leave them there. I don't really know how to explain it either. On of my friends put it to me like this, "I think about buying these figures but realize what ARAH figures I could buy for the same amount of money on ebay or at a show. Instead of copies of ARAH figures I could get the real thing for marginally more." To this I think he has a great point. Why would I buy these awful products, when I could buy the original ones that I loved for close to the same price. | 
