This morning I was struck with that thought of how much I hated Law & Order as a kid. Really, it wasn't until Law v3 that I found one that I liked, but that is just my weird taste in toys. Flash forward to 2011, and I still think Law looks kind of like a doofus, and when I hear that Renegades line is going to revisit the character, I was very underwhelmed. Then I see this Masterpiece on the shelves one day. I was struck by how versatile the figure was. Not only for fodder, but once you got his gear off of him, he could be (mostly) another Joe at ease. Now lets take a second to appreciate the figure with his fantastic gear. Suddenly, I'm left really enjoying Law & Order.

What's your most surprising Modern Era figure?

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Honestly, when I read the thread title, I thought 30th Law and Order.

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Make that three.
I always liked Law as a kid (he looked a lot like me--I know, tis a pity.) I was disappointed we weren't getting a vintage re-do, but then I saw the figure and thought "THAT'S what Joe is all about!"

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Got a few:

Sci-Fi -- I was much more impressed than I expected to be, both with the extent of the detail in the figure and how they managed to work one of the wilder 80's designs into the more subdued modern line and actually got away with it.

Para-Viper -- A long overdue division within Cobra as far as I'm concerned, and a really outstanding figure.

Lamprey -- Pretty much the same notation as Sci-Fi. They really managed to work the futuristic design of the original Lamprey into the more plausible designs of the modern line, and did it very well.

Specialist Trakker -- Just FINALLY acknowledging MASK, and the similarities between MASK and G.I. Joe.

Although, to comment on what seems to be a favorite one of other posters, that Law & Order is very cool.

Retaliation Ultimate Cobra Commander. I've never been a big fan of that uniform, and I'm not really that into the character, either. I ordered a case of the Wave 3.5 figures and thought the CC would be one of the "straight to the fodder-box" figures in the bunch, but oh, how wrong I was: it's a spectacularly well-made toy, and I liked it so much that I had to find a way to use one as-is (I've also gotten several more for custom purposes). I swapped out the feet for some non-rocker-ankles, but other than that it's perfect straight out of the package, something that can't be said for too many figures from any line.

I'll have to echo sgartz there. I didn't really think I needed another basic 1982-styled version of Cobra Commander. They were plenty thick in the 25th Anniversary line, but from the second I got that guy, I've been impressed. Also, I'd have to add Retaliation Airborne to the list. I've said it in my Field Report about him on JoeADay, but I wasn't sure why I needed him, but I wanted the three-pack he was in so I was destined to get him. Once I pulled him from the package, I was sold.

You're JoeADay, Kansas Brawler? I LOVE that site! Well done!

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KansasBrawler is a contributor to Joe A Day, he writes the Friday Field Reports on the blog. The guy, Rob, who runs the site is a JC member but I can't remember his username on here. I've done a few Field Reports myself but not regularly.

as for a modern figure that surprised me, I think it was the PoC/30th Cobra Vipers. That figure did for me what the version 1 Viper figure did for everyone else in 1986. I had never been a fan till then beyond the cool mirror faceplate and gauntlets and flak vest, basically the overall design... but none of the sculpts had ever captured the badassness of said design like the PoC Viper finally did. That Viper was so awesome I bought 13 of them, the most I've ever owned of one toy.

The newest SE is fabulously nice. It's the buck every MU dude should be done off, imho.

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Put me in the wave 3.5 Cobra Commander figure category as well. There is no reason at this point I would want or need yet another Cobra Commander figure. Much less one in his standard garb. But that figure is phenomenal. It is everything you want in a modern action figure. Good articulation with good range of motion, solid, clean sculpt with realistic details, good clean paint, alternate head, snazzy new pistol, and fancy schmancy fang inspired backpack. I said it in my review, it was the one figure I couldn't put down when I opened those figures. Everything else got sorted and put away. CC and the Armijo Viper are still getting posed on my workbench.

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For me it would be the Pursuit of Cobra Crazylegs. I thought Crazylegs was a neat enough character, but I wasn't sure he was worthy of an update, especially not one that used Snow Serpent parts for crying out loud.

Then I got him in hand, fiddled with the figure, and realized how poseable he was and how much fun he was, and I was totally sold.

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Have to agree with the Ultimate Cobra Commander figure. Much like any number of the Masters of the Universe Classics figures, he looks like he stepped right out of the animated series. The mirrored faceplate is most welcome, too. It always bugged me just a little back in the day that Cobra Commander's faceplate was painted silver, but Destro, arguably below CC in the hierarchy, got fancy chrome (not that I have any problems with Destro).

Also agree with the PoC Viper. Easily the best modern version of the Cobra Viper around.

With the exception of the 25th Cobra Trooper webgear, the POC/30th Cobra Trooper really surprised me. I wasn't expecting much after getting the Shock Trooper which uses the same torso and arms but the new combination with the POC Snake-eyes legs in that dark Cobra blue just kinda blew me away. It's not a figure that I need to armybuild out the wazoo but I'm glad I have about 5 or so of them. It just needs new webgear (that 25th stuff just does NOT work) and it's a great solid figure.

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You know, while I thought the new head and vest were just stellar... Snow Job's snow suit limbs were a horrible choice for an aquatic trooper.



Me, I was a bit caught by how good the Red Fang Ninja turned out to be. While I didn't have the same problems with the Neo-Viper buck as a lot of others have, I really wasn't sure how a ninja using those parts would work. But he turned out to be surprisingly fun! Kinda wish I had more than two of them.

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