The GI Joe collector's 5 pack arrived this morning (with Flint, Lady Jaye, Snake Eyes, Shipwreck and Hawk) and I have to say, I'm pretty impressed.

First off, I'll acknowledge some fair criticisms:
1. For packaging nuts, the box is pretty flimsy.
2. The fit-and-finish on some parts isn't all that great (Hawk's backpack is sloppily painted an odd bright green, Shipwreck's upper arms have spotty paint).
3. I'm not sold on Flint's new head sculpt and Lady Jaye's head looked better in the DVD pack.
4. Hawk's pretty redundant.

But none of that really dampens my appreciation of this pack.

Snake Eyes is a great addition. Figure has a new torso mold, and new lower arms (both differ from the DVD pack figure). He also comes with a new backpack (which is only OK) a new Uzi (which is pretty great) and a new Timber (which looks cool). The figure's colors are fantastic, and we've finally got a great rendition of 1985 Snakes in black. I wish the right hand wasn't angled inward toward the body so much, and it'd be nice if his belt sat a little tighter, but those are minor issues.

Flint is pretty decent. The new backpack is cool, the new torso is OK (though I'm not sure why it was made) and the new webgear looks pretty good once you put the backpack peg into his bag above the suspenders instead of through the hole made for the backpack (if you put it into the hole, it lifts the suspenders up above Flint's shoulders and makes him look awkward). The new shotgun is great, and I'm not having much trouble fitting it in Flint's hands. I ditched the new head immediately and replaced it with the V1 head. The colors match perfectly. The only other problem I have with the figure is the tiger stripe camo on his legs. I don't like it as much as the spotted camo on the V1 figure.

Lady Jaye is great. The new body mold fixes all the problems present in the DVD pack figure (overly long neck, no wrists) and gives Lady Jaye a pretty cool almost elfin look. Big win.

Shipwreck is fantastic. The first 25th Shipwreck is a fun figure but the features on that sculpt were a little exaggerated, giving the figure a sort of stylized comic book superhero look that didn't really blend with the rest of the line. This version looks a lot more like the 1985 figure and Shipwreck from his Sunbow appearances. The pants are a little bright and the torso a little bulky, but this is still my new default Shipwreck. His accessories rule. Polly is great (but watch out, one foot on mine broke while I tried to get the bird to perch on Shipwreck's satchel) and the revolver, grappling hook and speargun thing are all cool.

Hawk is parts. He doesn't look as bright or goofy in person as he does in some pictures online, so if you don't have the Wave 9 Hawk, this is a fine stand in. If you do have the Wave 9 Hawk, this guys is parts. But he's lots of good parts. The head has a different enough paint job from the Wave 9 Hawk to stand in as another character and the web gear is in black so it's easy to match it up to other figures.

All in all, a great pack. And it makes me wonder if I'm going to bother picking up Flint and Snake Eyes from the Hall of Heroes series. Both figures have slight improvements (Flint has spotted camo, Snake Eyes has the cooler V2a head) but I don't know if that alone is worth $20. We'll see. I'll try to put some photos up when I get home.

This is one of the reasons I'm really torn between this set and HoH. Its a bit painful to pay $25-30 for a 5 pack, and then turn around and pay another $20 for two figures already in the 5 pack with minor (but important) differences. I had no qualms with the Cobra pack, but aside from Lady Jaye, and SE's backpack I'm not seeing a must get.

yeah, as the line and pricing stands, I'm only buying multipacks, only way I can still stomach the prices, lol. What happened to 5.44?

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I think for the first time in a very long time my opinions differ from your Dasaffe.

Flint - you hit all the points that I don't like about this figure, his new head sculpt had to go, I too prefer the spotted camo over the tiger camo pattern, and about the only great things were his new shotgun, backpack (but why isn't it green?!) and harness (I think they took out a bulky pounch on the side of the belt that V1 had). I screwed mine up on the short sleeve switch so needless to say I'm waiting for HOH Flint to replace this one, and maybe switch the boots to V1 - I don't like that muddy look in HOH.

Lady Jaye - all around big improvement from the carded 25th and the DVD pack for sure. Not sure why the joints by her ankles are green instead of brown like her boots but no biggie. Great staff/accessories

Shipwreck - was the big disappointment for me. I love new Polly, but this fat-version of Shippy just isn't Shippy. I'm sticking with his v1 anime look

Snake Eyes - I wasn't big on him being all-black, I really like his purple-hue DVD pack but I know I'm in the minority for that. His right forearm is angled too inward for sure. Timber is great update.

Hawk - everyone thinks he's redundant, but I like him more than wave 9! His colours are definitely more Sunbow with the brighter camo pants, I love the brown fur collar, and the coloured helmet. I gave mine V1's backpack to match the green instead of the lime green one he got.

Personally I'm not liking the 25th style hollow backpacks we've been getting, it seems to cheap. It works for the BAT (to store his extra hand) but for the rest of them it feels flimsy.

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I like the new 5 pack and think all the figs are better than previous versions, the only complaint is shipwrecks pants looks 2 be 2 different shades of blue from upper and lower legs. I won't waste my $ on the HOH figures

Not having held any H.O.H. stuff in hand, I can't really compare the two.

However, having bought both five-packs, I can say they're both hit and miss.

Shipwreck just doesn't do anything for me. With his roundish torso and giant head he's almost as hobbit-like as any of the old-sculpts and just looks way out of place with the rest of the new line. Polly and the satchel were nice.

Lady Jaye was okay, but not really an improvement for me over the DVD release (which was worlds better than her single carded 25th debut). Some nice details added, but why she had to shrink so much I don't get.

Flint had better arms and web gear, plus a backpack (which really could've worked better with said web gear), but his leg paint and face sculpt left me cold.

Hawk was pretty worthless.

Baroness made some nice changes, but I really didn't care for the new spider woman motiff she had going. I used her head and legs in a custom.

Stormshadow would've been great if not for the gray. As it was, I had to customize him as well.

Zartan was pretty unnecessary. I liked his head better, so I swapped that with the single card version, but traded this one away with that one's miniature swamp skier abomination.

Cobra Commander...deserves no comment.

So pretty much all of the figures from these packs were custom or trade fodder for me.

The only two I left relatively intact were Snake Eyes (whom I re-equipped with a better bacpack) and the Viper (whom I enjoyed so much more than I thought I would that I've actually purchased nine more of him on the secondary market).

So, hopefully, Hall of Heroes will be better aesthetically. They're already better financially in that you can get them single-packed.

HOH is a complete and total ripoff. I cannot in good conscience recommend anyone buy those things.

These new 5 packs are great though, and that Baroness is the best Baroness ever.

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well they may be somewhat of a rip-off but I still pre-ordered HOH Flint and Storm Shadow because both my customization attempts ended in defeat.

When I do get the new HOH it's only a matter of switching out some accessories for Stormy and the boots for Flint to get >my< ultimate version of those two.

I am tempted to get more chrome Vipers but at $15 a piece I'm not biting. Still I can't believe what an improvement fixed wrists and chrome plating did for this figure. I love this troop builder almost as much as the BATS!

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I picked up the 5-packs a few day ago. I wasn't sure about them until I saw them in store.

The Joe pack is my favorite.

Flint replaced the wave 1 version as my definitive Flint. Gloves, rolled-up sleeves, new webgear, new torso and he finally has a backpack. The shogun is great. Even the head sculpt isn't bad. I'll be skipping the HoH version.

Lady Jaye is a definite improvement on the other versions. Better articulation, better accessories, definately my new default LJ.

Hawk is customs fodder. I haven't figured out what to use him for yet, but he's definately going into the bin.

Snake Eyes, well, I don't like this version, at all. Call me crazy, but my favorite V2 Snake Eyes is still the Wave 1 version. Granted, it was lacking in the accessories department, but 5-pack SE will be donating his Uzi, sword and backpack. New Timber is fine, I guess.

Shipwreck is fodder as well. I don't like the new head, it's too cartoony and waayyy too big. Also, I'm not liking the new beer-belly on him. I prefered the wave 3 version. New Polly is very cool though.

The Cobra pack is not as fun as the Joe pack, IMO.

Cobra Commander is kinda fun with his cape and staff, but the color is too vibrant for my tastes.

Baroness is definately worth the purchase. Great head sculpt, the right colors, she has become my default version. My only nitpick is the size of her feet. They're too small for her to stand without her battlestand.

Storm Shadow has cool accessories and I like the sleeveless look. The gray is annoying, but a little paint will fix that. So, I'll probably skip the HoH version.

Zartan is useless. The wave 11 version has better colors.

As for the Viper, I like it, but I'm not loving it. The chrome faceplate is nice. The hands are a definite improvement. I'm nitpicking, but did they really need to make a new mold of the Viper gun? Couldn't they use the wave 7 Viper's gun instead? I'm among the few that really like the wave 7 Viper, so aside from the hands, the 5-pack version doesn't blow me away. I'll be skipping the HoH version as well.

OB

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Ok, I finally got the Joe 5 pack.Overall I'm happy.
Flint was surprisingly good (once I head swapped him) He could hold his shotgun, and more importantly looked good with his newly issued Marauder shotgun. Can now pass on HoH with a clear conscience.
Lady Jaye was a solid win. Just solid. Although I'm still debating whether to give her a belt with a holster, or keep her belt with the pouch. Right now she's making do with an MJ G36-K.
Snake Eyes is a mixed bag. Points off for that bent right wrist. OK, I get that they're trying to make the wrist-dart thing a gauntlet, but it'd be nice if he could hold that sweet new uzi. The sword is a beaut. But the backpack is a fail. First it has next to no detail. It could be any figs ruck. Second, no spot for the sword. Fail right there. Timber should have been posable, but the sculpt is nice. I'll have to see how the HoH SE deals with the right hand. I'd prefer that SE's head sculpt and boot choices than this one's.
Shippy. I think I liked the original 25th head better. His head seems to bit and it reminds me of the King from those creepy Burger King commercials. Body wise, I think He's an improvement, especially with the revamped waist and leg sculpts. His accessories are pretty good. The Polly pouch is an interesting solution to the Polly perch issue. Although extended wings Polly strikes me more as an eagle than a parrot. The speargun should really go to a diving centric character.
Hawk, is a meh. There's no improvements, just a new paint job. Why? He arms still have a really limited range of motion. Fail.

And I have to re-iterate, the Baroness from the cobra pack is robably the best female fig in the Joe line right now.

im happy with the new 5 pack but shipy looks very fat. they changed se arm from the dvd pack. LJ is 10% win. flint is a close 2nd.

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They did? was the DVD arm better?

I checked these out last night. Overall I wasn't impressed enough to buy them. Flint and Hawk aren't big enough improvements over their single carded versions. The Lady Jaye head I was looking at was just horrible. Her hair was huge. It made her head bigger then Shipwreck's in that package which is is also big.

Snake Eyes and Timber and Shipwreck and Polly would be cool. Knowing a better single version of SE will be coming out makes me leery to buy this knowing 3/5 of it is fodder right off the bat with another one to make it as soon as the HOH line hits.

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