I don't agree that the new figures are better made than the ARAH ones, but I concede that they have a few design points that are better. Although having fewer articulation points, the ARAH figures often still have a wider range of motion than the 25A figures.

Taking some of the better elements of 25A figures could be applied to ARAH designs...

The heads could be "pop off" types that sit on a neck that goes into an ARAH body. I'm surprised none of the on-line stores have made adapter sets yet, btw. hint hint!!!

I wouldn't mind seeing the lower arms of ARAH figures modified to have swivel wrists. Although I like the double-hinged knees and swivel ankles, the ARAH figures don't need them.

They don;t have pictures, but on the GIJCC message board Brian Savage was responding to a post about rescuing on ARAH molds and said that most of them have been destroyed and due to the few that are remaining they have had to change the tooling for one of the upcoming con figures three times, so that's a good indication that this years con set will be ARAH style.

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I only want what Hasbro will never do - NEW ARAH figures. All Hasbro has ever been willing to commit to is the same dozen or so figures. Over and over and over. This is why I want nothing to do with those lame ass TnN sets. New ARAH figs would interest me far more than anything put out in the last... Decade or so.

At this point, Hasbro has peed all over the legacy of the vintage figures to such an extent that I'd prefer the molds to be in the hands of bootleggers and discount Asian toymakers. At least they would have some creativity and take a few chances with what they have available.

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Yes, this just boggles my mind and frustrates me to no end. What exactly were the designers, sculptors, engineers, supervisors, trouble-shooters, consultants, managers, quality control guys, and brand managers thinking???? How can so many highly -paid professionals miss the point so entirely so as to make me suspect they either:

1. Do it on purpose to frustrate fans
2. Don't give a flying [CENSORED]
3. Are functionally "LASER BLAST".
4. All of the above
5. None of the above, but part of some vast, ominous conspiracy that shall one day doom us all

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Hardly a "blasphemous" comment in my book, but at this point I think the Club is a more likely source for new ARAH than anything directly from Hasbro. I, for one, am looking very forward to Big Lob, and who knows what else the Club might produce?

In fairness, I do like some of the new vehicles Hasbro has turned out. Fortunately, these will work with any version of 3-3/4" G.I. Joe that one cares to use with them.

ARAH's got some distinct advantages over 25th Anniversary/ROC.

1) More parts available. The new stuff LOVES to reuse toolings, but there's so fewer toolings available a lot of those parts reuses end up lacking. Flint, for example, has a GIGANTIC belt because his webgear has to cover up an actually-sculpted belt, and no subsequent version ever bothered fixing that.

2) Better elbows: This is shocking, especially since we're going into the new construction's third year now. The ARAH elbows can bend in much deeper angles.

3) Better hips: While we're at it, the rubber band waist/leg joints made for much nicer poses at the hip, too. It accomplished all the mid-torso joint did, and THEN some.

4) Actually customizer friendly. I'm still flabbergasted that Hasbro claimed their new style was "friendly to customizers" when you have to ram a chisel in it and whack it open, then glue it back shut. A screw is a screw. You unscrew it, screw it back in, and repeat the process effortlessly.

5) More toolings were made: All the way up to the end of the DTC line, new toolings were so much more prominent than parts reuse. Nowadays, it always seems like Hasbro prefers to look at what parts they can reuse to make a different character, and if and only if there isn't something that can half-assedly pass off as the character himself do they bother with brand new tooling.


Don't get me wrong, I'm a total ROC whore now, but I do wish some aspects of the classic ARAH construction had been kept...

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If that collector's club Hydro Viper set ever materializes, I'll be surprised.

I mean, any news of the Adventure Team "modern style" figures yet?

Hey Jay you captured my thoughts with your points exactly! The O-ring construction is probably the best toy articulation ever created! About the only thing ARAH needed to evolve to was "swivel wrists"

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I dunno, I'd think the double-jointed knees and the ball-hinged ankles would be nice to have too.

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well, some of the new sculpts achieved this, (It just failed in scaling and head size)

which brings up a good question:

when they trashed all the molds, were the new sculpts included in the dump?

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ARAH figures are the only ones I collect. I have several of the JvsC figures, but gave them to my daughter to play with. I had tried to get into the 25th Anniversary figures but sold them on ebay.

ARAH figures were the only ones I customized as well, and I still make LBC customs out of spare parts for new characters, or new versions of exisiting characters.

I would love new ARAH figures, in fact I actually dream about finding new ARAH figures in stores.

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There is always Big lob from the club.............

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I hope so.

In fact, trashing all the new molds from 2002-2006 would've been a higher priority than ARAH.
Undetailed heads, inconsistent proportions, strange looks to say the least...

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Real American Hero style figures. The old version. I just can't get into those any more. Holding the new sculpt or 25th style next to an original just leaves me not wanting the original. My only reason for keep the ones I have is the nostalgic connection. That nostalgia just doesn't open the door for me to buy more of that style.

Having too much to buy is what I was talking about beginning to burn me out. Last year there was way too much. I know I blew thousands of dollars on toys alone. I really don't want to do that again this year, hehe. I have so many things just stacked up that I haven't opened because there was so much that hit all at once. I'd rather have it spread out this year and not see well over a hundred figures and countless vehicles. I mean yeah that's because I collect more than just G.I.Joe, but a lot of us do that too.

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