I'm so disappointed these are the only Joe products on offer these days. Toy lines have limitations, I get it. Especially collector lines with lower production numbers. And I can accept some undesirable elements but not ALL of these at once:
Expensive cost per figure.
All or nothing availability.
Limited window of availability.
Secondary and tertiary character selection.
Poor part selection / "lazy" builds (we have this military dress jacket tooling so let's use it even though it's obviously way too big for the WORMS build we did)
If these were even $15 per figure, I'd happily snap them up for fodder or "fixer-upper" figures.
If these were spot on depictions of the characters with parts that worked well together for the builds, I could justify a higher price point.
If I could individually assess each on a case by case basis without paying secondary market prices, I'd be way more likely to get some of these.
When Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull came out, a reviewer dubbed it as a "joyless obligation" movie. I love that phrase. It sums up so much of the "fan" experience these days. I'm just as guilty as the next Joe fan of spending money on something just because it's there. But it really feels like the Club is just trying to milk every last drop out of their access to the Joe property while they can, and offering really underwhelming product while they do it because they know they're pretty much all Joe collectors have left at this point.
Feel free to print this out and read it to me LOUDLY while we wait in the con exclusive line next summer.