I can't believe you allowed people to pick more than one option!

I had to go with 25th, because I decided shortly after Spy Troops that Hasbro just wasn't ever going to get it "100 Percent RIGHT" with G.I. Joe.

And then they did.

Sellout.

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I long ago gave up on the old "RAH" stuff. Joe's statement about the melon heads? I second that motion... Charlie Brown has a smaller noggin than a good chunk of the '82-94 sculpts. Yeah I have nostalgia in the form of hundreds of happy memories of playing with it as a kid but the appeal to me as an adult completely wore off a few years ago. Haven't bought an old sculpt figure in 2 year (the comic packs were the last HOOAH for the outdated, worn stale molds). I have a bunch of old stuff I want to get rid of. NEED to get rid of. I'll take the fond memories of the glory days when RAH was the unstoppable revolutionary line it was (before 1992 killed it off). I grew up with it, it fuels my lifelong passion for GIJoe. But it's definitely best left in the past.

My thoughts of the new sculpts are that they were a hell of lot easier to work with for customs due to the plastics that allowed for boil n pop mixing parts but crap for a figure straight out the packages. Really, nearly every one of them needed serious tweaking of one or more parts of the recipe to even give it human proportions got to be tiresome and I completely lost the energy for it last year. I have like 2 dozen unfinished WIP figures that I just can't finish now. Yeah, my sculpting talent came out on the GvC line figures, no way would I have bothered with any elaborate putty work on the vintage stuff... but without serious customizing, just the stock/production Hasbro made figures? Yeahhhh..... NO. Seriously, the Night Creeper, Valor vs Venom Duke, Spy Troops Tunnel Rat, DTC Mutt, and 90% of the 2002 figures? Ridiculous!


The Anniversary line is far from perfect... it has plenty of flaws and a few genuine "D'OH!" repaint issues (the 5-pack Cobra Commander tooling needs to be sabotaged so we never have to see it used again), yeah, but the 25A figures are just awesome sculpt-wise, detail-wise, and articulation-wise compared to most anything Joe before it. The toyline is finally as exciting again as the property itself always has been for me.

Amen!!!

Actually I went with straight 25th. They are highly detailed, well articulated versions of the figures I grew up with and I love them. I still have and will keep collecting all versions of characters I like but for the most part, other than my 8" Joes I'll be sticking with the 25th til they kill it.

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I'm good on RAH. I have more than enough.

I never liked the new sculpt stuff, and luckily, never bought much of it.

The rehabed RAH stuff like the early comic packs were great, and I wouldn't mind it if Hasbro continued to do something like that through a small distributor (maybe the club) but realistically I wouldn't buy them.

The 25th line is fantastic, but I am doubting my ability to keep up. I'm looking at June with some terror. Two 'toon packs = $40, two vehicle purchases = $30, a wave of figures = $25 or more. That's $100 in a month. That's going to bury me. I'll need to be more selective.

But I'm not complaining about an excess of releases. If I get behind it'll just give me something to catch up to in the coming years, as I'm VERY doubtful I'll buy any movie figures and I'm likely doubtful that Hasbro will bring the 25th back afterward.

To elaborate, my first love was ARAH, and my fondest memories as an adult collector are of buying 100+ figure lots and not having any of them already. So many years of nostalgia concentrated into one package delivered to my door. Since then, my ARAH interest became more in displaying my collection and buying up the new offerings in that style.

Sigma 6 got me excited in ways the new sculpts did and more, but without the disappointment. Okay, some of the disappointment. I'd have liked fewer Dukes, Snake-Eyes, and Storm Shadows, better distribution, and Roadblock instead of Heavy Duty. Otherwise, they were characters and concepts I was familiar with reimagined in a stylish new way that still captured the characters I remembered.

Had the 25th line been GI Joe's relaunch instead of new sculpt, I would probably be a very excited collector (or very frustrated until Canada picks up distribution). Now I don't have the room to display a style that's similar to 2/3s of my collection, but different enough to not blend together in my books. So I'm buying very selectively. However, the urge to own new Larry Hama comics, and the MASS Device, Weather Dominator, etc, means I'll probably end up with a few more 25th figs than I would have otherwise bought.

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I don't really collect anymore, so much as just customize. (My "collection" consists of a Roadblock from the Heavy Assault 6-pack and a V1 Big Brawler and that's about it.) To that end I lean very, very heavily toward new sculpt. I still keep RAH stuff around for the occasional nostalgic urge or custom idea but don't plan to add more to that pile. Just something about it no longer appeals to me on a mass level like it used to.

25A keeps losing my interest more and more. Sculpt issues, articulation issues, the very worst hands ever and now I'm finding it a royal pain to get the things to retain paint are all adding to its demise.

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I'm not looking to pick up any new ARAH or New-Sculpt, but I'll keep most of what i have, 'cause you never know what a project might call for. Beyond that I'll be buying a lot of the 25th figures.

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Meh, I collect action figures. I have a 'universe for each type of figure, even PTE and Lanard.

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RAH is it for me. Fortunately still being produced by the Club. The extent of my interest in 25th-style goes to possible certain vehicles and certain comics in the comic-packs. I have a few newsculpts, but those seem to be the province of the Club now, too, and I certainly prefer RAH.

I went new sculpt and 25th. The reasons for the 25th tend to echo most of everyone's so far, in that these are my series to collect and display, not so much to customize -- though I have done a few.

As for the new sculpt, I have invested far too much into the new sculpts as customs and with my dio-verse, that they are my surrogate children. So, those of you considering getting rid of your new sculpts -- in regards to the Cobra forces at least, I might be looking for more.

RAH, while a nice nostalgia, really don't do it for me. Everyone complains about the short torso-long legs proportions of new sculpt, then they seem to turn a blind eye to RAH's proportion problems. [teasing] If I wanted huge melon heads and no shoulders, I'll go watch that teacher on South Park, mmkay? [/teasing] Actually, I'm glad those of you who do, still love them, but for me, I've just been too far removed from my original RAH collecting to have much of an emotional attachment to them, like I do my new sculpt.

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I got zero love for new sculpt, and I like some things about 25th, but despite the 25th's better proportions, I love the O-ring and the way those RAH Joes swivel and pose.

RAH!!

I may buy some of the 25th vehicles, because they'll probably be compatible with RAH figures. I'm buying some of the single carded figures for the card art (much the way I bought some Funskool figures).

And on that topic, does anybody else miss how much fun those Funskool figures were?


bearcatcc

I went with new sculpt and 25th. as i customize the new sculpt and will for along time. im not in to customizing the 25 yet . there might be a few here and there. ill buy the 25 as they rock for what they are and i love the gear and look of them.

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RAH: The original and best. Can't be beat for sheer variety, volume, and ease of customization. Revolutionary for the time and all that. I only had a handful of them as a kid, but Im enjoying collecting them for their undeniable old school charm. I have many now and still collect them, both 82-94 and 97-06.

New Sculpt: Boy, these are the mixed-race stepchildren now, aren't they? RAH may have the most variety, but this is where the variety continued. We got lots of new characters available only in this format. I only collected those figures without glaring proportion problems, so I am proud of my new sculpts. For all those hatin' on them, shoot me a PM with what you want to get rid of, as there are several key new sculpts I am still missing.

25th Right now these are the new hotness, so they get all the attention. I love the line and I am actively collecting it, but it is not without its flaws. It is a note-for-note copy of RAH, with almost zero originality. And some figures still have several significant design flaws and other issues, such as badly done arms and hands. I was planning to complete the line if it had stayed at 25 figures, but I'm planning to skip various pointless figures like Piper, PDD, most of Wave 8, both Serpentors, and other junk. Still, I appreciate the advances made over RAH and the future of the line is the brightest its ever been.

So, short answer, I collect all three formats, 25th coming first, followed by RAH, and New Sculpt bringing up the rear.