Action Force and Valaverse

[Fletch]

There hasn't been a lot of new from Action Force in recent weeks, but I still like taking about them and Bobby Vala, so here's a thread.

I've gotten quite a few Action Force figures and have found them to be good quality, come with lots of accessories, and are fun to play with. One of the real appeals of the line is the mostly-accurate, realistic contemporary military look to them all (unless you're a SWARM trooper).

Ironically, though, after a half dozen or so characters, the mundanity of the designs has made them a little boring. For some reason the lore of the line is set in a near-future Balkanized United States, but that doesn't show at all in the design of the Action Force members themselves.

I remember when Joe Classified started, what I really wanted was a military accurate Joe team. Now that I sort of have that, I realize it couldn't have sustained the line too deeply.

The boring aesthetic continued into the decision to make his first vehicle a real world vehicle. Doubly boring because it's a vehicle intended for urban security and low-key details. A very boring and un-toyetic design.

Still, his parts catalog is slowly expanding and I'm hoping to see a lot more variety in future character designs. I'd also like to see the enemy factions expanded. We've basically got 3 named characters and 3 soldier types (with color variations) and they're way out numbered by Action Force.

 

[Fletch]

But what you're really here for is some Vala bashing and I... don't really feel that strongly about him.

He's a douche who feels the best way to upsell his toys is to denigrate other creators. Which is weird because his stuff is pretty good on its own. It also stands out to me when he accuses other companies of copying him when his whole brand is about hijacking the Action Force/Steel Brigade name, right down to having Sgt. Slaughter as his pitch man. He's eased off on that quite a bit recently, but I know that's only because he has his cronies and followers doing it for him. Either in the comments or as one of his interview squad.

Buuuut, I really do like his insights and behind the scenes of the toy making process. I really like his factory tour video, fer instance, and seeing him demonstrate the different stages of the creation process. Because those are the only videos of his I'm watching, I'm not subjecting myself to a lot of the old behavior and just enjoy his toys and insights.

I'll also say that his company has really good customer service. I remember he took on extra expense to get shipments in quicker during COVID's supply chain issues. I've also found it really easy to get replacement parts for defects or factory errors. Really top notch in that area.

So while that was a big ol' paragraph listing his faults up top, I'm able to ignore it all because I'm just not participating in it that much and just stick to the stuff he's good at.

 

[JakeEkiss]

Largely what I want from Vala at this point are just more weapon packs and an eventual re-release of an all-black trooper. Every now and again I think the Swarm or Red Shadow robot designs are cool, but the normal dudes are very meh. The car too, just not interesting enough. The new Swarm vehicle is more what I'm looking for, but I'm out of room for 1/12 vehicles.

 

[PantherCult]

So... I dont engage with much of what Vala has to say. I believe the opinions of people I like and respect who know more about him, but I can appreciate the product without liking the guy.

I have bought a select handful of Valaverse soldier figures to date, and I like the ones I have so far as a supplement to my Classified collection. I have to say I LOVE the Swarm Troopers and would gladly buy more of those in a few more colors and maybe a few armor variations. I dont army build Cobra Troops anymore... but I would army build some more Swarm troops.

I will pay attention to what he does next, but I do agree with the criticism that after a certain point there is a bit of sameness to alot of it. I like Col. Siege for that reason... hes got a different aesthetic. Senshi too for that matter.

 

[Fletch]

Senshi too for that matter.

See, Senshi is a bit too much for me. I really like the idea of a guy who carries a samurai sword to honor his ancestors, but once they add the scale armor pads and whatever the helmet accessory is called, it's a bit overkill.

It's a fickle opinion, I know. Not too fanciful but also not too mundane. Trigger manages to have a lot of character while staying inside my artificial bounds, as does Gemini. So I can visualize my sweet spot even if I can't really describe it.

I wasn't initially a big fan of the Swarm, thinking they were too high tech for what I wanted the line to be. I've since come around a bit on them and got a couple troopers and would like to add a couple scarabs to the shelf as well. I've even considered grabbing one of the alternate colored troopers to make a named character troop leader. I'm interested in seeing how this Locust turns out, too.

Way back when this line started, my head canon was that it was a modern reactivation of the old European Action Force to face off against a returned Red Shadow. Now that Fresh Monkey is basically selling Red Shadows figures, I'm wondering if I want to add them to the AF shelf.

 

[PantherCult]

I kind of like Action Force vs Red Shadows. I'm all in on the Red Shadows stuff... (err Crimson Moon)... so thats a fun angle.

 

[Spongyblue]

See, Senshi is a bit too much for me. I really like the idea of a guy who carries a samurai sword to honor his ancestors, but once they add the scale armor pads and whatever the helmet accessory is called, it's a bit overkill.

He reminds me of a figure for a kids line based on a movie. 5 different versions of the main character and each one comes with garish snap-on accessories.

 

[Trunks3540]

I got the Legend of the White Dragon 2 pack. I like that alot. One of my fave JDF figures. Its really well done.
And i also bought both of the Eclipse figures and her add on pack, and 2 of the Pandora figures, the normal and the black jacket exclusive. They are also fairly well done. And they look cool. Especially with the expressive faces. But I wouldn't buy everything. It all looks way too similar. The soldiers just kinda look plain. The swarm look cool, but I don't have room to army build something I know nothing about. So I bought what I liked.
I may get the the black version of Senshi, at some point. But I'm not itching for it. I was also gonna buy Gemini but I didn't really mind not owning her so I passed. Again, they look like great figures, like the ones I have. Just wouldn't wanna go all in on these.

 

[GrumpyMatt]

I haven't really delved into the newest wave but that first release Eclipse figure is one of my favorites. Both heads look really great. Not a huge fan of the screaming add-on head. I ended up selling the original Swarm and add-on pack and grabbing the GITD Tracer version, which is a great deal for $30 on the site now. Sniper Blowback is also very nice, and he's also down to $30.

I guess I'm in the minority, but I really like the uniformity of some the figures, particularly in the early releases. The first releases of Condor, Rollout and Steel Brigade look really good together.

 

[thewyldman]

I haven't really delved into the newest wave but that first release Eclipse figure is one of my favorites. Both heads look really great. Not a huge fan of the screaming add-on head. I ended up selling the original Swarm and add-on pack and grabbing the GITD Tracer version, which is a great deal for $30 on the site now. Sniper Blowback is also very nice, and he's also down to $30.

I guess I'm in the minority, but I really like the uniformity of some the figures, particularly in the early releases. The first releases of Condor, Rollout and Steel Brigade look really good together.

Yeah it was a nice way of doing a cohesive group with out being as bland as the OG13.

 

[vicious]

I like their weapons just for using with Classified and ML. They were going a little wacko with colors lately (all the guns colored teal, or white) but seem to be bringing back neutral gun colors. I'd love if they did a big pack of simple, all-black guns like their first "test" batch.

 

[thewyldman]

I like their weapons just for using with Classified and ML. They were going a little wacko with colors lately (all the guns colored teal, or white) but seem to be bringing back neutral gun colors. I'd love if they did a big pack of simple, all-black guns like their first "test" batch.

It's a mistake for them to share so few images of their figures on their website. They come with all these extra heads and parts and only show off one combination in a posed image. Take some more pictures, guys, takes like 30 minutes.

Scary thing is these pictures are better now lol

The original white dragon promo pics and the updated ones before they went live were knight in day in terms of posing


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[Damien]

I mean.. frankly, I think everyone that likes this line owes me a big 'thank you' since I single-handedly fixed it for Bobby and gave him whatever success he's had.

But also, I don't want to take too much credit because I think the figures generally still aren't very impressive. There hasn't been a single figure so far that would have tempted me even if I -didn't- think Bobo was a complete cunt that doesn't deserve a single dollar from anyone. His designs are mostly bland and/or derivative, but yet still miss the mark on being bland in that 'straight up military' kind of way. They're just... you know.. not good. And I've seen SO many breakage/QC complaints about his stuff - at least the first couple of waves. All while Vala was bitching and whining about how bad every other company's products are.

So yeah. Bobby is a fucking idiot that needed a construction worker to tell him, a professional toymaker, how to make toys. He's a loser that makes lame action figures and has to beg the sycophants that live under his balls to creep out onto YT once in a while to talk about how great he is. And he started all this insider baseball talk on YT for attention because he's as charismatic as a gonorrhea-infected doorknob but still desperately wants you to think he's cool and knowledgeable.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

 

[thewyldman]

I mean.. frankly, I think everyone that likes this line owes me a big 'thank you' since I single-handedly fixed it for Bobby and gave him whatever success he's had.

But also, I don't want to take too much credit because I think the figures generally still aren't very impressive. There hasn't been a single figure so far that would have tempted me even if I -didn't- think Bobo was a complete cunt that doesn't deserve a single dollar from anyone. His designs are mostly bland and/or derivative, but yet still miss the mark on being bland in that 'straight up military' kind of way. They're just... you know.. not good. And I've seen SO many breakage/QC complaints about his stuff - at least the first couple of waves. All while Vala was bitching and whining about how bad every other company's products are.

So yeah. Bobby is a fucking idiot that needed a construction worker to tell him, a professional toymaker, how to make toys. He's a loser that makes lame action figures and has to beg the sycophants that live under his balls to creep out onto YT once in a while to talk about how great he is. And he started all this insider baseball talk on YT for attention because he's as charismatic as a gonorrhea-infected doorknob but still desperately wants you to think he's cool and knowledgeable.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

You seem like a nice guy lol


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[Damien]

You seem like a nice guy lol


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Nice enough to fix Bobby's toyline for him so that he can actually run a toy company instead of failing like he did the first time. So I mean.. yeah, I'm an okay dude.