Action Force and Valaverse

[thewyldman]

I don't collect any Joes or Valaverse, but I do collect Acid Rain World so I understand the appeal of military figures and building squads. But this... I just can't wrap my head around these designs or this business decision. What's the point? Who's this for? If I'm going to fill out a squad of figures so a shelf or diorama looks full, I still want figures that have fun, compelling designs. I'm not the guy who buys three packs of generic ninjas or army guys or skeletons, but at least I can see the reasoning behind it. These figures just look like dads on their way to the store. Are collectors really so eager to create a diorama of Batman fist-fighting some random guys over a parking spot at Target?

There’s a small market for them. We actually saw something like this pop up from one of the wrestling toy companies but they were pretty cartoony.

People that are buying these are the people that are buying multiples of the GI Joe Firefighter or Cop. You keep these small runs and put out clothing variants to help fill out crowds.


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[Spectre Two]

I don't collect any Joes or Valaverse, but I do collect Acid Rain World so I understand the appeal of military figures and building squads. But this... I just can't wrap my head around these designs or this business decision. What's the point? Who's this for? If I'm going to fill out a squad of figures so a shelf or diorama looks full, I still want figures that have fun, compelling designs. I'm not the guy who buys three-packs of generic ninjas or army guys or skeletons, but at least I can see the reasoning behind it. These figures just look like dads on their way to the store. Are collectors really so eager to create a diorama of Batman fist-fighting some random guys over a parking spot at Target?

To be fair, toyphotography has become a big part of the collector realm and a couple civilian background figures (that aren't easily identified as Tony Stark or Peter Parker) will come in handy for many of those creatives.

I'm mostly looking forward to his WWII line. That might help filling out the glaring holes in the Indiana Jones Adventure Series.

 

[GrumpyMatt]

Thanks for posting. The Locust looks like it's coming along nicely. How long till GI Joe announces the night landing raft? I'm gonna guess not too long. Kinda just skimmed through the figures but there were a couple that caught my eye.

The big news is the Splinter Cell license and WWII line. Hopefully the Nazis scale well with Hasbro Indy. Or maybe Mezco Indy.

And I'm with you Runestone on the Extras but I'm sure there's a market.

 

[CTV]

I don't collect any Joes or Valaverse, but I do collect Acid Rain World so I understand the appeal of military figures and building squads. But this... I just can't wrap my head around these designs or this business decision. What's the point? Who's this for? If I'm going to fill out a squad of figures so a shelf or diorama looks full, I still want figures that have fun, compelling designs. I'm not the guy who buys three-packs of generic ninjas or army guys or skeletons, but at least I can see the reasoning behind it. These figures just look like dads on their way to the store. Are collectors really so eager to create a diorama of Batman fist-fighting some random guys over a parking spot at Target?

Street thugs to beat up, civilians to populate scenes, damsels in distress, etc. I would love to do ACBA one day when I have the space and equipment for it, so I'd probably get a few of them for that reason. It's the only reason I bought a few Valaverse soldier-y looking figures, but if the dude running the line is a Trumpster I can't see myself giving him any more of my money.

 

[Super Camel]

The 1944 WWII line sounds like it could be really cool. I'm excited to see how those turn out.

 

[thewyldman]

Street thugs to beat up, civilians to populate scenes, damsels in distress, etc. I would love to do ACBA one day when I have the space and equipment for it, so I'd probably get a few of them for that reason. It's the only reason I bought a few Valaverse soldier-y looking figures, but if the dude running the line is a Trumpster I can't see myself giving him any more of my money.

He’s not


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[JakeEkiss]

I'll give Bobby this, he's 100% consistent. His big panel reveals always have a few things I'm really interested in getting, some stuff that feels kinda ho-hum, and then there's always some undercurrent of "I wish I knew less about how the guy acts online".

I think from this stuff, the armory dio is probably the thing I'm most interested in as I do go to Vala for guns for my figs, and I was planning to make an armory dio myself. Having one ready-made makes stuff simpler. Little Armory has been doing that sort of thing for smaller 1/12 scale for a while, and I think having it for stuff in the ML or Classified sizes will work well. I think the skull option head and gear stand is a nice touch.

I am a Sam Fisher fan, I probably will grab a Splinter Cell fig. It's a good license for him to grab.

I think the new characters he's adding to Action Force/The Black are probably passes. The line is fine for troops, but the specific characters just don't have a lot of personality for me. The only time I really perked up was the Dia De Los Muertos exclusive. I like that conceptually and might grab one. The locust looks cool. One of the most visually striking things the line has. Don't think I've got space for it, but it's cool.

I think him doing a line of extras at a low price point is a good idea, and it was a good idea when Shartimus was trying to do it too, even though he just didn't know enough about the industry to pull it off. A lot of photographers will go for it. I don't have any complaints about the line he's presenting on it's own, but it just feels mean spirited after that livestream encounter.

His comment on the Rumbler, I don't even know what to do with. I gotta say, I think it looks way cooler than his vehicle.

 

[Ru1977]

The only time I really perked up was the Dia De Los Muertos exclusive.

Same. A lot of the characters aren't too interesting to me, but that one really caught my eye. I also liked the guy who was basically original Ghost from Modern Warfare, but he's making it 'fun' by having three other heads and you don't know which one you're gonna get? That's cool, not for me.

 

[Fletch]

I do think it's cool to hear Bobby give credit to other designers and toy makers like Ace, Mark2 and Jada. It's quite the journey from accusing other companies of copying his work to saying "we're doing card backs like 4 Horsemen."

The presentation was actually a lot of let downs, though. I'd been wanting more Garrison figures and characters, but we finally get Hyun, and it's just a bland soldier woman. Can't even use her as a generic Cavalry member because she doesn't have the distinctive face shield (that I could see).

The idea of a modern pirate faction is a cool idea, so I was briefly excited about the Black. But for someone who claims to like pirate aesthetics, he made no effort to include any of the stylings. Not a longcoat or cuffed boot to be seen. They're just tactical guys like all their other figures. I guess Blackbeard's machete is kind of a cutlass...

I'd also misunderstood the Dia de Los Muertos figure when I first saw pictures. I'd thought it was a new faction/army builder with multiple head choices for a Day of the Dead-themed gang. Instead it's another one of his cultural stereotype exclusives.

Fit Force is hilarious; he should keep that name. I mean, I'm not getting them regardless, but still.

On the plus side of things, the idea of leaving space in vehicles like the Locust for customizers to put in their own electronics is really smart. And the smaller, modular dioramas really have my interest. I think Detolf-size is still a little big for my shelves (which are a little under 12" deep) but we'll see exactly how modular these are.

 

[SalemCrow]

Other than the hair, the heads on that Dia de Los Muertos figure look quite a bit like he stole Danhausen's makeup designs.

The 'dad bods' "Extras" figures are hysterical.

I had the video on mute, then hit pause so I could skip to each new reveal without having to wait, and just look at the images.

 

[altcunningham]

Has he ever addressed his plastic or made changes to it?

I know people think Hasbro can be gummy, but there's just something stiff, fragile, and dry about my Valaverse pick ups. Jada and Mattel seem to be somewhere in the middle.

I'd take any of them over the default Vala feel. My last pick up was Warpath Eclipse, if anything tweaked since then.

 

[thewyldman]

Has he ever addressed his plastic or made changes to it?

I know people think Hasbro can be gummy, but there's just something stiff, fragile, and dry about my Valaverse pick ups. Jada and Mattel seem to be somewhere in the middle.

I'd take any of them over the default Vala feel. My last pick up was Warpath Eclipse, if anything tweaked since then.

Yeah, so you got off right before the plastic got really good. SDS Wave 1 and wave 4 were great feeling figures. Small slide with with wave 5 because of all the new tooling but definitely still better than early stuff


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[altcunningham]

Yeah, so you got off right before the plastic got really good. SDS Wave 1 and wave 4 were great feeling figures. Small slide with with wave 5 because of all the new tooling but definitely still better than early stuff


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Cool, any highlights I should take a look at?

I really do like my Warpath Eclipse and Gemini.

 

[thewyldman]

Cool, any highlights I should take a look at?

I really do like my Warpath Eclipse and Gemini.

If you can get the SDS Swarm it’s great. The praetorian is probably the best figure in the line and is still available from big bad.

Other than that, you probably don’t need the environmental ones, but he does have the Swarm Tracer and Sniper Blowback like 40% off on his website and they’re good. Especially good if he does a Fourth of July sale. I stocked up on them last time as trooper builders


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[bat]

I don't collect any Joes or Valaverse, but I do collect Acid Rain World so I understand the appeal of military figures and building squads. But this... I just can't wrap my head around these designs or this business decision. What's the point? Who's this for? If I'm going to fill out a squad of figures so a shelf or diorama looks full, I still want figures that have fun, compelling designs. I'm not the guy who buys three-packs of generic ninjas or army guys or skeletons, but at least I can see the reasoning behind it. These figures just look like dads on their way to the store. Are collectors really so eager to create a diorama of Batman fist-fighting some random guys over a parking spot at Target?

They're for me. I've wanted basic street level brawlers for Batman, Daredevil, Spiderman, etc forever. The goons in suits itch has been scratched but dudes in tank tops (who aren't 7", 'roided up, and wearing kneepads from the WWE) have been harder to come by. I wanted the Street Humans line to happen and am excited for these.