Action Force and Valaverse

[TheRealSmallville]

My kids - who know me better than you or Damien - will assure you I am absolutely not.

Kids are dumb, though, what do they know?

(I have kids as well, so I can say that)

But nah, Kids have one job and that is to think their parents are the uncoolest people who ever uncooled. I think that is a requirement going back to the beginning of time. To everyone else, well, Huey Lewis knew what was up when he said it's hip to be square. We're all groovy even if the crotch goblins don't think so

 

[Damien]

My kids - who know me better than you or Damien - will assure you I am absolutely not.

Oh shit, he denied being cool.


That's so fucking cool......

 

[bat]

To everyone else, well, Huey Lewis knew what was up when he said it's hip to be square.

NIce

 

[Fletch]

After all is said and done, I'm still willing to but cool figures, so I checked out Bobby's video introducing his new faction, The Black.

The idea was to make modern day pirates, but I was a little underwhelmed by the advanced peeks he gave at whatever con they were announced at. Nothing's really changed, though. They're still just regular tactical soldiers like most of his line, just with, like, a skull pin to signify they're pirates.

He is working with an actor from the show Black Sails to recreate his character in Action Force style. I didn't watch the show or know who he is, but it's still kind of cool.

He almost got me with Blackbeard because he at least is thematically modeled after the historical pirate. Armed with a machete-like cutlass and having several pistols holstered on his chest in the same way his namesake carried multiple flintlocks.

But then he added a bunch of Navy SEAL pins to his chest and it just looks weird. He says it's how he pays respect to his fallen brothers (all of The Black are former SEALS), altering the tradition of pounding your pin into their coffin. It really just looks like he's killed a bunch of SEALs and kept their pins as trophies.

I should also mention that the SEAL trident insignia is trademarked, so I don't even know what he's thinking. Just wildly inconsiderate coming from someone who seems to be such a fan of the military.

 

[thewyldman]

I think the intrigue with the black comes from what’s gonna happen in wave 2. Wave 1 was just supposed to be part of action force but now that the black is its own thing, it seems like he might get weirder with it


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[Ru1977]

The guy from Black Sails is the same one on Shameless who had to listen to that Seal song when having sex? "My pleasure, my pain!"

So the Seal thing works both ways really.

 

[vicious]

But then he added a bunch of Navy SEAL pins to his chest and it just looks weird. He says it's how he pays respect to his fallen brothers (all of The Black are former SEALS), altering the tradition of pounding your pin into their coffin. It really just looks like he's killed a bunch of SEALs and kept their pins as trophies.

I read your first sentence, went to look at the pics and thought, "no, it's kind of cool, he killed all these SEALS and wears their pins as trophies right?" Then I finished your post. lmao. Admittedly Bobby's explanation makes more sense, even if it's less fun.

I gotta say though, he looks like a neat figure. I've spent probably $100-150ish on Valaverse accessories but never a figure. I've come close to buying Atlas but hate his jeans and stupid beanie and face. LOL. Blackbeard looks loaded and "worn in" which is nice.

 

[TheRealSmallville]

After all is said and done, I'm still willing to but cool figures, so I checked out Bobby's video introducing his new faction, The Black.

I appreciate the recap! As soon as I saw your post saying "modern day pirates", I went to YT to check out the video.

Immediately, Bobby is sitting in the dark, staring lustfully into the camera. His voice is low, slow, and seductive. The man oozes sex. I'm straight, but even I got a small chub as he stared into my face holes. Then he opens his mouth, titilatingly. And he says "if it's on the water.........it belongs.......to the BLACK." And I mean, I don't know about anyone else, but it left me satisfied. I was cringing with so much ecstasy and arousal that I clicked out of the video, lest I be sucked in (off?) by Bobby to endure the rest, of which I could not possibly do.

To quote Bernie Mac in 'Bad Santa', "the man is a sexual being!"

 

[Damien]

I watched Bob's reveal of this new... subline, I guess? It presents such an interesting contrast of who Bobby actually is as a person versus who 'corporate Bobby' is as a person. And, were I Bob's publicist, I would tell him to only be the latter forever. Like, even privately when no one is watching. Just stop being a cunt.

Don't get me wrong, seeing Bob dimly lit like Todd McFarlane introducing the newest episode of Spawn on HBO was kind of hilarious and silly, but if I didn't know anything about him prior to this, it would be silly in a kind of charming way. Something I think Bobby could lean into more is the few bits in there where he seemed GENUINELY excited. There's a guy in there somewhere that just likes and wants to make cool toys. There's almost a childlike glee just barely peaking through his dead eyes when he talks about making this cool thing or how great this design element turned out or working with this cool actor to make an exciting action figure. THAT is the guy that should be front-facing for the company. The guy that loves toys more than he loves himself.

I'd probably own a bunch of his (honestly, kind of mid) figures if this was the only version of Bobby we ever got to see. Because I am a sucker for a toymaker that is excited about his own product. That's infectious.

But, alas, that is not Bobby. He remains a raging cunt and whiny piss-baby. Also, he really ruined that 'Blackbeard' design with what looks like dumb bling from a distance, and on closer inspection looks like this dude collects trophies from murdering Navy SEALs. Hilariously the opposite of his intention. The other named character looks actually pretty cool, though. And I like that actor. Hell, I even like that Bobby went the extra mile of giving him the boots that the actor himself traditionally likes to wear. Very nice touch.

BUT, that figure also doesn't look out of place as just a regular Valaverse figure. It's just ANOTHER tacticool soldier guy. That can be done well or poorly, so it's not an indictment on its own. But it is if you're trying to do some kind of unified theme for these figures to separate them from all your other stuff. As usual, it just looks more like Bobby throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. It's too obvious that none of this was thought out ahead of time to make sure that each 'faction' has its own identity, therefore nothing has any identity, which means every character comes off as just another character in this giant generic line-up of soldier people.

And I'd say that even if I LIKED Bobby. Which I do not.

 

[JakeEkiss]

There's a guy in there somewhere that just likes and wants to make cool toys. There's almost a childlike glee just barely peaking through his dead eyes when he talks about making this cool thing or how great this design element turned out or working with this cool actor to make an exciting action figure. THAT is the guy that should be front-facing for the company. The guy that loves toys more than he loves himself.

Yeah. It's really unfortunate. Like, dude went so far as to get articulation tattoos; somewhere in there he's a guy who really does like toys. And on a technical level, if not an aesthetic one, his toys work. They're as good as just about anything else in the same range right now. Better in one or two ways.

I appreciate that he's trying to move the needle on his stuff. He's making attempts at getting more inventive with the line. The robots, the new knife guy or whatever, this subline, the pretty cool looking new aircraft he's prototyping. They're all attempts to get the design out of the gravity well it's trapped in. But I agree they feel like not quite enough. Obviously Bobby can't catch up to Classified just due to scale, but there's other ways. BBWS is getting a ton of mileage just out of bold paint choices, alt heads, and thoughtful part combinations.

 

[altcunningham]

My favourite the Vala figure is the special edition Eclipse.

Essentially it's a repaint but I really like the colour scheme and minimalism. Lets you create a Punisher adjacent character, or someone to fight Predator or Aliens.

But my favourite part that so many other toy companies miss the trick on is that the skin tone matches the original Eclipse. So you can put her unpainted head on that body if you really want to get a Sarah Connor vibe in the tanktop with the guns.

I also liked the Gemini figure and I was bummed that he never put out an accessory kit for her like he did with the others.

 

[Fletch]

I also liked the Gemini figure

The face sculpt is a little rough, but I like everything else about the figure. Shame he couldn't seal the deal with Danielle Kelley. I thought that'd be fun in the same way Sgt. Slaughter was back in the 80s.

I think there's an alternate head intended for the gymnasium set he floated a while back, but it's also some kind of grimacing or blowing expression, so not a clean replacement.

 

[Trunks3540]

I own both Eclipse and 2 of the Pandoras. That was my dip into the figure realm of his, not just guns. I must say the special Eclipse is probably the best figure of the lot. And possibly one of the best hes done. They have their issues but they're not bad by any means. Alot of them are just more army guys though. I don't buy alot of those in GI Joe. I try to get the cool and fun more interesting figures. Generic army guy doesn't do it for me. So alot of his stuff is just like "meh, looks fine for what it is." I do have the White Dragon figures too, and those are neat but also a bit plain. I was debating on getting Gemini but I passed cause it was just basic military, only girl this time. Pandora is unique with the hair and her special black jacket figure is cool if you want like a crazy villain chick for other lines. She reminds me of Zarana. And the normal Eclipse I got because I liked the special one so much, but she is a bit plain and probably could've done without her. I think one of the biggest issues they have is the legs look like they pop out too far from the body in some poses. And there isn't much uniqueness in the female sculpts. They're all the same with minor alterations. Same boots and everything. The special Pandora fixes alot of those issues. But its a one off unfortunately. I think more variety would help the cause. I haven't gotten any of the swarm or special villans but I really don't have the money to add them anyway and I'm fine without them.

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[SalemCrow]

I bought 3 of the initial blue garbed "SWAT" guys he put out, and have basically skipped the rest. I'm not fond of the faces of the majority of the unmasked figures, and I missed out on some of the Swarm figures I was interested in.

 

[vicious]

I think one of the biggest issues they have is the legs look like they pop out too far from the body in some poses.

My biggest issue with the molds this whole time is how long the legs are and how high the crotch sits. They look like the AEW figures by Jazwares, same thing, stilt legs with a high crotch. I don't know if you meant this for just the females, it's something I notice moreso on the males. They always look kind of weird. Maybe the diaper isn't big enough, maybe the hips and upper thighs need to be a little larger, I don't know, they look off to me. Looking at THE BLACK, I still have this complaint with some of the figures, namely the Vane and Corsair figures.

BUT, that figure also doesn't look out of place as just a regular Valaverse figure. It's just ANOTHER tacticool soldier guy. That can be done well or poorly, so it's not an indictment on its own. But it is if you're trying to do some kind of unified theme for these figures to separate them from all your other stuff. As usual, it just looks more like Bobby throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. It's too obvious that none of this was thought out ahead of time to make sure that each 'faction' has its own identity, therefore nothing has any identity, which means every character comes off as just another character in this giant generic line-up of soldier people.

I'm torn. I'd like to disagree, but the Corsair feels like an important piece of the puzzle, being the army builder of the set, and he does look a little too much like a standard Valaverse. And Vane is leaning that direction, too, like maybe Bobby thought the actor likeness would carry some weight and it almost never does. The other two I'd argue are good pillars of a new subline. I can't speak for most Valaverse collectors, but I'd imagine these are great additions to the overall collection. The swappable parts and base bodies all look good. The accessories are really cool (having the open-action shotgun in-hand I can tell you it's a FUN gun), as usual.

I might bite on these. I'm on the fence about Blackbeard. Funny that Bobby did a glowing green squid head so soon after Crystal Ball. A little give and take with Hasbro. I don't mind it, and prefer an actual glow in the dark part to green plastic. RE: Blackbeard's bling, I feel like a quick paint wash would make him look a lot nicer.