ROADBLOCK

G.I. JOE: ULTIMATES (SUPER 7)

I generally stay about a week ahead on my review writing these days, largely so that nothing falls through the cracks and I don’t have mad dashes to get reviews written before a midnight deadline.  In contrast to that particular set-up, I’m writing this review less than 12 hours before it’s going live.  The buffer I had going last week was, well, it was rather consumed by goings on, I suppose, and while I got through the first two posts of this week without too much fuss, today’s has proved a little more tricky.  I know this is just a silly, little toy site, and I very much doubt people are coming here for more serious matters, so I do generally steer clear of them.  I also know it’s important to sometimes have a place to get away from the politics and the spite of the world, so that further drives me to keep things lighter.  But, I’d be lying if I said I weren’t struggling with some things about the current state of the world.  And perhaps writing about “A Real American Hero” isn’t the most ideal way of facing that down, but it’s what I’ve got, so it’s what I’m doing.  And that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

So, more Super 7, right?  Crazy, huh?  There’s just, like, a whole bunch of them these days.  Well, more than two, which feels like a bunch in Super 7 terms.  Today, I’m jumping back into their G.I. Joe: Ultimates line, with a look the bestest rhyming Joe there is, Roadblock!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Roadblock was released in Series 5 of Super 7’s G.I. Joe: Ultimates line.  The spacing on this line’s been all sorts of wonky, and I feel like there was a gap between releases, but also these ones totally snuck up on me.  It may be more a me problem than a Super 7 one.  Roadblock is definitely the heavy hitter of this particular assortment of figures, with the rest of the line-up being the comparatively less immediately known Cover Girl, Major Bludd, and Crimson Guard.  The figure stands a little over 7 inches tall and he has 31 points of articulation.  His articulation scheme is pretty much the same as the others from the line, so it’s generally not bad.  The range on the elbows does continue to be better than other Super 7 lines, but this time around it’s not quite as good as earlier entries.  He’s got an all-new mold, based on his earlier cartoon design, which was patterned after his V1 figure from Hasbro.  It’s generally a pretty good one, capturing the look of his Sunbow animation model pretty well.  Some of the details are a little softer, but the heads, of which there are three, all have a pretty good likeness of the character.  My personal favorite is the smiling one, which just feels truest of how I view the character, but they’re all solid.  In general, I did find the QC on this figure’s construction better than the prior round of figures.  He’s generally cleaner, and doesn’t feel like any of his joints are going to break.  He’s got total coverage in terms of paint, which, while it does rob the sculpt of some of the depth, does still look pretty nice.  It’s consistently applied, and I didn’t have any notable issues of bleed over or slop on my figure.  The colors are very warm, and feel right for the animation as well.  He’s certainly a well accessorized figure, with four different pairs of hands (in fists, gripping, trigger finger, and open), the standard laser rifle, a helmet, backpack, pistol, bayonet, and Browning with tripod.  They’ve stuck more to just recreating toy extras this time around, which is fair, I suppose, but I do miss some of the more episode specific stuff like we were getting on earlier run figures.  In terms of what’s there, the backpack is a little weird, with the bottom piece feeling like it’s supposed to be removable, but also not quite wanting to budge.  The Browning is also notably warped on the barrel, which is rather unfortunate.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I was quite excited by this line when it launched, and wanted to see it go far.  I really hoped it might have the legs for it, but given the general state of everything, I don’t really feel like that’s happening.  After this, we’ve only seen the DiC re-colors, which didn’t land, so I can’t help but feel like this assortment is something of a farewell.  I’d love to be wrong on that.  Roadblock himself is an important part of the core team, so I was glad to get him to fill it in.  He’s not a bad figure.  Perhaps not as stand out as, say, Snake Eyes, but still fun.

Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.