REVIEW - Blue Cartoon Baroness

Welcome to the first Ages 25 & Up review. This one's about the single-carded Baroness in a blue costume from the cartoon.



I'm a fan of the comic, not the cartoon, so I'm not sure how accurate it is to the animation model.

The figure is a retool/repaint of the Baroness figure that came in the Cobra 5-pack. Her head is new and her hips have been fixed. Yep, she can sit down and drive a HISS now.


The issues I have with the original 25th figure are still present. Mainly the proportions. Her legs are too long and spindly. Either those boots are extremely tight, or her proportions are off. One or the other. Knowing the Baroness, maybe both.

The detailing is what you'd expect from the 25th line. There's a lot of attention to detail: just look at the sculpted holster on her right hip and the non-removable sidearm inside it.

Articulation is fairly decent. Ball-jointed head, shoulders, elbows, knees, ankles, chest, and swivel wrists. Double-jointed knees or elbows would have been nice, though. She can strike a number of poses, just make sure you keep that stand handy. She can't really keep her balance well.



The new headsculpt isn't so great. Gone are the Baroness' familiar glasses, replaced instead by rectangular green ones. Maybe she stole them from Doc when Cobra captured him.



Her hair and glasses are different and the face just looks generic. If I didn't know this was supposed to be Baroness, I wouldn't have guessed it was her at all. The same goes for the colours.

Green glasses, blue costume, black gloves and thigh-high boots (giggity), and a yellow belt. These sure are some funky colours.

In terms of accessories, all she includes are a stand and her SMG. No backpack (her hair blocks the port), no knife like in the package art. The gun does look great, and she can hold in a few ways for badassitude.




I'm really not sure why they didn't just release a single-carded version of the Baroness from the 5-Pack. That would probably have made a lot of people happy, myself included. But no, we're instead presented with this outlandish repaint.

If you're a big fan of the animated Baroness and her blue costume and green glasses, this figure's for you. If you're looking for bland, generic female Cobras for your 25 ranks, this figure's for you. If you're looking for a female figure to match your Breaker Comic Pack Destro's blue costume, this figure's for you. If you're looking for a recognizable Baroness figure, look elsewhere.

Sure, you COULD repaint her like I did (images below), but there's really no point since there's a new Baroness coming out in the upcoming 5-pack. This figure makes a great generic female Cobra, but that's pretty much all she's good for.

SUMMARY:
25th Anniversary blue cartoon-coloured BARONESS

ACCESSORIES:
- UMP submachine gun
- figure stand

PROS:
- fixed crotch
- head looks more realistic
- makes a good generic female Cobra

CONS:
- colours are ugly
- does not look like the Baroness
- lackluster equipment loadout
- exaggerated proportions
- single-jointed knees

RATING:
2.5 ON 5
"DO NOT WANT"

ADDITIONAL IMAGES:

COMIC - PGS-100

I've been relatively quiet this week despite Joe news like new photos on the web and new toys in stores, so forgive me. But chances are, if you're reading this, you've already seen the photos and your toys are in the mail.

Anyway, I mentioned that I'd be trying something new this week. Bear with me. Thanks for reading!

After reading the comic, click here to view its Archive entry.  [OUTDATED; NOSTALGIC USE ONLY]

CLICK ON COMIC TO ENLARGE

25th Viper Hands & Some Site News

Some people seem to be less than happy about the 25th Anniversary Viper figure. (Too bad for them; more Vipers for us, yes?) The Viper hands/wrists are moulded for a single purpose, it seems: holding their weapon. They can hold that gun very well, but they can't seem to do much else (maybe ride a motorcycle, or something).

Well, I've discovered that they can do something else with those hands:

As you can see, their hands are perfectly moulded for holding their gear.


Now for some site news: I'm thinking of putting up some reviews for figures and stuff. Thing is, by the time I'd have the reviews up, you'd probably already have the stuff I'm reviewing. Still, I'd like to share my opinions (and photos) with you guys, so Reviews are on my To Do list.

Because you asked for it, Cobra's coming. They're up to something. Something BIG. So big, it demands the first-ever Ages 25 & Up Special Event. But more on that later.

EDIT: This is my 21st post. I was going to make this whole post "Silent Interlude" style, but it would have been too hard.

COMIC - File #05: "The Silver Screen"

Shifting gears from the Clutch story arc, pun not intended.

This strip is about the upcoming "GI Joe" movie. Some of the Ages 25 & Up characters are optimistic, while others such as Breaker, aren't quite feeling it.

After reading the comic, click here to view its Archive entry.  [OUTDATED; NOSTALGIC USE ONLY]

CLICK ON COMIC TO ENLARGE

Target-Exclusive Ultimate Battle Pack Pictures

I can't wait for this to come out so that one of my friends in the states can buy it and ship it to me. Unless if Zellers decides to carry this in Canada.

In case you haven't heard, this pack contains a red HISS Tank, Cobra Commander's Personal Flight Pod (a blue Trubble Bubble), a MOBAT (yep, it's still motorized), a modified Iron Grenadier Destro, Cobra Commander in his Battle Helmet (with stripe), a HISS Driver, a Cobra Vehicle Gunner, and on the Joes' side, Stalker with the JUMP, Steeler in his beige cammies, and Short-Fuze. That's right, baby. Short-Fuze. Original 13 FTW.

For pictures of the pack, click here!

Photos of New GI Joe Products Online

HissTank.com got some news from Diamond Comics Distribution: photos of upcoming Joe toys.

Combat Heroes Wave 2, 12" Wave 3, and the 25th Water Moccasin and Sky Hawk.

For photos and discussion, click here.

JoeCanuck.com's September Newsletter now Online

In Canada, we don't just have free health care, we have free GI Joe newsletters, too!

JoeCanuck.com, THE Canadian GI Joe message boards and online home of the Canadian Joe Convention, releases a newsletter every month with plenty of information for Joe fans. Previews, reviews, interviews, dio comics, Q&A sessions with Hasbro Canada... there's something for everyone, even non-Canadian Joe fans!

This latest issue focuses on army building, and the answers to a recent Q&A session with Hasbro Canada have been posted.

If you'd like to ask Hasbro Canada a question next time and/or if you're a Canadian Joe fan, become a member of JoeCanuck.com! (I'm SnakeEyesOnAPlane on the forums, if you need me.)

You can view the September Newsletter by checking out its thread. Click here.

This should be better!

Thanks to HissTank.com member and Ages 25 & Up reader Imperial_Serpentor for pointing out an annoying formatting issue here on the blog. There was a bad cropping issue, but I think it should be resolved now.

Instead of loading the comics at their full size, they will now be shrunk down in the posts. Click on the comics themselves to view them in their full-sized glory.

Let me know how this works. Thanks, guys!

COMIC - File #04: "In the Clutches of Death"

Last week, I was out on Saturday (Comicon FTW) and ended up posting the comic at 9 PM. To avoid that this week, I figured I'll just post this week's comic right now.

A lot of readers seem to feel bad for Clutch, as ol' Lance always seems to get the short end of the stick in Ages 25 & Up. Let's see the reaction to this issue, the longest yet, with larger panels and more action!

Click on the comic to view full size. Enjoy it, troopers!

After reading the comic, click here to view its Archive entry.    [OUTDATED; NOSTALGIC USE ONLY]

CLICK ON COMIC TO ENLARGE

Vexar Designs

I want to thank Vexar Designs for putting up an Ages 25 & Up ad on their site. Be sure to check out Vexar Designs for all your action figure diorama needs!

Unrelated: I'm going to be busy on Saturday, so to prevent you guys from having to wait all day like I did last weekend (sorry, was at the Comiccon), I'll put the comic up some time on Friday.

New Vehicles Commercial

Hasbro's updated their Monkey Bar TV section with a new commercial for the GI Joe 25th vehicles. You might find it funny.

Click here to watch it.

COMIC - File #03: "Taking Chances"

Whew, sorry about the wait, gang. I went to the Montreal Comiccon today, rummaged through bargain bins, found some grails of mine, met longtime Marvel artist Herb Trimpe (who signed some GI Joe comics for me), and met some pretty Transformers fangirls (thanks for helping me find that comic, you two. Hope you each got your Spotlight Arcee!) Came home and spent some time bagging, boarding, and sorting longboxes.

OK, enough with my R/L Drama. Here's this week's comic! Click on the comic to view full size. Enjoy.

After reading the comic, click here to view its Archive entry.    [OUTDATED; NOSTALGIC USE ONLY]

CLICK ON COMIC TO ENLARGE

Navigation Changes

Hey Gang.

I've made some changes to the navigation system in order to make it easier to browse through the comics. Sure, I've only posted 2 so far, but still.

Here's how it works:

At the top of the navbar on the left, there's a large button which will link you to "this week's comic," meaning the latest comic I've posted in case I ever fall a week behind! Click on that image to go the post containing the freshest comic.

Each comic will now have navigation buttons posted with them. Click on "Previous Comic" to view the post containing the previous comic. Click on "Next Comic" to to the post containing the next comic. (I link to posts and not the images themselves because sometimes there is information about the comic that might be useful to read, and in case you want to read/post comments.)

In case you want to view the images themselves without being burdened by 'posts,' 'comments,' 'text,' and 'literacy,' all you have to do is click on a comic strip to be brought to the Comic Image Archive. There you can browse all of the comics I've posted (and you might find upcoming comics I've uploaded but haven't posted yet!).

The navbar column on the left also has instructions written at the top in case you need them.

I hope that these changes make it easier for you guys to navigate the site and enjoy the comics. Thanks for browsing and sticking around!

Also, in case I forget to update links, let me know by posting a comment or sending me an email. Thanks for the help, guys!

One more thing, this Saturday, I'll be going to the Montreal Comic Con and I'll try to get some comics signed by Herb Trimpe. Fear not, once I get home and finish bagging/boarding my dollar-bin treasures, I'll post the next Ages 25 & Up strip. See you Saturday!

Ages 25 & Up Thread at HissTank.com Forums

I was a bit nervous about sharing my work with the gang over at "The Tank," I wasn't sure what they'd think of it. Well, I decided to try my luck and so far the reactions have been positive. Popular are Flash's attempt at humour and Clutch's exclamation of surprise: "Sweet Bouncing Tits." A lot of people seem to feel bad for ol' down-on-his-luck Clutch. We have a motto here at Ages 25 & Up: "Every Greasemonkey Will Have His Day."

Hang in there, Clutch. Your day will come, eventually.

You can check out the comments and contribute to the discussion by clicking here!