ajaman wrote:
Last year's 13th figure was awesome, at least to me, and is one of only thee out of the 26 FSS figures that I bothered to get. I love Blackout. But this year's figure is really boring and uninspired.
I liked Black Out too, and I think he was a good choice even if the figure itself wasn't perfect. It was definitely a far more inspired choice than the 2.0 13th figure. I've calmed down a bit since I first read the news on Saturday, but even so, I'm still having trouble thinking of a figure the Club could have offered that would have been worse that is also a figure we haven't gotten already.
Of the potential options that came to mind:
- Listen 'n Fun Tripwire - while I wouldn't really want that figure, I actually think that could have been a cool 13th. Obscure, not something that would likely ever see retail release, and the original was not technically part of the main Joe line and therefore might not be considered necessary for a completist.
- 1984 (tan) Clutch - I actually think this figure is more useful than tan Grunt was since Clutch actually appeared on the Sunbow series in his tan uniform.
- Any Funskool based repaints - I still think most of the merits of LnF Tripwire apply here.
- Another Starduster variant?
Honestly, I think another cool idea would have been to give us the gold head Steel Brigade figure as the 13th rather than include it in the convention set.
Overall, I liked most of the figures in FSS 2.0, so it's easier to overlook this. However, this move alone makes me a lot less enthusiastic about any FSS 3.0 if the mystery figure is going to be an epic letdown like this one was. I don't need the mystery figure to be mind-blowing, but I'd like it to be something with a little more thought put into it.
