Recently the G.I. Joe Collector's Club issued their annual membership figure; Cross-Country along with a vehicle (the HAVOC Mk II) to accompany it. If you have a membership you're sent the figure loose in a mailer box along with the accessories and filecard. You were also able to purchase a carded version of the figure as well as the vehicle.
The original Cross-Country and HAVOC were released together in 1986, this is the first time these two have been represented in the new figure style, commonly referred to as the "25th anniversary" format as this figure style started way back in 2007 with the launch of the 25th Anniversary celebration.
Since then we've seen countless reincarnations of classic characters and where Hasbro hasn't found opportunities to release figures, the Collector's Club has picked up the slack. Either through the annual convention sets, figure subscription services or the membership figure.
The original Cross-Country and HAVOC were released together in 1986, this is the first time these two have been represented in the new figure style, commonly referred to as the "25th anniversary" format as this figure style started way back in 2007 with the launch of the 25th Anniversary celebration.
Since then we've seen countless reincarnations of classic characters and where Hasbro hasn't found opportunities to release figures, the Collector's Club has picked up the slack. Either through the annual convention sets, figure subscription services or the membership figure.
Being somewhat of a completist I picked up the carded version of Cross Country to keep sealed while the loose figure will be displayed with the rest of our loose figures at home. I've always had an affinity for Cross Country, as I had the original figure and vehicle set back when it was released in the 80s, though I'd never consider him a "favorite". There's just something about him that always seemed goofy, whether it was the way the original figure's face looked or his refusal to let go of the past with all of confederate paraphernalia that made up his "uniform". But I guess if you allow your team members to come dressed as they see fit, you're going to get quite a few weirdos showing up for their first day of duty. I'm looking at you, Captain Gridiron...
Cross-Country comes with a figure stand with his codename on it, a pistol, a large wrench and a machine gun. The wrench, although not an exact match, is a call-back to the wrench he threw at Thrasher in the cartoon episode "The Spy Who Rooked Me", shouting; "Don’t take this as disobedience, Flint, but first I got to fix something!"
The figure also has a vest with a gun holster attached to it for his pistol (you'll see in a picture that the bottom of the holster wasn't open when I opened this figure and it took me a minute to realize that the paint had closed up the holster and a quick poke with a thumbtack took care of that problem.
The vest accompanying a figure is common place with new Joe figures, as Hasbro uses the vest accessory as a way to bypass having to make new molds for the chest/torso/waist of each figure. It's worked out great for both Hasbro and collectors alike as it saves money for the company and in return for the customer, plus it gives customizers a standard base to work with on most figures.
The one downside to the vest accessory on most figures is that it rarely wants to stay fastened by the two tabs on the side.
The vest accompanying a figure is common place with new Joe figures, as Hasbro uses the vest accessory as a way to bypass having to make new molds for the chest/torso/waist of each figure. It's worked out great for both Hasbro and collectors alike as it saves money for the company and in return for the customer, plus it gives customizers a standard base to work with on most figures.
The one downside to the vest accessory on most figures is that it rarely wants to stay fastened by the two tabs on the side.
The new vehicle that was offered by the club called the HAVOC Mk II is a repaint of the 25th Anniversary Snow Cat issued a few years back, to resemble the original HAVOC that I'm assuming is either too expensive to cast from the original molds or the molds themselves were lost somewhere along the line. I don't think there was a Funskool (India) version of the HAVOC for the molds to travel, but after the Sky HAVOC was released in 1990, we haven't seen that original mold since.
This take on the HAVOC is a perfect replacement to a vehicle that we may never see again and I'm sure fans of the Snowcat that this was taken from don't mind seeing a repaint of their favorite vehicle in green and orange. If Hasbro had done the green Joe vs. Cobra Frostbite in 25th Anniversary style, he would have been a good pair with this as well.
All-in-all I'm really pleased with the choices the Collector's Club made in this year's membership figure/vehicle and suggest picking these guys up if you can. (Like in our store for instance...)
LIZ: I feel this guy's pain. That vest pic is a perfect example of how like ALL of my clothes fit. The zipper just doesn't quite make it all the way up. If he's anything like me he's probably going to keep that vest in his closet and try again on a day when he feels skinny, snapping on the one side of the vest, feeling pretty good and then looking to the other side which reveals itself again to be an impossible spread. No way is that boob gonna make it in this dress. I get it dude.
All-in-all I'm really pleased with the choices the Collector's Club made in this year's membership figure/vehicle and suggest picking these guys up if you can. (Like in our store for instance...)
LIZ: I feel this guy's pain. That vest pic is a perfect example of how like ALL of my clothes fit. The zipper just doesn't quite make it all the way up. If he's anything like me he's probably going to keep that vest in his closet and try again on a day when he feels skinny, snapping on the one side of the vest, feeling pretty good and then looking to the other side which reveals itself again to be an impossible spread. No way is that boob gonna make it in this dress. I get it dude.
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