I don't know i'd have to see if there is a sub-species of Crocodile with a muzzle that short as well she gives me alligator vibes even if the over bite is not that common on alligators. Also she has ears which for some reason looks proper strange to me. that a 'crocodile' should have visible ears. But then I guess the proportions are no different to Skullcruncher. I just think the shape of the head seen from above isn't very Crocodile like to me... but then I am not super familar with every sub-species.
Got my shipping notice for the Skytriker. It should be here next Tuesday the 31st. Honestly, I kind of forgot about it. LOL! So, it was a nice surprise.
Those aren't ears, it's her Squamosal bones. And considering Cobra Island's location in the Gulf of Mexico, I think Fiona's most likely a Cuban crocodile: Note the shorter muzzle and bigger squamosals.
I wish I could get into all the tiger force/python patrol stuff but I just can swing all that cash for repaints….knowing I’m gonna get the OG looks soon down the road
I think I’m done with the special teams stuff too. I’ll have enough trouble finding space for the regular stuff as it is!
Has anyone heard if Lenny and Emily survived the layoffs at Hasbro? I'd hope with the success of Classified this year they'll be okay.
I hope so, they seem like the current driving force behind this brand.... On another note, BBTS made good on my Threezero Roadblock delivery.
They’d be idiots for letting Lenny and the other designers go. They’ve developed the best 6” action figure line in Hasbro’s history. Those designers have massive passion for the brand and the history. I like Emily too. I don’t know exactly what her duties include…but she seems to have a lot of energy for it and might play a large role in things getting promoted internally and externally. I’d have a hard time understanding why they would break this team up. I could see them streamlining the offerings, though. More repaints and parts reuse…some entire brands getting put on hiatus (Ghostbusters? D&D?)…less risky offerings (like holding off on 6” scale vehicles at retail)…etc.
Emily just updated her Instagram. Telling Skystriker backers they are shipping and to be on the look out for a special video.
From what I’ve read Hasbro’s Marvel Legends and Star Wars sales were lagging compared to recent years. Maybe it’s time to focus more energy and attention on the properties they own instead of turning out so many figs for licensing that Disney is slowly ruining the value of.
I believe that renewing focus and investment on their owned brands was a key point of a recent investor call. They also recently sold a number of assets from their eOne component as part of that refocus. The more I see of the D&D movie the more nervous I get that it will underperform at the box office and more cost cutting will have to be done. Agreed that letting go of any part of Lemily or any key part of the GI Joe team would be a terrible idea. I'm preaching to the choir but if anything they should be investing more into GI joe right now.
Given that it was 1000 jobs globally, my expectation would be that they might get a lot of those by pulling out of smaller markets. There are compound effects to laying off designers or public facing personnel. Not that the execs at these companies always think about it that way. I hope Hasbro's leads are safe. I don't want to sound cynical but in my experience, contract artists tend to bounce back or find ways to produce stuff on their own. Skilled marketers can find work elsewhere in marketing, particularly with in-house experience on a large brand. It's the management like Lenny who I don't see bouncing back as easily. Good managers are often okay artists, okay writers, okay salespeople, but good at big picture vision. Unless somebody else wants to hire Lenny to do the exact same thing on another brand, I don't think we'll see the same quality and notoriety from him elsewhere. Good managers in pop culture businesses end up as assistant managers at department stores if they get laid off. There's only so many jobs that really showcase their talents well. Best case is probably getting an MBA, teaching, and doing a lot of interviews about toys.
Grabbed the recent Classified Snake Eyes and Timber set. I wasn’t intending on getting this set initially. I didn’t really get the Renegades homage that this was alluded to have and I already had the Snake Eyes from wave 1 as well as the 1st alpha commando Snake Eyes/Timber set. The scarf and guns were cool but months back that was about it for me. Then recently the scarf, subdued paint scheme and Timber reminded me of Venom Snake and D Dog from Metal Gear Solid V Phantom Pain, so that heightened appeal of this set to me. Then I started seeing more pictures recently and decided to get it. Switching to boots was a good improvement. The scarf tends to stick out up and in front unlike on Stalker where it rests across the upper torso more flush. So given that, I left the bandolier on as leaving it off didn’t make much of a difference with the way the scarf sticks out(you’ll notice as there’s a visible gap between the scarf and torso when you look from the side). I had heard that some samples were very loose. My figure is loose at some joints but I think it’s due to having a lot of mold release oil or shock oil applied by the factory to preemptively prevent joints from seizing. If so, it’s a good move by the factory but they overdid it on this release. My figure is tighter than wave 1 Snake Eyes but not as tight as the Snake Eyes from the 1st alpha commando set. Meanwhile Timber has tighter joints overall compared to the 1st Timber that was released in Classified. Overall this is a good set that may appeal to those that like the 1st Classified Snake Eyes, prefer boots with no shin guards and prefer the knight visor look with less torso web gear/padding. The paint scheme has some decent color separation that I didn’t notice until I unboxed the figure. It’s enough to be interesting without being too busy visually. Using a pinless body would’ve been appreciated but luckily the elbows and knees aren’t gummy. The loosest joints on mine are actually the shoulders(not rag doll loose thankfully).