Wandering Eye in My Marriage to Hasbro and the Classified Line
By Destro Designs – Viper Den Studios
Since the inception of my adult collecting, I’ve been married to Hasbro’s G.I. Joe Classified line. And while 2025 was like a Cadillac-sized ball of crack for a crackhead, 2026, along with other amazing lines, has diminished the light in my eyes of loyalty to the line and the brand.
It all started when I opened the $46 Legacy Special Forces figure while having two different Monster Force Delta Reds that were a couple of dollars cheaper and infinitely better, with more gear that was cooler.
Ever since then, I’ve noticed things about other lines that stand out to me.
First, Valaverse.
Mr. Vala is CRUSHING it right now with his Black Series, as well as everything else he has done. Add in the boat and machine gun nest I’ve seen coming, and the dude is dialed into what the people want. His figures, while remaining at a similar price point, have continued to get better. The quality is so obvious. You can feel the weight of the figures. You can see the detail and enjoy the stuff every figure comes with.
Oh, and never mind that he’s releasing a truly freaking AMAZING Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell, which I am obsessed with. Throws money at the screen when he sees this figure.
After watching what he’s been revealing, especially on the 3POA Podcast with my brother Laserpants, Mr. Vala will be getting my money this year. Pair all that with the fact that he has my brother Mark Fogarty of Destro Is My Spirit Animal producing dope content for him, and I am totally in. Fuck yeah.
Lines like Skeletron are also making really cool-looking 1:12 figures. I haven’t spent too much time looking into those, but every time I see something from them, I’m like, “Ooooooo, that’s hot,” like I’m Paris Hilton.
Monster Force has been pounding out some truly incredible figures. The Delta Reds are unreal commando-style marauders that are painted into oblivion with awesomeness, and the gear is off the charts. I freaking LOVE those figures. Monster Force joining GridIron to bolster the weapons is a smart-ass move. Great figures, more than worth the cost.
Don’t even get me started on Mezco. Every G.I. Joe figure they have made is basically the definitive edition of that figure. Hell, the Mezco Firefly is probably the best 1:12 figure in all the land, and the only ones close are also from the Mezco line. The figure, and ALLLLLL the ridiculous stuff it comes with, just can’t be beat. Period. I feel like I’ve said the least about these figures because y’all already know. Mezco is the Blue Ribbon.
ThreeZero and Sideshow have the 1:6 scale on lock. Sideshow Baroness, ThreeZero Snake Eyes V4, and Sideshow Major Bludd are all elite-as-fuck figures. Totally awesome. Honestly, the ThreeZero V4 Snake Eyes is basically the best version of Snake Eyes I’ve ever seen. It’s unreal.
There are also a lot of lines that make figures that stray from the militaristic style that works for me. Savage Crucible makes some freaking really cool, almost unbelievable figures. Shout out to them boys. Even though it’s not what I butter my bread with, I can dig it for sure.
So while I am still pre-ordering some Joes from Hasbro, and G.I. Joe is still the core and overwhelming majority of my love for collecting, I feel my eye wandering quite a bit toward other things that are better and at better pricing. Or, at least in the case of Mezco, worth the price.
The ring is still on my finger, but the eye is wandering.
Ya heard, Hasbro? Get it together and excite me once again.
That’s a really interesting observation about the Legacy figures – the price discrepancies and extra details do make you question your commitment sometimes, don’t they?
This was my main take away from JoeFest. Hasbro product is not worth the price. I’m tired of just paying for the “IP” or the character, and not getting a proper, planned figure. It’s always something, bad kit out, no backpack, weird face, there are very few “perfect” figures in the classified line for me. Even the “butterfly joints” don’t really work.
After Joefest, I seen what people are doing, I bought some Skeletron, and the red shadows Heavy is one of the best 6″ figures I own now, and it was only a few dollars more than a standard classified, and it came with a VERY ingenious backpack that opens and stores all his gear, blast effect for the rocket launcher, even his dagger doubles as a bayonet.
My “wandering eye” is no longer wandering..in str8 up “seperated” with Hasbro, heading for divorce. I usually have a lot of stuff on preorder, but now? I only have Flash and the HAL on my hard wants list.
Vacations for me in the late 70s, early 80s, was about as budget as you can get. People sometimes forget how BAD the economy was in the late 70s. Dad was struggling for work, and vacations were a “luxury”, but dad always made sure we did SOMETHING.
Vividly remember going to Irish Hills every year, and renting the same cabin, and doing the same tourist attractions every year .. the dinosaur forest, the cowboy ranch, the mystery house … But when money was tight, dad had a buddy that gave him Cedar point tickets,
We would camp, exactly as you said, Coleman stove, blanket on the ground..that was us. I liked the camping part, better than cedar point back then.
When Dad got a better job in 82 (THANK GOD RIGHT WHEN JOE HIT, lol), we took the first “big vacation I remember, that was to Niagara falls, and came back the Canada side and went to Toronto.
6th grade dad was running a large machine shop, and we moved to Holly, a rural part of Michigan, and we didn’t have time or money for vacations. Our house was our vacation I guess. Dad only got to enjoy 3 years of his victory of “getting out of the hood”, before the cancer hit.
When I think of Kid vacation, I think of Irish hills…it was SO gorgeous back then, now all dilapidated and closed.
And the time we were getting in the car to go to cedar point, and my bitch sister that hated me, purposely slammed the car door on my hand because she thought it was a good idea to remind me how bad doors can hurt hands. I spent the whole camping trip with my hand mangled and bandaged up.
I really wish things were different and we did an “annual” thing like so many do, but our family was still recovering from the economic times of the period, and our vacations were mostly camping trips.