Both had receding hairlines and while Sure Fire's head was too small, Crossfire's was too big. Sadly, both these heads were just terrible. But, like Sure Fire, he included a newly sculpted head to denote the new character. (And, kind of sullied that mold for a long time.) The other, Crossfire, was an amalgamation of parts. One, Sure Fire, used the amazing 1992 Shockwave body. Also in the wave, though, were two "new" figures. The classic 1984 Roadblock mold returned. On the Joe side, we saw a repainted Low Light, Wet Suit and Torpedo. It featured two new army builders (always welcome in those days!) as well as a redone Cobra Commander and Destro. In 2002, Hasbro moved more towards a vintage Joe approach with coloring and the line was hugely successful for a couple of years.īacking up to 2001, though, Wave III was actually pretty well anticipated by the collecting community. And, the sea of olive green was just too boring to sustain a line at retail. Hasbro listened too much to some people who had a very limited and narrow view of Joe. But, Wave II had done in the line and the banality that was Wave IV heavily found its way to discount and closeout stores. (Though, that was all the fault of packing 4 Big Ben/Whiteout packs per case.) Wave III, though, saw a lower production run and, generally, sold through just due to lower numbers. Wave II was starting to stagnate at retail. And, when Wave III debuted, the pattern continued into a full blown issue. Instead, all the figures looked the same. Gone was the retail visual complement that Hasbro strove for with the vintage line. Too many of the Joes used the same color palette. But, a troubling pattern started to emerge with Wave II. The second wave was even better as it expanded the mold library and brought in some later figure sculpts that followed the same formula as Wave I. But, Hasbro went a step further to find some favorite molds and characters, paint them well and include all their original gear. The A Real American Hero Collection ( ARAHC) started off with a bang in the fall of 2000. But, I will remain steadfast that the 2001 Crossfire is just a terrible figure and, subjectivity be damned, anyone who likes him is just wrong. And, even two decades later, people rush to defend a figure that has no intrinsic value whatsoever. I was shocked to find, though, that, at the time, a lot of other collectors loved him. 20 years ago, Hasbro released one such figure. There are, though, a select few figures that are objectively bad and have no redeeming qualities at all. But, I also acknowledge that I feel that way because he was such a good character and I was super disappointed that his figure didn't live up to his filecard. Big Boa is the worst figure in the vintage line. But, I do see the quality of his overall sculpt. And, everyone has one figure that just bugs them for some reason. All collectors have irrational favorites.
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