I haven't gotten a review up since November of last year, to that I say...
YO JOE!
Hasbro and Toy's-R-Us have partnered up to present the latest new addition to the Kre-O world, it's an entire line of exclusive products which, hopefully won't languish too much causing massive clearances and things. So that we can continue to get some decent sets out of the partnership with all of the main characters of the first few years at least.
First up on the review chopping block, is the smallest non-Blind Bagged item yet on offer, Hasbro calls it Checkpoint Alpha. Let's dive in shall we?
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The new G.I.Joe Kre-O boxes are the same basic designed box that has become standard for Kre-O Building Kits. Unlike Transformers which hasn't seemed to have a consistent packaging theme from year to year G.I.Joe Kre-O sets all come packaged in the same basic coloured and image styled boxes.
They also share design cues from the packaging of Retaliation, or at least the colours of the boxes are similar so you'll know these are movie tie in products. Not sure how good the sales have been honestly, not even sure how many Joe fans have begun to collect this new sub-line.
All I do know is that once again we find ourselves inundated with a product line full of Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow on all the boxes. And that fancy little tagline, Toy's-R-Us Exclusive.
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The instructions are the same as Ocean Attack and Land Defence from Battleship, in that they are pull out pamphlet style sheets instead of actual booklets. The image from the front of the box is found on the front of the instructions and on the back is cross promotional images for other sets in the line.
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The back of the box however shows off the contents of the set, the few limited features available and that's pretty much par for the course when it comes to Hasbro's Kre-O Box Design. They're still pretty nifty looking though and a lot more dependable than LEGO boxes for storage of sets once you've finished displaying them.
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It's been a long time coming, but after years of wanting one I finally own my very own Checkpoint Alpha. Even if it isn't to scale with 3 3/4'' figures.
The contents of the set are, one fence, the checkpoint station itself, two Kreons (Law and Firefly) one dog (Order) and Firefly's Motorcycle. Oh yes and one embossed Kre-O brick for figure stand purposes... You know if there are more than One Kreon in a set Hasbro you should really consider making a brick for every figure in the set available, otherwise you're stuck with choosing who should use the stand.
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Behold Checkpoint Alpha, the basic build of which some claim is similar to the little checkpoint found in the Stealth Bumblebee set of 2012, I wouldn't know, I don't own that set, but this seems to be a much different build if sharing similar traits.
The fence is just three pieces, it isn't even a barricade attached to the checkpoint, a bit dissapointing for some, a bit mobile for others allowing for you to place it wherever you wish.
The loads of detail work on this evoke the original Checkpoint Alpha playset item, if I'm not mistaken, never owned or handled the thing personally. We've got American Flag stickers, a Cobra Logo on the computer screen which says Security Alert, a keyboard sticker for said computer's keyboard. An Authorized Personnel Only sign, a Restricted Area Present I.D. sign, a small G.I.Joe logo and the much larger G.I.Joe Checkpoint Alpha logo.
As I said, very evocative of what the playset itself looked like, there's even a search light, missile launcher and wireless communications antenna as part of the build.
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Another angle of the set, minus the little fence dealie. In order to get on top the Kreons need to climb up a small ladder on the side, unfortunately this ladder is a fairly small piece and doesn't extend all the way to the ground, the only real flaw in an otherwise decent looking model. I think Hasbro's design team might have been better served using the ladder that Starscream came with for climbing up to the defensive observation deck.
All in all though I think this little model is an ideal and fun set evocative of the classic 80's era Joes, and we haven't even touched upon the Kreons themselves yet. It isn't an overly complicated model, and the stickers aren't really too much of a hassle. Really, what more could you want in a set called Checkpoint Alpha?
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As for Law & Order, this Kreon duo is pretty much straight out of the 80's. From the detail work on the torso print evoking the sculpted detailing from the original 3 3/4'' figure, to the use of a brand new riot shield and the old pistol accessory we've seen in the past. Even his helmet says MP on it, this is Law.
Order is a bit more of a stretch, I don't own it yet, however I think the dog is built using similar pieces to the Pitbull found in Stealth Bumblebee's set. At least the back end might be the same, the front is an all new piece. He's meant to be a German Shepard and he pulls it off as well as a brick built Kre-O element can.
Much like with Transformers based sets the Kreons are the big sellers of these items, not only are they based more on the traditional A Real American Hero line, instead of more recent iterations of Joe, but they fit in scale-wise with our favorite Cybertronians. The bigger Brick Built variety at any rate, if you collect both lines you've got in your possession the first ever Official G.I.Joe vs. The Transformers toyline.
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On the Cobra side of things, we have Saboteur Firefly on his motorcylce intending to slip past Checkpoint Alpha and place a bomb at the Joe Base. (Kind of straight out of the old Comics and Cartoons I think.)
Firefly's Motorcylce is pretty much just a gray version of Barricade's Motorcylce from the Cycle Chase set of 2012, minus the side car. But it's still a nifty piece, using 5 pieces or so to make it.
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The plain colour scheme matches nicely with the gray used on Firefly's Kreon.
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Firefly himself is another great looking 1980's inspired Kreon, he's wearing his mask, he's got the camo, and his gun has a silencer on it if I'm not very much mistaken.
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He's also got a backpack, somewhat similar to his original figure's pack, with a clip for his gun (as you saw above) and a red piece that is sculpted to resemble a time bomb made out of a clock or watch and a few sticks of dynamite.
Yep, Firefly is one awesome looking Kreon, but it doesn't stop there.
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Yes friends, to my knowledge this is the first and only Kreon to introduce back printing on the torso. What a feat, I certainly hope we'll see them branch out more into this field, the plain backs are all well and good, but added detailing on the backs of the torsos is always much appreciated in Mini-Figure scaled form.
Really this set is a great little addition to the overal Joe line, you get Checkpoint Alpha, two wonderful 1980's inspired Kreons and some fun accessories.
I will note however that the clip on Firefly's backpack may snap if used too often, I only used it once to hold the gun and already I noticed a stress mark forming. I really wish Hasbro would adopt softer plastics for their clips like LEGO has.
And the lack of a properly sized ladder for access to the top of Checkpoint Alpha is also a bit of a let down, not game breaking, but seriously what are the Joes supposed to do to get up there and use that launcher? Since they haven't introduced any JUMPS yet they're kind of out of luck, or need a helping hand from their friendly neighbourhood Autobots.
I'd give this a solid 4.5 rating, there's really nothing too off about it, but at the end of the day it is a fairly small Battle Pack style set without the added benefit of having any Green Shirts to army build with. Everything about it though makes you feel like you're re-living the 80's toyline all over again, only this time you can have Cobra threten your LEGO City Mini-Figs and G.I.Joe come rushing to the rescue.
Well, there you have it folks. For my next Kre-I-Joe review we'll be visting the ancient lands of Japan... Or perhaps Tibet... Well it could be China's Mountain Range for all I know, when we meet up with Kre-O's versions of Snake-Eyes, Storm Shadow and the dreaded Ninja Vipers in
Ninja Temple Battle. Be ready.