{"id":28224,"date":"2014-06-13T01:51:19","date_gmt":"2014-06-13T06:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=28224"},"modified":"2014-07-01T00:40:28","modified_gmt":"2014-07-01T05:40:28","slug":"g-i-joe-subscription-service-fss-2-0-keel-haul-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=28224","title":{"rendered":"G.I. Joe (FSS) 2.0:
Keel-Haul Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> It\u2019s subscription time, for G.I. Joe at least. And that leaves me in that same curious position, to sub or not to sub. As a kid, I enjoyed G.I. Joe more than MOTU, but as an adult, it\u2019s resubbing MOTU that\u2019s not in question. I\u2019m just waiting for Mattel to put the button to press up. Meanwhile, the Joe Sub? Well, I torture myself over the decision. I love Joes. I want to support the Club. Some of the figures are pretty cool. <\/p>\n

I guess the \u201csome\u201d kinda jumps out there, doesn\u2019t it? The numbers here tell a story. Out of the 26 subscription figures so far, thirteen are still here. That number could still go down, as four are not opened. Of the nine opened, this is only my fourth review. That\u2019s not a lot of enthusiasm. Looking at the list of Joes included in 3.0, I want eight out of the twelve revealed. That\u2019s good odds. But the figures, well\u2026 they just have to get better. <\/p>\n

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In this review, I\u2019m looking at what was probably the biggest name on my wishlist, Admiral Keel-Haul. The original Flagg, which was necessarily stored on the floor, did not survive The Great Flood\u2122. Some parts did, the deck is still here. Some other bits. Keel-Haul himself was a casualty. For some reason, I\u2019ve never gone back and picked up another one. It may just because he\u2019s not one you run across all that much. But the need for a Keel-Haul was strong and he\u2019s held a high and firm spot on my modern Joe Want list for years (along with Dress Blues Gung Ho!). When the Club announced him in the FSS 2.0, that helped push me over. <\/p>\n

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Then he got here and\u2026 I wasn\u2019t in a rush to open him. That\u2019s telling, isn\u2019t it? He\u2019s not a bad figure. The Club doesn\u2019t have unlimited resources, they can\u2019t just \u201cdo a figure right\u201d. They have to be smart about it and they usually are. The pieces chosen here work. He\u2019s frankensteined from ROC General Hawk that was included with the Pit and the \u201cfixed\u201d version of Shipwreck from the 25th Anniversary line. While these parts work, they also bring their flaws alongside for the ride: the skinny legs, the odd articulation cut in the shoulders, the right leg being slightly longer the left \u2013 I kinda feel like the Club (& Hasbro) just needs to banish certain parts from reuse. It\u2019s okay to do it once because changes are difficult, but some parts just need stricken from the record before they do a future Joe more disservice. <\/p>\n

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Sculptwise, the Boss Fight head is the best thing this figure has going. The figure as a whole lacks the coolness\u2026 the swagger, of the original, but the head tries to get some of it back. It\u2019s the one thing that makes the figure worth owning as a Keel-Haul update. That sounds bad, but it just a lot of little things that don\u2019t add up from the neck down. No gloves. No belt. No sidearm holster. Either update the figure in a meaningful way or nail down the homage. There really isn\u2019t a lot of room for middle ground there. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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The paintwork was adequate. Most things are molded in the appropriate colors and the paintwork on the face is clean. The intricate pattern on the hat is sloppy, but not so much that it worries me. I would\u2019ve liked to have seen a little more work on his medals and ribbons (he is the highest ranking G.I. Joe after all), then just the thin strip. And there\u2019s a patch missing from the right arm as well. Again, there\u2019s just not much middle ground here. <\/p>\n

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The articulation works pretty well, mostly in the limbs. The ball-ankles & hips and the double-hinge knees really help with the poses to compensate for the lopsided legs. The arms also have great range with the ball-shoulders and elbows, swivels wrists too. The odd angle of the neck makes for just a swivel joint there and I\u2019ve never been able to get much good range out of the torso joint on this style of figure. <\/p>\n

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Keel-Haul got a fair amount of accessories, but it\u2019s hard to beat coming packaged with a 7ft long Aircraft Carrier as he originally did. He includes a standard pistol (that missing holster would\u2019ve come in handy) and then some actually cool accessories: a flare gun, binoculars, a coffee mug, and a special type of stand that can hold a flag. I originally had one of these with Duke and an American flag. It\u2019s cool again here and I love the joke that Keel-Haul still comes with a flag, just not the Flagg. I think the coffee mug is likely my favorite accessory of the group though. <\/p>\n

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Overall, Keel-Haul is probably best called serviceable. I can mix him in with my Joes. I\u2019ll see him in there and he\u2019ll blend in. It would\u2019ve been great if he were a standout though. Figures like Lifeline & Footloose have earned their spot in the front by being great figures. I love Keel-Haul so much that I want to put him up front, but this figure doesn\u2019t belong there. Again, it\u2019s not a knock on the Club, they have to work with what they can and they did some cool stuff with the accessories and getting Boss Fight to do the head, but there are a lot of good Keel-Haul customs out there, also made form repurposed pieces. I kinda wish the Club had looked a little closer at those on this one. <\/p>\n

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More G.I. Joe Reviews:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

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For all our Reviews, check out our
\n Review Index<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":28225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[10],"tags":[1857,2568,33,24,221,2372],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/keel00.jpg?fit=480%2C195","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-7le","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28230,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=28230","url_meta":{"origin":28224,"position":0},"title":"G.I. Joe FSS 3.0 Next Three Reveals","date":"June 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "G.I. Joe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1264,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=1264","url_meta":{"origin":28224,"position":1},"title":"Most Requested Figures: More 25th Joes!!","date":"August 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Requests"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26117,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=26117","url_meta":{"origin":28224,"position":2},"title":"G.I. Joe Club Subcription: Big Boa Review","date":"December 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "G.I. Joe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27190,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=27190","url_meta":{"origin":28224,"position":3},"title":"G.I. Joe Subscription Service (FSS) 2.0: Bombardier Review","date":"March 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "G.I. Joe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27277,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=27277","url_meta":{"origin":28224,"position":4},"title":"Truetorial: G.I. Joe FSS 2.0, You Break My Heart! (Spoilers!)","date":"March 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "G.I. Joe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23501,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=23501","url_meta":{"origin":28224,"position":5},"title":"G.I. Joe Club Membership Figure: Iceberg Review","date":"May 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I am seriously backed up on G.I. Joe Reviews. I happily subbed to the Joe FSS (& the Joe FSS 2.0) and, so far, only the first month\u2019s figures have made it to the site. Did I mention I have all thirteen? Oops! And here I am reviewing the Membership\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "G.I. Joe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28224"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28224"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28454,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28224\/revisions\/28454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}