Action Figure Review: Hydro-Viper from G.I. Joe: Classified Series by Hasbro

 

   Can you believe I basically knocked out a full series of G.I. Joe: Classified Series reviews in one week? I can't, either! Today I'm checking out the Hydro-Viper, the final figure in the summer 2026 single boxed series which also included Airtight, Sundown, Overkill, and Dawn Moreno/ Snake Eyes III. So... what exactly is a Hydro-Viper? I'm glad you asked. We've already had the Cobra Eel in the Classified Series along with the standard Cobra Diver (from the 2-pack with a Joe diver) but now we have the Hydro-Viper who is billed as an Elite Cobra Underwater Driver. What makes them so elite? Well, the Hydro-Vipers are Cobra Eels who have volunteered to a variety of surgical alterations that make them better equipped for underwater combat. Lung alterations, injections that give them more fat insulation, and the addition of webbed hands means that these guys are capable of feats that even your best trained diver can't achieve. Also known as the Demons of the Deep, the Hydro-Vipers were part of trend of augmented Cobra soldiers that would get more and more extreme over the years. The Hydro-Viper was part of the 1988 series, which I believe is the first year of the three best years of figure design in the vintage line (while not all of the characters are most memorable/ best written, 1988-1990 are peak in terms of accessories, designs, etc.). I had him as a kid and I always loved the spooky mask and the weird red duck fins. Oh, and he came with a Stingray. So does the Classified Series version and he's not even a deluxe figure! That's a relief. Hold your nose and jump in as we check out the Hydro-Viper after the break...

Action Figure Review: Snake Eyes (Dawn Moreno) from G.I. Joe: Classified Series by Hasbro

 

   Today I'm checking out a newer take on an old classic: Snake Eyes, AKA Dawn Moreno. OK, so yes, this is definitely not the Snake Eyes who you probably remember most fondly. Instead, this is Dawn Moreno, a former student at Springfield High School (the town founded by Cobra) who caught the attention of Cobra Commander and the Baroness because of her athleticism. The brainwave scanner was used on her and Moreno was accidently implanted with the stored memories of the deceased Snake Eyes (he was dead in the comics at the time), causing her to end up with the memories, training, and experience of the ninja and commando and eventually leading to her having a part on the G.I. Joe team. Dawn Moreno was created by Larry Hama in the continuation of his Marvel comics G.I. Joe run during the IDW era and she is still part of the story in the current Skybound era. I'm not terribly familiar with most of the Larry Hama run post the #180s or so but I'm hoping that we start getting some more collected editions of the IDW and Skybound eras. I'm familiar with the character, though, as her introduction was a pretty big deal in comics and Joe lore, and I'm glad that Hasbro continues to both create new characters and draw on post vintage characters for the Classified Series rather than just sticking to the same roster from the 1980s and early 1990s. Ready to check out Snake Eyes/ Dawn Moreno? Then join me after the break...

Action Figure Review: Cobra Overkill from G.I. Joe: Classified Series by Hasbro

 

   I'm moving through the summer series of single boxed G.I. Joe: Classified Series figures. I've now covered Airtight and Sundown so it's time to turn our attention to a Cobra: Overkill! Who is Overkill exactly? Well, there are a couple answers. The original 1989 figure (who was released as part of the Talking Battle Commanders subset) was an advanced prototype B.A.T. who was placed in charge of the other B.A.T.s. During the relaunch of the line (Generation 2), Overkill was now called Over Kill (with a space) in 2003 and was more of a cyborg with a human looking face. Well, a humanoid face, anyway. He was a popular character with six different releases between the G.I. Joe vs. Cobra and DTC eras. He even appeared in the cartoon and comics for G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 but never received an action figure in the line (though a prototype was developed). The most interesting thing that happened to Overkill, however, was in the pages of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comic by Devil's Due Publishing. In that series in the early to mid 2000s, Overkill was revealed to be the code name of Robert Skelton, the SAW Viper who infamously gunned down Doc, Crankcase, Thunder, and Heavy Metal in issue #109 of Larry Hama's original Marvel run. Eventually, he was experimented on and turned into the cyborg we're most familiar with. 

   The vintage figure was rather bright and had one of the large talking backpacks. This time around, we've got a figure that largely adheres to the design of the vintage 1989 figure but with at least one nod to the cyborg nature of the second generation of A Real American Hero and some of the comic lore. Ready to check out Overkill? Then join me after the break...

Action Figure Review: Alejandro Balam "Sundown" Lunda Mendoza from G.I. Joe: Classified Series by Hasbro

 

   In November I often play catch-up and try to review groups of figures from the same lines in a row. I'm starting off with the G.I. Joe: Classified Series because it's both my favorite ongoing action figure line and I've got a ton of them sitting on my desk waiting to be reviewed. It's entirely possible I might be reviewing G.I. Joe figures all November, so maybe I should just go ahead and call this Joe-vember, huh? Yesterday I reviewed Airtight from this same series of figures that released this oast summer and today I'm checking out Sundown, full name "Alejandro Balam "Sundown" Lunda Mendoza. Sundown is a new character created for the Classified Series and he's an absolute masterpiece. Interestingly, he does reuse a codename (Sundown) from Hasbro's vintage C.O.P.S. & Crooks line, though that seems to be the only connection. I loved  Long Range in G.I. Joe: Sigma 6 as he had something of a Western/ cowboy aesthetic, too, but this guy is on a whole 'nother level of coolness. Sundown is a bounty hunter and tracker from Xalapa, Mexico who works with G.I. Joe and is currently tracking down his twin brother, Salvador Ramon, who has been taken by Headman and the Lords of the Underworld. Yes, Headman, the enemy of the vintage D.E.F. Drug Elimination Force faction of G.I. Joe. Incredible! This guy is just amazing and I could easily see him being the Joe of the year. Let's take a look at Sundown after the break...

Action Figure Review: Airtight from G.I. Joe: Classified Series by Hasbro

 

   
 Ready for another G.I. Joe: Classified Series review? Today I'm checking out Airtight, the last of the vintage single-carded 1985 G.I. Joe figures to be released in the Classified Series. Airtight was released during the height of the line's vintage popularity and so he appeared in the animated series and on lots of merchandise. Character-wise, though, he's not one of the most well known and well developed characters from that era. He does have a pretty useful function as a Chemical, Biological, and Radiological (CBR) warfare specialist. You've got to have someone willing to don a hazmat suit, right? Airtight may not be appropriate for every mission but he's absolutely someone you need to have on call. Ready to check out Airtight, real name Kurt Schnurr? Then join me after the break...

Trick or Treat Through 31 Days of Toy Terror: Mayor Manor from LEGO Icons: Midnight Valley Collection by LEGO

   Happy Halloween 2026! Ever since today's set was leaked this past summer, I knew it was going to be the October 31st review for Trick or Treat Through 31 Days of Toy Terror. While I don't collect LEGO as heavily as I do action figures, I do love them and pick up sets fairly often. Usually I prefer the modular buildings and such but I'm absolutely a sucker for the spooky stuff and today's review, Mayor Manor, is the beginning of a new annual series from LEGO that is essentially a Halloween village. LEGO has been releasing a winter/ Christmas village theme for quite a few years now and the Midnight Valley Collection is the spooky counterpart of that concept. This set was officially released on September 1st but a few retailers and independent toy stores got the set in early. I built mine over a couple evenings in September and I'm quite thrilled with how it turned out. Besides just being spooky, the concept of the Midnight Valley Collection also seems to be focused on builds with distorted and asymmetrical construction. Mayor Manor might just look like your classic rundown haunted house but it's actively being twisted apart by a tree growing up through the right side of the model. That's a pretty cool design decision and it makes the set far more interesting than it could have been. Mayor Manor isn't one of the modular buildings; it's simply a façade. It looks excellent, though, and should be easier to store on a shelf. 

   Rather than a standard review of the Positives and the Negatives, with building brick sets I'm trying to capture a little bit of what the building experience is like, giving you a glimpse of the set as it's being constructed about every 10 steps or so. I hope you enjoy that as I may be doing more brick building reviews on the site as I've been attracted to not many LEGO sets but also to some of the other companies putting out brick built sets like Lumibricks and Pantasy. Ready to dive inside the spooky Mayor Manor on this Halloween night? Then join me after the break...

Trick or Treat Through 31 Days of Toy Terror: Night-Creeper (D.I.R.E. Tech) from G.I. Joe: Classified Series by Hasbro

 

   Last year Hasbro released Crystal Ball into the G.I. Joe: Classified Series and he ended up being my October 31st review for last year's 31 Days of Toy Terror. With his introduction, Hasbro introduced something of a new Cobra sub-team into G.I. Joe as an adversary for Night Force: Cobra troops augmented with D.I.R.E. tech, or Dread-Inducing Responsive Energy. The D.I.R.E. tech is a mystical energy that can be used to both induce fear in adversaries and to create tangible constructs and it's a rather cool new concept for the G.I. Joe universe. Today I'm looking at the third figure released in this unofficial sub-team, the Night-Creeper (D.I.R.E. Tech). Like all of the D.I.R.E. tech figures released thus far, he's exclusive to Walmart. This guy showed up earlier this summer in rather limited numbers before showing up in September in greater numbers as part of Walmart's fall reset (there's also a new troop, the Cobra D.I.R.E. Hawk who actually started showing up in stores before he was officially announced on October 1st, but as of this writing I haven't procured one yet. Ready to check out the Night-Creeper (D.I.R.E. Tech) figure? Does anyone else, upon picking up a Night-Creeper, find themselves singing "Night-Creeper, Night-Creeper" to the tune of the BeeGee's "Night Fever?" All this and more will be discussed after the break...