SUPER TACTICAL COMMANDER GRAND PATRIOT (GREEN Vr.)

This is going to be an interesting post to write. But before I blog about the Grand Patriot, first I want to show you something else. Below are images of Rolling Thunder from the GI Joe series. This huge toy was released in 1988 & packs a heavy load of firepower.

Now let's have a look at Grand Patriot.

The Super Tactical Commander: Grand Patriot (STC-GP), comes in two color schemes. The first is molded after Optimus Prime's colors. This can be seen from the box design. Before purchasing this toy, all I knew was that there were going to be two color variants for it & I had my eyes set on the green version.

When you get hold of the box, you'd be surprised at how light it is. The other thing that automatically comes to mind is the plastic quality of this third party. If it's light, does it mean that's it's fragile? Well, not really.

Out of the box, STC-GP's trailer looks pretty huge. From here, you will see that there are quite a number of similarities with GI Joe's Rolling Thunder.

On first impression, the Grand Patriot has a futuristic feel to it. It was only after purchasing this unit & doing my research for the review that I found out about the Rolling Thunder. The Grand Patriot play set is actually meant to work with GI Joe figures.

In terms of mobility, the hub cab & trailer can turn to a certain degree, without any obstruction. From here, you can see that the gap between the cab & trailer looks quite prominent.

Now let's have a look at the hub cab. The front of the cab does look like it's heavily armored. It has a pair of twin cannons attached on each side of the cab's roof. The fun thing about this cab is that it can carry a variety of supporting firepower.

Here is the first example. Grand Patriot is seen carrying two huge missiles that resemble the rockets on Rolling Thunder.

This is another example of STC-GP carrying a single hand blasters.

Alternatively, both hand blasters can also be mounted onto the hub cab.

Next we have a look at the robot mode. Only the hip joints & elbow are very tight while everywhere else is quite loose.

Although this figure looks bulky, the Grand Patriot can move freely at his waist giving it a lot of flexibility.

This is another mode of Grand Patriot. The fuel tanks from the trailer turns into laser blasters that can be attached onto the arms. There are also mini laser cannons that can be raised up at the shin.

Guess what? STC-GP comes with his own matrix too! Initially the matrix was a very tight fit, & it still is after numerous times of taking it in & out. I suggest getting a small pocket knife to pry the matrix out rather than to damage the chest.

On top of that, there is a second head that comes with it. I tried to pull the head out & switch it but it seems like a very tight fit. I rather not damage my STC-GP, so I'll just leave  the current head on for now.

These are images of the trailer, that open up to form a battle station. The creation of the Grand Patriot was to compliment the GI Joe toy line. Above, we see various settings where the GI Joes can be placed at the command center.

This is another version of the battle station. The rocket missiles can be placed at different locations and the main deck, replaced with the blaster rifles.

Here's how the trailer looks like on its own, as a heavily armed & fortified weapons center. It's a pity that the rear rocket turret can't be mode about in this mode.

In case you're wondering, this is where it all started. This is the artwork design of a comic book artist by the name of Don Figueroa. It was his version of the GI Joe Rolling Thunder Optimus Prime. When you look at this, I must say that the people at Xovergen have done a pretty good job in designing something as close as this.


Even though the plastic quality of this toy is below par & the joints can be quite fragile, I appreciate the effort made for such an attempt. Kudos.

GI JOE

Among my other collection are the all American heroes, GI Joe! The current collection dates back from 2003.

I decided to take them out for a group portrait just before their new movie launches, GI Joe Retaliation (2012). But what happened to the movie & why has it been postponed to next year? Well in the meantime, I'll just have to make do with what I have on hand isn't it?

As you can see, most of the vehicles are shown here with labels. This is because they were prepared earlier when I displayed my collection at a local anime convention. Back then the organizers requested that my toys be labeled for display.

For this collection, I can't help but collect more Cobras than Joes as their designs are a lot more attractive. Most of the Joe vehicles look very ordinary & there is no point for me to collect them. It took me a long time, before the almighty PIT surfaced in the market in conjunction with the first Joe movie (2009). If I had the extra budget, I would have purchased another PIT Headquarters for kit-bash purposes.

Honestly I hope there will be more worthy Joe vehicles for me to to add to my collection in future to balance out the battle scene for my diorama. Otherwise they're just going to have to take all the heavy down fire from Cobra.

HOTLINK GAMES & ANIME FESTIVAL 2009

A couple of years ago, I was invited to display part of my toy collection at this anime festival at one of the malls downtown. For those that remembered, it was held at Berjaya Times Square.

The organizers were looking for a couple of collectors to display an array of toys from different genres. During the meeting, so happened I was able to provide most of the toys for display. The only other collector they needed to look for was a Star Wars dude of which I admit, I'm not a major fan.

When I look back at the event, the only trace of images I have are these two below.

• Transformers Diorama

 

• GI Joe Diorama

Besides the two images I also found a link for the festival on YouTube that shows the entire venue of the event. 

It's a little difficult to see, but scattered around the venue are other glass display towers. These towers were filled with my collection of toys from other genres such as Final Fantasy, Spawn & some Gundam as well. If I recalled correctly, the event lasted for about three to four days stretching over to the weekend.