Grand Opening of Cooter's in the Country in Sperryville, VA

The Grand Opening of Cooter's in the Country in Sperryville, VA was a huge success.  The event took place over two days, Saturday and Sunday, but I could only make it on Sunday.  Everyone told me Saturday was much more crowded, and I'm sorry I missed it.  Sunday was so much fun and another great "Ben and Alma event."

Cooter's Garage Band entertained the crowd for a large part of the day.  Lisa Meadows and the crew always put on a great show.

The beginning of the day saw some clouds but it never rained.  It turned out to be a very nice day.

There was a constant crowd and everyone had a good time.

Our buddy Jim from Greensburg brought his General Lee to Sperryville.  Neal rode down with him. Jim's car was parked in the back for a little bit.

Several people took pictures with Jim's car while it was in the main parking lot.  Here's a Dukes loving family, that's for sure.

Our old pal Billy Lambing brought his Hazzard Patrol Car down for the event.  It's always great catching up with Billy.  Dave and Mellisia along with Jill and Matt were there on Saturday and I didn't get to hang out with them.  Bill caught me up on what I missed.  We also talked about rumors of someone getting towed and having an argument at a comic con, but those stories can't be substantiated.

This great looking car belongs to fellow Dukes fanatic Bubba.  It's a nearly perfect Lee 1 replica. Bubba took great lengths to recreate all the details that make Lee 1 stand out.  He has the same full roll bar, lack of back seat, restraint chains, and even has the same brand tires.

Once Neal started talking Lee 1 with Bubba, I didn't see Neal again for a while.

There was also a fantastic replica of Cooter's Tow Truck that will sit in front of the store until Cooter's new General Lee is ready.  The Tow Truck looks right at home there.

There was always a crowd browsing the merchandise inside the store.  Michael and the Cooter's Place crew have made some great new items for the store.  You can now buy brand new party supplies, pens and pencils, balloons, posters, and all kinds of other Dukes items.  They are all available at any of the three locations as well as CootersPlace.com.  Keep up the great work Michael!

I really enjoyed watching people check out the museum.  I put a lot of work into it and I'm glad everyone likes it.  So much great Dukes stuff!

This might be my favorite picture of the day.

13 year old JR from Tennessee is a model building Dukes fanatic.  I love talking to young Dukes fans.  JR really knows his Dukes and is a very talented model builder.

He built this jumped General Lee diorama and donated it to Cooter's.  Great job JR.  I look forward to talking to you again and seeing more of your creations.

After Bill left for the day, Jim brought his General around to the front.  People were taking pictures with it all day.

Her mom told me she was the biggest 3 year old Dukes fan in the world.  I don't doubt it.

Now that's a great shot.

Jim's pal Bubba (that's two Bubbas in one day) rode down with him and Neal.  That's a mug shot for ya.  I had a lot of fun hanging out with these good ol' boys talking Dukes.  I also spent some time with fellow Dukes fanatics Jett and Richie.  Richie and Jett have been deep inside the Dukes world for as long as I have.  It is always nice to talk to them.

About mid-way through the day I went to the car and pulled out my Figures Toy Company 8 inch Dukes of Hazzard Cooter figure.  Let's just say it was a hit.  Ben hadn't seen it yet and really loved it. The crowd all around him really loved it too.  I think everyone there really loved it.

A little bit later when Ben went back up with the band, he called me up to get the figure for him.

He spent a long time talking about the figure and telling stories about the pictures on the package and other memories.

Ben made the action figure a big part of his performance and really got the crowd excited about buying one.  They haven't arrived at Cooter's Place in Sperryville yet, but if they did have them, they would have sold out after this.

Ben thanked me for bringing the figure then told the crowd about me and this blog.  I passed out so many DukesCollector cards after that.  Ben is such a great guy.

Ben was signing autographs inside the store most of the time.  We did manage to get him outside to sign Jim's General later in the day.

I'd say Jim was a happy General Lee owner.

Neal got to spend some quality time chatting with Miss Alma.

Hey look, Jeffrey was there!  Really happy Jeff made the trip with me.  That's a great picture of Jeff, Jim, his General and the store.

Ol' Ben never turns anyone away.  He signed autographs until everyone was happy.  I took pictures for him for a while.  You can tell he really loves meeting everyone.  What a guy Ben is.

Lee 1 replica owner Bubba made this great plaque for the store.  He presented it to Ben before he left.

It is a very nice, heavy piece that will hang by the main door.  He told me he used an Ertl General Lee as the mold.  I think that's perfect as it celebrates the main Dukes of Hazzard collectible.  Bubba's creation is very special.  Great job!

Right before Ben left, I grabbed a picture with him.  He said he was going home to sleep for three days.  The best part about Cooter's in the Country is Ben lives right down the road.  Ben and Alma are very excited about the new store and will be there very often.  Daisy's Dairy bar is up and running and I can tell you the milkshakes are outstanding.  The kitchen, Uncle Jesse's Kitchen, will be open soon.  Everyone should check out Cooter's in the Country.  No matter where you are, it's worth the trip.

Cooters In The Country Grand Opening This Weekend!

It all starts this weekend.  Saturday and Sunday! See you in Sperryville, VA!

Figures Toy Co.'s Dukes of Hazzard Action Figures Series 2

Series 2 of Figure Toy Company's Dukes of Hazzard figures have arrived!  For the first time we now have all nine major characters in action figure form.  

Just like in series 1, Figures Toy gives us a choice of both 12 inch and 8 inch figures.  I went with both, big shock there.

In series 1, the 8 and 12 inch assortments were released about a month apart.  This time, they all came together.

The packaging is the same as the previous series. The only difference is the "Series No. 2" on the top. I like the fact that Figures kept it uniform.  

The back of the package is also the same.  I really like the design of these packages.

They used great pictures for each character.  The 12 inch packages are big.  A lot bigger than you would expect.  

The 8 inch packages have the same design.  The size of the 8 inch figures packages are similar to traditional action figure cards.

There is a large size difference.

Let's take a look at the actual figures, starting with the 12 inch.  When I first saw the preliminary shots of series 2, Cooter jumped out at me as being my favorite.  When I got them in, my opinion didn't change.  This is my favorite of series 2, and probably my favorite in the line.

Cooter comes with a jacket, but I think he looks better without it.  A very fun detail that Figures Toy Company added was making Cooter's clothes dirty.  Very dirty.  There are grease spots and dirt all over him.  He wouldn't look right without it.  O'l Cooter looks like he just came out from underneath the General Lee.

The coat that Cooter comes with is the same one that came with Luke.  Just dirty.  I love it.

There is a WB marker inside the jacket.  As I said in my review of series 1, there are probably WB tags inside all the clothes.  I'm not taking them off to look.

The sculpt of Cooter's head is the best representation in the line.  It looks just like Ben.

Cooter almost always had a yellow hat on.  This one says "animal feed."

It is styled after the picture of Cooter they used.  Great attention to detail from Figures Toy.

Just because Cooter is the best, does not mean that the other figures aren't great too.  Enos is very well done and really looks like Sonny.  The detail in the police uniform is spot on.

Cletus is also great.  He looks like he is laughing.  They really captured Rick's features.

I'm really glad Figures Toy Company didn't choose one deputy over the other.  I always felt bad for Sonny that he missed the merchandise boom because he was making the "Enos" spin-off.  I'm glad both Rick and Sonny are included in this line.

Rosco's uniform is slightly different than his deputies' just like on the show.  Detail wise, the tiny tie-clip has a glossy paint on it on Cletus and Enos, where Rosco's is more matte.  Other than that, the uniform is a detailed on all three figures.

Rosco's hat is more of a cowboy style where Enos and Cletus's are more traditional police issue.  Just like on the show.  

Uncle Jesse is nearly perfect too.  His outfit is exactly what you would expect.  The body is a little harder to pose than the other ones.  It is a different style body than the rest, more similar to Boss Hogg.  His hat is made of fabric where everyone else's is plastic.  It fits on his head nicely.

The sculpt is great.  It definitely looks like the Duke family patriarch.

The big surprise was that Daisy wasn't included in series 1.  We can finally add her to the line up in series 2.  She is wearing Daisy Dukes and a tied up top.  Just what you'd expect.

The face is a good representation.  The hair needs combed, but I didn't have one handy.  Figures Toy Company has really made us some happy Dukes of Hazzard fans with these figures.

The 8 inch figures are very similar to the 12 inch.  I think Figures Toy did a better job scaling them down in series 2 as compared to series 1.  The faces look nearly identical to their 12 inch counterparts where there were some differences in the first series.

Again, I think Cooter looks better without the jacket.  Crazy Cooter is ready to fix your car or help you in a scuffle at the Boars Nest.

The fabric hat on 8 inch Jesse is a little harder to get on.  It doesn't want to stay on his head.

Here is the 12 inch series 2.

The 8 inch series 2.

And all ten figures in the series.

I had to break out series 1 and get a group shot.  Here are all of the 12 in figures.

And here is the entire line.

Enos asked if he could take a picture with just him and Daisy.

Way back in September of 2013 I received the carrying case from Figures Toy Company.  

It has been empty since then.

It is built for the 8 inch figures.  They look pretty good standing around it.

And even better inside it.  If I ever want to transport the figures without the packages, I have the perfect method.  There is even a place for the hats and jackets.  

In my first review of series 1, I played out a little skit with Bo and Luke escaping Boss and Rosco. This time I decided to take the figures away from the oddly decorated table in my office and recreate a few famous Dukes of Hazzard full cast group shots.  Please enjoy. 

Setting these figures up and taking these pictures was so much fun.  I've mentioned before that the tree picture is my favorite group shot.  Recreating it with all the figures seemed like the perfect thing to do.  The shot with Bo, Luke, and Daisy standing on the car also seemed like a good picture to recreate.  The original picture does include Dick Sargent as Sheriff Grady Byde instead of Rosco, but I put Rosco in it, right where he should be.  I used the 1/10 scale remote control General Lee.  It is almost the right size for the 8 inch figures.  I needed to find a group shot where no one was in the Gen'ral.  This one worked out great.  I am very proud of these pictures.

The original pictures each had only eight characters in them.  The tree pictures had Cletus and no Enos, and the General picture had Enos with no Cletus.  Because Figures Toy Company was generous enough to give us both Hazzard County deputies, I took versions of the pictures that were true to the originals and versions that included both deputies.  I love them all.  Figures Toy Company made some wonderful products and I am very grateful for them.  I love all new Dukes products, and these are special.  Thank you Figures Toy Company.

All of these figures are available now from Figures Toy Company as well as Entertainment Earth.

Series 3 is coming soon and they will be exclusive to Entertainment Earth.  You can support the Dukes Collector blog buy buying them from Entertainment Earth after clicking on the banner on the top right on this page.  If you click the banner first, anything you buy on Entertainment Earth will support the blog.  I appreciate it.