1986 Hawk
The “OG13” Joes are a set I like a lot, though most of them were greatly benefited by getting new toys over time. Hawk is one of those figures, as to me, this is the original Hawk, the one with Flash’s head never existed. He is entirely replaced by this figure and I have little desire for V1 Hawk because of that. It’s still not the perfect figure of Hawk, but whenever I need him, this is the one I go to by default.
That’s not to say I dislike the ‘82 lineup of characters, but half of them looking the same really made some need new toys more than others. The bearded guys (Clutch, Rock&Roll and Breaker) don’t bother me for them all looking the same, but Hawk, Zap and Grand Slam are the three who seem the hardest to tolerate. Unfortunately Grand Slam never got a decent do-over (ignoring the convention figure), but Hawk got a good one, and amazingly they didn’t give him any absurd gimmicks or weird sculpting to get in the way of that.
Hawk has a nice sculpt, it’s not great, but it’s very good. The sculpt is very well proportioned and he has a nicely sized head, an unusual feature given his release year. I think his face looks a little derpy compared to how I imagine Hawk should look, but it’s not terrible. His jacket is also really well detailed and is one of the most eye-catching aspects about the figure. Another small detail I really like about him, is the empty pistol-holster on his right leg, so he has a spot for the gun that he comes with. I don’t know why he has a second (gold) gun on his chest, but it’s nice to see come continuity between the sculpted details and the figure’s accessories.
To be honest, I actually dislike his parts a fair amount. He includes a green backpack and helmet, along with a black pistol. His helmet looks really big on his head, and the sculpt on it isn’t the sharpest among GI Joe helmets. The backpack’s pretty bulky too, I don’t mind it quite as much, but I don’t think it looks really great with him. His pistol is a cool part though, I’m not sure which one it is, but it isn’t a Walther PPK/9mm for sure. It’s shared with Keel-Haul from the prior year, just now in black, and looks like a nice and standard semi-automatic pistol. I’m a little more fond of Chuckles’ pistol, which you’ll often see my Hawk with in photos, but Hawk’s gun is good too.
Hawk was offered as a mail-in in ‘91, and they swapped his parts for a ‘91 Cobra Commander SMG. I don’t think the figure is any different other than that, though the gun is a definite downgrade. That SMG is a fine part, but only ever showed up in the weirdest places, usually in the weirdest colors. Hawk gets it in the same gold color as Cobra Commander, which is unfortunate as this gun would be a lot nicer in black. I don’t know if it’s based on a specific gun, as although it’s reminiscent of many 1940‘s SMG’s, it also looks a lot like the Smith & Wesson M76, which was a Vietnam-era gun.
Although there were a few attempts, I don’t feel like the perfect Hawk was ever really made. This figure is the best, but his head still isn’t what I think the character should look like. The sculpt was later recolored for the ‘97 release, which is nice, but doesn’t really fix any of his problems. His torso and waist were then recolored for the comic-pack release in ‘05, which featured a very ugly head and a bunch of parts from the ‘92 Talking Battle Commander figure, topped off with sparse paint-applications and clown-colors.
Much to my surprise, V2 Hawk’s remain relatively cheap figures. If you’re feeling lazy and impatient, you can easily get a mint complete figure for around $17, but good examples often go for $10 or less. There’s a lot of repo pistols floating around out there for him now, so if you mind that kind of thing, you’re probably better off chancing the cheaper ones and looking for examples that are likely from childhood collections.
I disliked the figure at the time. It was the helmet that seemed bulky. My brother had one anyway, and I’d just borrow it as he left toys behind by 1987. It was petty. But I was just getting back in GI JOE at the time. I did order the mail in later. Yeah, Hasbro direct’s randomly chosen accessories at that point. Not random in what you get, but what they’d pick instead of the original gear. For some reason I recall using a accessory pack #1 brown helmet for him, even though I should’ve had pack #5’s brown Hawk helmet.
I assume his head sculpt was based on a Hasbro employee. Why not override established character looks for that, right?
Two holsters. Hasbro was doing that even back then. Both for his right hand, though.
Hawk was also the only 1986 joe, besides Captain Kitbash…uh…Claymore, who had a removable helmet. I oft forget he has a pack, since so many of those backpacks were just “there”.
I hated the helmet when I was a kid. So, I usually left it off. Even today, I often use him without the helmet. I didn’t mind his backpack. It’s a perfect match for Claymore. But, I also gave Hawk the M-203 from Leatherneck. So, he was more of a combat leader in that regard. (His pistol always ended up with Crankcase as I broke Crankcase’s rifle almost right away.)
It’s a freaking crime that we didn’t get this mold repainted in the #50 look with a black jacket and blonde hair. But, Hasbro sucks…news at 11. Somehow, they lost this mold between 1997 and 2002 as the Wave 1.5 Tomahawk was supposed to be this mold. I do wonder how this sculpt would look in those colors.