Monthly Archives: October 2015

1989 Recoil

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Recoil Duke Rampart GI Joe 1989 1990 ARAH ARAHC vintage hasbro action figureWith the myriad of GI Joe specialists who serve unique, but sometimes limiting purposes, it’s fairly logical to have a few guys who are good for almost any situation. Recoil is one of those figures, who provides a lot and doesn’t do almost anything wrong.

1989 was a fairly hit-or-miss period for GI Joe. You had some of the best figures and sculpts from the entire ARAH line, as well as some pretty lousy figures I still can hardly appreciate. Thankfully, Recoil is one of the former. Recoil is a “Lurp” or Long Range Recon Patrol, a guy who goes on his own behind enemy lines for extended periods and sneaks out undetected. This is a really cool specialty, especially the nature of how you can almost use this guy anywhere.

The sculpt on Recoil is pretty good, lots of little details in his web-gear and uniform. I think his torso seems a bit long, but the proportions on him are mostly good. His colors are perfect for the figure, and again are very versatile. He features a lightly colored uniform with dark green trim that works well in most outdoor environments, but I don’t think he’d seem that out of place even in an urban area.

His parts are a bit weird, though not totally bad. He includes a customized M16, which is very detailed. It features a scope, grenade launcher and bayonet, and the piece is sharply detailed in general. It’d be one of my favorite vintage guns were it not for the strange choice of casting it in sky blue. The same color was used for his pistol, a strange sci-fi weapon I’ve never really understood or liked. Also included is a dark green backpack with an antenna similar to 1987 Falcon’s, as well as a lighter green mine case. This part is one of my favorite aspects of the figure, as it lends him a certain element of sabotage.

All in all, this is an excellent figure, and one I really think no ARAH collection is complete without.

2000 Whiteout

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Whiteout GI Joe ARAH ARAHC Snowjob vintage action figure repaint 2000 hasbro

Hasbro made some strange choices during the early 2000‘s with the Joe line. Snow Job’s mold was one in particular we saw quite often despite that I don’t think there was ever any real demand for it. Snow Job’s a niche character. He has a place in everyone’s collection, but he’s not something you want more than once or maybe twice.

Whiteout is essentially Snow Job with an altered pallet. In particular, he reuses the entire mold from 1997 Snow Job, who borrowed shoulders from 1983 Breaker. Every other aspect of the toy is exactly the same as Snow Job, including his accessories. It’s really a shame, because with a few alterations or part swaps this could have been a far more interesting figure. Even if it came at the cost of this figure instead being Arctic Duke or Arctic Snake Eyes, it could’ve provided something newer and more interesting to consumers than a straight repaint of Snow Job.

Like the Big Ben included in the set, Whiteout’s deco features beige, and cream colors. It’s not all bad, but strikes me as being slightly more on the random side, the weathering specifically. The creaminess of the colors just don’t seem well suited to a cold-climate oriented figure. There is a nice contrast on the trim of his costume, with some of the darker colors they opted for. Still, the figure does little to differ from Snow Job, and with so many stronger uses of this mold, I can’t recommend this one.

In my collection, this figure provides me a few novelties. I do think he’s an alright Clutch or Breaker when swapped with either of their vintage heads. I also do enjoy collecting Snow Job repaints for whatever reason, so he has some appeal to me there. His lack of uniformity with most other cold-weather figures does severely impact his usefulness to me, ultimately.

2005 Cobra Trooper

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GI Joe Direct to Consumer Cobra Soldier action figure new sculpt VvV Hasbro vintageNew Sculpt era figures aren’t held very dear in the Joe community, especially nowadays. I’m a bit of a fan of the era, as some of the figures are truly excellent, especially the one’s from the Direct to Consumer Line. The Cobra Trooper from that line is one in particular I’m fond of, despite how it does display a few problems figures of the era were prone to.

With GI Joe collecting, it’s easy to grow tired of the endless barrage of Dukes, Snake Eyes’s, Fireflys, Cobra Commanders and the constant stream of better versions of those characters. When you look back through the many different versions of a single character, I’m always drawn to versions that bring something different to the table, with unique sculpts and character designs. In the case of the DTC Cobra Trooper, you pretty much have just that. A figure that may not be as good and modern as say the newer POC/30th Cobra Trooper, but offers an alternative design instead that gives the figure more merit. Put simply, I like this figure because it looks different.

The Cobra Trooper is made mostly of reused tooling, sharing parts with Ghost Bear from Valor vs Venom. His head was shared with the DTC Range Viper who came out about the same time, and his helmet and bazooka are both new. This provides a rather unique look for a Cobra Trooper, with a more tight fitting outfit, unique looking gloves and boots, and other little details. It’s nice how he wears a bandolier instead of the same web-gear, the helmet deviates nicely from the classic bucket as well. I think the only downside is that the figure looks a bit scrawny, but compared to other figures from the time the proportions aren’t too bad.

I find this design really striking. If I had a “Joe-verse”, I’d see Cobra as an organization that has lingered for a long time causing problems of different severity, and I think overtime they’d change their gear and equipment quite a bit. As such, this is the 2000‘s Trooper, and the guy I imagine all of the 2000‘s Joes fought on a regular basis. It’s a niche idea, but it shows how the figure is at least interesting enough to represent something.