I believe I may have specifically stated in my G.I. Joe: Retaliation Ultimate Firefly review that Hasbro could never produce another Firefly and I’d be happy.  While that might hold true, I can’t argue with the greatness of this Firefly update, and I’m glad that Hasbro elected to ignore my previous statement in that other review.

Granted, this figure pretty much is Ultimate Firefly with some minor additions, but those minor additions make a huge difference and make for a figure that is really cool, even though it’s 95% repaint.

First of all, it helps that the figure they repainted was an excellent one.  Ultimate Firefly is widely regarded as one of the nicest figures Hasbro has produced, from the excellent sculpting and great articulation throughout.  Somehow Hasbro took the existing figure (which was already terrific) and made some minor additions to it that took it even further.

Great elbow articulation and added wrist motion are both awesome pieces of the existing Firefly mold, which allow him to hold weapons really nicely and achieve some impressive poses.  The sculpting in the figure is stellar, with the layered commando turtleneck and shirt, all pretty basic looks, but done so well on these figures.  The legs are where this Firefly seems a bit more evolved, however.  Rather than the Lifeline parts, we have what appears to be a new holster and knife sheath on the right leg and new pouches on the left. These small changes make a big difference, and I really like what they add to the figure.

Looking at the paint scheme, it seems like Hasbro was almost trying to emulate the o-ring Firefly from 2005 without the red, which is essentially just his familiar camouflage pattern in reverse.  If I had any complaints about the Ultimate Firefly it would have been that his camouflage was too light, and the figure looks more gray than camouflage.  That’s not an issue here, where the camo is much more clearly defined by color, and it’s a really nice urban look.  He looks darker and more deeply camouflage, which is cool, even if he doesn’t directly match his original ’84 rendition.

I have seen some images where Firefly’s lower limbs look dramatically different colors than his upper limbs, but I have to say the difference isn’t that striking in person.  I wouldn’t have even noticed it if others hadn’t pointed it out.  There is a bit of sloppiness to the camouflage paint, missing some of the crispness of some lines and making the camouflage pattern look somewhat imperfect.  Not a huge deal, but something worth mentioning.  Also, my figure has a significant paint flaw near the eye holes of the mask which shows a big blotch of flesh colored paint.  Another paint related QC issue that bears mentioning.  By and large, this second iteration of 50th Anniversary figures has considerably better QC than last year’s did, but there have been some rampaint paint issues that do bear mentioning.

Accessories

Hasbro didn’t just stop with some additions on the figure itself, though, they added some terrific new accessories, too.  Firefly comes with what appears to be a brand new silenced sub machine gun and saboteur themed backpack (with a great knife sheath on it).  He’s got his familiar webgear, with the bombs glued on as they were with the Collectors Club Wreckage figure.  The backpack is really nicely detailed with intricate paint apps on the newly sculpted piece of equipment.  He also comes with the two knives for the sheaths, the same two mines that the Pursuit of Cobra version came with (one of which fits on the backpack).   There’s a pistol for his new holster on the right leg, too, the same pistol that’s come with many different figures at this point.

I didn’t think it could get much better than Ultimate Firefly, and in truth, since this figure is just sort of an evolution of that one, it still hasn’t.  But as someone who isn’t so connected to the aesthetics of vintage characters, this new paint scheme is a nice look for the character, even if just a reversal of his original colors.  Even with a bit of sloppiness on the camouflage blobs and facemask, the figure looks good, and I really love the new additions.