Ahhh,
Spirit. I feel so conflicted when it comes to the infamous G.I. Joe Native American
tracker. He's always had the potential to be so cool, and has always gotten
completely awesome treatment in the comic. As a deep-thinking, pseudo-mystic
shaman healer and reconaissance specialist, his character really hit me in a
great spot from his dealings in the pages of the Joe comic. From his early appearences
with Ripcord and Airborne to his relationship with Mutt and Midville, USA. Even
his smaller appearances in the Quonset huts in the later issues revealed some
deep-seeded coolness with Spirit Iron-Knife.
But a couple
of problems lie within this as well. First of all, his figures have all stunk,
plain and simple. Second of all, his use as Storm Shadow's nemesis in the cartoon
always drove me completely nuts. Even as a kid, I knew Snake Eyes and Storm
Shadow's history...to see someone like Spirit (a cool tracker and commando,
but NOT a martial artist) face down Storm Shadow just rubbed me the wrong way.
But leaving
that aside, and leaving Spirit's powder blue shirt and pigtails aside, the character
is cool and the potential is there. Well, finally the potential has been reached...at
least somewhat. Everyone and their brother at this point has done a Devil's
Due Spirit figure as he appeared in the comic since the early days. Well, now
we've got an official Hasbro release, and while not perfect, it's still a pretty
neat figure, and definitely a lot better than his previous incarnations.
Figure Mold
The mold is
where this figure starts, and starts pretty darn well. We knew a DD style Spirit
was coming, based upon the votes of the Fan's Choice Poll not too long ago,
but who knew he was coming as a standard release figure as well? This sculpt
does work pretty well, but has some proportion problems. Spirit's legs are definitely
on the long side, and his torso is a tad short...familiar issues that we were
having throughout the later waves of Spy Troops and Valor Vs. Venom are evidently
still somewhat present, but definitely not as drastic here as it has been in
the past. Sure, the torso and legs are a little off proportion-wise, but not
really dramatic enough to look too rediculous. But beyond the proportions, it's
the mold substance itself that really makes this figure take off.
First of all,
the new head sculpt is excellent. Losing the pigtails was a huge first step
to helping this guy get some street credit, and the straight black hair helps
a ton. His facial sculpt is very Native American in design and just looks like
Spirit should look. His torso mold is pretty simple, but exceedingly effective,
with excellent wrinkle details and the simple strap across the chest. This mold
detail continues on through the arms and legs as well, retaining the simplistic
detail of the cloth uniform with a nice assortment of straps and belts over
it. Great detailing, but not an overabundance of too much junk crammed into
too small a space.
Some of the
coolest stuff about the figure mold, though, lies in the small Native American
details sprinkled throughout. The teeth necklace, trim on the boots, and the
great sheath at his hip all come together to showcase a nice little flair for
detail. They really call back to Spirit's roots, but don't overshadow the rest
of the military background of the figure. Nice job overall.
Of course this
all looks at the appearence of the mold and the detail of the sculpt. This is
all great, as far as I'm concerned. What is NOT great is the "playability"
factor of this figure. I was somewhat dismayed to find that Spirit's legs kind
of have that "bowed legs" effect and it can be tough to get him to
stand, looking realistic and effective. His knees tip inwards and his legs just
don't move real fluidly. I have the same problem with his shoulders, and he's
got those wacky twisted hands that look strange. It also doesn't help that those
hands are sitting on somewhat stubby arms. So, by appearence, Spirit Iron-Knife
LOOKS very nice. Once you move him around and try to post him and play with
him, his bright spots really start to fade away. However, the figure still at
least looks worlds better and is better conceptually than all other Spirit's
made previously.
Paint Applications/Color Choices
Here is where
things get a little curious, although definitely not in a bad way. The Devil's
Due Spirit is perhaps best known has being dressed in all black and dark gray,
really expressing the "covert ops" roots of the character. Since,
evidently the black/gray version of this figure is being relegated to the DD
Comic 3-Pack, we get a different take on the DD style Spirit with this figure.
At least Hasbro has done a good job retaining some military feel, though. If
we can't get black, green is the next most logical choice, and the green is
used really well here.
Perfectly complimenting
the rich green uniform color is a lighter tan/green trim used for the straps,
boots, and gauntlets, which match the base color nicely and suits Spirit well,
too. Both of these colors are joined by black and silver trimming in all the
right spots, and coming together to make a great looking figure. It's not the
traditional black/gray of the Devil's Due Spirit, but the brighter color pallet
is still quite effective and appealing to the eye.
Accessories
It would seem
as if accessories are definitely a focus for this first wave of figures, which
is fantastic. One of the serious downsides of the new line up until recently
was the huge rehash of existing weaponry, which really removed a lot of the
unique qualities of the characters the weapons were included with. Here, we
get a nice, stacked sniper rifle, which again, suits Spirit to a "T".
Along with the large (and very, VERY cool) rifle is a nasty looking knife that
fits into his hip sheath. This knife is large and scary looking, and once again,
looks like it fits right in with the Spirit character. Lastly, Spirit comes
with the trusty Freedom, his familiar bald eagle. Someone at Hasbro must be
an animal lover, because over the past two waves (Valor Vs. Venom Wave 7 and
this one) we've gotten four animal handlers with animals, often much improved
over their original versions (with the exception of Croc Master). This Freedom
is HUGE and looks a LOT more intimidating than the one that came before. I still
don't want to see him catching throwing stars in his teeth, though. ;)
Final Comments
For the first
time in over 20 years, I have a Spirit who will integrate well into any military
team, and looks very cool doing it. Even with some slightly off proportions,
Iron Knife has all of the right componants: a great, military mold that's comic
accurate; a cool color scheme that's nice and different, but still quite effective;
a collection of fantastic accessories that compliment the figure and character
to perfection.
This is a GREAT
version of Spirit, and one that I'm quite happy to own. He's got a lot of great
points, and only a few minor negative ones, which all form up into an excellent
G.I. Joe tracker who was long overdue for an update.
Ahhh,
Spirit. I feel so conflicted when it comes to the infamous G.I. Joe Native American
tracker. He's always had the potential to be so cool, and has always gotten
completely awesome treatment in the comic. As a deep-thinking, pseudo-mystic
shaman healer and reconaissance specialist, his character really hit me in a
great spot from his dealings in the pages of the Joe comic. From his early appearences
with Ripcord and Airborne to his relationship with Mutt and Midville, USA. Even
his smaller appearances in the Quonset huts in the later issues revealed some
deep-seeded coolness with Spirit Iron-Knife.
