Shipwreck

(Note - This review was written from an advanced copy (Mint on Card) that I received a month or so ago. The figure itself is exactly the same as retail release.)

Our first introductions to the movie figures were samples of the Baroness and Breaker who appeared on overseas auction sites in blurry pictures, and frankly the appearence wasn’t very flattering.  In fact, I was feeling pretty discouraged about what the movie figures might have to offer, but then we saw Shipwreck.  Shipwreck almost single-handedly turned my opinion around about the movie stuff, and gave me a bit of hope, and that hope has continued to rise as more Rise of COBRA figures have been shown.  Now, I really find myself being pulled into the movie “universe” and while there is nothing at this point that will match the beauty of Resolute (in feature or toy form), I’m starting to like a lot more about the movie figures than I dislike.

From a presentation standpoint, the figure looks really nice.  I love the Rise of COBRA logo, the semi-realistic card art, the light green color scheme looks great, and the figure is laid out nicely in the package.  This particular version is obviously an international release with various different languages on the filecard and the rest of the package.  While the package doesn’t really compete with the Anniversary stuff, I think it does its job pretty well, and I find myself really liking the art on the card.  Really nice.

Shipwreck is a character that has never really appealed to me.  A ridiculous slacker personality in the Sunbow years, pretty much zero impact in the comic world, yet he somehow has grown a pretty strong cult following.  I can see the appeal of his character in the old school cartoon, and he was a focal character, but he just didn’t seem to fit into the special forces mold, especially in his sailor suits.

Well, Devils’ Due took the character and gave him at least some more military roots with his black cap and knit  sweater…a much more commando look to him.  Well, this version of Shipwreck takes some Sigma 6 elements, some Devils’ Due elements, and a lot of movie elements, and wraps them all up into one nice little package. He’s got the wool cap, he’s got the now familiar gray camouflage uniform pants, and the “reactive armor” plates on his upper body.

As a fan of Sigma 6, I really like that armored look and sleek uniform, as it really calls back to those days, yet Shipwreck also fits in with the rest of the movie figures perfectly.  However, this version of Shipwreck can also mesh with plenty of other figures as well from many other eras.  Heck, this version of Shipwreck looks a lot like his version in the Resolute cartoon as well, and with some paint alterations he could fit right in there.

One thing I love about these sleeker figures as well, is the range of motion.  His elbow joints both allow a great range of motion, giving him the ability to hold and carry weapons very nicely.  His hip joints are good, his double-hinged knees, ankles and wrists all give him some great movable parts to get into many different poses, as you would expect from a Joe figure.

The accessories for this figure are also exceptional.  While Shipwreck looks great as a land-based commando straight out of the box, he comes with some terrific scuba gear that integrates with the figure well.  The goggles slip seamlessly over his head and plug nicely into his backpack, with a sleek pair of flippers that hang from the backpack and also fit perfectly on his feet, giving him the flexibility of underwater combat or land-based commando action.  His gun looks very similar to the same bullpup submachine gun that Breaker comes with, but almost looks tooled up to work underwater or on land.  I also absolutely love that pistol and jagged knife.  There’s just something about the barrel of the pistol that looks really cool, giving it some depth and “oomph”.  These are some pretty typical weapons, but the little design tweaks add a lot.  One complaint, however, is that this awesome pistol and knife have nowhere to go.  Shipwreck has a holster on his belt, but there’s a pistol permanently attached to it, and there’s no sheath for his knife either.  I’m not exactly sure why Hasbro has sort of phased out the holsters and such with the Rise of COBRA figures, but the fact remains Shipwreck comes with a ton of awesome gear, and no place to put a lot of it.  Yeah, he does come with an obnoxiously huge spring-loaded rocket launcher, but there are so many other nicely understated weapons that I don’t find myself too bothered by it.

All told, this is a great, great figure.  I’d love him as a Real American Hero figure, I’d love him as a Resolute figure, I’d love him as a Sigma 6 figure, he just seems to fit everywhere.  There’s a lot of black and gray, but the weathering on the battle armor is spot-on, and there’s plenty of detail to love.  I’m liking a lot of the movie stuff, quite a bit of it doesn’t really rock my world, and there’s plenty that I’ll leave sitting on the pegs.  However, the minute I see Shipwreck at retail, I’m buying him up,  and he’ll become the new leader of my Sea Operations team.  He can work just fine alongside Torpedo, and I think Deep Six will blend in there perfectly too.  A very cool figure.  Highly recommended.

Buy this figure at Big Bad Toy Store!

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