Big Lob - G.I. Joe Collectors' Club Exclusive

Even shortly after I saw G.I. Joe: The Movie back in 1987, I had no real desire for a Big Lob figure. Pythona? Hell yeah. Big Lob? Errr... not especially.

Twenty-three years later, not much had changed. The Collectors' Club announced a Big Lob figure for their membership incentive this year, and my first reaction was "huh"? What about Billy? Pythona? Kwinn? Seriously?

But then I got the figure. And dammit, it's a whole lot of fun.

One thing that I think the hard core G.I. Joe fans have a hard time doing is just having fun with it. So much of the Joe mythos is built around hard-edged special forces military operatives, that many folks just push aside the Sunbow stuff, forget about it, and move on. Meanwhile, the more casual folks are all about the slapstick, goofy humor that was injected throughout the series.

Big Lob is a perfect example of that humor and light-hearted fare, and I think seeing him in actual action figure form is pretty cool. I never realized that I actually wanted a Big Lob figure until I got one. Now I'm fired up to have him.

The figure uses some pretty common parts, but they all end up working remarkably well together. Using Mercer's head sculpt, Outback's torso, Gung Ho's arms, and Ambush's legs, they are all parts that you wouldn't think would work for this character, but the paint applications that go into it make it all fit together seamlessly. His joints are all tight, the figure moves well, and it just feels like a great, great addition to my already massive vintage G.I. Joe collection.

But perhaps the coolest thing is how seamlessly he fits in with the rest of the 1987 cast of characters...the infamous "Rawhides". Putting him in with the rest of hte figures, he really does mix well. Sometimes the vintage figures clash a bit when they're produced post 1994, and don't necessarily mix with the rest. But that is not the case here. He really fits well.

Granted, though, things aren't perfect. His lipstick paint is somewhat heavily applied, and the head sculpt is a bit hit or miss. I'm not sure Mercer would have been my first choice, though it looks a lot better than I thought it might.

Big Lob's accessories are really nice as well. Perhaps what Big Lob was best known for was dodging through laser fire and dropping a grenade into a small cylindrical gun turret that blows it up and passes a critical test during the training phase. The Club takes that and runs with it, making him a grenadier, giving him a grenade launcher, which is a really cool addition. Using Duke's chest strap from the 25th Anniversary adds a nice design element, makes him better resemble the Sunbow model, and finishes off the figure very well.

His filecard is also written well, and bridges the outlandish Sunbow character with a more realistic character well, and integrates him into the G.I. Joe universe in cool fashion.

A year ago, if you'd asked me for figures I wanted based on characters we hadn't seen yet, Big Lob would have been very low on my list. But now that I have the figure, I think he makes for a great addition to my vintage collection and it's a figure I'm very happy that we got.

There are some minor complaints...there are characters I would have much preferred. And the face paint looks a bit off. But overall, I found the figure to be a fantastic surprise.

However, G.I. Joe Collectors' Club, if you're listening...

GRADE: