G.I. Joe: 30th Anniversary - Firefly (G.I. Joe: Renegades)

 

Okay, this is getting a little ridiculous.  Firefly is starting to come down with Snake Eyes disease.  No, no, not the “so many versions I’ve got five in each room of my house” disease, but the “there are so many cool ones I don’t know which one to use” disease.

See, back in the day, I did these Dio-Story comics, and to be honest, I found it pretty easy to figure out which particular version of a figure I wanted to use.  I had some distinct favorites.  But come on, now…  ever since 2009, when we got the incredible Rise of Cobra Toys “R” Us Exclusive Firefly, we have received bad ass Firefly followed by bad ass Firefly, and now I’m up the creek.

The first surprise I received when I dug into this figure was that it was largely a repaint of the G.I. Joe: Resolute Firefly (which, in turn, used a lot of the G.I. Joe: Resolute Cobra Trooper, and the Toys “R” Us Firefly).  I don’t have a big problem with this.  The G.I. Joe: Resolute Cobra Trooper was an incredible update to the classic (and now, with PoC, the Cobra Trooper is also succumbing to the Snake Eyes disease… ARGH) and even being a figure a few years out of date, has some great articulation and design aesthetic.

The major difference in Firefly is the Renegades accurate head sculpt, and the lower arms, both of which are spectacular.

Upon first glance, I wasn’t real sure of Firefly’s exposed nose in the G.I. Joe: Renegades series, but in toy form it doesn’t look all that bad.  I think I would ultimately still prefer the plain closed-nose balaclava, but really this isn’t bad either, and the exposed nose is sort of the trademark of the Renegades version.

Honestly, though, the shining point of the figure is the lower arms and the vest…but I’ll talk about the vest a bit later.
His arms are obviously covered in protective material, perfect for someone working with flames or explosives.  He comes fully equipped with the sculpted grenades on his right forearm, which rocks, and his arms, even being baggy, have some great movement in the elbow joints.  Firefly is a text book example of how Hasbro can use limited new tooling to give us a whole new awesome figure.

And that is especially true when Hasbro unloads an accessory compliment as awesome as this one.  Look at that machine gun.  LOOK AT IT.  IT KICKS MY ASS!

Honestly I’m not sure why it took Hasbro so long to release a great stockless AK-47 commando style weapon, and I’m equally not sure why they released such a great realistic gun in a toyline about a kid’s cartoon, but whatever the reason, THANK YOU.  This weapon is fantastic.

Along with the great machine gun, Firefly comes with the same grenade launcher he used in the cartoon, which is another impressive addition.  Now, he also comes with a random mortar which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever (unless you envision it as some tool of sabotage) and the classic phone he sported back in the day.  Neither of those are revolutionary, but the other gear makes up for it.

Hey…I didn’t even talk about his vest yet.  WOW.

Firstly, though, I couldn’t help but notice with the figures themselves, and with the vest specifically, that the plastic feels somewhat… off.  I’m not sure what it is.  It almost feels a bit cheap, like Hasbro might be cutting some production costs with their material.  I didn’t really notice it with the first wave of 30th Anniversary figures, but I do notice it with this one.  The figures still seem to retain their motion, and still manage to feel nicely durable, but one has to wonder what it means long term.

Or maybe I’m imagining it.

Back to the vest.  It has the familiar high collar that has become a trademark of explosives experts, along with a great sculpted belt of pouches across the chest.  On his right hip a fantastic sheath holds his nicely detailed knife, but the sheath is so sleek that it does end up scuffing the surface of the blade a bit, which is a disappointment.  He’s got two grenades hanging from the end of his protective coat, and like Duke, the level of detail throughout is nothing short of impressive.

Like Duke, Firefly also is missing some accessories that we saw in earlier images, but thankfully they seemed to have just cut some stuff that we wouldn’t have cared much about anyway, like a gas tank, a shovel, some mines, and a backpack.  While the missing accessories for Firefly don’t concern me greatly, I do find myself a bit worried for the future, especially figures like Scarlett, who was supposed to come with gear from the canceled City Strike version.  Are those destined for the cutting room floor?

From soup to nuts, this version of Firefly is a fantastic figure, and the highlight of this wave by far.  He’s got good articulation (would be better without that rubber skirting), great design, nice paint, and incredible accessories.  I ended up extremely impressed by him, making up my moderate disappointment in Snake Eyes and the reduced weapon load.
When it’s all said and done, this second wave of figures, and the first installment for G.I. Joe: Renegades ends up looking somewhat sparse in the accessory department, and has a plastic quality that feels a bit on the cheap side.  In the end, while I ended up somewhat disappointed in certain aspects, I was suitably impressed in others.

Each figure has its faults and its quirks, but judging by early pictures things only get better from here, and I cannot wait to assemble the Renegades team.  I only hope by some grace of Hasbro designer we can get a Roadblock in the works somewhere along the way.

I believe The Baroness, Mindbender, and Destro are too much to ask for, but I suppose time will tell.

GRADE:

Buy this figure NOW at BigBadToyStore.com!