TNT - Figure Subscription Service (Wave 1)

Yes I love bright colors, yes I love foreign figures, but I was never especially attached to TNT, and with the updated figure just using 25th Anniversary Blowtorch parts that I wasn't all that wild about? This looked like another potential dud, which I was a bit bummed out about.

But then something happened. I like to call it the "Iron Klaw Factor". A figure with somewhat lackluster parts, usually from the 25th Anniversary era, can be totally saved by interesting colors. Iron Klaw's deco of sharp red, beautiful purples, and the right touches of gold made that figure "pop" in a way that his parts alone could not do. Just like Iron Klaw, TNT here is totally saved by a fantastic combination of yellow, bright bluem and silver. I just love how this figure looks, even if the Blowtorch parts haven't been my favorites.

I think the Hasbro folks may have decided to produce Blowtorch a little too soon. They hadn't quite captured the method of bulky parts, yet full range of motion the way they can do it now. Figures like Airtight only serve to demonstrate how well you can combine an oversized, baggy uniform, yet still do a figure with great range of motion. Back then, Blowtorch's huge flame suit restricted his elbows in such a way that he could barely even hold the flamethrower that was the central theme of his entire specialty. The design concept itself was really good, there were just some movement limitations due to the size of the figure's parts.

TNT uses all of the same parts as Blowtorch, which I thought might be some marks against it, but using the original Argentina figure's color scheme has salvaged it in a way I truly was not expecting, but a way that I fully appreciate. I love the silver pants, and the awesome contrast of the blue especially. Yes, the figure still suffers those obnoxious elbows, (which means he can't even get into a decent firing pose with his machine gun) but for display purposes, I still really enjoy it.

ACCESSORIES

This is another positive aspect of the figure. TNT comes with a removable vest and trusty blue helmet, plus the machine gun I mentioned before. He also has a shovel, but the main focus of his accessory compliment is definitely the backpack. We've seen the backpack before, with Firefly, and very uniquely redesigned for Doc, but I like seeing it here, too, especially with TNT's specialty being what it is.

The green bomb with differently colored wires is a very nice touch as well. I really like all of this gear and that helps compliment an already solid figure.

By and large I've been happy with the Figure Subscription Service. Even a few figures that I thought would be boring (TNT and Topside) have surprised me, and surprised me enough to make up for a figure like Grunt which really felt lacking. It is with a sense of great optimisim that I have signed up for FSS 2.0 and look forward to see exactly where else the G.I. Joe Collectors Club can go with this concept, and I can only imagine the coolness that is in store for version 3.0 and beyond.

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