I’ve never understood the fascination of G.I. Joe fans with Gung Ho. For some reason, I just never thought he was that cool or interesting. In the cartoon he came off as a somewhat boorish brute with little intelligence, but lots of strength. Did not seem to really be very skilled at…well…anything. In the comics he was treated a little bit better, although he pretty much vanished after the 40’s or so and kind of melted into obscurity. Maybe it’s because I’m not really all about the “popular” guys…maybe I prefer my Joes a little less well-known, but I just didn’t feel any need to explore Gung Ho as a character. And while I did feature him in my Dio-Story New Blood Cold Steel, I did it more for the Mega-Marines tie in than because it was Gung Ho.
But I do know that Gung Ho is popular…the fans like him, and I think the fans may have mixed reactions to this figure. Truthfully, so do I.
On one hand, I applaud Hasbro’s use of the color spectrum. Figures need to be more than olive drab, brown and black to draw my attention, and Gung Ho most definitely is. His medium green shirt on underneath that cool gray/blue vest, all combined with the gray pants all bring together a pretty cool color combination. Not to dull, dark, and boring, but not so bright as to give away his unit’s position at 30 meters. Along with these basic colors, splashes were added here there and everywhere to give him a little more flair, and it is appreciated.
But colors can only go so far…especially on a mold as…odd as this one. It seems to me that this Gung Ho may have been a team up job by the Wave 7 guys and the Wave 8 guys sculpting it. His legs and arms seem to be in average proportion, but his torso is a little out of whack…add his large arms onto that and his shoulders seem wider than our old pal The Fridge. This affects his movement somewhat and affects my feelings towards the figure. It’s a decent figure, but this proportion thing seems to seriously impair this figure’s general purpose.
Besides that, though, I think the overall mold is solid. He’s got some nicely molded legs and pants with the cool military style boots and kneepads as well as a cool assortment of straps and what seem to be zippers. I also dig the cross-pattern on his vest, it reminds me a lot of Roadblock’s and I think is put to good use on this figure. Covering up his chest also avoids the constant bickering of ole GH’s tattoo size as well. ;) The addition of the two baseball grenades on his upper chest is a nice one, and the removable cap is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Very nice touch, even though it doesn’t fit as snug as one might like.
Of course, though, there are other stumbling blocks. Our buddy Gung Ho has been shipping in two different goatee colors…blonde and brown. I believe this is probably a running change by Hasbro, no doubt noticing how much the collector backlash from a blonde Gung Ho would completely destroy their company as a whole…and so, it looks like they’re changing it to brown, which is cool, since Gung Ho’s hair as always been brown, so of course it must always BE brown. :/ Not to be too sarcastic or anything...I mean I have the blonde version, and admitedly, it really does NOT look like a Gung Ho figure, whereas the picture I've seen with the brown goatee definitely has some resemblence. Another issue at fault with this GH, is his hat. I love the fact that he has a removable hat...very cool idea. Only problem is, it doesn't stay on too well...at least mine doesn't. I can really push and squish down to get it to stay, but when I need to move his head and make the slightest adjustment, it slides right back off. Kinda sucks...to add to this, his webgear doesn't fit either, unless I'm using it completely wrong (which I've been known to do, but I can't get it to snap on either frontwards or backwards). The broadness of his chest and placement of his two grenades significantly effects how his gear straps on. Hrmmm...
Anyway…the figure is not bad. It’s an average new sculpt figure with the detailing expected and the proportions leaving a little to be desired. Add that to the fact that he comes with NO new weapons/accessories (except the little cap) and the figure is hit or miss. Of course, he comes with a figure that is pretty darn amazing, so I’m sure lots of Joe collectors will end up with one anyway.
But I do know that Gung Ho is popular…the fans like him, and I think the fans may have mixed reactions to this figure. Truthfully, so do I.
