For folks who have been following along on my social media pages, you know that I’ve been working my way through the Classified review backlog a bit. I’m happy to say I’m (more or less) caught up. No I haven’t reviewed Profit Director Destro, Arctic Storm Shadow or Snake Supreme COBRA Commander yet, but I’m not sure I’ll get those done or not. I love ’em, just– gotta prioritize, you know?
At this point, I’ve added Zartan, COBRA Infantry, Firefly and COBRA Viper to the G.I. Joe: Classified Review Page. If you haven’t checked them yet, now’s your chance!
I believe I may have specifically stated in my G.I. Joe: Retaliation Ultimate Firefly review that Hasbro could never produce another Firefly and I’d be happy. While that might hold true, I can’t argue with the greatness of this Firefly update, and I’m glad that Hasbro elected to ignore my previous statement in that other review.
Granted, this figure pretty much is Ultimate Firefly with some minor additions, but those minor additions make a huge difference and make for a figure that is really cool, even though it’s 95% repaint.
First of all, it helps that the figure they repainted was an excellent one. Ultimate Firefly is widely regarded as one of the nicest figures Hasbro has produced, from the excellent sculpting and great articulation throughout. Somehow Hasbro took the existing figure (which was already terrific) and made some minor additions to it that took it even further.
Great elbow articulation and added wrist motion are both awesome pieces of the existing Firefly mold, which allow him to hold weapons really nicely and achieve some impressive poses. The sculpting in the figure is stellar, with the layered commando turtleneck and shirt, all pretty basic looks, but done so well on these figures. The legs are where this Firefly seems a bit more evolved, however. Rather than the Lifeline parts, we have what appears to be a new holster and knife sheath on the right leg and new pouches on the left. These small changes make a big difference, and I really like what they add to the figure.
Looking at the paint scheme, it seems like Hasbro was almost trying to emulate the o-ring Firefly from 2005 without the red, which is essentially just his familiar camouflage pattern in reverse. If I had any complaints about the Ultimate Firefly it would have been that his camouflage was too light, and the figure looks more gray than camouflage. That’s not an issue here, where the camo is much more clearly defined by color, and it’s a really nice urban look. He looks darker and more deeply camouflage, which is cool, even if he doesn’t directly match his original ’84 rendition.
I have seen some images where Firefly’s lower limbs look dramatically different colors than his upper limbs, but I have to say the difference isn’t that striking in person. I wouldn’t have even noticed it if others hadn’t pointed it out. There is a bit of sloppiness to the camouflage paint, missing some of the crispness of some lines and making the camouflage pattern look somewhat imperfect. Not a huge deal, but something worth mentioning. Also, my figure has a significant paint flaw near the eye holes of the mask which shows a big blotch of flesh colored paint. Another paint related QC issue that bears mentioning. By and large, this second iteration of 50th Anniversary figures has considerably better QC than last year’s did, but there have been some rampaint paint issues that do bear mentioning.
Accessories
Hasbro didn’t just stop with some additions on the figure itself, though, they added some terrific new accessories, too. Firefly comes with what appears to be a brand new silenced sub machine gun and saboteur themed backpack (with a great knife sheath on it). He’s got his familiar webgear, with the bombs glued on as they were with the Collectors Club Wreckage figure. The backpack is really nicely detailed with intricate paint apps on the newly sculpted piece of equipment. He also comes with the two knives for the sheaths, the same two mines that the Pursuit of Cobra version came with (one of which fits on the backpack). There’s a pistol for his new holster on the right leg, too, the same pistol that’s come with many different figures at this point.
I didn’t think it could get much better than Ultimate Firefly, and in truth, since this figure is just sort of an evolution of that one, it still hasn’t. But as someone who isn’t so connected to the aesthetics of vintage characters, this new paint scheme is a nice look for the character, even if just a reversal of his original colors. Even with a bit of sloppiness on the camouflage blobs and facemask, the figure looks good, and I really love the new additions.
50th Anniversary Firefly
Character
Sculpt
Articulation
Paint Deco
Accessories
4.3
Summary
Ultimate Firefly was one of the best figures produced in recent years, and this new evolution of that figure has some nice new elements that only add to the existing greatness. While conceptually the new paint scheme has some great value, in execution there are some QC issues and the camouflage paint isn’t as crisp and clean as I might like to see it. That being said, this is still a great figure with fantastic new accessories, and I really love the new holsters and sheaths.
Pros
1 – Fantastic, nearly perfect base figure makes for a great starting point
2 – Newly sculpted sheath, holster, and pouch add ons for the legs add some awesome elements to an already great figure
3 – Newly tooled accessories were a pleasant surprise, and they manage to look incredible as well
Cons
1 – The paint looks somewhat uneven and sloppy in some places
The hits just keep on coming… these aren’t TV Spots or trailers, they look to be Celebs.com interviews with the G.I. Joe: Retaliation stars, including everyone from Ray Stevenson to Elodie Yung, Dwayne Johnson, DJ Cotrona, and Adrianne Palicki.
There doesn’t appear to be much new actual film footage in these interviews, but the interviews themselves are still very enlightening, but keep in mind some movie spoilers might be contained. Click the Read the Rest of the Story link below to check them all out. Thanks to Skinny from SerpentorsLair.org for the keen eye.
Holy wow. The TOP TEN. We have broken 10 days, G.I. Joe fans. The film looms above us coming up at the end of March, and it’s tough to believe that we’re already only 10 days away. Twitziller keeps the momentum going with one of the key scenes from the first trailer.
#10:
It’s amazing how spot on Twitziller is with some of these things and how you don’t really think about it until he mentions it. Not just that, but it’s equally amazing that the film makers were able to latch on to key elements of the G.I. Joe mythology and technology this way. Because he’s exactly right, motorcycles have always played a huge role in the G.I. Joe mystique throughout the years. From the RAM to the Silver Mirage, and all the way up to the Venom and Ninja Cycles from Valor Vs. Venom. Even if motorcycles don’t get much use in a “real world” military setting, they are simply too cool to ignore, and fun as heck to play with.
Firefly’s Cobra motorcyle is a bit unique of course, and by the looks of things can only be used once in its explosive capacity. That sort of crazy, out of the box thinking is what makes the Cobra technology so cool.
“Hey Destro… make me a $100,000 motorcycle that turns into missiles and EXPLODESSSS!”
