A normal Monday was interrupted today thanks to IGN revealing a first look at the next G.I. Joe: Classified figure, COBRA Commander himself!
IGN revealed an awesome looking rendition of the COBRA leader, complete with blue uniform and black trim. However, they also announced that sales app NTWRK would offer the figure up on June 18th.
What was interesting was that NTWRK showed a different version of COBRA Commander than was revealed on IGN.
What’s up with that?
Well, there are no answers yet, but it should be noted that last year, the San Diego ComicCon exclusive Ghostbusters Optimus Prime was offered in limited capacity through this same NTWRK app. So it seems possible (if not likely) that the brighter deco seen on NTWRK is in fact an SDCC Exclusive that may be available through their virtual convention as well as through NTWRK, or may just perhaps be offered through NTWRK and some other exclusive venue. It would be nice if Hasbro themselves would share some of that information rather than cause confusion about their products, but that seems to be their standard operating procedure for the Classified line thus far.
Meanwhile the darker blue is likely reserved for a standard retail release in September (according to the IGN article).
This is all hypothesis, but seems to make some sense. Big thanks to notpicard for the heads up about the Ghostbusters Prime figure last year.
Has it already been over five years since Boss Fight Studio first launched their Kickstarter, fueling fired up 1:18 scale action figure fans across the world? We’ve come a very long way since then and Boss Fight has amassed an impressive library of customizable parts and pieces for their vast Vitruvian HACKS universe.
The coming months and years should see even more excitement in the HACKS world as well as others when we get the opportunity to add Flash Gordon, Tarzan, Zorro, the Phantom and Court of the Dead to our already growing HACKS armies.
Meanwhile, the fantasy line continues to grow and evolve, and a figure like Gazoge only goes to show how endless the possibilities truly are, even with existing parts and pieces.
Gazoge has an interesting backstory. Designed as a split exclusive between Roma Collectibles and Boss Fight Studio themselves, Roma gets 500 pieces of the red version of Gazoge, while Boss Fight Studio gets 500 pieces of the blue version of Gazoge. The release of the blue version is still up in the air, but the red version you see here will be available at the Roma Toys eBay store this Saturday, June 13th starting at noon sharp.
So that’s the backstory of the figure… what about the figure itself?
As we’ve all come to expect with Boss Fight Studio, the end result is incredible, especially for a figure with zero new parts.
As usual, I really enjoy the bio for this character, designed as a self-trained warlock, an evil magic user who built his power through murder and evil, tapping into the malevolent demon Alor to grow his magical abilities.
Along with the Knights of Accord, Gazoge travelled to the Blasted Lands, which only served to enhance his power and his evil reputation…
DESIGN
The first time I saw this figure I knew we were in for something cool. Using the familiar armored torso, mage pants and long sleeves, Gazoge uses a nice mixture of Felonious and Samhain parts to put together a sinister looking evil warlock.
The paint applications are amazing here as well, borrowing a lot of the darker colors from the Knights of Asperity, but going with a bit of a glossier metallic shine on the armor. The sleeves and collar are painted with some great looking runes and even though the majority of the figure is painted in dark shades, it ends up being very striking.
As most of the fantasy figures do, Gazoge comes with three heads, including the default Skull, plus the two alternate heads from the Naga, which are two of my favorites. With some different hair color and the Asperity-like warpaint on the face, both of the other heads look new and unrecognizable from their previous iterations.
Each of the three heads has a wealth of character and mimicks some cool angles within the character’s bio (or could potentially represent the same character before and after traveling to the Blasted Lands). I’m not sure how easy it will be to get multiples of this figure, but it would be pretty awesome for Gazoge to recruit a couple of like-minded minions upon his emergence from the cursed land.
ARTICULATION
I mean, come on. This is Vitruvian HACKS we’re talking about. Boss Fight Studio has built its reputation on highly articulated and customizable action figures and Gazoge is no exception. He’s got the same base body parts as several other figures, so the range of motion is consistent across the rest of the HACKS line.
None of the additional parts or pieces restricts movement in any way, and whatever pose you come up with for Gazoge to move in, he can achieve relatively seamlessly. Great stuff, as expected.
ACCESSORIES
This is where Gazoge really shines. Boss Fight Studio went above and beyond to do some mix and match for a really awesome variety of accessories. One of the neatest angles was to take Samhain’s hammer and swap the hammer top out for the dragon from Felonious, which takes a blunt weapon and makes it something more. It looks like an enchanted energy weapon of some kind and I love it.
The dragon from the Dragon Harvester is included her as well, but its metallic shine makes it clear that it’s ornamental and not real, and it works nicely with the Mage Staff. Gazoge also comes with the dragon tooth sword from the Dragon Harvester which is a great touch. One of my favorite weapons.
Gazoge’s background as a warlock also means he comes with the requisite magic books (both closed and opened) and I love the fact that the opened book seems to have an homage to Roma written in ornate text. The sort of attention to detail you don’t generally get with other figures lines.
The included red flame also plugs into the book as it did with Felonious. I also really enjoy the vibrant gold colors of the dragon hammer and the mage staff, a really great splash of bright color to offset the darkness of the figure itself.
CONCLUSION
Vitruvian HACKS remains one of my favorite action figure lines going and Gazoge is no exception. It boggles my mind how they can take their common library of parts and create so many different incredible characters.
Gazoge is a fantastic addition to the Vitruvian HACKS universe and a gorgeous looking figure to boot.
General Gallery
Vitruvian HACKS Gazoge
Sculpting
Paint Applications
Articulation
Accessories
5
Summary
Such a great figure. Excellent use of existing tooling, subdued paint applications, but still very nicely done, and a really great backstory that weaves everything seamlessly together. This is a nice little snack as we wait for the upcoming Wave 6.
And with this review, the first full wave of G.I. Joe: Classified reviews comes to a close. I know I haven’t posted reviews very often lately, mostly because there wasn’t really much to review from the G.I. Joe side, but also, to be honest, because I was getting a little burned out with the modern era format and the mindset behind most of the figures.
Here, for the first time in a long time, Hasbro seems to be trying something new, and anyone who’s been following me for any length of time knows that I LOVE new. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an old school G.I. Joe fan, too. A Real American Hero captured my heart nearly forty years ago and never really let go.
That being said, I’m all for new interpretations and in this case, Hasbro has really come out swinging. I truly hope this is a sign of great things to come, I’m excited to see what they have in store.
Oh, and Duke’s pretty neat, too. Check out his review right here and hit the link below to view all the other reviews as well.
Remember a few years ago, in the aftermath of G.I. Joe: Retaliation when the Joe fandom wondered if the time had really come for Hasbro to move away from Duke as a focal character of the G.I. Joe mythology?
Never really happened. One look at G.I. Joe: Classified certainly indicates that Duke is still the man in charge, and he’s also the cream of the crop for figures in the inaugural wave of this new scale.
I think it’s safe to say that Hasbro was trying to accomplish several different things with G.I. Joe: Classified.
They’re taking inspiration and influence from the Real American Hero mythology
They’re adding a few modern touches to try and bring G.I. Joe forward into the future
They’re steering clear from the hyper-real military weaponry in an attempt to appeal to mass retail
With each of the first few figures in this line, they’ve had mixed results combining all of these goals. With Duke they’ve managed them all to near perfection.
Duke really does encompass the best of what this line can be at a six inch scale, and manages to take a character that we’ve all gotten inundated with over the years and make him a very cool, highly desirable six inch figure that brings some great things to the table.
DESIGN
Design-wise, Duke is just about perfect. He clearly takes inspiration from his first appearance in 1983 with the tan button-up shirt and green pants, but this figure adds some great darker colors on the shirt in the way of stitched padding throughout the sleeves and shoulders as well as silver elbow pads.
The green is darker than the original inspiration and looks a bit richer in tone and I really love the “cloth” texture of his pants. His head sculpt is terrific, with a ton of character, and the scar above his right eye looks really great.
There’s a surprising amount of variation in the colors as well. His pants are a different color than his bandolier and his bandolier matches the pouches on his belt and holster, all of which ties several of these different hues together into one really nicely cohesive package.
Duke’s got kneepads and a holster for his pistol, with a hole on the rear of his belt to hold his binoculars. He is crammed full of character, is immediately recognizable, yet brings a lot of modernization to the design.
I know a lot of people have had issues with some of the brighter gold colors, not to mention the heavier armor sprinkled throughout these figures, especially in the case of Roadblock (and in some cases Scarlett). I think the armor is done really well for Duke, the gold on his lower legs toned down, while his elbow and kneepads are sculpted very close to the body and don’t detract from the overall design.
Personally, I’m fine with adding some of these pseudo-sci-fi elements, G.I. Joe has always had them, and Duke is as close to perfect as it gets with these combined aesthetics.
ARTICULATION
Like Snake Eyes, Duke is absolutely loaded with functional articulation which enables a plethora of great poses. The multi-jointed neck, the butterfly shoulders, ab crunch, ball joint waist, drop down hips, double joints at the knees and elbows, not to mention the rocker ankles– Duke can get in pretty much any pose you come up with and I couldn’t be happier.
Especially for G.I. Joe, articulation is key. It’s always been a hallmark of the Joes, ever since the 12″ figure’s debut in the 1960’s. With few exceptions, Hasbro has made sure to maintain state of the art articulation all the way through, and the G.I. Joe: Classified line has that in spades.
ACCESSORIES
A sore spot throughout many of the G.I. Joe: Classified figures, the accessory compliment is another thing that Duke does right. While it’s very clear that his weapons are not traditional military, they still have that sort of aesthetic, which is a big bonus over other figures in this first wave.
One look at the neon blue elements of the rifle tells you that it doesn’t fire bullets, but it’s still a very cool looking weapon, which should be all that matters.
He’s got his trusty backpack with embedded shovel, pistol with holster, and binoculars, a really awesome call back to the vintage figure, who came with all of these same accessories. He looks fntastic all geared up and has a place to store everything (as long as he holds his rifle in his hands), which is very cool indeed.
Great job covering all bases with this one.
PRESENTATION
More unique art that separates Duke from the rest, but looks really good on its own. You have to wonder if at some point they’ll shoot for more unification across the different figures, but for now, I’m really enjoying the more artistic look by leveraging different style artists for the different figures. Gives them a bit of a more “high end” collector feel.
CONCLUSION
It’s been a long time since I was really fired up about a Duke figure, but this version of the character is a highlight in the first wave of G.I. Joe: Classified figures. Just getting my hands on this guy has made me long to see some other stalwart characters like Major Bludd, Zartan, or Flint. After all, if this is even close to what Hasbro is capable of, we could be in for a lot of fun over the next couple of years (and hopefully longer!)
General Gallery
Group Shots
The Capture of Destro
G.I. Joe Classified Duke
Sculpting
Paint Applications
Articulation
Accessories
5
Summary
Duke really hits this scale right out of the park. Hasbro manages to take a pretty dated look and crank it to modernization thanks to some added textures, pads, and yes shin armor (that looks much better than it does on Roadblock!) The end result is a Duke that looks like a modern day sci-fi soldier while still looking immediately familiar to us old school fans. He’s got all the right colors, fantastic articulation and his accessories are a nearly perfect bridge between fantasy and military realism.
Pros
– Nice modern update with some vintage flair
– Incredibly effective articulation
– Just the right modernization in all the right places
– Perfect way to do sci-fi oriented weapons without going overboard
Cons
– Would love this look in the 4″ scale
– Gold shin pads do impact ankle articulation just a little
While the reactions to most of the G.I. Joe: Classified reveals were positive, far and away Destro garnered the most enthusiasm. Whether that was because he was so close to his vintage roots or the figure just looked amazing, I’m not sure, but regardless, he was the highlight based on fan opinion.
He comes close to the cream of the crop for me. Very close.
