6 INCH: GI JOE CLASSIFIED: HAWK

Hawk. The man. The myth. The former MMS operator who somehow became the head of GI Joe. All that aside, I loved that 80s figure when it was released. I think everyone liked that figure even if there was some question of how he went from blonde to brown hair. Let's cut to the chase. This figure, other than fulfilling an Original 13 slot (I'm not a hard traditionalist in terms of looks), is definitely a nostalgic purchase. Very few of the figures I bought had the mindset of, "I had him as a kid, I want the new and improved version!" Most of the figures I've bought have been cheaply priced or they just look neat. (or cool)

There's not much to say about the figure itself. It is General Hawk in all his V2 glory. I have yet to pose with him with the other O13s, but I thought I had seen an image someone had done with a mix of looks and it appeared just fine.

Let's talk about how I've handled him in the Zedd Universe. Actually, I kind of didn't! Duke was purposely written out of the stories, only making cameos or getting injured (so I didn't have to deal with him). Hawk was kind of the same way. I didn't put him on the battlefield; he hung out in base dealing with everything going on. 

However, storywise and this isn't quite revealed until the story NEW BREED (unwritten). Hawk and Duke played games with the Joes. At their height, there were over 150 members, not including support. They played favorites. They brought in members who had the same specialties which was to push out the previous soldiers. This was also a point of contention for me as a kid. Roadblock vs Rock n Roll. Wetsuit vs Torpedo. Sci-Fi vs Flash. Etc. This caused, storywise, for members to retire or leave for this other alternative military force called Marauder Task Force. The kicker is, Hawk even left GI Joe with the other 12, yet, Commander Marauder Sullivan let him lead the O13! (Gen Colton took his place in GI Joe with Duke reinstated as field commander). 

With everything going on since 2021, I no longer have the small scale MTF'd O13s. Some were quite good in build. The O13 now fall under MTF to me. But the big scale are a different matter. They'll be GI Joe and frankly, I have no idea what they'll be doing. Like I stated earlier, Hawk is definitely a nostalgic purchase. When he was promo'd and released, I was on the fence with this Classified toyline. Therefore, he was a figure I didn't seek out early on. He's a bit like Cobra Commander. Just gotta have him.

 6 INCH: GI JOE CLASSIFIED: OVERKILL

Overkill was a character that I was introduced to during the Theme Years (that would be 2003). The design was interesting and to an extent, boring. The figure had aspects to notice; particularly the head mold and a single removable arm. In terms of the head, other than it couldn't move (which was actually fine), it had a neat molded-on scarf. The artwork made him far more intimidating than the toy. Hasbro even did something like 3 repaints of the figure and oddly, each gave off a different vibe. And it worked!

Then there was the official Robot Rebellion/Rise of the Robots version. That one, I didn't like at all. People said it was like Robocop. It was too robotic for me. The Spy Troops version made the fan more interested in the character itself. That was lost with the later version. And now we get to the Classified version which has that Robot Rebellion vibe. There is a BUT here.

This figure looks ugly and in a lot of ways, boring. But after taking him out, the figure is better than I thought. Overkill retains the changeable accessory gimmick which is kind of neat as a bigger scale item. The design might not be overly creative but whoever drew it did a good job. But what does Overkill mean to me?

I made my own version and it's loosely based on the Spy Troops version. It took a bit of thinking to make work, but what came out of it, I rather like. That said, I won't say Overkill as a character wasn't an 'instant fave'. The potential this character has/had got my creative juices going. Enough that he became a sub-plot then had a (really messy) story. He's also shown up in a Devil Dogs story which helps further what happens in the GI Joe story (the Devil Dogs story takes place before diostory ZERO SIGNAL).

Here's the thing with this Overkill. Due to a certain toy dude on Facebook, he made a wonderful modern-age Overkill. I'll be following his recipe with some attempted differences. To note, my Overkill character is very much in vein as the Spy Troops animated one. He stutters. He's slightly eccentric and dramatic. In ways, he is a complete dork. I won't be following DD's version.

One other tidbit about Classified Overkill that caught me off guard. He's taller than most of the other figures. That's a sly, nice touch.

 6 INCH COLLECTION: GI JOE CLASSIFIED: FLASH

A brief history. Christmas of 1982. I found a whole slew of GI Joe toys under the tree. I didn't get everyone (and that's okay). I thought these things were the greatest toy in the world and would feel that way for the next 4-5 years. To a degree, even in college when other toylines were out there like Wetworks, WildCATs, X-Men, TMNT, Power Rangers, and whatever else there was in the 90s (for me, let's say up to about 1998), I felt GI Joe set the standard. Now, I knew of the 90s GI Joe and a bit of all these weird special teams and it just wasn't an era I was interested in. But GI Joe got me spoiled on articulation. It had articulation that Star Wars didn't have. GI Joe may have had some other faults (in my book), but Star Wars, like Transformers, would take a lot of imagination. As a kid, not as big a deal. 

My loss of interest in Star Wars almost happened right off the bat. As a kid seeing the movie, I loved that 1st movie. The toys, on the other hand, were just weird. I still played the hell out of them. But I questioned why they couldn't bend their arms or at the knees. Why did the light saber come out of their hands? Why no eyeballs? In terms of Storm Troopers, why can't they move their heads? And more importantly, I was irked as a lil 5 year that I couldn't pose the Storm Troopers like in the movie (or the packaging image). Imagination can go only so far.

GI Joe came on the scene and it was like, steps ahead of Star Wars. They could move at the waist! Heads moved! The elbows and knees had joints (and later, swivel arm which was nice and much appreciated). The articulation points set the standard for me, but apparently not the rest of the industry. And why the frak not??? Don't get me wrong, I understand that Transformers was a very different toy and articulation wasn't going to happen. But MASK and He-Man, c'mon... By the 90s when aforementioned Wetworks showed up, how did McFarlane not take note on how to make toys? Or Toybiz doing X-Men? My issue with GI Joe came sometime around 1986 or 1987 when I realized the head molds looked pretty much nothing like the card art. I remember looking at toy Falcon and saw that it didn't resemble the card art. The body did and that was probably easy for Hasbro. The heads kinda left a lot be desired and then, I saw this for all the figures. 

Hasbro has come a long ways. But it's still not perfect. But let's get to the real focus of the topic here. Other than I'd like to have an O-13, it's going to be a tall order due to prices on some figures. As of writing, Flash was recently released. Figure, MSRP is around $30 (I'm rounding up). For $30, I kinda expect a higher level of craftsmanship. The visual design is top notch as are all the characters for the Classified series. The construction design is another matter which I think has been a point of contention for sometime. The execution of the figure (mass production) can be 50-50. The short; the wrist design is poor. My Flash's wrist is incredibly weak. I thought the swivel was just really tight, which it was, but it also stressed the peg. Basically, I couldn't tell if it was swiveling or not. (I did the warm water technique to remove the hand and found the joint is a 2-piece construction, I had weakened the peg but it's also about as strong as JoyToy wrist construction on the San Reja figures.) At the moment, I'm having to be very careful with him and just posing him for the figure put additional stress on the hand. (I drilled out lower forearm hole a tad so the hand could swivel better but the damage has already been done.)

As for Flash, this is a nostalgic purchase. He was my fave Joe from the 1982 series. I have to admit, I don't remember if he continued to be a fave once I got the 1983 figures (several came on my birthday). I don't know what it was about Flash that made him the fave. It might have to do with the helmet/visor combo and/or the departure of standard green palette (the red padding). Plus, he had a pretty good dynamic pose for the packaging. The Classified Flash is pretty good. His role in the Zedd Universe? I'm not sure but I'm considering a VS story for him.

 6 INCH: GI JOE CLASSIFIED: STEELER

Back in the day, this character came with the motorized MOBAT tank. It was a set I did not have as a kid nor as an adult. (For the record, didn't have the successor, the Mauler. Skip ahead and I did have the Patriot Grizzley) I don't think I ever got an official Steeler figure; I made one via MTF which I rather liked and had fun with. Fast forward ahead to the Classified version (without $200 tank) and like I said with Short-Fuze, man the promo shots made them look good. Could I do cool shots like that? In my mind, I can. The reality, HA!

It's funny, when I made my Steeler, it wasn't too far off how this one looked. I admit, if I were to make them again, I'd change some things. In particular, the armored legs and arms would go. I was talking to a friend about that aspect. I feel that the armored body parts are too much for the type of missions my figures go on. If I was doing big battlefield or futuristic/neo-modernistic urban environment stuff, it'd be fitting. Like in Aliens when the space marines are gearing up. But in the desert? or jungle? Especially the jungle or forest where you need to be mobile. Pretty sure you don't want big metal plating on your chest in the jungle when you have to jump into a fast-flowing river. All that aside, my Steeler had a vest but the fun was the long-barrel pistol I gave him. That, to me, set his character. I don't remember where I got the idea from. For some reason, I picture Donald Sutherland as a tank driver whipping out a big long pistol in a show of "allow me to whip out my..." (Yes, I know that line is from the movie Blazing Saddles.)

I think I like the character because like much of the Original 13, a lot are an open book. They had some cartoon time and some comic book time, but I feel, not quite enough to latch onto them. Perhaps that's what the various writers wanted to do. Don't go too deep on them so the kids will make their own adventures. They were just avatars to sell the toys and from there, the sky's the limit.

 6 INCH: GI JOE CLASSIFIED: SHORT-FUZE

I purchased this Classified 2-pack of Steeler & Short-Fuze because the figures looked really neat and well done. These two characters, being part of the Original 13, come from a very different era of GI Joe. Perhaps, it also comes from a different time of drawn design and sculpt too. For example, the initial 1982 GI Joe line had a very narrow and basic look, as they were supposed to. In ways, it could be questioned how to make those outfits (designs) look good when they were so basic? Compared to, let's say, the Classified Slice and Dice, pretty big difference. But, the designs for the characters are the way they are supposed to be. If the O-13 are to be a bit bland, well, that's just how they are.

I was just thinking about these two figures now that I've had them for about a week. They've migrated from the workspace to photography area a few times. As neat as they are, I'm not sure what to do with them. The promo photos make them look great. I think in the past, just the character art and figure were good enough for me. My imagination could do the rest. So the question I started asking myself, am I buying some of these characters for nostalgia reasons. Like, relive the memories or whatever. I don't really know. I think this has come up because I did order Classified: Flash from BBTS (due to Amazon messing heavily with prices). Flash was the fave of the 1982 Joes that I had/received that Christmas. Is it about buying old faves? Hard to say. If someone asked me point blank, I'd probably say NO. The reasoning being, I would have pre-ordered Tunnel Rat and Falcon. Other faves which haven't been made would include Repeater and Muskrat.

When I look at these two figures, they have a very different vibe. I'm glad Hasbro didn't go straight-original design because that would have been really boring. They mixed up the colors a bit for Short Fuze; it might be more cartoon oriented. Steeler's body looks like Steeler, the head well... Both heads have this weird energy for me. They feel like they are modeled off how 1950s soldiers looked (or 60s). In a way, Short Fuze kinda looks like Captain America. Errrrrr, Chris Evans' Steve Rogers. It's not a bad look just a different feel than Grunt, Clutch, and/or Hawk. I'd like the full crew but market prices are pretty much going to hold me back. Yes Clutch, I am looking at you! I'm considering trying to build my own but it's tough because these aren't Marauder Task Force figures where it's easy to mix and match. If I came across a Clutch head, that doesn't mean he'll fit on the body I want. (Kinda thinking of using the unmasked Desert Scorpion head as his head which means, I just need a body. And where do I find a vest???)

For the record, I never had the Mobat and/or Steeler. I did have Short Fuze. I found him acceptable as a figure to play with. But as a kid, I was frustrated that some of these guys didn't come with a gun. Breaker was incredibly hard to use without a gun. In a lot of ways, he had nothing to do. Riding the RAM didn't count. I probably armed him with something from those old 80s weapon packs but by then, I had probably moved onto the 1983 and 1984 Joes. This Short Fuze, I'm sure, will get some photographic love eventually. In terms of story usage, he's an unknown as are most of my figures.

 I favor Pepsi over other colas.

I know some people are all about Coke, RC, store house brand, whatever. But Pepsi was my preferred soda when it came to colas (no, not cost of living adjustments, but those are nice too). Now, I gave up, for the most part, caffeinated sodas some time ago. (I drink either tea or Bai Blackberry Boost for caffeine) I did Mt Dew like everyone else. I'd mix Mt Dew and Amp (don't judge). That was a long time ago, back in early 2000s when I worked at Trader Joes in Issaquah. I actually abstained from soda for a very long time; got it down to maybe 1 a month? Then it crept back in then I backed off again. I do non-caffeinated sodas, particular the local Merchant's soda where I gravitate towards lemon-lime, huckleberry, and grape.

These days, I only drink it when I need a caffeine/sugar boost, usually if I'm off on a drive and/or photoshoot. I used to think it was cool and refreshing. But man, the last few times, this stuff just tastes nasty. Doesn't matter if it's the real sugar version or regular fake sugar version. I don't know what happened to it, but it just isn't good. I'd ask what happened, but who knows?

 6 INCH: GI JOE CLASSIFIED : RAPTOR

I speak often about figures and characters that I never went near as a kid. Too hokey, too ugly, too dumb, or as us kids love to say, "They suck!" I could give a long list of figures I didn't like and didn't care for. Some names I could throw down here, people would think I'm crazy or I'm just plain stupid. It's all subjective and I have my likes and dislikes.

In the comic, when Raptor was introduced, Cobra Commander (in the armored suit) went off on Raptor saying something along the lines of being tired of crazy dressed mooks being allowed into Cobra. By the time Raptor was released, I was feeling the same. That was because I felt GI Joe was losing its way. This is the comic. In comic terms, I didn't quite make it to or through the DiC era but what I saw was just too lame and weird. Oh my, how things have changed over the decades!

Maybe it was the promo photos of Raptor that made him look not only cool, but legit. The fact he trains hawks (which apparently got changed to birds of prey so not just 1 type of bird) for whatever reason, it's not the worst or dumbest skill. Back in the day, did people not train messenger pigeons? Do humans not train dogs to sniff out explosives, drugs, and in some cases, attack the bad guys? When it comes to Raptor, does his outfit utterly suck?

Yes and no. Hasbro gave him mechanical wings which are pretty frakkin cool. It's a nice modernization to him. He comes with claws he holds are kinda neat. His overall visual design is pretty good. I don't mind he doesn't have a shirt. The head mold stands out to me because it's well done. As I've joked to many people, he looks like the Hurricane from the WWE (could've been WWF during his time. "Stand back, there's a Hurricane coming!"). I did some photography with him but nothing hard. I haven't tested it but with how these toys work, I'm pretty sure his winged jetpack will be too heavy for him to stand on his own. Therefore, for me to show him doing his thing, it'll take heavy photo editing.

At the moment, he's a Cobra operative. Perhaps an exotic one at that. Would I reclassify him as a Dreadnok? Probably not. He doesn't seem like the type. In the big picture, he just exists. Raptor doesn't even have a VS story. I might have to revisit that project and give him some love.

 6 INCH: MARVEL RIVALS - MOON KNIGHT

I'd like to say that my toy buying has always been focused on GI Joe and Marauder Task Force. I occasionally branched out for diostory purposes or photographic purposes. That didn't always pan out. I'd like to say it was rare that I'd buy something just because it was neat. But I did fall into that probably more than I'd like to admit to. This Marvel Moon Knight is a "wow, he looks coooooool!" purchase. So cool, I pre-ordered him on Amazon.

I know almost nothing about this character. I know of the name. I understand, recently, a show was made centering around him and starred Oscar Isaac. I knew that Moon Knight, well, pretty much a lot like what is pictured here. Anything more, nope, not a clue! The figure itself, is super cool, as the promotion photos showed. At closer inspection, I noticed the dude had gnarly forearms. Like, Hasbro roid'd this dude up! (The Punisher version is crazily roided compared to, let's say, his 1980s comic version)

I don't if this guy has a place in the Zedd Universe. I've taken a couple of photos of him and Major Bludd fighting. It was just to use the figure and have some fun. If Moon Knight were to be written in, that means Marvel would exist. Which means, there are superheroes, mutants, and even scarier monsters are in the same world as GI Joe. And that means, how did GI Joe not run into any of these other entities? I suppose I could write Moon Knight in a Marvel sort of way without the Marvel Universe behind it. For example, Punisher and Daredevil could exist in the Zedd Universe because they tend to stay in a small burb of NYC, right?

Moon Knight. Just cool to have and gaze at...

 LARGE SCALE: MARVEL ETERNALS: KRO

This big SOB from the MCU Eternals movie stands taller than the average 6 inch figures. I finally watched the movie a few weeks ago and for the most part, I liked it. What I found fantastic were the creatures. Unfortunately, Hasbro chose not to make them, but rather, the humanoid version that came off as an Ultron - wannabe character. I chose to purchase it because it cuz it was the only monster available and I believe it was MSRP (ie; didn't raise in price). The larger figure, I'm guessing still falls under 6 inch scale, but he is simply bigger than the average human so size allowance occurred. That's not a bad thing and much appreciated from fans. Nothing worse than a short guy (per story, filecard, etc) be taller than the hulking mass guy that's supposed to be 7 feet tall, right?

The photo I took of this dude, I know, it's horrible. The toy version doesn't do the movie version justice. Maybe it would if they got the eyes right, but that's all beyond the point. To cut to the chase, I felt I could use a good monster creature for my stories, particularly for the Demon Hunters project which is helping flesh out the Zedd Universe. That means, yes, monsters and creatures exist. But they always have in my JoeVerse, the pre-cursor to the much larger Zedd Universe. Basically, the JoeVerse is a microcosm or a specific part of the Zedd Universe. At times, it's a bit narrow in focus and doesn't allow to explore Earth - Zedd 138. (hee hee, dorky name I just made up!)

I don't have immediate plans for this figure. Only vague ideas. I am considering making this dude be the equivalent of Cobra LA (which I acknowledge it exists but probably won't ever write them in). Will he remain under the name Kro or will I change it to Kor, which is a name I can remember easier? I'm sure this figure will be repurposed and not represent Marvel or the Eternals movie.

 Devil Dogs: Story4: FATES WARNING

Lt Damon ROCKER Voss

I've been working on the last story of the Devil Dogs series. It's been more mental than it has been me writing it on paper. The initial mission is very short and that was written quickly. It's only a few pages long. It's what happens after that I struggled with a bit but I pushed through. For the most part, I find it acceptable but it's not quite optimal. I asked a friend for advice, outlining the scenario. If I wrote what we had talked about it, it would end up really long. I admit, it feels anti-climatic. I can only think of doing a huge fight scene at the end to wrap it; akin to Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, or in really weird terms, any battle in Dynasty Warriors. I didn't quite go that route. Why? Probably has to do with the limitations of my own writing skill.

It's like this. The Devil Dogs are facing the townsfolk. All 25,000 of them? Yeah, kind of. The Devil Dogs are out of ammo. The townsfolk are armed with everything on hand. Be it pistols, automatic rifles, uzis, pitchforks, machetes, 2x4s, etc. Issue 1: how do unarmed dudes, 4-5 of them, fight off hundreds with guns. The Devil Dogs aren't the Avengers. They don't get Captain American's shield to bounce bullets off of. Or Hulk's thick skin to brush the bullets off. (There are some other details I'm not revealing here) Oh, and the Devil Dogs aren't Jedi so they don't have light sabers to deflect projectiles either. 

With that in mind, I considered moving the fight into an apartment building. Hit and run tactics. The bad guys can't fit hundreds into the building. They can't storm the hallway cuz there's not enough space. And in theory, they'd have to clear each unit and room to find them. In my mind, if a pair of Devil Dogs are in a unit, they might take out the people looking for them, but how do they get out if more in the hallway? Especially if they have guns. It was suggested that I (re)watch the John Wick films for ideas. My go to movie was Karl Urban's Judge Dredd. In the end, I chose not to go that route. In fact, I went a very different route. Regardless, I still didn't have a big fight scene.

Issue 2: I can't write a big group melee scene. I can write single characters tackling multiple bad guys. Because it's written and not visual, I feel it's very hard to tell. Unless I want to skip around character to character and that would make the story longer. But worse, it'd feel repetitive. The easiest cop-out would be to skip the whole thing and only do the after-battle scene. What fun would that be? As I wrote it, it does (kind of) follow two of the characters. The 2nd fight scene, it's more examples the character which was actually fun to write. The Devil Dogs handler, former Mossad agent WHISPER, finally gets to show what she can do. (She's a cross between the handler chick from Seal Team, Ziva David from NCIS and well, every Mossad character in NCIS for that matter. And then some. *snicker*)

I'm writing the epilogue/transition to the next series. The Devil Dogs become the War Hounds. The chapter is already a mess. I have all these ideas. I'm still not sure how I want it to go, but writing it out, I'm hoping things start to flow. Also, the Demon Hunters will take a more active role going forward. 

Issue 3: I can't remember the Demon Hunters worth a damn. I have 4 figures and something like 5 characters. I think their physical representations aren't finished yet. I haven't even decided how big the team is. However, the core of the Demon Hunters squad, as shown in a previous story, Lt Rocker and Sgt Hunter are the ones who do the hunting. If what they are hunting is too big to deal with, they call in the rest of their squad. I don't need a crew of 10 running all over the world, hunting down bad guys. Too many people. Easier to rely on 1 or 2 characters. I need to check the Demon Hunters figures to see what I really have. Characters of Stinger and Slammer have physical form. The new character I made up on the fly, Thor, no idea if I have a figure to fit him. He's a heavy gunner and me being me, I like my heavy gunners to be the size of 80s wrestlers.

That's where I'm at with Story4: FATES WARNING.

I have no game plan of what the War Hounds will do. Continue with missions, yes. I'm thinking of linking it heavily into an old sub-plot from the GI Joe side (these stories take place in the past, say late 2010s. Therefore, the events of ZERO SIGNAL where GI Joe deals with Overkill, hasn't occurred yet. But the seeds of what Overkill has been doing has been going on for years. The Devil Dogs stories also takes place before several key GI Joe members joined the MTF). Part of what I'm having to think about is the role of the War Hounds in the scheme of things. The War Hounds will be a much larger group (ie; more characters) and what they do will be super shady. The Four Horsemen will be more involved too but it will not be the focus of my Four Horsemen project.

Sgt Raymond HUNTER Mato

 6 INCH: GI JOE CLASSIFIED: SAND SCORPION

The Sand Scorpion. Oh wait, I think it's just Sand Scorpion. I believe he's a troop builder but when you unmask him, he's got an actual face that doesn't lend himself to looking like there should be multiples of him. Unless, of course, they are clones. Bearded clones. With dark hair. Hell, it worked in Star Wars. Despite all that, I'm not entirely sure what this guy is about. I like the idea of him being a character or being a trooper builder where there are a bunch of these desert specialists running around. That brings up a point about how Cobra classifies their desert troopers. There are Sand Scorpions. Sand Vipers. Desert Vipers (not to be confused with Dessert Vipers). And I think there are 2-3 more desert classes. Or at least, I wouldn't be surprised if there were! That confusion aside...

Visually, this guy looks awesome. As with most of Hasbro's promo images, they make the figures look pretty darn good. This guy is no different. The scorpion he comes with is decent enough but to an extent, designed poorly. Like many of the accessories that the figures come with, the plastic is soft. In terms of the scorpion, the legs are soft to the point they can warp. That basically means, it can't carry the weight of the body and the scorpion can't stand. Sand Scorpion was a chase figure simply cuz he seemed like the type of guy I could use. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem the case. It's not because I don't have a Dusty for him to face off against, I simply am not sure how to utilize him. I know, I say that about almost everyone in this line!

I think maybe the issue here is, I need more of them. Like, 2 more to make them more imposing and intimidating out in the field. It's similar to have just 1 Viper or 1 Cobra Trooper vs 15 Joes on the field. That's not going to go well. The key to this figure is to getting him on sale or clearance.

 6 INCH: GI JOE CLASSIFIED: ZARANA

The sister of Zartan. As a kid, her physical representation was ugly as hell. Not that she needed to be a superhero-looking babe, but she just didn't look like a figure I wanted. Over time, she got some different looks. Her Theme Year version (which was Devils Due oriented), fans said she looked like a van-driving, soccer mom. That was actually kind of hard to unseen because there was some truth to it. As for the Classified offerings, she is acceptable. I'm not sure how much excitement there was over her when Hasbro announced her; it felt more like, "Let's just make brother and sister". Again, Hasbro checking off a box to get her character out of the way. Not that she was a filler figure. I'm sure there was some excitement for her. The flip side, fans would be crying out, "why haven't you made Zarana yet???" if Hasbro pushed her to the back of the list. Classified has definitely evolved over the few years that the line has been active; taking greater risks and creating new characters and, uh, entities. (Ie; army builders who don't have names)

Zarana is simply a figure I wanted to fill out the Z family. I didn't have her as a kid and I wasn't too worried about it. As an adult, I guess I thought it'd be fun to have the three of them. 4 if you include Zanya. I've yet to use her in story or photos. She often gets stuck standing behind Zartan. I suppose her time in the spotlight came in the Sunbow cartoon where a relationship developed between her and Mainframe. I don't subscribe to that. In the Zedd Universe, she doesn't have much of a story. I was hoping something might work its way through via photography but the photos often have a story in mind. With her, my mind is as blank as Emmett's from the Lego Movie.

 6 INCH: GI JOE CLASSIFIED: STORM SHADOW

I'm not sure how to write about this guy's history. The dude has a sorted past and I think in a lot of ways, he is how the owner wants him to be. Sure, he'll be a ninja in everyone's eyes. To a majority, he's a former US soldier or at least, he served and had seen combat back in the day. To others, the guy is a mental case, having been put through a certain machine invented by Dr Mindbender that did whatever it was supposed to do to people. That latter part, I believe it was in a video game that Storm Shadow was written as liking to go into the machine to get his brain scrambled. Made him a focused, maniacal bad guy ninja. I thought it was a funny aspect to him and I'm not opposed to that writing as compared to the more down-to-earth, heavy drama version that Larry Hama (long-time GI Joe writer) came up with.

My childhood memory of this guy, and I think I've told this story before, I lived in a condo; the complex had 3 buildings. Most of the time, I was the only kid that lived there. At some point, a gal and her two kids moved in and we were buddies for a time. I don't remember the date of his birthday, but it was before mine. For that particular birthday, he got a bunch of Joes and candy; including Bubbletape. When he opened Storm Shadow, I remember him getting really excited. Like cocky excited. If it was his holy grail (not that he would have considered Storm Shadow like that), well, he sure acted like it. I do remember he got excited about getting a Crimson Guard at one point too. In the end, I think part of his excitement was that he received a figure I didn't have in my possession. What does Bubbletape have to do with it? It was just one of his candies he received and the residue was left on the figure (as well as smell).

In terms of large-scale Storm Shadow, he's a neat figure. Pretty faithful to the original. Hasbro didn't do anything weird to him. Really, he just feels like a standard figure to make; check him off the list. He's also an earlier model, when Hasbro was playing it safe with the choice of characters to make Classified. He was a standard purpose. Just gotta have him.

I was never invested in Storm Shadow. He was just a ninja; arch enemy of Snake Eyes. I use most of the early canon with him. The small version of Storm Shadow, after losing the Arashikage to Snake Eyes, he struck out on his own. He created the White Lotus Society; a mercenary ninja group (like the Arashikage Red Ninja who actually come in a rainbow of colors). The large scale version, the only story I wrote him in was a VS story where he squared off against Helix. He didn't fare well against her.

 6 INCH: GI JOE CLASSIFIED: ZANYA

Zanya is a Devils Due Publishing creation. Hasbro was nice enough to make a small scale version of her and (obviously) considered her cool enough to make part of the GI Joe line (errrr, canon). Making a large scale version of her is considerate of Hasbro. For me, she helps round out the Z family.

I don't have much to write about her. I accept her as is in the scheme of things. Her age is of question; I'm pretty sure she was a teenager in the DDP comic but here, she looks older. What Hasbro added as accessories, I don't know what their thinking was on it. But maybe they were trying to make her more interesting or they have a horror agenda for her. (Same way as when they did some of the small scale POC figures, it had a Predator theme)

I bought the figure for her; don't really care about the swamp skier she comes with. That makes her a fairly expensive purchase but I assign my own value to her. I like the figure but not sure what to do with her. I don't think I wrote her into the original diostories. I'm just happy she was made.

 6 INCH: GNAWGAHYDE

As a kid, there were figures that I wouldn't go near. Figures I would never buy. Being a visual guy, it was often times, because of how they looked. Sometimes, it was their personality from, usually, the cartoon. If anything, I think the comic had a greater impact of who I wanted than the cartoon. As an older adult, as compared to a younger adult (2002 Theme Year me vs almost 25 years later Classified me), apparently my tastes and interests have changed. 

When it comes to THIS guy, good lord. That was one ugly figure. I understand that Hasbro started to work on facial expressions. Now, one has to understand, there was a point in my experience when I realized the faces of the GI Joe figures didn't look anything like the drawn card art, the cartoon or the comic. To be specific, I think I was looking at my beloved Falcon figure and realizing he doesn't look like his card art. That realization helped kill my love and interest. This same sort of brain cell firing is what made me lose love for Star Wars, but in some ways, I knew right off the bat but continued to put up with it. (ie; Stormtroopers can't turn their heads. why not? And then, why aren't there knee and elbow joints? I can't pose them like in the movies!)

What Hasbro was able to accomplish with the Theme Year era, in some ways to me, is pretty magical. The head sculpts got better. For the most part, the sizing was decent. It was only on occasion big head or small heads would show up. Back to the subject at hand, Gnawgahyde was not only ugly in his original form, but I felt he suffered from the big head aspect. Yet, Hasbro made a Classified version of Crocodile Mile and my weird azz chose to purchase him. I even had vague ideas of what I wanted to do with him. I haven't had him long, but I think I bought him in hopes that I'd come up with ideas for him in the my JoeVerse. Don't get me wrong here. I accept that Gnawgahyde is a character in the standard JoeVerse and that he is a Dreadnok. I'm not changing that. 

All that aside, I've stated before I was trying not to go the Dreadnok route. Either I didn't want to get into them because I'd feel the need to write them in properly into my JoeVerse. Also, I was kind of trying to figure out how to MTF 'em, which I feel would be incredibly difficult. With the Vietnam figures by MTF, I think it might be more doable to make Dreadnoks. I'm still on the fence about purchasing the whole slew of them. I'd like the original 3; Torch, Ripper, Buzzer. I suppose if Hasbro finally makes Thrasher, that'll be the catalyst for me to dive in. (Cuz I want a Thrasher)

This figure isn't bad. I can't say he's my cup of tea, but he's different enough that I'm sure I can make him work. Certainly, he fits in with other non-military/exotic figures; Crystal Ball, Shadow Tracker, Raptor, Mindbender, etc. 

At the moment, Gnawgahyde has no real role in the Zedd Universe other than he's a Dreadnok and he just does whatever his file card says he does.