I was a fan of the ’80s G.I. Joe figures when I was a kid, but never had many or followed the line much past ’86 so when Classified started I took a deep dive into the ARAH line and all of the figures I missed over the years (thanks 3DJoes.com and YoJoe.com). One of those things was Tiger Force and one figure that stood out to me was the concept figure Sabertooth, a repaint of Firefly as a new character. He was eventually produced with a slightly different paint job under the name Wreckage and I was hoping we’d eventually get him in Classified, so I was super excited when this figure was announced. Let’s take a look!
The box reminds me a bit of the old style figure boxes with a large painting on the front and a little window for the driver except instead of a painting there’s a 3D rendered scene on the front. I do like the scene quite a bit, it gives me the vibe that the Tiger Force has come across a village destroyed by Cobra or perhaps the home on fire was some incognito Cobra base that the Joes have just raided. The portrait on the side captures his intense visage quite nicely.
The set comes with a figure, the Tiger Paw ATV, a backpack, a rifle, a pistol, a knife, a suppressor, a magazine, two explosive charges, a large gun, a remote detonator, a helmet, two missiles, and two extenders for the missiles.
The knife has a nice bit of shiny silver paint on the blade and fits in the sheathe on the wrist.
The pistol is cast in a brown plastic and has a little peg that you can use to attach the suppressor. The pistol fits nicely in the hand and the holster at the leg.
The suppressor can also attach to the rifle which has a removeable magazine and with the suppressor on, you can use the standard blast effects.
The remote, like the rest of the accessories, comes from Firefly but there it was paired with a little remote control car, so it’s a little lonely here without it. I suppose it works as just a remote detonator. I do wish there was a place on the pack or belt to store the darn thing.
The pack fits nice and snug and has a peg to hold the rifle and two pegs that the mines can plug into.
The helmet is re-use from Clutch, but it fits quite a bit better here on Wreckage’s Balaclava’d head than it does on clutch. The tiger mouth paint is quite appropriate as it matches the livery on Tiger Force Vehicles and while I do like the way it ties in with the vehicles, I prefer Wreckage’s look without it.
The Tiger Paw itself is a repaint of the recent Cobra Ferret and has a nice bulk to it with some bouncy shocks on the tires. The tires do seem oddly smooth to me as I tend to think of ATVs as having much chunkier treads. I do find that I miss the ability to pose the front wheels turning as I think it adds a nice reality to poses. The vehicle is well armed with a small two-barreled cannon on the front, a larger, removeable cannon, and two missiles. The red two-barreled cannon can swivel and elevate.
There is some nice paint with an hombre effect of a transition from white through orange and yellow and a neat little detail on the steering yolk that indicates a guidance system or perhaps weapons targeting.
The missiles attach to little extenders that put them outside of the wheelbase. The extenders can also be removed if you wish. I have to say, I don’t quite understand how these missiles work with two heads and no rocket end, but a blast effect that showed them firing off would have been cool. The missiles are cast in a fairly soft plastic and as I took photographs I noticed they were bending a bit. To be fair, it was around 86 degrees when I took photos this afternoon.
The larger gun attaches to a clip that attaches to the bars on the back of ATV that allows the weapon to elevate and swivel and it can be moved around to any of the bars. It does seem small to me when I compare it to the vintage version of the cannon that was almost the length of the entire vehicle. This weapon also suffered from softer plastic that didn’t hold it’s shape in the heat. It can come free from the clip that holds it to the vehicle and wielded by a figure. The smaller size works a bit better in that case.
The figure is a repaint of the recent Firefly completely as appropriate for this character. The body has a nice jumpsuit feel with a neat ribbed turtleneck sweater popping out under the shirt. He’s got some intense eyes peaking out under the balaclava. My Firefly had a bit of a gap at the waist that was wobbly, but this one is a bit tighter.
The paint is what sets this guy apart and I do love the scheme they chose here even though it doesn’t exactly match any of the versions of Wreckage or Sabertooth we’ve seen. More recent versions have the more Battle Cat camo look with green jumpsuit and orange stripes, which is not really what I wanted. The Sabertooth concept photo had more of a brown jumpsuit and orange stripes which is more what I was looking for. So I didn’t get what I was after, but they didn’t do what I didn’t want and I generally like what they did. What I do love is the Sabertooth Tiger motif printed on the balaclava as a nice reference to his origin. He’s also got some striking peepers surrounded by some dark circles on his eyes which gives him an intense look. I do have to admit the Battle Cat camo probably would have tied him in better with the existing Tiger Force figures.
The articulation is pretty G.I. Joe Classified Standard that all moves fairly well. I find myself wishing the butterfly pecs allowed for more cross body movement. The waist ball joint could use a little more tilt and as always I find myself lamenting the loss of the hinged neck. Wreckage has:
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, wrists, hips, and ankles
- Ball and socket head, lower neck, and waist
- Swivel biceps, thighs, and boots
- Double hinged knees and elbows
- Mid torso and butterfly pec hinges
Overall, I’m really pleased with this set. The figure itself is my favorite kind of repaint that creates a new character and the idea of a good guy firefly is really appealing to me. The Tiger Force vehicle livery is such a fun color scheme that I’m happy to have another vehicle in this style even with my nitpicks about the lack of turning wheels and smaller gun.
Most Tiger Force character are repaints of regular figures and this one only appears as a Tiger Force character, so it makes me wonder how a non Tiger Force version would look. This figure, unfortunately, has been a little trickier to pick up. The pre-order was not announced timely and it promptly sold out at Target and Hasbro Pulse. That’s a little surprising since most Classified items have stayed up for a few days in recent times. These Tiger Force exclusives are usually easy to find in the store too, but this one hasn’t shown up locally as far as I could see while the two-pack of Tiger Force Roadblock and Tripwire is plentiful. Between this and Once a Man Cobra Commander it’s feeling like the line is regressing a bit to the early days when it was tougher to acquire the figures.
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