Blowtorch (2014)
The 50th Anniversary GI Joe offerings were, taken as a whole, a mixed bag for me. Along with cool previously unreleased figures such as Flint and the Ice Viper and vehicles like the VAMP Mark II and Cobra WOLF, there were some almost straight-up re-releases. Disappointing? Yes, particularly when these figured took up slots that could have been occupied by more in-demand product. After all, this whole thing was directed mainly at us collectors, right? So instead of throwing a Money Bags Destro redo out there, we got Blowtorch. But wait, he’s different. See that little gold outline on his left shoulder? That’s new. Cool, huh?
Actually, I can’t find myself being too hard on this figure. Maybe my opinion continues to be colored by nostalgia for the 1984 version. Even though this is a retread of the Pursuit of Cobra figure, I’m still reminded of what an improvement it was over the with Anniversary version. I also find myself more inclined to display him with his rifle than the flamethrower. Something about that weapon being stowed on the backpack looks cool. Add the fire axe to his free hand and you’ve got some serious melee combat capabilities.
Finally, if you haven’t gotten enough of this figure, there’s a green repaint coming, based on an early color design of the original 1980s figure. Yeah, I’ll buy it too.
I have to agree with you here, Rob. It’s definitely grown on me, but I do think it was really bad planning on Hasbro’s part to release Blowtorch two years in a row at a time when it looks like we get one big whack of Joes towards the end of summer. Why they couldn’t have thrown Zap in Heated Battle since he was kind of a hard-to-get figure, though, I’ll never quite understand.
At least we got something for the big 5-0. I’m surprised Hasbro is still making money as kids these days don’t want toys
This release was such a missed opportunity. Had they done it in green like the upcoming version, fans would have heralded Hasbro. Instead, we got a so-so figure with very little customizing potential. I suspect the factories had the chutes loaded with bright yellow plastic for Blowtorch’s pack-mate, the HEAT Viper, and thought “who else is yellow?” Too bad nobody remembered that awesome and hard-to-find 30th Airtight figure. Blowtorch has become the 2000s Big Ben of his day.
@Cyko9
I think someone at Hasbro has a share in a yellow paint factory. Just look at all the Bumblebee’s in current Transformers lines
The face sculpt in the last photo just screams creepy.
It was all made worse for me when TRU started stocking PoC figures again and there were pegs of Blowtorchs and Hawks there beside the 50th stuff. Cool enough figure of him, though I have 2 now and very little use for the second one, I’ve seen some nice kits for customising him out there though.
Coming in 2016
Teal blowtorch
Nice smile!