Bombstrike

By KansasBrawler

For my money, the story of the Stall siblings was probably my favorite part of the Joe Vs. Cobra era of figures. It only played out in its entirety in the filecards, but it was still a neat concept. Barrel Roll and Black Out were released within a year of each other and their filecards talked not only about their rivalry but that Black Out also had something to do with the disappearance of their sister, a Joe cadet with the codename of Bombshell. She may have lost her original codename, but their sister, now called Bombstrike, showed up in the last wave of Valor Vs. Venom figures and she was a great addition to the Joe mythos. When both Barrel Roll and Black Out showed up in the first Figure Subscription Service, I figured Bombstrike would be coming as well. I’ll admit, owning Bombstrike has tempted me to track down her brothers, but for now, I’m satisfied with Alyssa being the only Stall in my collection. The GIJCC did a great job referencing her original look while updating it and making it look a little more military.

Even though the GIJCC (and Hasbro) only has a limited number of female parts to choose from, Bombstrike looks great and doesn’t look like any of the other female figures in my collection even though she’s using a lot of reused parts, so I think that’s a great start to a great figure. The legs come from Rise of Cobra Scarlett. They’re nicely detailed and they give Bombstrike some height, which I find myself liking. I also like the look of the tall, wrapped boots. It’s not something a lot of Joe figures have so I like seeing it here because it’s a bit unique. Her torso comes from 30th Renegades Scarlett and I think this is probably my favorite basic female torso. I like the look of the bulletproof vest on her and it’s a nice simple piece that references the spirit of Bombstrike’s original T-shirt while making her look a bit more combat ready. Finally, her arms come from what looks to be the DVD Battle Pack 25th Anniversary Lady Jaye. They work well for Bombstrike since her established look is a T-shirt but I like the addition of the gloves over bare hands because I kind of like my military operators to be wearing gloves for some reason. Up top, Bombstrike gets a great new head courtesy of Boss Fight Studios. This version of Bombstrike looks a little older than her Valor Vs. Venom counterpart, but I’m fine with that. I actually kind of like the older look. To me, the original Bombstrike was still a cadet, so it was okay that she looked to be barely into her twenties. However, I see this modern version of Bombstrike as a full-fledged member of the G.I. Joe team, so it makes sense for her to look a little older. The face is very well done and has a nice determined stare. Her hair looks natural and rides well on her head. My only real complaint is how off model the card art is compared to the Bombstrike figure. I know that’s a petty complaint, but it’s something that’s always bothered me when it happens. The Bombstrike figure has an attractive face, but the Bombstrike card art looks more like a supermodel. The card art still looks like a soldier, but the difference between the girl next door look the Bombstrike figure has and the fashion model looks the card art has is a little jarring.

Paintwise, Bombstrike has always been a rather simple figure. However, the GIJCC took a few liberties with her paintwork and I really like them. They took what could have been a slightly boring figure and made her look a bit more interesting and more like a real world military operator. The GIJCC keeps her basic look of green camouflage pants and a tan shirt but makes some important tweaks to the look to make it more interesting. The camouflage pants are great and I like the tall gray boots. That’s essentially unchanged from the Valor Vs. Venom figure and that’s fine because it’s effective. However, rather than have her wearing just a tan T-shirt, the tan is on her bulletproof vest (with a G.I. Joe logo) while her undershirt is black. This is a far more interesting look than her old tan shirt, but it still captures the idea of her original look that it’s not totally out of left field. The only real drawback on this figure is her skintone. Everywhere, it just looks to be applied too thickly. Some of the details on her face wind up a bit muted and her arms look a bit waxy because of the overly thick skintone. I understand why it happened on the arms. I’m sure they were molded with the upper arms and batch molding said the best way to do it was mold them out of black plastic and paint them. However, I’m not quite sure why her head wasn’t molded in flesh-colored plastic. I think it looks more natural and while I’m sure I would then be commenting on how the skintones on her face and arms don’t match up, I think I’d prefer that to a face with muted details because of overly thick paint work up there. I will have to say, though, that her hair looks great. It looks like the head is molded from yellow plastic and that could have been a problem, but the GIJCC wisely decided to throw a little bit of a wash on her hair to keep it from looking too plastic-y. I had a lot of FSS 3.0 figures by the time Bombstrike arrived and I think her paintwork is probably the most impressive. It’s not anything fancy, but the GIJCC did a great job of taking the vintage look, updating it and really making her a great figure.

When I bought the Valor Vs. Venom Bombstrike, I was really impressed by her accessories. For me, the GIJCC really had to nail those to get me to like Bombstrike, and they nailed them head on. Most of her pieces reference her original gear and the few pieces that aren’t based on her original figure help flesh out her combat specialty: forward air control. Bombstrike’s primary weapon is a modified M-16. It’s the same gun that we first saw with 25th Baroness, but it’s also the exact same weapon Bombstrike came with back during the Valor Vs. Venom line. The GIJCC made a great choice by using this weapon. It’s a nice, real-world weapon and it references the original figure. Bombstrike also came with a big backpack back in the day. I remember a lot of collectors being excited for it because it was big and open so it could be used to make a javelin backpack for custom Lady Jaye figures. Bringing the backpacks full circle, Bombstrike gets the same backpack that 25th Anniversary Lady Jaye used. It looks great in green and I really do like the fact that it’s worn like a real backpack with the straps holding it on rather than just plugging into her back. Bombstrike also has a floating belt. I’m not sure where it originally came from, but I kind of like the fact that it’s just a bit too big for her waist because that means she can wear it at an angle. I think it’s a nice look and it makes sense since she’s already got a belt molded into the torso that would hold up her pants. I’m not sure why she’d need two belts for that job. Bombstrike also comes with a small sliver pistol. It’s a good piece, but I do wish the add-on belt had a functional holster for her to carry it in. As it stands, there’s enough room in her briefcase that it can be stored in there, but I’d honestly forgotten about this piece until I opened up the briefcase to get her MP5 out while I was taking pictures of the figure. Bombstrike originally came with a large radio to communicate with base. This time around, though, Bombstrike gets the same computer briefcase we’ve seen a lot lately. That means she also gets an added weapon in the form of an MP5 that fits inside the briefcase. I know we’ve seen it a lot lately, but I like Bombstrike coming with this case. I always thought the big radio was just a little outdated for a modern soldier. Yes, radio equipment can be harder to trace, but it’s also more easily jammed than satellite and Internet signals. The briefcase looks like it can take a bit of punishment in the field, which is great and I like the added realism of Bombstrike carrying in a hardened briefcase into the field. As a forward air controller, Bombstrike does recon work and calls in air strikes. However, with the computer, she can now do that herself, especially since her figure comes with the great drone Hasbro designed for the Data-Viper. Every time I see this drone, I just smile and I think it’s great that Bombstrike comes with one. From what I understand from a couple friends that have worked with drones, it may not be 100% realistic to have someone that operates a drone like this out in the field, but I think it fits with the Joe team. I can just see Bombstrike working just behind the Joe team’s frontlines, deploying her drone and using it to cause problems for Cobra, but still being close enough to the battle that if they need her to fight, she still can. The drone looks great in brown (and I like that the drone and its control case are matching colors) and generally I like seeing the drone in a different color. The “USAF” tampo on the side is a nice reference to the fact that I believe while forward air controllers often work more with the Army and Marines, they’re actually part of the Air Force. The accessories are all great choices and I like that Bombstrike’s gear has taken a step into the 21st Century. She would have been a bit more “vintage accurate” had they given her Falcon’s backpack and radio, but I like the more modern gear for her.

I have some very strong memories attached to the Joe Vs. Cobra era of Joe figures. As such, I’m always happy when the GIJCC taps into figures from that era. My fond memories of those more recent figures and the interesting new characters Hasbro added to the brand mean I think I may actually have higher expectations for figures based on that era than I do ones based on vintage figures. Bombstrike definitely exceeded those expectations. She is an incredibly well-done figure and having her in my collection kind of makes me wish the GIJCC had made Barrel Roll look like his original figure and Black Out a little easier to get just because I’d love to have modern versions of all three Stalls on my shelf. That being said, though, Bombstrike stands alone on her own merits and is a great figure. I wasn’t initially sure what I thought of her when the GIJCC released the digital mockup, but my uncertainty was unfounded. The head sculpt looks a bit different from the digital version, but the head was honestly what made me a little leery about her. Bombstrike is an excellent figure and while she may not be flashy, she’s definitely in the top half of FSS 3.0 in terms of quality.