Chuckles (2007 Operation Flaming MOTH)

Chuckles is another figure from the 1987 series that’s usually met with derision. Most of the discussion around him seems to centered around his shirt. I’ll agree that at first it’s an odd choice for a Joe to be wearing a Hawaiian shirt. But you’ve got to think that when the designers were thinking up a look for an undercover agent, he’d need to be outfitted in some kind of civilian garb. Remember also that the Joe design team was known to make quirky and tongue in cheek figures from time to time. Furthermore, remember that during the 80’s, a certain popular TV private investigator was known to wear Hawaiian shirts. Finally, remember that it’s just a toy, so don’t take it so dad-gum serious.

This version of Chuckles was included in a two pack with Shipwreck. As the story goes, Shipwreck picked him up from another mission and they were going to retrieve a part of the downed MOTH satellite. Chuckles must have been in the middle of some serious action, because his signature shirt now has ripped sleeves. Maybe he’s been wearing the same shirt from ’87 and the sleeves have just worn off.

The reason for the ripped sleeves is that the figure is a repaint of Heavy Duty’s original figure. The use of the mold also gives him a more imposing physique than his old version. The Collector’s Club did a great job of copying the original shirt’s look, flowers and all. The head is the same as Chuckles’ original. I’ve always thought that the head sculpt doesn’t really match up with his look on the card art or the comics. Throw in a nice suppressed sub machine gun and street sweeper and it makes for a good battle ready version of the Joe team’s undercover specialist.