Fox (Lanard CORPS!)
I had always thought that this figure was a villain, but upon looking at his bio card, he’s apparently not. He certainly has a villainous look about him, and a strongly German World War II era uniform. The eyepatch takes his appearance one step further into the “bad guy” arena.
But not so, as the character’s background is in NATO high command. He is a strategic mission planner and excels at large scale operations. For a GI Joe equivalent, he could be compared to Generals Flagg or Austin, or later Hawk.
There were a few other figures in the 80’s Corps series, like Whispering Willie and Crowbar, who certainly appeared to have an evil look (the two of them resembling Dreadnoks) but none of the packaging declared, “Hey kids, these are the bad guys!” The lack of obvious enemies in the vintage Corps line is a contrast to the GI Joe line, and strikes me as odd, considering the Corps brings in so many other Joe influences, from character types all the way down to incredibly similar weapon molds.
The 80’s Corps figures’ molds are very similar to, yet not quite up to the same quality of design and construction as their Hasbro counterparts. That’s not to say they’re badly made, just not quite to the standard of our favorite action figure line. For instance, the plastic is more susceptible to becoming brittle over time. I’ve broken not only thumbs, but entire fingers as well. Detail is soft, and proportions are slightly off, especially in the chest, which is a bit of a Corps trademark. The result is a more cartoonish look than the vintage Joe figures.
While many other original Corps figures were quite generic in appearance, Fox is one of the more respectable figures of the line, if for no reason other than his throwback military look. He’s a very cool figure that stands out from a lot of his Lanard counterparts.
The parts on this guy have been used on a lot of the Corps! figures. I actually saw one custom of the Sgt. Savage and the Screaming Eagles villain General Blitz that used the upper legs.
I have the uzi and the Gunner O’Grady pieces, but I know where the uzi will go–the DC Universe Infinite Heroes Deathstroke figure.
The Fox is my favorite Corps character and the only figure where I’ve bothered to track down every known version, with the original gray one being the latest and rarest for me to acquire. The name, of course, reminds one of Erwin Rommel, while the eye patch invokes memories of Mego’s Captain Eagle or even the now legendary Nick Fury.
From what I’ve read in online forums, some longtime Corps collectors viewed The Fox as a villain rather than a good guy or the official team leader. I’ve certainly thought of him as Hawk’s equivalent and would’ve loved to have seen both groups interact since most Joes and Corps members share matching appearances and specialties.
I prefer the original v1 as the grey seems to suit the uniform better but he looks even more Germanic. I use all the Corps as a mercenary army, sometimes working with the Joes but often in direct competition.
I am not really familiar with the Corps and never saw this figure before. That said, I’m pretty impressed. Maybe he is the best of the bunch, but he looks very good….like he’d fit right in with the Joes.
As kids, my brother and I were always trying to make Nintendo action figures. One crazy plan for a Link figure involved sawing off half the head of a Corps! figure, sanding down the flat surface, then crafting a Link hat out of hot glue and attaching it to the surface.
Like most of our projects, it was never completed, but we got as far as sawing off the head and repainting the entire figure. Our hands were imprecise, so he ended up with huge bug eyes staring in two different directions.
“Flat-head” hung out in our collection for years.
He reminds me Israeli General Moshe Dayan. Nice facesculpt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Dayan .
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Dayan_1955.jpg
There is a strong resemblance to Dayan, yes. I remember him well from old Newsweek magazines as a child.
Detail isn’t great, but in a way he’s a lot more fun than most knock-offs. The old CORPS were good filler for using with Joes. Most current knock-offs seem totally out of place around modern or past Joes. The new CORPS are like cartoon characters compared to modern GI JOE.
Fox is simple yet elegant.
My favorite Lanard The Corps! figure.
This early 1990’s version is my favourite paint job for Fox.
If only I had picked up a few of those sets of 24 action figures back in the day.
Along with the JC Penny 16-figure sets in the late 1980’s…
Although, lamentably, those sets didn’t include Fox (would’ve been the Version 1 solid dark grey with red undershirt version) with 16 of the 18 first edition Corps! figures.
:/
The fools!!
They will rue the day!!!
LOL