General Hawk (1993)
As pilot of the Armor Bot, one of the last large GI Joe vehicles produced in the original Real American Hero line, Hawk bookends the line as a driver figure. Sure, his ride isn’t as iconic as the MMS, but it is an imposing and fun toy.
I suppose Hawk’s presence in Star Brigade isn’t too farfetched, as he donned a flight suit and jetpack earlier in the decade. The gold here brings to mind that ’91 uniform, which is a favorite of mine outside of his 1986 look. Underneath his helmet, he’s even wearing the same headgear. To really stretch the Hawk/Star Brigade analogy, the jetpack Hawk mold was used in the sub-team as a space-suited Roadblock. According to a file card callout, Hawk’s Armor-Tech armor is gold plated. Wow, talk about wasteful government spending. Maybe this is the real reason for the team’s disbanding in ’94.
There’s a lot of parts sharing here with other Armor Tech GI Joes, and in a bit of irony, Hawk shares a torso with Duke. Hawk doesn’t have a cannon arm like some other Armor-Tech GI Joes, which is a good thing since those cannons seem weirdly short, like a human arm wouldn’t even fit inside.
Finally, and possibly most importantly, only a leader of General Hawk’s caliber could tote a hot pink laser cannon.
Are the gold bits made of that notorious gold plastic Hasbro used so much of for Transformers at the same time?
I don’t think so, judging by my copy. It doesn’t appear to be any more degraded than any of my other 3 3/4″ Joes.
The pink gun makes Cobra know he’s serious.
I do wonder about the gold though. Does it have those swirls to it? I remember people fearing Serpentor falling prey to GPS but given how many Serpentors are out there, I think I read just 1 or 2 reports of a Serpentor breaking (which suggests not GPS). I do wonder about parts of his Air Chariot though. I know I had some toy with the soft gold plastic with the swirl, just not sure if it was that, a Captain Power or Silverhawk or something else, or if my brother had the infamous 1989 G1 Transformer that crumbles to dust in one’s hands.
You mean some of the Pretender Monsters?
I know the weapons on my Captain Power figures would break while still inside the bubble. Brittlest plastic I’ve ever seen.
The small pistols from a single pack Captain Power and the Captain Power from the Power On Energizer have crumbled into pieces here.
The only ‘Joe accessory I have had a problem with so far was 1992 Duke.
I believe the helmet is also shared with Duke, while the gun (which had a black variant) originates from Eco-Warriors Flint.
I had both this Hawk and the 1991 jetpack Hawk and I absolutely loved the fact that they shared the same headgear. So many of my favorites (like Flint) when they wound up getting updated looked different compared to the original ones I liked and I the fact that this Hawk and my other Hawk looked almost identical really made me like this update more than some of the others.
Since they were using Hawk as a bookend to the line I wish they’d gone back to his blonde crew cut. But Hawk’s brown hair was the norm since ’86 and they kept it consistent aside from that Talking Battle Commander’s George Hamilton tan. 🙂
Gold-plated armour isn’t as silly as it may seem at first glance. The metal is actual very useful for (among other things) reflecting electromagnetic radiation (hence astronauts’ helmet visors are coated with the stuff), and, as luck would have it, a laser is, when you get right down to it, a focused beam of EM radiation…
ARGH!
I put Windmill in my mind as the last vehicle driver.
Pingback: IAT’s Review Roundup (Jan 14th-20th) | DoomKick.com
Pingback: Review Round-Up (January 14th-20th) « It'sAllTrue.Net