Gung Ho (2001)
Okay, GH needs to get some sun. Milky and somewhat translucent, the odd skin color was symptomatic of the RAH collections years’ Caucasian figures. Some folks prefer the vintage plastic skin tones over painted skin, but it’s all subjective. While the early 2000s crew are a departure from their predecessors in terms of deco, I find them to be an interesting and generally subdued variation on the familiar.
He’s simply accessorized, which can be a good thing with the right choice of weaponry and backpack. The 1992 figure’s heavy machine gun is a perfect complement for a character always known as a strongman type.
I’m of two minds about the practice of marbelized plastic to represent camouflage. The multiple colors can be more intricate than paint masks at this scale, but the effect can also simply appear to be muddy. To me, the end result more often looks like weathering rather than patterned camo.
On a final note, thankfully Hasbro was able to maintain the character name Gung Ho, unlike teammate Roadblock, who became Double Blast.
My issue with this figure is that he’s inherently better than the 1992 or 1993 figures. Really, had they done this guy in V1 colors, at least we could say they tried. As a stand alone figure, the color scheme isn’t terrible…just boring. But, they used this same basic deco on pretty much every figure in the ARAHC. So, it was just tired and overdone by the time this guy came out.
For a series that started so strongly, the ARAHC really petered out by the end.
Should say “not inherently better”. Jeesh, it’s getting late….
He can hold that giant machine gun better at least.
Great mold. Best colors were still the 1992 version. And you got a great flag for you figures to hold.
The caucasian tone was very pale, but it was better than the waxy 2002-2006 tone. When that skin tone started out as a solid tanned look on GvsC wave 1.5 (Sure Fire, Mirage, Big Ben, Tomahawk), it was neat, but besides some pale comic pack characters, about everything after had a cheap waxy look to it. No idea why they ran with that.
But, at least those o-ring figures were made with their lower arms(the forearms) been made of a softer material, so the fingers, or the thumbs, won’t break off in the future. I hope.
I thought double blast was a different character as he had a different file card to roadblock.
Yes, he is. He has a different name, and birthplace, from Roadblock. And nothing was mentioned about Double Blast been a cook on his filecard. But, I read on some website years ago, that both of these guys, and Heavy Duty, are supposed to be related. I really hope that is true because it would be really cool. Just like Chameleon, and the Baroness, been sisters, or something like that. My only beef with Double Blast is that they used the 84 Roadblock head, so he looks just like Roadblock. And, it’s really boring. Now, if they had used the 83 Airborne’s head(that is, if they still had the mold of that head at that time), that probably would have made that figure look much better. And I truly believe one hundred percent, that the 83 Airborne’s head would have worked just fine for a black figure. They missed a great opportunity to create something new, and really interesting.
I find it funny that nobody mentioned that the 93 Gung-Ho figure had the tattoo painted on the left upper arm, instead of the chest. And somehow, the tattoo got smaller after the 1980’s. This mold was used again in 2004, while the Mega Marines mold was used again in 2005. As for this figure, I don’t like that grenade on it’s arm. It looks dumb. And, I wish that the head of this figure had been made without that bandanna, or headband thing.
It looks like Gung-Ho decided to duct tape a grenade to his arm. That’s my biggest complaint about this mold. It just sticks out of his arm for no reason and it just gets in the way if you want to put him inside a vehicle.