Laser Jet Pack Soldier (Code Name: Grand Slam)
Silver Pads Grand Slam as he’s more commonly known, is still one of my all-time favorite GI Joe figures. Despite the hundreds of figures released over the years, he’s still in my top five.
If I were to be honest though, I would have preferred a different head. The Grunt/Zap mold is just so distinct, and it doesn’t match the more classically heroic looking gent from the box art. I suppose I could have switched out a Flash head (I wonder why I’m just now thinking of that?) Oh well, by the time you put the helmet and visor on, most of his mug is hidden.
So why the fixation on this figure? It just checks all the right boxes for me. There’s the sci-fi angle of the uniform and accessories, which had already drawn me in with Flash. The jet pack, arm-mounted laser and launch pad take it up a notch. The color scheme seals the deal. There’s something about that dark grey, black and silver combo that still sings out to me. It’s a wonderful pairing of drab and bright, and very close to toy perfection.
With Black Major custom jet pack to match package art
Image via 3DJoes.com
”Grand Slam was not shown in the cartoon series. But the J.U.M.P. jet pack got alot of use from the other Joes.
I guess it’s due to the silver pads wearing off easily, but this is one figure like Falcon Pilot Grunt that is hyped up as being rare ($80+ loose)…despite being a wide domestic release at a time when production runs were high. Oddly, Vamp MK2 “tan” Clutch doesn’t have the same hype, even though the Vamp MK2 may have only been a 1984 release (I say may, because it wasn’t in the 1985 pack-in catalog…that doesn’t mean it didn’t still ship.)