Lt. Clay Moore (2007)
Sometimes when I look through my figures for the next batch of subjects, I get all wistful about one or two, particularly if I haven’t looked at them in a while. That’s what happened when I grabbed this guy out of the 2007 con set. This figure impresses me for two reasons, beyond the fact that it reminds me of days gone by, of o-ring convention sets that introduced new concepts and decos alongside old standby characters. Have I mentioned before that I really miss the o-ring style and the con sets of old? Enough of my crotchety old man o-ring babble, what about the figure again?
First, I’m impressed by the mold. The Ice Cream Soldier on which he’s based is not looked upon favorably by many collectors, due to both his name and color. By the way, the origin of his name is cool, even if it is a bad pun–read about it here. Whether used as a Joe or Cobra, I liked the mold whenever it showed up. Cobra blue, with black and silver highlights, really shows of all of the detail in the sculpt. Even though the head is just a reused Street Fighter Balrog wearing DTC Major Bludd’s helmet, it has the appropriate look of a tough-as-nails Cobra officer.
Second, I’m impressed by the use of a little-known character from a Sunbow episode. Clay Moore was a Cobra officer in the two-parter, ‘The Traitor’. His appearance in the cartoon was neatly worked into the background info on his file card. The story goes that after saving Cobra Commander at the end of the episode, he was given command of the Shock Vipers. This newer class of flamethrower trooper was released twice in the 2000s, and used the entire Ice Cream Soldier mold. Incorporating a newer troop type into the mix made it an even more interesting figure for me. Just ignore the fact that the man who commands a bunch of flamethrowers carries a machine gun and a missile launcher.
I have to say that this was a good usage for the ICS mold. Also that the Joecon original concept convention sets now have a small history of reusing Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat heads for new characters:
-Black Dragon Leader (2003)–MK ninja head
-Dreadnoks Crusher and Demolisher–Zangief and Sagat
-Lt. Clay Moore here (2007)–Balrog
-Hotwire (2008)–Blanka
-Natalie Poole and the Black Major (2008)–Sonya Blade and M. Bison
-Dr. Venom (2010)–Liu Kang
If only they hadn’t given up on the O-ring format just yet–I would have liked to have seen what could’ve been done with the heads of Johnny Cage, Ken Masters, Ryu, Guile (non-Van Damme sculpt), Shang Tsung, Raiden, Chun-Li, and Vega (movie edition).
Come to think of it, some of those battle corps molds work when they are not neon orange.
I would love to see more figures based on one off cartoon chacters. We need to get Amber [Quick Kicks dumb girlfreind] and the Vindo Viper
Why are there both a Cobra and a Joe with this name? Lt. Clay Moore and Claymore are way too similar names and therefore somewhat confusing. Since the only real difference is in the spelling, the names are practically identical. Bad planning Hasbro.
Nice figure, confusing name.
Like most past con exclusives, I don’t believe I knew this guy had been produced. Lt. Clay Moore was one of the best things about “The Traitor.” That scene with Dusty and Clay, locked in gladiator combat while the piranhas are eating them up was intense!
I hope this figure sees a more general release someday, like Kwinn the mercenary is finally doing this year.
Great hairstyle, great face. Bad azz all the way!
“… Have I mentioned before that I really miss the o-ring style and the con sets of old?…”
Me, too. Keep crotchety, I’m getting there, myself.
I traded for this guy, no longer here, but this is a really decent “new” figure character. He’s a unique guy, could be the Shock Viper commander, or a bad-butt unique Cobra trooper.
I played with the “Lt.” here as sort of the role of a Duke/ Flint/ Falcon for Cobra. In my world, Clay Moore was sitting the mix with the likes of Firefly and Major Bludd for the most part, but in Cobra Commanders view, my Clay Moore was multiple times more trustworthy.
In the end, I bought some Incinerators (the Real flamethower troopers) and was lucky with four ‘blue’ Shock Vipers, but I just didn’t feel a flamethrower vibe with them. The Shock Vipers, while cool, I just couldn’t get a good feel on for a role with them. In form, they are in flamethrower suits, but if they were even intended to be an elite lightweight (or heavy weight) shock troop, they just didn’t gel in my head.
I also wanted to get Ice Cream Soldier at that time, to round out my ‘Joe hostile environment team, but that guy doesn’t seem very easy to get?
The worst thing for me, was a set up with Ice cream soldier meeting up with the Shock Vipers. Suspension of imagination can only go so far in my head.
Those Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat figures are great for material in expanding Cobra forces in my view, too. Although, I would have been pretty happy with just a Balrog repaint.
Great reuse of unlucky mold!
always wanted a figure of this character but this doesn’t satisfy that wish at all
I never knew about this figure before this site, but I must say I really like this one a lot! The Ice Cream Soldier mold looks great in the blue and black Cobra colors and I’m glad to see the Balrog head got put to good use.