Munitia (2009)

By Past Nastification

Munita was a delayed figure that ended up being released as a Direct to Consumer figure through the GI Joe Collectors’ Club.

Maybe because of the delay, or maybe because Hasbro had moved on to the 25th Anniversary style figures at retail, Munitia just didn’t catch on. The character was intended to be a ruthless bounty hunter, and was even compared to Firefly and Black Out on the filecard. But something about the figure didn’t convey that. It’s as if Hasbro wanted this figure to be a breakout character, but didn’t realize that it doesn’t work that way. You can’t plan magic.

The leather skullcap (if that’s what it is) and its strange techno-visor made Munitia look more like a villain-of-the-week from an episode of Star Trek: Voyager than a super badass for the Joes to contend with. The cap appears to morph into hair as it flows down the neck. There’s no break line or even a paint line dividing the cap and the hair. This is just poor and indecisive sculpting. The visor has pegs on each end, but the head only has one hole for a peg. The other side of the head just has a dent where another hole should be. In fairness, this could just be a quality control issue on my particular figure.

The other design issue is on the legs. There is exposed skin on the lower legs peaking out from behind latticework on the pants. If you’re in need of parts that say “street walker in an 80’s comedy”, here they are. It looks like Hasbro was trying very, very hard to do something it had never done before. It hadn’t been done before because it was stupid. Hasbro should have just stuck with Baroness lower legs. The pegs holes on the feet are also too small to work with the included battle stand. Meh.

The figure does have some good points, though.

Despite the ambiguously sculpted skullcap, the face is very nicely done. It looks nearly emotionless but focused, and with just a hint of a sneer.

The gloss black Cobra symbol on top of the very dark uniform is sharp. It’s a great look. When this chest was first used on the New Sculpt Baroness figures, the Cobra symbol was coated with paint so thick and gloppy that it hid and ruined the sculpt work. Being able to actually see the detail here makes it very easy to appreciate.

Another improvement over the Baroness figure is the set of new arms. They are slender and don’t destroy the overall look of the figure with obscenely large shoulders, even if they are a bit too long.

Two weapons were included with Munitia. One is a rifle, practical and befitting. The other is a pistol with a massive, vertical edge bayonet on it. Aside from being impractical -how does she holster it?- it just looks silly.

Munitia was a respectable attempt to get some more mileage out of the Baroness mold. Though not perfect, it manage to make some modest improvements on it.