Philip “Chuckles” Provost (2015)
The original Chuckles figure remains one of my favorite Joes, even though he’s a bit out of place among his teammates, considering he’s a guy wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Then again, there are fellas like Bazooka and Outback who don’t exactly follow standard military dress when it comes to shirt choices. Included in both the regular Toys R Us release and the San Diego Comic Con exclusive, Chuckles is one of the “driver” figures in the Desert Duel battle in a box. It looks like this time around, he’s elected for something a little more subdued shirt-wise, considering he’s on a desert mission. I wonder if he has these things custom made? When he was a member of Night Force in 2013, his shirt featured glow-in-the-dark flowers Here, instead of the usual big painted flowers, he’s got just outlined patterns. Pretty sneaky, fashion-wise.
From looking at the press pictures released earlier in the year, it appeared that the figure was going to be wearing the longer pants popularized by Renegades Duke. However, he shows up here with traditional bloused trousers and boots. It’s not a big deal, but worth noting the change. Maybe Hasbro wanted to further differentiate this figure from the recent Joe Con exclusive. Overall, the figure looks like he’s battle-ready. The accessories are fairly plentiful, although I’ll most like be outfitting him with only the silenced pistol and knife. The two-toned machine gun is a nice touch, and takes me back to the days of the Resolute figures. The scarf is interesting, and makes sense considering his mission environment, but I wonder if he just didn’t borrow an extra off Night Fox. That guy is the shemagh master. In the accessory area, I would have liked to see the helmet and vest combo included with the Night Force version, but I suppose again maybe the Club doesn’t want its exclusives’ toes stepped on.
The head sculpt is markedly different from previous modern era versions, and looks closer to a portrayal of his original version. More recent figure depictions gave him tousled hair, but this one looks like he’s taken a bit more care with his coiffure. Finally, I have to say that my sample of the figure has a wonky eye issue. The same thing was quite a story during last year’s 50th releases, and it’s disappointing to see the problem continue. Funky paint aside, this is an interesting update to a figure that’s been a favorite of mine, and getting him in a desert theme (I’m a sucker for environment variants) pushes another of my collector buttons.
Come back tomorrow, and we’ll have a look at one of the Cobras from the set.
I thought he wore a Hawaian shirts as he was inspired by Miami vice
This is a good, different look for Chuckles. I’d like to think the Hawaiian print shirts are his thing and even the other Joes are amazed how many mission-specific colors he’s got. His bandana kindof made the outfit, though; he and Night Fox look like a couple of bandits ready for some old West action. Made for some fun play, anyway.
I wish they had at least used the same lower arm molds as the convention version.
I just noticed–even though the head sculpt is supposed to be inspired by his IDW look, I think he kind of resembles Steve McQueen. Anyone else see this?
I’d have enjoyed a color scheme like this on a vintage style Chuckles. Had the club gone this way instead of a straight up redo of the vintage figure on their version, it would have been much better received.
I agree!
@Acer
I see it now. He should have come with a baseball mit and a German bike
Funny you should say that, I just saw The Great Escape for the first time last week.