Skull Squad Trooper (2006)
Poor Sebastian Bludd. The man was quite the mercenary in the Marvel GI Joe comics, yet was relegated mostly to being a field commander in the Sunbow cartoon. At least he showed a lot of pride and motivation in his job; one of my favorite Bludd moments being from the Revenge of Cobra, with his valiantly crying “Cobra!” and then immediately running off-screen on his mission to retrieve the weather dominator fragment. You just don’t see that kind of excitement in terrorist organizations these days.
For the 2006 con set, Major Bludd was given his own troops, and this time more than just a group of rank and file Cobra troopers. These are the Skull Squad, part of the mercenary themed box set. I enjoyed the trooper focused con sets, especially when new Cobras were involved.
I never would have thought that a Battle Force 2000 figure could be the basis for a good troop builder. Now that I look at this mold with a different head, I think I’ve realized that the BF2K figures fall flat because of their goofy heads. The masked Cobra trooper head, with removable helmet makes all the difference. The armored and padded uniforms are a good fit for troops following Bludd, even echoing elements of his look. The armor on the left shoulder is another appropriate nod to the Major. If only they had gone the whole nine yards and given them all an entirely armored right arm.
The Major Bludd color scheme does wonders for this mold, and though it still suffers from a weirdly rounded torso, the Avalanche body makes for an impressive trooper. The head with removable helmet is a nice addition. Not coincidentally, the same helmet was released the previous year with the DTC Major Bludd. The unit emblem (complete with eyepatch!) is a great added detail.
The head is actually from the 2004 Crimson Guardsmen who came with either Operation Crimson Sabotage, the Crimson Guard Force 6-pack, or the Shadow Guard six pack of 2005.
I’m in the minority of BF2K fans out there but the thing I like best about the figures is the amount of detail found on most of the bodies. Avalanche is a prime example: Padded uniform which lends itself to other environments beyond the Arctic and cool chain mail-like armor on his arm. The DTC Bludd helmet is a great fit and really made that figure shine for me. It seems the Skull Squad Trooper benefits greatly from these various combinations. I only wish these guys had made retail somehow.
Count me among the BF2K fans, too–I like their sci-fi trappings.
Yes, Blaster and Dodger were especially good, I thought, with their almost Colonial Marines-style armour.
Only the nunchuks on the left thigh really bother me about this mold. Not for Avalanche, nor for the Skull Squad. But I agree the recolor works awesome on these guys.
This is a figure that never looked good to me in pictures. So, I held off getting one for a long time. When I finally did, though, I was incredibly surprised at how good it really is. I need to pick up a few more since they’re still relatively cheap. But, this is easily one of my favorite Con army builders.
Nice troops!