Corrosion (Force of Battle 2000)

By KansasBrawler

For me to like an international figure, it has to be a pretty big departure from its American counterpart. That’s why I’ve always been interested in Python Patrol Airborne and Python Patrol Ripcord and am absolutely fascinated by the international Sky Patrol figures. There’s one other international figure that has strangely caught my attention over the years—
the international Eco-Warriors Dee-Jay repaint known as the Cobra Corrosao. I figured for sure Dee-Jay was going to show up in this year’s con set (though I was expecting he’d be the attendee bonus like Air Raid last year). However, Corrosao (now known as Corrosion—which, while an accurate English translation of the Brazilian word, isn’t the greatest name, if I’m being honest) was released right alongside him in the Ultimate Enemies two pack. I don’t know why Corrosion and Dee-Jay are ultimate enemies—neither the filecard nor the convention comic referenced their hatred for each other—but I am kind of pleased to get both Dee-Jay and Corrosion in the same set, thanks to some eBay magic from KansasBrother. The GIJCC made some good calls on Corrosion’s part that help him seem like he’s made from the same parts as the modern Dee-Jay but at the same time, they do change up a few things so he’s not a straight-up repaint of the other figure in the souvenir set. Like the B.A.T. Squad Leader, since Corrosion is almost functionally identical to Dee-Jay, I’m going to focus on what the GIJCC did differently here and fully examine Dee-Jay’s construction when I review that figure. The only difference between Dee-Jay and Corrosion is
the vest. I think it was a smart choice to change up the vests to make them look a little different. While Dee-Jay uses the 30th Anniversary Techno-Viper vest, Corrosion uses the Rise of Cobra Nitro-Viper vest. I’ve always thought that was a solid piece and it looks pretty good on Corrosion. It gives Corrosion a little bit of an armored look like the vintage Dee-Jay figure had, but it’s not identical to the modern Dee-Jay figure, so it helps make Corrosion more his own man. Personally, I think the Nitro-Viper vest is a better call than the Techno-Viper vest, so that does mean, in this one small area, Corrosion is a slightly better figure.

The other difference between Corrosion and Dee-Jay is their color scheme. While Dee-Jay may be a bit of a bright figure, since Corrosion is part of the Eco-Warriors subteam, he’s really bright, and I can’t help but smile at that. I’ve never minded bright figures all that much, and Corrosion’s very bright, Eco-Warriors-style color scheme does help minimize the similarities with Dee-Jay. The legs are off-white on the boots and pants with some bright red on the knees and thighs. It’s an odd look, but it’s more due to the fact that I’m not sure the GIJCC picked the best legs they could to recreate Dee-Jay’s funky boots. Corrosion’s shirt is light blue while the gloves and bracers and the Nitro-Viper vest are bright green. Seriously, I have a lot of modern Joes based on brightly colored 90s figures and I think Corrosion is probably the neonest figure in my modern collect. The bright green and the light blue work well together and even though they’re bright colors, it actually looks pretty good. The hoses on the vest are done in black, which seems like a slightly odd color choice to my way of thinking, but it does reference the little bit of black detailing on the original Brazilian figure. It still looks a little off to me with all the neon on the figure, but since it references the original figure’s color scheme, I’ll accept it. There’s a red Cobra sigil tampoed on the vest, clearly marking him as a Cobra. Up top, the paint team did a great job with the newly-sculpted head the GIJCC had made for Dee-Jay. His helmet is bright green and there’s a little bit of red cleanly applied in the small space on the crown of the helmet. His goggles are silver and there’s a little silver detailing on the front of the helmet by the mouth. Of course, the biggest change in terms of Corrosion compared to Dee-Jay is that Corrosion is a white person, while Dee-Jay is African American. The Caucasian paint is well applied, but it’s not done overly thickly, so all the nice details on the facial sculpt come through clearly. Corrosion is a bright figure, but I’m perfectly fine with that and I think the slightly strange color scheme adds a little bit to his charm.

The GIJCC also did an excellent job equipping Corrosion. They gave him pieces that make sense for the character that also simultaneously distance him from Dee-Jay. His primary weapon is the sleek pulse rifle that we first saw with Rise of Cobra Paris Pursuit Baroness. It’s a
great, high-tech weapon that fits with Corrosion’s overall look and reminds me of the high-tech pistols that some of the Eco-Warriors figures came with back in the day. His other weapon, which is also referenced in the filecard, is what drew a lot of people’s attention. Corrosion is carrying a dark blue version of the impressive grenade launcher that was first released with the vintage Hardball figure. Understandably, this new piece has led many people to assume that Hardball will be showing up in one of the last two FSS waves (though considering we’re getting a Slaughter’s Marauders version of him in a couple months, I really hope that a standard deco version isn’t on the horizon). This piece is huge, and I remember really liking it when KansasBrother’s Hardball got used. However, it doesn’t fit that well in Corrosion’s hands. It’s a bit cumbersome, and it’s so heavy that Corrosion can’t really hold it one-handed. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the hinged wrists that would allow him to hold it in a realistic, two-handed firing position. Even though Corrosion still has a little trouble holding the grenade launcher, it’s a great piece and I love that Corrosion carries it around to fire specially designed canisters filled “with a highly combustible solvent that destroys metal on contact” that he uses when he has to confront “nuisance activists or hostile combatants.” Nothing says I’m a bad guy like using a grenade launcher on protestors outside your chemical weapons plant.

While I didn’t know a lot about Corrosion beyond what I saw on YoJoe’s international figure listings, I was drawn in by the striking color scheme and the interesting concept of Dee-Jay repainted as a Cobra. The filecard introduced me to an interesting character, and a chemical
weapons designer is something Cobra’s never really had. Sure, Cesspool dabbled in chemical weapons, but I always saw him more as someone who didn’t care about environmental regulations and used the toxic byproducts of his company’s work as weapons. Corrosion, on the
other hand, actually creates his own deadly chemicals and that’s a different angle than we’ve seen with Cobra’s chemical weapons experts. There’s a part of me that sees him as Airtight’s rival more than anyone else, so I still really don’t get why he and Dee-Jay are ultimate enemies unless one is really pissed at the other because they have the same taste in what they thought were one-of-a-kind helmets. The GIJCC recreated Corrosao’s bright colors well and applied them smartly to a slightly different design. The great weapons take a solid figure and make him an excellent addition to my collection of modern Cobra Eco-Warriors figures.