Cross Hair (2003)
What’s preferable on a GI Joe figure: molded flesh color or painted? That was one of the debates raging during the relaunched GI Joe era of the early to mid 2000s. I really didn’t cone down on either side of the argument, but I think now that the pure toy loving side of me would prefer the molded flesh color. It just seems to give the figure an obvious manufactured look, plus it brings back memories of the GI Joe and Star Wars figures of my youth.
Cross Hair was one of the Joes that was released in both variations, and it’s not only the painted flesh tone which contrasts the GI Joes of old. He features a few accessories that weren’t too common in the Real American Hero era. His soft goods ghillie suit may not be the first of its kind in a GI Joe figure, but the suit made numerous appearances in the Spy Troops series. Secondary web gear, like Cross Hair’s belt and vest, showed up a few times in the 80s and 90s, but the early 2000s era paved the way for its use as one of the primary elements of modern construction.
Cross Hair looks at first to be a nondescript design, but the uniform has a few nice little elements that keep it from being too plain. The short jacket/vest is a nice little touch, and has always reminded me of the original Alpine’s jacket. He’s got a detailed sculpted quilting to his undershirt that also gives the figure a bit more personality. The articulation has a downside in that, for a sniper, Cross Hair really can’t assume any kind of realistic firing position. This is unfortunate, since the series boasted another sniper, Barrel Roll, who could be posed pretty effectively.
This mold got some pretty serious attention from Hasbro at the time, showing up in both Tiger Force and Night Force color schemes. It’s a fun figure, despite the common proportion issues of the day. He’s got a cool specialty and enough distinctive style that he really deserves a second look.
I really like this guy. Nothing beats camo green fatigues/uniforms.
I remeber scouring every shop, looking for him ten years ago but as Spy troops had done so badly in my home town, the shops didnt even bother getting in anything after the first wave.
When i was working at the local Toys R us, i strategically placed all the sound attack vehicles so they were within the kids reach. All the kids walked straight past them to the Yu-gi-mon [or whatever] racks. And thats why i hate Japanese card games
Molded. Always molded…
I think Cross Hair was one of my favorite Joes from the SpyTroops line. Barrel Roll got a lot of attention, but the jungle fatigues that Cross Hair had just sold him for me all the way. I always kinda hated how those cloth ghille suits looked on the figures, but I appreciated Hasbro trying to do it. However, the removable vest was really great and he came with a decent pack in partner in the form of C.L.A.W.S. Commander who was a neat figure but saddled with terrible pre-posed arms. I think I had the painted “variant” but I’m not sure anymore…he’s definitely one I should dig up when I have some time to go through the collection from that era of the Joe line. I know I had a lot of fun posing him around my desk while I’d be working on homework after school as a little way to break up the monotony.
I think I got my first taste of this old debate this year, where in a bag of random Joes I got at a convention I got the painted flesh version of Barrel Roll V1.
I would like to add Cross Hair to my collection at some point. He’s pretty much the originator of three accessories that saw a lot of reuse during the newsculpt era–the webgear, the belt, and the sniper rifle.
Cross Hair was one of the best new characters from this era. He reminded me of Torpedo and Wet-Suit’s land camo from the fourth Yearbook story.
Molded flesh would be my choice out of tradition, besides the fact that painted faces tend to scratch or rub off easy.
Paint flesh is one more paint op that can be messed up. On the other hand, molded flesh is that in the new sculpt era, they had this waxy looking caucasian flesh tone that did the figures a disservice and made many ARAH repaints look out of place amongst vintage releases.
Cross Hair needed swivel wrists. They gave them to someone like Recondo, but not a sniper who needed them more to compensate for his bulky upper arms.
Cross Hair is one of the “new” characters that I find interesting. Not so much a replacement to Lowlight but an alternative. And he has THE best boonie hat of the line (even with the goggles). I’m of two minds on the cast/painted fleshtone issue: I prefer molded most of the time, except when it makes sense to use a different color. Take ’84 Scrap Iron; if they’d cast his head in black, the helmet wouldn’t wear like a middle-aged man’s pate.
The hat is perfect!
Know what I like about that second pic? He looks like a young, beardless Chuck Norris. And that’s a guy that would’ve been cool to have as one of the celebrity Joes like Sgt. Slaughter and The Fridge. If Kenner hadn’t had a Chuck Norris line, it would’ve been nice if Hasbro had tried to bring him over to the Joes.