Dreadnok Crusher (2004)
How do you explain away the fact that you made a figure that uses 90% of an existing (and very recognizable) character’s parts? Make up a story that hints at the new guy killing off the old one. That’s pretty cold blooded, even for a Dreadnok. I suppose you can’t blame the club for trying to pull this one off, but I also wonder why they just didn’t make a new version of Gnawgahyde. Was the head mold not available? Was this initially intended to be the original, but later changed to the new character? See, this is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night.
The figure is definitely striking, if for no reason other than his fancy camo pants and replaced head (thanks Street Fighter Zangief!). Speaking of the new head, there’s no way to get the hat to stay perched atop Crusher’s melon. The best you can hope for is to balance it and hope it doesn’t fall off at the slightest gust of air. Actually, I think it’s better left off, as the head is quite cool looking on its own, particularly with its detailed Cobra tattoo.
The file card says that he went on an overnight hunting expedition with Gnawgahyde and the Dreadnok poacher disappeared. Did anyone think to ask this guy why he’s wearing Gnaw’s clothes, using his gear, and even hanging with his wild boar buddy? I realize the ‘Noks aren’t all the straightest spokes on the wheel, but come on. Nobody is that dense. Maybe the camo pattern on the pants threw them off the trail, or all their brains have been addled due to years of a diet consisting solely of grape soda and chocolate donuts.
Between this guy and Demolishor, I’ll take Demolishor every time.
I’m with you on wondering why not just go with Gnawgahyde? At the time, he was the type of obscure character the club kind of got into. And, the construction issues with the Zangief head offset any benefit to it being a “new” character. Plus, the overall color is just too close to the vintage Gnawgahyde.
Aftermarket pricing of the time bore this out as Demolishor was stupidly expensive for a long time while you couldn’t give this guy away. I think those inequities are less now. But, this is still a weak figure from a pretty weak overall convention set.
So that is the story of this guy? I never knew that. That was really dumb. Number one, he could have easily been Gnawgahyde’s brother. That would have made more sense. And number two, Gnawgahyde did not have to die, or you know, “disappeared”. They used the word vanished, but that is still bad. What were those convention folks thinking back then. But anyway, it’s ok, because Gnawgahyde came back in 2011, and on that figure’s filecard it says that his name is Clyde Hyde. And he got a better jacket and hat. The worst part about this whole mess right here, was giving this guy some of Gnawgahyde’s original accessories. The wild boar is the worst one. Anyway, I never noticed before how the quiver, the small backpack with the arrows in it, it looks as if there was meant to be another part that connects with it to make it look more realistic, but perhaps the Hasbro team designers decided to scrap that part so they could save some money. Also, I wonder why they didn’t create a new hat for this figure’s head.
In the Marvel comic, Buzzer, Ripper and Torch never noticed that Ripcord was posing as Zartan for a while, so they’re not to quick. Though in their defense, one of them pointed out that Zartan always looks a little different.
I just thought of something–if you took the head off a spare General Mayhem (which uses Gnawgahyde’s mold), removed the helmet and glue residue, painted the mustache brown, and stuck it on this figure, you could actually replace Crusher and restore Gnawgahyde at the same time.
why the heck didn’t the club just use the original head. It has been brought out several times for Mayhem–who was btw a replacement of sorts on the same level of Voltar which always bothered me.
The first picture with the hat on makes the dude look like Merle Haggard. I know the Dreadnoks are known to fight amongst themselves and all, but Crusher murdering Gnawgahyde, stealing his clothes, and taking his pet boar seems way out of place. Not to mention the other Dreadnoks apparently not caring enough to say something. They should’ve just used the original head and made it Gnawgahyde.
As an attempt to make something new, they should’ve recolored the clothes away from Gnawgahyde’s colors and ditched the dumb filecard. Or used the Street Fighter movie Zangief…but Roadpig was also part of the set.
Also, anyone with a Zangief figure from 1993 can just make their own Crusher, except the head tattoo.