Major Barrage (2005 DTC)

Major Barrage, like some other later new sculpt line figures, pioneered some construction elements that were later incorporated into the 25th Anniversary and modern series. The pinless shoulder joints and ball jointed head were improvements that carried into successive lines, abd are still in use. He also breaks away from the generally standard figure height, and towers over other figures. I can only recall a few figures in the RAH line that were significantly taller than most, a notable example being Sgt. Slaughter. Barrage has muscles on top of muscles, and even protruding veins a la Rambo.

The file card and specialty are where Major Barrage perplexes me. Reading his bio, he appears to be in the Sgt. Slaughter vein, as an uber solider capable of inhuman feats of strength and prowess. It talks about his being able to take out entire squads of Cobras single-handedly, and wanting to get close enough to squeeze their necks, yet doesn’t mention anything about his abilities as an artillery man. An artillery commander who loves close quarters combat; he’s a walking contradiction. Kind of like a super-strong, martial arts expert who is also a brilliant espionage agent. Which makes me think that the artillery specialty was tacked on because they couldn’t come to terms with calling this figure by a more fitting name–Big Brawler.