Night Force Cross Hair (2003)

When I look at some of the new sculpt era figures in relation to where the small Joe figure style would go, I can see something of a progression. Now hear me out before you grab your torches and pitchforks. 

Although it wasn’t the first Joe line to feature it, the use of removable belts, holsters and other flexible gear was more widespread than the 80s series. Soft hats (PVC) even made it into the new assortments. Cross Hair has both, and I find his hat to be particularly cool. This is a precursor to the essential aspect of web gear in the modern era.

The relaunched series also made an attempt at more realistically scaled weaponry–at least in terms of handgrips and the like. Of course that didn’t equate to better hand posing. Again I’ll use this figure as an example; unfortunately his hands are so small as to look pretty ridiculous and are almost  useless in maintaining a nice firing pose.

Cross Hair was one of the new characters in the 2000s whose mold was well traveled within a few years. The guy made it to shelves four times in two years: three times in a regular two-pack, and once in a value store single pack. Amazingly, he managed to make his way into both Night Force and Tiger Force. I guess his specialty as infantry and marksman was needed in both. Then again, maybe it was just because of his cool hat.