Spitfire Battering Platform (1995)
Now this convoluted bit of machinery is about as far as you can get from most anything dating from the Real American Hero days. Imagine what a neck-breaking change this was just after the end of that beloved o-ring era. Imagine also the pace the line showed up at discount stores. I remember bins of the stuff at the Half Price Store back when. In fairness, I also remember those same bins full of the RAH Joes from 1992-1994.
I always endeavor to find the positive in the toys I feature here, so I will say that this toy has a very fun action feature. The main selling point, and its basic reason to exist, for that matter, lies in its air-powered missle. The Joe team also had the same type of cannon in its arsenal, and according to the package, you can try to knock the figure from his platform. Sounds like a moderate bit of fun.
The set also manages to stick to the time-honored GI Joe tradition of including a unique driver figure. This time out it’s a bright red version of Inferno, the SKAR tech specialist whose animated incarnation inherited the most annoying characteristics of DIC’s Metal Head. The figure itself is sculpted with a less exaggerated build than its long-limbed main line counterpart. That’s the story with much of the Extreme line, and it’s always made me wonder if some sculpts weren’t originally meant for other Kenner lines.
On another positive note, the Extreme series is very cheap to come by, at least in my experience. The figures and vehicles, being 90s Kenner vintage, are quite sturdy, and don’t include a lot of easy to lose pieces. Faint praise, I know. I find it curious that Kenner 90s licensed output seems to have its share of fans these days, at least when their old “expanded universe” offerings are reinterpreted by NECA. Maybe the same could happen with Extreme via Hasbro–bwahaha!! Yeah right.
I actually think the metal head in Extreme is far more annoying than the metal head from DIC. Whereas the one from DIC was shouting “Boom, bang” every two seconds, the one from Extreme was spouting surf lingo every two seconds. Inferno remindeds me of Dr Hiss from the short lived Playmates Botsmaster line.
This toy on the other hand would come in handy for many other figure lines. The bad guys will always need a dooms day weapon to guard [or grafiti the moon with]
Nice Tick reference.
I was actually referancing ‘Laser in the light’ which has a very simmilar plot
Maybe it’s the Inferno figure and modular hoses, but I’m getting a strong Centurions vibe from this toy.
If that weapons platform were real, the ignition blast from the rocket alone would incinerate the idiot stood on the platform…maybe a good thing really…
The weird action posed stances reminded me of that Hasbro Kenner Total Justice or whatever the hell it was called, featuring a very over-exagerated stance that Aquaman had, something I’m sure would lead to ‘toppling over syndrome’ that a LOT of Kenner figures had…#meh.
It was always a great disappointment to here of cheap G.I. Joe toys at local closeout stores only to find they were either Extreme or Sgt. Savage.
The ’90’s were a silly, silly time for toys. Even the Star Wars figures of the time are pretty terrible and dated.