Terror in the Swamp (2007 Adventure Team)

At the tail end of the Sigma 6 series of toys, Hasbro broke off the style into a couple of different directions. One was a more generic military-based series of figures and the other a return to an adventure theme–the Adventure Team, to be exact. Only three sets were produced, and although two featured characters we’d seen multiple times (Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow) in the Sigma scales, it was the third that really resonated with me.

Recondo was a favorite figure of mine back in 1984. In my coverage of his original release, I mentioned that I found his specialty and outfit suited him for many different types of missions. I even find him to be suited to an adventurer theme, a la Indiana Jones. Not surprisingly, he’s right at home in an Adventure Team set. With Terror in the Swamp, he’s dealing with a crocodile.

The scale and construction of the large scale Sigma figures lend themselves well to this kind of self contained story-in-a-box set. Recondo came with a large crocodile–not a sidekick animal but rather an impressively large and full-featured figure in itself. The animal here, as in the older Adventure Team sets of the 70s, is not a creature to hunt but rather a force of nature that Joe must deal with. Granted, the set includes a collar with chain, as well contraption for keeping the croc’s jaws from chomping down, but I imagine that Recondo is simply equipped to protect himself and others.

It’s no secret that I’m as fascinated by toy packaging as I am by the playthings themselves. I’ve been focusing on the effectiveness of packaging in selling toys, and this is one set for which I wish I had kept the packaging intact in some way. What we have left however is still very impressive. The Adventure Team sets each included a brochure, which featured in-universe ads and other interesting bits that served to expand the fiction of the series. The page detailing the story of the set refers to Recondo as Jim, so I suppose this isn’t the same guy we know from the 80s.

Overall, this set and others in the Sigma AT series were fun and attractive toys. I would have loved to have seen this segment expand, as the next year had a Joe Colton figure with a gorilla. If that’s not cool, I don’t know what is.