Wild Weasel (2004)
In my childhood toy universe, Wild Weasel was the Boba Fett of GI Joe. He was a mysterious masked man of few words, and his reputation preceded him. Cobra Commander could always depend on him to accomplish his missions. As a figure, he was never far from the cockpit of his Rattler.
Funny that an homage to the original Wild Weasel would come in a two-pack, and not as a driver. The initial version of this mold, included with a fantastically snake-y new Cobra aircraft known as the Night Adder, was done up mostly in black. The red helmet survived, and bore a similarity to the old mold, but the figure as a whole just wasn’t red enough to be Wild Weasel to me.
It was good to see Cobra’s most prominent pilot outfitted in red again, and with a few blue accents as well. The only downside to this new figure for me was the fact it came in a two pack along with a true stinkburger of a figure: Action Attack Gung Ho. AAGH couldn’t be thrown into the unloved figure bin fast enough.
Wild Weasel’s second file card for the era is actually different from the first, a fact that floored me when I first saw it. The bio is fairly well written, and even includes the sort of fun character detail that was a hallmark of the old Larry Hama penned filecards.
Note: yes, the proportions are all wonky. I’ve covered enough of the 2002-2006 figures that I’m going to stop mentioning it when they come up. The same will eventually hold true during further coverage of the 25th anniversary line in regards to the elbow and chest joints. Maybe
Here’s a peice of trivia. When Matchbox was trying to get theyre Robotech line off the ground in ’86, they made a prmotional toy video. In order to demonstartae the scale of some of the toys; both a V1 Barbique and Wildweasel were shown. Barbique was placed on a Rick Hunter card while Wildweasel wound up flying the Battle pod. That video is quite entertaining now as it shows several products that are now rare or never made. The presenter also keeps referancing the success of the Arah toy line and He-man.
Oh also in that video. The presenter accidently breaks the hovertank toy in half when he tries to change it. Guess he should have read the instructions first
Wild Weasel was always one of my favorite characters and definitely my favorite specific Cobra pilot. It’s a nice looking figure, but if you hadn’t said his name is Wild Weasel, I would’ve assumed it was some kind of Cobra troop. Maybe because of the torso and arms.
I dunno. Maybe it’s the lack of a map. There’s something about this figure that makes me think more of a Cobra troop than Wild Weasel, though.
The shoes are goofy. Came with a non-working parachute pack, between that and the lighter shade or red, he almost seemed like a homage to the Funskool version. His weapons were odd because they seem to be painted for no reason.
That’s a seriously warped headsculpt. Just look at how far the oxygen mask is twisted off to the side.
Long legs!