1986, The Figures V: Low-Light, Cobra’s Nightmare

By Destro Designs – Viper Den Studios

We step into the ring with a top-tier G.I. Joe figure/character. There are a lot of figures that never got a run in the cartoon, and so the canon is left to be served from a file card. And that’s usually fine and dandy, but sometimes the file card and the cartoon character are in lockstep and build a canon that transcends the basic lore of an average Joe.

Low-Light’s file card serves as a quick backstory of a man whose whole life is like the Bane quote from The Dark Knight Rises when he says, “Oh, you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was already a man, and by then it was nothing to me but blinding.”

THAT is Low-Light.

Then weave in the story presented in the Sunbow Series, Season 2, Episode #24, “Nightmare Assault,” and you have a damn interesting dude—especially to a kid.

It chronicles a young man so tortured by his father that he had to learn to master his fear and overcome the adversity that so many abused kids face.

All this culminates in this character being a total badass and a soldier who won’t be beaten in the night—or anywhere else, for that matter. His measured, even tone in his singular speaking line, “Showtime,” in the movie spoke volumes that could be summed up in one phrase:
“DON’T FUCK WITH ME.”

I was always a sucker for a sniper and a sniper’s rifle—especially when they look as cool as Low-Light.

His goggles and cap speak of a dude who won’t be deterred by the elements. Cold? Blustery wind?
“Who cares? I’m gonna land these shots and ventilate some Cobra craniums.”

His uniform is a night-colored gray with enough black accents to look absolutely perfect. The red padded area on his shoulder is a recoil pad, in case he’s sending stupid amounts of .308 rounds downrange to pave the way for teammates like Beachhead or Shockwave and the crews they led. The uniform as a whole is the perfect kind of tactical—lots of pockets and straps, but not overly done to look ridiculous. This MF’er looked REAL!

As with most of my favorite Joes, the ones who looked like they could exist were the coolest, and Low-Light fits this mold beautifully.

Adding to the realism is his loadout: a cool backpack that actually stayed on and was all black. It fit the rest of the uniform and was something I would use to brace his rifle on as he dialed in to shoot.

His secondary weapon is perfect for a sniper—or, rather, a night spotter. It should’ve been silenced, but figures’ weapons back then weren’t suppressed. Still, it was awesome: all black and a perfect fit in his hands as he cleared the area he was going to snipe from. Perfect choice.

His primary weapon is one of my favorites of the whole line. First of all, it had a swivel bipod on the end of the barrel. It allowed the figure to be positioned while looking realistically down through the scope of his rifle. It didn’t just look cool—I was able to manipulate it to look so damn cool. The scope was absurdly large, but it worked because I had seen others like it in some crazy ’80s action movies.

Y’all know my Holy Trinity for judging: file card, card art, and figure. And the figure can be broken down into sculpt, color, and accessories.

Low-Light is a 10/10 BANGER in every category—probably top-five card art, and overall he comes in tied for third all-time with Scrap Iron.

In my lore, Low-Light was tied at the hip with Beachhead on the same missions. LL was the crew’s overwatch but would also come down and raid a Cobra base up close with a smile and a boot to some Cobra skulls.

This is one of the figures I was instantly obsessed with. I remember seeing him on the back of the card and worrying I wasn’t going to find him. But lo and behold, I walked into my old faithful Kay-Bee Toys and saw him right next to Mainframe (I believe), and got them both.

Both versions of the Classifieds—O.G. and Mad Marauders—are elite figures and tops for toy photography.

Low-Light will forever be one of the greats and truly one of the reasons 1986 is my favorite year for figure releases.

Up next, I wrap up the figures of 1986 by going in with Beachhead, my 1.01 of figures—because Destro, Snake Eyes, Cobra Commander, and Firefly are above all lists… they’re their own list.