‘G.I.Joe Flamethrowers’ Discussion by Mitchell Smith!
Welcome to the Outpost. Today I’m going to talk about 3 G.I. Joe flamethrower troopers. Blowtorch, Charbroil, and Ice Cream Soldier. Blowtorch is the original flamethrower. He played a big part in the cartoon and I’m not sure about the comics, but if anyone has anything on is roll in the comics feel free to share. This is a very cool character and figure. Blowtorch has the bright orange and yellow suit with the classic style Flamethrower. He also has the cool face mask and for 1984, when G.I. Joe was expanding their palette, Blowtorch was just a very unique and cool looking figure and even though I did not have one as a kid this is one of my favorite characters and is very cool to have in my collection today. Blowtorch has had a few upgrades and his 2009 modern style upgrade was pretty much an upgrade to his 1984 figure and was very cool.
I love this version of him and glad they did this one true to the original. In 1988 Blowtorch got a helper or partner perhaps. Charbroil was not as brightly colored but he did have a nice look to him. He has a very cool helmet, an awesome backpack, and came with a new unique flamethrower. I thought his home town of Blackduck, MN was a bit neat for me as the population is similar to my home town around 800 people. Charbroil had a few upgrades over the years. I have the 2009 modern version and this was not as good as the original. They gave him Blowtorches gear and a plain helmet with a solid silver face. I did a head swap with this figure. I didn’t have the signature fire red hair but I used a head that showed him a little aged and I think it looks pretty good. This one would have been cool with the original helmet and the red head we know and love. Last but not least is Ice Cream Soldier. This 1994 flamethrower was one of the oddest characters from that year, but the figure was cool.
The Ice Cream was meant to throw off the enemy as him being some sort of Ice Cream man and not a flamethrower, I’m not sure even Cobra would fall for that. I do have one of these and I think this one would have worked a lot better had this figure had a removable helmet like Blowtorch and Charbroil did. The helmet mold itself is not bad, but it would have been great as a removable one. The flamethrower was just Charbroil’s and he did not have a backpack. The colors are bright but he does look nice next to Blowtorch. This one did not get a modern update so maybe somewhere down the line there will be one with a removable helmet, a unique blowtorch, and a cool pack that is different from Blowtorch and Charbroil’s really cool packs. If a little more effort had been put into this character I think he could have been a very popular character for more reasons then being weird. Overall these are 3 great unique figures and characters. Which one of these characters is your favorite? Let us know AFTER THE JUMP! Check back tomorrow for another discussion.
