Sub Teams Part 4: Night Force

By Destro Designs-Viper Den Studios

Everyone knows how I feel about Python Patrol, especially after the previous article. It’s an incredible extension of the Cobra side of the battle and is super indicative of Cobra itself.

But without question, my number one favorite G.I. Joe sub-team is Night Force.

The team itself is based around a super-elite squad that handles the things that go bump in the night. They conduct operations so important and so sensitive that they have to use the cover of darkness.

Bane can think he owns the dark, but he doesn’t. Night Force does.

In the current iteration of Night Force in the Energon Universe, they are tasked with fighting D.I.R.E. tech, which is pretty damn appropriate given the nature of the team.

Night Force also just has such an insanely cool look. Everybody’s uniforms feature dark, muted colors—grays and blacks with a little touch of olive drab green here and there.

One of the reasons I love the original Low-Light so much is because he already looks like he’s dressed for Night Force.

Then they took two of my favorite characters and somehow made them equally awesome. You all know that Beach Head and Shockwave are my boys, and Night Force came through and made both of them look just as awesome, only in completely different ways.

Rounding out the cast are new brother Wolf Spider, Big Ben, Quick Kick, Psyche-Out, Shooter, Crazylegs, Rip Cord, Charbroil, Repeater, and, lastly, Lightfoot.

The latter three are the only ones who haven’t made it into G.I. Joe Classified form yet, but when they do, they’re going to look awesome.

I almost wonder if we’ll see them released first as Night Force figures, opening the door later for a Retro Carded release in their original uniforms. They’ve already gone that route with Crazylegs, Rip Cord, and Psyche-Out, so it seems totally plausible.

In the Energon Universe, Flint and Lady Jaye come to recruit Beach Head for Night Force, basically selling him on the idea that this is the kind of team that doesn’t always follow the rules. It’s one of the coolest moments in the comics because it perfectly captures what Night Force should be.

These aren’t the guys you send in when everything is going according to plan.

These are the guys you send in when you need the job done quietly, quickly, and without anybody knowing they were ever there.

All in all, to me, Night Force represents the most badass soldiers doing the most badass things—and bringing the fight straight to Cobra.

That’s also why I created Strike Team Fang Buster, an elite commando unit specializing in door-kicking, covert infiltration, and destruction.

There’s a line Rust Cohle says to Marty in True Detective about bad men keeping other bad men from the door, and I think that idea perfectly sums up Team Fang Buster.

An elite unit inside an already elite unit.

When Cobra has something hidden in the dark that needs to be found, destroyed, or dragged into the light, you don’t send in just anybody.

You send in Night Force.