The Accessories Are King on My Most-Wanted List for G.I. Joe Classified
By Destro Designs–Viper Den Studios
To me, when I was a kid, the G.I. Joe accessories were almost as important as the figure—and in some cases, more important than the figure.
Case in point: Lightfoot.
He was an average figure, even with all that yellow, but his accessories brought him to a level ten really damn quick. He had a helmet, a handheld sonar device, and a belt-fed cable that ran from his backpack to the device. He also had a little droid that walked out in front of him.
Even if you didn’t know what that thing was supposed to be, you knew it looked cool as hell.
The accessories made the figure.
Now, in some cases, the accessories can take an already awesome figure and send it through the stratosphere. That was definitely the case with Hit & Run.
Hit & Run was already a phenomenal figure. The sculpt and paint scheme made him my number-one most-wanted figure until he finally came out in Classified. But the accessories he originally came with shot him straight into outer space.
Looking back at the 3¾-inch line, there are varying degrees between these two ends of the spectrum.
But as I look at my Top 6 Most-Wanted Figures for G.I. Joe Classified, all I see are figures that NEED the proper accessories:
- Ambush
- Salvo
- Blizzard
- Lightfoot
- Arctic Snake Eyes
- Iron Grenadier V8 Heavy Gunner
All of these figures require very specific weapons and accessories if they’re going to make the jump to Classified properly.
Perhaps Arctic Snake Eyes is the exception here because he really only came with an Uzi and a backpack. It’s his sculpted jacket, cargo pants, and weasel skulls that make that figure so memorable.
But for the rest of them, how they’re received is going to depend heavily on their weapons and accessories.
Ambush needs to have a foldable tent with a separate cloth covering, along with brand-new weaponry like he had in the original run. That’s absolutely key.
Salvo obviously needs a straight-up rocket launcher, and Hasbro is going to have to do some really fancy dancing with the weapon he originally came with.
Blizzard needs a backpack that can somehow be pulled apart and transformed into something he can grab by the handles and ride.
And for the love of all things G.I. Joe, please give Lightfoot his exact accessories!
I don’t even need a pistol. Just give me the double-fisted sonar device connected to the backpack and a rollout droid. That’s what makes Lightfoot Lightfoot.
As for the Iron Grenadier V8 Heavy Gunner, Hasbro could give us parts that look exactly like the original accessories and I’d be thrilled. But I know we’ll probably wind up getting something extra molded onto them—if we even get the figure at all.
That one may be some serious wishful thinking.
But in the end, to me, these accessories are everything.
I want these Classified figures to have the same explosive impact on me that their original versions had when I was a kid. The accessories weren’t simply little pieces of plastic tossed into the package. They were part of the character. They helped tell you who that character was, what his job was, and what kind of adventures you could create with him.
So don’t just simply put these figures out.
Blow the fucking doors off with each one.
Please. 🙏
