GENERAL CLAYTON “HAWK” ABERNATHY

G.I. JOE: CLASSIFIED SERIES (HASBRO)

Fun FiQ Fact #0028: Since his introduction at the start of A Real American Hero, Clayton Abernathy has been called Hawk, General Hawk, General Tomahawk, General Clayton Abernathy, and G.I. Joe Hawk, all leading up to his seemingly finalized General Clayton “Hawk” Abernathy.

I have a weird thing about main characters, and in ensemble settings, I have a thing about leaders.  I just tend to find myself not liking them as much.  I do, however, tend to really like alternative leader type characters.  Captain Pike, for instance, is my favorite Star Trek captain, Ultra Magnus is my preferred field leader for the Autobots, and my go-to guy in charge for the Joes?  Very definitely General Hawk.  I mean, he’s the one with a bomber jacket.  How can you not, right?

THE FIGURE ITSELF

General Clayton “Hawk” Abernathy is figure 103 in Hasbro’s G.I. Joe: Classified Series line.  At this point, assortments appear to be no more, but Hawk hit with a big batch of figures that hit just before the end of the year last year, though they were originally slated for the spring of this year.  The figure stands 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 36 points of articulation.  He’s mostly using the basic articulation set-up from the rest of the line, with the only change-up being the mid-torso joint, which is a ball-joint, not a crunch.  It’s not quite as mobile, but for the most part he moves okay.  Hawk is sporting an all-new sculpt, courtesy of Paul Harding.  It’s based on Hawk’s v2 design, which is by far his most distinctive.  It’s a pretty strong sculpt; it manages to capture the core elements of the v2 Hawk, while also tweaking things a little bit to actually give him a little bit of an update.  In particular, I quite like the head sculpt, as it feels pretty appropriate for Hawk.  On the flip side, I’m not so much a fan of the shoulder holster set-up; it just doesn’t sit quite right, no matter what pose you put him in.  It’s better than what we saw on Tunnel Rat, but I do still prefer the figure without the holster.  Hawk’s paint work is all pretty nicely handled.  The head gets some nice detailing, and the grey streaks in his hair are a new element, but a nifty character element.  His jacket gets some cool smaller details as well, which is certainly fun.  Hawk is packed with his helmet, two sets of goggles (sized for his helmet and his head), three handguns, a shotgun, and a grenade launcher.  In a perfect world, he’d also have an alternate head with blonde hair, for his comics/early toy look, but Hasbro’s never done anything of the sort before, so I guess it’s not a shock they’re not doing it now.

THE ME REMAINDER OF THE EQUATION

Hawk is a character I’ve been waiting to see added to Classified since it launched.  His sculptor posted about him a ways before he was actually solicited, so I’ve been patiently waiting.  After a few figures in a row that didn’t really do much for me, Tunnel Rat wound up being the figure that kind of killed the line for me.  But, I love Hawk and I couldn’t not get him, so he got slotted as my last Classified figure.  It was my intent to get him from All Time, but a mix-up meant they didn’t get their cases of him, so it was off to Hasbro Pulse for me.  He’s an okay figure.  Not a great figure, and not enough to change my mind of going forward on the line, but he’s at least an okay send-off, and a fitting character to wrap things up.  And with that, my Classified collection is done.