G.W. BRIDGE

X-FORCE (TOY BIZ)

“Wherever there’s a private war being fought, or an Evil Mutant that needs to be captured, you’re sure to find G.W. Bridge, the special agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., America’s top secret, high tech security agency. This battle-scarred veteran is a weapons-master extraordinaire and has tracking abilities that put a bloodhound to shame. Everyone agrees that once G.W. Bridge is on an Evil Mutant’s trail, one thing is certain-that evil Mutant is as good as caught.”

Okay, so remember when I was talking about Kane a couple of weeks ago, specifically in regards to not really knowing a lot about the guy?  Well, we get to go down that path again, today, with GW Bridge.  Like Kane, he’s from Cable’s past, and he’s like, tough, in that sort of generic ‘90s way that people were tough.  He was also in SHIELD, so I guess that’s an additional thing he’s got going for him?  And, he was set-up to be such a big deal.  So, you know, here’s Mr. Big Deal himself.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

GW Bridge was released in the first series of Toy Biz’s X-Force line, and that was it.  He had no variations, no re-releases, and no follow-up figures, so he wasn’t even on Kane’s level in that regard.  He’s seen here in his “Six-Pack” era attire, which s certainly his most Liefeldian.  The figure stands just under 5 inches tall and he has 7 points of articulation.  No elbow joints again, but he gets all the other standard movement.  He’s still pretty stiff, which was very common with these earlier figures.  His sculpt was new, and remained largely unique to him (though his head was re-used later for an unmasked Rhodey).  It’s pretty much the same quality as the other Series 1 X-Force figures, which is to say it’s rather soft in terms of details.  Also quite small given the ultimate direction of the line.  I think GW in particular seems sort of…uninspired?  He’s just kind of bland, and shallow, with his expression in particular seeming rather devoid of any sort of character.  Not even a Liefeld grimace.  His body sculpt is kind of awkward in terms of posing, and he’s also very difficult to keep standing. GW’s color work does its best to replicate his Christmas decorations-looking outfit, and generally does fine at that.  It’s prone to wear, as you can see from my copy, and there’s a fair bit of bleed over on the edges.  GW Bridge is packed with a “Rapid Fire Gun” accessory.  It’s an odd sort of rifle thing, which he can’t really hold very well.  There’s a switch on the side, which slides back and forth, in a sort of bolt-action motion, and there’s a clicking noise that accompanies.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I knew a little bit about GW Bridge as a kid, because I seem to recall him appearing as a SHIELD agent in something I read, and also the re-used head for that Rhodey figure.  I didn’t have a figure of him, though, because I can’t say he made much of a lasting impression.  He was pulled from the same bag of junk figures as Kane, and likewise given to me by Jason from All Time.  He didn’t have the gun, but that got re-used a few times, so I thankfully had a spare laying around.  Kane had some novelty, but GW rather lacks even that.  He’s just sort of unimpressive, and it’s kind of a shame he never got a better figure.