Tag Archives: Spirit Iron-Knife

#3168: Spirit Iron-Knife

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

SPIRIT IRON-KNIFE

G.I. JOE: CLASSIFIED SERIES (HASBRO)

It has decidedly *not* been a while since I reviewed G.I. Joe here, because I just did it yesterday.  So, that joke’s not gonna fly this time.  Instead, I’m just gonna let this fight for freedom keep on rolling, and look at yet another figure from the latest round of Joes from Hasbro.  Yesterday, I looked at Cobra’s top ninja, but today I’m jumping over to the Joe side, with 1984’s resident tracking expert, and perhaps slightly stereotypical Native American addition to the team, Spirit Iron-Knife.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spirit Iron-Knife is figure 36 in the Classified Series line-up, and is the middle figure of the second 2022 assortment.  He’s the only Joe present this time around, and is generally a pretty sensible inclusion alongside a classically-inspired Storm Shadow, given that they not only both debuted the same year in the toy line, but they also served as some-time nemeses in the original cartoon, when it was decided that having the non-verbal Snake Eyes serve as Storm Shadow’s sparring partner would be too difficult to do in animation.  So, you know, it’s not a bad set-up, really.  The figure stands a little over 6 inches tall and he has 35 points of articulation.  Spirit’s design is clearly patterned on his V1 design.  I myself have never been a huge fan of this look, given that it really hammers home some of the stereotyped elements of the character, and have always been more partial to the way Sigma 6 handled his look.  That said, it’s the classic look, and it’s not a terrible one, with a bit of tailoring.  This version takes the broad elements of the original, and modernizes and makes them a little more “standard issue”, as well as injecting just a little bit of the sci-fi side of the earlier figures from the line.  It’s a lot more subtle, and it works better because of it.  His construction makes use of a mix of old and new parts.  He’s banking on some of the parts from Duke, who has become a fairly standard starting point for the line.  He’s definitely using the torso, as well as parts of the legs, and I think the hands as well.  What’s actually pretty cool is that he’s *not* using the arms.  Yes, for the first time in the Classified line, we get a set of sleeves rolled up past the elbows!  I’m very excited about that, and eagerly anticipate getting updated versions of Flint and the Viper with their proper sleeve lengths.  Like, legitimately excited.  Yes, that’s what excites me most on this guy.  And it’s not even a knock on the rest of the figure.  The only real downside is that he’s still got the pins at the elbows, suggesting that this was an older sculpt that only just made it to release.  The rest of the sculpt is pretty strong.  His head showcases the appropriate features for Spirit’s background without going too bold or caricature-esque, and the hair is a little more reigned in.  The outfit loses the feather necklace and skirt, which I think are both calls for the best, and he gains a little bit more on the tactical side, with two different knife sheaths, and a holster for a sidearm.  Spirit’s color scheme more or less matches with his original figure, though a little toned down on the brightness front.  The paint work is all pretty clean, and he generally looks pretty solid.  Spirit is packed with a sniper rifle, a pistol, two different knives, a back pack, and his pet eagle Freedom.  Freedom’s definitely the coolest part.  He gets two different sets of wings, for flying or for perching.  He’s also got pegs in his feet, allowing him to peg into either the built-in perch on Spirit’s back pack, or sit on Spirit’s left arm.  Definitely a great touch there.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Vintage Spirit never clicked with me, but I recall becoming much more interested in the character when he was redesigned during the Devil’s Due run in the early ’00s, and then I really liked his Sigma 6 look, of course.  While this one doesn’t really replicate any of my preferred looks for the character, I will admit that he turned out pretty nicely on his own merits.  The changes to the design preserve the feel of the original, while also making him feel less out of place in a modern setting, and I really dig how they handled Freedom with this release.  I still look forward to the potential of an update on one of his other designs, but until then, this one will do just fine.

Thanks to my sponsors at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure for review.  If you’re looking for toys both old and new, please check out their website.

#2288: Spirit Iron-Knife

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

SPIRIT IRON-KNIFE

G.I. JOE: SIGMA 6 (HASBRO)

“Spirit Iron-Knife started in field operations and was selected for the most difficult missions because of his outstanding ability to spot overlooked clues.  He became a lead investigator at special ops and solved complex cases with his ability to track suspects using shreds of information.  He was soon promoted to covert ops and used his tracking skills to to uncover criminals skilled at concealing their existence.  He is also an expert at creating small, precisely targeted explosions that disable mechanical or electronic systems without destroying the entire structure.  He is a highly skilled marksman with his bow, using technologically advanced arrows that deliver powerful explosions.”

In the last several months, I’ve taken some time to really look at the G.I. Joe franchise, with a real focus on its ’80s A Real American Hero incarnation, which was by far the franchises most popular and successful incarnation.  Now I’m taking a jump ahead to the incarnation that followed, Sigma 6.  Launched in the mid-00s, it tried to modernize things and tap into what was popular at the time, and it was honestly a pretty decent success. Well, purely commercially, anyway.  With the pre-existing fans?  Let’s just say they don’t deal well with change.  So, after a solid three year run, it was put to bed and replaced with a return to the old.  But, let’s not focus on the end, let’s focus on the beginning, with one of the line’s launch figures, a re-imagined Spirit Iron-Knife.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Spirit Iron-Knife was one of the five figures released in the first Commando assortment of the Sigma 6 line, which launched the line in 2005.  Compared to the others in the assortment, Spirit was something of an oddball choice, not being amongst what people would typically consider the “core” Joes.  The figure stands 8 inches tall and he has 25 points of articulation.  His sculpt was all-new at launch (and would later be re-used for a second version of Spirit), though it certainly had some similarities to his team-mates, given the line’s general style and the uniformed nature of the Joes.  Spirit’s design is shared with his cartoon counterpart, and marked something of a departure from his original ’84 design (which was a little bit stereotypical for a Native American tracker).  He had received quite a redesign in the comics that accompanied the 2002 relaunch of ARAH, and his S6 design seemed to take a few elements from that, as well as being the first version of the character to tap into Billy from Predator as a design inspiration.  The final result is honestly the most unique of the five initial figures, not just when compared to the other four in the same set, but also compared to prior versions of Spirit himself.  The figure’s sculpt is definitely the coolest of the initial assortment, showing some neat deviations from the standard uniform, and giving us a head with a lot of character behind it.  As one of the more deluxe “Commando” releases, he also got to be a slightly mixed media affair.  Not only is his head band cloth, but he’s also got a pair of actual pants to wear over his Sigma suit, as well as the usual set of dogtags.  The figure was then armed with a bow, four arrows, a quiver, a knife, a sheath, a pair of axes, and his pet eagle.  As is the nature of the Sigma 6 beast, mine is incomplete, with only the bow and the knife sheath.  I know, for shame.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

As I’ve discussed before, Sigma 6 was a concept I very much enjoyed, but unfortunately not a line I was able to get much of when it was new.  Spirit was a figure I always wanted, but was just never able to get.  I was eventually able to track one down back in November of 2018.  It took a while to get him and he’s not complete, but it’s still very nice to have even just the core figure, because he’s quite a cool offering.