I’m a big fan of the Colonel Hawk from the comics, but even I can recognize the look he sported as General in the cartoon and his 1986 figure is probably his most iconic look and would likely be the inspiration for his Classified figure. Let’s take a look at General Clayton “Hawk” Abernathy!
The box art features Hawk in the middle of a battle in front of the G.I. Joe Headquarters, no doubt a reference to the Arise, Serpentor, Arise episode of the cartoon. It makes me want to build a headquarters backdrop.
Hawk comes with a helmet, two pairs of goggles, two pistols, a shotgun, and a grenade launcher. The pistols are close in size, but a slightly different design. The bigger gun fits in both holsters, but the smaller one fits in the chest holster only. They both fit well in the hand and are cast in solid black plastic.
The grenade launcher looks like the one that came with the retro Gung Ho and is also cast in a fairly solid black plastic. He can hold it pretty well, though the stock does bump up against the beefy biceps a bit. The strap does allow him to carry all his weapons at once.
The shotgun looks like the one that came with Covergirl, but cast in the solid black plastic. All the guns can use blast effects from the various weapons packs.
The small goggles are designed to be worn on the head under the helmet and are cast in a soft black plastic and feature a really bright silver paint for the lenses.
The big goggles are designed to fit on the helmet as seen on the vintage figure and the cardback art.
The helmet is cast in a fairly soft plastic and wobbles a bit on Hawk’s head, similar to the way Dusty’s helmet didn’t quite fit. like Dusty, it can fit tighter if you put the goggles on. If you don’t want him to look like he’s wearing the goggles, you can put them on backwards and it holds the helmet on better. In my view it’s also a little too wide where the round part meets the slight brim in order to accommodate the goggles, but I like the dented and scratched detail. I don’t think his ears should show so much from the front, but I’ve noticed the more I squished it onto his head the better it looked.
Sculpting here is really nice with a great, heroic portrait and the leather jacket has some great textures. The only thing I don’t love is that the bicep cut is more of a straight line and is a little unattractive.
The articulation is mostly standard for Classified, however his mid-torso articulation is a ball joint. At least I think it’s a ball joint, but there’s not a lot movement there. It also seems like the butterfly joint for the pectorals are actually ball jointed instead of hinged because they can move up and down. Hawk has:
- Ball and socket head, lower neck, mid-torso, pectorals, and waist
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, wrists, hips, and ankles
- Swivel boots, biceps, and thighs
- Double hinged knees and elbows
- Hinged drop-down hips
Paint is really good with a solid faceprint and nice detail on the shoulder patches, nametag, and pins. I like how much paint is on the left chest pins even though they are covered by the chest holster and the jacket has a soft drybrush that conveys wear and tear well.
Overall Hawk is very good. I do wish he came with an alternate pointing hand rather than the larger weapons, but he’s got great presence. I think the helmet probably could fit a little better if they didn’t have to account for the goggles, but I also really like the option of moving them.
I’d still buy a Colonel Hawk in the OG 13 style and I hope he comes with a Classified MMS since that seems more likely now that the VAMP and SMS are on the way.
Source: The Fwoosh
