Just about two years ago I posted my original review of the first G.I. Joe Classified Rock ‘n Roll, a figure I liked a lot but had some issues with some design choices. Many times in those two years I contemplated picking up a cheap figure to customize to my liking, but I’m glad I waited because this repaint did address a lot of my issues. Let’s take a look at the G.I. Joe Classified Rock ‘n Roll!
The figure is an re-paint of the original Classified figure with almost all of the same parts and pieces, so I’m not going to be doing a full on traditional review. You can check out my original review if you like, but I’m going to focus more on the differences. A big difference right off the bat is this is on a retro card with a Hector Garrido-style explosion background to a newly painted portrait of Rock ‘n Roll in the style of the original cardback with some classified embellishments. It looks fine to me, but I’m not really a carded figure guy, so it’s recycled. The cardboard is really sturdy.
He does come with a lot of the same stuff as the original release, the only thing I’m missing is the two bracelets the original figure had. They don’t really fit the look of the original vintage figure, so I don’t really miss them, though I’ve seen customs that have them and they look cool, so the option would have been nice. It does seem to me that the plastic of the machine gun is slightly stiffer on this new figure.
The main feature here is the new color scheme and Rock ‘n Roll is now decked out in that OG 13 green that hits perfectly for me. I especially like the the bright gold on the bullet belts and the super dark green on the belt and leg straps. While I appreciate the fidelity to the original figure, I’m fine with the belts getting a little pop and eschewing the gold cargo pants pockets that I kinda forgot the original figure had.
The head gets a new paintjob and I’m glad to see that the new one (on the left in the above photos) makes the eyes a bit more subtle than the somewhat cartoonish eyes on my original figure and they seem to fit the sculpt a lot better. Converesly the eyebrows do get a pretty severe darkening and thickening that doesn’t always follow the sculpting.
I can’t tell if it’s a thicker paint job or perhaps a manufacturing change, but the hair details on the new head seem a little less sharp on this figure. I think overall it’s an improvement, but I personally would have preferred slightly less dark eyebrows. It’s not really an issue either way when the helmet is on.
Overall the articulation works just as well as the original figure. I still prefer the disc hinge in the neck, but this figure is from before they completely cocked up the ball and socket neck joint, so he can look up pretty well and fire from a prone position.
I do feel like I’m stretching the left hand past it’s intended use placing him in a two-handed machine gunner pose, but it works well enough.
With Col. Hawk on the way, I do feel like I’m really close to having the Original 13 figures that I absolutely need. Flash would be my next highest priority, as his weird red padding and laser gun always jumped out at me as a kid. I’m curious to see how they release Steeler since it seems like the MOBAT isn’t the next Haslab. Overall this release fixes the issues I had with the first figure so I’m calling this a win.
Source: The Fwoosh
