Review & pics by: Fred Meyer

Code name: Super Trooper


Review & pics by Fred Meyer
Additional comparison photo by Todd Weinzierl

 

Super Trooper glory

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a man covered in vac-metalized finish! It’s “Super Trooper”! Okay, so this isn’t how the promotional inserts read back in 1988 – although it might as well have. Debuting in a short two page mini-comic, Super Trooper was the soldier who leapt into battle armed with his trusty shield and single-handedly overpowered a Cobra horde to save Falcon, Chuckles, Fast-Draw, and Psyche Out. He was as over-the-top as Sgt. Slaughter’s appearances in the Sunbow animated series. Yet, in spite of his “combat prowess”, Super Trooper never appeared in any other GIJoe media and has faded into obscurity in the minds of many fans. Yet does this mail-away figure deserve such the fate of being forgotten over the years. Read on for one Joe fan’s opinion.

Super Trooper frontSuper Trooper back

If I had to describe this figure in one word it would “chunky”. The character design starts out as the “best of Franken-Joe” and then adds a molded padded vest over the top which gives Super Trooper a very barrel-chested appearance. His body composition (at least according to my eyes and backed up by YoJoe.com) seems to be thus: Outback’s torso, Wet-Suit’s arms and waist, and Zandar’s legs. This combination produces a figure that is clad in a sleeveless green t-shirt, dark green pants with a gray belt and knife on his right thigh, and black boots with silver knee pads. Oddly enough, Hasbro chose not to paint every detail on Super Trooper’s arms; a quick examination of his right wrist reveals that part of Wet-Suit’s “bracelet” has been left unadorned by paint brush. The result is a very odd-looking flesh-toned protrusion that lends the semblance of a custom figure rather than something that is Hasbro-produced. Otherwise, the combination of parts work fairly well together to produce what is otherwise a very non-descript basic body. Aside from the added girth of the padded vest, this figure would have been one of the more muscular of the RAH-era Joes but he wouldn’t have been overly stocky either. His head sculpt is also a re-use—borrowed from Battle Force 2000 member Knockdown. I’ll be blunt here—it’s not one of my favorite head sculpt in all of RAH. It’s far too wide when compared to earlier head sculpts of the 80’s and it’s just… bland. I wasn’t fond of it when I first acquired Knockdown and I’m still not fond of it here. The design will rear its ugly head (pun intended) one final time in the Super Trooper repaint Rapid Fire.

Super Trooper's shield

Here’s the bit that confuses me just a bit—Super Trooper’s gear and accouterments. Normally I’d talk about his head sculpt first but it’s the accessories that are the defining characteristic of the figure. Super Trooper comes complete with a sub-machine gun (first seen with the original Dial-tone), a helmet, a large riot shield, and a hard-plastic vest. What makes all of this gear rather unique (aside from the use of the vest) is that all of it has been covered in “vac-metalized” silver paint. In other words, Super Trooper looks like someone who works at a chrome factory and who has been smuggling overstock home at night. It’s a very striking look and, aside from aside from International figures like Cobra Mortal, I can’t recall a Joe from this era that uses this much “chrome”. It’s almost as if Super Trooper were begging to be noticed which this high of a degree of reflect surface covering his body. (He’d be the ultimate weapon against light-sensitive Night Vipers, however.) It’s this fact that leads me to consider his file card a bit more than usual. His primary MOS is ‘Infantry’ and his second is ‘Public Relations’. While much of his file card details his combat qualifications, there is no actual title such as ‘Commando’, ‘First Sergeant’, ‘Communications’, etc listed on his dossier. So, in spite of his previous record and the statement that he didn’t want to be non-combat staff, I see Super Trooper as nothing more than a recruiting tool. He’s the guy who goes around to schools telling kids to eat their broccoli, go to bed early, and maybe someday they can join the army and get a shiny gun just like he did. His overall uniform is just too ‘Vegas’ for me to consider him anything else other than a media tool used to get kids excited about the armed forces. While this may fly in the face of his biographical information, it’s the only practical use I can find for him in my Joe-verse as I refuse to use him as the Joe’s answer to Captain America.

Super Trooper's gear

So, aside from being comprised of an amalgamation of previously-used Joe parts and covered in “shiny silver”, is Super Trooper worth owning? I’ll be honest—not really. Don’t get me wrong—the vac-metal finish is pretty slick in person and it really does make this figure leapt out from the figures he’s displayed with. However, it’s that ‘stand out’ quality that almost guarantees that I’ll never use him much in any of my Joe displays. I prefer GIJoe as a covert unit and having “Mac Gruff the Crime Dog” or “Woodsie the Owl” on the team just doesn’t work for me. To me, Super Trooper is reminiscent of “Mr. C” from the Sunbow animated series—he’s that larger-than-life character that will appeal directly to children. So, while I’ve got to hand it to Hasbro for the originality of the figure’s paint applications, I just don’t see him being a figure that every Joe fan needs. If you’re a completionist then you most like already own this figure. If you don’t, I wouldn’t go out of my way to snag him. The fact that he’s a mail-away figure with a single appearance pretty much guarantees that your Joe collection will get along just fine without him.

Super Trooper closeup

Super Trooper in action!

Super Trooper and Rapid Fire

Super Trooper vs. Cobra Night Watch!

Super Trooper's PSA

 

 

Copyright 2003 JoeBattlelines.com