G.I. Joe Collector's Club Figure Subscription Service 6.0

Designated Marksman – Code name: Cross Hair

The Spy Troops era of G.I. Joe was an interesting time for ‘Joe fans. The scale was edging closer to the 4” mark, sculpting and designs were getting more innovated, and a slew of new characters were introduced that enriched the franchise. One of the most beloved characters from that time period was the new ‘Joe team sniper, Cross Hair. Clad in a fabric ghillie suit and featuring removable webgear; and armed with a brand new rifle, this character was an instant fan favorite. So how does the modern version of Cross Hair hold up? Stick around and find out what Fred and I think.

(I’ll warn you all—I have a true soft spot for the new characters of this era!)

Body:  

  Cross Hair is composed of the following parts:  

• Head: 25th Dusty
• Torso, Waist, Arms: PoC Snake Eyes
• Legs: Cobra Shock Trooper

The original Cross Hair had a brand new portrait. Sadly, the Club one does not. Instead of retooling the original head to fit the new construction style, the Club falls back yet again on the Pit Commando head which is proportionately too small to be realistic, and it robs Cross Hair of his identity. This is a shame, because as you can see from my custom, the original head is correctly proportioned and could have worked perfectly if it was retooled. (Though you’ll need to paint his neck to match the darker flesh tone if you take off his neckerchief.)

Aside from the head, the PoC Snake Eyes upper body and arms, and the Shock Troops legs round out Cross Hair. Not a glamourous combination, but it works very well to harken back to his original look. This modern version also fixes a glaring oversight of the original one: moveable wrists, so now Cross Hair can actually assume a realistic firing pose with a rifle.

Fred, you are our articulation guru. How does he hold up to posing and playability?

If I’m considered a “guru” you’re all in real trouble.

I’ll be honest—I love this parts build! From a design standpoint it successfully accomplishes the objective of recreating the original Cross Hair design with 25A parts. I’m a big fan of the Pursuit of Cobra Snake Eyes body and the reuse of the upper torso here provides both a solid modern military aesthetic and functional articulation. (HINGED WRISTS!!! These should be the standard for all remaining Club figures!) The same applies for the Cobra Shock Trooper legs—they look proportionate when compared to the torso and they provide a solid range of usable articulation. In terms of parts choices, this is a near perfect build in my opinion!

Deco:

Cross Hair’s deco is clearly based on the V-1 pattern, and it is nicely captured here. He looks tactical and ready for battle. The Club also gave him an American Flag and a PoC patch.

They say that “clothes make the man” and I believe that a good color scheme can make or break a figure design. In the case of Cross Hair, the Club hit the ball right out of the park! I love the use of molded tan plastic for the upper torso. This hue, when combined with the darker olive plastic used for the legs, give the figure a very tactical modern military look. Even better, the shade of brown on both the knee pads and the included belt really adds just the right splash of color to help break up the design. Add in the molded black scarf around the figure’s neck and you have one of THE best looking FSS designs from ANY of the series thus far in my opinion.

Seriously—how can you not look at this figure and just think “wow”…

Gear:

Cross Hair comes with a deceptively large amount of accessories that when put together, actually makes his kit small and manageable:

• Accuracy International AX50 rifle w/ removable scope, mag, bipod, stock, suppressor Rifle case
• .44 Magnum Colt Anaconda revolver
• Knife  
• Boonie hat
• Webgear
• Belt
• Neckerchief
• Stand

His main weapon is a take-apart M2000 sniper rifle originally branded with 50 th Anniversary Shooter action figure. While the rifle is beautiful in design, it’s not a practical play piece because the parts will not reliably stay on unless they are glued down. A .44 revolver rounds out his backup sidearm. I’m actually not keen on the use of the .44 here, and I suspect it was only used because it was part of Kwinn’s gear that the Club replicated. (I swapped the revolver out with the Desert Eagle that came with the original Black Out. It seems more modern, and it fits the holster perfectly.)

I had similar issues with this rifle when it was packaged with Shooter. Honestly, it falls apart at anything more than a casual glance. Considering that Cross Hair is dressed for field work I’ve have almost preferred that the Club instead package him with the case and rifle from the PoC/50 th Anniversary Low-Light instead.

As for the rest of his kit, Cross Hair can wear and carry all his weapons and gear when everything is packed up, which is nice for a figure to manage.

It would have been nice if the Club would have added his signature ghillie suit, but it’s not a big deal since we can swap in the original one.

Funny thing about those ghillie suits—I still have a small pile of them left over from the GvC era. I’ll have to see if it fits on this figure.

Conclusion:

I’m a bit torn on Cross Hair. If the freshness of the Spy Troops figure was carried over here, it would be a no-brainer “Yes!” to pick up. But the tiny Pit Commando head kills the character and really ruins who he is supposed to be. Given the Club’s version has no individuality or character aside from nice looking deco, I have to say this is a skip because design-wise, he’s just a lazy custom. Had the Club used the money they saved from the Night Stalker Commander’s lack of paint application and retooled his original head, he’d be a definite buy. I was able to salvage this figure for my own satisfaction by swapping on the original head, but for those who are not so motivated or included to have to fix something right out of the package; it’s probably not worth it unless you really like his colors.

Fred, what say you?

At the end of the day, is Cross Hair a worthy addition to a modern G.I. Joe collection? I’ll wear my bias on my sleeve and just say “YES!” His parts build is great—combining form and function into a very poseable figure. His color scheme is perfect in my eyes and I even like his included kit, issues with the rifle notwithstanding. My only issue with him is that I would have liked to have see his original GvC era head repurposed but, as we saw with the FSS releases of Blackout , Barrel Roll , and even Jinx , that tactic just doesn’t always work. While his head might be a bit small, it’s not so bad that its truly off-putting. The end result is a figure that brings a new character from the GvC era firmly forward into the generation 3 construction style and I love it! (Honestly, I’d love to see Hi-Tech, Sgt. Hacker, Dart, Red Spot, and more updated but we’re running out of time here.) Cross Hair is one of my favorite FSS figures EVER and I honestly can’t recommend him enough. So, I’ll just stop gushing and give him my stamp of approval. Go out, snag this figure, and enjoy the plastic magnificence that is the FSS update of Specialist Don Fardie! Of course, that’s just this Joe fan’s opinion…