Review by Otto "The Otter" Phillips
Pics by Otto Phillips & Fred Meyer
 

G.I. Joe Retaliation 3-pack: Cobra Invasion Team

Cobra Explosives Expert - Code name: Firefly

Cobra Invasion Team Three Pack:
Cobra Paratrooper
Firefly
Storm Shadow

The Cobra organization is made up of undisciplined mercenaries, criminals, rogues and thieves. Most are simply men and women who love to wreak havoc, cause disarray and destroy things. These people are then organized into fighting units and all that destructive potential is focused into doing Cobra’s bidding. But some people come to Cobra Commander’s attention through their actions and reputations. These people are very good at what they do and are very well paid. One such individual is the saboteur known only as Firefly.

Being my favorite baddy in the Joe-verse, they character reminds me of my favorite baddy in Star Wars; Boba Fett (how cliché, I know). Both characters are shrouded in mystery (well, up until Attack of the Clones at least), both are the consummate quiet professional and both are total bad asses.

Speaking of bad asses, let’s see exactly how bad ass this figure is. To begin with, the Retaliation Firefly that was released at the end of the Retaliation line is referred to as “Ultimate Firefly.” While that particular figure is pretty kick ass, this figure is by far the “Ultimate” version of Cobra’s saboteur, and an awesome Modern Era version of the classic 1984 version one Firefly.

The head is a nice and smooth balaclava, showing just his nicely painted eyes and eyebrows that show an apathetic expression. His body borrows heavily from the awesome 30 th Lifeline, but with a new torso in his familiar dark grey subdued urban camo. The shirt and upper sleeves have some nicely detailed pockets and I love that he has a knit turtle neck on underneath, influenced by the v1 mold. His tactical camo trousers have great detail in the slight bagginess of them as well as the wrinkles and pockets. On his right thigh, he has some non-removable tools for his trade with a working knife sheath on his right calf. His left thigh has a working pistol holster. Some paint on the straps for these thigh rigs would have been nice though. His paint is nicely done in the familiar grey with darker grey camo throughout along with a Cobra logo tampoed on the right shoulder.

The shoulders and elbows offer a nice, full range of motion and the articulated wrists add even more flexibility to the figure’s poses and there’s no hindrance from the his web gear. His knees also offer a great range of bending and the articulated ankles make for good kneeling positions.

Firefly comes with some great accessories. Starting with the web gear around his torso that is just about a perfect representation of v1’s molded torso. On the upper right are some pouches, on the upper left, four painted grenades. The lower left side has a removable, highly detailed time bomb. The belt that is attached to the bottom of the web gear also has some large pouches.

Along with the web gear, Firefly comes with a nice weapons load-out. Starting with the M-32 revolver style 40mm Multi-Grenade Launcher (MGL), a sweet little short barrel pump action shotgun that originally came with Renegades Law, a pistol (looks like a Glock) that fits nicely into the thigh holster that are all in dark green, maybe as an homage to the original. He has a couple of knives, one that goes in the sheath and one that, well, doesn’t go anywhere. The two time bombs with nicely painted details have holes on their backs, one to plug onto the front of the web gear, one that plugs on his back. He also comes with a backpack, and as compared to his previous Modern Era releases, a really boring backpack. It lacks the coolness of the gear locker style from the RoC version or even the basic pack of the 25th Anniversary figure.

If you’re a big fan of Firefly, or even just a casual fan of the character and you had to choose just one Modern Era version, this should be your choice. He is a great figure all around in his sculpt, nice looking paint application and awesome (despite the boring backpack) accessories. I couldn’t get enough of this figure. Firefly is my most photographed character, and I have many pictures of this figure. He’s fun to pose with all his great weapons.

 

 

 

 

 
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