 We looked at the original low-light action figure three years ago I thought the first version of low light was a top-tier figure the second version of low light was mostly the same as the first Then something remarkable happened low light grew a beard and he dyed his hair and his beard black and His head became a different shape and his facial features were totally different I didn't know growing a beard and changing your hair color could transform you into a completely different person But there's one way to find out if it's possible I got a bottle of beard dye the same color low light used it is just for men Take note ladies. I am going to apply this to my beard and we'll just see what happens I'm just gonna put this on my beard and we're gonna They hear it's time for another vintage GI Joe Toyer of you But first I need to give a code name to a new patron You may have seen Rezekai chatting in the weekly live stream. Well, now he needs a code name Rezekai your code name will be four seconds of silence That's right. Your code name is Now remember every time a person is silent for four seconds. It means they are saying your name Thank you for your support This week's review is improvised I did have low light version 3 on the schedule, but it didn't plan to review that figure until later I had planned to review a different figure for this week, but one piece I needed for that review didn't come in on time. I had to change plans But that doesn't bother me because this is a cool figure and I'm happy to review it But is this even low light? I've talked about this before this third version of low light looks nothing like the first version And this isn't the only time Hasbro did this Releasing a later version of a character that looked nothing like the earlier versions I even have a hard time calling this guy low light. This looks like a new character But for some reason they wanted this to be an updated low light and I think that might have been a mistake So let's see if growing a beard and dyeing your hair black will make you look like a completely different person HCC 788 presents version 3 of low light This is low light version 3 G.I. Joe's night fighter from 1991 this figure was available in 1991 only it was discontinued for 1992. This is the third version of low light the first version was from 1986 the second version was from 1989 that was the slaughter's Marauder's low light That second version reused the mold from the first version. They just changed the colors in 1991 We got version 3 of low light with an all-new sculpt and accessories We got a fourth version of low light based on the third version in 1993 That was the dino hunters low light. That's right. G.I. Joe had dinosaurs Version 3 of low light is called a night fighter as noted on his file card Version 1 and version 2 of low light were referred to as a night spotter Based on his equipment though He was a sniper even if he wasn't called that he had a sniper rifle with a big Starlight scope based on his file card version 3 of low light should still be a sniper But his equipment has changed in some important ways version 4 of low light from 1993 calls him a Dinosaur night spotter. I'm just not even gonna comment on that right now G.I. Joe's first sniper was snow job though He was primarily an arctic trooper Hasbro seemed to have an aversion to designating a character as a sniper Maybe they didn't think sneaking up on people and shooting them from a distance was a very G.I. Joe like Specialty, but a sniper would be an asset to the team G.I. Joe did have snipers and I don't think they should have shied away from calling them that in 1988 in 1989 G.I. Joe had a team of night fighting specialists night force night force consisted of Recolored re-releases of earlier figures. There wasn't anything new in night force Just old figures and vehicles recolored for night missions The series was exclusive to toys are us based on his specialty You would think low lights primary role was to go on night missions and his sniper role was secondary But they didn't really commit to the night fighting specialty either low light was not in night force Even though he would have been a perfect fit Instead his first version figure was recolored and included in slaughter's marauders low light version 3 fits Well with night force if you're assembling your own team You could include him low light version 1 and version 3 share no parts between them But the most noteworthy difference between version 1 and version 3 is the hair color low light originally had blonde hair Now he has black hair and the beard that's kind of strange Maybe he was going through a goth phase a change of hair color wouldn't be the worst thing But the head sculpt for version 3 looks nothing like version 1 the head is a totally different shape This does not look like the same guy. In fact, I don't think this is the same guy I think this figure should have been a new character It's like they think they can totally change the way a character looks and no one will notice in 1993 Low light must have gotten past this goth phase because he switched his hair color back to blonde for dino hunters But blonde or not the new sculpt still has a different shaped head and different features This isn't the first time GI Joe has drastically changed the face and hair color of a figure between the first version and a later version Some prime examples include grunt hawk and Duke who either had totally different faces in later versions or Different hair colors or both one example of a big change between version 1 of a figure and a later version of the figure That is done. Well is 1987's Mercer version 1 and 1991's Mercer version 2 here we can see Mercer has a beard in version 2 But he has the same hair color and although his features are a little different They're not so drastically different that you couldn't imagine this as the same person Just a couple years older and with a different hairstyle and a beard low lights counterpart in Cobra would probably be the 1989 night viper even though these figures were not on the shelves at the same time They complement each other well both in their mission and their equipment Let's take a look at low lights accessories starting with his primary weapon, which the card contents simply call a gun It looks like a submachine gun with a folding stock and a suppressor and a large scope on it I assume this is a night vision scope. It looks a bit different from these starlight scopes We've had before the weapon is in all black plastic and that is perfectly Appropriate for low light. I don't know if this is based on a real-world weapon or not But it does not look like a sniper rifle. In fact, it doesn't look like it would work as a sniper rifle at all No bipod a magazine in the grip and an uncomfortable looking folding stock But it does have a big scope compare this to the rifle that came with version 1 and with version 2 Which was a proper sniper rifle the file card does still hint at low lights sniper role So it's surprising they didn't give him a weapon that complimented that next Let's look at the helmet and the helmet is a doozy It is large it is black and attached to the large black helmet There is a large black visor with a red eyepiece and that visor can flip up And it can flip down over the figure's eyes. This is presumably a night vision system It's nice to get a paint application on the accessory We didn't get a lot of paint application on GI Joe accessories But it is very large and perhaps a bit oversized for the figure both the helmet and the visor are in hard Plastic so it can be a tight fit and you do risk scraping the paint off of the head by taking the helmet off and putting it back on And the visor again is in that hard plastic It's attached to the helmet on a couple of pegs and it is hinged The helmet itself does have a strap molded into the back. I do like that. That's a nice touch You can remove that visor Carefully remembering it is hard plastic so it could break It fits on these two very small knobs on the sides of the helmet And you do risk breaking the visor or the helmet by taking the visor off So I would just leave the visor on that is not something that you really need to remove Really interesting helmet I do like the helmet even though it is a bit oversized having the red across low lights Eyes is a bit of a callback to the version one figure who had sculpted on a red night adapter goggles So this is the part of version three that most reminds me of low light The next accessory is the backpack. It is a large black backpack And that's another bit of a callback to the version one figure which also came with a large black backpack However, the version three backpack has a lot more to it. It has two Removable pieces the backpack itself has a lot going for it. It has three grenades Sculpted on it has a canteen and numerous pouches and straps Really nice looking then on the side it has attached a black knife, which can be removed We've seen backpacks with removable knives and swords for GI Joe before and I always love them I think that's a great feature the knife will fit in the action figures hand and that looks really good at the time This was a unique accessory to low light It should not be confused with the black knife that came with 1987 Falcon and the black knife that came with 1989 night force shockwave They are similar, but not the same knife The other removable accessory on this backpack is this flashlight when attached to the backpack is directly over low lights Right shoulder so it can work as a hands-free flashlight and it can be removed Not only can it be removed it can also fit in the action figures hand and that is something special We have had other flashlights in GI Joe before But this is the first one that will actually fit in the action figures hand and can be held by the figure earlier examples of GI Joe flashlights included 1987 tunnel rat and 1987 outback tunnel rat had two flashlights that attached to his backpack similar to low light and outback had a flashlight that attached to his leg all of those flashlights were Removable, but they would not fit in the action figures hands which kind of defeated their purpose It is really nice after all this time to have a removable flashlight that a figure can actually hold Big bonus to low light with the accessories out of the way Let's take a look at the articulation on low light He had the articulation that was standard for GI Joe figures well before 1991 So he could turn his head left to right and look up and down He could swing his arm up at the shoulder and swivel at the shoulder all the way around He had a hinge at the elbow that allowed him to bend his arm at the elbow about 90 degrees He had a swivel at the bicep that allowed him to swivel his arm all the way around This was an o-ring figure meaning the figure was held together with a rubber o-ring that looped around the inside That allowed him to move at the torso a bit. He could move his legs apart about so far He had bent his leg at the hip about 90 degrees and bend at the knee about 90 degrees Let's take a look at the sculpt design and color of low light starting with his head and his head has a black hair and A black beard and he has black face camouflage on it. That's a very nice touch I think that is appropriate for low light It may be black face camouflage or maybe he just got a little careless when he was dyeing his hair once again This is a vast difference between version one Not just the hair color not just the beard, but he has a totally different shaped face He has different features. I like the head sculpt on version three. I think it's great But this is just not low light imagine if this figure was not called low light Would you imagine this is the same guy that was introduced in 1986? I kind of wish it was a different character because I want this guy to work together with low light on his chest We have a gray texture vest over a brown shirt that vest has a very fine Lattice texture on it like in netting and over the gray vest. We have load-bearing equipment We have straps that go over his shoulders and under his arms and then straps that go across his chest and across his back and there seems to be something on the strap that goes across his chest But I can't quite make out what that's supposed to be. I struggled with what to call the color of these straps I originally called them teal, but under the lights and the camera. They seem to have a slightly bluer tint But I'm still gonna go with teal. That's the closest color match to my eye as for this gray vest It does look a bit like netting and on the card art It looks like it is supposed to be a thin net covering over a brown shirt But I don't really like the idea that this is just some netting over his brown shirt I like the idea that it is some kind of tactical vest with this texture pattern on it This could be a net vest that low light uses to place leaves and foliage for Camouflage when he's on sniping missions. I could see it used for that his arms feature brown rolled up sleeves And on his right shoulder, there is a yellow patch Tampo I did try to identify a real-world patch that this might be based on but I wasn't quite able to find an exact match So if you have an idea of what this patch might be based on please leave a comment I would like to know moving down his arms. He has more of that gray netting on his forearms and he has bare hands I do like the gray with the brown. I think those colors complement each other very well on his waist piece He has a base black color with teal belts He has a teal belt and then criss-crossed belts that go around his butt and across the front and those attached to the holsters on his legs and on his legs He has black trousers and he has a teal pistol and pistol holster on each leg So he has two pistol holsters and straps that go up to his waist piece That doesn't look too bad on the black trousers on the right leg He has some kind of a detail there on the front of his leg Then he has teal knee pads, but not the cool raised knee pads that I usually like It's just knee pads kind of painted over his knees Unfortunately, they did not paint the hinge on the lower leg So when he bends his leg you can see that black hinge against the teal knee pad And that just looks kind of awkward and pretty ugly moving down his legs We have more of those black trousers and black boots He has a teal knife strapped around his right ankle and he has zippers on the front of his trouser legs Overall not too bad a reasonable amount of detail and the colors are really not bad for low light specialty Although I like low light as a sniper this figure seems to emphasize his night fighting role The dark colors are reasonable for night missions and he has black face camouflage And his equipment serves that purpose pretty well That's why I think this figure complements rather than replaces the original low light figure I think these guys would work great together with low light as the sniper and this other guy as his backup I put this question to the internet If this version 3 of low light were to be a new character, what would his code name be? Let's take a look at low lights file card. His file card has his faction as gi joe There's a portrait of low light here and the artwork on the card shows the helmet at a much more Reasonable size than the figure his code name is low light with a hyphen. He is the night fighter His file name is cooper g mcbryde primary military specialty is infantry 11b And that is the proper mos for infantry secondary military specialty is sharpshooter Birthplace is cross b north dakota his greatest e6 staff sergeant This is all very similar to the version 1 file card Except the secondary military specialty was marksmanship instructor Instead of sharpshooter and somehow between version 1 and version 3 The serial number changed this happened on gi joe file cards all the time. I always thought it was weird But I never needed an in-universe explanation for it But they gave us one anyway after the serial number There is an asterisk on the version 3 file card and then down at the bottom It says low light security number has been specially modified to prevent breaches in gi joe security So they actually explained in-universe why the serial number changed and I guess that's nice But is that explanation really important because I kind of think it isn't this version 3 file card has more Information than the version 1 file card. It says he's a qualified expert in the m16 a2 5.56 millimeter rifle the m16 a2 is a real weapon It's an update of the m16 that was adopted by the marines and the u.s. Army in the 1980s He's also a qualified expert with the m24 7.62. I think that means millimeter sniper rifle Again solidifying his sniper role and finally the m19 11 a1 45 automatic pistol This is the classic colt 45 caliber pistol that was used by the u.s. Army for a long time Unfortunately, it does not say he's a qualified expert with whatever this weird gun is that he comes with License to operate hammer avalanche general. These are gi joe vehicles This is a cross cell for some of the vehicles that was new in the 1990s They didn't really do that in the 80s unless this was a vehicle driver that came with that vehicle Of these three vehicles though only the general was still available in 1991 The other two were 1990 only vehicles moving on to the narrative We have a paragraph here that says Totally proficient in the use and maintenance of all third generation image intensifiers and parentheses starlight scopes infrared Metascopes and thermal imaging devices low light takes complete command of the darkness His passive night sights are augmented by seismic and magnetic intrusion detectors Giving him a clear indication of threats out to 600 meters and all without revealing his own position This first paragraph is entirely focused on low lights night fighting purpose We have a second paragraph with a quote It says it could be a moonless night under triple canopy jungle the very air so dark You can hold your hand in front of your face and not know how many fingers you have up You close your eyes and open them again and there's no difference Suddenly you hear something or somebody moving out in the bush creeping towards you But you're not worried because you know that low light is out there too And unlike whoever is sneaking up on you low light doesn't make mistakes Again totally focused on low lights proficiency at fighting at night Not as a sniper the version 3 file card is not incompatible or inconsistent with the version 1 file card Just more emphasis on his ability to fight at night In some ways it might be better. It has a little more information than the version 1 file card does The version 1 file card talks more about low lights childhood There is another version of low lights file card in the comic book g i joe order of battle issue number one This comic book mini series mainly just reprinted the text of the g i joe file cards But the entry for low light on the very last page of the first issue Is different from the file card that came with the figure this paragraph tells a different story This first paragraph on the file card tells a story from low lights childhood About how he was afraid of the dark timid around animals and shy of loud noises until he got lost on a hunting trip He was found three weeks later with a flashlight a 22 rifle and a grin from ear to ear So I guess that cured him of his fear of the dark the order of battle entry tells a different story He was still afraid of the dark and timid of animals and so forth But in this version his father forced him to stay overnight at the county dump with a 22 rifle And he could not come home without 20 dead rats It's this 20 dead rats story that influenced low lights appearance in the animated series Looking at how low light was used in g i joe media He first appeared in the animated series in the episode arise serpent or arise part one In the animated series low light got some good character development in the animated series It's revealed that low light has been plagued with nightmares since he was a child He doesn't really like the dark despite his specialty The source of his nightmares appears to be the strict upbringing described on the file card It specifically references the 20 dead rats story from order of battle It makes me wonder if low lights father was abusive He seems to have a lot more trauma than would be explained by one night at the city dump with a 22 rifle It implies there's more trauma at the hands of his father I appreciate the extra dimension added to his personality by the animated series It's well done in the deke animated series. He appeared in his version two slaughters marauders uniform He exposed scoop as a spy for cobra. I like low light as the skeptic He is not easily fooled. He did appear in the deke animated series in his version three uniform With the color change and the beard looking totally different from his earlier appearances in the deke animated series He had the most screen time in the episode night of the creepers Looking at his appearances in the comic book series published by marvel comics He first appeared in issue number 55 with the team of joes on a mission in sierra gordo He made a few appearances later as a background character But he didn't get a lot of use in the main gi joe comic book series He appeared in his version three uniform in issue number 116 He was with a team of joes Surveying destros castle in scotland There is no explanation for his hair color change in the comic book Although he was never a major character in the main marvel comics series He had better turns in the special missions series He was on the cover of special missions number eight and he was an important part of that story He was also in special missions number 11, but he was not the main focus of that story There is an oddity in the marvel comics era in marvel age issue number 34 low light has a brief profile along with some other new joes But they use different colors for him looking at low light version three overall. I think it's great I love the figure, but there's no reason for this to be low light. This should be low lights teammate This figure should complement rather than replace earlier versions of low light. The colors are great They are nicely subdued for night missions I think the gray looks really good But I choose not to interpret it as a light netting as seen on the card art Instead, I think it looks like a tactical vest with a net covering So you can attach grenades and pockets and other equipment and maybe stick some leaves in there for camouflage The accessories are top notch the helmet is a little oversized But it has a cool visor The gun is not a sniper rifle, but it still looks pretty cool The backpack was the removable flashlight and knife That's all superb and the flashlight fits in the figure's hand Why couldn't we have had that with earlier flashlights? Yes, the change of the look of the character bothers me But it doesn't bother me too much because I think the figure looks so cool But is this really low light? I don't think so Maybe that's why they had to change the serial number because this really isn't the same guy Low light is an interesting character He got a bit more development in the animated series than he did in the comic book Between the cartoon and the file card We have a window into low light's childhood and his psyche For a non-core character. He's surprisingly well developed. It's a top tier figure It's a gem from the 90s and it is not low light We need to give this guy a name, so please comment on this video with your ideas for a code name for this guy That was my review of low light version 3. I hope you enjoyed it I was a bit surprised to review this figure this week, but it was still fun. Next week I will be doing the review I expected to do this week. So tune in for that I would love to meet you in person at joe fest in august to georgia june 21st and 22nd 2019 If you like gi joe and you'd like to see more of these videos Please consider subscribing to the youtube channel and hitting the notification bell And giving this video a thumbs up on youtube and sharing it with your friends You can find me on social media on facebook and twitter and I have a website hcc788.com Thank you to all my patrons who make these videos possible and special thanks to I really could not do these videos without their help If you like these videos and you'd like to support the channel in that way, please check out my patreon You can find out how to decode the secret messages you see in these videos You could even find out how to get your own special code name announced by me in a video I am really excited about next week's video because I really wanted to do it this week So finally I will get to it. I hope to see you there until then always remember only gi joe is gi joe It's like they think they can totally change the way a character looks and no one will notice