 Charbroil know why you say goodbye. I say hello. What's this? I just got sued by the Beatles Who did cover commander 788 here? This is the show where we review every vintage GI Joe toy from 1982 to 1994 every week there is a contingent of viewers that just want me to get to the review They are sick of these long intros. They would rather I just get on with it Get on with it. Yes, get on with it. You see that? That's exactly what they wish I would stop doing So this time I am going to get straight to the point this week where you're looking at an action figure That's really hot. So come on baby light my fire. What's this a cease and desist letter from the estate of Jim Morrison? Charbroil This is Charbroil GI Joe's flamethrower from 1988 This figure was introduced in 1988 and was also available in 1989. It was discontinued for 1990 There were two versions of Charbroil in the vintage line this first version from 1988 Of course and version two was in the night force set in 1989 I do not have the night force figure version two used the same mold as version one But with updated night force colors by flamethrower They mean he operates a flamethrowing weapon. The first flamethrower for GI Joe was blowtorch in 1984 Much later they got another flamethrower ice cream soldier in 1994 was a flamethrower commando Some characters were used as flamethrowers in media even though that wasn't their real job 1982 flash was given a flamethrower in the animated series He was a laser rifle trooper But since everyone in the animated series carried laser rifles his job was redundant So they gave him a flamethrower GI Joe had the 1983 pack rat flamethrower It was not a figure It was a robot but it filled the same function as blowtorch and charbroil barbecue version three from the eco warriors used a flamethrower in the comic book in issue number 130 Even though he is a firefighter. That's the opposite of his job Cobra had a few flamethrowers to in 1983 the cobra snake battle armor had a flamethrower attachment Also in 1986 the cobra battle android trooper had a flamethrower attachment for his robot arm Cobra got a dedicated flamethrower trooper with the 1991 incinerators prototype alternative codenames for charbroil included cinder high flame and bunsen as in bunsen burner The type of open flame burner used in science laboratories Charbroil is the better choice flamethrowers have been used in warfare since ancient times But they aren't used as much anymore They are subject to regulation under protocol three of the convention on certain conventional weapons Their effectiveness is questionable They require heavy tanks of fuel They have limited range and nearly everything you could do with the flamethrower Could be accomplished with something else Something more compact easier to carry and with a greater range It's surprising that a modern elite unit like gijo would use flamethrowers Sometimes they would include throwbacks to earlier eras but with a modern twist Charbroil's job is to roast enemies to death Which is one of the most painful and agonizing ways to die You know for kids Charbroil was designed by Mark Pennington for Hasbro with accessories and presentation art by Bart Sears The figure sculpture sheet was drawn by George Woodbridge Mark Pennington began doing some design work in late 1985 Finishing some revisions on designs by Ron Rudat Following that he completed some designs of his own He worked on the GI Joe brand until August 1988 Let's look at those accessories designed by Bart Spears starting with the helmet The helmet is a very tight fit It's not easy to get on or off of the figure But it can be removed and we have a helmet in silver plastic The card contents call this a thermo insulated oxygenated helmet It is made of silver hard plastic Which is why it's hard to get on and off of the figure It has red painted lenses over the eyes It looks very bug-like and menacing It almost looks supernatural The card art shows hoses that connect the helmet to the chest There's no such thing on the toy But maybe they intended to include a hose I have found some production artwork for Charbroil And can confirm the helmet was supposed to have holes That would have fit some kind of hose This is an evil villainous looking helmet It reminds me of the 1989 Frag Viper Which was another Mark Pennington design Next we get to the flamethrower itself It has a pistol grip and a foregrip And there's a black hose that connects to a hole At the bottom of the foregrip The other end runs to the backpack We'll just remove that for now This flamethrower is in silver plastic And it has some decent details The grip is kind of thick But it still fits in the figure's hand without too much trouble It has a handle on the top And it has an extension on the front That is probably for a pilot light That ignites the flammable material That shoots out of the barrel This same accessory was issued in black plastic For 1990 dial tone version 3 And in light gray plastic for 1994 ice cream soldier This accessory looks really good But it is somewhat oversized for the figure It would have been easier to use if it were smaller As it is, it's somewhat cumbersome Next we get to that hose The hose is made of a black soft flexible rubber like plastic It has ridges along the length And it has a peg on each end The peg at one end can fit in the hole on the flamethrower And the other end can fit in this hole on the backpack So you can connect the flamethrower to the fuel source on the backpack The card contents call this a flame retardant hose I think they mean the hose will protect the fuel inside from the flame Not that it's used for flame retardant chemicals This is much thicker than the usual black plastic hoses we got on GI Joe figures Do be cautious because the pegs on the tips can break off Finally we get to the backpack The card contents call this a pressurized thermochemical backpack It is in silver plastic It has lots of gauges and pipes and hoses all sculpted on It also has a lenticular 3D sticker The lenticular sticker does give a 3D effect when you turn it And it's supposed to be like a window to the inner workings of the backpack This is an exceptionally detailed backpack and large And the lenticular sticker is another bonus feature With the accessories out of the way Let's take a look at the articulation on Charbroil He had the articulation that was standard on GI Joe figures by 1988 So he could turn his head from 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 Somewhat hindered by this shoulder piece He had a hinge at the elbow so he could bend his arm at the elbow about 90 degrees He had a swivel at the bicep so he could 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 So he could move at the torso a bit He could move his legs apart about so far He could bend 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 Charbroil Starting with his head and on his head he has red hair and red eyebrows and red eyes There is a variant on Charbroil Some figures will have black eyes instead of the red And it's a good thing because the red eyes are creepy And it's annoying that they didn't bother adding the other color for the eyes This is something they did from time to time probably to cut costs It isn't so bad if the hair color is brown or black And the eyes are the same color But red hair and eyes, that just looks bad The black eye variant is not supposed to be difficult to find I have three Charbroil figures and unfortunately all of mine have the red eyes This head sculpt is very similar to 1987 Battle Force 2000 Knockdown But slightly modified It looks like they started with the knockdown head sculpt But just updated it a little bit for Charbroil On his chest he has a brown uniform with yellow pointed shoulders He has a silver chest plate with silver straps that go over the shoulders And those straps connect in the back That silver chest plate has a lot of technical gadgetry on it Like it's meant for something more than just chest protection It may be an oxygen system for the suit What exactly do these technical details do? Well, it's technical These two endents on the upper chest Look like they probably would have been for hoses to connect to the helmet But they've been filled in His arms feature long brown sleeves And on the upper arms he has yellow ridged patches He has that on both upper arms And then on the back of his right arm he has two red patches That's a detail that would be easy to miss I don't know why he would have pouches there That would be very difficult for him to reach with his left hand He has silver wristbands on each wrist And each of those has different technical details on them And he has brown gloves On his waist piece he has that same brown uniform color With an unpainted belt on the back The front of the belt is covered with small red pouches There are yellow ridged panels on the sides that go down to the legs On his legs he has that brown uniform color And he has yellow ridged panels on the outside of both upper legs He has silver knee pads that wrap around the top of the boots Looks like he has some kind of armor plating on those knee pads He has brown boots with yellow ridged panels on the back of the boots This whole look is very sci-fi The pointed yellow shoulder pads look like something out of a 50s science fiction movie If Charbroil weren't a flamethrower You could imagine him as a futuristic soldier or a laser trooper Let's take a look at Charbroil's file card The file card has his factionist G.I. Joe It has a portrait of Charbroil here His codename is Charbroil, he is the flamethrower His filename is Carl G. Shannon His primary military specialty is flame weapons specialist Secondary military specialty is small arms armorer His birthplace is Black Duck, Minnesota So he comes from a place that gets very cold in the winter And his grade is E4 This paragraph says as a childhood chore Charbroil, there's a bit of alliteration there Was made to heat the water pipes in the family basement With a blow torch to keep them from freezing and bursting in the winter As a teenager, he worked in the mills on the Great Lakes Feeding coal into blast furnaces When the recruiting sergeant asked him what type of job he was interested in He replied, what have you got with open flames? So a potential pyromaniac Let's get him on the team right away This bottom paragraph says flame weapons are scary to the max Also, grody and gnarly and gag me with a spoon To the max was a popular phrase at the time But isn't really used anymore So it makes the text seem very dated What do you think he wears that S best to suit? That tank on his back is full of jellied gasoline Know what happens if a hot tracer round hits that? You want to be standing next to him? For a flamethrower specialist, he's a pretty nice guy But with that thing on his back, he isn't going to win a popularity contest In the middle of a firefight Yes, he has to carry heavy tanks full of fuel For a weapon that has limited range And could burst into flames and kill its user So we need plenty of those on the team Looking at how Charbroil was used in G.I. Joe Media He made no appearances in the animated series that I can find He was introduced in that period Between the cancellation of the Sunbow series And the beginning of the Deke series In the comic book series published by Marvel Comics He first appeared in the regular series in issue number 80 That issue introduced a lot of new characters and vehicles Some of which were rarely seen again He was also in the special mission series issue number 21 The special mission series allowed us to see some characters That got very little use in the main series That issue follows spearhead, tunnel rat, airtight, and Charbroil In a mission through the sewers of New York City Since this is Charbroil's first time in New York He brings a guidebook for all the sites Unfortunately he's in the sewer so he doesn't really get to see them In the comic he is shown with the hoses attached to his helmet As on the card art but not on the toy Looking at Charbroil overall I have mixed feelings about this figure It is simultaneously really cool and really strange Looking at Charbroil as a single figure without context Almost everything about it is really awesome The colors go really well together The uniform has a lot of intricate details The helmet is fierce and angry looking The backpack has a 3D sticker And the flamethrower looks really futuristic In context though he sticks out He literally sticks out The pointy things on his shoulder stick out It looks kind of silly The silver details look cool but they're not very practical This is an anti-camouflage figure It's about as far from military as you can get The head sculpt is okay but not exceptional It's a modified knockdown head And knockdown was not pretty All of these things and the fact that he wasn't used much in media Is probably why he isn't remembered as well As his predecessor Blowtorch For all his high tech gear and futurism Charbroil is a throwback By the time this figure was introduced The use of flamethrowers was already out of favor Is it a problem to have a character in a children's toy line Whose job is to roast his enemies to death In early G.I. Joe the laser rifle trooper Was recast as a flamethrower With this one you could do the reverse And pretend the flamethrower is a laser That was my review of Charbroil I hope you enjoyed it If you did please give the video a thumbs up on YouTube And subscribe to the YouTube channel Once again this is a video that seemed like it was cursed This is the review I planned to do last week But then I had to delay it for unforeseen circumstances And finally it got done At some point this year one of these videos is going to go as planned You can find me on social media on Facebook and Twitter And I have a website HCC788.com If you'd like to help me make these videos go as planned You can support the channel on Patreon I really could not do these videos without the support of my friends on Patreon You can get some special perks And even get your name in videos Like the names you see scrolling on the screen right now I'll be back soon with another vintage G.I. Joe toy review Which I really hope goes the way I expected to go Tune in next week to find out I'll see you then Until then remember only G.I. Joe is G.I. Joe Would you like to host the show? Would you like to- Can I step away? You know you can just do the camera work And I can just edit How about that? Yo here I'll- You take over It's yours now No no don't go- Don't leave now It's your show All of these things And the fact that he wasn't used much in media Is probably why he isn't remembered As well as his predecessor blow s*** Let's try that again