 It's time for another vintage GI Joe toy review and this time I am redoing a review that I've already done. I do that from time to time when I think it's necessary. I'm going to look at version 1 of Destro from 1983. Now my first review of Destro was a long time ago and that review never really took off so I'm going to try again. Destro is too important a character to be ignored, one of the most important characters in all of GI Joe. So hopefully I can do a better job this time. Also a channel announcement. This channel has hit 1000 subscribers. Yeah! Everybody give yourself a hand. Really. You deserve it. Really stand up and you're living room. Right now. As you're watching this. Give yourself a hand. Me. That's you. That's you. Try it. You. You. You. You. You. So much for your support. That's why it keeps this channel going and we've got greater things to come so let's keep going. Onward and Upward. Now a lot of you saw the unboxing video that I did last week. Now that box is going to be the source of a lot of reviews but this week's review was already in the works before I got that box. So this week's review does not come from that box but next week's review should come from that unboxing as long as my plan works out. But enough about this channel. We have a figure to review so let's do it. HCC788 presents Destro. This is you already know who this is. This is Destro GI Joe's enemy weapons supplier. He was first introduced in 1983 the second year of 1980s GI Joe. He was also available in 1984 and 1985. So he was available for three years where most GI Joe action figures are only available for two years. He was discontinued for the year 1986 and was he just not weird enough for 1986 in a series that included Serpentor and Dr. Meinbender. Maybe the guy with the metal head was just too ordinary. There was a second version of Destro in 1988 and version two of Destro was the leader of the Iron Grenadiers. This one is not complete he came with a red cape that attached to this shoulder. But this Destro came with a vehicle the Dispoiler so he was also a vehicle driver. Note the difference in the head colors. And one of Destro has a shiny chrome silver head and version two of Destro has a gold head. Destro has been romantically linked to the Baroness and I think this is an excellent coupling. This is a power couple if there ever was one. That seems obvious that the name Destro is short for destroy. It's just one letter off. But another GI Joe reviewer and I think it was FormBX257 I apologize if I'm misattributing. But it was pointed out that the word Destro is Italian for right. Braccio Destro means right hand in Italian. But there doesn't seem to be anything in Destro's background that is Italian. Scottish yes but Italian no. I think this Italian reference to right and right hand is a reference to fascism. At his inception Destro may have been seen as the Mussolini to Cobra Commander's Hitler. A fellow fascist and an ally with his own agenda. Let's take a look at Destro's accessories starting with his weapon and this weapon the contents of the card on which he was packaged call this a high density laser gun. But it looks a lot like the Mauser C96 also known as the Mauser broom handle. Although this is not an exact replica of that real world weapon I do think it hearkens back to that design. If you look at early TV commercials for the Destro action figure you can see that he is carrying the weapon that later came with major blood. But I don't think this weapon was ever intended to come with Destro. If you look at early concept sketches for major blood it looks like he was always intended to come with this weapon. So that must have used this accessory just as a stand in for the commercial. Destro's next and final accessory is his backpack which the card contents call an armed attaché case. This accessory is very plain on the outside but it does open and if you just kind of pry it apart it opens up to show a lot of sculpted detail lots of sculpted in weapons in there you can see disassembled m16 over here with a couple magazines you've got a tiny pistol some grenades some knives and looks like a barrel launched grenade there lots of detail inside that backpack and in case you're wondering that pistol does fit inside the backpack and you can close it so you can store the weapon when he's not carrying it the only problem with this backpack is it's not an attaché it's a backpack if they had put a handle on here so you could carry it like a briefcase I think that would have been perfect either in addition to the backpack or instead of that it works okay as a backpack it's not that bad but an actual attaché I think would have been more appropriate for Destro let's take a look at the sculpt design and color of Destro starting with that head that crazy head and he has a vacuum metalized chrome head and that really stands out this is supposed to represent a mask that he wears. Vac metalizing is a process by which metal is evaporated in a vacuum chamber and it's used to apply a uniform coating of metal on an object such as an action figure's head. Although this mask is supposed to be metal in the G.I. Joe cartoon series when Destro spoke his lips would move which of course is impossible with a metal mask. Ron Rudette the designer for Hasbro who designed Destro said he was inspired by the man in the iron mask. Now the man in the iron mask was a real person a prisoner of King Louis XIV his true identity is unknown and the man in the iron mask later became part of a novel by Alexander Dumas. Ron Rudette has mentioned seeing the man in the iron mask on television and this is possibly a reference to the 1977 TV movie by that title starring Richard Chamberlain. The design of Destro may have been based on the man in the iron mask but the character definitely was not. Destro is not a prisoner and he is definitely no one's victim. Moving on to the chest the weirdness continues he's wearing what looks like a black leather jacket that is totally open in the front exposing a bare chest and a ruby medallion. This is very disco this is so disco I'm not sure how this ends up on an action figure. He has a single strap going down his left side that continues around to the back and it looks like he has some kind of communications device sculpted onto that strap and he has raised shoulders. The arms continue the black leather theme and on his wrist he has silver wrist braces and on his right wrist he has two red rockets and when we were playing with Destro as kids of course he was firing these rockets at everyone all the time. He has what appears to be a series of red buttons. Now I know on the card art for Destro these are drawn in as grenades but these do not look like grenades on the action figure they look more like buttons. Destro's gloves also appear to be armored. His waist piece is also black and pretty plain other than a moderately detailed belt. His legs are also black and on his right leg he has a red holster presumably for his pistol but it doesn't look like the pistol would fit to me. On his left leg he has this flair so it appears he's wearing jodpers. Jodpers are trousers designed for horse back riding and they were often worn by military officers in World War II. On his feet he has what I would describe as jack boots. Specifically cavalry jack boots which were worn by postilians who were drivers of horse drawn coaches. Jack boots are often associated with the Nazis but the type of jack boots the Nazis wore were a different type. They were the hobnailed jack boot and those are designed for marching. Destro is a very tall action figure he is taller than the average GI Joe action figure and they did not do that very often. Comparing him to an average height action figure like airborne here Destro is half a head taller so as an action figure he is designed to be physically imposing. Let's take a look at Destro's file card. Now this file card was printed on the back of the card on which he was packaged. You can see some of the artwork from the front of the card there. It has his faction as GI Joe which is a wrong. He was not necessarily an officer of Cobra. He was more of an independent operator but he was definitely not a member of GI Joe. Later Destro file cards would change this and it would have his faction as Cobra. We have a portrait of Destro here. We have his specialty as enemy weapon supplier codename Destro. His file name is unknown but I guess in later GI Joe lore he was given a name James McCullen Destro the 24th and I'm not sure I like it. His birthplace is unknown but we later learned that he is Scottish. This section says Destro is the faceless power behind Mars in parentheses military armaments research system largest manufacturer of state of the art weaponry. To Destro war is man's most natural state. The fittest survive and the greatest technological advances are made. He maintains a luxurious lifestyle around the world. Destro provides high tech arms to any side able to meet his price and will incite war where it does not exist. He dons his silver battle mask a family tradition and enters battle himself either with Cobra command in parentheses Destro is their major weapon supplier or against them if it's better for business. Where it says the fittest survive is an allusion to social Darwinism and this mention of Mars creates a new organization another player in the GI Joe universe. This bottom section says Destro respects the GI Joe team for their combat skills and expertise but abhors them for wasting such skills to maintain peace. He's totally dedicated to seeing them undermined subverted or destroyed. Destro is painted as cynical and self-serving but with a code of honor. Notice Destro's inverted morality here. GI Joe would consider their desire to maintain peace as a virtue and their combat skills as a necessary evil to serve the greater good but for Destro it's reversed and their desire to maintain peace is useless and their combat skills are their true virtue. Destro appeared many times in GI Joe media in the GI Joe cartoon series he appeared in the very first episode of the very first miniseries A Real American Hero in 1983. In the cartoon series Destro is often depicted as the brains of the operation and is often frustrated by Cobra Commander's ineptitude. In the GI Joe cartoon Destro collaborated with Dr. Meinbender to create Serpentor the Cobra Emperor that would depose Cobra Commander as the leader of Cobra. This relationship is also reflected on Serpentor's file card where it refers to a secret cabal of Cobra scientists under the direction of the interrogator meeting Dr. Meinbender and Destro. In the GI Joe comic book Destro was not in the first few issues but the comic book started before the cartoon series and Destro was not released until the second year. Destro was introduced in the comic book in issue number 11 but he was only shown in shadow he was not fully revealed and issue number 11 of the comic book is a legendary issue it introduced a lot of new characters for 1983 including snow job, dock, gung-ho and airborne. Destro was fully revealed on the cover of issue number 14. Later of course Destro was the leader of the iron grenadiers which was a private army and another adversary for GI Joe and for Cobra too. The iron grenadiers intervened in the Cobra civil war for the sole purpose of rescuing the Baroness. Destro is also shown to have a personal fortress in Scotland Castle Destro and it is featured in the comic book entitled assault on Castle Destro that's comic book issue number 87. Who is Destro's main rival on GI Joe? Well maybe that would be Hawk but only because they got in a fist fight once. I really think Destro's main rival is not anyone on GI Joe I think Destro's rival is Cobra although it's not explicitly stated I believe Destro was the designer of the early Cobra vehicles such as the his tank and the fang helicopter both of which have futuristic designs and they are black as they should be. Cobra weapons and vehicles always tended to have an experimental look to them and that works better for me than when GI Joe vehicles that have that look but I always consider Destro to be the source of those designs. Later Dr. Meinbender somewhat took over that role as the inventor of the battle android troopers and the Cobra Hydro sled. In the GI Joe comic book Destro and the Baroness have pre-Cobra history and the Baroness had split loyalties between Destro and Cobra Commander. Destro is known for his Machiavellian machinations to empower himself and overthrow Cobra Commander he even tried to lure Cobra Commander into a trap where he would be killed by GI Joe. I think the insertion of Destro into the comic book makes Cobra out to be the kind of sinister underground organization that it should be where everyone is trying to serve their own self-interest. Just look at how the comic book unfolded in the first few years. Cobra Commander built the organization and the Baroness has split loyalties between Cobra Commander and Destro and Destro is trying to undermine Cobra Commander from the very beginning. Meanwhile the Baroness is porking Destro you know that's happening. Destro tries to lure Cobra Commander into a trap and then saves Cobra Commander when he realizes that he had also entrapped the Baroness. Cobra Commander uses Major Blood to try to assassinate Destro he fails but almost kills the Baroness in the process. Major Blood saves the Baroness and then Major Blood and the Baroness try to assassinate Cobra Commander only to have him saved by Destro. I think you can see how characters like Destro add a lot of depth to GI Joe. I mean Cobra could be just some faceless organization that GI Joe defeats every week or every month but instead there's a lot more to it. I think it also shows why it's difficult to run an organization that is founded on greed ambition and ruthlessness and that's why I think GI Joe defeats Cobra not because Cobra Commander is inept but because nobody in the command structure is really a team player they are all looking out for number one. Taking a look at Destro overall this figure is supremely weird. I know I use that word a lot but what other word can I use? He's got a metal head, an open collar, a medallion. He looks like a cross between C-3PO and Disco Godfather and yet somehow he works. It's impossible to explain why. It's ineffable. I prefer realistic military figures for GI Joe but for enemy figures that is a bit more room for fantasy. I think that provides a contrast between the heroes and the villains but that leeway only stretches so far before we get into the realm of absurdity. I think Destro approaches that line but stays just on this side of it. One of the reasons the weirdness is forgivable for Destro is the strength of the character. The character of Destro is rich in depth and motivation. He sees himself as the natural leader of Cobra and he's a man who understands power. Can a figure this strange be a top tier figure? I think so but just barely. That back medallized chrome head is definitely a deluxe feature but other than that the figure is mostly just black with few painted details. But the character of Destro is so important that the figure is almost immune from criticism. If you write a character well much can be forgiven. If you think this version of Destro is too weird you may prefer version two of Destro the gold head Destro which is less disco and more sci-fi military. That was my review of version one of Destro. I hope I did it right this time. If you liked it make sure you thumbs up on YouTube, subscribe on YouTube, like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter. That's what keeps this channel going and why not share this video and help this channel grow. I'm going to try to make next week's review something special so stay tuned and remember only G.I. Joe is G.I. Joe.