 It's time to look at the Dreadnocks again. The Dreadnocks love destroying things. This Australian motorcycle gang has an appetite for destruction. If G.I. Joe thought Cobra was dangerous, they are in for a shock when they encounter the Dreadnocks. The Dreadnocks don't want to take over the world. They want to watch the world burn. Hello everybody hooded Cobra Commander 788 here. This is the show where we review every vintage G.I. Joe toy from 1982 to 1994. I'd like to start by thanking a new patron. Thank you to our men Nakashian for adding your support. I can only continue doing these videos with the support of my friends on Patreon. If you'd like to support the channel, that's a great way to do it. This year I have been revisiting the original three Dreadnocks. We already looked at my favorite, Buzzer. Now it's time to look at Ripper. Ripper may be the most dreadnockiest of Dreadnocks. He is ugly, he is dangerous, he is dedicated to mayhem and destruction. Ripper, along with his compatriots Buzzer and Torch, added a non-military element to the mostly military G.I. Joe toy line. They could also be considered the first sub-team in the series. They mostly worked for Cobra, but they were independent contractors under the leadership of Zartan. The first three Dreadnocks are well remembered, but do their vintage figures still hold up? Let's find out by ripping through a new review of Ripper. This is Ripper, the Dreadnock from 1985. This figure was released in 1985. It was also available in 1986. It was discontinued for 1987. It was available at some point through Hasbro Direct, but I haven't been able to pinpoint exactly when. This is the only version of Ripper from the vintage era. Ripper was made from all original parts. Ripper was among the first three Dreadnocks introduced in 1985, along with Buzzer and Torch. They were a motorcycle gang inspired by the post-apocalyptic Mad Max movies. Ripper was designed by Ron Rudat for Hasbro. Larry Hama, the comic book writer who wrote the G.I. Joe comic book series and the file cards for the action figures, has shared a story about Hasbro planning to introduce Ewok-like creatures for G.I. Joe because of the popularity of Star Wars Return of the Jedi. Larry thought that was a terrible idea, so he pitched the idea of an Australian biker gang instead. The Dreadnocks introduced a non-military element to G.I. Joe, but they were still somewhat grounded in the real world since biker gangs really exist. The Dreadnocks were led by Zartan, the master of disguise released in 1984. There were a lot of Dreadnocks in the subsequent years. Of course, there was Buzzer, Ripper, and Torch in 1985. 1986 introduced Monkey Wrench, Zartan's brother and sister Xandar and Zarena, and the Thunder Machine Driver Thrasher. 1987 introduced Zanzibar, the Dreadnock pirate and air skiff driver. 1988 introduced Road Pig, and 1989 introduced Nogahide. Nogahide was the final new Dreadnock character introduced in the vintage era. Road Pig was the rare Dreadnock to get a second version. He was part of the Super Sonic Fighters subset in 1992. Zartan also got a second version in 1993 as part of the Ninja Force subset. It's well known that the Dreadnocks, despite being a motorcycle gang, did not include proper motorcycles. A few years ago, I got these cheap 1.18 scale motorcycles that I used for the Dreadnocks. They don't work great. The vintage figures don't fit on them very well, but it's better than putting them all on swamp skiers or ATVs. There were a few post-vintage versions of Ripper. I have a couple of them here, so let's take a look at them and see how this figure was updated to bring him into the modern era. This is Ripper version 5 from 2005. He was in a comic book 3-pack with Thrasher and Buzzer. The body of this figure uses the same parts as version 1, but he has a different head, a smaller head that is more in proportion to his body. He was released as a 25th anniversary figure. This is Ripper version 6 from 2008. This is a fully modern figure with updated sculpting and articulation. He was released in a comic book 2-pack with Torch. We will talk about the vintage accessories momentarily, but the power jaws for this figure are articulated. The vintage power jaws were not. For some reason Torch has Ripper's rifle that definitely belongs to Ripper. Let's look at Ripper's vintage accessories. Starting with his primary weapon, the card contents call this an assault rifle with metal splitter. It is in silver plastic. It is a generic assault rifle design with a scope and it has a large blade attached like a bayonet. Ripper was the only one of the original three dread knocks to include a firearm, but it was mostly used for the blade. I say this is a generic assault rifle design, but I should amend that. The base rifle is modeled after the laser rifle that was included with 1983's snow job. This is probably the second most famous dread knock weapon after Buzzer's chainsaw. Ripper's next accessory is the power jaws with hydraulic hose. The hydraulic hose pegs onto the power jaws accessory that can be removed. We'll take that off the peg and we'll look at that in a moment, but let's take a look at the power jaws. These power jaws are in silver plastic. It's one single solid plastic piece. This is not articulated. The power jaws have a couple grips and on the top there is a peg for that hydraulic hose. It is hollow on the backside. These power jaws are modeled after the jaws of life, which is a hydraulic rescue tool designed to pry apart metal doors so victims of car wrecks can be extricated. That hydraulic hose is a black soft plastic hose that connects on one end to the power jaws and on the other end it connects to a peg on the back of the backpack. I don't know the exact length of the hose, so I can't vouch that this is exactly the one included with Ripper. The black hoses were generic and released with a lot of GI Joe figures and they had varying lengths. Finally we get to the backpack. The card contents call this a power pack with frame. The backpack is in silver plastic. It is a two piece backpack. The main part of the backpack is an engine for the power jaws. There is a frame attached to it that can be removed but I don't like to remove it because it does clip on pretty solidly. The backpack has some excellent engine detail and of course the peg for the hydraulic hose. The frame has a couple hooks, one on each side. You could attach that hydraulic hose to the hooks or you could use one of those hooks to attach the power jaws. Let's take a look at Ripper's articulation. He did not have the articulation that was standard for GI Joe figures by 1985. All three of the original dread knocks had swivel heads. They did not have the ball jointed heads that became standard in 1985. That suggests they were designed earlier. He could turn his head from left to right. He could lift 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 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 sculpted design and color of Ripper starting with his head. His head is wide and angular. He has an ugly face. He has a black beard and hair. His hair is styled as a mohawk. He has red glasses. Ripper literally looks at the world through rose colored glasses, so it's surprising he doesn't have a more sunny disposition. Look at that face. Look at all the wrinkles. Look at the beard and the hair. Ripper may be the most dreadnockest of dreadnocks. Moving on to the torso, Ripper has a shredded green shirt. The arms are ripped off and the bottom half of the shirt is ripped off to show his abs. The shirt is in an olive green color with a dark green camouflage pattern. Around his neck he has a necklace that is bronze in color and it has some shards, perhaps metal shards, perhaps shrapnel that he turned into a necklace. On the right side of the chest there are two grenades, very small grenades. These are way out of scale. These are like golf ball sized grenades. On the left side of the chest there is an olive green strap that goes over the left shoulder. That detail is continued to the back. On the front of the strap there is an olive green knife with a knuckle guard. On the front that strap does not continue down to the belt. That doesn't look right. The torso has some good elements like the well sculpted shredded shirt, but it also has some problems like the undersized grenades and the knife that's not painted a different color so it kind of blends in with the shirt. And the strap that doesn't continue down to the belt. His arms are bare. He has a bronze ring around his right bicep. His arms are very slightly more muscular than average GI Joe arms. He has rings on both hands. On his waist he has light blue dungarees. I guess we know what side he's on in the war between the dungarees versus the suits. He has a black belt with a belt buckle and not much other detail. His legs are light blue. On his right leg he has a black pistol holster with a strap that goes around the right leg. No other detail on the left leg other than some cloth folds. In that pistol holster there is a pistol that is unpainted so it is the same color as his trousers. That does not look right. The bottom of his trousers are ripped and he has tall black biker boots with stirrups. They are well sculpted biker boots. They look good. The legs are almost good but the unpainted pistol is a problem. If they had not masked off the pistol and just painted it black like the holster it would have been fine. As it is it's an unpainted detail and looks a bit cheap. The boots look good though. Let's take a look at Ripper's file card. His file card has his faction as the enemy and that is correct. The dread knocks often worked with Cobra but they were not agents of Cobra. They were independent. There is a portrait of Ripper. He is the dreadknock codename Ripper. His file name is Harry Nod. There is a bit of a joke with the names on these file cards. If you put the three dreadknock file cards together their first names are Tom, Dick and Harry. And their last names are Winkin, Blinken and Nod. What is less known is their middle names are Groucho, Harpo and Chico. Ripper's place of birth is Grim Cape Tasmania which is a real place sort of. The real place is Cape Grim or Kennauk which is the northwestern point of Tasmania, Australia. This is probably a reference to the Tasmanian Devil which is a real animal and a cartoon character. This top paragraph says there are devils in Tasmania and Ripper is probably the meanest of them all. He was expelled from nursery school for extorting candy from his schoolmates and spent most of his adult life in various correctional institutions. He is a professional criminal motivated by greed and a malignant dislike for the niceties of civilization except for motorcycles. There is a variation of this file card that leaves off this line except for motorcycles. What this is saying is Ripper was born bad and never got better. This bottom paragraph says specialty and M.O. M.O. has an asterisk. It means modus operandi. His M.O. is edged weapons and cutting tools. Is known throughout the swamps for using his blade like a cross between a fireman's axe and a can opener to unlock gates and crack safes. This reference to the swamps is an allusion to Zartan. That figure included a swamp skier so the Dreadnock's backstory was folded into Zartan's swamp environment. And how Ripper was used in G.I. Joe Media in the animated series he first appeared in Revenge of Cobra Part 1 along with the other Dreadnocks. He was part of the rescue of Cobra Commander. Like the other Dreadnocks he wrote a chameleon swamp skier. Ripper was voiced by Chris Lotta who voiced a lot of characters in the G.I. Joe animated series including Cobra Commander. Chris Lotta's choice of voices for Ripper was surprising. The most famous appearance of the Dreadnocks is of course Cold Slyther. In that episode Cobra Commander cracks a plan to use subliminal mind control through rock and roll music to take over the world. The Dreadnocks made up the band Cold Slyther. Not only was it the name of the band it was the name of apparently their only song. Ripper played keyboard. You know if Cobra had just marketed Cold Slyther as a real band they wouldn't have needed subliminal mind control. They would have made a lot of money touring and selling albums. The Joe on Joe podcast did a great episode of behind the music featuring Cold Slyther. You should check it out. In the G.I. Joe comic book series published by Marvel Comics he first appeared in issue number 25 with the other Dreadnocks. But he didn't have a lot to do in that issue. The Dreadnocks got their first real spotlight in issue number 30. Ripper cut the fence around McWire Air Force Base in preparation for Cobra's attack on the base. In true Dreadnock fashion they couldn't help themselves from entering the base and wrecking government equipment and vehicles. The Dreadnocks had a lot of great appearances in the comic book series but they mostly faded away late in the series. Zarena, Zartan and Road Pig carried on in the series. Ripper's last appearance was in issue number 98 and it wasn't even a very good appearance. His face was partially covered by a crimson guards weapon. Looking at Ripper overall I have to admit this is my least favorite of the original three Dreadnocks. There are some good ideas behind this figure but the execution drags it down a bit. The face is grizzled and ugly as a Dreadnock should be. But the head is a bit too big and out of scale for his body. The ripped shirt is sufficiently grungy but the tiny grenades and the same colored knife make it seem a little low effort. The arms are mostly plain but the rings on the fingers are a surprising extra detail. The light blue dungarees are perfect. The unpainted pistol is not. It would have been better to have no paint mask and a pistol the same color as the holster. The pistol is an unpainted detail that weakens the lower half of the figure. The biker boots are excellent though. I have no complaints about the biker boots. Good design, good sculpt, good paint. The accessories are mostly great. Ripper's assault rifle with a huge cutting blade is the second most recognized Dreadnock weapon behind Buzzer's chainsaw. You look at that and you know it belongs to a Dreadnock. The backpack is very well detailed. The power jaws I can live without since they are not articulated. Some modern Ripper figures have articulated jaws and that adds more play value. The biggest disappointment for Ripper along with his two buddies is they were never revisited in the vintage era. There were new Dreadnock characters added but if you missed out on the original three in 1985 and 1986 you couldn't get the core gang. At some point I believe they were available for mail order but I have gone through all the catalogs I can find and I do not see them listed. So I don't know exactly when and how they were issued. Even if Ripper was the worst of the Dreadnocks the figure was still pretty good. He was part of a new faction in the G.I. Joe universe that will be forever remembered by fans. That was my review of Ripper. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did please give this video a thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe to the YouTube channel. Or no, smash that subscribe button in true Dreadnock fashion. If your screen isn't cracked from smashing that subscribe button then you didn't smash it hard enough. Thank you again to Armen Nakashian for your support. You can find me on social media on Facebook and Twitter and I have a website, hcc788.com. I can only continue doing these videos with the support of my friends on Patreon. If you'd like to support the channel that's a great way to do it. You could even get your name in videos. You see all the names scrolling on the screen right now? Your name could be there. It's time to see the results of that Patreon poll. I'll see you then and until then remember only G.I. Joe is G.I. Joe.