 This episode of HCC 788 brought to you in part by the die-cast enterprise. Join us each week as we discuss the sexual proclivities of Commander William T. Riker. The bravado comedy of Lieutenant War. And the adorable monkey shines if one Wesley the sweater crusher. Or maybe we'll just talk about the golden girls. Or hairstyles. Or cartoons. That's equally likely. We also like G.I. Joe. There, we tied that in nicely. Well done everyone on that. By all our play sets and toys. Commander 788 here. It's time for the last vintage G.I. Joe Toy Review of 2016. This is the one that wraps up the year and what a year it has been. This is the year that saw this channel reach 1,000 subscribers. And then reach 2,000 subscribers. This has been without a doubt the greatest year for this YouTube channel. And it's all due to you. You on the other side of the screen. None of this could happen without you. You provide the support and the motivation and you watch the videos. You matter. I wanted the last review of 2016 to be something special. And so it's appropriate that this review comes shortly after the video in which I opened the old toolbox that had the last of my childhood G.I. Joe's. Because the figure that we're going to look at this week was very important to me personally when I was a kid playing with these toys. I was so enamored with this figure that my fascination for it spilled out beyond G.I. Joe and toys. And in particular, it was his hat that I was obsessed with. I'll talk more about that later. Just a reminder, the last video of this year will be a Q&A video, just like last year. Next week I will post a video explaining how to participate in that if you choose to. But for now, let's look at a figure that is special to me. HCC 788 presents Leatherneck. This is Leatherneck G.I. Joe's Marine from 1986. He was first available in 1986 and was also available in 1987. He was discontinued for the year 1988. Version 2 of Leatherneck was also introduced in 1986 as part of the Special Mission Brazil set. It used the same parts as Version 1, just in different colors. Version 3 of Leatherneck was introduced in 1993 and was radically different from Version 1. If Leatherneck had a replacement in 1988, it would have been Sergeant Slaughter Version 3. Sergeant Slaughter was a Marine, but this version of Sergeant Slaughter was also a vehicle driver and was not a direct replacement for Leatherneck. Leatherneck was the second G.I. Joe figure to be designated as a Marine. The first was Gung Ho from 1983. Of course, Marine is not a specialty. It is a branch of service. But both of these characters were primarily representatives of the Marine Corps. G.I. Joe had several Marines. These are a few examples. And each of these Marines had the Marine Corps emblem somewhere on the figure. Gung Ho, of course, had his very prominent Marine Corps tattoo. Leatherneck had the Marine Corps emblem on his hat. Mainframe had it on his helmet and his belt buckle. And Sergeant Slaughter had the Marine Corps emblem on his belt buckle. Leatherneck is a slang term for a Marine. And it applies to both U.S. and British Royal Marines. It refers to the Leather Collar that was once worn by Marines. Let's take a look at Leatherneck's accessories. He didn't come with many, but the ones he had were pretty good. Starting with his rifle, which the card contents call an M16 over-under rifle. This is a pretty good representation of an M16 rifle with an M203 grenade launcher under the barrel. These M203 grenade launchers have been in service since 1969. Leatherneck's rifle was one of my favorite accessories as a kid. I was a big fan of the basic M16 rifle, and I was glad G.I. Joe gave it to the infantry troopers. But the idea of having a grenade launcher attached to the M16 just made it more awesome. Leatherneck's M16 is in a slightly larger scale than the M16s that came before it. For example, grunt, airborne, and footloose. But these earlier M16s look a little bit under-scaled. They look a little bit teeny tiny. So it's nice that Leatherneck's M16 is a little bit more beefed up. Leatherneck's other accessory is his backpack, which the card contents call a Field Pack. And it is pretty plain. It is in a light green, the same color as the base plastic of the figure. The most important detail on this backpack, though, is the USMC initials sculpted on it. That's a very nice detail. Let's look at the articulation on Leatherneck. He had the articulation that was standard by 1986. That means 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. He had a hinge at the elbow, so he could move at the elbow about 90 degrees. He had a swivel at the bicep, so he could swivel his arm all the way around. The figure was held together with a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside. That allowed him to move at the torso a little bit. He could move his legs apart about so far. He could move 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 Leatherneck starting with the head. And this is a very important head. This face sculpt is based on Ron Rudat, who was a G.I. Joe figure designer for Hasbro. And the man probably most responsible for the look of most G.I. Joe figures from 1982 to about 1986. If ever anyone were qualified to be called a G.I. Joe legend, it would be Ron Rudat. And this figure bears his likeness. On his head, Leatherneck has a Marine Corps utility cover, this camouflage hat. And it has a very nicely sculpted Marine Corps emblem right there on the front. And it may seem odd to people, but this hat played a prominent role in my childhood. This requires some explanation. When Gun Ho came out in 1983, I really liked the figure. And it was probably my introduction to the Marine Corps. I don't think I even knew what it was before Gun Ho. I also discovered the 1943 movie titled Gun Ho. And that began a fascination with the U.S. Marine Corps. I was so obsessed with the Marines and Gun Ho that I had to get a green cap just like his. And I used to wear it all the time, everywhere. I rarely even took it off for a long time. Then Leatherneck came out and he had a camouflage hat. So I immediately had to get a camouflage hat just like Leathernecks. And I wore that hat all day, every day, for at least an entire summer. On Leatherneck's chest, he has a sculpted vest. It has some green padding up here. A knife on a black strap that goes all the way around to the other side. He has a couple black grenades. He has a green collar. And on the collar, there is a rank insignia, but the scale is just a little too small to tell if the rank on his collar is correct based on what's on his file card. Then here it looks like he has a parachutist badge. I think this vest is a little too slim. When I had this figure as a kid, I thought this was just part of his shirt. But this is intended to be a vest. If it had been a little bulkier, I think it would have worked better. For example, the 1986 Cobra Viper, also wearing a vest. His vest is a little bulkier and it looks a bit more like a vest. His arms are green and camouflaged. He has pockets on his upper arms. His sleeves are rolled up and on his right wrist, he has a silver bracelet. On his left wrist, he has a silver watch, both good details. One thing that is a little bit annoying is the paint wear on Leatherneck's hands. And this seems to happen on a lot. I see this on a lot of Leatherneck figures and it doesn't look too good when he has green fingers. On Leatherneck's left arm, he has a patch and this is a little bit hard to make out. It's a bit worn and it's stamped over the folds in the cloth. But this is based on the first Recon Battalion patch. This is a real USMC patch and even his file card addresses it. Moving on to his waist. His waist piece has a black belt with some sculpted details. A pouch right there in the back. More of that camouflaged pattern. His legs are green and they continue that camouflaged pattern. We have a black pistol holster on his right leg. On his left leg, it has what looks like a radio. His trouser legs come down and cover part of his boots and he has black boots. Let's take a look at Leatherneck's file card. His file card had his faction as GI Joe and it had a portrait of Leatherneck here. And this is a pretty good likeness of Ron Ruddatt from that time period. His codename is Leatherneck and he is a Marine. His filename is Wendell A. Metzger. His primary military specialty is infantry. His secondary military specialty is drill sergeant. And as a drill sergeant, he has the same job as one of GI Joe's other Marines, Sergeant Slaughter. His birthplace is Stromsburg, Nebraska. His grade is Gunnery Sergeant, which is an E7. And if I'm not mistaken, that does not match the Rankin's Signia that is shown on the card art. This paragraph says, Leatherneck was the hardest gunny that ever slogged through the mud of Camp Lejeune. Before that, he was the toughest drill sergeant on Paris Island. Before that, he was the roughest tech sergeant of the first recon battalion in Vietnam. First recon battalion matches the patch on the figure. Before that, he was the meanest corporal in Gitmo. Civilian badness just doesn't even count. This bottom section has a quote. It says, He is uncouth, opinionated and overbearing. He has no patience at all for the indecisive, the lazy and the dishonest. Not a man you can like, but one you can trust. There is a lot of information on this file card. Let's go through it briefly. Camp Lejeune is a reference to the Marine Corps training base in North Carolina. Paris Island is a reference to the Marine Corps recruit depot in South Carolina. This reference to first recon battalion, along with the patch on the figure, confirms that that was one of Leatherneck's pre-G.I. Joe assignments. Gitmo is a reference to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. This file card packs a lot of military references and history in just a few sentences. And this is my favorite type of G.I. Joe file card. Not only does it tell us something about the character of Leatherneck, but it also teaches something. Leatherneck was well used in G.I. Joe media. He had a good number of appearances in the G.I. Joe animated series. He first appeared in Arise Serpentor Arise Part 1. In the animated series, Leatherneck has kind of a friendly rivalry with Wetsuit. But sometimes the rivalry doesn't seem quite so friendly. In the G.I. Joe comic book series, Leatherneck also had a good number of appearances. He first appeared in issue number 49, but he didn't have very much to do in that issue. He had more to do in the following issue, number 50, and he took part in the invasion of Springfield. He's probably most remembered for his appearance in G.I. Joe's special missions number 4, in which he clashed with pacifist Lifeline. In one important storyline in the G.I. Joe comic book, in which stalker, quick kick, and snow job are captured and imprisoned, Leatherneck gives Outback a hard time for returning home without his buddies. It illustrates Leatherneck's personality. He's a jerk. If he has one defining characteristic, it's that he clashes with everyone. Wetsuit, Lifeline, Outback, or just anyone he happens to be around. Looking at Leatherneck overall, this is a solidly designed figure, and it was one of my favorites as a kid. It's not that it's a perfect figure, it has a few flaws, and there are other figures that are probably better, but it was Leatherneck that I was drawn to. He had a good, reasonably realistic military uniform. He didn't come with a lot of accessories, but the accessories that he had were excellent, and that rifle with the grenade launcher on it, that was one of my all-time favorite accessories. Leatherneck carried forward a fascination with the Marine Corps that began with Gung Ho, and that hat triggers so many childhood memories for me. I had a hat just like Leathernecks, and I wore it all the time everywhere. I don't know what happened to that hat. I wish I could find it again. If I could find that hat, I would put it in a place of honor. It was practically a part of me, and it's all because of Leatherneck. The head sculpt, of course, is based on Ron Rudat, and it's a fitting tribute to an important person. I doubt that Mr. Rudat will see this video or any of my other videos, but even so, I think every time I mention Ron Rudat's name, I want to express my thanks. Mr. Rudat, your work had a big impact on me, and it still does. If I'm looking for flaws on this figure, I'd say, well, the vest could be a bit bulkier and more vest-like. The camouflage pattern is a little weak. Maybe some darker colors, and maybe some more variation in the camouflage print would have helped. Also, the hands tend to get a lot of paint wear, but these flaws are minor. For me, personally, Leatherneck is easily in the top tier. He's not the best. There are other figures that are a bit better, but he's definitely top tier. Even though 1986 introduced some strange elements into GI Joe, it's figures like Leatherneck that kept it grounded. The file card is well written. The figure itself is well thought out with the patch on the arm matching the information in the file card. So well done. That was my review of Leatherneck. Thank you again, Ron Rudat, for all the work you did way back then, and thank you to all Marines for your service. Thank you all for watching. If you enjoyed anything you saw on this channel in 2016, I can assure you there are bigger and better things planned for 2017. If you would like to be a part of it, do a few things for me. First of all, like this video on YouTube and subscribe to the YouTube channel. Like me on Facebook, following on Twitter, and support this channel on Patreon. Starting next year, patrons at any level will start helping choose the items that will be reviewed on this channel. I have certain slots open next year, and patrons will vote on what will be reviewed. This video, along with all my other GI Joe review videos, will be on hcc788.com, so don't forget to check out the website. Thank you all for watching. Have a happy holidays. I'll see you one more time before the end of the year, and until then, remember only GI Joe is GI Joe. From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of crippled we fight our country's battles in the air on We are proud to