 Hello everybody, HoodedCoverCommander788 here. Let's talk about GI Joe Classified. I finally got Wave 1 of GI Joe Classified, I've had them on pre-order for a long time. Before my pre-order came in, codename New2Verro2 picked up a Duke in Scarlet for me at retail and sent them to me. I really appreciate that, it gave me a chance to have some of these figures in hand after waiting for such a long time. I have more pre-orders coming from Hasbro Pulse. When all of the figures are in, I will have duplicates of the entire series. I'll be keeping one set sealed, this is my loose set here. Throughout the online figure reveals, I was intrigued by some of the design choices and perplexed by others. I was withholding judgment until I had the figures in hand, well here they are, and I've had enough time to look at them and play with them and just experience the figures to draw some conclusions and there are some surprises here. The packaging has the series numbered, Roadblock is number one, so I'm going to look at these figures in their order, we will look at Roadblock first. The box has individual artwork for the character on the front and on one of the sides. I like the Roadblock artwork, I think this is some of the best in the series. On the back of the box, all of the figures have this same artwork here, this kind of poster style artwork. It's generic, it looks nice though, no file card. On the other side, there are these icons which I guess are supposed to be for Roadblock specialties, I don't know what these mean and I'm not sure I care, so let's move on. Classified Roadblocks uniform is heavily based on Roadblock version 2 from 1986, that's not the one I would have gone with, but it's okay. It is a vintage figure design. I know some fans have complained that we didn't get the vintage style uniforms on these classified figures and they went with some crazy updates and different design choices, but when I look at the line overall, I'd have to say for the most part these are updates of vintage figure uniforms. This is basically a version 2 Roadblock figure with the uniform updated with some additional detail, but that's Roadblock version 2, that's that classic vest, the knife is still in the same spot, these clasps here on the middle of the vest pretty much the same, the same red padding over the shoulder. There have been some complaints about Roadblock coming with this railgun instead of a more traditional machine gun and I have to agree I'm not in love with this weapon, I think it looks nice, I think this would be great on a Star Wars figure, I like the way they got the effect of a blue glow on the barrel by having it cast in translucent blue plastic and then doing paint over that, really nicely done, this just doesn't feel like Roadblocks weapon to me. The railgun has a magazine that is removable, that's cool, it doesn't shoot bullets so I guess that's a battery. The knife on the vest is removable, that's nice, he has a really good face sculpt, I like this a lot, it's a bit of an update from classic Roadblock, he has more of a beard but really nice face, I can see this as Roadblock, he's got his Tiger King tattoo on his arm, probably has another tattoo that says a property of Joe Exotic somewhere on his body, I know that's a lion tattoo, everybody calm down, the vest has some color patches that help break it up and keep it from being too plain, I think that looks good and I really like the darker color, kind of a grayish green on the legs, I like that a lot better than the light gray on the vintage figure. No paint on the belt that definitely could have used a paint spray, he has a gold knee pad and some gold shin guards on his boots with some red details, I think that looks okay, it does help that he has some gold details on the vest, that helps kind of unify that color scheme. These gold knee pads seem to be the unifying element for the GI Joe team in this line, I think that's okay just a little odd that the team is unified by gold shin guards. There is an exception to this, we'll get to that in a moment, the team also seems to all have this piece of technology here with this blue circle which has been interpreted as a communicator, there is an exception to that as well. I was expecting Roadblock to be my least favorite figure because the uniform is based on a vintage figure that I like a lot less than version 1 and because he was a bit short on accessories and I wasn't in love with the accessories that he came with. But this figure may be one of my favorites, in fact it may be my favorite figure of the series now that I have the figures in hand. This figure is quite solid, the joints are tight, he's very well posable, I like the way he holds the railgun, with the figure in hand I just feel like it's really solid, the details are not excessive but they are on point and compared to some of the other figures I think the quality is quite high. Let's move on to Snake Eyes, the box art is nice, they've used some lighting effects to add some color to that black uniform, it's well detailed, they used a lot of crosshatching to show the shape and detail and texture of the figure and that's not bad at all but this is a totally different art style than the roadblock box. This is a choice that has perplexed a lot of fans, every figure in the series has a different style of artwork, Hasbro has said they use different artists for each figure to bring out different aspects of each character and that's a nice idea but I think most people just find it confusing. My biggest problem is it shows timber in the artwork and no timber with the figure. Some generic artwork on the back and on the other side we have these emojis. Then we get to the Snake Eyes figure itself, a lot of the details are based on the Snake Eyes costume from the movie G.I. Joe Retaliation and that was based on Snake Eyes version 2 from 1985, that's a good choice. The figure is highly detailed and they've alternated from matte finish and glossy finish to pick out some of those details and there are some minor paint applications that make some of the details pop, such as the silver buckles on the backpack, a little bit of red detail on the elbows, some additional silver details here and there, on the belt buckles and on the holster buckles. You have the Arashikage hexagram in red on the belt and again on the chest, that's not bad at all. Then there's this mysterious red dot on his forehead. This red dot has been described as a laser sight dot, which I hope that's not what it is. To me it kind of looks like his third eye, I don't know why he has the red dot, I've thought about it, I've looked at it, I guess it's just there for an additional spot of color, it's totally unnecessary, it's small enough that unless you're looking closely you might miss it, so really why is it there, if you don't like it you can just easily paint over it. On the leg holster for the pistol there is also a silencer, there's a holster for the silencer and that will fit on the pistol barrel, there we go. So that's nice, also the knife on the other leg is removable, so also nice to get some removable weapons and accessories and then there's the bandolier that has the three grenades, the grenades are not removable but the bandolier is, the belt is a bit loose but nicely detailed and the backpack is removable. It's nice that you can remove the backpack because you have the peg on the sword that can go through the bandolier and into the back hole on the figure, so you can have just the sword on his back and that looks pretty good, I think I may like that better than the backpack. Snake Eyes is the only Joe in the series that does not have the gold shin guards and does not have the blue communicator thingy. I've heaped a lot of praise on this figure so far, so you may be waiting for the other shoe to drop, you may be expecting some harsh criticism and you would be right, let's talk about the problems with this figure. Snake Eyes does not include his iconic Uzi but he does have these weapons that look pretty good except they have holes that go straight through them, this submachine gun or laser gun or whatever and his pistol also has a hole that goes straight through them. Now I understand these holes could be functional, this submachine gun has a peg on one side and you can use that peg to peg it into the backpack if you remove the sword, there's a hole right there, the sword sheath has a peg and you could peg the submachine gun in, in fact let's do it, you could peg the submachine gun in similar to the sword on the backpack, yay that's great. The peg on the sheath will fit through the hole on the weapon and so now you can store both on the backpack, yay that's great, but if you want to have this feature you have to go about it a different way, it just looks stupid to have guns with holes straight through them. The biggest problem with this figure is not with the accessories, it's with the figure itself, the joints are far too loose making him difficult to pose, all of these figures are made with a softer plastic than the vintage figures, that allows some give in the joints and the arms and the hands and that's good, the plastic will give a bit rather than breaking, that's nice, but in my opinion the plastic on the snake-eyes figure is too soft, he feels like he's made of licorice, the whole thing just feels too gummy and that's just made worse by the loose joints. I prefer to have my figures carry all of their accessories, I don't like to have extra accessories that just stay in the box or they could just get lost, so I want him to have his backpack on, I want him to have the sword on the backpack, I want him to have everything, I want him to be geared up, but with his gear on and the backpack on this figure is terribly unbalanced, he's top-heavy, he wants to fall backwards because of the weight of the backpack and the joints will not hold him up, so this has been a very difficult figure to pose and stand. So yes I wasn't expecting snake eyes to be my favorite figure of the bunch but he has become my least favorite. Now we get to Destro and this is the figure that sold me on the line, I know I'm not the only one, I know a lot of fans were on the fence about the series until we saw Destro and the figure looked so good in photographs, we thought hey maybe this GI Joe classified won't be so bad. Here's the box art, it is yet a third art style but it is really good, it captures the reflective surfaces on his mask, it looks absolutely great and they've done something unique here by turning Destro's red collar into a cobra emblem. There's another cobra inside the box and we have a red background instead of blue, this is reminiscent of GI Joe packaging artwork in the 90s where blue was the signal of a good guy and red was the signal of a bad guy. Same generic artwork on the back, no file card and on the other side we have his astrological signs. The head is not VAC metalized chrome like the version 1 figure, it is a shiny silver plastic, it still looks pretty good and a shiny silver paint application on the neck, that's fine. The ruby necklace with the gold chain is a separate piece and removable and I think that's a nice touch. Some iterations of Destro eliminate this detail but I always thought that ruby necklace had some kind of significance on the version 1 figure. He has his traditional high collar with the red on the inside and his exposed chest. He has the overall black uniform with some gray to break up the black and add some detail. The uniform has some detail but in some respects it has less detail than the version 1 figure, doesn't have this strap here with the electronic device. Really it's just the gray and a few lines across the body that give the illusion of additional detail. He has a silver belt with some red details that is a separate piece that's not just painted on and that is attached to this red holster on his right leg, a big pouch on his thigh and that holster fits a, there we go, a gold pistol and that's nice but there is a bit of a problem with this. That piece that attaches the holster to the belt kind of wants to push that belt out of position so depending on how you have the leg posed you'll have a belt that is kind of sideways or the buckle doesn't line up correctly. He has wrist rockets on his right forearm not on his left side in fact no red details on the left side. Some additional red paint there might have helped balance that out a little bit. He has a black Star Wars pistol with some red detail. He has black legs, gray knees, gray boots and a bit of silver paint on the toes of those boots. It's a little plain, it's a little lacking in paint on the legs but it's a fine line with Destro. You don't want to add too much detail to that black uniform. The more you do, the more you risk breaking up a really iconic black uniform and a really great look so you want to have just enough detail and just enough color but not too much. He has a briefcase with a cobra emblem on it. This looks really nice. I've been waiting to show this to you because this was a struggle to get in his hand and I'm gonna have to take it out of his hand to show it to you and I'm not looking forward to putting it back. Sure he can hold all of his accessories just not easily. The briefcase is overall black with a matte finish, a glossy red cobra emblem on one side, unpainted cobra emblem on the other, a silver handle and gray latches. When you open it up you get a computer with a cobra emblem and money. That's right some dollar bills in there, some stacks of bills and that is perfect for Destro. He is an arms dealer. He would deal with a lot of cash and yeah, this is something I could see him taking with him. There's enough room in the briefcase you could store something in there if you want to. It does latch with a satisfying snap. Because of the shape of the hands, getting the briefcase in the hand is a massive pain in the butt. I'm not gonna lie but it can be done and I have it backwards. Now I have to turn it around. Does Destro live up to the hype? Almost. I was expecting this to be my favorite figure and if we were going solely on looks it might be but we're not going solely on looks. I mean you can look at the figure in a photograph. I'm trying to judge these figures in hand and he's still a bit loose. He doesn't feel as solid as the roadblock figure. This holster does interfere a bit with the leg movement. So yes it's a good figure, probably my second favorite figure in the series but roadblock kind of leapfrogged over him. Moving on to Duke and looking at his box art. The art style in his box is a comic book art it's basically line art with some coloring and I think this is my least favorite of all of the classified boxes. It's not very well detailed. I don't think this especially well captures the character of Duke. It seems like the one with the least amount of effort. This kind of artwork may look great in a comic book but on the packaging for a toy that's kind of a premium adult collectible item. I would expect some kind of painted artwork or just something with more detail and more effort than something you would see on a comic book page. Same generic artwork on the back and his love languages on the other side. This is Duke he is wearing a uniform that is reminiscent of his version one uniform with some updates obviously. Of course we get Duke in GI Joe classified. Would it even be a GI Joe line if we didn't get Duke in the very first wave. The head sculpt is really good. Duke looks a bit younger than I envision him but that's alright. His hair is blonde kind of a Dijon mustard color. I do like the paint fade in the back. It kind of fades from the top to the bottom and that is a nice touch. I think that looks excellent. He has a scar on his forehead and this is something that's been done with a couple other versions of Duke particularly the Channing Tatum Duke. It's sort of ties him to the original GI Joe figure from the 60s which had a scar on his cheek. Interesting choices on his accessories he has what is for all intents and purposes an assault rifle but it has a blue laser lens tip just to make sure everybody knows it's not a real assault rifle. It does not have a removable magazine unfortunately that would have been a nice touch. He has a green pistol holster on his right leg. That pistol is removable very nice. He has a backpack. The backpack will peg onto his back. It has some nice details. It's green with a gray and trenching tool that is not removable unfortunately. The backpack is fine. I think maybe I would have preferred a helmet instead of a backpack but this is okay. His belt is a separate piece. It's a little bit loose. Attached to the belt is a set of gray binoculars and those look fine. They're good. They will peg onto this hole in the belt. He has his iconic green bandolier with the blue communicator doohickey on the shoulder. This is a separate piece and it is removable but I won't remove it because this really wouldn't be Duke without it. What they've done is instead of giving him a khaki shirt with a green undershirt like the original figure they given him a khaki shirt with dark green across the shoulders and I think that's okay. It breaks up the khaki a little bit. He has gloves with red paint on the knuckles. I could have lived without the red on the gloves and one paint application I feel is out of place is this plain orange watch on his left wrist. It's the only spot of orange anywhere on the figure and there's no other detail. It's just an orange watch. It sticks out like a sore thumb. His legs are a grayish green with some darker green spots to break up the color. He's got some pockets on the thighs and then of course he has the gold knee pads and the gold shin guards. I guess you cannot be in G.I. Joe unless you have the gold shin guards. This figure feels a lot more solid than snake eyes. The joints are much better. The only joint that is loose is the right wrist. That's a little bit loose which makes it a little tricky when posing him with the rifle but other than that very solid figure, good articulation and good tight joints. Overall I would rate Duke as not bad. Yes this is a bit of a departure from the version 1 uniform but only a bit. Most of the changes are superficial. It's basically the same uniform as version 1 but with a little bit of added detail, some extra splotches of color and some gold shin guards. Let's move on to Scarlet and look at her box art. The box art style is nice. It's a painted style. It's a little closer to roadblock which is a good thing. The artwork on the side is great. I love it. Looks like she's about to kick an alley viper. It also has some scenes from her history like martial arts training. Same generic artwork on the back and then on the other side we have these icons. I'm pretty sure this one means her car battery is low. This Scarlet figure is based very loosely on the version 1 figure though some major departures have been made. Some design elements were carried over and some of the colors match up fairly well. The face sculpt is good. It's very realistic. This face has been criticized as being rather expressionless and blank and yeah I kind of agree with that but it's still a good sculpt. She's wearing a yellow and gold chest guard over a dark blue shirt. She has red padding over the right shoulder with that blue communicator doohickey. She has dark blue on her upper arms and on her left arm she has this red shoulder guard thing with a white star in the center. I don't know what the purpose of this is. I just kind of dig it. She has yellow and gold forearm guards and on the left side she has three silver, three pronged throwing stars. This is a callback to the throwing stars on the version 1 figure. She has a black bandolier that is a separate piece and is removable. It has a removable knife in the front. In the back she has a quiver with bolts for her crossbow and she has another couple removable knives that sheath in the top of there. She has a black crossbow and this crossbow is a bit of a problem for me. Not that she has a crossbow that's good that's a reference to the version 1 figure but this crossbow is two pieces and this top piece keeps wanting to come off. It's very hard for me to keep it on especially when trying to move the figure around to pose it. She has a black belt with a pouch on one side that is a separate piece and it's a bit loose so it's easy to get that belt twisted around the wrong way. The inside of her upper legs is gray. The outside is red. She has yellow and gold knee pads and she has yellow and gold shin guards. This figure has been criticized as being too busy and I think I agree with that. The color scheme is well unified. She's got the same basic colors from top to bottom although the top half is more dark blue the bottom half is more gray but you have like swatches of red here and then blue here and then red here and yellow here and yellow there and then here's some gold and here's some black and it's just too much. The whole thing is just broken up with too many small bits of color everywhere. There's another problem with the paint on this figure and I think it may be a problem with all of these figures. This waist piece has no paint on it at all but it looks like it should. These red stripes that run up the outside of the legs look like they're supposed to continue all the way up to the belt but they don't. I went back and confirmed none of these figures have any paint on their waist piece. Destro and Snake Eyes should not have any additional colors but Roadblock and Duke both have sculpted belts that look like they should be a different color but they're not. I often criticize vintage figures for unpainted details and I cannot give these classified figures a pass especially since they are supposed to be special. This is a new iteration of GI Joe adult collectible at an all-new scale and they skimped on the paint. This is especially a problem for Scarlett where they sculpted a space for the red paint on the outside leg but they didn't paint it. Bottom line, would I recommend this series? Yes. If I had only ordered the figures I expected to like, I would have missed out on some of the better figures. Your mileage may vary but it's a different experience actually having the figures in hand than seeing them in photographs or in a video. So I would say get the series, check them out, open them up, see how they move around, see how they feel in your hand. I will follow up with more detailed reviews of the individual figures but I wanted to do this overview because I've been waiting a long time to get these figures. Seems like everyone else already had the figures except for me. They've already had them and reviewed them so I'm very happy to finally have them in hand and I wanted to show them to you. I may not see you very much for the next week or so. Cobra Convergence 5 is coming very soon. I'm working very hard on that but I will see you then. Thanks for watching and remember only GI Joe is GI Joe.