 Before we look at Destro's Dominator, the review chosen by viewers, I'd like to say a word about Larry Hama. Larry Hama is the person most responsible for building the G.I. Joe universe, through his work on the comic book series and on the file cards. A lot of G.I. Joe fans may not know that Larry is still writing the G.I. Joe comic book. The series is now published by IDW. G.I. Joe is a brand that has touched the lives of millions of people all around the world, yet most of us, including myself, focus on toys and comic books and cartoons that were produced 30-35 years ago. Larry Hama has worked on more than G.I. Joe. He's been in the comic book industry for decades, he's worked on many different series, has both a writer and an artist, and he deserves to be known for his full body of work. G.I. Joe is still a part of Larry's current work, and it seems to me not as many G.I. Joe fans appreciate Larry for what he's doing now, and despite his many contributions to the comic book art form over the decades, he's had some negative experiences at conventions and online. I think as G.I. Joe fans, we can do better. I know I can do better, so I have resolved from this point on to follow the G.I. Joe series published by IDW, written by Larry Hama, and for each issue, I will be writing into the letters page. So not only will I be enjoying new G.I. Joe stories written by Larry Hama, the legend himself, I will be actively expressing my appreciation for it. I ask everyone within the sound of my voice to do the same. It's the least we can do. Larry is still pouring his heart and soul into this series, but the least we can do is read it and write it in. I'll be reading every issue, so maybe I'll see your letter published. And now, on with the review. Commander788 here, it's time for a vintage G.I. Joe toy review. After a week off, we return with a review of the last Iron Grenadiers vehicle in the vintage G.I. Joe toy line. Despite the fact that this vehicle was released in the 1990s, it was a return to form for the Iron Grenadiers. After a few years of weirdness, they returned to the classic Iron Grenadiers colors. This particular vehicle was donated to the channel by Lawson Allen, so thank you Lawson for that. The Dominator isn't just any old Iron Grenadiers vehicle, it's a tank that turns into a helicopter. It's a tank acopter. It's a helicopter tank. An insane vehicle like this could only be designed by the legendary weapons manufacturer and leader of the Iron Grenadiers, Destro, the man with the metal m-m-m-mask. M-m-m-mask. It reminds me of Mask, Mobile Armor Strike Command, the toy line by Kenner that ran from 1985 to 1988. That line featured vehicles that turned into other kinds of vehicles. It was in a smaller scale than G.I. Joe, so if you always wanted a mask vehicle in G.I. Joe's scale, this sort of is one. Of course mask vehicles had cool spring activated transformation features, Destro's Dominator doesn't have that. It does have a lot of other features, so let's take a look at the toy that wants you to believe that a tank can fly. HCC788 presents Destro's Dominator. This is the 1990 Iron Grenadiers Destro's Dominator. This vehicle was available only in 1990. It was discontinued for 1991. It is the only Iron Grenadiers vehicle released that year. It did not include an action figure. In the 80s, a vehicle this size would usually include an action figure. It's called Destro's Dominator to distinguish it from an earlier vehicle called the Dominator, the 1987 Battle Force 2000 Dominator snow tank. Destro was introduced in 1983. He was Cobra's weapons supplier. He worked with Cobra and even had command responsibilities, but he was an independent contractor. He had his own business to run. His company, Mars, would sell arms to anyone willing to buy them. Even though it's not explicitly stated, I consider Destro to be behind the creation of iconic Cobra vehicles like the His Tank and the Fang Helicopter. Originally, the Iron Grenadiers faction was cast as a rival to GI Joe's sub-team Battle Force 2000. That didn't exactly work out, though. Battle Force 2000 was introduced in 1987, a year before the Iron Grenadiers, and Battle Force 2000 was phased out while the Iron Grenadiers was still going. Destro's private army, the Iron Grenadiers, was introduced in 1988. The Iron Grenadiers was a separate faction vying for power against both GI Joe and Cobra. In the 1988 Iron Grenadier lineup included the basic Iron Grenadier trooper, Voltar, Destro v2 with his vehicle, the Dispoiler, the Demon Tank with Driver Ferret, and the AGP with Pilot Nullifier. The 1989 Iron Grenadiers lineup included Annihilator, Targat, Destro's Razorback and Driver Wild Boar, and Darklawn and his vehicle, the Evader. The 1990 Iron Grenadiers included Metalhead, Undertow, and Destro's Dominator. That's the last of the Iron Grenadiers. There were later versions of Iron Grenadiers characters, but they were folded into the Cobra lineup. It looks like Cobra overcame the challenge of the Iron Grenadiers and remained dominant. There were later versions of Iron Grenadiers characters. In 1992 we got Destro v3. There was no more Iron Grenadiers branding. He is again the enemy weapons supplier. In 1993 we got Destro v4 and Targat v2 in Steel Brigade. In 1994 we got Metalhead v2. They were all part of Cobra. Destro's Dominator stands alone in 1990. It is the only Iron Grenadier vehicle that year and the last Iron Grenadier vehicle. This is the end of one of the greatest factions in the vintage GI Joe era. The Dominator is a tank that converts into a helicopter. The box calls it a Thunder Wing helicopter. That's not a reference to a real vehicle as far as I can tell. Thunder Wing was the name of a transformer, but that transformer was not a helicopter. Is it possible for a tank to convert to a helicopter and fly? I don't know. But I do know the design requirements for a tank are in many ways opposed to that of a helicopter. A helicopter will need to be relatively light so it can fly and have a reasonable range. It can carry a lot of armaments and even be armored. For example, the Soviet Mil Mi-24 series of helicopters known in NATO circles as the Hind was a heavily armored helicopter gunship. But if you were to ground the Hind and fold the blades back, would it work as a tank? A tank needs to be heavily armored against shells and explosive rounds. It needs to protect the operator and everyone inside. It needs to sit low to the ground. It needs treads for all-terrain travel. It takes more than treads to make a tank. A tank needs thick armor and heavy armaments. You can't just slap treads on something and call it a tank. Look. It's a ski tank. Look. It's an earth mover tank. Let's take a look at the parts and the features of Destro's Dominator starting here in front. We see we have two separate cockpits in disconnected pods. It has a red body and clear plastic canopies. The blueprints only identify one of them, the one on the port side. It's called a forward driver's command center with radar-proof canopy. Because of the position of the pods, they will both have a side obscured. They both have a blind side. It's an impractical design. The starboard side canopy opens at the front and is hinged at the back, and the port side canopy opens at the back and is hinged at the front. Why would they need to open in opposite directions? I don't know. The cockpits themselves are very sparse. They are in that base red plastic color. There are no control panels, no stickers of any kind. There is a control stick molded into the side of one cockpit, impossible for a figure to use. These cockpits are lazy. We have seen much better. On the nose of the starboard side pod, we have the Destro emblem. That's the same emblem we've seen on other Iron Grenadiers vehicles. I do think it's kind of surprising that they labeled these with Destro's name and face rather than giving them an Iron Grenadiers label. Then on the side of both pods, we have these clever little stickers that say DD613 with the DD standing for Destro Dominator, except Dominator seems to be missing an O. Maybe that's the O right there. There is some technical detail on the underside of the pods. Who should drive Destro's Dominator? The box art shows metal head and undertow occupying the vehicle. I don't think that combo makes a lot of sense, especially undertow. Even though one of these pods may be a gunner's position, I think of them as each controlling one of the modes of the vehicle. So I like the idea of the ferret driving when it's in tank mode and the nullifier flying when it's in helicopter mode. On the chin of the starboard side pod, we have a black spring-loaded missile launcher on a gold turret that can rotate 360 degrees and it can elevate and depress. Pretty good range of motion on that. This will really fire the four missiles that came with the Dominator. When they are not in the launcher, they are mounted on these gray tank treads. There are four of them, two on each side. Since the launcher is under the chin of the starboard side pod, it does suggest this is a gunner's position. It is really nice to have storage for these gold missiles when they're not in use. They are all the same. There are four of them and they fit onto the vehicle with these slots, these rectangular slots. It's not the traditional dumbbell shaped slots, but there are four pegs on these gray treads for the four missiles. To use the missile launcher, just push the back of the missile into the barrel and keep pressing until it clicks. The trigger is here in the back. Let's test the missile launcher by taking aim at our favorite target, Dr. Meinbender. Just aim the launcher and press the trigger in the back to fire. Well, we missed that time, but fortunately we have four shots with this missile launcher. And let's go ahead and take that guy out. Press back until it clicks. Aim and fire. Dr. Meinbender is one lucky son of a gun today, but he's not going to get out of here unscathed. I have two more shots and I feel like I'm going to take him out with this one. Oh no, just one more shot and I'm clearly pulling my shot to the right, so we're going to try to correct for that. Load that sucker up and let's take out Dr. Meinbender. Here he goes. He's going down right now. On the port side, we have what the blueprints call a multi-shot rapid fire 3.5 millimeter missile pod. It is a gold missile pod in a red housing. It has a wheel with ammunition sculpted on and that's a nice touch. I like that a lot. You can kind of use that wheel to spin the pod, but mine is really tight and does not like to spin very much at all. It is similar to, but not exactly the same as, the missile pod on the 1990 Cobra Rage. Moving for the back, we have huge black jet engines, one on each side. The blueprints call these CXP 230 multiplex exhaust inhibitors with afterburner capability. So this is not just a helicopter. It's a jet helicopter with afterburners. Unfortunately, there are no removable engine panels. I think that would have been a nice touch. Attached to the black jet engines, we have gold guns, one on each side. They are not identified by the blueprints. They can move. In fact, they can face forward and back with these gold parts. You may worry about gold plastic syndrome. That's the problem with some types of gold plastic. It can become a very brittle over time, but these gold pieces along with some of the other parts of the vehicle feel like they are made of a softer plastic. They do not feel like they will become brittle on the top down the center. We have a black engine section. It's pretty substantial. It has some turbines, but again, no removable engine covers. That really would have been a nice thing on this vehicle. And atop that central black engine section, we have the gold helicopter rotors. It is a three-blade helicopter rotor. The blades can fold up and swing back for tank mode as seen here, or they can fold out for helicopter mode. Those blades can spin pretty well. This is the first step to converting the dominator from tank to helicopter mode. One downside is they do not lock into place when they are in tank mode. I'd kind of like them to lock in this back position, but they do not. And if you want to operate the helicopter, there is no mechanism. You just have to spin the blades yourself. Moving to the back, we have the tail. The tail slides in for tank mode and slides out for helicopter mode. This is the second step to converting the dominator to helicopter mode. The tail is black and matches well with the engine section. And finally, we have the tank treads molded in a blueish-gray plastic, one on each side, with some molded-on armor. And each one has two pegs for the missiles. So you can store two of the missiles on each side. The treads themselves are fake, of course. It doesn't have real treads. Instead, it rolls on four gold wheels, as you can see from the underside. Minimal detail on that underside, but are those rulers? It looks like they just molded in rulers on the underside of this vehicle. Is that inches or centimeters attached to the sides of the molded-in armor on the treads? We have double-barrel gold guns. The blueprints do not identify these guns either, so don't know exactly what they're supposed to be. They can swing to the side, so they can face forward or back. To complete the transformation from tank to helicopter, just swing these treads underneath. Just bend them right underneath the vehicle. And there you go. Your tank is now a helicopter. Does this look like a helicopter to you? To me, it looks like sort of a tank with some helicopter parts attached. For display purposes, it doesn't really work well in helicopter mode because it rests on those side guns, which are now on the bottom, so it sits at an awkward angle. In helicopter mode, it has no landing gear except for those tank treads. I don't have a problem with combo vehicles in principle, but often you get a vehicle that doesn't work well in either mode. Compromises are made, so it can be converted from one mode to the other, rather than just making it the best tank or helicopter it can be. If you pop the blades off and leave the treads down and the tail in, you have an imperfect but serviceable Iron Grenadiers tank. Looking at how Destro's Dominator was used in G.I. Joe Media, it appeared in the Deak era of the G.I. Joe animated series. It was in the intro, first of all. It made its first appearance within an episode, in the episode titled United We Stand. It had just a few seconds of screen time. It had the most screen time in the episode of Victory at Volcania, part two. In the animated series, the Dominator was used in both tank and helicopter modes. I will give Deak credit for one thing. For the vehicles, they stayed on model. The animation on the vehicles was usually pretty good. As for the G.I. Joe comic book series published by Marvel Comics, I cannot find any appearances of the Dominator. I went through all of my comic book issues from 1990 and a bit into 1991, and I did not see it. It is possible that it appeared later in the comic book series, but I have not found any appearances. Looking at the Dominator overall, I think it lands in the middle tier. It has some problems. It has a lot of problems, exactly. The transformation from helicopter to tank seems tacked on, like it was an afterthought. I don't think it works well as a helicopter. I think it works better as a ground vehicle, and I would primarily use it in that role. The two cockpit pods are weird. They make the vehicle look cobbled together. It lacks a unified design. It looks like a bunch of unrelated pieces glued together. I understand that a vehicle can be more interesting if it is asymmetrical, but it still has to make sense. The cockpits themselves are bare. Very little effort went into them. A vehicle this size should include a driver. In the 90s, a lot of mid to large vehicles that likely would have included an action figure if they were released in the 80s had no action figures in the 90s. We got fewer vehicle drivers in the 90s. That's not to say we got no vehicle drivers in the 90s, but definitely fewer. Even though it is flawed, the dominator still has a lot going for it. Let's start with the colors. It has the proper colors for iron grenadiers with red, black, and gold. And the first run of iron grenadiers, black was the dominant color on the vehicles, but I am absolutely fine with red being the dominant color on this vehicle because it still has the right colors for iron grenadiers. I feel like the faction should have always stuck with those colors. Normally I don't love the spring loaded missile launchers, but in this case it is unobtrusive and there is storage for the missiles, so that's not bad. When used as a tank, it works better than the iron grenadiers original tank, the demon. It has wide tracks and a relatively low profile compared to the tall and sort of sideways design of the demon. Having played around with it, I have to say the dominator is a fun toy. I have to give them credit for that. I can overlook some of the flaws. The goal is to make a fun toy and they did that. I would just like to have a fun toy that also makes sense. But this is the iron grenadiers and all of the vehicles Destro designs are kind of insane. So I think this is a worthy addition to the iron grenadiers arsenal. That was my review of the 1990 Destro's Dominator. Who's gonna write to Larry Hama? I've already done it this month, I'm gonna do it next month. I think all of us should show Larry that we appreciate everything he's done for GI Joe in the past and everything he's doing for GI Joe right now. Thank you for indulging me with a week off last week. The five year anniversary video took a long time to put together and I needed the break. But of course a week off is never really a week off. I've been doing a lot of work on upcoming stuff. We have several special events coming up in the near future. One of those events is Joe Fest in Augusta, Georgia, June 21st and 22nd, 2019. I will be there. I hope all of you will be there so I can meet you in person. The other event I can't tell you about yet. We're still working on it. If you enjoy GI Joe and you'd like to see more reviews, please consider subscribing and hitting the notification bell. Please give this video a thumbs up on YouTube and share it with your friends. Thanks to my patrons for making these videos possible. I really could not do it without their help. If you like these videos and you'd like to support the channel in that way, please check out my Patreon. You can find out how to decode the secret messages you see in these videos. And you can vote for reviews like this one. Next week we're going to stay in the 90s and look at a popular character that took an odd turn. I'll see you then. And until then, always remember, only GI Joe is GI Joe.