 Hello everybody hooded Cobra Commander 788 here and I'm back with another Vintage GI Joe Toy review and I am in my backyard again just because I needed a relatively quiet space to do this review and I'm continuing my review of the Dreadknocks. I looked at buzzer last time, he was my favorite Dreadknock. This time I'm going to look at my second favorite Dreadknock Torch. I'm going to review the third Dreadknock Ripper in a later video. So let's set aside buzzer and ripper and let's take a closer look at Torch. Torch was first released in 1985, he was also sold in 1986, he was discontinued in 1987 and through the years we got more Dreadknocks, there were more than just the original three. In 1987 we got the Dreadknock Zanzibar, but of course Zanzibar was not really a replacement for Torch or any of the other Dreadknocks, he was just a new member of the motorcycle gang. I don't even know what the Dreadknocks were in my review of buzzer so I'll just go over it briefly this time. The Dreadknocks were a motorcycle gang that was introduced into the GI Joe universe and they originated in Australia, although not all of the Dreadknocks were Australian, for instance buzzer was British. The Dreadknocks were led by Zartan, the Master of Disguise, I have no idea what being a Master of Disguise has to do with a motorcycle gang but you know we'll just go with it. Dreadknocks were heavily influenced by post-apocalyptic science fiction movies like Mad Max. Let's take a look at Torch's accessories starting with this one and this came out of the backpack rather easily is an acetylene torch. Now this is a welding or a cutting torch, it is not a flamethrower as you might expect from Torch's name, you might expect him to be a flamethrower but that's not what this is. This is used for destroying property, for cutting up metal, it's a cutting torch. In the GI Joe cartoon Torch was portrayed as having a flamethrower but this accessory I think fits with the general theme of the Dreadknocks and that their accessories are mostly meant to destroy property not to shoot at other people. The Torch had this downturn nozzle here so it's obvious that it is meant for some kind of cutting device, it doesn't have a forward-facing barrel that it might be used for shooting people so they did intend for this to be used to destroy objects but of course if you're a kid you know you can use your imagination and do whatever you want with it. The worst part of this accessory though is not this curved nozzle, it's this wire, this curved wire that is intended to be plugged into Torch's backpack in that hole and this wire was somewhat reminiscent of the 1982 GI Joe accessory wires that were attached to the gun like this, like flashes here and it was meant to run all the way around and plug into a hole in the backpack. Now there were problems with these wires, often they weren't quite long enough, it really restricts the range of motion of the action figure and they can break off and this is actually thicker than the old 1982 wire and like the 1982 wires it really doesn't like to stretch far enough to fit in the backpack. I mean you can make it work but it leaves your action figure's arm at an odd angle and if you move it around too much the thing's gonna pop out. Generally dreadnought accessories are pretty cool, you have buzzer's chainsaw and that was really awesome and of course Ripper has his rifle that has an enormous blade on the end and that's pretty cool so this really is the least cool of the dreadnought accessories. Torch's other accessory is his backpack which is a fuel tank for the Torch and there's the hole that the wire goes in and yep that's what it is, nothing else spectacular about it. Let's take a look at Torch's articulation and like the other three original dreadnoughts, even though he was released in 1985 he had the 1984 G.I. Joe action figure articulation which meant that he could turn his head from side to side like this. Most G.I. Joe figures released in 1985 had a ball joined at the neck meaning they could not only look left to right, they could also look up and down like Alpine here. But the 1985 dreadnoughts still had the swivel head like other figures in 1984 which to me means that they were designed in 1984 but not released until a year later. Torch could move his arm up at the shoulder about so far and he could swivel it all the way around. He had a hinge at the elbow so he could move at the elbow about 90 degrees and he had a swivel at the bicep so he could swivel his arm all the way around. He was held together with a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside so he could 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 he could bend at the knee about 90 degrees. Let's look at the sculpt and design of Torch starting with the head. He has these black sunglasses that are very 80s looking and a red bandana which is kind of Rambo style so that's another 80s type thing. He has mutton chops that connect to a mustache and there's actually a name for this design of facial hair. When you have mutton chops that connect to a mustache like that, it's called friendly mutton chops. He has a dog collar on his neck and on his chest he has a black vest with an open chest that kind of reminds me of Kahn in Star Trek The Wrath of Kahn. He has a skull necklace which is maybe a little bit of a cliche. On the vest we have some nicely sculpted detail, some chains there and some straps on the back that continues and it's a pretty nicely detailed vest. On both hands he has grey gloves and he has black wristbands across the grey gloves and that is a very nice detail that's an extra paint app that you might not have missed if they had neglected to put it on there but it's nice that they paid some attention to the detail. On his left arm he has a grey metal band. On his waist piece he has a silver belt with some black pockets. He's got some pockets on the back of his trousers and he is wearing blue jeans. On his right leg he has a dagger with a studded handguard and on his left leg he has a pistol with a nicely sculpted holster and since the pistol is on his left side that may indicate that torch is left handed and then he has some very tall grey riding boots with some very nicely sculpted detail all the way around. Let's take a look at Torch's file card. This file card was printed on the back of the card on which Torch was packaged you can see a little bit of the front of the card here. There are actually three versions of Torch's file card but I only have one to show you and I'm sorry about that but I will point out the differences between this card and the other cards as I go. We see a nice portrait of Torch here and down here it says The Enemy. It doesn't say Cobra because he's technically not a Cobra agent. The Dreadnocks are an independent motorcycle gang so it just says The Enemy there. Up here it says he is a Dreadnock codenamed Torch and that's more of an alias than a codename. His file name is Tom Winkin and there is an inside joke with the name which I explained on my review of Buzzer so go check that video out. His place of birth is Botany Bay, New South Wales, Australia and you've probably heard the name Botany Bay from Star Trek. Botany Bay, Australia was a planned site for a British penal colony. The penal colony was actually moved to Sydney Cove but the name Botany Bay is still associated with criminals. This section says subject was remanded to Borstahl at age 14 and has an asterisk here and it says that Borstahl is reform school and I looked it up and Borstahl is an informal name for a British school for delinquent boys. It says here he escaped and went to sea in the merchant marine where he learned the use of the cutting torch again indicating that this is a cutting torch not a flamethrower. Later rode with the Melbourne Mollers MC and another double asterisk and it says MC is Motorcycle Club. There were some versions of Torch's file card that did not have this line about the Melbourne Mollers and actually haven't been able to find that version of the file card. I know it exists. If you have a copy of the torch file card that doesn't have this line go ahead and shoot me a picture of it on Facebook. I'd really like to see it. This section says torch is an illiterate unrepentant thug whose penchant for sudden and unexpected violence is matched only by the utter depth of his stupidity. So there you go. Torch is illiterate. He's extremely stupid. This basically paints the picture of a violent idiot. He's the polar opposite of buzzer who while he is violent but he's highly educated. So we have two ends of the spectrum here. Highly educated and complete moron. In this bottom section it says specialty and MO and it has triple asterisk here and it says MO is modus operandi and modus operandi is Latin for motive operation. I think it's kind of funny that he explained what MO means but he didn't explain what modus operandi means. If you were eight years old reading this file card I'm not sure this footnote helped you understand it very much. Works with oxy acetylene torch as a general cutter mostly on remodeling stolen cars and occasional safe crackings. Scavenges the swamps for fun and profit. This line scavenges the swamp is another tie to Zartan. Zartan the action figure was released with a swamp skier. Now I don't know what a swamp skier has to do with being a master of disguise or motorcycle gangs but you know there you have it. There was a third version of Torch's file card besides this one and the other one without the Melbourne Mollers line and it would have been a gray file card like the one Buzzer has here essentially the same file card but with a gray background color instead of this original peach background. As I said at the beginning of this video Torch is my second favorite dreadnock. Buzzer is my favorite just because he's kind of an evil philosopher basically Torch is essentially stupid but I like the way he looks and that's why he's my second favorite. I like his mutton chops and his bandana and sunglasses I like the black vest. I just think he looks really cool I don't like his accessory but the look of the action figure makes up for that. Of course by process of elimination that means that Ripper is my least favorite and Ripper will be reviewed in the next video and I've got some words for you Ripper. That was my review of the 1985 Dreadnock Torch. I will be reviewing the Dreadnock Ripper later I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did make sure you give it a thumbs up on YouTube and make sure you are subscribed to the Hooded Cobra Commander 788 YouTube channel and don't forget to go over to Facebook and like the Hooded Cobra Commander 788 Facebook page. I've got some updates on there that you don't get anywhere else. Don't forget if there's a vintage G.I. Joe toy you would like for me to review make sure you leave a comment on this video and I will get to it as soon as I can. I have several more requested review videos coming up and you don't want to miss those. Those will be a lot of fun. I will catch you all later.