 Hello everybody and welcome to the show. We are going to talk about Destro's iron grenadiers again. I am wearing black I am wearing red. I am wearing gold. I'm ready. I am not gonna wear this I don't even know what this is. It's the only gold fabric we had in the house before we get started an important Announcement based on the date this video will publish. There's only a couple more days to enter Timbers giveaway charity drive It will end on December 5th And I implore you to help if you can. Chances are you are a generous person Chances are you are going to give to charity anyway So why not enter to have a chance to win prizes and to help the GI Joe fan community put its best foot forward Here we stand at the end of 2017. I'm already making preparations for 2018 There are only a couple more reviews left in the year. The final video of the year will be another Q&A like last year Look for an announcement video for that. With the announcements out of the way. Let's play the theme song GI Joe toy review we've talked a lot about iron grenadiers lately We almost could have done an iron grenadiers theme month, which would have been fine with me I love talking about this part of GI Joe this week We are going to look at the demon tank and the driver ferret and for this video I need to thank David Jones who sent me this vehicle and figure in a touching act of generosity I mentioned in an earlier video that I didn't have this vehicle So he sent it to me David you have helped this channel in more ways than one and I really appreciate it Thank you very much, sir. And now HCC 788 presents Destro's iron grenadiers demon tank and the driver ferret This is the 1988 demon tank and the driver ferret They were part of the iron grenadiers faction within the GI Joe toy line. They were first introduced in 1988 They were also sold in 1989 and were discontinued for the year 1990 Demon is an acronym that stands for dual elevating multi ordinance neutralizer Demon is a cool name without making it an acronym. The demon and ferret were part of Destro's iron grenadiers We've talked about them quite a bit lately Destro formerly worked with Cobra and was their main weapons supplier His relationship with Cobra commander was always strained in 1988 Destro reformed his private army into a rival to both Cobra and GI Joe the iron grenadiers This was the only version of the demon and ferret to be released in the vintage line in the first wave of iron grenadier figures in 1988 there was a unifying color scheme black red and gold it wasn't universal though Nullifier the driver of the AGP broke from that theme Unfortunately, I don't have the nullifier to show you but most of the series stuck with the common colors I prefer the uniform colors. It ties the team together iron grenadiers were intended to fight against GI Joe's battle force 2000 early iron grenadiers packaging included the battle force 2000 logo They were never used that way in the cartoon or comic book series, and I'm glad they weren't it wouldn't have been a fair matchup Battle force 2000 was just a squad of vehicle drivers with some experimental vehicles The iron grenadiers was a whole army I'm going to set the ferret action figure aside for now so we can take a closer look at the demon as you can see the Demon follows the black red gold color scheme of the iron grenadiers There are some gray highlights here and there there is quite a lot of color interest on this vehicle But the base color is black This makes the demon ideal for night missions the black on the demon tank harkens back to the his tank from 1983 Cobra's black tank was presumably designed by Destro And I think you can see that design influence in both vehicles Normally when I look at the parts and the features of a vehicle I start at the front and work my way back But that doesn't really work with the demon tank because Well, it's much wider than it is long It makes more sense on this vehicle to start at one side and work toward the other on the starboard side of the vehicle We have a gray tread. This is a fake tread It actually rolls on these wheels underneath these gold wheels Then we have a gold support arm that connects the tread to the main body of the vehicle We have another one underneath now these support arms do extend for the main play feature on the vehicle Which I will demonstrate later here next to the cab We have what the blueprints call an extremely high-intensity xenon spotlight slash solar collector It is a red spotlight with the red translucent plastic Now maybe this is used for targeting the weapons or maybe to blind the enemy It turns a little more than 45 degrees, but it cannot face rearward and it's totally useless on the other side of the vehicle It can't turn that direction at all We have the driver's pod with a black body a red headlights and a red windshield We also have some cutout windows here on the side and in the back for the rear gunners position This band of gray plastic that goes all the way around gives this vehicle a sense of depth and complexity On top of the driver's pod We have what the blueprints call a roof mounted magnetic array triple lens laser It can rotate 360 degrees, but it does not elevate round in the back We have another three barrel gun a smaller one presumably a laser It can pivot and it's operated from inside the cockpit So we'll take a closer look at this when we open up the canopy the cockpit is hinged right under the spotlight So this whole top half opens up to the side to reveal a three-person cockpit This cockpit is very spacious and every square inch of it is hyper detailed very impressive We have this front-facing seat for the driver and let's just go ahead and demonstrate how to put the figure in It's best if he sits straight-legged and you just pop him right in there And there's plenty of head space so you can close the canopy without bumping his head We have this side-facing seat in the center of the cab and this is maybe a fire control station Maybe the missile operator sits here The figure fits in that seat just as well as he does in the driver's seat plenty of room notice There are all kinds of instruments around this seat, but there's no computer screen for this guy to look at But there actually is some instrument panel detail on the inside of the canopy that would face this figure When the canopy is closed finally We have this rear gunner's seat and this gun actually has a control handle here on the side And there's another control handle here on the main body of the vehicle I would not try to force these into the figure's hands They are a little bit thick and you might break the figure's thumbs Now this seat is quite a bit more cramped than the other two If you're gonna put a figure in it's best to bend his knees But even when he's all the way in there his head kind of gets in the way You have the option of leaning his head back and having you know kind of his head sort of obstructed by this window Or you can have him leaning forward a bit in which case his head kind of sticks out the window So I don't know what you would prefer, but that space is a bit cramped On the underside of the driver's pod we have a wicked cool dragon logo And then we have Destro's logo, which is his face and his own name Yeah, Destro may be a little narcissistic Moving down from the driver's pod we have the largest weapon on this vehicle The blueprints call this an Infinity 3 variable energy pivoting triple barrel laser The laser is gold plastic, but it's on this black mount And this mount will pivot 360 degrees and the gun will elevate with a ratchet There is an unadvertised feature on this gun Destro's Dispoiler, the small vehicle that Destro came with, will mount on this gun These two thrusters on the bottom of the Dispoiler perfectly line up with these two posts on the gun So you can have Destro add his own firepower to the demon Under the main gun we have the pop-up missile box that will open up with a ratchet Opens up to roughly 45 degree angle And it opens to reveal six gold missiles These missiles are all the same and they slot in using these fins The top one slide into these slots up here And then the bottom ones have their own set of slots down here The blueprints call these TriCap triple computer assisted anti-aircraft anti-personnel missiles These missiles are pretty large They are gold and they have good details One thing I find very odd is they also have these dumbbell shaped slots And you often find these on GI Joe missiles that peg onto vehicles But there are no such pegs on this vehicle With the missiles removed we can see an impressive amount of detail inside the missile box The port side of this vehicle is pretty plain but it's not totally defenseless This top gun will turn to face the enemy coming from that side But if that gun is taken out The rest of the armaments on this vehicle don't completely turn to face that side This gun up here kind of will But it partially is obstructed by this one So this side is more vulnerable I guess if you're going to make a vehicle that's more vulnerable on one side It makes sense to put the driver on the other side Finally we get to the elevating feature on this vehicle That's the E in the demon acronym To elevate this vehicle we have to swing these treads together Now these support arms underneath are clipped to the body of the vehicle at these points So you have to pull those off Unclip them and then swing these arms up And then they actually clip together here at this point So clip them together there And now you have the demon tank in its elevated position Exactly what good would this feature do The demon is now an easier target than it was before And now it's top heavy I could kind of imagine this feature would be useful When taking cover behind an embankment The demon could rise up to see what's going on And then lower itself down to duck enemy fire But that is a narrow set of circumstances in which this feature would be useful With the tank in the raised position You can see some additional detail under the treads Then to lower the tank you just reverse the process Press the body of the tank down until it clicks into place If you take a step back and look at the demon It looks like a deconstructed tank The elements of a tank are there But it's cut up and mixed around in an odd way It's like a Picasso tank The layout doesn't seem to be optimal for a fighting vehicle The personnel are all on the starboard side of the tank So their view of anything coming from the port side is blocked The main armament is the missiles And they are forward facing and can't pivot It is wide and high up off the ground Even in its lower configuration It seems like it could topple and roll over on a steep embankment There are reasons real tanks are made the way they are They are short and low to the ground To make themselves a smaller target when charging the enemy They don't easily topple over They have a gun that traverses to hit a target from any side The demon seems like a death trap A conventional tank would have the advantage Now let's look at the driver This is a ferret This is also a ferret This is also a ferret And this is also a ferret There is a drinking game in England called ferret legging Which involves putting a ferret in your pants I don't see the appeal in this The ferret came with no accessories So let's go ahead and look at his articulation He had the articulation that was standard for the time Meaning he had a butt jointed head He had a universal joint at the shoulder He had a hinge at the elbow and a swivel at the bicep There was a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside of the figure So he could 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 Taking a look at the sculpt design and color of the ferrets The colors mostly match the black gold red of the iron grenadiers troopers But there's an additional tan color thrown in This is similar to the tan color of the AGP pilot the nullifier So the colors of the ferret are in between the iron grenadier trooper and the nullifier Looking at ferret's head he has a gold helmet With a ridged fin that goes right down the center And this does fit with the aesthetic of the iron grenadiers The iron grenadier trooper also had a fin on his helmet A ferret has a red face mask with a black slit visor This helmet looks like something out of a classic science fiction serial I could easily see this in a Buster Crabb Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers episode On his chest he has a black shirt and he has some red straps Which as they go over his shoulders and down his back they are black He has a large bulky gold electronic piece on his chest Attached to that electronic piece are some gold hoses that go over his shoulders Those hose details continue around to the back But the hose in the back is black This must connect to something inside the tank Maybe some kind of an air system His arms are black and unpainted There is some studded armor detail on his upper arms There are some sculpted bands around his wrists And he has black gloves His waist piece is kind of interesting He has a gold belt that goes all the way around front and back But on the front he has this red padding that does not continue around the back On the back we have his tan trousers On the right side of his waist piece he has this ridged strap That loops over his gold belt And I guess connects to this red pocket on his right leg His legs feature tan trousers He does have that red pouch on his right leg And a sculpted strap around his right thigh His left leg is pretty plain And his tan trousers cover the tops of his red boots Let's take a look at Ferret's file card Most of these file cards were written by Larry Hamma The writer of the comic book series This sounds like one of his He has his faction as the enemy It has a portrait of Ferret here Bit of a difference between the helmet on the figure And the helmet on the file card I like the helmet on the figure better His codename is Ferret And specialty is Iron Grenadier Demon Drivers Drivers plural of course Because this is not an individual character You're meant to build an army of these guys This top paragraph says Ferrets are the backbone of Destro's Armored Assault Squadrons Their battle vehicles called demons Are expected to spearhead long range mechanized attacks To neutralize enemy strong points As well as capture and hold landing zones For airborne insertions Since the design priorities for the demon Key on speed, range, and offensive firepower Much was sacrificed in the area of Crew protection, comfort, and safety The reason I say this sounds like a Larry Hamma file card Is this seems like something he would do He obviously noticed the problems With the design of the demon And he made note of it on the card This bottom paragraph has a quote It says Ferrets are chosen and trained Based on their doggedly positive attitude This is a vital attribute for them When a squadron of demons Attack in formation at full throttle With all weapons systems firing They are virtually unstoppable Break up the formation Slow the pace of the attack Or counter attack from behind And infantrymen with handheld rocket launchers Can turn the demons into burning hulks Their motto should be Don't look back I guess you need a positive attitude When you're driving a poorly designed And easily defeatable tank into battle Looking at how the demon and ferret Were used in G.I. Joe Media The demon was only animated for commercials And I don't think the ferret Was even animated for that They didn't make an appearance in the cartoon series Since they were released in 1988 They came out between the end of the Sunbow series And the beginning of the Deke series Amusingly, in the commercials They did try to pit the Iron Grenadiers Against Battle Force 2000 Good try guys, good try The demon tank made some noteworthy appearances In the G.I. Joe comic book series By Marvel Comics I want to focus on their first appearance It was during the Cobra Civil War story arc Which is still my favorite story from the comic book series In that story, two factions of Cobra One led by Serpentor And the other led by a Crimson Guardsman Posing as Cobra Commander Were warring for control of Cobra Island G.I. Joe entered the fight on the side of Serpentor In exchange for the return of a piece of technology That Cobra had stolen This was different from the typical G.I. Joe story G.I. Joe normally focused on small unit missions In this story, we got large unit troop movements We even got maps of the battlefield We could see the strategic chess match of general warfare At the end of issue number 74 At the very height of battle When G.I. Joe and both Cobra factions Were at their most vulnerable A new player entered the field Destro His Iron Grenadier army took the beach near the airfield At first, they just waited and watched Destro had tea while observing the battle At the right moment, the Iron Grenadiers struck And took the airfield as the other factions retreated The writing in this story felt authentic But it didn't cover up the fantasy elements of G.I. Joe It integrated the science fiction vehicles Into conventional war And it all seemed to fit Even though it really shouldn't fit Taking a look at the demon tank and the ferret overall I had some notes about what I was going to say for this segment But rereading it, I think I got it wrong So I'm just going to toss these aside and talk off the cuff I'm going to put the demon tank in the top tier Even though I really shouldn't There's a lot of weird design elements It totally would not work as a real military vehicle But as I play around with the thing I just can't put it down There's so many things to do with it It's a really fun toy And I think if you make a toy that just wants to be played with I think you've made a good toy If you go into a toy store nowadays And you look at the toys that are played with by actual children You find these Imaginext play sets These are aimed at younger kids But these things are amazing Every part of these play sets has something that moves Some kind of action feature And the demon tank is a lot like that As I was doing this review I was having a lot of fun with the demon tank Just opening things up And moving things around And even the feature where it elevates And the treads go forward It's kind of silly But it's still fun And of course I love the black I love black vehicles I love black figures Demon tank You have earned your spot in the top tier As for the ferret I'm going to call it a middle tier figure The sculpting is fine The colors are fine It doesn't come across as anything But a vehicle driver Which is what it is I like it well enough middle tier That was my review of the demon tank and ferret I hope you enjoyed it Please, please, please help with Timmer's charity drive Chances are you're a generous person anyway Chances are you're going to donate to charity anyway So why not enter to win something for it And help the G.I. Joe fan community put its best foot forward If you want to hear more from me You can find me on Facebook, Twitter And you can support the channel on Patreon For some special perks And to help me replace that damn computer I also have a website, hcc788.com If you want to know if I've reviewed something You can check there You can also order t-shirts And if you take a picture In one of my t-shirts I will put your picture in a video Merry Christmas and happy holidays My holidays are always happier Because I get to spend it with you Thank you for watching I'll see you next time For another vintage G.I. Joe toy review And until then Remember only G.I. Joe is G.I. Joe Comes with driver A.G.P. with pilots