 Hello, friends. It's almost Christmas time and Christmas always makes me think of one thing. Communism. Yes, Christmas is when we tell stories of those little elves living in the workers' paradise, where the means of production was owned by a fat bearded German. Not that one. So join me, fellow revelers, as we take a look at the Russians. Eggnog, comrade? Eggnog, great cop here. Love, G.I. Joe. Swatter-Rising! Sorry, sorry, sorry. Ready, ready. Silence, kill. We're Commander798 here and welcome to our almost Christmas video. At Christmas time, there's always magic in the air. For instance, I can magically make my cup disappear. For this video, we're going to look at a faction within the G.I. Joe universe that we haven't looked at before. In fact, we haven't even talked about it very much. At the height of the Cold War, America's greatest enemy was the Soviet Union. And the Soviets did appear in G.I. Joe in the form of the October Guard. The October Guard was extremely important in the G.I. Joe mythos, but it wasn't until long after they appeared that they actually got action figures. We're going to look at one of those action figures today. HCC788 presents Big Bear. This is Big Bear, the October Guard anti-armor specialist from 1992. This figure was only available in 1992. It was discontinued for 1993. In earlier series, G.I. Joe figures were available for at least two years. In the 90s, they were often discontinued after one year. There was a second version of Big Bear in 1993. It was a mail away offer in a four pack called the International Action Force. It reuses the mold for version one, but in different colors. Instead of green, the uniform is black. It is awesome and I don't have it. The October Guard first appeared in the G.I. Joe comic book series in issue number six, but Big Bear was not on the team at the time. The October Guard consisted of Stormovic, Shrage, Horror Show, Diana, and Colonel Brekov. They did not have action figures at the time. They were the creations of the writer of the comic book, Larry Hama. The October Guard was the Soviet's answer to G.I. Joe. They were an elite military unit that encountered G.I. Joe a number of times. Big Bear gets his name from the Russian Bear, which has been a symbol of Russia as far back as the 16th century. The Bear became sort of a mascot for the Soviets, similar to the American Eagle. Misha the Bear was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. In the West, the image of the Bear was often used to poke fun at the Russians. October refers to the Russian October Revolution of 1917. It was instrumental in the broader revolution of 1917, which toppled the Tsarist aristocracy and led to the establishment of the Soviet Union. As the anti-armor specialist for the October Guard, his earliest counterpart in G.I. Joe was ZAP from 1983. In 1985, we got a new missile specialist, Bazooka. And in 1990, we got a new anti-armor trooper, Salvo. In 1984, Cobra's anti-armor specialist was Scrap Iron. But Scrap Iron was really one of Destro's minions. In 1989, Cobra got a replacement for Scrap Iron, the Heat Viper. Heat stands for High Explosive Anti-Tank. Let's take a look at the full card back for Big Bear. I don't often have these full card backs, so it's nice to take a look at the packaging. We have the card art for Big Bear here, and this is really pretty good. I have not been entirely satisfied with a lot of the later 90s card art, but this is good. I like it. In this gray area behind where the figure would have been on the bubble, we have some instructions on how to operate the spring-loaded missile launcher. We will take a look at that accessory later. And instructions on how to use the figure stand. You probably could have figured that out without instructions. On the flip side, we have the cross-sell, some other figures that were available at the same time. We have some sub-factions within G.I. Joe. We have our one flag point, and we have our file card. And fortunately, mine's a little smudged up. Let's take a look at Big Bear's accessories, starting with his rifle. The file card calls this an AK-88 fully automatic attack rifle. I cannot find a reference to an AK-88. There is a Type-88, which is the North Korean version of an AK-47. It is probably based on the AK-74U, but oddly, the magazine is missing. It has a strap that connects to the middle of the rifle, rather than the stock or behind the grip. It does kind of have a Russian look to it, doesn't it? And of course, you can use that strap to sling the rifle over the figure's shoulder. Now let's look at the spring-loaded missile launcher. This monster, which the file card calls a double-barreled low-noise bazooka launcher. So it launches bazookas? This does look a bit like a real-world weapon. It looks a lot like the DP-64, a Soviet double-barreled grenade launcher. I was surprised to find a real-world weapon that looks like this. It is black, it has a single pistol grip, and as you saw, the figure can hold it. And with the figure on the stand, the figure can stand up. It doesn't topple over while carrying this thing. It has two yellow missiles. We'll take a closer look at those in a minute. It is a double-barrel missile launcher, and it has either lamps or infrared lights, one on top and one on the bottom. The trigger for it is here in the back, this yellow switch. I usually don't care too much about these spring-loaded missile launchers, but as missile launchers go, this one is not bad. It has a fair amount of detail on both sides. These missiles are unique. It has a fork, and this enables the missile launcher to fire either one missile or both missiles at the same time. Let's look at how that works. This is a two-barrel missile launcher, but only the lower barrel is spring-loaded. The upper barrel is not. To fire a single missile, just put one of the two missiles, doesn't matter which one, in the lower barrel, it only fits one way, so just turn it until it slides in easily and clicks. Then aim and press the trigger to the left to fire. To fire both missiles at the same time, take the missile with the fork and place it in the lower barrel with the fork facing up. Press it until it clicks. Take the other missile and slide it through the fork and into the upper barrel. It will only fit one way, so just turn it until it slides in. It will not click in, it will just rest on top of that other missile. Now you're ready to fire both at the same time. Just press the trigger to the left and fire. I can't say this double firing feature has much advantage over the single firing feature, but the double barrel missile launcher does kind of look cool, doesn't it? It's worth noting the instructions on the card are actually incorrect. It doesn't show the lower missile with the fork and the trigger is in the wrong place. This must have been based on a prototype. Big Bear has a backpack. It is black. It's kind of small, but it's nice to have a backpack on a 90s figure. When they started releasing the accessories on accessories trees, we didn't get as many backpacks. This is adequate and fine, and it serves its purpose. Big Bear's final accessory was his figure stand. It is black, and this was an innovation in the 1990s. Before the 90s, we didn't get figure stands with the figures. We would only get them with small play sets and accessory packs. So it's nice to get a figure stand with the figure. Let's take a look at Big Bear's articulation. He had the articulation that was standard for G.I. Joe figures by 1992, meaning he had a ball-jointed head, a universal joint at the shoulder. He had a hinge at the elbow and a swivel at the bicep. The figure was held together with a rubber O-ring that allowed him to 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. Let's take a look at the sculpt design and color of Big Bear starting with his head. On his head, he's wearing a gray Yushenka. A Yushenka is a cap that is often made of fur, and it has ear flaps that can be tied up on the crown of the cap as it is here, or they can be pulled down to cover the ears and chin. He has a red star in the center of his hat. That red star is another Soviet symbol. He has red hair and this odd little rat tail in the back of his hair. You would expect a soldier to have close-cropped hair. He has a red beard and unfortunately red eyebrows and red pupils as well. Unfortunately, the red eyes are not an artistic choice like on Crystal Ball. His eyes aren't red because he's super communist. No, the reason for the red eyes is entirely capitalist. It's a cost-cutting measure. Giving him brown or black eyes would have required an additional paint color. This was done to other 90s figures and it always looks horrible. Just wait till we get to look at Topside's blonde eyes. On his chest he has a Kelly Green uniform. This looks like a standard uniform to me, not a cold weather uniform. He has brown straps and on the right strap he has a yellow grenade. That yellow grenade is a little out of place, but since the chest looks pretty good, I can excuse it. He has a sculpted knife on the left strap. Those brown straps continue to the back in a Y shape. These straps are load-bearing equipment for his backpack. His arms feature long sleeves in that same green color. A little bit of discoloration on mine. He has pockets on his upper arms and he has bare hands. He has a yellow patch on his right sleeve. This patch on the right sleeve is the basic shape of real patches worn by the Soviet Army. Although this one is blank, it would probably be the patch for the Soviet VDV Force, which is the Soviet Airborne Infantry. On his waist he has a brown belt that is pretty well sculpted, front and back. He has a red belt buckle with a star, another red star. On his belt he has a strap that's connected in the front and the back that slings down to a pouch on his left leg. On his legs we see that same Kelly Green uniform color as on the top half of the figure. Nice continuity of colors there. He has pouches on the front of his thighs and he has a sculpted stripe that goes down both legs. He has that brown pouch on his left leg and on his feet he has black Wellington boots. Let's take a look at Big Bear's file card. This file card is a little smudgy, but we can still read it well enough. This is one of those 90s file cards that has a description of some of the accessories and the features on the figure down here. I'm not going to read those. I already provided some of that information earlier. His codename is Big Bear. He is the October Guard Anti-Armor Specialist. His filename is Grigory Ivanovich Rostov. His military specialty is Air Assault. His birthplace is Archangel Russia SSR. His rank is Sergeant in parentheses Sergeant. Archangel is the English translation of the name of a Russian port city near the White Sea. SSR would be Soviet Socialist Republics. Here we have a quote presumably from Big Bear himself. It says, Airborne troops afraid to fall without parachutes. No guts. That's not true. Check out this photo of the time I jumped out of a plane without a parachute. This paragraph says, Big Bear grew up in a place where the conditions are cold, wet and nasty every day. He can be meaner than a Siberian wolf with its leg caught in a steel trap and wilder than a Mermansk fur merchant. Transferred from the elite 103rd Guards Air Assault Division, Big Bear's main gripe about the October Guard was the constant reference to it as the Soviet Union's counterpart to G.I. Joe. He would snap back saying, G.I. Joe's our counterparts. This 103rd Guards Air Assault Division is a reference to the 103rd Guards Airborne Division. It was a real division of the Soviet Airborne Corps, which was disbanded in 1993 after being transferred to the Belarus Army. I can appreciate Big Bear's pride in his team. These are elite troops. I can imagine they would bristle at the constant comparison to G.I. Joe. Big Bear enjoys rumbling into battle behind the wheels of the infamous G.I. Joe Attack Cruiser and Badger. This is the G.I. Joe Badger from 1991. I don't have the Attack Cruiser. Why would Big Bear drive the G.I. Joe Attack Cruiser and the Badger? These are G.I. Joe vehicles. He's a foreign operative. Their mention on the file card was obviously a cheap attempt to monetize those vehicles, but the Attack Cruiser and the Badger were released in 1991. They were discontinued for 1992, so they were not all the shelves at the same time Big Bear was. Taking a look at how Big Bear and the October Guard were used in G.I. Joe Media, the October Guard first appeared in the G.I. Joe animated series in the episode The Invaders. The lineup was a little different from the comic book version. Their battle cry was New Bogody, a version for Just You Wait. No! Bogody! My mom had a similar battle cry. It was Just You Wait until your father comes home. Big Bear did appear in the Dieck cartoon series, particularly in the episodes titled Chunnel and Keyboard Warriors. The G.I. Joe comic book series published by Marvel Comics was the true origin of the October Guard. They first appeared in issue number 6 and carried over to issue 7. They were rivals to G.I. Joe on a mission to retrieve a downed Soviet spy plane. They later teamed up with G.I. Joe after Cobra got their hands on the target. They appeared several times in the comic book series, sometimes as enemies of G.I. Joe, other times as partners. They returned in G.I. Joe yearbook number 2 in a story penciled by Michael Golden. Golden made a name for himself as the penciler of the excellent series The Nam. His art on G.I. Joe wasn't universally well received. To the best of my knowledge Big Bear did not appear in the comic book series. Maybe he appeared in one of the later issues that I don't have but I have not been able to find him. If you are aware of an appearance of Big Bear in the Marvel comic book series, please let me know. I hate to miss stuff like that. Looking at Big Bear overall it's a middle tier figure. It could easily be a top tier figure with one minor change. The red eyes really bother me. I can't get over them. It's a shame that such a small thing can tarnish what would otherwise be a top tier figure. It's a small thing but an important thing. The red eyes are indicative of the cost-cutting measures in the 1990s. They went cheap and it looks ugly. The rest of the figure is pretty great. I like the color. The green may be a little too bright for a traditional military uniform, even a Russian one but I still think it looks pretty good. The yellow grenade kind of stands out but I can overlook it because the rest of the colors are pretty good and the sculpting is excellent. The accessories are cool. I don't usually go for the spring loaded missile launchers but the fact that this one sort of looks like a real weapon makes me appreciate it more. The rifle is my favorite accessory. More importantly this figure introduces us to the October Guard, one of the great factions within G.I. Cho. Its origins are steeped in the Cold War. The way they were depicted in the comic book is not what you would expect from American civilization. Of course the October Guard worked against G.I. Cho but not always. Often G.I. Cho and the October Guard were able to work together for a common goal. They were presented as the equals to G.I. Cho. The presentation of the October Guard was like reverse propaganda instead of dehumanizing the enemy it placed the enemy on an equal footing as ourselves. This is why the G.I. Cho comic book is worth a read even by non G.I. Cho fans. There's far more subtlety in that book than you would expect. If you think G.I. Cho is nothing more than Cold War propaganda and the comic book is nothing more than an advertisement for toys then you either haven't read it or you didn't understand what you read. That was my review of Big Bear. I hope you enjoyed it. Next week I am doing something special. We are doing a viewers choice poll. Now I've done lots of patrons choice polls but this will be different. I am opening this poll up to everyone. The vote will be on Patreon.com. There will be an announcement video when it starts look for that. And you will have more than three options. Every figure and vehicle that did not win a patrons choice poll this year will get a second chance. Except for bulletproof because I lost his microphone. The figure is not complete anymore. I am not ready to review it. And I will throw in a few more options. It will be huge. Who will win? You decide. After that announcement video for the Q&A will be coming soon. I will be taking the weekend of Christmas and the first week of 2018 off. Those weeks off are not vacation weeks. I am working on something big for the first review of 2018. I can't tell you what it is but I can tell you what it is not. It is not the defiant shuttle complex. I was not able to acquire one this year. I will also be implementing a few minor format changes that I hope will make the show more fun and more professional. That's all for now. Thank you for watching. I will see you next weekend. Until then, remember only G.I. Joe is G.I. Joe. I do not think the American likes us. Liking him is like you said.