For Joe reviews, can you believe I’m still working off the case of GI Joes my wife bought me for Christmas? If that’s not a sign I need to do more Joe reviews, I don’t know what is! Today, I’ve got a quick review of a Renegades Joe, but I don’t consider him one really. Law & Order is more a smart, modern update.
You’re going to see some pictures of not great figures like Tomax & Xamot in this review. They remind me how far Hasbro has come with G.I. Joe over the last five years. At the time, those figures were decent updates to the classic figures, particularly because I never had them (finally! Tomax! Xamot!). Back in 2007, I was happy the classic costumes were being updated. By 2011, I had come to really appreciate the modernized Joes much more. I’m not knocking the old costumes, I still love the more colorful 30th Anniversary figures like Lifeline & Sci-Fi, but the figures have gotten so much better since 2007 and a lot of the best figures are the modernized ones so… yeah, the more muted Joes have won me over.
Law here is one such Joe. Now, Law is based on his appearance in G.I. Joe Renegades. It’s an episode I haven’t seen, but the figure appears to be pretty faithful to the cartoon, except for one major thing – it doesn’t’ feature an animated design in anyway, opting for the more realistic depiction the toys usually carry. This is similar to what I wish Mattel would’ve done with Young Justice or Public Enemies in their DC line: make the characters, but leave the animated look on the cutting room floor.
As such, Law looks amazing. While he doesn’t possess the basic look of his classic figure (via YoJoe), it doesn’t even register to me. The vibe I get from Law is that he’s much older. He was a new recruit, a Rawhide, in the 1987 film and, thanks largely to the head sculpt, this version seems like he’s a veteran now, having been running Joe prisons for more than a few years. The classic Law figure was sculpted with the face of a Hasbro executive, Kirk Bozigian. It would be cool if this older head sculpt for Law was styled after him again.
The figure is somewhat of a kitbash. I think all that’s new to the basic figure is that aforementioned awesome head sculpt and maybe the upper arms. He’s also kitbashed from some great base figures, so there’s great articulation throughout including ball-joints at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and ankles , double-hinged knees, and the ab ball-joint. He moves really well even after you add all the extra bulk to him.
And the bulk is where this figure shines. While the basic sculpt is assembled from other figures, it’s the gear that really gives Law his unique look. Continue to Page 2…
Noisy your on one hell of a review roll. Your Doing awesome!
So I got Law awhile ago, and like you I saw the face as too old. I put a 5 pack Law Head (Dusty) on this body and even though the skin tone is off I’m happier with him as rookie. (Renegades Law head did find a good home as Mainframe letting me discard his horrid orignal head). Also I agree about the badge as it is just ridiculously large. I really wish it was just attached by a peg so that this vest could keep getting cycled into the line with other figures but as it stands the only other use’s I could think of would be the G.I. Joe Club’s Subscription Sure Fire, and Maybe Wide Scope.
I’m hoping youll have a few more Joe Reviews coming up.
been trying to find this guy all over.
Great job!
I WAS NOT Listening to the Law and Order theme song while reading this review… Dammit! now I wanna hunt for them when all the local stores have some Retaliation rocks and some shelf warming Renegades CC… also we need an update on the Twins…
we do need an update on the twins!
i might agree with you on the young justice line but there were animated prototypes of duke and scrap-iron on display at a recent con that were awesome looking!
also in the recent renegades 4-pack three of the figures were “animated”, snake eyes, storm shadow, and a red ninja. the animated snake eyes blows away the realistic renegades snake eyes. and the animated storm shadow is at least as good as the realistic renegades version.
“This is similar to what I wish Mattel would’ve done with Young Justice or Public Enemies in their DC line: make the characters, but leave the animated look on the cutting room floor.”
And, I’d add, how much cooler and more cohesive would the MOTUC line be with this rule applied throughout?
Awesome review, I was bound to like this figure as L&O have been longtime faves of mine.
I enjoy this more realistic color scheme a heck of a lot too, though I’d definitely be down for a classic colors version as well (similar to how we have the 87 version and its more realistic repaint from the cool, but short-lived circa 2000 2-packs).
Glad Hasbro gave Order a neck swivel. I still hope to see a fully articulated animal at this scale but got a laugh from that shot. The badge is crazy Dredd huge. Another on my get list.
I was not aware this figure existed until I saw this review. I didn’t have either dog handler (I think Spirit, Raptor and Croc-Master were the only ones with animals I had?), but this guy looks awesome. I would have bought him/them in a heartbeat.
I would like to know who else wore that vest with th4e giant badge, tho?
Great review and nice pictures as usual. He isn’t really modeled all too faithfully on the Renegades cartoon version, though… in the cartoon, Law was a civilian prison guard, while the toy is obviously an Army MP. Minor quibble, though, as I like how the toy turned out and I like him more as a modern update of the original MP.
Also, you know that some real hardcore 1980s Law fan had some input into the toy’s design. The original 1987 toy was armed with an Uzi, a submachine gun built by the Israeli armament company IMI. This toy? Armed with a MAR (a.k.a. Micro Galil), a compact carbine built by IMI’s corporate successor IWI. That’s some crazily involved accessory design continuity.
While this is a great figure in the conventional G3 style, the Amazon Renegades pack has me intrigued as to what the quality of the line would be if they had stuck with the animated style. Storm Shadow and the Red Ninja are great (And Snake Eyes is only held back by the fact that we won’t get a coatless version of the sculpt, and the weight/bulk of the coat is a drag), so I can’t help but wish we got more in that style.
Now, Law And Order and the other Renegades are all great examples of how far Hasbro has come with this style, but it’s the collector’s vice of knowing we could have had something different. Not that either style got a Roadblock to prototype stage or beyond anyway.
Great review and pics, as expected!
That hole in his butt-flap is where I hook the handcuffs on my Renegades Cobra Trooper. Perhaps you could use it likewise for this guy?
Thanks! Good idea on the cuffs – I’ll have to try it.