{"id":11798,"date":"2011-02-21T00:01:04","date_gmt":"2011-02-21T06:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=11798"},"modified":"2011-02-21T00:02:31","modified_gmt":"2011-02-21T06:02:31","slug":"g-i-joe-review-pursuit-of-cobra-wave-4-low-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=11798","title":{"rendered":"G.I. Joe Review: Pursuit of Cobra
Wave 4 Low-Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> I got really into 25th Joes a few years ago. The figures weren’t always perfect, but with a healthy dollop of nostalgia, they got the job done. When the movie figures eclipsed the anniversary, I bought some. The verdict? Better figures, but not better designs. This weekend, I bought a Joe that had it all. <\/p>\n

I had left G.I. Joe behind for a long time when the 25th line hit. I had some Ninja Force and that awesome “Cavalry” Wild Bill, so I was buying them up into the 90s. I remember the return of RAH in ’97 because those figures were spectacularly subpar. I didn’t buy much of anything Joe-related after that. I even tried to ignore 25th Anniversary at first, but the figures drew me in – bad articulation cuts, gummy hands, and all. When the line transitioned into ROC, I bought a few and was impressed with how much better the toys were – even if the movie designs were woefully lacking. Slowly, though, my Joe “budget” dried up – some of my older readers might’ve noticed as IAT used to feature a decent chunk of Joe reviews.<\/p>\n

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I heard a lot of good things about the Pursuit of Cobra line (I was there for the reveal at JoeCon 2009<\/a>), but didn’t buy too many of them when they finally did come out (too many DCUCs, MOTUCs, & Transformers to buy). I snagged a couple here and there \u2013 and yesterday I found one I really wanted. Low-Light. I tweeted<\/a> about it and the resulting tweets insisted that I review him posthaste. So here we are. <\/p>\n

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If you’re not familiar with Low-Light, he’s one of the badass Joes. Snake Eye is the mysterious\/dangerous badass. Beachhead is the temperamental\/in-your-face badass. Low-Light is the tough\/loner badass. He’s a night ops sniper. Yep. He shoots you from hundreds of yards away… in the dark. He’s mean to the other Joes, even when he’s being nice. And he’s a patent holder. Well, wait… that last part doesn’t quite fit, but you get the idea. If he’s up in a tree somewhere looking for you, you’re probably dead already.<\/p>\n

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Since I’m not up on my POC Joes, I don’t know how much of Low-Light is new. I’m told that he’s got a lot of City Strike Beachhead’s parts, but I haven’t got him handy to check that out. Some stuff I can guess is new like his webgear and head (he\u2019s a mean looking dude, too) because they’re accurate to his classic ’86 figure (my favorite Joe year evah). I think his forearms are new because of the wrist articulation too. <\/p>\n

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Even with the reuse of Beachhead parts, this figure sings as our first “29th Anniversary figure”. He’s pretty accurate to the original despite having an updated detail or two here and there. The fun thing here though is that the POC line has featured a fair share of figures that are more “realistic” to modern military designs and Low-Light fits in that paradigm. That means he fits in seamlessly with the ROC\/POC stuff while at the same time being true to his classic appearance. He’s win-win in that regard. Moreover, he merges the great engineering of the more recent figures with the classic designs that got me to buy so many 25th figures. I don\u2019t think I could\u2019ve left the store without him.<\/p>\n

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The articulation is also fantastic, though I’d still like to see bicep & thigh swivels incorporated into the Joes. Low-Light features a ball-jointed head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and ankles. Double hinges in the knee and a torso joint. He can get into a ton of great poses, including some great sniper poses – except that he can’t look up like he’s using the gun. I’m not going to knock Hasbro for this – figures that can truly look up are as rare as 25th Anniversary Joes with no QC issues (zing!), but that would\u2019ve been a nice area to see some added articulation were is possible. <\/p>\n

One area where articulation was added is the wrist balls in the hands. This is perfect for a guy like Low-Light. I was even more pleased with the joint in his right hand. It’s ball-jointed vertically<\/em>. This greatly increases the figures range. I’d love to see that incorporated into more figures \u2013 particularly ones that need to hold power swords aloft? <\/p>\n

While his sculpt and articulation are impressive, it’s his accessories that really put him over the top. Continue to Page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

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Before I can talk about the awesomeness of the accessories, I must foolishly admit that I lost one*. I opened Low-Light this weekend to discover that one of the bullets in his bullet tray was removable. That was awesome and dreadful! Sure that I would lose it, I placed it in its holder at the bottom of Low-Light’s backpack. Low-Light then stood vigil on my desk until I took him to the studio for his pics. I emptied the contents of his bag to find… no bullet<\/em>. I have no idea where it went or what happened, but it’s a 1:18th scale bullet – I’m fairly certain I will never see it again. So my apologies for not being able to show you guys all his accessories.<\/p>\n

* – I’ve also lost the antenna on his sat phone a couple times. It tends to shoot off like a missile if you bump it. If I could trade the carpet the antenna to get the bullet back, I most certainly would. The antenna is annoying, the bullet was cool.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Since I’m now buying DC Classics in even “huger” packaging (that strangely doesn’t net us bigger C&C’s – any DC fans remember when the package size was<\/em> the stated limiting factor?), I always have to laugh at the cascade of accessories that come with some of these new Joes. Low-Light is no exception. He included:<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
    \n
  • Sniper Rifle<\/li>\n
  • Detachable Scope<\/li>\n
  • Detachable Bipod<\/li>\n
  • Silencer<\/li>\n
  • Spotter’s Scope (2 pcs)<\/li>\n
  • GPS<\/li>\n
  • Satellite Phone w\/ Removable Handset<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
\n
    \n
  • Goggles<\/li>\n
  • Knife<\/li>\n
  • Uzi<\/li>\n
  • Bullet Tray<\/li>\n
  • Bullet<\/li>\n
  • Rifle Case<\/li>\n
  • Backpack<\/li>\n
  • Stand<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

    That\u2019s sixteen accessories not counting the webgear and they crammed a poster in there for good measure. Could it get any better? Well, yes! <\/p>\n

    In addition to all that stuff fitting in the package, it all fits on the figure. The knife and scope have specific holsters, the rifle & scope also fit in the case (though the scope having two homes is odd, woulda been nice to have a spot for the silencer in the case), and everything else fits in his bag. Further, the case can peg to his back, the backpack can peg to the case, and the Satellite Phone can peg to the backpack. It’s a tough load, but there’s little doubt that Low-Light can take it. And if all that junk is on back is too much for ya, just do what I do and have Low-Light carry his rifle case. <\/p>\n

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    The articulation and accessories combine really well too. That’s where all these pictures come from. I couldn\u2019t stop snapping \u2018em. I had to do little montages just to make this review manageable. He can be posed like he\u2019s retrieving the rifle from its case. He can dig through his backpack. He can assemble his gun. He can hold the spotter’s scope to his eye(!). The only thing accessories that he can’t \u201cuse\u201d properly are the phone he can\u2019t hold to his ear and, again, he can\u2019t look up enough to properly use his rifle.<\/P><\/p>\n

    Paint for the most part was pretty good. I didn’t notice the green slop on the grenades until I got these close up pics and I still have a hard time seeing them in person, so I’m not going to count that against him. There was a little slop here and there, but well within line for a figure of this size.<\/p>\n

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    Overall, I’m going to go for the hyperbole here and say this might just be the best Joe figure ever. He’s got a great sculpt that\u2019s faithful to the original design while still having enough updated elements to fit in with the modern figures. He’s got a mean head sculpt. There’s useful articulation all over with extra joints where necessary (except for that neck). He’s painted well. And then there’s that little matter of a ton of awesome accessories. If I gave out stars or ravens, Low-Light would undoubtedly break the bank.<\/p>\n

    At NYTF 2011, we saw more upcoming Joes that indicate Hasbro is moving back to updating the classic designs, if they’re all as good as Low-Light then this is going to be one of the best years for Joe collectors yet.<\/p>\n

    <\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I got really into 25th Joes a few years ago. The figures weren’t always perfect, but with a healthy dollop of nostalgia, they got the job done. When the movie figures eclipsed the anniversary, I bought some. The verdict? Better figures, but not better designs. This weekend, I bought a Joe that had it all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":11810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[32,34,10],"tags":[2568,24,216,413,916],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/lowTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-34i","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28359,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=28359","url_meta":{"origin":11798,"position":0},"title":"G.I. Joe Subscription Service 3.0 All Twelve Revealed!","date":"June 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "G.I. Joe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28528,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=28528","url_meta":{"origin":11798,"position":1},"title":"G.I. Joe Subscription Service 3.0 Fixed Hit & Run!","date":"July 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "G.I. Joe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28316,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=28316","url_meta":{"origin":11798,"position":2},"title":"G.I. Joe Subscription Service 3.0 Five More Reveals!","date":"June 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "G.I. Joe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28230,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=28230","url_meta":{"origin":11798,"position":3},"title":"G.I. Joe FSS 3.0 Next Three Reveals","date":"June 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "G.I. Joe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28141,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=28141","url_meta":{"origin":11798,"position":4},"title":"G.I. Joe Subscription Service 3.0 First Three Reveals!","date":"June 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "G.I. Joe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":158,"url":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=158","url_meta":{"origin":11798,"position":5},"title":"Review: G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra Shipwreck and Sgt. Stone","date":"July 13, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11798"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11798"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11812,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11798\/revisions\/11812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}