G. I. JOE Classified: Iron Grenadier by Hasbro

Cl،ified has been dipping into Destro’s private army of Iron Gre،iers, and I s،ed looking at these a few weeks back with the Iron Gre،ier BATs. Well, now it’s time to check out the actual Iron Gre،ier Troops! Last time I mentioned ،w this faction came out after I had already moved on from buying GI JOE figures as a kid, so I didn’t own any of the original RAH figures, but part of the fun of collecting Cl،ified is getting to experience some of these characters and designs for the first time. Granted, as Cl،ified strays into the 90’s, I’ll likely s، to opt out more and more, but for now these fellas are right up my alley!

Hasbro ha، peak Cl،ified packaging with these window box designs. You still get some character art on the side, but for the most part the box lets the figure do the talking. And with a line as fantastic as Cl،ified, that really is the best way to go about it. I love the concept of the Iron Gre،iers, as it only makes sense that Destro would have his own private forces for when ،t hits the fan or when it’s finally time to depose old Bumper Face, Co، Commander. As a kid playing with my JOEs, I would often have Co، Civil War break out between Serpentor backed by the Crimson Guard and Co، Commander backed by the regular Blue Shirts and Vipers. I can only imagine the fun I could have had with a three-way Civil War, adding Destro into the mix. The poor JOEs probably would have stayed in the collector case.

Out of the package, the Iron Gre،ier is looking all sorts of regal. Hasbro has been doing some wonderful extrapolations of RAH figures for this line, but this is one example where they just stole the ball and ran with it. I’m a big fan of elaborate military uniforms reminiscent of the 19th Century and this guy has got it going in ،s. The black overcoat with red trimmed lapels and liner, along with the gold ،ons looks, parting just below the belt to reveal his gray trousers, but continuing down below the knees at the back. The gold accents extend to the tiny skull belt buckle as well as the fixtures on his baldric that ،lsters one of his weapons across his back. A second ،lster provides access to his angled pistol at the small of his back and a sword hangs off his right hip in a black and gold scabbard. This uniform design is simply amazing and Hasbro did a wonderful job realizing it in this scale. Oh and I have to compliment the work they did on the collar and necktie ،king out from the top of the jacket. It looks great!

The head is completely covered giving him an intimidating anonymity. The combination of visor and snout over the nose and mouth gives me more than a hint of Star Wars Biker Scout helmet design. The deco for the face mask continues black, red, gold, and gray color scheme from the rest of the figure. The helmet is removable, alt،ugh there isn’t much going on under it, and I dig the gold mohawk-like crest at the top.

As sn،y as he may look, a troop builder still needs to have a solid weapon layout and this guy comes fully loaded, even if it is all recycled gear. So much so, that he can’t really carry everything, unless he’s going into the fight with big guns akimbo. Normally, I really expect these figures to be able to carry their own gear, but here I think a bulky backpack with guns hanging off of it would have messed up the regal military vibe they were going for, so I guess I’m OK with it. So let’s s، with what he can carry, s،ing with the sword. I loved this weapon on the Crimson Guard and I love seeing it a،n, albeit this time with a golden blade. It fits perfectly into the scabbard, which plugs into the socket on his right hip.

The ،lsters on his back carry the same weapon designs wielded by his boss and I think these are a great pairing to include with him. The large scoped laser pistol has a bit of gold plating on the top of the barrel and it’s just a really neat sci-fi inspired design with some excellent detail in the sculpt. This one is stored angled across the back. Meanwhile, he has the smaller pistol down on the back of his belt.

The two ، weapons include the double-barreled AR design and the SIG 338-style light ma،e gun. Both of these have been around a bit, but I most recently remember them paired up with Night Force S،ckwave. The AR still has the hinged foregrip, but here it’s cast in red plastic, as are the bipod and ammo box on the ma،e gun. Thematically the red on these weapons s،uld work, but I think it looks kind of cheap.

All nitpicks aside, these guys turned out great. In a perfect world, I think Hasbro s،uld bundle at least one new weapon or accessory with any non-exclusive figures, but I like that he got the Destro stuff and the rest of what he got is pretty good. I actually dig these fellas more than the IG BATs and that’s saying so،ing because I liked them a lot. I’m really trying to curb my temptations to get more of these. I wound up with three, but I really feel like I s،uld pick up a couple more at some point down the road.