GI Joe 3.75" Pursuit of Cobra: Spirit Iron Knife

BEE-LLEEEEEEEE!!!!

If ya didn't know, that's how you cry out Spirit's name in Arnese, the Anglo/Austrian dialect spoken by Ahnuld, the One True Governator, in the movie Predator (when the former dies).

Throughout the whole movie, Billy Sole (Sonny "I-used-to-be-a-porn-star-then-I-fought-a-Predator-with-nothing-but-a-big-ass-knife-and-now-I-wanna-be-your-governor-of-Kentucky" Landham) is the team's tracker and does Major Alan "Dutch" Schafer's (Arnie's) bidding throughout, except when he doesn't "get to dah choppa" and dies.

"Beelie, scowd uh-head," "Beelie, look fuh tracks," "Beelie, cook my stu," or "Beelie, strip, throw away your weapons, ahn take ahn da Predatuh," "Oh and Beelie, I'm Oudda Heeyah."

Ok, so maybe Dutch didn't say those things to Billy.  But who can forget the most memorable death scene that was never shown?  Was it too graphic?  Must've been, because the scream didn't match the crazed look in ol' Billy's eyes, the giant knife in his hand, and the macho way he cut himself on the chest just to show the Predator how tough he was.

I vividly remember the scene from the very first time I saw the movie especially since I didn't actually see the Predator tear him apart.  I must've been 5 or 6.  The nightmares I had.  And now I can relive them, through the Pursuit of Cobra line and this wonderful Spirit Iron Knife figure that mysteriously looks a helluva lot like Billy.

Enough prattling about Predator from me--let's see if the figure turns out to be as cool as the character!  Which one, you say?  Both of 'em!  No, not Duke and the Predator.  Billy Sole and Spirit Iron Knife!

Like: The perfectly sculpted face.   Not because he looks like Sonny Landham or nything like that, but because it's got a really good expression.  It's equal parts stoic yet fierce, with the eyes wide open and the mouth set in a grim and determined position.  The beauty of the face though is in the sculpted part under the eyes and the flatish portions under it.  These give the eyes a real bulge that's just enough to make him look like he's gonna cut your heart out with a spoon.

This combined with a somewhat less angular nose makes him look Native American.  And though attempts at doing faces with racial features has been somewhat hit and miss in general for action figures, this one is an excellent hit!

Like: Bow and Arrows!  A new weapon!  Well, at least I don;t have any recent Joes with this weapon, so it's a nice addition to the 3.75" arsenal for me.  Spirit also comes with a "quiver" with a removable arrow! (For that extra posing, so that's awesome.)

Now the bow has no string, but can be strung with the clear rubber band that tie the figure to the packaging.

You can either use a large one or loop two of the smaller ones and then hook 'em on the notches of each end of the bow.  Or if you're like me, you can just leave it unstrung--I find the rubber bands bend the bow a tad more out of the shape than I like.

Like: Big Machete.  Who doesn't like these?  And Billy, um, Spirit, would look incomplete without this.  (However will he cut his own chest in a demonstration of machoness to the Predator??)


Like: Snakes (Get those M*** Snakes off this M**** plane!)  They're monkeyfying snakes, man!

Like:  That his head can still move fairly well despite the longer hair and the collar of his vest.  That's because his collar is just far out enough to let his hair fit in between when he's looking upwards.  Good job here. :)

Like: The designs on his arms.  They add flavor to an otherwise standard body.

Dislike: That he's got a sculpted on green singlet under the vest.  Only Billy can die without his shirt on.  And we can't all be as macho as Billy Sole, not even Spirit Iron Knife.

Dislike:  No usable sheathe or place to put his machete and his axe.  Them's the breaks for getting the "quiver" with a removable arrow, I guess.  Though I imagine they could've well afforded to have given him some sort of backpack...

Dislike:  That he's rather hard to find, mainly because it looks like the major department stores are not bringing Pursuit of Cobra into Singapore!

RATINGS

Aesthetics: 8.5/10 - Excellent head, but other than that and the armband designs, the guy is a pretty average figure aesthetics-wise.  It's a good thing the head sculpt is awesome, otherwise this one would be a 6 or 7 at best.

Poseability: 8.5/10 - Great stuff in this department.  It's hard to deny these figures a great rating because they can really move.  And doing so with Spirit Iron Knife would probably result in Sonny Landham stripping down in my front lawn and calling me out for a one-on-one.  (Hang on, there's a due at my front porch...ah, it's just the postman...though his name is Sonny...)

Fun: 8/10 - A GI Joe who looks like a guy who's an important part of Major Dutch Schaefer's crew and owner of another quotable Predator quote, which goes:

Poncho:  Billy, you know something.  What is it?

Billy: I'm scared, Poncho.

Poncho: Bullshit.  You ain't afraid of no man!

Billy: There's something out there waiting for us.  And it ain't no man...(long pause as Arnie, Poncho, and Carl "Apollo Creed" Weathers look at him.)

...We're all gonna die.

And then they all do.  Wash, rinse, repeat for hours of fun!  And when you get bored of that, you can introduce him to your other non-Predator "themed" Joes.  However, he can only speak in cheesy but macho lines like above, so even more fun there.

Value: 8/10 - Your standard Joe value.  You know it's great because no figures in this scale come with this many accessories.  Except other Joe figures, of course. (Yo Joe, no?)

Overall: 8.25 - Better than Duke, but only just barely and because my Duke had a bum right hip!  But these Jungle Assault Pursuit of Cobra figures are a must have.  That this Spirit Iron Knife is a Toys 'R' Us Exclusive makes him even more of a "you-should-get-him-if-you-see-him" figure.  So two down (Dutch and Billy), one to go (Blain--that's POC Recondo), and hopefully more jungle-themed figures to come!