GI Joe 3.75" Pursuit of Cobra: Recondo

Stalking Recondo
In the jungles of Congo,
Once you had hair,
Now you're a baldo.

Jesse Recondo,
You look more like Gung-Ho,
I say you're Edward Norton,
Chubbier, with a mustachio...

I knew my major in Creative Writing would come to goood use some day.  Yup.

Like all the rest of these figures getting a push in the Pursuit of Cobra Jungle theme (excepting Duke), I really have no connection or love whatsoever for the character.  Except for my masterpiece of a poem up there. :P That's why I'm not bothered that he looks more like Gung-Ho or should have hair etc.  I'm kinda neutral about the Recondo character.

But enter a hint of a Predator theme and tons of references toward the original cult classic and BAM!  Suddenly I'm all in.  So there was no hesitation when I saw this guy on the pegs in a local store, heck, there was no hesitation once I saw the solicitation pics of him online!  I was going to get him come hell or high water!

Why?  Four Words:

Jesse "The Body" Ventura.


It's not that I actually liked the guy or his character during his wrestling days.  I mean, what kinda of a man wears a feather boa, bandanna, and tights?  Well nowadays, most everyone but when I was a kid, it was strange to say the least.

I kinda of liked him a little bit better when he first took over as governor of Minnesota--I was headed up there for college and most people seemed to like him then, especially when he had a nice bald head and returned them tax money at the end of the year.  Or something like that.

But then Minnesotans started to turn on him when things got heavy and he started to go a little crazy.  It was kinda not cool to say you liked The Governor back then.  So I didn't.  And he grew out his hair, or what was left of it.

But it was really these two classic quotable quotes from Predator which just made Recondo come alive and revive the Blain character in the Ventura of old:

"I ain't got time to bleed."

"This stuff'll make you a goddamn a sexual tyrannosaurus.  Just like me."

How can you that not catch your attention?  And really, the poor guy, for all his tough talking, didn't really get a good shot off at the Predator before the guy put a hole in his chest the size of, well, his chest.  But like Billy Sole (POC Spirit: Iron Knife), Blain has been immortalized in 3.75 inch scale plastic and will forever live on in our playrooms/on our display shelves.

And was it a good immortalization?  Well, I ain't got time for jibber-jabber so jump on over!


Ok so I lied.  Here I am with more jibber-jabber.  And jibber-jabber is totally Mr. T, not Jesse Ventura.  Hey, but Mr.T wrestled for a bit in the WWE and maybe even Jesse himself, so there's a valid connection! 

Jibber-Jabber!

Like: His head sculpt.  He looks like Jesse Ventura, Gung-Ho, and Edward Norton all rolled into one!  Maybe they're hinting that Ed could come in and play the character in GI Joe 2?  I mean, why else would he give up playing the Hulk, right?  Riiiight....

Like: That he can carry all his stuff, and I mean all his stuff, on him at one go.  I really love it when a figure can do that, never mind that some of the equipment he comes with may be weird (see backpack below).
Like: His really nicely tooled and paint vest.  It's got a nice white collar, a padded left shoulder areas to prop his sniper rifle up against, pockets, and even a cell phone!  The paint is great to, with most of it quite sharp.  The vest also comes off easily with two pegs and holes on each side, and has two small holes to peg his axes on.  That is truly sweet!

Like: His hat and his mask.  It's a mask!  That fits perfectly by snapping into his ear holes with two really tiny pegs.  It fits firmly, tighter than the hat, which falls off rather easily (probably due to the lack of texture of his head.)

But both have awesome detail: the hat with it's one edge folded up ala an army ranger, and the mask because it looks so tiki and tribal and is perfect for a jungle themed figure.  The mask is the stuff you kinda look for in figures to give it that extra X-factor.  And it delivers here! 

Like: The two bear traps of death.  These are articulated so that they can clamp shut.  And can be pegged on to his pack, with space for one of them to be attached to tha pack's zip-line of destruction: attach the trap, pull the string and set it down, depress the huge ol' red button and zip! Recondo relels the poor schmuck that steps in it in.  The strength of the retraction is so great it always breaks apart and unhinges the trap.

Dislike: The really weird and un-jungle-like backpack.  The solar panels make me laugh.  Just like Ventura's feather boas and fancy-schmancy sunglasses of old, they really feel out of place on a figure that supposed to be all equipped for the jungle.  Solar panels?  Really?  Lol.

Dislike: That he has a tiny additional peg at the side of his backpack that his other bear trap can peg onto, but the peg is either slightly too large or slightly blocked by some sculpted detail on the pack.  So the trap tends to fall off pretty easily.  This is one of those situations that I love that they have a peg there but am disappointed it doesn't work right.

RATINGS

Aesthetics: 9/10 - This guy fits in perfectly with the other guys he's meant to fit in with: Duke and Spirit.  While Duke's clothed in deep jungle green and Spirit's workin' the light greens, Recondo's taken the browns with hints of yellow.  Having the three of them together is really a sight.  Gone are the days when these three characters would mean three different heads on three of the same bodies.

Poseability: 9/10 - Say what you like about the bear traps and the backpack gimmick, but they add to his poseability, even if he does look kinda stupid trying to snare an animal barely two feet away from him.  The other PoAs are standard modern Joe, with him being ale to not only look down well, but tilt his head as well.

Fun: 10/10 - It can't get more fun than the sexual tyrannosaurus who ain't got time to bleed. Just imagine him saying it as he chews on his tobacco.  There you go.  Or just click on the earlier link above.  That'll do it.
I can't say how much fun Recondo turned out because of the number of pegs, slots, holes he has to carry stuff. (That's not even counting those he uses to express his mastodonic sexuality.)  And as more accessories with similar pegs etc. are released with the new figures, you'll be able to mix and match his equipment, making him even more of a beast of an equipment carrier. For example: POC Firefly's forearm armor has similar pegs to Recondo's axes.  Hopefully more figures will have these and soon!

Value: 9/10 - No doubt one of the best value for money figures of the line.  Sometimes figures come with lots of guns.  Some come with tons of gear.  While this guy might not have it all like say the ROC Pit Commando, what he has is unique--a tiki mask, the hat, the vest, the backpack (solar panels and all), and the bear traps.  There's no doubt they'll be re-used in some form or other, but for now, it's nice to have some new stuff to fiddle with that functions (read: plays) well at that.

Overall: 9.25/10 - Quite possibly the best Joe from the Pursuit of Cobra line, which is in itself already excellent. Whether or not he looks like what Recondo in the comics or the cartoons looks like, I really don't mind because this guy works, Recondo the Body Ventura works perfectly as a toy and as a possible character from the movies to come (except for that one small peg on the backpack for the bear trap, but that's minor.)

From the overall look, to the paint apps, to the accessories, to the playability (he can carry it all and still strike a pose!), I can't help but be impressed by how impressed I am by this guy.  Just looking at the axes pegged on his vest gives me a tingly feeling that warms my heart--I think my gigantic prehistoric lizard is emerging...figuratively speaking, of course...Aaah...