GI Joe 3.75" Pursuit of Cobra Shadow Tracker

Awww yeah!

If you don't think even for a moment he looks anything like any thing in the GI Joe line before him, it's because he isn't meant to!  Or at least he's meant to look like something else, something like...The Predator!

First we had Pursuit of Cobra Duke.  Then we got Recondo, followed by Spirit.  And all three figures were part of the Jungle Assault themed characters in the line but had very strong likenesses to characters from the original Predator movie.

Recondo looked suspiciously like Blain (Jesse Ventura), Spirit like Billy Sole (Sonny Landham) and Duke, while he didn't much look like Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch, is attired very much like him (and is also the leader, so yeah.)  So then it's no surprise that they would finally come up with a character that looks like the title character of the classic movie.

I'd been waiting for this figure to arrive in Singapore for a long time, so much so that I'd almost lost all interest in getting him.  So when I finally did see him at the local flea market, I almost passed because I'd kinda grown lukewarm about it.  Also, he was priced at S$22 (US$17).

But then I convinced myself of how much I liked the Arnie's Predator (and that all the rest were just not that good).  I also wanted to complete the Predator sub-theme within the Joes so this guy was a must-have.  So I tried my luck and managed to get Shadow Tracker for S$20--reasonable considering the large department stores don't bring in the newer GI Joe stuff anymore.

But just how would Hasbro pull off making a human look like an alien hunter? Well, let's find out!

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!

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!

GI Joe 3.75" Pursuit of Cobra: Duke

Wow.

Yup, that's how I'll start out with this review of Dutch.  I mean Duke.

To be frank, I didn't think I could be surprised with what the Pursuit of Cobra follow-up line to Rise of Cobra could offer.  I was bored with ROC after pilfering from what it has to offer.  That's why I'm pleasantly surprised that POC has come up with some brand-spankin' new ways to wow me.  It's such a refreshing feeling.

And Jungle Assault Dutch here takes the cake.

He hasn't hit the retail stores here yet, but the Pursuit of Cobra Joes have started to arrive at the specialty shops.  Now these guys usually charge a slightly higher than retail price but that's not an issue is it's a matter of a dollar or so.  Besides, getting it early is always a plus, so I can take my time to play with it before giving the review a go.

There was no way I wasn't getting this guy when I saw him--I'd seen pics of the prototypes or Ebay auctions of loose Dukes from China and Hong Kong and wasn't impressed initially.  But once I saw him in package with his butt-load of gear...Goes to show how packaging really helps sell a toy. Heh.

Now, then the question is: Was Dutc...Duke as awesome as his packaging promised?  Find out after the jump!