G.I. Joe Convention 2015 Wreckage

For a brief moment in the late 80s, a G.I. Joe character named Sabretooth was conceived and proposed for release. Obviously existing trademarks with Marvel Comics put the kibosh on this character, who only truly existed as an image in a pre-sales catalog back then.

Fast forward many years, and Hasbro was revisiting G.I. Joe lore with an updated “Tiger Force” pack for Toys “R” Us…while they still couldn’t use the Sabretooth name, they wanted to bring the character forward, and thus, Wreckage was born. Using the same Firefly parts, but with a slightly tweaked color scheme, Wreckage was one of the highlights of that Toys “R” Us multi pack, even though his colors were a somewhat strange shade compared to the Sabretooth of old, and also compared to other figures within the same pack.

Now, here we are, several years later again, and the Collectors Club is swapping things back around a bit. Using the Wreckage name from the Toys “R” Us pack, but going back to the unproduced Sabretooth color scheme, the Collectors Club has pulled together the best of both worlds. Heck, they even included a stand for “Sgt. Sabretooth”!

Using Ultimate Firely as the logical base figure, Wreckage is essentially a modern version of the canceled Sabretooth and is a fantastic update. I have little to complain about when it comes to the Ultimate Firefly figure, and the deco here works really nicely. I like it because it’s a nice departure from the typical yellow/black/brown, giving us a great lighter green shade that suits the figure quite nicely. Because of the later generation parts, articulation and range of motion is terrific, and combined with the really nice color scheme, ends up giving us a great looking figure.

Accessories

As a tribute to the pre-sales catalog image, Wreckage comes with Recondo’s shotgun as well as Firefly’s backpack, not to mention the pistol and knife for his holster and sheath. Unlike the original Firefly figure, this updated webgear as the demolitions glued into place, a change I actually prefer, to keep them from falling off with the slightest motion.

When I first got back into the G.I. Joe collecting scene in the late 90s, Sabretooth was one of those mythical characters that drew a lot of interest from fans before the doors opened wide to the world of unproduced and foreign releases thanks to the Internet. He’s always remained a character of interest, and I love that the Club is revisiting him in more accurate and true fashion than the Toys “R” Us pack did in 2003. This is a great looking update, even if a fairly cookie cutter one.