We’re continuing the reviews of the 2017 BattleForce: 2000 Convention Set today with three more members of the futuristic fighting team!
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One good thing about this review is that you won’t have to hear me complain endlessly about the quality of the new head sculpt… because there isn’t a new head sculpt.
Knockdown comes with Kwinn’s noggin underneath a repainted General Mayhem helmet, which actually approximates the Knockdown look far better than I thought it might. Not only that, but it actually gives us a removable helmet, which is something we don’t get very often these days from the Club.
That’s about the only good thing I can say about this particular figure, however. Knockdown is, unfortunately, kind of a mess otherwise.
The Club chooses an assortment of parts that you would never think would work together, but somehow they do, at least from an aesthetic perspective in attempting to replicate Knockdown’s vintage look. Unfortunately, even if they look like Knockdown, they don’t provide much in the way of function or fun. His arms are especially painful, coming from the Pursuit of COBRA Storm Shadow (the crappy one, not any of the good ones) which limits the elbow range of motion and makes the figure a frustration to pose. Knockdown uses Techno-Viper’s legs, which are a good choice, but the combination of the short arms with the legs makes him look squat.
Techno-Viper’s vest over his torso replicates the shape and design of the vintage Knockdown as well, but the stickers on the front are a pretty poor substitute for actual textured containers there. I’d almost prefer they simply left off that deco entirely rather than trying to replicate something three dimensional with decals. It doesn’t work.
Accessories
Knockdown comes with the removable helmet, the huge and bizarre vintage pistol and one of the pulse rifles that came during the Rise of COBRA era. It’s a strange conglomeration of accessories that I suppose accentuates the strangeness of the overall figure as well.
I wasn’t a big fan of the vintage Knockdown, and I’m not a big fan of this modern interpretation either. The parts combination is strange, the decals on the torso armor make little sense, and he just leaves me pretty cold altogether.
Summary
While I really like the use of Kwinn’s head sculpt here and the 30th Anniversary Techno Viper legs, most everything else on this figure is a swing and a miss. While accurate to the vintage look, the color and texture combinations do not work, the arms’ reduced articulation impacts the poseability of the figure, and his weapons are really nothing to write home about. Not a whole lot to be excited about here.
One year after the movie Top Gun changed the landscape of fighter jet films, a pilot joined BattleForce: 2000 named “Maverick”. Coincidence?
As far as pilot figures go, Maverick didn’t blow my socks off (notice a trend with these BattleForce: 2000 characters yet?). A strange flight suit with bizarre chest armor and a flat out weird flight helmet all add up to a bizarre amalgamation that doesn’t really fit the specialty. Not as detailed or realistic as Slipstream, not quite as unique or interesting as Ace, Maverick just kind of hovered in between and didn’t make much of an impact.
Heck, he didn’t stick around long enough to make much of an impact.
So what could they do with this current iteration of Maverick to improve on him? Well, turns out they did a pretty good job. The figure is tall and slender, much more streamlined than the vintage version, and while this more stylized helmet somewhat resembles Maverick’s, it looks a lot cooler (in my mind). Bulky arms and legs fill out the flight suit style quite nicely and the modern parts provide decent articulation and sculpting crammed full of excellent detail. I actually love Maverick’s build a lot more than I thought I would. Unlike the vintage figure it looks and feels much more like a flight suit, but with the addition of Matt Trakker’s armor system, still retains that technical look of the original BattleForce: 2000 pilot.
The updated parts, the updated helmet, and you have a pretty awesome new version of the character which actually makes me wish he wasn’t dead.
Accessories
Maverick comes with a great helmet (repurposed from Rise of COBRA among other places) a reproduction of his vintage submachine gun and a removable pistol that slides back into a holster on his right hip. Great accessories, all told, and unlike many of the vintage weapons, I actually don’t mind this one at all.
Maverick’s a really solid update to the original. Great flight suit build, cool accessories that compliment it, and a paint scheme that pays homage while still feeling somewhat fresh. Good job on this one.
Summary
Yay a removable helmet! Of course it’s not a NEW head or helmet, but we all take our small victories somewhere. In all seriousness, Maverick is a really solid update to a mostly subpar original version, with a great looking flight suit, modernized helmet, and vintage accurate color scheme. He’s not going to win any “best of” awards, but he’s a good update and the figure feels fresh.
As the lone survivor from BattleForce: 2000’s ill-fated mission to Trucial Abysma, Dodger has gained somewhat mythical status in G.I. Joe lore. He became an active character in my dio-stories for that reason and when Bench Press comics was poised to reinvigorate the G.I. Joe comic license, Larry Hama’s team featured Dodger front and center. For that reason, he’s generally the central focal point of most everyone’s BattleForce: 2000 memories, myself included.
This current iteration of Dodger does a pretty good job of updating him for modern day action. While not excellent, the new head sculpt does the job it’s meant to do (though without the microphone, grumble, grumble) and looks a lot better than Avalanche and Blocker. Dodger uses some great modern parts with excellent articulation (I will always love those arms) that retain some of the vintage aesthetic, yet also look nicely modernized.
Dodger has a great muted paint scheme, evocative of his vintage look with well orchestrated camouflage patterns on his legs and a great combination of gray and green to mimic his vintage look. I love that they gave him the brown tank top underneath the armor as well, and all told, this is a pretty great modern interpretation of the BattleForce: 2000 field commander. I still wish they were able to give him his microphone and dangit where are all of my removable helmets?!?
Accessories
Dodger comes with his familiar crazy two-handled rocket launcher (with spiked knuckles, naturally) as well as a great shotgun. As far as BattleForce: 2000 weapons go, Dodger’s might be the one I hate the least, and I’m a big fan of the shotgun (and love the fact that they included the shells on his wrist). Like the other members of the convention set, he doesn’t come with a lot of gear, but what he comes with makes sense.
The Club did Dodger right. Well, about as right as we can expect these days with non-removable helmets and no microphones, I suppose. Those additional details would have put this figure over the top, but as it stands, it’s a pretty decent addition to the ever-growing army of modern era characters.
Summary
Great paint, a decent new head sculpt and good figure build combines to give us a really nice update to Dodger, the BattleForce: 2000 team leader. While not perfect, he’s pretty good and is up there with Blaster among my favorites in this boxed set.