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G.I. Joe Convention 2017 Dodger

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Conquest X36Con Set Recap

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.

BattleForce: 2000 Dodger
  • Character
  • Sculpt
  • Articulation
  • Paint Deco
  • Accessories
4.1

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.


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Coil Club reveals second 2012 Coil Con Exclusive – DODGER!

Easily my favorite BattleForce: 2000 character, Dodger has the dubious distinction of being the only member of that ill-fated team to escape the burning oil refinaries of Benzheen.  It always fascinated me to think how that kind of event changes someone in the military, to the point where I made him a key member of my G.I. Joe: Renegades team in my dio-story universe.

As cool a character as Dodger has the potential to be, though, Hasbro has neglected to give him any love in many years.  The guys behind the 2012 Coil Con are changing that, though.  Facing him off against Zilant, the Coil Club now announces Night Force Dodger.

Like Zilant, there is some very creative parts use here, with a modified Renegades Cobra Trooper head sculpt and some great Pursuit of Cobra parts mixed in.  Check out the mirrored image below, and keep watching CoilCon.com for the latest details on the Convention, hitting Kokomo Toys September 8th!

Kick Ass Customs – Battleforce: 2000 by Heretic

Who would have thought anything sporting the “Battleforce: 2000” moniker would be considered “kick ass”?  Honestly, even the shameless fanboy that I am, I didn’t find much redeeming about Battleforce: 2000 back in the day.  Well, except for Dodger.  He became a really interesting character after he survived the bombing run that killed the rest of his team, and his figure was definitely the best of the lot, but beyond that, the figures were clunky, the weapons were horrible, and even the face sculpts were doofy looking.  Those plastic empty shell vehicles that formed into the lamest “base” I’d ever seen certainly didn’t help either.
But leave it to a G.I. Joe fan to polish up Battleforce: 2000 and really make it cool.  For whatever reason these designs really did NOT work for me in 1987, but seeing heretics awesome work bringing them to life in the 25th Anniversary format is a totally different story.  These figures look fantastic.  They call back to 1987 perfectly, yet with the larger, somewhat more streamlined figure design these days, they really end up looking better than they did back in the day.  Awesome looking customs and very faithfully represented.
I found these customs on The Terror Drome initially, and you can check out Heretic’s custom page here.

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