They say patience is a virtue…and that was proven to me today. I wanted Jungle Assault Ripcord from the moment I saw him. He seemed like a great-looking figure in a realistic, geared-up modern outfit. Though these figures were originally slated to appear much earlier, they are just now starting to show up on retail shelves…around here, anyway. I had a few opportunities to get this figure earlier, online, at greatly increased prices…but I figured I’d wait. Sure enough, tonight during a trip to a local Wal-Mart, I was very pleasantly surprised to find Jungle Assault Ripcord nestled in with the very few other Joes they had on the shelf…which was all Wave 2 stuff! And even better…I got him for just $5 US!
Anyway, you all are here for my review, not to hear me brag about my good fortune. Jungle Assault Ripcord is built using the legs from the Pit Commando, and the arms from “Desert Ambush” Duke. The head is the standard RoC Ripcord head. The torso is from one of the many Reactive Impact Armor figures. The figure is painted in a very nice, very jungle-appropriate brown, black, and green camo scheme.
Ripcord comes with a pretty good selection of gear. His head wears a repainted version of the Pit Commando’s bush hat. More Pit Commando gear is included; Ripcord is wearing the vest included with PC, but now it has some very nice painted green accents, which really set the vest off. JAR comes well armed, too. First is an assault rifle that is very similar to the gold one included with the 1992 Headman. Up next is a very nice, well-outfitted automatic pistol, equipped with a silencer, scope, and buttstock. Then comes a very nice assault rifle equipped with a grenade launcher and a drum magazine. Not sure, but I think it’s a new piece. For hacking through the jungle, there’s a machete, the same one that has already been included with several other RoC figures. There is of course the standard Big Freaking Stupid Launcher, which I try to ignore.
There is one very, very nice detail that I must mention. I was initially annoyed with this figure, because I hate when Hasbro cheapens out and does not apply camouflage or other paint apps to a figure’s torso because the torso is hidden beneath a vest or jacket, like on Desert Assault Duke and as noted in my review yesterday of Arctic Threat Shipwreck. Glimpsing the black under Ripcord’s vest, I thought that Hasbro had done it again. When I removed the vest, I was very pleasantly surprised. Instead of an unpainted torso, I was blown away by what was underneath: a fully detailed, Reactive Impact Armor vest. Consider it a bulletproof vest beneath the Pit Commando’s armored vest, double protection. There are jungle camo paint details around the edges of the vest, setting it off further.
While this is a very nice figure, I have a few complaints. I really hate the Desert Assault Duke hands…while they work great for holding an assault rifle at a ready position, they don’t work too well for much else. You really have to mash the bush hat down on Ripcord’s head to get it to stay on, and even then it only stays on tentatively. And I wish they had skipped the BFSL and included a backpack…ya know, Ripcord might need one when he goes for his long walk through the jungle.
All in all, I think this is a very good, worthwhile figure. The Reactive Impact Armor vest really impressed me, and I like this figure’s look very much. The big complaint, the stupid hands, would probably be very easy to swap out for some better ones, too.
My trip netted another Joe score. This one was olive drab, came in size XXL for my 6’4” 245 lb-self, and cost me a whopping US $9.50. That’s right, I found a GI Joe t-shirt at Wal-Mart. It’s beautifully old-school, emblazoned with the ‘80’s Joe logo. I plan on wearing it proudly.
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