I was very happy with the first category Beachhead, so I didn’t think I really needed this one until I saw it. The more classic vest and bright green color appealed to me, and he definitely addressed one of my main issues with the character. Let’s take a look at GI Joe’s assortment of vintage beachheads.
While I do miss the old card art from the Real American Heroes series, that’s not really why I collect these cards. It’s interesting that they did explosions for this Beachhead character because his original character had digital explosions.
The Beachhead comes with a bunch of accessories you can carry around, including a rifle with a detachable magazine and suppressor, a pistol with a detachable suppressor, a backpack, a satchel, a crossbow, two A knife and two grenades. His submachine gun closely matches his vintage weapon, although it’s cast in green plastic instead of the vintage gray. I don’t know why it’s green since the magazine is gray to match the design on his vest. The plastic is pretty stiff, but the stock is pretty thin, so it bends easily when you pose the figure. The suppressor and magazine are securely fastened together, and when the suppressor is on, the standard blast effect also applies.
The pistol looks like it was reused from STALKER, being cast from black plastic and includes a removable silencer.
I’ve never been a fan of the square design of this suppressor, but the pistol itself has a nice classic feel and fits nicely in a thigh holster.
The bag is reused from the original Beach Head, which makes sense since its styling is quite classic. My favorite feature is that the crossbow, which was originally just an engraved detail on the vintage pack, is another removable weapon. This line has issues with the backpack staying on, I’d say this one is better than most backpacks staying on, although interaction with the bag can be a bit cumbersome.
The knife can be removed from two scabbards on the right leg, another detail taken directly from the original figure that now comes into play here. I like that Classification does this. The boot knife looks like a reuse from Dusty, and the thigh knife looks familiar, but I’m not quite sure where it is. I do like that they both have silver blades.
Finally, Beachhead gets a dynamite pack and grenades from vintage Snake Eyes. Both are cast in black plastic and are very effective, although I do miss the detail of the tiny text on the Snake Eyes grenades on these grenades. The grenade fits nicely in the hand and can be clipped onto a bag strap. Older ammo pouches have a slightly different design, but this works for me.
There’s a lot of reuse in the sculpts here, most of which look like vintage snake eyes, with the original assorted beachhead neck and head and the new vest and belt. The final effect has a very classic feel. The new vest and waistband are separate, so it allows for more waist and abdominal crunch movement than the first Beach Head. The classification criteria for this joint are:
- Rotate/articulate shoulders, wrists, hips and ankles
- Rotate biceps, boots and thighs
- Neck, head and waist under ball and socket
- Hinge Chest, Neck and Ab Crunches
- Double hinged knees and elbows
The benefit of reusing the original Classified neck is that this character has an articulated neck and can hold his head up better than recent figures. Paint is pretty standard for this line, with most parts cast in final plastic colors with some limited detail paint.
The eyes are really sharp, although the brows feel a little off, so they look a little short to me. It’s like they’re a millimeter too tall and too close. I didn’t really notice this myself, but I saw it in the close-up photos. I also wish they added more green paint to the camo pants. I could always go for more weathering and more details like belt buckles and ties, but the overall paint works pretty well.
Overall, I got what I was looking for in this retro version, and the new parts mesh well with the old ones, giving me a more classic beachhead feel. I particularly like the vibrant green color, and looking at this guy I can almost hear the voice actors in the cartoon scolding the rawhide recruits.
