Hasbro: G.I. Joe Classified Toy Fair Reveals Press Photos and Thoughts
7 min read
The G.I. Joe Classified Team had a nice mix of updated classics and brand new characters revealed at Toy Fair this weekend. We saw a couple of exclusives and several figures we saw at the beginning of the month in render form as well as a few new surprises.
We did recently see eBay auctions for the Cobra-La Royal Guard in hand and an article with these photos, but I haven’t wrote much about them and wanted to cover them really quickly. I love the look of these guys and have since I was a kid. The chitinous texture of the armor and the bug eyes on the helmet are a perfect update to that original figure and I love the inclusion of the wings because it fits right in with their buggy look. While I appreciate the additional maskless options and looks, it is getting a little crazy with releasing army builders as deluxe figures lately. I’d love a stripped-down bargain version with just the OG accessories released at one point because at the suggested retail price of $42.99, I don’t see me getting quite as many of these as I’d like to have. The guard goes up for pre-order, 2/17 at 10 AM PT at most retailers with an expected arrival date of June 2026.
Ninja Force Zartan will be a Target exclusive at the new Tariff-inflated standard price of $27.99 and also goes up for sale 2/17 with an expected arrival of June 2026. Orange Mohawk Zartan always seemed like a weird choice for a “Ninja” figure, but this look in some ways fits in better with his punk rock-styled siblings than his traditional V1 look. I’m so stoked that there is swappable strings and we can pose this guy drawing the bow without having to mess with an actual string and loose arrow.
Walmart is getting another D.I.R.E Tech themed figure with a Night-Creeper. I really like how the re-used Once a Man Cobra Commander snake arm scales match the armor scales on the Night-Creeper shin guard design. For my taste, this guy is a little less effective than the Ghost Viper or Crystal Ball with the Cthulu head re-use, but still cool. Good luck getting an order in and keeping it because he’s a March Collector-con pre-order at $27.99 with expected arrival in June.
If you asked me to imagine a G.I. Joe Classified Airtight, this is exactly what comes to my mind. Extremely classic in design cues, I love that they included the extreme widow’s peak from the cartoon character design. There is a little fold-down monitor on the vest as a bit of modernization. That bright yellow jumpsuit just sings to me, so he’s probably one of my favorites. Airtight is one of the 5 figure wave with the Hydro-Viper, Overkill, and Sundown that goes up for sale 2/17 at 1PM ET and is due to arrive in June 2026 (Dawn Moreno is also in this wave and went up last week).
The Hydro-Viper is from a bit after my time with the original line, but he’s got an instantly appealing design that is a little on the weirder side, which is usually my jam. He almost gives me Creature from the Black Lagoon vibes and the purple and red color scheme is singular. I think the eye paint job has a super-creepy vibe that fits in well with the old file card description that has these guys genetically altered.
Overkill is another guy from after my time, but this design is a little less appealing to me than the Hydro-Viper. I’m just not sure about that color combo. I do love the opening hinge chest and the gnarly portrait of this poor, tortured looking cyborg (also how that eye peeks out of the mask!) along with the very toyetic attachments. I’m thinking the gold/copper could use a wash for detail and metallic paint would really make this guy sing. For a big android, I feel like he could be hauling a massive amount of firepower on his back, and the original figure had a big honk’n electronic pack, so I’m a little surprised he doesn’t have any kind of pack at all.
Figure 200 in the line is a brand new character for G.I. Joe, Sundown. Alejandro Balam Luna Mendoza has a bit of a cowboy feel mixed with the usual modern military-ish tactical gear of G.I. Joe Classified. There is also a really nice piece of Mayan mytholgical artwork on the back of his poncho. The press release has the following information:
Sundown uses his skills and natural tracking abilities as a bounty hunter allied with G.I. JOE. Stalking his quarry through the darkened streets, arid desserts, crossroads, and dense jungles of his homeland, Sundown seeks justice and evidence of his kidnapped brother Salvador. Intent on taking down Headman and the other heads of the Lords of the Underworld before he and his brother lose theirs, he is relentless in his pursuit.Â
I do like that he’s a bounty hunter since the design definitely feels like an homage to Eastwood’s “man with no name” bounty hunter character from Sergio Leone’s films, but the addition of the Mayan artwork and Mexican heritage makes for a more interesting character. Naming him as a foil for Headman integrates him into the mythos of G.I. Joe and he looks like a solid addition to the line.
The original render reveal of this two-pack made me a little concerned that Taurus seemed small compared to Red Dog, but these photos and the Toyfair pictures I saw made them look more similarly sized. I cannot wait to get them together with Mercer, but this $59.99 Amazon exclusive is due to hit in July and the press release did not have a pre-order date.
The Legacy line continues with a Special Forces action soldier with a few different weapon, headgear and portrait options. I do like the skull face paint and neckerchief options and I think I’ll be less army building these and just getting one and using the skull face paint look as an individual character. There wasn’t a specified pre-order date for these yet, but they are going for $42.99 and are due in May of 2026.
I don’t have a lot of background with Zanya, but I’m a Dreadnok guy and have wanted to see a Classified swamp skier for a bit, so this feels partially overdue. The alternate hockey mask feels Dreadnok appropriate, but I also love the Russian helmet with glasses combo. She also comes with circular shades that kind of give her a look like she’s getting ready to balance the Dreadnok budget for the year. The look options are appreciated and I’m liking the Zanya design, but I wonder if a more generic Dreadnok like Kaos would have been better for this set for people wanting multiple skiers. At this point, I think I can only budget for one anyway, so it’s kind of a moot point for me. The silver parts on the skier look to me like they could use more metallic paint and wash, but otherwise this looks fun to me.
One thing they did show at Toy Fair that was not in the press release was the battle pack of the Joe version of the Ferret (The Varmint), Snake Eyes, and a Stealth Flight Pod with Stealth Viper in a Fire Team 788 colors. I’m kind of into the Joe Green ATV (as the green vehicles activate extreme nostalgia for me) and I do currently display a Trubble Bubble with the HISS, so a 788 one would be cool. I do have to worry about the cost of this with two vehicles and two figures, and this repaint set is probably my lowest priority, so a high cost might put this on the chopping block.
Probably my favorite reveal of the show from the Classified team was Professor Rottclaw and Cobra Deinoychus. I’ve been having my Classified figures fight Jurassic Park dinosaurs all along, so this feels like such a natural fit to me. I like that Rottclaw is a unique character with a cool design, but there is also an option to make him an army builder. Though I will probably just get the one just due to the cost of $51.99, it might be cool to have two masked guys flank Rottclaw. There is no pre-order date yet, but they estimate him for 7/26 arrival.
For my money Classified is striking a nice balance between the new and the old and it’s already looking like my figure line of the year.
