You hear that sound? That’s the sound of a thousand G.I. Joe collectors rushing out to Target to try and secure the latest Cobra Island exclusive from the G.I. Joe Classified line, Major Bludd. Major Bludd was one of the few G.I. Joe figures I had as a kid, so I was really looking forward to this one. Let’s take a look!
The packaging on this one has one of the coolest pieces of art in the line yet. Major Bludd looks formidable as all heck in that artwork and it matches the vibe of the figure perfectly.
Bludd comes with two guns, two mini-rockets, a backpack, and removeable helmet and dogtags. One of the guns is more like his original vintage weapon and you can attach the rockets from his pack to the barrel of that weapon. I think I pretty much immediately lost that gun when I was a kid, so I don’t have the nostalgia for this one, but it has a very vintage feel. It has a small peg that can attach to the pack, but you can also place it in the hip holster.
The other gun has more of a revolver feel mixed with the squared-off sci-fi barrels we see in other Classified series guns. It also fits in the holster and I feel like he looks a little cooler holding this one in his metal hand than the more vintage gun. It does have a little silver paint hit that makes it look a little more polished than the other gun too.
The pack attaches to the back with a peg and this one stays on a little better than other packs in the line, but the little missiles have a tendency to pop off when you pose the figure and I’m a little freaked out that I’m going to lose the little buggers.
The helmet brow is a little pointier than I’m used to for Bludd, even more extreme than the Sideshow version, but I like it a lot. It can get knocked askew fairly easily while you pose the figure because the helmet and armor and the dog tag necklace are pretty close together. I feel like it can look a little bunched up when the necklace and the helmet are both on and I like the look better when either the helmet or the necklace is off.
The sculpting on this guy is pretty damn cool and the head has such an amazing sneering expression. He’s just oozing with character and while he does remind me a bit of the Sideshow version (especially the armor), he’s got more character than I’ve ever seen on a Bludd figure. He looks like a frick’n bad-ass.
The body is mostly re-use from the Cobra trooper and that works really well, better than I would have expected. The cyber arm feels like a new take that I haven’t seen before and I quite like how the chunky, angled shape looks like a solid piece of machinery and also complements the shape of the forearm armor and the left arm.
The only slight quibble I have about the sculpting is that the chest armor is a little thick over the shoulder so the the regular arm looks a little low on the body compared to the mechanical arm.
The articulation is the usual G.I. Joe Classified figures. The robot arm has a shoulder pad that’s attached with a hinge to the deltoid so it gets full range of motion. Even when I was little kid it bugged me that the robot arm didn’t have as much articulation, so it is nice that this one has all of the usual movement. I also like that the armor allows for full ab movement since we’ve seen a lot of overlays impeding that movement in this line.
Paint is very good, but I do have one nitpick. The faceprint on this guy is pretty damn amazing in hand, though it can look a little pixelated in photos. I absolutely love how his stubble turned out. The box art painting shows a glowing red light on his eye patch, so I kind of wish that was there, but the main thing I miss is the symbols on his uniform that added a touch of green to the original figure. I almost feel like Hasbro has over-corrected from wave one and these figures could use a splash of color here and there.
Overall, I love this figure. It was pretty much love at first sight from when I saw him in Robo’s early review and he’s even better in-hand. He’s almost too cool for Major Bludd as a character and I love the way they’ve updated the classic design. The figure makes me want to move him up a bit in the Cobra hierarchy. I feel like a lot of the Sideshow figure in this guy and I hope they take some Sideshow influence when they get to Rock ‘n Roll. It’s a damn shame that he’s a Cobra Island Target exclusive because everybody needs this figure. I would say that I hope Target upped their orders for this figure so he’s easier to get, but I know better than to hope that at this point. Good luck, everybody.
