The Dreadnoks are my favorite faction in G.I. Joe and Zartan and Zarana were my top figures of the year when they came out, so my anticipation and expectations for the main trio of Dreadnoks is pretty high. There is a lot to like here, but Buzzer does fall short of the usually excellent G.I. Joe Classified standard for me. Let’s take a look at Buzzer!
The painted portrait on this one does a great job of capturing the spirit of the Dreadnok glee for destruction and I love that they have created a little scene in their New Jersey gas station hideout from the comics.
Buzzer comes with a knife, gun, axe flail, baseball bat axe, glasses, and a chainsaw. These accessories are all cast in a rubbery black plastic. It’s so rubbery it doesn’t want to hold it’s shape which is especially evident in the baseball bat axe.
The handle of the bat is so thin and soft that even though I’ve heated and straightened it a few times, it will bend under the weight of the axe head. I love the design idea here, saw blades combined with a baseball bat for an improvised weapon, but it’s too flimsy.
The pistol is a little dinky, but Buzzer is secure enough in his manhood that it doesn’t matter to him. It fits well in the hand and the holster and has a port for blast effects.
The knife actually holds it’s shape okay and fits well in the hand and the sheathe on the leg. Buzzer has similar hands to Tomax and Xamot, so the knife can also be held between his two fingers.
The flail is right out of his classic accessory load out and is sculpted here with a slight wave to the chain which I think lends a nice sense of motion to the weapon in action poses. The silver paint also has a nice gleam to it and it doesn’t feel negatively affected by the soft plastic.
Buzzer’s chainsaw feels way more like a traditional chainsaw here than it has in the past. It used to have a bit of a sword and rifle feel to it, but now it’s more like a standard chainsaw. I’m a little torn about that choice. On one hand it looks like a more intimidating weapon, on the other, he can’t really convincingly wield it with one hand like say from his bike. The soft plastic does come into play here as the blade is fairly thin and can easily be bent out of shape.
The biggest issue I have with the figure is his glasses. They are a super soft plastic and don’t quite fit on his head correctly. They loop fine around one ear, but barely touches the other, and reheating and repositioning has done nothing to improve the fit. The design matches some of the round lens looks he’s had in the comics where there is a bit of covering on the sides that almost is like goggles, but I’ve always preferred the more aviator style look of the toy, packaging, and Sunbow cartoon.
I like the idea of removeable glasses, but they just aren’t executed well here. The detail is lost in the rubbery plastic and they don’t fit or stay on very well. It’s pretty annoying to deal with as every time I move a joint on the figure, the glasses were popping off. Otherwise the sculpting is very nice. He re-uses Destro legs with some armored thigh overlays, so he kind of has thunder-thighs, but I think he looks cool. I also like the way they have incorporated his ripped sleeves into the sculpting on the pectoral hinge piece and all the little details on his shirt and belt. I love the portrait with his slight sneer, though there is a really prominent parting line dent on his head that does not look good.
The paint is nice with some clean lines and a bit of arm and chest hair detail and I especially I like his subtle 5 o’clock shadow and the snake tattoo.
Articulation is good, the only thing missing would be a swivel for his ponytail because it does get in the way of him looking up too high, though the ball jointed neck rather than hinged is partially to blame for that. He has standard Classified articulation with:
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, hips, wrists, and ankles
- Swivel biceps, thighs, and boots
- Double hinged knees and elbows
- Hinged pecs, drop-down hips, and mid-torso crunch
- Ball and socket waist, lower neck, and head
Overall Buzzer is on his way to great, but the soft plastic really throws a wrench into my enjoyment of this figure. I hope maybe I just got a bum set of glasses and they fit better for others, but I found the way the fell off often while I was posing the figure annoying and cut the fun factor here, not to mention the bad fit ruins the look. I think I also miss the back pack gas can accessory and the weirder chainsaw design of the original figure too. He can’t really store his alternate weapons and a pack might have been a good way to do that.
