Art Design: Carded box which also has a gold embossed sticker that says "S.O.F." on the front, and I thought maybe G.I. Joe had made a promotional deal with "Soldier of Fortune" magazine. The back of the card has a photo of the figure in a rocky terrain. GI Joe usually has great photos of the figures in action.
The Figure and Headsculpt: This set has been produced as a Cuacasian, Hispanic, and African-American version. I purchased the Caucasion and Hispanic versions. The bodies have the Gung-Ho grip. The Caucasian has a thin GQ style of beard. The Caucasian figures that I have seen all have brown hair. The baseball cap is affixed to the head with one of those little rubber cords, and the cap on the one I purchased was on so tight that my Caucasion Joe had a fuzzy-hair bump on his head. If you look at the photo on the upper left, you can see the weird furrow that the cap caused on his fuzzy-hair! The Hispanic Joe has a fuller beard, which is in the black hair color. Both faces look unique and have a lot of character in their sculpts.
The Outfit: The Caucasian Joe wears a dark-brown sweater and a dark-blue ball cap, nice modern (Afghanistan?) Desert Camo pants, sunglasses, and excellent ash-gray & black sneakers (with cleats-a rehash from the Football Player GI Joes). The Hispanic Joe is dressed differently in that he has a Desert Camo style Infantry cap and a tan sweater. Both sweaters are of excellent quality. Even though the sneakers they have cleats, the ash-gray color makes them look like real sneakers! The kevlar vests & grenades in the photos do not come with the set, nor does the knife & sheath that the Hispanic Joe has on his web-belt.
The Gear: Is the same for both figures, it consists of a soft rubber drop-down holster with handgun and web-belt, plus an M-203 (grenade launcher with 3 grenades or shells) with a gun-metal blue finish, and an AK-47. I liked the soft rubber drop-down holster, and these two figures are easy to kitbash with a kevlar vest or other optional gear (such as the Action Man desert mission cap on the Hispanic Joe in the photos).
The Market: These excellent sets are $14.96 at Target, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and where ever quality GI Joe products are sold!
Grade: A+
