The Classified line is paying homage to the origin of G.I. Joe with modern military versions of the original G.I. Joe Action Soldier and Action Sailor figures with a couple of deluxe figures. Today we are looking at the updated Action Sailor in the form of the Recon Diver. This guy has a classic frog man look with modern military details. Let’s take a look at the Action Sailor Recon Diver!
The packaging features a 60th Anniversary logo and a really cool illustration of the diver in action. It is still novel at this point to see plastic window packaging and it shows off the accessories nicely while the render on the back depicts a scene of the diver coming ashore.
The figure comes with a ton of stuff including a rifle, pistol with silencer, dog tags, harpoon gun, knife, bomb satchel, flippers, stand, mask, navigation board, pack, shoulder harness, two heads, and a diver propulsion device. It’s a lot of gear, so I was impressed how he can carry it all except for the stand and extra head.
The dog tags are a tiny piece painted in a shiny silver plastic. It fits nicely around the neck and into the opening on the vest and under the rest of the equipment.
The shoulder harness rests on the shoulders and is held on with his head and has a lot of neat detail and adds a bulk and presence to the figure. I’m not sure the function of the harness, it kind of looks like a life vest or is involved in the air flow since there are tubes sculpted on there that are picked out with a bit of black paint.
The flippers are re-use from Torpedo, but a nice feature here is that the vest has little hooks you can hang them from.
The pistol is from Stalker, is cast in black plastic and features a removeable suppressor. They can be stored on a holster and pouch on the vest, though the loop for the suppressor is super tight which makes it a bit difficult to get the piece in and out.
The knife is from Torpedo and stores in a sheathe on the thigh. The sheathe is a bit loose and wiggles out of position a little easier than I’d like, but the knife has a nice bit of metallic paint on the blade.
The pack is also from Torpedo and has a different deco with some crossed off Cobra symbols and a label. It’s formed to fit the back so it stays on well.
The rifle looks like another re-use from torpedo and has a removeable magazine. It’s cast in black plastic and can attach to the bottom of the pack with a clip. I did find that this is the one thing that falls off the most when messing with the figure.
The satchel looks like re-use from the Retro Snake Eyes and can loop over the shoulder, though it is fairly bulky looking.
The goggles are permanently attached to some hoses that lead to a small suitcase looking piece with a smaller tank on the bottom. I’m not really sure how this mini-tank, the shoulder piece, and backpack work together, but they look pretty cool. There is a peg on the tank piece that should plug into a hole in the vest, but it doesn’t want to insert on my figure. I think it would have been nice if the hoses swiveled where they attach to the mask.
At first I thought this was a dive light, but some googling revealed it’s a diver navigation platform which has a compass, depth gauge, and chronometer. I think the silver part is the compass, so it would have been nice if there were some labels on it. There is a hole that fits a peg for the navigation board so he doesn’t have to hold it all the time by it’s handy-dandy little handles.
The harpoon gun should also be familiar if you have the Eels or Torpedo. It’s a fairly soft plastic, though this one is straighter than the ones I got with the other figures.
The propulsion unit is the most significant accessory and has some nice detail tampos on there and a rotating fan.
The heads are really nicely sculpted and both have a seriously intense expression that’s detailed with solid face printing. There is a little bit of paint slop around cowl where the flesh colored paint didn’t quite stay within the lines.
The sculpting on this guy is great while he is mostly re-use of Torpedo, it’s smart re-use that’s well disguised by the new overlay parts. The base vest is pretty tightly fitted to the torso, so I didn’t get any ab crunch on my figure. Otherwise the standard G.I. Joe Classified articulation moves well, though I do miss the neck hinge for more looking up poses while swimming.
Paint is solid, but minimal. I initially thought he was all black plastic, but there is a two-tone paint job on the body of black and super dark gray. The dark gray is really close to the black color and I think the most interesting details are all the little tampo labels on the accessories.
My favorite thing is that the goggles are clear so you can see the eyes rather than the solid painted goggles on Torpedo. Torpedo does look cool with the Recon Diver’s min-tank.
Overall, this guy is a really solid deluxe figure. All the equipment has a cool look and while some of the overlays can be a little fiddly all the details gives him an awesome shelf presence. I’m not one who really desires realism in my G.I. Joe figures, but the equipment does look pretty badass. I wish I had a second one to make a little squad with this one and Torpedo.
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