What happens when you cross The Road Warrior’s Lord Humungus with Rocky Balboa? You get the next figure from the recent G.I. Joe Classified deluge we are going to review today, Big Boa! Let’s take a look!
Window boxes are back in a big (Boa) way with his punched-up mug on display in the window and an intimidating painting on the front of the box and the side. The figure is beefy, but this painting is even beefier! I especially like the cage match environment they placed him in on the rendered scene on the back of the box. Makes me want to get to building!
Big Boa comes with an alternate head, two sets of hands, and a set of dumbbells. His accessory count does seem a little on the light side comparatively speaking when you think about all the guns and kibble the other figures in this wave got. The grip hands have a wrapping sculpted with some blood-stained details painted on. I like the look a lot, though I wish I also had a pair of fists with this sculpting and paint detail for a bare-knuckle boxer look.
The grip hands hold the dumbbells solidly. I especially like that they have that sort of hammered metal texture that you often see on this kind of weight.
The boxing gloves are swappable hands with a in/out hinge and a sleeve that slides over the figure’s wrists to complete the gloved look. I was a little surprised they weren’t rubber overlays that popped onto the hands, so I appreciate the articulation.
The alternate head has a lot of character with a bit of a busted nose, cuts, bruises, and a missing tooth. He’s got quite a sneer on his face that to me conveys a bit of…let’s say aggressive confusion. He doesn’t have a likeness to Rocky, but I do get a sort of Rocky gone bad vibe from him for sure, which feels fitting considering the character’s origin as a possible foe for a canceled Rocky figure in the line.
The sculpting is at the usual high G.I. Joe Classified standard and Big Boa re-uses arms from one of the first figures (Roadblock) and doesn’t have pinless joints. The torso is slightly altered from the earlier figure in that he actually gets sculpted nipples which, oddly enough, has become sort of rare in action figure lines of late. The design is very faithful to his V1 figure, but there are little differences. For example, his harness has a bit more detail with sharper spikes and more strap and seam detail. The helmet also gets more panel line detail, though the profile is less aggressive with the muzzle of the mask not sticking out as forward as it does in the original figure. I think the cod piece and belt combo reads a little more clearly like a snake in this version and the new muscular legs with more super-hero tights like pants works well with the upper body to create a unique silhouette for the line.
The articulation is G.I. Joe Classified standard and moves very well for the most part with great range on the double hinged knees and elbows for such a bulky frame. The waist has an especially good tilt and rocker functionality that I think works well for boxing poses. As always, I do mist the disc hinge in the upper neck and wish that would return. Big Boa has:
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, wrists, hips, and ankles
- Ball and socket head, neck, and waist
- Hinged mid-torso, drop-down hips, and butterfly pectorals
- Double hinged knees and elbows
- Swivel biceps, thighs, and boots
The paint is pretty solid with mostly clean separation where it is applied though he’s mostly cast in the final colors. The silver buckles had a little slop on the front on my figure but I do love the subtle five o’clock shadow on the unmasked head.
Overall, this is a really nice take on one of my favorite Cobra oddballs. There’s something so appealingly weird to me about this boxer in a robot mask that I cannot explain and they’ve done him justice with this version. He definitely feels like piece of the ’80s brought into the present. A classic super-thug boss level fighter that your every-man action hero can’t possibly beat but still finds a way to take down. If there was a live action G.I. Joe movie in the ’80s this guy would definitely have been played by Pat Roach.
