Pit Commando

Height: 10cm to top of head.

Articulation: 23 points total- ball-jointed neck; 5 points each arm: universal joint shoulder, universal-joint elbow, forearm swivel; mid-torso ball joint; swivel waist; 5 points each leg: ball-joint hip, double-joint knee, universal joint ankle.

Colors: Molded light blue, black, gunmetal, fleshtone, and clear plastic. Painted black, gunmetal, and brown(hair). Light blue parts painted with dark blue-and-gray camouflage patter.

Accessories: Assault rifle, submachine gun, pistol, shotgun, shield, riot helmet w/faceshield, body armor, gas mask, Steel Brigade Helmet, Boonie hat with night vision rig, flak vest, backpack, stand.

Author: RAC

(more...)

GI Joe Pit Commandos are rigorously trained for any situation that requires immediate response, decisive action and outstanding expertise. These elite soldiers are specialists at combat, reconnaissance and covert missions.

Collectors love troop builders, and so does Hasbro. I mean, unless the toys breaks- which nobody wants it to do -you can generally only sell one of each Luke Skywalker or Snake Eyes figure to any given person. But faceless nameless soldiers to fill out crowd scenes? Some people will buy them by the dozens. The Pit Commando is such a troop builder. But there's a twist- you could have dozens of these guys and not have any two equipped exactly the same way.


The Figure

A straight recolor of a 25th Anniversary figure, but likely one you haven't seen unless you went hunting: Dusty was part of the third DVD battle-pack that you never saw because packs #1 and #2 are still sitting at various stores on clearance. (I'd lay even money you can walk into the Kmart of your choice right now and see one.) He's wearing a BDU in the same urban-camouflage pattern used on all the other members of GI Joe who aren't wearing black. The bottom of his tunic is a separate piece that attaches in the manner of a belt, and the tab doesn't lay as flat as I would really like it to.

His face reminds me of Dwight Schultz, oddly enough. But the fact that he has a face presents a problem to the figure as a troop-builder: members of GI Joe are not presumably Clones, and some of his many pieces of headgear give a clear look at his face. So, if you want a whole squad of Pit Commandos in their boonie hats, for example, then you've got a big pile of completely identical Dwight Schultzes staring down Cobra. In my opinion, the perfect solution for this would have been to go the 1964 GI Joe route and issue Pit Commando with different hair colors- or even skin colors. It's not a big deal that they didn't, and it doesn't affect me because I'm only getting one of the guy. But I think it'd look kind of weird.

Swivel's no problem for the neck joint, but the head doesn't really tilt at all. The arms can be raised a bit more than 90 degrees- when installed properly. See, Hasbro's started molding upper arms with elbow pads in the back, giving them a defined front and back and making sure the elbows can't bend backwards. It sounds like a smart idea, but in the Pit Commando's case it just makes it more obvious that mine was accidentally given two left shoulders. The shape of the right shoulder joint is a giveaway, as is the faint shield-shaped spot on what should be the outer arm- presumably for a patch Dusty had on his uniform that the Commando lacks. That falls in the right armpit here. The arm also doesn't want to swing straight ahead because of it, but again this is a problem which should be unique to my figure. What isn't unique to my figure is that the elbows don't bend far enough because of the shape of the upper arms, and that's going to prove a major problem for a figure with this much gear.

The torso joint has a fair range leaning both front and back from (what I'd consider) the neutral position. And here we come to the one joint that the Commando has that I haven't seen on any other 25th Anniversary or RoC figure: an actual waist! It comes close to having that "too many joints" effect where you're having to line stuff up all the time, but on this particular figure I think it does add something, as the waist means the tunic can stay correctly aligned when he turns. On a figure with no shirt-tails, I don't know that it'd be neccessary. The hips don't move quite far enough out to the front, back or sides to manage a split, but they don't particularly feel restricted- for any ordinary pose you shouldn't have any trouble. The knees fold over into a tight V, which is as far as they could possibly get given the shape of the thigh and calf. The ankles lean into a step better than they point their toes, though his left foot is better at that than the right, and I'm not sure why. With the exception of the waist joint, he's pretty average for the line articulation-wise. Good thing it's a pretty good average.


Accessories

-Assault Rifle

Research indicates this is a Heckler and Koch G36C, and it is fitted with every option I can think of: it's got a scope, it's got a foregrip, and it's got a flashlight mounted to the side. In addition, it's got two magazines: there's a second one strapped to the side of the one that's currently loaded, I guess to speed up reloading. Neat weapon, though with everything it has going on some paint would help. The other problem is that Pit Commando's elbows are not up to the challenge, as he can't shoulder the rifle or hold it two-handed in any credible position.

-Pistol

Another H&K weapon, the Mk. 23 also known as the SOCOM. Like the G36C, it's got all the options- in this case the suppressor and the laser sight. The trigger guard has been omitted so the figure can get a better grip on the gun, and it works very well- best, most secure grip on a weapon I've seen on a GI Joe figure yet.

-Submachinegun

Apparently Pit Commandos really dig Heckler and Koch weaponry; this is an MP7. A lot of the Rise of Cobra gear seems to correspond to equipment used by the German Defense Force, and this is the weapon that replaced the Uzi for them. As with the Mk. 23 the trigger guard is gone, and like the Mk. 23 it fits the hands remarkably well.

-Shotgun

Took me a while to ID this one, because I didn't think it was a shotgun; I assumed it was some kind of beanbag gun to go with the riot gear the figure comes with. But here it is: the Mk3A1 Jackhammer, a full-auto shotgun. Apparently very few were made, but they're pretty frequently rented out as movie props. And shockingly, it's not a Heckler and Koch weapon! He doesn't hold this one quite as securely; repeated switching of weapons seems to have loosened his grip a bit.

-Riot Helmet

It occurs to me that the Pit Commando is supposed to come with two full sets of equipment, along with some extra pieces to use as you see fit. This helmet, the body armor, shield, and shotgun are what I'm treating as the "Riot Gear" accessory set. It's a pretty typical riot helmet with a hinged clear faceshield. When you press the back down firmly on his neck, it stays well enough, but you can't do that with the armor on, so it's not quite as secure as I like when the whole set of gear is in use. It's also a millimeter too small, and there's always a tiny gap between armor and helmet, be it in front or back.

-Gas Mask

Grab Rex Lewis and Pit Commando together, and your zero-effort Psycho Mantis custom is complete. The straps on this gasmask are quite loose, so it moves around on the head a lot. Also, the straps are bulky and placed in such a way that you cannot possibly use any of the other pieces of headgear with the gasmask and have it look good. You can sort-of use the boonie hat's optional scope, but that's it.

-Boonie Hat and Night Vision Rig

Part of what I'm thinking of as the "Commando" accessory set. It fits the Pit Commando snugly, and doesn't seem to have a discernible front. In practice, I go with an angle that fits the head well and fits the night vision harness well. When I think of night vision I invariably think of the bulky goggles Ray Stantz sports in the original Ghostbusters, but of course that was old hat (so to speak) 25 years ago. This monocular scope is much smaller, and doesn't completely kill your peripheral vision- which is pretty important, I'd think, if you're gonna be skulking around in the dark. When you find the right position, it snaps around the brim of the hat firmly enough to satisfy me- all I really ask with accessories is that they not fall off when I move the figure.

-Steel Brigade Helmet

I didn't watch GI Joe as a kid, but I know about the Steel Brigade because it was advertised on the back of almost every comic I bought in 1987. The Steel Brigade figure was supposed to be you- you filled out and sent in what, as an occasional player of tabletop RPGs, I would call a character sheet, along with a check for nine bucks, and you got back a helmeted soldier with a custom GI Joe "filecard." That figure was pretty cleverly designed on two fronts: first, the fully-covered body and techy-looking helmet meant that the Steel Brigade figure could indeed be anybody (male). Second, that total anonymity makes it a perfect troop-builder for the good guys, which as far as I can tell GI Joe lacked up to then.

So yeah, this helmet and the gas mask are the only two that really solve the Dwight Schultz Clone Trooper dilemma. And it fits really well besides. But man, it could use some paint. Far as I can tell no incarnation of the Steel Brigade has an all-black helmet, and the gloss black plastic really kills the detail. Not to mention that it's an oddball inclusion in Pit Commando's mostly real-world arsenal.

-Shield

From the "Riot" collection: a small shield with an eyeslit, and the GI Joe logo on the bottom- Gundam flashback! Seriously, this plus the Steel Brigade helmet and you're damn close to a human GM. It fits best in the left hand, not surprisingly, but can be used in either.

-Body Armor

The last of the riot gear. Heavy armor that protects the entire torso as well as the shoulders. Looks pretty good, and doesn't restrict the arms as much as you might think. He's obviously not going to be reaching straight up, but otherwise it doesn't compromise his range of arm movement very much at all. The tabs on the side pop loose sometimes when the arms brush past them, though.

-Flak Vest

This vest is covered with pouches to a degree that even Rob Liefeld could only but dream of. There's also a holstered pistol which is non-removable- but at this point in the Accessories section (Accessory #11), can you really hold that against the figure? It fits more securely than the full body armor, mainly because it only opens at one side. This also means that decapitation is my only option for applying or removing the vest. It might be a bit easier if the right arm on my figure weren't a left arm- that's the side of the vest that doesn't open.

-Backpack

I see a canteen and possibly a bedroll, but the rest of the bulky pack is all pouches. The peg is long, but doesn't seem to be too terribly secure- it's pretty easy to work it off the back of the figure. Even moreso with the flak vest on- while both the vest and armor have holes in back to allow for use of the backpack, the pouches on the back of the vest mean a shallower connection, and the pack doesn't want to stay on. I might try to thicken up the peg a bit with nail polish or crazy glue to see if that will help.

-Stand

Same as everybody else's, and I ran out of stuff to say about them a couple reviews back.


Closing Remarks

The waist on the figure itself is a nice addition, but even if mine hadn't been misassembled its elbows would still be a problem. As much gear as he has to play with, I'd rather forego the nifty waist for improved ability to hold stuff. The gear itself is the real star here- a dozen pieces, and the backpack is the only one with a severe issue. If you've been down on the Rise of Cobra line for its big missile launchers, this is your figure. As a complete package, the Pit Commando is Very Good.

-RAC