Ahoy Mates!!! It's the Hasbro G.I. Joe Classified Series #70 Shipwreck Action Figure Review!

Welcome to another Dan's ToyBox action figure review. Today's figure of choice is the Hasbro G.I. Joe Classified Series #70 Shipwreck Action Figure. I happened upon him in my local Walmart and snagged him off the peg. I'm starting to see more Joes hitting the pegs in my local stores and that's always a good thing... though not necessarily for my wallet.

Hector X. Delgado, codename: Shipwreck, was born in Chula Vista, California and is of Spanish ancestry. Shipwreck grew up near the San Diego Navy Yards and enlisted in the Navy at sixteen after getting permission from his parents. He was first introduced as a character in the G.I. Joe cartoon (made by Sunbow) and in the episode "There's No Place Like Springfield", he revealed he lied about being the minimum age of seventeen in order to join the service.

Shipwreck graduated from the Great Lakes Naval Gunnery School, and is a qualified expert with the M-14, M-16, Browning .50 cal., 20mm Oerlikon AA gun, and the M1911A1 Auto Pistol. He served time at Gitmo before moving on to carrier operations in the Middle East, and participating in patrolling actions in the Mekong Delta and Yokosuka.

Shipwreck dislikes the use of "gadgets" in war. "See the target, shoot the target" is his philosophy. He first appeared in the pages of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Comics with issue #40, released October, 1985.

My Joe collection is slowly growing, which is a good thing, right? Anyhow, let's jump into the review.

Accessories: 7/10

Shipwreck comes with a solid assortment of weapons and equipment. He has a coiled rope, which can be slung over his shoulder/across his body. His trusty anchor, a small semi-automatic pistol, his modified "old style flintlock" pistol, Polly, his faithful Parrot, and interchangeable hair/sailor hat pieces for his head. While I do like what he has, I'd have liked to have seen at least one of the weapons he's listed as proficient with, maybe the M1911A1? I know these are more indicative of what the original figure came with, but with the updates and modifications Hasbro has been making... I thought we'd get something a bit different. I'm not complaining though, well, perhaps with the exception of the coiled rope. A soft goods piece would have been a really nice touch, something that the anchor could have been tied to, perhaps? I may have to make my own. I do like the fact that both the rope and his left wrist have peg holes for Polly to plug into. Overall, I'm pleased with the assortment and love the fact that, once again, all of the extras (minus the extra hair sculpt) can be stored on the figure.

Appearance: 8/10

This is a terrific looking figure, right out of the box. However, upon careful inspection, I did notice some inconsistencies in paint application, and some fuzzy line work. Sadly, the beard and sideburn on the left side of his head don't connect, and just looking at the pictures, you can see the thin line work for his mustache and eyebrows. In hand, it looks a bit better, but in close ups, you can tell that the paint doesn't quite meet the sculpt lines. The facial sculpt though, is absolutely phenomenal and brings cartoon Shipwreck to life in 3D form. On the plus side though, the detail on the rest of the figure is pretty solid. There could have been a bit more blue paint applied on the right arm at the bicep swivel because you can see the flesh tone underneath. One thing that I do like... well, two actually, is the paint on his chest to simulate chest hair. It actually looks fairly realistic, as compared to some of the paint apps on Wolverine figures from the Legends line. The other is the faded look to his dungarees (yes, I used the Navy term for "jeans.") The fact that it's limited to his upper thighs and knees makes the look even more realistic... I have several pairs of jeans that look like this myself. The tattoos on his arms are also very cleanly applied and show a nice level of detail, in spite of how small they are. I am also quite pleased with the rating insignia paint on his sleeves, although to make it even more realistic, a tiny bit of sculpted detail to make them look like patches would have been even better. Another very nice touch is the gold belt buckle, with some very fine sculpted detail as well. Polly is also done very nicely, with different shades of green on her feathers and nice, cleanly applied detail at her eyes and tiny peg leg. All in all, Shipwreck is yet another example of great, modernized look to the G. I. Joe line, while still maintaining that nostalgic feel of the original.

Articulation: 8/10

Shipwreck's articulation is actually pretty solid. He features the engineering we see predominantly on the Classified line, and it works quite well. His head and neck articulation work together nicely to improve his up and downward looking range. The side-to-side turn is unhindered, even with the rope draped over his shoulders. Plus, he can cock his head to the side for that typical Shipwreck condescending look. The butterfly joints are limited, likely due to the excessively long shoulder pin, which is a typical Hasbro problem. It amazes me that they can release figures with great butterfly range, but don't bother to do so consistently. His shoulders have excellent range and can lift out beyond a T pose. They will also rotate a full 360 degrees with ease. The bicep swivel works fine, but due to poor paint application, reveals the flesh tone underneath, which breaks the sleeve up, unnecessarily. The double-jointed elbows work well, but don't bend entirely in due to the sculpt work on his sleeves. Shipwreck has the abdomen hinge and a waist ball joint, which combine to give him a relatively deep crunch and decent back bend. The waist joint also swivels and tilts side to side to a small degree. Thankfully the holster belt is floating below the waist joint, which prevents any hindrance or snag. His legs drop down at the hips and Shipwreck can hit a very solid split. His forward kick is nice and high and the upper thigh cuts are snug, but work. The double-jointed knees bend in exceptionally deep, but not enough to bring heel to backside. Probably my biggest complaint would be the limits on his ankles, due to the sculpt of his pants. The ankles will rotate a bit, hinge up and down very minimally and have limited rocker action because of the shape of the pants cuffs. Overall, though, you really shouldn't have significant issues getting him into some dynamic posing for photography, or just playing around with the figure to enjoy passing your time.

Affordability: 9/10

Once again, I marvel at the fact that Hasbro can drop G.I. Joe Classifieds for $21.99. That's what I paid for Shipwreck at Walmart, as it hung right next to some of the Retro G.I. Joes, which retail for $24.99. I can only assume it's a licensing thing, that allows Hasbro to sell figures with more accessories and better articulation for less than their flagship Marvel Legends line... oh wait... I just answered myself... charge more for the flagship line, because people will buy them regardless. Kind of glad I am moving more toward G.I. Joe now in my personal collection.

Overall, Shipwreck is a pretty solid addition to any G.I. Joe collection. His Classified series figure does a tremendous amount of justice to the original and brings a truly nostalgic feeling to collectors. I'm pretty happy to give the Hasbro G.I. Joe Classified (#70) Shipwreck Action Figure:

8 out of 10 ToyBoxes!

As Shipwreck might say..."I hope ya enjoyed the review, ya bilge swillin' landlubbers!" Since I'm not him, I'll simply say... Thank you for your continued support. Please, like and subscribe to never miss an article. Until next time... GEEK OUT!