I got Buzzer from BBTS a few weeks back and most of the rest of the current wave of G.I. Joe Classified figures last week while I was on vacation, so today we’re taking a look at my most anticipated figure of the wave, the Dreadnok, Ripper! While I’m a Dreadnok fan, Ripper was never my favorite, but this figure changed that. Let’s take a look!
Ripper comes in plastic-free packaging and I like that they created an environment for him that recalls the old Dreadnok gas station lair from the comics. The nods to Cold Slither with the instruments is fun, though he does look a little out of place wielding the jaws of life in his HQ.
Ripper comes with removeable glasses, a pistol, a knife, his ripping device, and a rifle with removeable magazine.
The ripper tool is basically the jaws of life that he uses to demolish enemy weapons. Jaws of Death as it were. It’s cast in a pretty solid black plastic and the jaws hinge open in tandem. There’s a handle on the top for a two handed grip and that that handle hinges to assist in posing. It’s a pretty solid and chunky accessory and I can almost see why they didn’t include his backpack generator with hose because it looks like it is self-powered, but I do really miss the look of the pack and a way to store the thing when not in use.
The pistol is also cast in a black plastic and has an interesting design where a knife rests along the barrel. I’m not sure if his gun would fire and it may just be a weird handled knife now. It has a little silver paint on the knife portion and it fits well into his holster on the right hip.
The knife is also black plastic with silver paint on the blade and has an interesting grip that covers his knuckles. It’s pretty scary looking despite the rounded end of the blade. The blade fits well into the sheathe of the chest overlay and doesn’t fall out.
The rifle is probably my favorite accessory and is the one I most associate with the character. I really like the way it looks like a stolen standard Joe gun with some deadly modifications. It is a little flexible plastic, so was bent in transit and required heating to straighten. I would caution care with the removeable magazine. It is super tiny and didn’t plug securely for my figure and I almost lost it to the carpet monster. I literally had to search the bag on my roomba for the thing, so once I found it, I glued it into the rifle.
Fortunately the glasses work way better than Buzzer’s and are made of stiffer plastic so they stay on his head. You can still knock them off in posing, but it’s a vast improvement over Buzzer. The sculpting on this guy is pretty great. I love the way his one eye bulges and his mouth is sneering open as if in mid-invective. He feels very Australian to me in that way. The hair is pretty epic with a mowhawk that trails off into a rat-tail mullet.
The body looks like some clever parts re-use well hidden with the chest straps and jewelry overlay pieces. I think his upper body is mostly Copperhead and the lower is mostly Rock ‘n Roll. The only downside there is we are missing his classic belly-shirt so he looks a little less ’80s punk than I’d like.
Paint is solid here and I especially like the way they did his open mouth and angry eyes, though if you look up super close you can make out that his right eye has a smiley face contact. That’s a fun and absurd little detail that makes the removeable glasses seem more important. There was some sort of misalignment on the hair because there is a bit of paint missing from his hairline and beard around his nose, but I only notice it in close up pics. I also like that his jeans are a different color than Buzzer and Zarana’s pants. It’s a nice touch though I would have like the faded effect we saw on Shipwreck. I know they don’t really do this, but I feel like he could use some dirty washes and mud splatter on his boots.
I know that the tattoos are a bit of a dividing line with fans, but I especially like them on the dreadnoks. My favorite is the demon face that kinda looks like Ripper himself mixed with a fatal fluffy, though I do wish there were more colors to the tats.
Articulation is pretty standard for Classified and works well for the most part, the only real exception being he doesn’t look up well due to the mullet, his necklace, and the inferior ball jointed neck. I wish they would go back to the hinge there. Ripper has:
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, wrists, hips, and ankles
- Double hinged elbows and knees
- Swivel biceps, thighs, and boots
- Ball and socket waist, lower and upper neck
- Hinged drop-down hips and pectorals
Overall Ripper is a fantastic addition to the Dreadnok faction in G.I. Joe Classified and perhaps my favorite figure from this line this year, which is saying something because Classified has been on fire. The only thing I’m missing here is the pack which makes me really wonder about Torch. Will his flamethrower not have the tank pack? I imagine a flame thrower with tanks attached could veer into super-soaker territory pretty quick. We’ll see.
Source: Fwoosh
