1988 Sgt. Slaughter (Warthog Driver)

The older G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero gets, the more drastic changes in how people are willing to view some of the aspects of G.I. Joe that weren’t popular, or tolerated amongst the fanbase two decades ago. Some of these are due to everyone aging, so someone who grew up playing with the gimmicky or neon figures of the 1990s is just as much an adult as someone who grew up with Storm Shadow v1, at this point. What was perhaps the biggest source of scorn for people who thought the line stopped being good in 1987, was Sgt. Slaughter, a character who now finds himself frequently used with no one groaning or complaining about the “phony wrestler”, like you would hear in 2002.

The Sarge was quite an important figurehead in the scheme of things for G.I. Joe. It was a huge brand, and having a celebrity endorsement, in some ways, makes it feel like a much bigger deal than every other of it’s contemporary toylines. Sgt. Slaughter had both the look and gimmick, to work with G.I. Joe, while also still being a fairly big “name” in pro-wrestling, despite no longer working in the WWF or NWA. He had a name that was perfect for the cover of a Pro Wrestling Magazine you’d see at the supermarket.

Sgt. Slaughter was very important to G.I. Joe at the end of the day. Without him, the line probably wouldn’t have taken that final step into being arguably the biggest toyline of the 1980s. However, if G.I. Joe doesn’t become the biggest toyline, I doubt that the fall from grace would have been as severe as it has been, as it’s devolved into either a anachronistic collector’s item, a personality-less trend following toyline, or a retro line marred by numerous issues, that doesn’t even warrant a half-hearted retail attempt, unless it’s riding the coattails of a Transformer.

To continue on in this vein, Sgt. Slaughter might be the only successful example of a celebrity tie-in with an Action Figure line. There hasn’t been too many attempts, that I can think of, and those that I do, were kind of duds. Chuck Norris and his Klan of Karate Kommandos might be the only other one I can think of, and frankly that doesn’t really rate very highly, and ol’ Norris is someone I really only give a damn about when he’s getting beat up by Bruce Lee.

This being Slaughter’s third figure in two years, Hasbro had to change things up. This version is a dramatic departure from the first two figures, as he’s now designed to look more like he’s actually a part of the G.I. Joe universe, rather than being the obvious celebrity endorsement action figure. The figure still has some warts, which is likely why it’s so seldom seen, but it has a lot of potential.

The biggest gripe about this figure, is the same as most Sgt. Slaughter figures, the giant head. This figure it is even more noticeable, because the Drill Instructor hat is now removable. So if you don’t have the hat, you still have a figure with a giant noggin. If the head had been downsized slightly, to be more in line with the rest of the line, you’d have a true hit and a figure worthy of fully being integrated into G.I. Joe, while still giving Sgt. Slaughter his due. Instead you have a figure that’s still a little hokey, though excellent from the neck down. I understand that the Slaughter likeness was probably something they had to ensure when doing a figure based on the character, and there was probably some required continuity in design from the previous two releases of the Sarge.

While, the figure’s hat is removable, I found myself not owning one, so I’ve pretty much gone the way of swapping the Triple T Sarge head onto the 1988 body, giving the same general look for the figure, without going out of my way to purchase a singular hat, something I don’t really have the desire or patience to do.

The colours on the figure are quite unique, from the typical G.I. Joe fare. He features a dark brown torso, featuring a strap of ammo, and one of those weird ass 1986 shoulder things. The torso is fairly monotone, since it’s 1988, but he gets a step up and receives two paint apps, silver and red. The sculpting on the torso is pretty good overall,  the big ass knife and the ammo are well done, the detailing on the torso, while hidden by the lack of paint applications, is quite well done. The bullet belt he’s wearing is better sculpted than the ones seen on figures like Tunnel Rat and Rock ‘N Roll, which makes sense, since as the years go by the sculpting always got better.

Other aspects of the sculpting work well with the character, the figure is really strong, he’s got big arms, and overall seems like a larger figure (as all Sarge figures were). His overall colouring fits in with the rest of his year, which is perhaps the year with the most cohesion in the figure’s outfits.

Since this figure is done up to be less of a celebrity tie-in, I’m far more willing to integrate the figure with other Joes, in a non-highlight role. I don’t really think of him much from a character perspective, but that isn’t because of the figure or the character, but more the release era that he came from. If this was a 1984 figure, I’d have come up with plenty of ideas and thoughts about Sgt. Slaughter and where he fits in on the Joe team. Alas, this is a figure from 1988 so I don’t really need to put any more thought on the figure other than “Does he look cool in the Desert Fox?”

I really like this version of the Sarge. I think it’s a workable enough figure, to use without too much suspension of disbelief, as it’s a sculpt that fits in with the meat and potatoes of typical G.I. Joe figures. Sure the head is a tad large and much larger than life than his contemporaries, he still feels more like an actual G.I. Joe than previous versions of the character. Of course, one of the biggest things that has changed fan’s opinions on Sgt. Slaughter as a Joe, is the fact, that the Sarge on twitter has leaned in and followed a ton of G.I. Joe accounts, and has done so whole heartedly. If he’d disavowed G.I. Joe, I’m sure his figures would have a worse reputation than they did in 2003, which might have been the height of the G.I. Joe fanbase’s intolerance on anything that wasn’t current Hasbro or a continuity based entirely on the Marvel comics.