Headhunter Stormtrooper

Well, I guess my little secret is now revealed with the selection of this figure for my Profiles Page. My name is General Hawk, and I am a closet Drug Elimination Force fan. In all seriousness, I have never understood many folks' dislike of this branch of G.I. Joe. To me, it seemed like the perfect idea both concept wise and production wise. It made the parents happy, sent a good message to the kids, and while the gimmicks that ran along with the figures are pretty forgettable, the figures themselves were actually pretty cool, if you ask me. The choices made sense...Shockwave, who was a S.W.A.T. Specialist, Mutt, who was a K-9 expert, Cutter from the Coast Guard. Even Bulletproof, the new character of the bunch was a decent enough action figure. But early in the D.E.F. line, it was quite apparent to me that poor Headman and his Headhunters were quite outgunned and outpowered by this heavily armed and heavily armored contingent of the G.I. Joe team. But, the next year changed all of that.

First of all, let me say that Headhunter Stormtrooper was technically not a part of the D.E.F. line. After the first series of figures sold somewhat poorly, Hasbro dropped the D.E.F. moniker and released the figures that were meant to be included there as regular Battle Corps figures. All I can say, is thank goodness they did that rather than just drop the figures entirely, because the Stormtrooper in particular is living proof that even in its last years, the G.I. Joe line was still capable of producing some gems. Amidst the glowing neon and four armed aliens, there were some awesome, and overlooked additions. This guy is one of them. Now in my world, this guy works for the Headman regardless of his "Cobra" label in the Battle Corps line. He is quite possibly the key figure in the conflict between the D.E.F. and the Headhunters. Rather than a flimsy leather jacket and face plate, this armored behemoth wears a deep gray, spiked battle suit, which from the moment you see him, strikes intimidation. The detailing is extremely nice, with numerous spikes spread throughout the figure, on his chest and his arms; there is also a nice gold trim in various places that adds something to the design, without being so prevelant as to take away from the overall figure. He is loaded to the max with a pistol, knife, grenades, and numerous pouches and cannisters for other malevolent goodies. And then there's the best part...his head. He wears an elaborate skull shaped face mask which worked so well with Range Viper and works well with this guy too making him even more intimidating than he already was. The somewhat brightly colored goggles can be explained away as a thermal or night vision apparatus, but still is not overly bright, which could potentially take away from the rest of the figure.

I can see this guy as an all purpose trooper for the Headhunters. While the Headhunters themselves may be couriers or dealers and such, Headhunter Stormtrooper is a fully armored warhorse. He could be a bodyguard to the Headman, the first line of defense against the invading D.E.F., or he could be, as I use him, the ultimate in Urban Warfare, a fully armored, well trained monster, plowing through the ordinary law enforcement, and feeling no pain. He is basically in my world, a combination of the Crimson Guard Immortal, the Night Viper and the Alley Viper.

But of course, as was obvious with many of Hasbro's offerings in the later part of G.I. Joe's history, this figure was NOT perfect. He did come with black weapons at least, which was amazing for this time, but the weapons, to me, were nothing real special. The Rock Viper heavy machine gun was a cool one, for sure, but the smaller rifle that I believe originally came with the third version of Destro did nothing for me. Also, he had a nasty looking orange missile launcher. Now I always pictured this guy as a close quarter combat specialist. He wears all that body armor so he can get up close and personal, either bludgeoning the enemy with his leather and spiked forearms or blasting away with a high-powered shotgun. So that's the weapon I gave to him, a Battle Corps version of Muskrat's shotgun, which I think works very well. All in all, even though he came out in '93, he is a great addition to your Headman army or even your Cobra army if you are so inclined.

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