Wave 7, 2008 Specialist Trakker
I suppose fandom wouldn't be "fandom" without something to freak out about, and the "freak out" of the moment is Matt Trakker. While MASK was a nice part of toy history around the same time as G.I. Joe was going strong, I don't think too many people tied the two together or made any attempt to rationalize the two universes co-existing. I find that kind of strange, especially based on the fact that so many folks want to shoehorn G.I. Joe and Transformers together. To me, I think the MASK/Joe combination universe makes a lot more sense. Highly advanced technological devices, a pair of top secret teams (with one of them named "V.E.N.O.M." even!), I could easily see the two co-existing.
The biggest complaint I see online is that Matt Trakker is taking up some mythical "slot" that a more valid Joe character could occupy, but I'm sorry I don't really buy that. If there are any characters that Hasbro is intent on doing, they will get done regardless of whether or not Matt Trakker takes up a single spot in a single wave, amongst 11 waves released to date. Just because Matt Trakker is here doesn't mean at ALL that someone like Recondo, Low Light, or Wet Suit will never ever been seen. This figure is an Easter Egg, and a very cool Easter Egg, plus it also manages to incorporate a somewhat new concept into the G.I. Joe universe, something that, in my mind, has been somewhat lacking in the Anniversary line to date. I mean, sure the whole point of the Anniversary line is to celebrate the past, but G.I. Joe wouldn't have survived for twenty-five years in the first place if it only relied on what it had already done in the past. Let's move forward and find some cool new concepts, and in my mind, Trakker fills that niche nicely.
G.I. Joe is fairly littered with computer experts and technological wizards, from Hi-Tech to Hard Drive, Hacker, Mainframe, etc... but really, who serves as their vehicle engineer? Sure, Clutch is a great driver, as are many other Joe vehicle drivers, but who really is the man behind the scenes who comes up with the concepts behind such vehicles like the Rolling Thunder, the General, or even the JUMP jet packs? This is a hole in the Joe team that Matt Trakker fills really well, plus he also ties the two universes together and it works very well.
From an actual figure perspective, I find myself liking this figure more than I thought I would. While I liked the idea of Matt Trakker I wasn't wild about the Ace body, so I didn't think this would really rock my world, but I really changed my mind once I got it in hand.
Proportion-wise, this figure is great with the larger head, it doesn't look nearly as wonky as it did with Wild Bill and his scrawny head, and I really like the new lower arms. That head sculpt is really, really nice as well. It's got a determined stare that really gives him some character. It would have been easy to just slap a head on there and call it Specialist Trakker, but instead they gave us a terrific, intricately sculpted and well-detailed head that looks awesome. This particular figure I have is a bit scuffed up unfortunately, which takes some of the realism away, but I think that's a specific problem, and not something that's really widespread. I can immediately integrate this figure into my G.I. Joe collection, regardless of the fact that it's from another universe and I'm really happy to have MASK and G.I. Joe co-exist like this. A very neat twist. Pretty cool.
From an accessory perspective, I LOVE what Trakker comes with, mostly because it's an indication that one of my favorite figures and characters is likely waiting in the wings. His webgear is a lot more show accurate than I thought it was originally, and despite all of the complaints about his "choke collar" you can see a strap going up under his chin on the animated model as well. While the chestplate isn't exactly what it looks like in the cartoon, I still think it looks cool and works. The mask looks pretty cool, too, even if it's not 100% accurate to the show and old toy.
But what really gets me smiling is the helicopter backpack and the machine gun, because these are both pure Annihilator goodness, and that's a figure I'm REALLY looking forward to. I'm a huge fan of the Iron Grenadiers in general and Annihilator is an awesome vintage figure, and I can only imagine how cool it could be in the Anniversary style. I love the backpack, and the fact that they made it in colors reflective of the Condor helicopter in the original MASK line is just another great homage in a long list of great homages this series has given us in the past year and a half. This figure gets a lot of folks in a rage, but I love it, I encourage it, and I can't wait to see more new concepts come down the pipe in 2009. That doesn't mean I hate the vintage rehashes, but every once in a while even a retrospective line needs a breath of fresh air. Matt Trakker is a welcome one.
Wave 7, 2008 Pilot Scarlett
Scarlett has the dubious distinction of being the first Anniversary figure to leak out into collector hands back in early 2007. Dubious distinction because she left a LOT to be desired in both the articulation and the design department. Here we are over a year later and while much of the Anniversary product has moved leaps and bounds since last year, this Scarlett figure still feels a bit somewhat "stuck in the past". With extremely scrawny arms, fairly limited hip articulation, and an overall somewhat dated design (since when did dated mean "last year"?) in normal cases this figure would be considered pretty lackluster, and in some ways, it is.
A few things do help the figure along somewhat, most notably being the color scheme, but other things should be mentioned, like the new head sculpt.
Scarlett's new facial features are a remarkable improvement over the original, toning down a lot of the over-animated facial structure and going for a more normal, understated look. She has softer sculpting, yet still manages to resemble the Scarlett we all know. Other newly tooled elements are her lower legs, which seem to be wrapped in some strange leg warmers that I'm not exactly sure the origins of. Whether they're decorative, or meant to be somewhat functional for pilot use I don't know, but they add a nice amount of bulk to the figure and give her a sense of solidity matched by her flight vest. Like I said, I don't know if they're supposed to actually be something in particular, or if they're just decoration meant to hearken back to the 80's or what. Regardless, they're an interesting choice.
But for obvious reasons the big draw for this figure is the color scheme. While the thousands of Joe fans from the 80's are intimately familiar with the characters and toys we got here in the States during the heyday, there are a lot of people out there who are unaware of G.I. Joe's international standing as well. Several different countries produced their own lines of G.I. Joe figures from Argentina to Brazil, the United Kingdom, and China. Many of them had figures in exclusive color schemes, some with their own unique identities. Sub teams like Action Force has formed a long-standing cult following, even among American fans, and there are a large number of folks who are devote followers of the South American figures as well. This is an obvious homage to those roots.
Appearing in a blue and silver paint scheme and dubbed "Glenda", Scarlett migrated from her familiar Covert Ops roots to being a pilot. For obvious reasons, this figure covers all of those bases, even including an alias of "Glenda" on her file card. It's evident that there are some big time old school Joe fans on the design team at Hasbro, and I for one appreciate the homages. The paint scheme on this figure is far and away the absolute best aspect of this Scarlett. Though it would have really rocked to have a chrome-plated torso reminiscent of the vintage figure, the normal silver color works fine, too, and completes a nice homage.
Sure you get a fair share of complaints about the hair color ...I mean Glenda was a blonde, after all. But that doesn't matter too much to me personally. Obviously Hasbro can't release a figure named "Glenda" at retail that many US-based Joe fans don't care about, but you will potentially get many Scarlett fans who will latch on just because of the name. The folks who are diehard enough to be interested in the International element will buy the figure regardless of the hair color or the "real" name.
There are other draws to this figure beyond just the color changes as well, mostly due to the accessories. The gear that comes with this version of Scarlett is pretty awesome, all told. Her helmet is great, I really like her bulky flight vest and web gear, too. Very elaborate, very well sculpted and it adds a nice new element to a somewhat bland and uninspired figure mold. I do wish she had a holster for her pistol instead of a pistol sculpted into the holster already, though.
She also comes with the same pistol and crossbow that the original came with, which is somewhat unfortunate. The pistol is good enough, but her crossbow still falls apart when you sneeze in the next room.
The Scarlett figure, to this day, remains one of my least favorite figures in the Anniversary line. I absolutely love the fact that we're getting an International homage, I love the new gear, and the new head sculpt is great. But, the core figure itself is still pretty flawed, and as such this figure only gets a moderate recommendation. For those international fans, obviously this is a no-brainer. But for the rest of the folks out there I'm not sure if the new elements are really worth the cash.
Tema: The Sit-Rep!: Specialist Trakker and Scarlett (v10) Review! 
Mar Nov 25, 2008 3:42 pm
