Apologies for the lateness and shortness of this review but I had wrote up this entire complex Destro review and just before I could save it, my computer crashed and deleted everything. Destro is clearly the lead villain in the new GI Joe Rise of Cobra movie and he's always been one of GI Joes biggest villains. He's the metal mask wearing arms dealer with a wit, charm and insane fashion sense.



This new movie Destro has a completely different design than all the previous Destros before him. I should know, because I own about 30 Destro figures and I'm not kidding when I say that. I actually once passed on the original Pimp Daddy Destro, opting for his more tame counterpart instead. As it turns out, that's a mistake I've regretted, since PDD now goes for a small fortune.



Destro typically was depicted in a rather ludicrous outfit made of leather, vinyl and a big bare chest. The movie Destro has changed all that up. Destro looks to be one of the bigger and better parts of the new Rise of Cobra movie, as played by Christopher Eccleston, which for you Docotor Who fans, was the 9th Doctor. Eccleston is also known for his portrayal of the Claude Reins, the invisible man from the one good season of Heroes.

Packaging:
The package is largely the same as all the other ones that have come before it. The one thing I haven't really touched on is that each figure features unique card art. It's not the exact same as the vintage or 25th style figures with their cartoon artwork, but it is similar. It's quite nice to see artwork for each individual character and it's something Hasbro has been doing a lot lately with the Generation 3 GI Joes, Marvel Universe and now these Rise of Cobra toys. It pretty much blows Mattel's comparative packaging out of the water.



On the back we have a nice rundown of who Destro is, but chances are you already know about this man. He's the #2 guy in Cobra's rankings despite not actually being a part of Cobra. I assume Cobra must have a crappy dental plan or something because a lot of their top guys such as Destro, Firefly and Zartan aren't actually official members. There has to be something keeping them away from signing officially.



As I mentioned before the villains don't have a thumbprint on their file cards, thus confirming to me that we're reading these dossiers from the Joe perspective. That's fine with me as it always seemed to be that way with the vintage file cards as well.

Articulation:
Destro has all the modern articulation which includes a ball jointed head, ball shoulders, Hasbrows (basically ball joint elbows), a torso ball joint (a bit lower than most), the GI Joe style t-bar ball jointed legs, double hinge knees and ball jointed ankles.



His elbow movement doesn't have a full 90 degree rotation due to his design. I know that will get a lot of folks into a tizzy, but honestly I think you've got just enough range of movement there to get the job done. I know, I know, the vintage GI Joes all had the exact same articulation, but man the times they are a changing and this Destro is certainly better than the original Destro figure. Seriously, the figure had a giant melon.

Sculpt:
Destro is supposed to be some Scottish royalty but he always dressed like he came from Jersey with his big gold chain and bare chest. Thankfully the movie design has changed a lot of that. It's not that the classic Destro design sucked, but it's just not very practical for the real world. Destro is basically Nicholas Cages' character from Lord of War, so it's no surprise that he appears a lot more toned down in this new GI Joe movie than before.


Destro may not be a Pimp Daddy anymore, but he's still Pimp!
His mask looks quite good and it actually looks like a guy wearing a mask as opposed to some of the previous figures where it looked like the mask was practically poured onto his face. It may even be some projection on my part but I swear I can see a little of Eccleston in the sculpt.



The rest of his outfit takes a bit of a Nazi dictator look, so that it looks as though he's in the military but probably not doing any fighting. Seeing as how that's in tune with Destro's character it fits in well. He has a nice suit with flared pants and plenty of little sharp details such as gold buttons and buckles throughout. You can tell this is a guy who wants to look the part.



I particularly like the fact that he's wearing a tie and it fuses a bit of that GI Joe: Resolute Destro look into him. He also has the raised collar, showing that Destro still loves his high collars. The boots are a shiny patent look done via the paint with a gloss coat and they really pop. There is very little slop at all on the figure, but there are tiny imperfections throughout. It's a mass market toy, that's to be expected.



I originally went into more detail about all of this, but let's face it I don't feel like rewriting all these nuances and you have eyes. This is a completely different look for Destro but it's clearly one that fits. I also like the brown on his gloves, not sure why but they stand out to me.

Accessories:
Destro comes with quite a bit actually. Starting with a gun that looks a bit like a futuristic version of a Luger. That pistol has a holster and fits in it quite well, but if you don't like the look you can remove the holster and the pistol. Of course you have to pop off his head to get the holster off, but it's not too much trouble.



He also has a futuristic laser pistol of another sort, but it's a bit of rubbish as I can't find a decent way to get him to hold it. In addition he has a larger laser rifle that can be broken into two parts. I find that this gun not only looks cool but adds a lot of play value.



Rounding things out is his big rocket launcher. I know that everyone thinks these things suck, but I believe Destro has one of the cooler looking missile launchers. I give Hasbro credit for at least coming up with a lot of different variants on these things even if it might be a waste of tooling dollars. It's certainly better than the 1990's when there was like 2 molds and they threw one in with every figure. Of course he has a stand.



The one sort of odd thing is that Destro has two holes on his legs to hold the guns. The guns have a peg allowing you to place the gun there instead of a holster. It works alright and looks okay with the smaller gun, but I don't think it really works for the bigger laser rifle to be broken down onto each of his legs. Your mileage may vary.

Additional Notes:
As I mentioned above, I have dozens of Destros and I originally had no intention of buying another. But as with so much of the Rise of Cobra toys, they suckered me in. Although in the end, I'm no sucker, because this is a quite nice Destro figure. Considering I have more Destros than you, ya can take it from me that this figure is definitely a solid and quite different incarnation of the character.


You probably didn't need three shots of this, but I took a while lining all those guys up, so SUFFER...

Value:
You know the drill here. He's $7.99 at most places, $6.99 at others and there are some good sales out there on these fellas if you can catch them. For the price point you're getting quite a lot in terms of figure and accessories. While I have a lot of Destros, it's not bad to get another when it's as original as this one. I can guarantee you don't have a Destro like this in your collection.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 8
Sculpting - 8
Articulation - 7
Accessories - Future Luger, Laser Pistol, Laser Rifle, Missile Launcher, Holster, Stand
Value - 7
Overall - 7.5 out of 10

Destro is a fine figure. He's not quite as good as some of the others, but he's a very nice update to Destro. Taking him into the real world. I suspect this guy will seem even cooler once the movie is out as it seems likely that Eccleston's portrayal is going to steal the show in terms of villains. There are a couple of variants of this guy coming down the line, particularly the Toys R Us 3-Pack version that I'm interesting in picking up as well. Before it's all said and done the Rise of Cobra line may make me end up with like 40 Destros! I've already bought two more since this one! YIKES!



Again, apologies if this review isn't up to snuff. I really loved my original review. But like my childhood it's gone man, gone and no amount of crying will ever bring it back. Just know that I love you guys to even redo the review at all.

Be sure to tune in everyday this week for special GI Joe news, reviews and more as we celebrate GI Joe week here at Infinite Hollywood! AND DIGG THIS ARTICLE OR DESTRO WILL KILL YOU!