I tend to think that there is a big divide in toy collectors. Guys over 30 have a greater potential to be 12 inch or 1/6 scale collectors. Guys 30 and under tend to collect 6 inch and below figures. Why the divide? It's the era in which each grew up. If you're 40 you probably played with 12 inch GI Joes, if you're 30 you probably played with 3 3/4 toys. Despite this divide, there is a small amount of crossover appeal. Hasbro has worked for years to get the 3 3/4 fans to meet the 12 inch fans in the middle. It's never quite worked, but that hasn't stopped them from trying.


When the 25th Anniversary of Real American Hero GI Joes came along, Hasbro rolled the dice again and started making 12 inch GI Joes again of the RAH characters. That was met with some mild success but how the line was doing could never truly be examined because Rise of Cobra came out and all the toylines shifted over to that. The first couple of ROC 12 inch figures didn't seem that impressive, but the newest wave has started to hit and Hasbro may have finally after all these years converted me. Why? Because this Rise of Cobra Destro is an impressive 12 inch figure and the best 1/6 Destro ever produced.

Packaging:

The 25th Anniversary 12 inch GI Joe packaging was pretty awesome. This Rise of Cobra 12 inch figure packaging is considerably smaller and looks a bit like a cheap Barbie package. That said, it does remind me a bit of the 80's packages, there's even a bit of a Mego-like quality about it with the package being so plain.


The figure is nicely displayed on the inside and clearly visible through the package. It's not a flashy package but it works. Inside is a handful of twist ties keeping him in place. There is also a rubber band on his neck, be on the lookout for that.


The back of the package has the rest of the figures in the wave, a nice shot of the figure and his filecard. I didn't check it against the 3 3/4 filecard but I assume it's about the same with only the weapons area changed.

Sculpt:
Wow, you know they have made about a half dozen Destros in this scale since the 1992 Hall of Fame figures and never has Destro looked this good. Obviously this is the movie Destro, so he's in a suit as opposed to being in his classic outfit. Despite several other attempts at making Destro, this one really works because of the suit. Destro looks good in a suit.


What's perhaps even more impressive is that this is a nice suit. Sure, it's a bit cheap but it's a full fabric suit. That's nothing to brush off because suits in this scale often look downright atrocious. Yet Hasbro has managed to make a nice suit with a inner vest, shirt and tie that all look scale appropriate.


In the interest of full disclosure though, the vest and shirt aren't real. They are only the front half. This has been done on other figures in this scale before. Some folks say it's cheap, to which I would agree however if this helps keep the cost down plus helps make the scale more accurate I'm all for it. Sometimes an inner shirt or a vest that's overscaled ruins an outfit.


The head sculpt is where this thing really shines though. Most 1/6 scale collectors are self admitted toy snobs. If anyone has a right to be, it's them. Most of the good high end 1/6 scale toys cost around $100. Even though Hasbro more or less invented the genre, most 1/6 scale collectors hate Hasbro and dismiss them. I wonder what they think of this head sculpt then? Why do I ask? Because this head sculpt is every bit as good as a Hot Toys or Sideshow head sculpt.


Now before you jump all over me and call me an idiot, look at the head. It's a perfect ROC Destro. He has just the right amount of shine, he has the rough areas which were in the film and you can see the flesh just around his eyes. And what about those eyes!? That's great detail. Plus you can see that this is Christopher Eccleston underneath. From his big ears to his round nose. I honestly don't see how Hot Toys or Sideshow could do one better. Clearly the regular human head sculpts in this scale go to the higher end market, but Destro doesn't have a normal human head. Sorry guys, this is perfect.

Articulation:

When Hasbro started doing their modern 12 inch figures a lot of people complained about two things. One that they used sculpted on shirts for a lot of the figures and two, that they didn't use a more articulated body. I'm surprised to hear this mostly because this body is pretty accurate in terms of articulation in the human body.


Certainly the figure could include some arm swivel or thigh swivel, but real humans aren't articulated there. Humans have essentially swivel/hinge joints and that's what this figure is mostly made out of. Instead of the hokey Kung-Fu grip of old, this Joe has an articulated trigger finger as well as the three other fingers on his hand as one joint. I quite like that. The only area I could see that this figure would be better is with a ball jointed head and an ab crunch. Otherwise this guy almost perfectly mimics real human movement.


Obviously by going for a more "real" approach, he's not as poseable as some toys out there. Still, I think the larger you get the less wasteful articulation the better. This guy can get into a lot of poses. He's fun.

Accessories:
Even if you hate 1/6 scale figures, you have to admit usually they have tons of cool accessories. This guy doesn't come with much, which is a shame, but he does have a gun.


His gun is a bit oversized but it will fit in his hand. Even though he only has one weapon, he does have the full suit and that's more than most of the recent Hasbro 12 inch scale figures. Unfortunately his shoes are worthless. They fall off constantly. Perhaps if you stuffed them with some toilet paper or something they would fit better. As is you may want to replace the shoes.

Value:
I paid $10 for this figure at Walmart. GET OUTTA HERE?! $10 for all this? Come on, that's pretty impressive. Other stores have these guys for around the $12-$13 range and it's a good value either way. Certainly there are better $50-$60-$100 12 inch figures out there, but I defy you to find a better one at this price point.

Score Recap:
Packaging - 6
Sculpting - 9
Articulation - 8
Value - 10
Overall - 9 out of 10

If the shoes didn't fall off and he came with a handful of more accessories this would be a 10 out 10. As is he's a very strong 9 out of 10. I'm sure super elitest 12 inch collectors will crap on this figure, but I absolutely assure you that if Sideshow ever does a Destro, he won't look much better than this and he'll be 10 times the price. Go out and buy this figure, even if you don't collect this scale. You'll be glad you did. Congrats Hasbro, it took you 26 years but you got me hooked on a new scale of figures.