GI Joe 30th Anniversary: Sci-Fi

The 30th anniversary of G.I. Joe continued to bring some excellent updated figures to the market. Sadly these would be some of the last good Joe toys to appear on retail shelves. I was partial to many of the figures in the series as they were updates of some of my favorite characters, such as Sci-Fi.

Sci-Fi was one of those old toys that bordered on "crossing the line" so to speak between the realism of military and science fiction. This laser trooper wore a bright neon green suit for crying out loud, but many fans and collectors still embraced the toy and the character.

The 30th anniversary version is an excellent update, keeping true to the look of the original figure. There were a few changes however and most of them are for the better in my opinion. First off the green has been muted a bit. No more day glow neon green. He also comes with a secondary head sculpt. As you can see from the above pic, I've opted for the full face shield head as opposed to the original.

The original head is more of a helmet now. You never really knew what Sci-Fi looked like beyond his exposed lower face, but now you do. This is one change that I can take or leave. I prefer the new head myself. The helmet looks a little bulky when its on the figure. I wish Hasbro would have just sculpted the face/helmet together like on the original A Real American Hero toy. This head reminds me of Wet Suit for some reason.

As with most of the 25th / Pursuit of Cobra / 30th / Renegades figures, the attention to detail is fantastic. From the wrinkles in the clothing to the addition of elbow and knee pads, Sci-Fi looks fantastic. Even his bland silver back pack got a nice upgrade. It even has a few small paint apps! Thankfully the black plastic tubing is long enough to attach his gun to his backpack and it not hinder the pose ability of the figure.

I feel as if I'm being a little biased here since I loved the original Sci-Fi figure, but all that aside I believe Hasbro has done a remarkable job with the modern upgrade of this character. He was one of the last figures I bought from retail and still one of the few Joe figures left in my collection to date. Highly recommended figure.