Firefly
Again we all have our favorites, I will state now that Firefly is my favorite Cobra. Way back in the day I went to the stores searching for Storm Shadow, when I found him this grey camo figure just jumped out at me. Who was he and what was all that neat stuff on him.
In the cartoon Firefly rarely said anything, but usually when he did something it was big (if but a bit far fetched sometimes). He took out the Joe air force with acid in their fuel, he melted a snow bank to create a flood slowing the Joes down, he even slowed the Joe pursuit of the Laser Core with grenades (Assuming these were incendiary rounds). Basically he was the guy who stood silent but when he moved it was big.
One thing with Firefly is he is a major reason I don't accept any continuity or "canon" in my Joe verse. The main reason is the ties to Snake Eyes and the ties to Storm Shadow's Ninja Clan. To me it was a bit far fetched to have so many connections to two characters (Cobra Commander, Baroness, ect ect) all seemed to be linked to either one. For a long time I dumped the idea that Firefly was ever part of the ninja clan. Later I did readopt the idea in Hierarchy of Madness for convenience sake. Still its not something I wholeheartedly believe in. Still if Firefly had SOME training in Ninjitsu it would make sense, but I still hold he is not nor will be a full fledged Ninja like Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. As such that part of the comic "canon" when he is using swords doesn't exist for me.
As I said with Beachead, I used parts of my personality. With Beachead I used my somewhat detrimental workoholism. With Firefly I used an opposite yet equally detrimental aspect of myself, my chaos addiction. Really that is the best way to describe it, it is an aspect of me that is very hard to define. Basically I enjoy shaking things up, disrupting the status quo and causing mayhem (but not to the scale that things break down, just to effect some changes where I deem necessary). With this comes one heavy price, the inability to know when to shut up. I have a very hard time saying the exact wrong thing in a situation. This has caused me a great deal of trouble in the past and continues to do so. What tends to happen though is that I shut down rather than open my mouth for fear of creating worse troubles, sometimes though 20/20 hindsight makes me realize I should have spoken up sooner. Still I imagine Firefly as NOT having the idea of shutting up, but instead goes fully with the "Say what you think at the moment" idea. Shake things up, break them down and don't be around for the clean up.
Now it should be easy to see why I tend to put Beachead right against Firefly. They are the conflicting parts of me, with their diametrically opposed views, you would be very surprised how therapeutic this clash in the toy world has been for me. Still it works, in my mind at least, on many different levels.
Sometimes though my attempts at making Firefly "chaotic" comes out rather comedic. It usually isn't intentional but it does happen. While I am not opposed to comedy with Firefly, still sometimes I go over the top. What is truly ironic is that the same personality defect I put on Firefly is the exact reason that happens. What do you do about that, I am not sure.
When I added the Ninja Training back to Firefly's background, the idea came to me to make him even more Ninja like than Storm Shadow ever was. What I mean by that is the Ninja were really dirty fighters, sneaky, never confronting anyone face to face (or if it came to that using cheap tactics to win). With Firefly he wouldn't just use hand to hand combat, he'd use a gun, sword, knife, grenade, baseball bat, sand or whatever else he could get his hands on. If you think of Ninjas as the ancient history equivalent to the ultimate "heel" wrestler, Firefly would be Roddy Piper (Or Ric Flair, The original Shiek, ect ect). That I think rounded him out wonderfully and made him more than a match for Snake Eyes (who generally doesn't resort to dirty tactics).
But of course none of this says anything about his figures.
This mold of Firefly has seen more usage than most. Still though the original is a reminder of how great the mold is. One criticism I could probably use is the total lack of detailing on the figure. The grenades, belts, pouches ect are all the same color as most of the figure. The only break is in the skin tone sticking out of the mask. Somehow that works with this character. I have never really understood why but to me the idea that he would mask his accessories with the same camo he used for his costume is a point I think that makes sense.
I got Firefly along with all the other Cobras on a trip to New England to see my family. Needless to say Firefly was my favorite acquisition of the trip. Unfortunately a few years later my house would be burglarized and my original Firefly would be stolen. I took me many years to get him back. How is something of a funny story. I had mentioned in my Ripper and Torch profiles I had gotten them at a comic shop. The Joes were in a case in a box and you had to ask to view them, so I did. I picked out several (keep in mind too that the years 1985-1987 were very weak in my collection and this box consisted mostly of those) and looked them over trying to decide what to get. I really wanted to replace my Firefly while at the same time finish up my Dreadnoks. It took me nearly an hour to figure out what I would do. I put all but the Dreadnoks into the box promising to return for the rest. I reached in my pocket, walked up to the counter and paid.
It was only when I got home and reached into my coat pocket for my keys (I kept my parents house key on a separate key chain at the time) that I felt the protective box in my pocket and sure enough Firefly was there. I must have reached in to get my money and thought I put him back (It was a bit frantic at the time as I was almost late for a college class). I started to return, but coincidentally the day I went back the owner (Whom I later found to be a crook in his own right, but that is another story) was chastising a friend of mine for pointing out a hole in the store that someone might steal something. He was bragging "No one can steal from me, I'm too smart." Now I consider myself fairly intelligent, but I know for a fact I couldn't keep an eye on ten people at once. With that I didn't return Firefly on general principle (and when I found out that the comic owner only paid average of a dollar a piece for the figures and inflated them to near 15 times that much I quit feeling bad about it).
So essentially a figure stolen from me was stolen back.
But between those times another Firefly did emerge (two actually).
ANNND unfortunately he wasn't the greatest idea in the world. Like most Battle Corps figures he has a pretty good mold, but colors just kill it. What made this figure worse was when he appeared in the comic in this outfit the comic really brought up his ninja background (insert laughter here ;-) ). Yes Day glow is a natural color for a stealthy assassin.
This figure was rereleased with black instead of grey highlights and while I do have the figure, I thought that with so many repaints to come I would just keep things as simple as I could. Plus the figure is in storage in the bottom of my closet under 25 years of Joe collection. Deep dig that would be.
Later I made the joke that this costume was proof positive Cobra Commander was using brainwashing techniques on the troops. I kind of hinted that the costume was a type of honor guard for Firefly's personal organization (more on that in a bit) but didn't really utilize that too much.
Sadly and out of necessity this was my default Firefly for most of the 1990's I had many fruitless searches for a replacement and literally a week after the Firefly incident above in the comic shop I had a special trip to Toys R' Us in Tennessee (A two hour trip I might add) and found this:
Often referred to as "Arctic" Firefly this is the first of many repaints of his original mold. A major point is that this paint job utilizes much more of Firefly's details. Briefly I used him as exactly intended, then something dawned on me. With the mask this could be a totally different character. I came up with the name "Deep Freeze" for basically a specialist the same as Firefly but who was specialized in arctic conditions. This idea originally came about in that I was thinking of bringing the two at odds with one another. However later came an even better idea in my opinion.
Shortly after came a Firefly in forest camo:
Obviously Firefly was being redone a few times. This time I decided to rename him "Forest" again for his specialty. This mold again attempts to bring out the detail of the mold. I think its a slight bit less successful than the arctic version above but still works. While the paint wipes of the era usually don't work, I like the effect that Firefly is a bit "dirty" (note second pic) as if he has actually been in the woods recently. It adds a bit to the character I made up.
But it was at this point I started thinking of why so many Firefly variation and how to justify it in my Joe-verse. My basic idea was there was a time which Cobra Commander was believed dead, the remnants of Cobra Fractured and fell and from the Firefly gained a reputation so large he actually couldn't handle all the jobs. As such he began training subordinates who were specialists that he could send in his stead. This also provides the reason for why they all wear similar outfits (to hide the fact that Firefly was in fact multiple people). I had the thought that this was Firefly's retirement plan but then Cobra Commander came along and wanted him back. Thus he and his whole organization rejoined Cobra.
With that I was able to incorporate a lot of the upcoming repaints which were not far off:
From the BJ's exclusive pack. I really don't know anything about BJ's store. I know I hear it and get a snicker from the teenager still left in me. But seriously when this set was announced the level of laughter I had at the comments "What's BJ's." was unreal. Still I actually only grabbed this set for Firefly. At this point I was determined to get every American release of the character since he was my favorite.
With this figure I decided to call him Inferno to justify the red colors. His specialty was incendiaries. He should be noted since in my diostory he actually killed several Joes (in "V for Texas") before buying the farm himself later (but not in the same battle). Still his death was semi gruesome since his eyes were burned out. While I never stated it, his suit was fireproof of course only making room for the eyes to be exposed. When he hit a wall of flame what else was going to burn.
Very quickly we got a surprise in the TRU exclusive Tiger force pack.
When the original Tiger Force debuted there was a figure that obviously used the Firefly mold called Sabretooth. Obviously the name couldn't have been used now, but back then Hasbro decided that a mold of a well known bad guy wouldn't work for a good guy. However in 2002 Hasbro decided to make Wreckage which was a more than obvious making of Sabretooth.
I call him Sabretooth myself, since to me that is who he is. He is the Tiger Force Field Commander in my Joe-verse (a short lived training company) and an explosives expert.
However as Mike T showed us on Joecustoms, the Firefly mold was showing some overuse. The fingers weren't as finely cut and some of the details were fading, that, however didn't stop Hasbro from continuing to use the mold as we will soon see.
But First came JvC:
And I do feel this is a good figure but I have a hard time with it as Firefly. It does seem that the figure was one of the famous "retools" from T-crotch to O-ring (for one he came out pretty fast after Wave 1 and also his hips are rather wide). I ended using this as the "generic" trooper for Firefly's organization (I actually never gave it a name BTW since it was supposed to be a secret). I think he fits that role quite perfectly.
The mold is a bit simpler than the original Firefly. He has pouches and belts but they do lack the detail we saw from his original mold, even less than from his Battle Corps mold. Still that also makes him fit that "Generic Trooper" mold rather well.
Next came something I kind of have a hard time figuring out.
The con exclusive set. What I found odd about this was the fact that this mold had been used three other times in the past few years when it was released. While that worked with some figures (Vipers since they were army builders) at this point it seemed the GIJCC was steering away from using recent molds. As such I had to wonder why this one was used for the set.
What is really hilarious is how I got the set, I was actually ranting about it being released in chat since I thought I would never acquire it and low and behold I got an offer to buy it from someone at cost. I defiantly did and to be honest I do like the set overall but not the price tag.
The striped one I used as Wreckage (a purposeful borrowing of the name from Tiger Force) who is Firefly's main protégé' The Black I used as Night ops Firefly. I just felt he really fit the mold well enough to actually be Firefly.
Yet we still were not done with the mold yet
It was around the time of the Urban Set that someone called Firefly "The hardest working man in GI Joe" since literally he was everywhere. Still this figure has a warm spot for me since I actually think he is an improvement on the original. He was one of the few in the set to be given any type of camouflage (While that worked for Scrap Iron, I think Storm Shadow could have used it as well as Alley Viper). Still he has the base grey but with more color but without sacrificing the figures integrity.
At this point a red variant showed up on Ebay and we all thought it was a variant, test paint, or prototype, but when the crimson set hit we were all proven wrong.
Yes indeed Firefly was the last figure in the set, and one can only toss their hands up in the air as to why. One set came with Tomax and the other with Xamot but both had Firefly. It seems logical to give the twins in the pack instead of forcing someone to buy two. While I do like the figure it seems inexplicable to me as to why this idea even took place at Hasbro. I am fairly certain the set would have sold just as well without the inclusion of Firefly.
At this point we finally got a rest from the V1 mold in VvV:
This time Firefly appeared fairly well, but in an odd color choice. I think one Hasbro was reported as saying the color was actually "midnight Purple." I forget the exact context, but the indication was that the "midnight" part of the color was the justification. I'm not sure. I did dub the figure Midnight however since now when I look at him that is all I can think of. One of his best features is the holster on the chest. The figure itself should lend to easy customs but I have yet to think of anything.
I had hoped for a grey release of the above figure but that wasn't meant to be. I think if it had happened he would have ended up being at the bottom of the page.
But one of the figures that had the most potential ended up being stuck in the BTR line.
My major love of this figure is the grenades, the tiny cobras on them are just superb. I wish I could have gotten this figure without those stupid tabs on him. I have tried shaving them down, switching out the parts nothing really works for me. Hasbro should have got on the ball on it IMO.
There was another, darker, release of this figure, the only American released version of FF I haven't got sadly.
Next came the comic pack.
Unlike a lot of figures, this time some of the lighter colors worked. Probably because Hasbro decided no go just a shade lighter rather that super bright (i.e. Duke, Roadblock both of whom were out at the same time). It does appear that they went the extra mile with the head though. You can see the focus and in some ways anger in FF's eyes here. It is surprising that a head swap can make this figure look and feel completely different. Then again I suppose that is the whole point of customizing isn't it.
Hasbro continued with the idea of showing FF's details on his mold. As stated with the V1 the details were basically painted over. I have thought about that and wonder if it was a cost saving measure and that if Hasbro trying to keep up with fans demands have actually had to spend more to repaint Firefly. It can't be too much more since we did get so many versions of that figure.
Next up is of course the 25th anniversary figure.
To me, this is the story of lost potential. First off he just looks skinnier than even the 25th anaversery figures. I actually pored over several off the figures just for this profile just to be able to explain what was happening to make him appear so lanky. I can say the bicep is thinner and I think that is making a partial optical illusion on the rest of his body. Either way he looks anorexic, not a bad arse saboteur or assassin. This really distracts from the figure in many ways, but also contributes to his further issues.
Next is his bandolier, I wrestled with this thing forever and the best I could do is having grenades and explosives popping him in the chin (as in the pic above). While I could force the chest wear down a few moments, it never stayed. What is worse is that if I left it alone it would reach under his neck as if strangling him. For a few minutes I wondered if his gear had been replaced by a Mimic (Of Dungeon and Dragons) and was now trying to finish him off. Hopefully he didn't fail his fort save ;-)
I read online that this only happens when the backpack is in the hole. If you look carefully I haven't got Firefly's backpack on him and it is still happening, I could have a mildly defective figure, but I am thinking this is more normal than not.
Again due to distribution I had to order this figure through online sources, and again I had to pay extra (never minding shipping and handling) to get him. Its not something I mind doing once in a while, but I am not rich so whatever needs to be done to get these toys out there is taken care of soon cause I am running out of funds.
But what really gets my ire up about this is that Firefly is so flawed. The bandolier is something that should have been caught in the prototype stage and addressed and redone. Instead I get the feeling Hasbro just said "Eh its functional, go with it" and left the figure at that. It's a shame that a line I have genuinely enjoyed in a great many parts has such a glaring disregard for itself. I am hoping the Firefly in the upcoming comic pack is a better one (it appears to be from the pictures I have seen).
This figure's one redeemable quality is the head, its a great sculpt that is somewhat reminiscent of several Devil's Due issues. The legs are functional but would have looked better if the figures arms were just a pinch wider. As it stands he appears to have "Thunder thighs." I doubt this will change for the Comic pack, but who knows.
Now its time to address who my favorites are.
The original mold is obviously still a favorite of mine despite the overuse. Really I don't think you can improve on the original here. Still the Urban Pack had an interesting variation and really great colors that were different but still said the character was Firefly (unlike many other repaints). Lastly the Comic pack version really grabs my attention with the head sculpt.. Basically I have a three way tie here with many. many honorable mentions. Hence why this is my favorite Cobra character.