G.I. Joe Classified Series Barbecue figure review
Barbecue was part of the iconic fourth wave of G.I. Joe. That was the wave where Hasbro practically created an elite squad within the Joes capable of responding to any scenario. There was a desert trooper, toxic environment specialist, martial artist, sailor, a freaking ninja and a firefighter.
I always like the idea of the Joes having a firefighter thanks to Cobra’s destructive nature and the Dreadnoks actually having a member that carried around a blowtorch. Barbecue might have “cut the line” ahead of some more popular characters, but his reveal at a relatively recent GI Joe Livestream showing an amazing 6-inch interpretation of his RAH design instantly made him one of my more anticipated Joes in 2021.
Package: Barbecue marks the last (for now) addition to the Assault on Cobra Island Target exclusive subset wave. The only difference from the standard packaging is the Special Mission: Cobra Island logo and the nondescript rear.
On the right side, it’s the stat breakdown of Barbecue’s specialties. The left side continues the stellar artwork showing Barbecue battle through the flames.
Barbecue has the top mark of 4 in rescue and environmental support; a 2 in chemical engineering and 1 in bladed weapons. All of those make sense as Barbecue wouldn’t be proficient in swords since he’s primarily an axe-wielder and his chemical engineering would be restricted to flame retardants.
Here’s Barbecue’s bio from gijoe.hasbro.com:
Barbecue has heroism in his DNA. He comes from a long line of firefighters — six generations of Kellys before him served to save as members of the Boston fire department. As the temperature rises, his threat response rises along with it. He displays incredible focus and determination and lives for the rush of the thrilling rescue.
Likeness: Barbecue had the distinction of being one of the first Joes with a completely covered face. His flame protection helmet has always had this cool design with that visor and angled mouthpiece. Everything I loved about the original design and the excellent 25th anniversary 3 3/4 update is intact here and done even better.
You can see the plating along the mouthpiece. The nose tab piece and the breathing tube. Also, the ears aren’t as prominent as they were on the original figure.
For the Classified Series, the designers are sticking with the new approach of modernizing the RAH designs. I didn’t hate the modern designs with touches of the vintage look choice, but Hasbro’s Joe team deserves plenty of credit for listening to the collector fanbase and pivoting early in the Classified Series line.
With Barbecue this was a fantastic decision. He looks amazing. His shoulder pad/chest piece rebreather piece is one larger overlay piece. It’s bigger than the original design and he’s got what I’ll assume are flame extinguisher gel packs pouches.
The original figure has a fire logo on the right arm. Now it’s on the armband. I thought the gloves were reused from the Vipers, but they look to be a newly sculpted piece as well.
Barbecue’s suit looks a bit bulkier than some of the other figures, which is perfectly understandable given his need for extra padding. As usual with the CS line, the paneling, glove and boots detail is top notch. His base is the Destro mold, which was a great choice since it’s not as overused as the Duke mold.
Paint: Barbecue’s outfit is probably color coding in the cartoon to be red, but the figure was definitely more of an orange red. Hasbro kept that color scheme and retained the grey/black setup for his gloves, boots, straps and head/chest piece.
The rebreather gets a dab of green and the kneepads and gloves get a touch of red to make for a stronger contrast.
My figure just had a slight overspray on the right portion of the pads/rebreather section. I really like the glossy, almost wet look of the visor.
Scale: He’s listed as 6’3″ so he should be a bit taller than Flint and Duke. He should be looking up at the 6’6″ Roadblock and the 6’4″ Gung-Ho (per the GI Joe website).
Articulation: The biggest downside to the overlay piece is that it drastically restricts Barbecue’s torso articulation. Otherwise, he’s got the usual great Classified Series range of movement.
Fortunately, Barbecue is not as active a combatant as some other Joes and can still swing his axes without much trouble.
Barbecue has:
- head
- neck
- shoulders (butterfly)
- elbow (double-jointed)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- mid-torso
- torso
- waist
- hips (ball-jointed)
- drop down hips
- knees (double-jointed)
- ankles
Accessories: Barbecue has a ton of gear.
He’s got a smaller axe like the original figure complete with the edged guard. This can fit on his side. He’s got a longer broad axe as well.
Both axes has a nice amount of detailing and aren’t just slabs of plastic. They also have silver paint on the front section while the smaller axe has a grey handle.
Additionally, he comes with his flame retardant gun. It’s thin, but has a long nozzle allowing Barbecue to keep some distance while dousing fires. It has a long, segmented tube to plug into the backpack.
This a nice piece with three canisters. Again there’s enhanced details from the original RAH figure. Hasbro even added some paint on the largest canister.
Worth It? I was able to get Barbecue just before the switch to $22. He’s a Target exclusive, but now is a perfect time to grab figures as Hasbro seems to have a sale on everything as the holiday season gets underway. Even at $22, I wouldn’t feel jipped getting this guy as Hasbro really knocked him out.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Barbecue just needed better torso articulation, but otherwise this is an excellent Classified Series version of one of my favorite underrated Joes.
Where to Get It? I got him through Target.com. That was a nightmare scenario a year ago, but Hasbro/Target has fixed those issues and you can order him now with zero issue.