G.I. Joe Classified Series Mutt and Junkyard review

As a big dog guy, Mutt and Junkyard was one of the coolest additions to the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line when they debuted in the 1984 lineup.

Mutt had one of the best designs and he went into battle against Cobra with his dog. How awesome was that? None of my love for this pair subsided over the decades.

I’ve been eagerly awaiting their arrival in the Classified Series line. They had to wait longer than I would have wanted arriving with No. 113, but they’ve joined the team. I didn’t have the resolve to wait for this set to hit clearance and was able to get a deal to knock them off at a good enough price for me. Let’s see if this set was a good one or if it needs to sit outside.

Packaging: We’re back to the windowed packaging(!). With this many accessories, this was necessary to make sure nothing was stolen or swapped. Both Mutt and Junkyard are laid out nicely with their respective accessories cleanly arranged in the tray.

The white accessory stripe is gone, but the corner artwork is intact. It’s a great portrait of the duo, which is shown in greater detail on the right side.

Over on the left side, we get the QR code, portrait and skill stats. The back features the awesome in-action shot that previously was on the package front. It’s the best of both worlds with this setup. Check out the crocodile lurking in the background.

As far as stats, Mutt ranks a four in animal handling, a 3 in security and 2 in light weapons and jungle warfare.

Head to Hasbro Pulse for his bio:

Mutt is a natural with animals. He likes them and they like him. The problem is that he gets along better with dogs than he does with humans. “If you’re sitting next to Mutt in the mess hall, don’t try filching anything from his tray-he’ll bite your leg off!”

Likeness: Mutt absolutely benefits from the Joe CS team skewing mostly classic RAH. His head sculpt is outstanding perfectly showing his less than sunny personality. There’s great intensity to the sculpt, furthered by the inclusion of some scratches/scars around his left eye.

This sculpt is pretty much exactly what I want from the line — the old RAH looks with greater amounts of detail. Hasbro’s sculptors didn’t miss anything.

It’s all a precise match from the original figure like the three buckles and three red tubing fasteners on the vest. The badge looks a little different, but it’s hardly a major change. Mutt’s rocking a right glove and a bite sleeve that comes up to his elbow.

Mutt’s belt features a slew of pouches and a painted non-removable canister.

Junkyard’s original sculpt was a basic, generic dog. This time, the CS team makes sure it’s clear that Junk is a Rottweiler. There is no doubt the breed here and this sculpt is really, really nicely done. Junkyard’s default head sculpt is fierce and intense as if he’s ready to go on the attack against some Cobras.

As we’ve seen with Freedom, Timber and Fionna especially, the Joe CS team has animal anatomy down and we’re getting some excellent sidekicks as a result.  A new addition this time is a protective vest just in case Buzzer wants to get frisky with his chainsaw again. The vest has some nice texturing, buckles and a handle for Mutt to grip if he’s hurt and needs Junkyard to get him out of a bad situation.

Paint: Mutt’s paintwork is nice and clean. It’s rarer when a Classified Series figure has a bad paintjob. That’s certainly not the case with Mutt. The scratch marks have some subtle dark pink to better resemble a scar. His teeth and lips really turned out strongly as well.

There’s a minor overspray with the midsection portion of the vest. That’s easily forgivable given the excellent work on the smaller detailed aspects like the gold star on his silver badge and the extra bullets on the vest. The buckles are painted black to further break up the brown vest.

All of the pads on the gloves and knees have a sharp brown accent as well.

The CS team has gotten more comfortable adding the extra touches such as the paintwork for Mutt’s chest and forearm hair. The left arm does have the hair painted, but it’s largely obscured by the bite sleeve.

Junkyard has more paint apps than the original version. There’s a fantastic gradient of brown around his mouth, belly and paws. Bonus! This time his eyes and teeth are painted. His red collar includes silver studs, which for the most part is well applied.

Junkyard’s vest is predominantly a lighter green with dark green patches that closely resemble the green of Mutt’s outfit.

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Scale: Mutt is an average height Joe meaning he’ll be eye to eye with wave mates Duke and Spirit while looking up to Roadblock.

Articulation: Mutt features the standard excellent articulation I expect from the Classified Series line. It’s essential for him to have great articulation as he needs to easily hit a petting Junkyard pose.

When he’s not palling around with ‘Junk, Mutt can hit the full gamut of Cobra smashing poses.

Mutt 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

Junkyard is another great example of the stellar engineering the Classified Series team does with pet/animal articulation. There are so many basic, natural movements of a dog that Junkyard can pull off with no problem.

Junkyard 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:  Mutt definitely has enough accessories to warrant the deluxe treatment.

It starts with a plethora of additional hands. There’s a wider gripping left hand, a pointing right hand, a Junkyard scratching left hand, an offering a treat right hand, a petting left hand and a right fist. That’s a great variety for display options.

He’s got more gear options as well. Mutt has what I think is a new helmet. This one is far more of the traditional RAH designed helmet. It’s black and rests just at Mutt’s ears. You can display it several different ways. There are two goggles. One is larger and wider. This one goes over the helmet for the full RAH visual. The smaller set just goes over Mutt’s eyes.

With the original RAH version, the goggles were sculpted on the helmet so you couldn’t do the completely covered mask setup. Now that’s an option. Last up is the muzzle.

A great gag in the comic was Mutt was the more aggressive one of the two, which is why it was him and not Junkyard that wore it.

As far as weapons go, Mutt has a pistol. It’s nicely detailed and fits smoothly in the holster. He’s also got a small knife with a black hilt and silver blade. This doesn’t have much in the way of detailing, but it seems like the kind of basic option Mutt would use.

It fits in his vest sheath. In the RAH version, the knife wasn’t removable. It’s great that the CS team made sure all of those elements were removable.

His main weapon is an M-16. The original RAH figure had an Ingram MAC-11 with a silencer.

That felt like a better option for Mutt. I’m thinking my Snake Eyes with Timber figure is about to swap out his UZI. The M-16 is mostly black, but the handguard is cast in an olive green. Finally, he’s got a nightstick in case he needs to quietly take out a Cobra.

Junkyard isn’t left out of the accessory party. He’s got an alternate happy, smiling sculpt with relaxed eyes and his tongue resting at the side of his mouth. It’s an awesome bonus and allows Junkyard to be nice and chill while Mutt is going off.

Worth It?  This set retails for $44.99. Given all the extras and the terrific execution with Junkyard, the price seems right. Target tends to have good sales so He’s got some fun accessories and smart revisions to the original design. He’s solid for that price, but Target had a sale so I grabbed him for $17.49.

Rating:  9.5 out of 10

Where to Get It?  Mutt is still available at retail. You can also get him from my affiliates Amazon or Entertainment Earth or Target. 

As an Amazon, Entertainment Earth and Target affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.