G.I. Joe Classified Series Scrap-Iron and Anti-Armor Drone review

Scrap-Iron was a fun character in the G.I. Joe cartoon. He was quasi-Cobra Commander’s most trusted mercenary unless someone came with a better deal. While somewhat underutilized in Larry Hama’s Real American Hero series, he was responsible for some shocking deaths in a pivotal arc.

With Scrap-Iron is already getting a more pronounced role in the Duke mini-series from Joshua Williamson and Tom Reilly, I figured now was a great time to check out the G.I. Joe Classified Series figure. Hasbro decided to make him a deluxe figure, but it’s a case where that presentation doesn’t feel like a rip off.

Let’s see if this deadly weapons designer got a cutting-edge figure or if he’s simply a bomb.

Package: I’m alternating between my last few closed window Classified Series. I definitely didn’t hate it as much with this line thanks to the creative art rendering on the front.

This is a nod to the opening act of Arise Serpentor Arise when Scrap-Iron unloads the BATS on GI Joe headquarters. The back of his truck is open and he’s on the attack while three Skystrikers have already reached the air.

There is a nice portrait of him as well as the white stripe of accessories crossing the right corner. The left side features the QR code to nowhere and tiny stat readouts. Over the right side, we get a better version of the artwork with Scrap-Iron holding the drone tablet.

The back features a detailed look at the accessories and Scrap-Iron’s stats.

They’re as followed: a 4 in launcher, 3 in ordinance and anti-armor and a 2 in weapons development. That makes Scrap Iron one of the more skilled of all the Cobra mercenaries.

You’ll have to head to Hasbro Pulse for his bio:

Scrap-Iron is an anti-armor specialist and weapons designer whose passion for precision drove him to develop his own munitions. His remote-controlled drone is his latest development for Cobra.

Likeness: Scrap-Iron perfectly translates the fairly flawless Real American Hero design into a sensational Classified Series figure for 2023/2024.

He always stood out among the 1984 Cobra reinforcements — no easy task when his wave mates were Firefly, Zartan, Baroness and Storm Shadow. The Classified Series figure likewise won’t get left in the dust.

Let’s start with the head sculpt. The CS team opted to make his helmet removable. This allowed them to go to work on his head sculpt. Scrap-Iron has a landing strip style mohawk with an expression that he’s all set to press the button to destroy something.

His devices don’t always work as evident by the damage to his face. Scrap-Iron has seen his share of detonations resulting in some major scarring and burn marks. That’s next level of detailing to a figure, which has become the norm for the Classified Series line.

He does have his helmet. The ear pads aren’t as wide as the original, which mirrors a more streamlined look for that kind of covering. His Cobra logo is intact and fully sculpted.

Scrap-Iron’s outfit is largely classic. He’s still got the open collar jumpsuit with the red turtleneck. To offer some protection from bomb blasts, Scrap-Iron has a flak vest with rows of pouches. In the left side, he’s got a pair of grenades and a separate larger pouch towards his right side.

The harness/holster belt section has been translated well in the CS format with the holster on the right leg. He’s got kneepads and boots with a strap across the foot.

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Paint: Scrap-Iron’s paintjob is largely the same as the RAH version. His visor has more of a gloss finish to it while the helmet’s Cobra is painted red. The red of his flak vest is two-tones — largely to show some distinction from his red turtleneck. His grenades and pouch are still black. In a nice touch, the CS team added some bronze/copper to the flak vest buckles.

To avoid too much uninterrupted red, his inner belt is painted black with the bronze copper belt buckle.

His Cobra logo on his right sleeve is now on the shoulder instead of the inner portion of his arm. Scrap-Iron keeps the black kneepads and his boots are now also black with red buckles.

Once you ditch the helmet, you can see the full scope of the paintwork. Scrap-Iron’s scars are masterfully painted with pinks and light red. The burned left side is all pink. Maybe a little black wash could have been helpful here as well to further bring out the detail. His left eye is the creepiest as the iris is semi-translucent with the pupil slightly visible.

Scale: Scrap-Iron isn’t particularly tall — he’s looking up at Zartan and the Dreadnoks for example. He’s more of an average size and doesn’t look out of place at all.

Articulation: Scrap-Iron doesn’t need to do a lot of moving around. He sticks close to his drone and fights from a distance.

If he needed to, the Classified Series articulation still has him covered. He’s got the barbell neck joint allowing for more personality with his poses. The vest is thick but doesn’t restrict his torso movement too badly. It also doesn’t jam up his butterfly shoulders’ range so he can’t properly hold his tablet.

 

Just as importantly, the detachable hips allow Scrap-Iron to simulate his card pose of being on his knee while he blasts away at some heavy Joe armor.

Scrap-Iron 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:  This is going to take a second.

Scrap-Iron comes with a pistol. It’s more reserved than the RAH’s RAR pistol, but it makes sense that he’s not carrying a large gun.

Anyone that gets that close to him likely is in bad shape anyway. No need to overcompensate. Still, it’s nicely detailed with intricate sculpting on the barrel. It fits snugly in his holster.

I’ve already mentioned his removable helmet, but that should also count as an accessory.

His final dedicated accessory is his tablet. This is his control device for his drone.

It’s got two antennas — perhaps to boost his WiFi signal? It has a good amount of detail with a red LED readout and buttons on either side.

Now it’s time for his major accessory — the Anti-Armor Drone.

Scrap Iron’s RAH accessory was a fairly simple missile launcher system. It held two missiles and rested on a stand.

The AAD is far more complex and deadlier.  It comes up to about Scrap Iron’s thigh height wise and about as wide as three figures. It’s obvious the Classified Series team had a ton of fun engineering the drone. The main body has three slots, which I assume are vent ports for the missiles.

As a weapons designer for Destro, the MARS logo is prominently painted on both sides as Anti-Tank 002. There’s so many elements to the design with buttons, towers, panels and even brake lights. It’s such a fun setup. Hasbro didn’t skimp on the paintwork either as there is an impressive amount of paint applications throughout.

The AAD has a wild amount of articulation. The main body rotates 360 degrees and the “legs” can flare out and move up and down. This almost provides a sense of the drone walking. That’s pretty fun.

One aspect of the AAD that’s sorta disappointing is the lack of wheels. The treads on the “legs” have a cool quasi-rubber feel to them. Moveable treads probably would have jacked up the price, but some wheels would have allowed it to roll to simulate that effect.

Additionally, the AAD comes with a pair of sidewinder laser-guided missiles. The printing on the missiles is superb capturing that sticker style formatting. To add even more fun, there’s two missile trail blast effects to plug into the missiles. They’re translucent with a red-orange and more opaque white smoke trail. An even cooler aspect is one trail is longer than the other to show Scrap Iron savoring blasting away at a target.

Finally, there’s four standing blast effects. Two swirling upright pieces with the same orange red translucent elements and a smaller opaque base.

The other two are opaquer with some faint areas with the orange red sections. This really helps to enhance the deluxe aspect of the AAD.

Worth It?  Classified Series rarely feel like a bad value. Scrap Iron was $44.99. While the AAD has unique sculpting and some fantastic blast effects that can be used with other figures and vehicles it cost less than another figure. That’s a nice bonus. Target had this on clearance so I got this incredible set for $26. Hard to knock the value here even if I just wanted to count the AAD as a $2 bonus.

Rating:  10 out of 10

Scrap-Iron is a figure I didn’t think needed a deluxe presentation, but the Classified Series team clearly knows what they’re doing. This is a high price point sku, but will worth it.

Where to Get It?  You might still be able to find Scrap-Iron at retail or you can get him from Amazon or Entertainment Earth.

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