GI Joe Classified Series Blowtorch review No. 154 (2025)
Blowtorch helped to usher in a more dynamic style of GI Joe when he was introduced as part of the 1984 wave. Hasbro started getting away from the military green colors and designed outfits with brighter colors. I’ve always thought Blowtorch had a cool specialty — his gun shot fire — which ironically took Captain America: The First Avenger to show how deadly that could be in a firefight. For both those caught in the flame’s path and the flamethrower.
Blowtorch wasn’t a regular in the comic book after his initial outing hanging with Ripcord and Spirit. In the cartoon he also was largely neglected. At least he had a memorable moment with Doc in the Revenge of Cobra mini-series.
Let’s see if Blowtorch lights me up or if I’ll regret not wearing my asbestos underwear.
Packaging: Blowtorch is in the standard size packaging with the usual setup. The front window shows off most of his accessories, but I really wish the window cut was wider to make it easier to make sure everything was intact.
As usual, we get the stats on one side with the QR Code to nowhere and an exciting action shot of Blowtorch bringing the heat. On the back, he’s covering Hawk who’s crossing a ravine in The Bridgelayer.
His skill set rankings are 4 in flamethrower, a 3 in vanguard and 2 stars in siege craft and urban combat.
Likeness: Blowtorch has a cool outfit that benefits from the Classified Series upgrade. All of the original Real American Hero elements are intact just with better detail and sculpting. He’s got a calm stoic expression complete with the cleft chin like the vintage figure. The hairstyle is also very similar in a nice touch.
Blowtorch is rocking a popped collar with a hint of a white T-shirt underneath. His outfit features fire retardant padding — the silver circles with smaller vents in each one — throughout his chest, arm and leg protection gear. That gear also has some solid detailing with paneling to give it a more reinforced look.
Like his original figure, Blowtorch has a rebreather with more intricate sculpting including a dial and numerous buttons. There’s a hole in the left section for the mask. In lieu of the smaller skirt piece, he gets two belts with one hanging askew to the right side to reinforce the holster.
His original figure seemed to sport some type of knee padding, which the CS team doubled down on with separate knee pads. Blowtorch also has reinforced gloves with extra lining and numbs on the knuckles.
The upgrade to the original look help make Blowtorch look more formidable and ready for all kinds of action.
Scale: Blowtorch was portrayed as a regular height guy in both the comics and cartoon. He’s a little taller than guys like Ripcord and Spirit, which I can attribute to his protective gear. He will still definitely be looking up at Roadblock.
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Paint: Blowtorch’s original figure had a very bright yellow and red outfit. The McDonald’s colors helped make him more appealing when I was a kid even if it doesn’t make sense from an adult lens.
The CS team opted to tone the colors down with a muted yellow and red. This more reserved color palette fits in with other brightly attired Joes like Airborne whose colors were toned down. It actually makes for a better fit for Blowtorch as his colors are closer to a fire than a Happy Meal.
He’s got smaller detailed paint apps like the white T-shirt, the silver on the fire retardants, belt buckles and collar zipper and buckles that are sharply done. There’s some black to break up the ruby red and maize. It’s not too obtrusive with the buckles on the chest piece, rebreather, gloves, belts and kneepad.
Articulation: As a flamethrower, Blowtorch doesn’t need to strike dramatic crouching poses. His basic battle stance is helping to lead the initial charge.
Fortunately, he’s able to hold the flamethrower with both hands, which is the only perquisite for him.
Between the oxygen mask hose, the helmet and flamethrower connections, he’s not going to be able to hit many looking up and down poses with his full gear set up. I wonder if a separate head sculpt with all of the gear securely in place could have aided with the articulation?
Blowtorch 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: Blowtorch has more gear than you might expect, but it’s all in service in making sure he’s the one spitting the hottest fire.
Like the original figure he’s got various elements to his helmet/mask setup. He’s got the base Classified Series helmet just painted maize with black accents. Despite the thin line, the paint apps are sharp. His oxygen mask continues the black aspect of the attire with the tube fitting into the rebreather.
He also has a pistol, cast in green plastic like the RAH version. This is removable now and allows Blowtorch to handle situations where he can’t reach his torch. It slides into the holster on his right hip.
He’s also got a fuel tank backpack setup. The tanks are a retro brighter canary yellow in a nod to the old school look.
Finally, he’s got his blowtorch. It’s a decent size and wholly unique from the one used with Dreadnok Torch. It looks more like a gun with the ignition trigger and silver ignitor section.
Blowtorch gets the same flame effects used with Torch with the small spark, the medium and longer size trails. These are very welcome accessories for him.
Worth It? Blowtorch is the standard $25 price. He’s got enough gear and accessories that it hardly seems like a bad value.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Blowtorch is an excellent figure in the CS line. All of the intricate details and color scheme help to make him stand out but still work with the other Joes.
Where to Get It? Blowtorch is just starting to pop up at Target, but he’s easy to grab online at Hasbro Pulse or my affiliates Amazon or Entertainment Earth.
As an Amazon and Entertainment Earth affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.