G.I. Joe Classified Series Darklon review No. 155 (2025)

Darklon arrived too late in the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line to get immortalized in the cartoon series. On the plus side, he was spared from being part of the largely mediocre DIC cartoon shows. He was prominently featured in the Larry Hama-written GI Joe comics as well as the new Energon Universe Destro series.

Darklon is a distant cousin of Destro and in lieu of an Iron Grenadiers Destro, the Classified Series Darklon is going to be my IG leader. Now I’ve got an excuse to army build more of the IG BATs.

I’ve always found Darklon to have a really unique look and one that stands apart from even some of the more interesting villains in the RAH line. With his CS version, he gets an aesthetic upgrade, but is it enough now to be a standout? Let’s see if Darklon gets a figure worthy to lead the IGs or if he manages to evade high praise with a lackluster release.

Packaging: Darklon gets the standard packaging setup with an Iron Grenadier logo over the Cobra snake, which ironically is the more common branding throughout instead of the IG logo.

I really dig the artwork, which provides a clean look at his mask. He’s No. 155 in the line. Over on the back, Darklon is rallying the Iron Grenadier and IG BATs into action as they’re lined up in front of a castle. The right side features the QR Code to nowhere and his skill stats.

His skill set rankings are 3 in leader and black-market deals and 2s in heavy weapons and weapons development.

Likeness: Darklon gets a tremendous update from his RAH figure. It all starts with his sinister helmet. This seems somewhat inspired by a Stormtrooper design with the grated mouthpiece section and the recessed eye slots. Interestingly some of the other design elements like the vents along the side and angled fins seemed to inspire the look for the prequel Clone Trooper helmets.

Darklon’s shirt looked like a quilted sweater. The CS version lacks that pattern although it does look like he has a more stylish athletic top. Besides the sweater top, the rest of Darklon’s outfit was faithfully captured with this update. He’s got the shelled shoulder pad on his right shoulder. The floating strap and pouch set up from the RAH version has been tweaked to have a connecting lower half that connects to the pouch and wraps around his torso. I like the added element of the ribbed material in the middle of the strap as well.

Instead of doing two small strips around his waist, Darklon now has a belt with some pouches and a buckle section reminiscent of the RAH belt design. He’s got a small gauntlet on his left arm and a bracelet on his right arm. He still has a codpiece with the same ribbed material. His legs mirror the RAH aesthetic with a larger pouch on the front leading to a ribbed section below on his right leg with a higher ribbed thigh pad on the left leg. Both lead into kneepads with slotted panels.

Darklon has a boot bandolier of grenades around his right shin. His left leg has a sheath on the side of his left boot.

Scale: Darklon is usually portrayed around the same height as Destro, but he can get a little extra height compared to other characters thanks to his helmet.

MORE:

• The Fantastic Four First Steps review (2025)
• Star Wars The Black Series Ki-Adi Mundi review (No. 4) Attack of the Clones
• The Old Guard 2 review (2025)
• Speed Racer 0 review – Mad Cave Studios Free Comic Book Day Special

Paint: Darklon has an interesting color scheme with a combination of forest green, black, burnt orange and orange yellow and a little bit of gold and silver. He has a lot going on.

As wild as the colors are, they’re applied cleanly right down to the tiger stripes along his shirt. The orange paneling is cleanly applied save for a stray mark on the chest strap. The RAH colors were actually wilder so the CS team’s decision to mute the pants — opting for the burnt orange over red and painting the boots black — make him look more formidable.

His helmet’s eye slots are pretty interesting as it looks like Darklon is reptilian with seemingly green skin and red eyes with yellow iris. This is very well executed and adds another menacing element to him.

Articulation: Darklon features the usual high-quality articulation that’s the norm with the Classified Series line. His joints are thankfully firm so he’s not going to be a shelf domino destroying my elaborate setup with the IG army. His hips don’t always balance out properly giving him a bit of a lean to one side, but it’s not a huge issue.

As a relative of Destro’s clan, he should be a formidable fighter. While I envision Destro as more of a calculating, graceful combatant, Darklon seems more fun as the brash, aggressive fighter who will wildly swing his sword in search of that devastating blow instead of winning a prolonged, strategic duel.

That plays into his overall main weapon as well. To that end, Darklon seems more like the Patroclus to Destro’s Achilles. His figure can hit fun sword slashes or wide base stances as he fires his cannon blaster.

Darklon 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: In the RAH line, Darklon had his own vehicle — The Evader — but Hasbro gave him enough firepower that he’s perfectly suited to be on the frontlines of battle as well.

He’s got what looks like a magnum pistol. It’s smaller although it looks like it packs a serious punch.

Darklon also has a dagger with a nicely detailed hilt and sizable blade. For distance melee battles, he has a broadsword with an impressively sculpted blade, ornate hilt and handle. I really like the red gem at the base as it seems like a nod to Destro, whose necklace gem is the same shade of red.

It has a sheath that fits onto his back. It has a surprising amount of detail as well with the stitching, silver plate detailing and paintwork.

His final weapon is his massive needle gun, which looks wild and accurate to the old RAH design.

Finally, he gets a new inclusion — an alternate mask. This one is little odd with a heavy metal influence complete big fangs on either side and with the tongue hanging out and black “face paint” with red eyes. This sculpt feels more in line of what I’d imagine we’d see with a one-off Dreadnok BAT but it doesn’t fit Darklon much at all to me, so I doubt I’ll ever put it on him after this review.

Worth It? Darklon is the usual $24.99 price point. Like every CS figure the value is never a question as the team makes sure to pack as much possible to give you plenty of bang for your buck.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Darklon is another winner for the Classified Series line. He’s got a great look and makes for a great addition to the display.

Where to Get It?  Darklon is easy to grab online at Hasbro Pulse or my affiliate Amazon.

As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.