G.I. Joe Classified Series Raptor action figure review No. 139

Raptor gets a bad…rap for being a lame Cobra villain with a goofy specialty.

I never viewed him as a loser since my introduction to him was from his comic debut. Larry Hama didn’t make him lame at all and actually made him a very formidable threat to the Joes. Plus, he helped out the original Cobra Commander after he ended up on the wrong side of a power struggle against Serpentor.

For the Classified Series, Hasbro decided to lose any pretense of him being silly and gave him a far more threatening appearance. One that current GI Joe writer Joshua Williamson said catapulted him to the list of Cobras to add into the modern comic.

Luckily, I stumbled upon Raptor when he was getting a crazy discount price and decided now was time to land this bird to my collection. Let’s see if Raptor deserves to nest near the front of my Cobra 87 villains display or if he’s better off flying the coop.

Packaging: Raptor gets the slightly larger window as a deluxe solo figure.  The wider window allows for more of his accessories to be shown. On the right side is a very cool drawing of Raptor and his top falcon, General Ledger. This is a play on his role as an accountant, but we do have an Admiral Ledger in the GI Joe verse that I wouldn’t mind seeing made into figure form as well.

Over on the left side is the QR Code to nowhere and small stat break down. On the back, we get an action render of Raptor flying into battle with a trio of falcons circling and a pair of Trubble Bubbles in the background.

For his skill set, Raptor ranks a 4 in animal handler and 2s in science, hand-to-hand combat and black-market deals.

Likeness: While the Classified Series line has largely shifted from original designs with some nods to the Real American Hero inspirated to a straight-up 6″ translation of the RAH designs, Raptor is definitely more of the former.

Although his cowl is removable, it’s part of his costume so I won’t just mention that as just an optional accessory. It turned out really nicely with intense falcon eyes, the horned beak and layered feathers running down across the cowl’s mouth portion to frame his face. While the cowl looks great, it does have limitations since it can’t lock in place and limits Raptor’s ability to move his head up/down and left/right.

In lieu of a cape, Raptor wears a utility cropped vest with feathers providing additional padding for his wing rig. Again, the feathers are sculpted with an eye for a detailed, layered look. It’s not just a mass of vaguely shaped feathers with a few actually sculpted. The details are fantastic.

Just like the RAH figure, Raptor sports a domino mask, which really sets him apart from everyone else in the lore. That says something in a realm of ninjas, wrestlers and football players turned soldiers and guys with metal masks. The mask has some tech details at the top. Maybe a mechanism to release eye shields to protect from high winds?

Raptor wears a heart-shaped pendant and now I want to know the backstory to it. Naturally, he’s wearing falconry gloves with feathers peeking out from the tops much like the Real American Hero design. His belt buckle features a huge falcon. Raptor has a holster on his left leg and pouches strapped to either leg. Instead of having claws at the front of his boots, the talon pattern is sculpted on the top.

Scale: Raptor was drawn slightly taller than the average Cobra. He should be able to see the top of Battle Armored Cobra Commander’s helmet.

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Paint: Raptor has some intricate work with his paintjob starting with his black mask and the silver tips at the top. He’s got a chest tattoo that looks like it was painful as well as some tattoos on both arms. The work on the tats is nice and clean.

Hasbro did nice work with the vest feathers with a mix of tan, brown and black to add depth to them. His two-tone gloves allow the feathers to pop further. Raptor’s belt buckle has a dusty silver sheen to it. As usual the paintwork across the figure is extremely crisp.

Articulation: On his own, Raptor has the basic Classified Series articulation scheme capable of striking a variety of poses. The real fun with him is pulling off that articulation with his wing gear.

Soley for the sake of maintaining his bird motif when he’s not rocking the wings, I would have loved a soft goods cape as a nod to the original. For those moments when he can’t take to the skies.

The wing rig does not hinder his articulation and doesn’t make him aggressively top heavy, so he doesn’t fall over every few seconds.

Raptor has:

• head
• neck
• shoulders (butterfly)
• elbow (double-jointed)
• forearm
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• mid-torso
• torso
• waist
• hips (ball-jointed)
• drop down hips
• knees (double-jointed)
• ankles

Accessories: As a deluxe figure, Raptor gets a ton of gear.

First up is his weapon roll-out. He’s got a pair of claws that attach to his wrist. They aren’t aligned just right and don’t lay flush although to some degree they actually look like he’s holding the clips instead of them resting just right.

These add a bit more offensive firepower to him while he’s making quick slashing strikes.

On the more traditional front, he’s got a pistol with some silver accents. Additionally, he’s got a knife. The former fits in the holster while the knife fits in a loop.

Now for the big accessory — his C-M2 Daedalus Jet Wing Pack. The CS team made sure to consider shelf space with him as the wings can fold in to not make Raptor a display hog.

The wings have a wide range thanks to two separate hinges and swivels. With the silver tip blades, he definitely could cause some damage to Joe vehicles he dive bombs onto.

The detail on the wing pack is commendable with orange vents and various panels.

Finally, Raptor gets a lone falcon to accompany him.  General Ledger is still wearing its falconry hood suggesting Raptor is waiting to unleash him. Gen. Ledger can be plugged into the holes on either forearm gauntlet. The peg is actually super soft so it doesn’t plug in as firmly as I’d like.

Worth It? Raptor is $34.99, which is a solid price point for this figure with a complex mechanism similar to Heavy Duty and Metal-Head. I got him for $17, which was a killer price, but I don’t think there would be much buyer’s remorse at the retail price either.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Raptor really is a surprising figure as the Classified Series team came up with a fantastic redesign that makes a character who previously looked a tad goofy to be a

Where to Get It?  Raptor has largely flown the coop at retail, but you can still get him from Amazon.

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