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Hasbro- GI Joe- Sigma Six: Zartan
Ok, you should know the song and dance with Sigma Six at this point, but I will reiterate: I love Sigma 6, I feel that it was before its time and I feel that it should have never been cancelled. Zartan was one of those characters from my youth that carried a lot of favor with my brother and I. Consider this: He had a mysterious backstory, he was a master of disguise and he was the leader of the coolest group of mercenaries: the Dreadnoks. Looking back I don’t recall his role in the short lived Sigma Six show, but he certainly played a big part in the original Sunbow cartoon and both of (ill fated) live action movies.
Its unclear as to where the GI Joe franchise is heading, as at the time of this review the new Snake Eye movie was pushed back on the schedule. I for one would love a new cartoon series or movie that is geared to a more mature audience; think DC Direct movies, but with GI Joe, Cobra and THE DREADNOKS. Hell, I’d love a who series that focused on Zartan and the crew just dealing with Cobra and messing with GI Joe. It would be like Sons of Anarchy but in the world of GI Joe!
Pros: Zartan has a great stylized sculpt that I love about the Sigma 6 line, but still manages to capture the classic look that older collectors might be farminalre with. He comes with a good amount of homemade/custom weapons and accessories that would seem reasonable for a mercenary like Zartan to have at his disposal and a good amount of articulation to allow for a number of different poses.
Cons: While I was excited to finally crack open Zartan after all these years I could not help but be a bit disappointed and it’s tough to figure out why. Overall I think it could be partially due to how cumbersome his weapons are and how they negatively affect his poseability. For instance, what is with that three point rope dagger thing? Sure it looks cool, but doesn’t fit in his hand very well and can’t do much else with it. I suppose my final overall feeling on a figure usually comes down to if I can get one of two decent poses out of a figure when I’m taking pictures and unfortunately I just couldn’t do it with Zartan; not in the way that I would have liked anyways. Ah well, can't all be perfect I guess.
