Thursday, July 9, 2009

GI Joe General Colin Powell

At age 52, General Colin (pronounced "KOH-lin") Luther Powell became the youngest officer and the first, and so far the only, African American (actually Afro-Caribbean American) to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff as 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–1993). In 1989, he joined Dwight D Eisenhower and Alexander Haig as the third general since World War II to reach four-star rank without ever being a divisional commander. During this time, he oversaw 28 crises, including the invasion of Panama in 1989 to remove General Manuel Noriega from power and Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. [source: wiki]



Hasbro released this GI Joe 1/6 scale 12-inch General Colin L Powell "Historical Commanders Edition (Fourth in a series)" collectible figure in 1998 wearing the US Army green service uniform or "Class A's".



It came in the same style box as the previous three Generals





A closer look at Hasbro's GI Joe General Colin Powell. The collar could have been a lot smaller. Look at the size of those flaps!!





The collar is SO BIG it covered his Infantry Badge and ribbons - LOL!!



Also has Parachute Badge and Air Assault Badge



As well as Department of Defense Badge and Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge



Not forgetting his name tag, Presidential Seal and US Army Staff Identification Badge



And here he is in full uniform which also includes Garrison Cap with 4 stars, shirt, tie, pants, socks, shoes and dress uniform



He also has a Ranger tab worn on his left sleeve just below the 4 stars on his shoulders



Should have starched and iron the uniform first before taking this picture. Uniform looks terribly crumpled - SIGH. He wears the patch of the 23rd Infantry Division on his right sleeve













Also comes with 1/1 scale 23rd Infantry Division Patch, display base with US Flag and US Army Flag, similar to the other three Generals released (pictures HERE).

After General Colin Powell, I'd expected Hasbro to release a 1/6 scale 12-inch version of General H Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr (also known as "Stormin' Norman" and "The Bear") who, as Commander of US Central Command, was commander of the Coalition Forces in the Gulf War of 1991. [source: wiki] That would have been nice but sad to say, that didn't happen.

5 comments:

Tony said...

Wow, talk about the head sculpt being way off. This sculpt instead resembles Lee Marvin. Maybe you can use it for a Dirty Dozen bash Alex.

alex teo said...

You have good eyes Tony :) I much prefer the Dirty Dozen Lee Marvin released by Dragon in 2001 - see my post here

desmond said...

I like all those badges, very detailed!!

alex teo said...

me too ;p

Anonymous said...

This G.I. Joe Powell is one of the best head sculpts of their General's Series and is not commonly available in the Asian market.