One & Done - LONG ARM

"I'm always the first one into a firefight, but I wouldn't have it any other way."  - Long Arm, 1993.

FIRST STRIKE SPECIALIST - LONG ARM

    Released in 1993, Long Arm is G.I. Joe’s First Strike Specialist.  He is typically the first one into a situation - kicking down the door, charging in and finding out how bad it truly is.  Once he is in, he then has to dodge enemy fire from the front, as well as potential friendly fire from his teammates coming from behind.  Long Arm’s best defense in these conflicts are his speed and his “blast resistant” suit.

    Long Arm, along with Law (v3), Mace and Muskrat (v3), was originally to be included with the second wave of Drug Elimination Force (D.E.F.) figures.  While in some countries this is the case, in America, these figures were simply integrated into the standard G.I. Joe Battle Corps line.  Considering his original origin, I’m assuming the name Long Arm is in reference to “long arm of the law.”

    Long Arm’s figure is easily recognizable by his orange uniform.  It looks like a hazmat suit similar to the Eco-Warrior, Clean Sweep.  The file card specifically refers to it as a “blast resistant, first strike” battle suit.  On his head, he wears an orange helmet with a “shatter-proof” visor.  His chest has some minor gold details - a few grenades and what appears to be a small control panel.  The rest is rather plain - orange arms with black gloves, orange waist and orange legs with black boots.  Not much sculpted-on details, but plenty of orange!

    Most of his accessories came on the standard 90’s weapons-tree in red plastic.  He had his helmet, a missile launcher w/ attachable shield, a laser rifle (recycled from Sci-Fi, v2), a second rifle (Grunt, v3), a knife, two missiles and a figure stand.

    Unfortunately, I’m not a big fan of Long Arm.  The color and minor details are definitely key factors here.  But the uniform itself does not make much sense to me.  When he hits the battlefield, all enemy weapons are likely going his direction as he stands out like a sore thumb.  Instead of the First Strike Specialist, maybe he should be the Struck First Specialist???  The file card says the suit is “blast resistant”.  I’m assuming it means lasers, but by 1993 most Cobra figures were carrying missile launchers….  So…???

    Furthermore, his file card says the suit is climate controlled.  This is odd!  I can see the team getting ready to storm in a building somewhere… “Hold on guys, I got a feeling it's going to be hot in there!  Lemme goose up the A/C a bit first!”

    Finally, he is the guy kicking the door?  The first one in?  Isn’t this the same description we got on Shockwave?  And Shockwave was in the first series of D.E.F. figures…  So their need of a “door kicker” was already filled!

    I feel that another specialty could have easily improved the figure - like a firefighter.  Give him the appropriate accessories and it could have been an updated Barbecue?  As for Long Arm and his specialty though - ehhh… he's not terrible.  We have seen worse.  I would give him a rating of 2 our of 5 Scoops of Orange Sherbet.

    Long Arm is a new character in a long-running toyline and by 1993 we weren't getting many of those.  By then G.I. Joe was leaning heavier on reusing existing characters.  So for a new character to stand out, you need to bring a little more to the party!  I will say the concept is interesting, but they were a little off in execution.  

    One last thought…  Hasbro had another toyline called C.O.P.S. in the late 80’s.  The first wave of figures included characters named Bullet-Proof, Mace and Long Arm.  Strange they would re-use the names for their D.E.F. line a few years later...?

    Behind-the-scenes and other mumbo jumbo:

--- The brick wall behind Long Arm is actually a piece for a diorama I am working on... to display ANOTHER figure...

--- I have absolutely no recollection of getting this figure...???