2008 Hawk

By Past Nastification

Hawk is my favorite of the OG 13. But so is Stalker. And Scarlett… and Steeler, and Short-Fuze, and Grand Slam. It’s a good problem to have.

When the 25th Anniversary/modern era figures launched in 2007, Hawk was missing from the lineup. Sure, Hasbro rolled Duke towards kids and collectors, but the character most deserving of getting an early new format figure was the Joes’ original field commander, Hawk.

In 2008 Hasbro threw out a Hawk. Much to my delight, it was based on the ‘82/’83 Mobile Missile System Hawk, not the “dressed like Patton” ’86 version. It used the same body as the ’07 Snake-Eyes and Stalker figures, much like the character shared bodies back in ‘82/’83.

This is a good modernization of the original Hawk figure, with silver paint applications to match the original. The pictured figure is a silver webgear variant. Most of them had all-black webgear. The best aspect of this figure is its head sculpt. It has a Lee Marvin vibe to it, much like Herb Trimpe drew Hawk in the early Marvel run. The biggest change is the addition of gloves to the uniform, which look pretty good.

Like many modern era figures, it has more articulation but less ability to hold a weapon. The OG 13 helmet is re-created, but somewhat undersized. And the neck isn’t painted. An AR-style rifle would have been a better fit than the Snow Job laser rifle, but it works fair enough.

This is a figure that functions well as its own figure and as a tribute to an early ARAH figure.

12 comments

  • Silver web gear? You sure? I’ve only ever seen black web gear and there’s no mention of a variant on any Joe website…The one I have has black webbing.

    Are you sure the webbing wasn’t painted? Can anyone point out a site showing this variant if so?

  • The 25th Anniversary line was a mixed bagged imho. So many Dukes and all of them were terrible! Things seemed to get ironed out by the Pursuit of Cobra line.

  • As throwback figures go, this is actually pretty good. The chest hump is there, but the shoulders aren’t bad.

  • @kansasbrawler I know the original straight arm and swivel arm 1982/83 Hawk had silver paint apps to his webbing. I’m referring to the 25th comic pack version that was reviewed by Past Nastification. I didn’t think my initial response was about the ARAH version of the figure – or did you misinterpret what I wrote? I think I was being pretty clear… I know the prototype of this figure had silver webbing in Hasbro’s promotional photo of the set but did the actual release have silver webbing? I don’t think so, even yojoe.com and other Joe sites have never referenced a silver webbing comic pack 25th Hawk – only pure black webbing. I can only assume the silver webbing was painted by the owner…

  • Past Nastification

    Believe it or not, that’s how I found it when I bought it. Sealed in a package (the 2 pack w Scarlett) at retail at a Wal-Mart. At the time I took photos of it still packaged because I couldn’t find any mention of it anywhere. If I can find the old flip phone with the photo, I’ll post it. I also sent word to yojoe years ago, with not a word back. And it was the silver on the webgear that caught my eye in the store.

    I don’t think someone painted it, re-sealed the packaging, and returned it to the store. It’s not a custom, as best I can tell. The silver paint appears to match the other silver applications.

    Calling it a variant might be a bad choice of words, when it might be someone at the factory having messed up or getting bored. But, for what it’s worth, I’m not trying to pull a hoax or a joke.

    • Cool. 😊🤘We should assume the very first wave of this 2 pack had the extra silver paint apps on Hawks webbing, thus matching Hasbros promo photo for this set. Then they must have had a running change fairly soon to all black – it actually looks better all black. Cost cutting? Aesthetics? Who knows…and knowing is half the battle!

    • With all due respect, but I don’t think that you should have opened that package. That figure would have been much more valuable sealed, even right now in 2017, whether it was a first limited edition figure(just like the Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx purple cassette), or a mistake, or any other reason. You could have gotten that sealed package AFA graded, and then you could have sold it for a lot of money in the future. And also, if someone would have accused you of anything, all that you would have had to do was show them the figure in the sealed package. Anyway, I do believe that that silver web gear is definitely a variant, just like the red helmet that came with the 2009 Firefly figure that came with the Cobra Gunship(which is truly hideous). But, I could be wrong. By the way, you should send the Yojoe.com folks the photos. Maybe they’ll accept them.

  • It’s a great looking version of Hawk as a commando. I especially like the sternness and seriousness of the head sculpt.

  • I wish the figure had flesh coloured hands though…wonder if the v2 25th Hawk with brown jackets helmet would fit this head if you do a head swop?

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