Firefly

This is one of my favorite customs, and in my opinion is on a par with Pythona.

I'm sure most of us know that the original plans for Tiger Force back in 1988 were somewhat different than what actually hit the stores. One of the distinct differences was this character -- a Firefly repaint who would've been part of the Joe Team and given the code-name of Sabre Tooth. This character, unfortunately, never materialized.

When Hasbro gave us the Tiger Force 5-pack in 2003, one of the Toys "R" Us sets, there was a character in that set who bore a very strong resemblance to Sabre Tooth in that it was a recolored Firefly, and the color scheme was similar, but not exactly like, the planned color scheme for the original figure, as he had been shown in the photographs of the original Tiger Force proposal. I have sometimes wondered if the moderate color changes were for the benefit of people like me, who had long since customized their own Sabre Tooths.

The character was also named Wreckage, a name brought over from the G.I.Joe Extreme concept. I suspect that was to keep a certain notoriously ill-tempered Marvel mutant happy -- and his lawyers.

Whatever the case, well before Wreckage came along, I repainted a Firefly into Sabre Tooth. This was a relatively easy custom in the sense that it was a straight repaint. I didn't have to mix and match parts, or modify anything. I also didn't have to use my imagination all that much, since the design for Sabre Tooth already existed. It had just never been turned into a figure.

It was a tricky custom, though, from the standpoint of having to match that design. When I'm coming up with a character on my own, I can make him look however I please. In this case, though, I wanted to get him as close to the original design as possible. And I believe in this case I succeeded very well. I've always been very pleased with this figure.

As to his background, who knows? Does Wreckage's file card have details that would have applied to Sabre Tooth? I really don't know. One does sort of wonder if there's any connection to Firefly, and specifically what position Sabre Tooth, an entirely new character, would have served on Tiger Force. But whatever the case, I'm glad I was able to make him part of my Tiger Force team! I hope you like him.