FSS 5.0 - Salvo & Darklon

Wave 3 of FSS 5.0 is here! Wait, what happened to wave 2? Factory shipping error, so we got wave 3 early. Wave 2 will be in March.

This shipment turned out to be two great figures, Salvo and Darklon. By all appearances of the figures still packaged, they look great. Let's take a closer look at each figure to see how they stack up.

Salvo turned out to be the result of a unique situation with the Club and the fans. Initially, the Club was planning on using a smaller torso and collectors were a bit upset because of their preconceived notion that Salvo should be a must bigger guy. This idea came about because the original Salvo was a bit more broad chested and a little bulkier in the arms. Nearly all of the original o-ring Joes were the same height due to the basic design of the figures back in the 80's and 90'. The fandom did a good thing and suggested that the Club should try to use the Rock/Roadblock torso that allowed larger bulkier troops to join the team. Well done to all the collectors who politely took the issue to the Club and a great figure was the result.
Almost... There's something about those lower legs. 

I think the lower legs came from the GI Joe trooper from Retaliation. Maybe, I'm not sure. The Club, for whatever reason, didn't use the original lower legs that are a part of those upper legs. The end result is not good.

The legs are now a bit wonky and Salvo doesn't stand up too well. Some have suggested soaking the lower legs in hot water to straighten them out some. I tried that trick but it didn't work out too well. There's also something slightly visual off with the leg parts. The lower legs just seem proportionally shorter than how they should look when compared to the thighs.

I decided to try a possible solution. I had bought a couple of the Battle Kata Roadblock figures from the Retaliation waves and thought that I could see how bad off the color differences would be when I switched them out.

It's not a great situation, but at least Salvo can now stand. Perhaps one day, I'll dig out my paints and make his pants all one color. We'll see. As far as the accessories go, I'm pleased with what the Club provided. I would guess that the molds for the original Salvo's weapons are long gone and they would have been quite expensive to retool.

I had originally assumed that the Club would use Serpentor's bald head for Salvo. I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case. So who's head is it? The head sculpt comes from the Hit & Run figure. I don't know that I realized that H&R's head was actually bald with just painted on hair. With H&R's face being green with the unusual beard paint pattern, there's enough cosmetic differences that allows this head sculpt to work nicely for Salvo.

The Club did a great job on Salvo, at least from the knees up. I was hoping for a no issue figure from the Club with Salvo, but it doesn't seem to be that way. So damn close. So how did the Club do with Darklon?

Darklon is a crazy ass figure, either looking at the original o-ring figure, or the Club updates.
"Let's see... I'll start with a green shirt... red pants... and these orange boots as the final touch. Oh yeah, and my mother's gloves." Good lord, what a fashion nightmare. 
The craziness of the design, whether original or modern update, is what sells the character.

Visually, the Club hit a frikkin' home run with Darklon. He looks great! There are some issues with the build. The knees are single jointed and the gloves/hands are one piece without the additional wrist swivel. Ultimately, who cares? He's still a damn fine figure. I'm not crazy about the accessories, but that's not that big of a deal. I've got plenty of extra weapons for him to use.

Only after taking several pictures of Darklon did I realize that his sword belt had ridden up on his waist. Ugh. Whatever, just move on. The sword belt and should harness work quite well with Darklon where they didn't work so well well with the modern Iron Grenadiers.

I'm just thrilled with how Darklon turned out. I don't recall where those legs come from, but they work quite well for him.

The Club also perfectly captured Darklon's iconic mask based on the original figure.

So for this shipment of figures from the Club, I've got to say "Well done!" Despite Salvo's lower leg issues, I've got to say that the Club improved him so much from their original concept. Darklon turned out great, so I'm quite pleased with this wave. I'm looking forward to who's next to be shipped!