GI Joe Club Membership Figure: Rock n Roll

It's been a great week or so for new figures from the Club! The last figures from FSS 6.0 have arrived and now, this year's membership figure has arrived in mailboxes as well! The Club had already revealed that Rock n Roll, based on version 2, would be this year's membership figure. Last one? I believe so.

There's been a few comments across the fandom regarding this figure. The original announcement from last year's JoeCon referred to RnR being based on the version 2 figure. As usual, there was plenty of butt-hurt regarding the initial design. I didn't see any problem with the design as it first appeared. As the design turned into an actual painted sample, RnR looked even better.

 

It looks like the Club used the entire body from the PoC Dusty figure. It's a good design and works well with RnR. The torso was also used with the Renegades Cobra Trooper.

The gear load out from the Club is decent enough. Interesting choices. I'm glad that the Club was able to reuse the original mini-gun from the v2 RnR. Oh, the butt hurt that arose since he didn't come with two of the guns. There's an issue with the choice of accessories that complement the gun. The peg on the backpack is a bit too long and needs to be trimmed. The ammo belt fits into the backpack but doesn't fit onto the gun.

Since the modern era figures first showed up, I've wanted to update Rock n Roll, especially with the weapon system of version 2. Rock n Roll only came out as a part of the initial 25th anniversary figures and was a remake of his version 1 figure. There's been a concept figure from Hasbro that was showcased a few years ago. Back when version 2 of Rock n Roll first appeared, I bought a total of three of them, so I was well stocked on his weapon system in order to update it for modern figures.

The first step for this project was to paint the vest from a Renegades Cobra Trooper. I had an extra carded figure, so I freed him from his plastic bubble prison. 

The next step was to figure out how to attach the backpack to the vest. I had already trimmed off the peg in earlier attempts to adapt it for modern gear. I finally came up with a pretty easy solution. I drilled a hole into the remains of the backpack and inserted a screw in through the hole in the vest to attach to the backpack. A gentle, slow speed was needed for the drill.

The result turned out nicely. I can easily load up the gear onto this new RnR. The only real problem with this gear, like with the poriginal figure, is that he really can't hold it very well. The stocks on the guns are a bit too short to fit under his arms and keep the guns straight.

Plus the swivel wrists don't help much either. I think that one possible solution would be to use a couple of those tiny rubber bands looped into the ends of the stocks of each gun and then loop them around his upper arms.

I'm pleased with how the vintage weapon system is progressing and I'm pleased with how Rock n Roll turned out.