HCC788 - 1986 HAWK - G.I. Joe Commander - vintage G.I. Joe toy review!

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[@DasNordlicht91]

There's just something aesthetically pleasing about this design for the General. The brown bomber jacket and camo pants really brings this figure's appearance together.

[@TylerCharlesFisher]

Agreed.

[@DareDevilDave75]

I lost my entire childhood collection after Hurricane Katrina. I stumbled upon your videos about a year ago, and you are the reason I have the time to build my collection back up. Love your videos. They are insightful, thorough and occasionally pretty damn hilarious! Hope to see you at Joefest! Keep up the great work.

[@lo1bo2]

I liked Ed Gilbert's voice acting for General Hawk in the Sunbow cartoon. And you could tell he was older than the rest of the team. The 1986 toy version is definitely his best.

[@G7M9W]

This figure was my first introduction to Hawk. I didn't even know the comics existed at the time, but had watched the cartoon a lot. Because of that and my brother's Duke figure, we thought Duke was the "leader" of G.I. Joe. On one random visit to KB Toys, we saw Hawk on the peg and were surprised to learn there was another Skywalk... G.I. Joe commander. When we said we "thought Duke was the commander" I recall, without looking at the file card, my dad informed us that Hawk was the "original commander." At the time, it was simply a "Wow, ok thanks, Dad" moment. Years later, probably prompted by reading the wording on the card, I had a "Hey, wait a minute! How did he know that?" moment. Seems like, while it was our first sighting of Hawk, our dad must have come across the character while doing some previous shopping without us and read the card. Ah, parents. So sneaky. This is easily my go-to, display version of Hawk. It's distinct, unlike v1/1.5 and doesn't suffer any of the issues later versions had (although I will say v3 -- the first Hawk I owned -- is a good, underrated figure even with the pre-Buzz Lightyear gear.)

[@ianbrewster8934]

This is one of my favorite GI JOE action figures...he along with The Criminal Guard, Hooded Cobra Commander, Stalker, Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow and Beach Head were my favorites.... Loved that they brought him back as a kid and made him a General....

[@ComicTropes]

Excellent figure overall. I agree that Hawk was pretty manipulative in the vintage comics. In the IDW run he gets to be better because he becomes more of a behind the scenes commander, pushing back against the jugglers. Duke becomes the main leader and gets fleshed out a lot more than he ever was in the Marvel comics.

[@jrcarter9175]

Yeah, I don't think Larry Hama was a big fan of Duke.

[@humble1ne]

As a kid, I liked Gen. Hawk and enjoyed Sunbow's depiction of him. As a grown man, I like this fig even more. His bomber jacket reminds me of my Dad's and his sculpt is leaps and bounds ahead of the OG fig. Great review of a cool character!

[@BrianB77]

Great review of an iconic figure. It's great seeing these reviews on your channel again.

[@campbellruleV1kiwiGI]

I’m have always put my Hawks with blonde hair. And they look great

[@autoneurotic]

This is the first GI Joe I ever remember having and I believe might be my first favorite action figure with perhaps the exception of He-Man (I was young so it's hard to say). What I can say is that for me, this is in the top 5 GI Joes ever produced and is a front runner for the best of them all.

[@Plasticmercenary]

One of my all time favorites. Even more so nowadays since my son is a West Point cadet. Go Army! Beat Navy!

[@SamGray]

Nice! I just got a loose Hawk in the mail and his stars are still gold.

[@christianhafer9819]

Best version of Hawk by a long shot. Excellent figure.

[@lesteralvarez903]

Excellent review Commander. Love the details. Thank you and always look forward to all your reviews and wise back grounds.

[@noz48a2]

1991 General Hawk is like the Warhammer Emperor in gold power armor. I want to see that in Classified vs Imposter Cobra Commander

[@Thor13332]

Still have mine from childhood. His gold has faded and his pistol grip is worn but he is complete.

[@SoundwaveNL1977]

I always liked this figure. Even though the helmet could have been better. Thanks for making this super indept review. Your reviews are the best for a reason😉👍

[@collegerebel]

1986 Hawk is *easily* the best-looking one.

[@seymourclarity8702]

Great video... depending on how you look at it... Jokes aside, always happy to receive a HCC 788 video 🙃

[@stephenchaiser5082]

Love the updated review. Now let’s see Hardball get a review please!

[@kevingallagher188]

I enjoy the detail that you included in this review. I got a good idea of who he is and the various other versions of the figure. I hope they try to duplicate the look of the second version for classified.

[@Flassh81]

Despite the MANY, MANY figures my brother and I owned, we NEVER had Duke. So when Hawk came out, we felt like we finally had a leader figure to go toe to toe with CoCo or Serpentor.

[@ARCWuLF]

1982 Hawk was a huge fan of David Bowie, and frequently bleached blonde his brown hair (but still had his brown eyebrows). By the time he was made brigadier general he had just given up on maintaining it and let his brown hair grow in. THIS IS CANNON (this is not actually cannon). As a kid I never even realized that the two figures were supposed to be the same character, but then again I didn't have access to the comics until much later. I always just associated V1 Hawk with the comics and V2 Hawk with the animated series.

[@GeoffreyToday]

Hawk suffers from a condition commonly referred to as "Kirk hair". Young captain Kirk had straight blond hair. Older Admiral Kirk had brown wavy/curly hair. It's a common affliction in leadership positions :p

[@Cincinnatijames]

One of my favorite Hawk moments is in #6. Hawk is shown "betraying" the GIJoe team by ratting their position to Cobra but the whole mission turned out to be a rouse in #7 as the real mcguffin had been smuggled out and the Joe team was a diversion.

[@wraith6776]

Ripcord wanted to infiltrate Cobra Island to find out what happened to Bongo the Balloon Bear.. Hawk put him in the Skystriker to allow him to do so.

[@WWJD85]

You know what've made an interesting story. Cobra kidnaps Hawk and replaces him with a look a like to undermine the Joe Team. The twist of story is the look like wasn't evil, the lookalike was forcibly brainwashed by the brainwave scanner to do evil, but overtime managed to shake off the effects and redeem himself by saving Hawk. In the end the look a like becomes Duke, with a large scar on his face to tell apart from Hawk and becomes a really insane version of the Punisher who kills Cobras for ruining his life. Cobra's fear him, while the Joe's don't trust him and/or wary of him.

[@johnsoehnlen4781]

I agree with you that there are 6 versions of Hawk. This is an awesome figure that I hope to find someday for my collection.

[@flex_007]

Enjoyed this indepth video on hawk. Yo Joe!!!

[@tycondrius23]

I could sworn Hawk also appeared in that flight suit get up on the DIC animation show too ?

[@therealaaroncollins6486]

Hey, Brother HCC you forgot to include Sgt Slaughter. He's was also in the GI Joe chain of command.

[@WWJD85]

Hawk's best episode in the Sunbow series is Sinking the USS Montana.

[@joseedmundoayala8586]

Buenisimooooo!!! Fantastic Video HCC!!!

[@caavoom]

I read the comics, watched the cartoons and the blonde to brown hair change drove me crazy.

[@ljcostanzo7516]

Nice video! Thanks HCC!

[@yojoe2059]

Great review!👍

[@STRAKAZulu]

Hawk: the embodiment of “A Certain Point of View “

[@STRAKAZulu]

As for his pistol, that’s a 1911-A1

[@user-si9fx4xb6v]

@@STRAKAZulu Indeed it is, I noticed that when I got a new Hawk version 2 for my collection years ago.

[@lthunter8329]

Great review! Thanks!

[@glennb33]

Yes! My favorite figure of all time.

[@belldn3]

Questionable authority figures on the good side.............. I like it.

[@bryedtan]

Regardless this the General Hawk look I associate as the one true leader of G.I. Joe. The look shows him as a Leader who will lead his men in te heat of battle.

[@marcbrunson6986]

Some of the version of different Joe figures were confusing if you looked at them from a promotion aspect. Take Hawk, when it came to Star Brigade, it was like a demotion for him ha ha. For my small Star Brigade collection, I have the 1991 version in it for a regular looking space suit for Hawk. You can only display his armor tech version so much ha ha.

[@yinzertoyguy3678]

I hope when Classified does Hawk that they make this version but include either interchangeable heads or hair to reflect the blonde/ brown hair difference.

[@jeanvonestling7408]

I first saw Hawk in DiC cartoon - black hair, cap and sunglasses. and I got the talking commanders figure. Then I bought comic and... what the hell? Why is he blond? Then I saw sunbow cartoon - ok, dark haired again? It was bcause where I live various parts of the franchise were distributed in the way that they did not match each other with the timeline - toys were maybe one year late after US, but we got comics from the 80s. And DiC cartoon was on VHS before sunbow. And I'm quite sure that the jetpack version was available after the talking commander.

[@cobraisland2594]

I like this version better than V1 because V2 looks more like he is in command I feel the same about V1 that I didn't know he was the leader

[@jamiesands3331]

great action figure, as was the sonic fighter (if you took time to remove the backpack)

[@shaider1982]

14:59. I imagine, for training purposes, they are all considered rankless. He might be a Sgt. Major, a very experienced NCO, so he can have the respect

[@joemartin5669]

I often jokingly say the reason many of the characters came back with different hair colors like Hawk did is because MS.Clairol apparently had a major defense contract;)

[@ryanjacobson2508]

I always thought it was a little bit weird that three of the early figures had blond hair. Granted I have blond hair myself but it was a bit much to have that many characters with blond hair. I guess by 1986 they figured that only Duke and rock and roll should be blond.

[@k-dawgbroadcasting5444]

I brought Hawk down from the Pentagon to make him an a-hole to the team. Duke was always my leader, and he got the girl too. That said, you missed the fact he was a buffoon in the original series too. Remember his turn in the Admiral Lattimer episode? Oh, and during the GI Joe/Transformers crossover he had a bit of an affair with a lady....

[@georgenoriegajr]

5:40 looks more like a Browning Hi-Power or an M1911A1

[@batandjoefan8108]

As a comic guy first Hawk was always my choice for the leadership of Gi Joe. Duke just struck me as a an unimaginative character and I never developed the affinity for him that most fans have.

[@ryanjacobson2508]

I don't think a lot of people got over the derpy head sculpt of the '83 figure.

[@wayigotitfigured9800]

The pistol is an M1911A1. Your analysis of Hawk in the comic almost seems like you skimmed the comics and didn't read them. Hawk lived up to his file card plenty of times, but there was only that very early issue where he lied to the Joes (and that seemed like a plot they were working on but abandoned). I suppose you could think of it as "cynical" at a very high level, but Larry Hama never addressed the character that way. In issue 18 he got shot in the back by Cobra Commander because he was literally leading from the front. In the issue where he got his new uniform he went to Cobra Island to rescue Snake Eyes. When asked why his answer was "because he would do it for me." Hawk followed his orders not to rescue Stalker, Snow Job and Quick Kick from Borovia, but when Snake Eyes and Scarlett went against orders and did it, instead of turning them over he had Psyche Out medically clear them of any wrongdoing. Destro rescued Hawk after the Jugglers threw the Joe team under the bus because along with Hollingsworth he had "honor." Note that all his filecards and the comics were written by Larry Hama. Why would he write one differently than the other over the span of years they were making Hawk figures? To say I vehemently disagree with your character analysis is an understatement, but we defintiely agree he's a great action figure. You've also given me the idea for an upcoming video.

[@user-si9fx4xb6v]

I agree, right from the first issue of the Marvel comic book series, Hawk always treated the G.I. Joe team with the respect they deserved. When the team was placed on suspension following the Invasion of Springfield, Hawk willingly put his own Army career in great jeopardy to prove the team's innocence in any wrongdoing.

[@PrivateAccountXSG]

I like your shirt!

[@brian4984]

"the 90s still had to make it weird." They suuuure did. LOL.

[@christopherlacher3544]

Actually a drill instructor does outrank a commissioned officer during training. Watch an Officer and a Gentleman for best reference

[@3Storms]

Look at the original Hawk's eyebrows. They're brown. That means he was bleaching to be blonde to try to be stylish, and was a brunette all along.

[@shaggybear8716]

The "PPK" kind of resembles a Browning High Power

[@joshua2814]

He was imprisoned with grenades on and he still needed a kid to rescue him? On a side note, my hair naturally went from blonde to brown … of course this happened a lot earlier in my life than Hawk’s.

[@thetoycave82]

Young Hawk bleached his hair. When he became a General he stopped so people would take him seriously.

[@christingey5281]

It's Gunhaver!

[@TerryTurner]

😎👍

[@nickfrancis]

Nice video brother, can you redo Law & Order?🙏🏾👍🏽

[@joeblaster8770]

18:33 I think that Hawk is more defensible on the grounds that he is fighting an uphill battle against a neo fascist terror group that has supporters in the government. He has to play the game to win but he hates that he has to.

[@lazarotamez647]

pistol kinda looks Springfield 1911 45 caliber

[@eduardogregorin8122]

Well, lying and manipulating are tools every officer above captain will do. The truth is that from major upwards, it is a highly political position and any general officer NECESSARILY needs to play this kind of game well. I really like the character a lot and understand a lot of his attitudes. Great review.

[@asm42]

One of my favorite figures shortlived, I lost him in tall grass and to the lawn mower. A terrible fate, good news though, his camouflage was perfect.

[@kilroywashere513]

There is a figure of hawk from one that has a comic book that he appeared in with general hawk’s blond hair, and it came with a remold of version 2 figure with blond hair, and I don’t know if you knew that, or you forgot💁🏻‍♂.

[@ServantRules]

The comic Hawk was more of the big picture military strategist. Unfortunately, that means straddling the gray area of ethics. He'd make political and military decisions for the greater good, even if that means sending troops to the grinder. Is he a good guy? Yes, but one that has the burden of command, including the dirt that comes with it.

[@Shockwave-ob2tx]

When I got this figure as a kid, I repainted his hair to blonde

[@MikeRachael-dx9ps]

i perfer duke over haw

[@MopBucket1014]

I cannibalized a bunch of extra joes and put Bazookas legs with Hawks jacket and Deep Six V2 head