HCC788 - 1989 DARKLON and the EVADER - Iron Grenadiers - Vintage G.I. Joe toy!

Title Card Art: Mastaczajnik
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Special Thanks to:
Geoff Adams, Sean Dowling, Jason Galligan, Droidwhisperer,
Jeff Mills (Biggypines), Ryan Wagner, James Swindell, Brian Zahn,
Byron Kellogg, Michael Johnson, Ben Penserga, Mike Smith,
Tyler Levens, Shaun Drefahl, Raz Holly, David Tejerina,
William J. Stelmack, Philip Hanks, Todd Humphrey, Kurt Kesler,
Martin Day, Venetian Snares, Magnus Lauglo, Mike Murdock,
Daryl Beck, Chris Piers, Brad Williams, Troy Smith,
Hector M. Martimez, Brandon Knight, David Fitchner,
Mark Taylor, John Logan, Judson Mabee, Donald Koehne, Brent McMillan,
Dennis Pederso, Abomb Justice of the Clan MacDonald, Hikaru,
C.S. "Chuckles" McKee, Chris Lucero, Ryan Little, Jason Malvuccio,
Jason Youngberg, Jeffrey Sharp, Gazz, steve, Bradley A. Good.
Robert Hawkins, dacca, the baron, Chris Mc.83, William Phillip,
Robert Bone, William Phillips, Lachlan McLeod, Joseph C. Melli
Sources and Information:
Darklon on YoJoe.com:
www.yojoe.com/...
Evader on YoJoe.com:
www.yojoe.com/...
Darklon on 3DJoes.com:
www.3djoes.com/...
Evader on 3DJoes.com:
www.3djoes.com/...
Darklon on Joepedia:
gijoe.wikia.com...
Darklon on Halfbattle.com:
www.halfbattle....
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero comic book
published by Marvel Comics
G.I. Joe Razorback commercial
Paintball Marker, Wikiland, Spyder VS2,
www.wikiwand.co...
Music:
Chipper, Big Rock, The Snow Queen
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons:
By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons...
Elephants by Huma-Huma
G. I. Joe is (c) Hasbro.
All copyrighted material is used for the purpose of
comment and criticism, which constitutes a fair use
of such material.
This video is (c) Bryan Lower.

[@unclejames6365]

I appreciated when Larry Hama (about four years ago) established that Darklon not only initiated and was the primary user of Python Patrol, but he created them because he is insanely paranoid about people coming after him and he is also wearing Python Patrol materials. Larry also established that the helmet is wired into his skull and full of sensory enhancements like infrared so he can't be ambushed, and of course that's why he also has a permanent gas mask.

[@MiKeMiDNiTe-77]

Watching this great review again 3 years later. How can anybody hate Darklon he's super cool

[@theloudamerican2193]

I got this for my birthday in 1989! My dog (meg) found in necessary to chew up the evader a mere week or so after.... you can imagine how happy I was to find the nearly unrecognizable remnants of the newest addition to my GI Joe collection scattered about our front yard. Ahhh, good memories.

[@dennismartin5821]

I had that when I was kid.I liked the Iron Grenadiers. I thought it was cool, that Darklon was Destro's cousin.

[@JakeR0d31]

Funny how Darklon was a Python Patrol supporter in comic books. Besides Nullifier being a concept Cobra La figure the Evader was actually a Cobra La vehicle concept called Insecticycle, but when Cobra La gimmick died a lot of planned figures and vehicles were changed up.

[@yeuaragorn9977]

when i wasa kid i used to think darcklon was a crocmaster's brother. I still like this figure ;)

[@kopisusu2000]

Woah, I had completely forgotten about Darklon. Thanks for the memory, and greetings from Indonesia.

[@googleownsyou8510]

The figures shown in this video was really cool as a kid. I Used it for so much more than GI joe. play.

[@gilborrego]

The closed captioned labels him as "Dark Lawn" so maybe this explains his backyard looking green color and grass blade camo. :)

[@affoster79]

I never cared much for the guy until I went to see the Dark Knight Rises. He makes a good Bane type character and I even have him speak in the Tom Hardy voice. Darklon appeared briefly in the A Real American Hero comic by IDW alive and well as Cobras new weapons dealer after Destro moved on to bigger better things. I distinctly remember his mask was part of his face and couldn't be removed.

[@cronocomics]

It seems they used six members of the Hasbro staff to design this figure, one for each limb, one for the torso and one for the head. Everything on its outfit looks random.

[@alectuddles5845]

There was a remold of this figure done for the Bronze Bombers back in the late 90's that was actually an improvement over this!

[@johnnahodil]

I like this figure vehicle combo ...just a really funky looking motor bike with weapons

[@violagreene4643]

The 1995 Olmec Toys "Bronze Bombers" set used various GI Joe molds, including Darklon. They used the body for two figures (one with a new, unmasked head). Both decos were MILES better than the actual Darklon.

[@calanon534]

I had him and I loved how crazy everything looked. I made him out to be just-this-side of insane (like a few others). The Evader was more of his personal transport that just happens to be able to take out a tank. His two Basic IG personal guards would use the Machine Guns as personal weapons. The missile launcher on top would use whatever missiles fit it - because he either stole them or was trying to sell them.

[@cryptomnesiac]

I liked the look of Darklon, but his coloring should have been different. Same goes for the rest of that weird line. Sticking with the original motif would have been great, especially for army building purposes. I remember as a kid thinking of him sort of in the same vein as Zartan; an semi-independent infiltrator/recon guy.

[@delvis7842]

Darklon vs Overlord vs Dodger! Thanks for sharing with us!

[@derekwilliams1660]

Holy cow,Hoody,I had this as a kid. He made a very badass villain.

[@toddimus]

I remember getting Darklon, just for the Evader.

[@yellowgut]

Darklawn will blend in perfectly at his next S&M convention. Great leather jock strap, and boots!! Possibly a Scottish knife with knuckle guard on his boot?

[@josiahalcorne7568]

I am not surprised Darklon was not a favorite. We didn't really get Darklon until a couple of years after release. Was a toy from lost and found from moms job. We were really done with Joe by that time. But would have enjoyed Darklon. Really saw Darklon as a cobra lab experiment super soldier like berserkers from Beastmaster movie. Wonderful job on review.

[@scockery]

Hasbro folks were inspired by pop culture. According to former Hasbro designer Ron Rudat, the character Big Boa was inspired by those Death Guards from Beastmaster.

[@jakeproven256]

Darklon was brought back in the IDW relaunch.

[@trtledave3079]

12:10 lost it with the jingle bell comment lol so true and never saw that until you mentioned it and now it's all I'll see

[@aliendoomsyndrome]

"... I'm not someone to put a mark on. You must have me confused with Darklon."

[@dkres82]

Damn you make me want to start collecting Joes again.

[@thomasfauvie1364]

Badass 80s villain I loved this toy

[@mgvillanmp478]

You think this one looks crazy you should see the update they gave this guy for the modern figures ....this was definitely after my collecting days and he does look kinda like Vader ..ahhaahahhaa....nice work as always my friend

[@ALIEN-DUDE]

He looks like a mad max villain, I kinda like it

[@crownofhorns4738]

He was like wrestler mixed with the Predator and Darth Vader. His gun was taken outve the movie Cyborg. His colors spoofed both Tiger Force and Python Patrol may because Destros company made both lol.

[@ianstewart6377]

I just discovered your channel about a month ago keep up the great work.

[@gusbelanger5817]

His rifle reminds me of Fender's air-gun from the late 80's Van-Damme movie called Cyborg.

[@madammo7786]

I remember Voltar but not much else about Darklon or these other Iron Grenadiers. Don't remember them that much.

[@BoRerunn]

This was awesome... Totally insane.....

[@CVLucero]

All very valid points, and I agree with you he looks silly AF. For whatever reason, this was still one of my favorites and one of the first sets I got when I started collecting again.

[@nathanbarger3449]

This was the very last g.i. Joe toy I bought as a boy

[@kyleolson8977]

Somebody pressed the random button on the GI Joe RPG character creation screen. Darklonia is next to Latveria and they are constantly at war. They buy a lot of weapons from Madripoor and Genosha.

[@dkres82]

I loved my Darklon and Evader but these are all very fair critiques. Still love him though.

[@rtd1409]

Yay Mrs. HCC and family cameos yay! Darklon's head reminds me of an Outer Limits character in an episode called "Nightmare" that was from another planet "Ebon" that attacks earth and they are the "Ebonites" who interrogate Martin Sheen and other astronauts from a shot down rocket from Earth. Now I am a Iron Grenadiers fan BIGTIME but felt the colors as with the other 1989 IG's veered too far from its more ceremonious and dignified roots. OK so a small sub-topic arises is the fact Hasbro umped a bunch of really good molds at the time they were recycling half of other figures and the Darklon mold was sold to a small company that marketed a line of figures called the Bronze Bombers and the crazy colors of Darklon were gone when they did him out as Crazeblaze in Black and Tan thats a figure I would like to get as hes more in the look of the IG I love and adore! There was also a comic called "Darklon the Mystic" who's head looked amazingly like Major Bludd as well.

[@psychoticbuzzsaw]

Great review. When I got back into collecting Gi Joe in the late 90s I pondered, thought, studied and prayed over what exactly was going on with Darklons design the only thing I came up with that made any sense being he was from the alps probably Italy was he had to be a huge fan of high fashion and modeled his own uniform after his own twisted notions of fashion

[@archlogan5573]

As a kid I saw this in a store and bought Darklon impulsively when I realized he was related to Destro. When I got the figure in hand, I thought he was wearing green scales and that the back of his head was sculpted as a snake. I could never decide if I thought he was wearing a snake mask, with another iron mask on top of it, OR if someone had sculpted a snake figure for some reason, and then Hasbro decided to do something else with the character and just ignored that they sculpted him as a snake.

[@andrewandrew4568]

I also like how the Joe universe is not afraid of nepotism. That being said it bothers me that Zarana's file card has her job as "Zartan's sister" which doesn't seem to give her much agency.

[@samfrito]

great review, as always. Darklon is weird as a temporary tattoo on a spray tanned body. maybe those weren't grenades around his leg the were his set of pool table balls for when he and Destro met on the battlefield for a quick 8 ball match. seems all over the place.

[@MrKersey]

Darklon was a strange looking figure, just like his character was in the comics, but I wouldn't call the figure ugly, unlike some of those of 1992-1994 series. His gun/weapon looks very much like Harkonnen gun from 1984 Dune by David Lynch. Great review, as always!

[@KidApoc]

It's like how I see Steel Brigade as Hasbro's/GI Joe's Storm Trooper.

[@danielherrin]

I love pants with pockets!!!!!

[@ShannonFargo]

He's got a jack-o-lantern butt!

[@soterioncoil2163]

The Evader is like a crazy Mad Max type thing. Dreadnoks.

[@lo1bo2]

Does Darklon own the record for carrying the most grenades? Guess that could be considered a plus.

[@roguishpaladin]

I feel like there might be some bandoleer-grenade types who have more. Monkeywrench, maybe?

[@kaylemathewcomendador7614]

For grenades in general? Major Bludd from Sonic Fighters still takes that place.

[@Isolder74]

@@kaylemathewcomendador7614 Do we include backpacks then Hardball would take that prize. Including his weapon I count 36.

[@mrdonigan]

I didn't love Darklon, but I didn't hate him either. I actually often played with him as the Predator and gave his gun to a different Joe, and acted out my own Predator scene. Usually it was Slaughter that wrestled with him in the end.

[@johnnyruttley1598]

The Evader kinda reimds of the light cycles from Tron

[@Yeah_eatsht]

Joe-obra... hot damn that is funny I use Darklon as a gas trooper... (chemical trooper)

[@jeremyratcliff7024]

he also appeared in the IDW version of the comics

[@dovahkiintemplar8255]

Great video Bryan.

[@glennrobbins2372]

Another great review! He does look like Vader though.

[@sephimelli6534]

Thanks for the name hccs

[@malikvonsaint8717]

My most interesting character

[@BoondockBrony]

I think the reason people use Eastern Europe as a default fictional place is because the Soviet Satellites were slowly getting independence and so they had to reorganize boundaries, some countries came out of thin air like Moldova which is basically Romania but they use Cyrillic not the Roman alphabet.

[@jasonkerest394]

Good review, you didn't mention that the left arm and gadgets on the gauntlet look similar to the Predators gauntlet from 1987. And, amusingly, Darklon and his vehicle does have a similar look to General Grievous from Star Wars: Episode III... Pieces of dead parts from other action figures indeed. I had this as a kid right when I growing too old for G.I. Joe. I couldn't figure out the Iron Grenadier command structure with Darklon in the mix; Darklon was a mercenary but had command responsibilities. Was the Iron Grenadiers phasing out General Voltar so soon? He wasn't off the toy shelf yet! He's right over there, you might hurt his feelings. I equally hated what they did in the comics with Cobra and the Iron Grenadiers merging... I mean what? They fought a civil war, Destro and the Iron Grenadiers was supposed to be there own separate thing from Cobra. Confusion, confusion. I think the following week after I got this was the release of Slaughter Marauders which I was initially excited for, but turned to disappointment over the production quality. I do own a Darklon today, but he has Rock-Viper legs because shut up- its my custom.

[@hexagram3timesthree723]

Wulkukukland? Jeezes damn that is a funky name, lmao!

[@trtledave3079]

13:08 Rando is actually what they call Lando in China

[@votefrmtherooftops3123]

Thanks again! I couldn’t figure out how to open Darklons vehicle....

[@andrewandrew4568]

Maybe Darklon is a version of Santa from the Star Wars universe.

[@nyquist75]

so many barrels on that weapon

[@mattleuty5285]

Loved the review but I hope the Beanie baby wasn't a rare million dollar one!!

[@mattdawg83686]

I liked the Darklon figure, but his color scheme was wrong on all levels. His Evader, well, what was it supposed to be exactly? I have seen many custom versions of Darklon, and they are far superior to what Hasbro gave us. Great review as always Commander!

[@jakeproven256]

I like the darklon figure far better than the nulifier.

[@ZedKaizoku]

Cool review especially the comic origin ite made laugh when the pronouncing these words... its it's weird figure i got cause related to destro the modern club version

[@daylenorrisakabamaboy1734]

Funny thing is gold helmet Destro is related to silver helmet Destro since gold helmet is the son of silver helmet according to the comic books

[@DareDevilDave75]

I had this one! Still not sure why😕

[@bjscorpio4041]

I actually found Darklon scary as a kid.

[@georgeaitken2719]

Somebody on the design team made a bet to see if they could sell this figure

[@grayfox00700]

Tiger force Darth Vader LOL

[@johnjohn-bh4cu]

As a kid it didn't matter if the figure looked like it went with the vehicle or not it doesn't matter

[@WeaselJuice]

Jingle all the way back to Darklonia there buddy. The beginning of the end. 😢

[@daylenorrisakabamaboy1734]

The reason they didn't set up Battle Force vs iron Grenadier because in the Battle Force all got killed in one issue

[@christianbrix5211]

The most asymmetrical figure of the entire run; looks like it was designed be Picasso on acid. Ghastly.

[@michaeldesjardins8916]

His Rifle is very Boba Fett esque lol

[@freshtadeathsl]

His stripes could be a possibility thats its iguana stripe patterns

[@cruizerdave]

If you pretend he’s a CORPS figure, he’s not that bad.

[@mechaman7818]

9:38 Maybe he originally tried out for the Tiger Force, but they passed for pretty obvious reasons, so he had to go home and write his best cousin Destro a letter to see if he could find him a job. Destro's mom probably begged him to hire the guy just to get him out of her sisters hair. That's why he has the mask. He thinks it'll make Destro like him more. He's like that annoying little brother who follows you around and tries to act like you.

[@Pegwarmers]

Great video. I always like the vehicle but hated the figure.

[@billbonnie6676]

Why is your dog chewing up peoples donatons? Great vid thoug, and I loved Darklon!

[@TroySmith25]

So weird, I can’t argue against any point you made, but for some reason, I don’t dislike the figure. He’s kind of cool, but I don’t know why.

[@adamverwolf9499]

He's Michael Jackson One Black glove. or he's OJ "If the glove doesn't fit you must acquit" And he has a faceplate. What the hell it that gun?

[@mikeching6374]

"...and then my dog ate his tank..." ...I am going to find some way of using that line in a comedy skit. I don't know how, but I'll let you know when I find the right gag...

[@killardan1]

I got darklon just because he's iron grenadier. But I love his evader as well.

[@alecjones8235]

Looks more like they drew inspiration from the predator

[@NerdGasims]

We all have that one weird, crazy and annoying family member and for Destro it’s Darklon. Crazy tacky fashion sense and because his cousin wears a mask so does Darklon. Destro gave Darklon the evader vehicle cause it has no steering wheel or breaks, just a gas pedal so he can drive straight to GI Joe and Destro won’t have to put up with his crazy cousin anymore

[@Spacefrisian]

Lol all these fictional countries in central Europe when we only find Austria, Switzerland, Tsech replublic and LiechtenStein

[@cowpuddles4851]

BF 2000 had some of the lamest vehicles ever. Really cheap looking. I wish the second generation Iron Grenadiers kept the black and red uniform coloring. Things just seemed thrown together as the line neared its end. Too bad, but great video!

[@andrewbaker4204]

What a better place to have your granades than in your leg!

[@marcossierra4011]

Destros cousin he's so cool

[@RogueTwo]

Lol, yes, Darklon certainly qualifies as an "ugly ass figure." And with his vague filecard and backstory, he was also the kind of blank slate character that I kind of loved because I could do pretty much anything that I wanted with him. Yes, Darklon ruled a fictional country, but it was a fictional country in the middle of an ongoing civil war. But one that didn't seem to affect him in any way. WTF? My take was that Darklon was the latest in a long line of 2 bit dictators who've ruled this backwater country for generations. And possibly the one least interested in the actual work of running it. As most of his interest is in making money with his mercenary army and arms dealing. He even made a profit playing both sides in the Darklonian civil war against each other. When Darklon was apparently killed and Cobra overran his country, he was hardly missed, and Cobra eventually settled down there for several years following the events of the comic to regroup and rebuild. And Cobra Commander ended up doing a better job of running the place. But Darklon had in fact survived, and was none too happy with Cobra, He joined up with the survivors of Cobra-La on seeking vengeance on both GI Joe and Cobra respectively. In my personal canon, Darklon thinks of himself as quite dashing. His colorful costume ridiculous motorcycle command vehicle meant to be flashy and eye-catching. He doesn't like when people -- even among his allies -- point out that they're more of an eyesore. Lol, great review.

[@JoeMotionVideos82]

A nice goofy review to take my mind off of a long day. This almost too weird for me.

[@ReboottoysEllis]

C stands for chew

[@daylenorrisakabamaboy1734]

He is based off of Predator

[@natemo82]

That vehicle doesn’t look like it has good visibility, especially while Darklon is wearing that mask. How has he not been in a serious accident?

[@bondaren]

I love this figure only flaw was nose piece looks like a beak...like chicken beak-otherwise 10/10

[@crank_bait_jgfishing4616]

I actually disagree on this one, I love Darklon!

[@christianhafer9819]

The Evader is pretty awesome. Darklon is....interesting. Not my favorite, for sure.