The early 80’s were such a simple time. The Joes tended to wear green while the Cobra troops clad themselves in various hues of blue. There was no abundance of Crimson troops dashing about—each one claiming to be elite and the concept of the “X Viper” hadn’t been developed yet. Back then, if you were in Cobra you were either a named character or a blue shirt and that was that. Wild Weasel was no exception to that simple truth. The first dedicated Cobra jet pilot, Wild Weasel never held much appeal for me as a youth. Yet, does he fair better under the scrutiny of an adult? Read on, and find out this Joe fan’s opinion of Cobra’s premiere pilot.

In many ways, Wild Weasel’s uniform evokes strong memories of the Cobra HISS Driver from just a year earlier. In the era before the debut of the Crimson Guard, two such red-clad vehicle drivers seemed to be the beginnings of a uniform pattern until the color was hijacked by Cobra’s ever-growing elite troops. Color aside, Wild Weasel’s uniform design in indicative of a time when character designs were more grounded in reality than fantasy. His uniform is a red flight suit, plain and simple. Form-fitting without being the type of spandex uniforms that have predominated the “ America’s Elite” comic, the uniform is practical and utterly believable (at least to my eyes) as something that would be worn by a pilot. The torso, with its wide-open collar, features four large cargo pockets and a painted black harness which continues down to Wild Weasel’s belt. There are no extraneous grenades, knives, bombs, or other details molded on to it which might interfere with the pilot’s performance in the cockpit. The back of the torso features the first real use of a molded texture that I can recall in the entire GIJoe line. Wild Weasel’s painted harness crosses his shoulders and is tucked under what appears to be a reinforced panel surrounding the screw hole. It is under this molded panel and continuing down below the figure’s shoulders that the textured molding can be seen. It would appear to be a reinforced back plate—possibly part of a parachute harness assembly in case the pilot was forced to ditch his aircraft in flight. The notion of this textured area functioning as some sort of armor seems to make little sense at this point in the toy line. Such armored pilots were seen until much later with the debut of the AGP and the Nullifier. Still, this bit of molding is an unusually detailed bit of unpainted design work that is easily over looked. Lastly, Wild Weasel is either showing a bit of flair or is a huge fan of Freddy from “Scooby Doo” as a blue scarf is worn at his neck.

The rest of Wild Weasel’s uniform is fairly straight forward—red pants (or rather the lower half of his flight suit) which cover the tops of his boots. Just above each knees is a molded strap which would appear to be removing an extra slack in the fit of his trousers and there is a molded zipper on the cuff of his flight pants, located on the inside of each ankle. A painted black pistol and holster are fastened on his right thigh and a small black knife is sheathed at his left ankle. The lower half of this figure would seem quite bland if it weren’t for the two “pilot’s aides” molded and painted just above each knee. This is where my true ignorance of military terminology comes in as I know what these pieces are for but have no idea what the proper nomenclature for them is. The panel on the right would appear to be some sort of mission brief which would easily readable while Wild Weasel was seated in the cockpit. The one attached to his left leg is an area map (which seems to depict Australia from his perspective) and is most likely used in aiding his navigation during a flight. Regardless, there are some terrific details that held to bring an otherwise “all red” figure to life. Sadly, Wild Weasel comes equipped with no accessory which was not unusual for a vehicle driver from the early 80’s. Some might argue that he is actually the accessory for the fantastic Cobra Rattler jet, but that’s a discussion for a vehicle review.

Wild Weasel’s head sculpt reveals precious little about the character. Sporting his unique flight helmet, the character’s face is completely covered leaving any interpretation of the figure’s personality completely up to the owner. The helmet itself is rather well done—a wide black visor affords the wearer a tremendous field of vision while the “muzzle” adds a bit of character to the design. There are two large protrusions on the back of the helmet whose purpose eludes me but I’m assuming they function partially as a built-in head rest to help stabilize the pilot’s vision and perspective during flight. (They could also house communications gear and a small power supply.) Aside from those few details, the rest of helmet is entirely plain which further adds to the enigmatic nature of the character whose name and birthplace are listed on his file card as “CLASSIFIED”. With so few individual details visible on this character design it’s hard to extrapolate much of a personality for the character. The impression I’ve always been left with is that of a cool professional. Wild Weasel isn’t the type of pilot who will taunt those he’s bested in combat but rather affords them the respect of a fellow aviator. He’s supremely confident in his skills and prefers to let his actions speak for him rather than engaging in flamboyant displays of bravado to mask his insecurities. I see him much in the same vein as the Wild West gunfighters of the spaghetti westerns. He’s a “man with no name” type of character who speaks when only when necessary and gives up very little of himself in conversation. However, engage him in a dogfight and his actions will speak volumes about the man who is about to shoot you down.

As a young Joe fan, I had always found Wild Weasel to be rather bland. His uniform was extremely plain and his character saw precious few appearances in the cartoon or in the comic where he was frequently paired with Firefly. In many ways, he was the Zandar of my collection—the figure that I frequently forgot was there. However, looking at him in retrospect I see him as a quiet presence. His figure features some surprisingly intricate molding details in spite of the lack of excessive paint applications. His uniform is detailed without being garish, realistic without being bland, and he just looks downright mean when placed into the cockpit of the Rattler. So, is he worth picking up and adding into your GIJoe collection? As much as I like the figure, I’d have to say that unless you’re also going to pick up a Rattler or a Firebat, you might want to pass on Wild Weasel. Don’t mistake my semi-endorsement as a lack of appreciation for the character. Rather, see it as a realization that Wild Weasel, even in figure form, works best when he’s associated with an aircraft of some sort. He comes equipped with no accessories because the aircraft IS his weapon of choice. He’s the ultimate bush pilot and, like Ace, just isn’t at home unless he’s in the cockpit of an aircraft. So, if you’re a vehicle collector, I’d definitely recommend snagging him as the leader of your Cobra Air Corps. Otherwise, he’s not a high priority figure if you’ve got other larger holes in your collection.