When I first heard that the Iron Grenadier was coming to the Sigma 6/Kung Fu Grip line I was quite excited.  I’m a pretty big fan of the whole Iron Grenadier sub team and concept, and thought it might work remarkably well integrated into the new 8” storyline.  When we saw the final pictures my feelings became a bit mixed.  It definitely did not look like I remembered them.  But as time went on I grew a bit more open to the changes Hasbro had made, and started understanding where they were coming from a bit better.  Now that I’ve got the Grenadier in my hands, I definitely have a greater appreciation for it, though it’s still not as terrific as it could have been

First comes the head sculpt.  It becomes immediately obvious that even though these are human troopers, Hasbro went to great lengths to keep up a very robotic appearance.  These toys are still built around the kids, so I guess we don’t want human soldiers for the good guys to kill.  Thus, we get sort of techno-organic robot looking guys to fill the COBRA ranks.  The head sculpt is quite well detailed, and I love those small red eyes that protrude from the facemask.  It’s a bit scary looking and sort of a jumbled mess, but in the end, the face does look fairly menacing, especially once all the removable cables and such are hooked into it.  The helmet is a somewhat angular version of a standard trooper helmet that looks a bit more modern and quite a bit cooler.

Iron Grenadier uses Firefly’s torso and leg tooling, which is perfectly fine with me since the COBRA version of Firefly is one of the greatest figures that has been produced to date.  The slim build, the four pouches on his chest armor, and the somewhat bulky seamed pants all come together to give you a very cool looking sculpt that works nicely for a commando style trooper.  Iron Grenadier’s large amount of additional gear adds some serious bulk to this figure and really gives him a “shock trooper” appearance.  Once his backpack is hooked on, his hoses are all plugged in, and you get those shoulder pads, armor, and leg canister all in place the Iron Grenadier goes from being a slim, aerodynamic commando to being a hulking beast of a frontline shock troop, and either format suits them well.  They have newly tooled arms that are a bit bulkier than Firefly’s, with sculpted elbow pads on each one.  His left arm has a curious quilt wrapping around it, too…not sure of the point of this addition, but it adds some thickness to his arm and a little change as well.

As I said, the legs and torso are reused from Firefly and work well in that regard, giving him a nice layer of armor.  The small additions of other thin armor plates here and there provide even more potential protection…it all adds up to really give the Grenadier a sense of being a neigh-unstoppable trooper, and all of this might also contribute to Hasbro trying to give him a more robotic and “inhuman” appearance

His Kung Fu Grip works all right, though I did find that his right elbow joint was a bit loose, so holding onto that weapon didn’t work all that well in his right hand.  Still, that’s more an issue with the elbow than the Kung Fu Grip, which works fine, no major complaints.

Most of the issues folks have with this figure come from his colors, which actually don’t bug me all that much.  While the original IG was red, gold, and black, this one is mostly silver with some black, but then filled out in a strange burgundy red type of shade.  I’m not sure why this color was chosen, but I don’t find it as obnoxious as some folks might.

For the most parts the Iron Grenadier’s weapons and accessories aren’t too bad, but some of them are a bit strange.  He’s got his main machine gun/missile launcher which is pretty large and launches projectiles, but that’s really his own offensive weapon.  He’s got a wide array of armor plating and protection, not to mention his backpack, leg canister, and his capture device as well.  None of his gear is especially spectacular, and his capture instrument is just plain bizarre, but it’s all complimentary gear that helps beef up the figure somewhat and make him a bit more imposing.

Ultimately, at first I was a bit disappointed with the Iron Grenadier, but as time has passed I’ve come to appreciate the intricacies of the figure and the character.  I think it’s possible that he’ll look considerably cooler in groups (which is why I want a few of them…) but he’s still a pretty cool figure singly.