1995 Sgt. Savage Iron Stormtrooper

There was no greater letdown than walking into a Big Lots store in 1995 and, from afar, seeing the glint of a massive display of G.I. Joe packaging only to, once closer, realize that the entire wall of toys was not A Real American Hero figures and vehicles but Sgt. Savage.  Sgt. Savage was Hasbro's post ARAH foray into larger format figures.  And, it did not go well.  Floor to ceiling walls of them went up at discount and close out stores all over the U.S.  But, the figures weren't really discounted enough.  And, many of them hung around for quite a while, teasing people like me who were hoping to stumble across the occasional ghosts of the ARAH line that would pop up from time to time.

On the surface, the Savage line should have been successful.  But, it suffered from trying to be too many things to too many people.  In 1994 and 1995, toy collecting was becoming a thing among adults.  The drivers of it, though, were the 40 year olds who had grown up on classic 12" G.I. Joe figures from the 1960's.  While some of them were attuned to the smaller version of Joe that was introduced in 1982, many older collectors had also disregarded it as it wasn't the toy line of their youth.  Sgt. Savage tried to toe the line between kids of the day who wanted larger action figures and the burgeoning adult collecting scene who wanted gritty military realism to shape their collectibles.  Sgt. Savage was Hasbro's attempt to appease both.

And, as is often the case with overly ambitious projects, Savage failed to meet either of its goals.  Kids just weren't into a World War II inspired toy line when they had Ninja Turtles, a great line of Kenner superheros lead by Batman and the newly introduced Power Rangers to attract their attention.  While adult collectors swooned over the Joe Kubert packaging artwork, the toys themselves weren't what they were looking for.  Sgt. Savage introduced a larger figure buck to the franchise and the 3 3/4" figures grew to 4 1/2".  On top of that, the construction was altered and the o-ring did not appear.  Honestly, the o-ring wouldn't have been a big issue had the new figure line been 3 3/4".  All this change, though, left Savage stuck in the middle with no fans to be found.  The toys were instant clearance fodder and dominated the toy aisles at regional and national discount stores for years.

As for the story of the toy line: it was a Captain America rip off.  I mean, it was such a blatant rip off that I'm not sure why Marvel didn't sue.  Maybe if Savage had become a bigger hit.  But, the characters were archetypes and they lacked the panache of the recently cancelled 3 3/4" Joe line.  The good guys blended together and the bad guys were watered down Nazis.  The problem with this is that once you base your villain on the Nazis, you have to make them worse than the Nazis.  And, that's pretty hard to do without either making the story far too dark for kids or having to delve into cartoonish super-villainy.  So, Savage went with super villains.  General Blitz created a doomsday device and went with cybernetic henchmen to spare the kids of the gory death of war.  The filecard of the IRON Stormtrooper specifically mentions that they are thawed out Nazis that were given cybernetic enhancements.  There's no real reason why.  But, we are left with an army building bad guy.

There really is only one reason to own this figure: the black trenchcoat.  I've looked at the coat before.  It was released in white with the Street Fighter Movie Edition Dhalsim figure.  A black version was also released with the Mortal Kombat Movie Shang Tsung figure.  But, the easiest way to acquire the coat is with this Iron Stormtrooper.  As the coat was designed for 3 3/4" figures, it is a tight fit on the Iron Stormtrooper.  But, once removed, it works perfectly as an accessory for Cobra Commander, Dr. Mindbender or even Destro.  Cloth accessories were extraordinarily rare in the vintage Joe line, even as Kenner started to perfect them in Joe's opening days.  So, having a way to get one that doesn't cost a ton (see Serpentor's capes!) is nice and allows you some customization potential with some of your higher up Cobra figures.

Really, the only interesting thing about the Sgt. Savage toy line is that it has a few pieces that were designed for the cancelled 1995 G.I. Joe line.  The IRON Panther tank was originally a toy for the Battle Corps Rangers.  The Arctic Stormtrooper includes gear that was planned for the 1995 Frostbite figure.  The Cryo Chamber from the Cryo Freeze Sgt. Savage was originally a mini-sub for the 1995 Dr. Mindbender.  There are other examples as well.  In 2007, the club co-opted a bunch of Sgt. Savage accessories and included them with the convention exclusive figures.  The weapons meant for 1995 Joes fit relatively well.  But, the larger weapons developed for Sgt. Savage were grossly oversized and look out of place.  But, they also meant that all of the Sgt. Savage molds were likely available if anyone wanted to lose a bunch of money by resurrecting the line.

When looking at the Iron Stormtrooper's gear, you also see some limitations.  While his weapons are meant to be based on historical gear from the World War II era, they fail in that they are just oversized, even for this larger figure body.  If you look at the machine gun, rifle and pistol in the photos below, you will see that the weapons are excellently detailed.  But, they are extremely large.  It's unfortunate as, had they been scaled to the Savage figures, they might have had a little more value for standard 3 3/4" Joe figures.  The Stormtrooper also includes 3 hoses that affix to holes in his body as well as some stick grenades.  The grenades can work with smaller Joes.  But, the rest of the gear will just shatter thumbs if you try to use it with vintage Joe figures.

There's not much else interesting about the Iron Stormtrooper mold.  Sans coat, the body is really pretty lame.  He's wearing a brown shirt. (Not subtle with the context there, were we, Hasbro?)  And, he's covered in some silver details that are meant to convey robotics.  The exterior hoses imply that he's be pretty easy to stop since you could just slice the hose and he'd lose some important function that the hydraulics provide.  The best part of the figure is probably the head.  He has a silver microphone over his mouth, though.  So, the head doesn't really look robotic or cybernetic.  The 1993 Cyber Viper did a much better job of conveying that the character was a cyborg.  As a bad guy, this figure is fine.  With the coat on, though, his articulation is limited.  And, without it, he's much more boring.  Non of the Sgt. Savage characters really had any demand for a return in the nostalgia drenched club figures that reused anniversary Joe parts.  Even a G.I. Joe Extreme character made into that line.  But, Savage was shut out and it's probably for the best.

One key point of Sgt. Savage figures is that they use softer plastic than 3 3/4" Joes.  The hands are more pliable and the overall plastic quality is softer.  This allows for the larger weapons to not be an issue with the figure's hands.  It's also an interesting update to the plastic Hasbro had used since 1982.  The 1997 G.I. Joe repaints featured some softer plastic that made the hands more pliable.  But, they are not as soft as the Savage figures.  It may be that the size of the Savage figures allowed for the softer plastic as the size allowed for its use.  But, it's an interesting update to the material quality, especially as Hasbro was still using the more rigid plastic for Street Fighter Movie and Mortal Kombat figures at the same time they were producing Sgt. Savage figures.

The upside to the Iron Stormtrooper is that he's a decent enemy design.  The 1982 Cobras (as well as Imperial Stormtroopers) were heavily based on Nazi tropes.  In time, Cobra moved away from that imagery.  This Iron Stormtrooper brings back the memory of the greatest evil the modern world has ever known.  While the filecard doesn't mention Nazis, it specifically calls out that they are enemy soldiers from World War II.  And, were the figure in the classic G.I. Joe scale, collectors would have long globbed on to this figure and made him a key part of the rogue's gallery of Joe villains.  The robotic nature of this character also allows them to be killed with less guilt than seeing standard humans being mowed down in combat.  But, it's also a design that collectors tend to love for their armies.

The verdict on Sgt. Savage is that it was trying to get kids interested in World War II toys because that's what many of their dads and grandfathers had grown up on the 1960's.  The marketing material and even filecards are full of references to the 1940's that no 9 year old would pick up on.  The entire concept was done to fulfill what was perceived as a void in the toy market.  It was a void that the green wave of 1982 Joes filled quite well.  But, that line didn't get so stuck in the past.  Sure, there was a bazooka guy decades after the weapon was retired.  But, you also had jet packs, lasers and other things that pulled kids in without burying them in historical fiction that required a knowledge of 50 year old pop culture references to really understand.  And, the 1983 Joe line moved forward in a way that didn't mire it down with realism.  The Savage line went the other way and we're left to wonder if the 1995 A Real American Hero line might have come to pass if this pet project of Savage hadn't gotten in the way.

Dealers will sell carded Iron Stormtroopers for $20-$25.  You can get carded versions in the $10-$12 range, though, if you're willing to wait.  The massive overstock of Sgt. Savage carded figures that used to pervade online marketplaces and local antique malls/flea markets has largely been absorbed.  So, the once frustratingly ubiquitous carded figures have gotten less common.  Most are locked away in boxes in comic and toy shops or sheds and basements of older collectors from the late 1990's and early 2000's.  They are awaiting the day the figures get pricey.  But, that's unlikely to happen...even in the stupid Joe market of 2022.  If you can find a loose, mint and complete Iron Stormtrooper, it will run you under $10.  So, just buy a carded version if you want one or an army of them.