MOS: Infantry
SMOS: RTO (Radio Telephone Operator)
E-5
Here's a character that joined my collection back in late '04/ early '05. I don't remember using him all that much until recently, though. Recoil really started to stand out to me when I was making up my "departments" in my collection. Part of the goal of that project was to make a group of figures easy to grab for whatever imaginative battle I had in mind, the ultimate goal being to reduce the time it took to get figures out of their storage.The infantry department, I guess I would call it, had a general infantry squad, and a general heavy weapons infantry squad, and then several special patrols for certain environmental climates; Desert, Jungle, Cold weather, Mountain, etc.
I put Recoil in my "mountain patrol." These would have been a group of figures that would have been pulled out in one bunch if Cobra was getting into something in a more mountainous terrain. (Rock-Vipers, beware!) They've all got some training, some gear, and as a team, I think this Mountain Patrol would have been very effective.
Of these five, only two remain. But one will soon be coming back but in a different version.Recoil really looks straight forward, but his hat felt like a sort of hard-hat at that time. Compare and contrast it with Alpines helmet, and this is where I started to make a visual connection with a light-weight helmet. Possibly with a little headlamp on it. Recoil would have been the communications guy as the Mountain Patrol would have been way out there in the wilds.
As I started to trim back on the size and dynamics of my collection, I wanted to retain a little sense of my overall "big" collection within my small 28-man team. Recoil was my top pick from my "mountain patrol" group more often than not.
And since then, Recoil has really been growing on me. He's one of those figures that isn't overly heavy on special gear. One key criteria in my small team figure selections was finding figures I liked, but also had a "maximum" versatility potential for imaginary GIJOE adventures.
The gear on his back is really a nice touch, and it doesn't get in the way of vehicle inter-play. (He can sit down!) It doesn't stick out too much, and really emphasizes his "LRRP" role by packing on the gear.
On the front, his rifle is well-supplied by several clips.
As well as a couple other clips on the backpack. And his pack is looking full of the essentials, as well as a radio.
If not for the blue, Recoil's rifle would be darn-near perfect. I really like the rifle.
His secondary weapon, though, well..., I've stretched my imagination and still find that to be a fairly "out there" item. Do you have a good use of that gun?
Essentially for my small team, Recoil is one of the more straight-forward "army guys" when it comes right down to it.
Rifle. Pack. GO!
Here's what my 2009 "class of 1989" looked like:
Could Recoil have been a "Grunt V.2" at some point in the design process?