Toy Review: ‘G.I. Joe Classified’ Wild Bill Gets To The Chopper But Does He Fly?

William Hardy debuted in Marvel’s G.I. Joe #11 as the pilot of the Dragonfly. Bill would go on to become one of the unit’s most steadfast members, appearing in almost every iteration and adaptation of the team (except the live action movies). Also, fun fact, he’s one of the few Joes like Flint who’s a warrant officer, not an officer or lieutenant, which is basically a senior specialist.

When fans think of the G.I. Joe franchise, they think of certain jobs with certain characters. The heavy gunner is Roadblock. Snake Eyes is the covert ops guy. And when it comes to a pilot, you’re going to think of Wild Bill, the Joes’ resident cowboy chopper jockey, the newest Joe in Hasbro’s G.I. Joe Classified retro card line.

One of the funniest things about the character is that they essentially tacked on every Texas stereotype, and he still works. He’s an amateur country singer. His favorite weapons are two Colt .45’s. He wears a cowboy hat that’s also in some iterations a Union soldier hat. He’s a skilled tracker on the ground … He’s a cowboy and a Texan through and through, yet he doesn’t ever really jump the shark.

Now, this figure is one of the latest entries in the Classified line’s retro card sub-line. In many cases, the carded release gives collectors either a second chance at a figure that was released early in the line (and is more expensive), giving a more classic design, or, as in Bill’s case, releasing an exclusive from a pack-in for a Haslab or vehicle as a single release. This isn’t the Haslab Wild Bill exactly though, which makes him a lot of fun to look at for a review.

As far as design, this Wild Bill is a straight pull from Bill’s original design from the 1983 pack-in for the Dragonfly. It’s as classic as classic can be, and I like that. Some variation in color for the gloves would have been nice, but it’s really a solid design.

For accessories, this is just as straightforward as the design. Though the 1983 pack-in figure didn’t have any gear or accessories, this figure converts what was on the figure’s body to its accessories. I do like the swappable hair/hair-hat piece, which makes the hat not nearly as awkward as it could have been. The small knife is largely unusable, because it’s so small, and the .45’s are a little flimsy. It also would have been nice to give the figure one or two more additional accessories, like a shotgun (which would have fit his cowboy vibe) or the XM-16 attack rifle mentioned in his original file card.

I wish Hasbro would stop doing glasses as a separate piece. It’s the main reason I never picked up Buzzer, my favorite of the Dreadnoks, and it’s one of the biggest strikes against this figure. I was incredibly nervous I would lose them while posing the figure, and I don’t want to glue them on.

For posing, it was mostly good. Since he’s a pilot with tracking and infantry experience, I didn’t go nuts with him, like I did with Dawn Moreno. He was fun to pose though, with a lot of flexibility and mobility. The right wrist joint of my figure was incredibly delicate and flimsy though, a flaw that I hope is just isolated to myself.

Now a lot of the above might sound like complaining but it’s not. It’s a good figure with some flaws. It’s absolutely not one I regret picking up, and will round out my Joe team perfectly (until they release some of the weird Joes of the mid-nineties like Bushwacker and Salvo).