Dreadnok Dust-Up Day 3: New Recruits

I wasn't the only youngster fascinated by the grape soda chugging, chocolate donut scarfing misfits also known as the Dreadnoks. And Hasbro took notice. 86-89 were chock full of new additions to the Dreadnok lineup; and I collected them all. For the last couple of years the Dreadnok section of my Joe shelves always looked a little empty, but thanks to Hasbro's Dreadnok Battle Set, we get to fill in the gaps, and then some. Today- we look at the best these new recruits have to offer.

Mean bastards, every one of them. I always thought it was interesting how quickly the Biker aesthetic was replaced by Punk trappings when Zarana & Zandar entered the picture. The original 'Noks were a cool mix of looks, but there was always a bit of Biker in there, whereas later additions to the team were pretty much all punk all the time. But one of the new additions took that Biker look all the way home, and his name was Monkeywrench.

So here he is- The lone Rise of Cobra figure in my collection. Monkeywrench and Thrasher were the first new additions to the Dreadnok lineup, and so I've always held them both in pretty high regard. With that in mind, I can see why a lot of people want a redo on this one. The body is fine, some people complain that the grenade bandolier has the wrong number of grenades, or that he's missing his calf scarves, but I don't have a problem with that. Now, the head, on the other hand...

I don't know if you recognize this guy, but let me introduce you to 25th anniversary Outback, but with a new paintjob. He originally had Outback's full beard, too, but that was before I took an exacto knife to him. I screwed up the goatee and made it too square, but it's still an improvement. And further improvement was made when I managed to wrangle a pair of shades for him.

Just gotta get that silver paint!

Okay, I can live with that. He's a pretty good adaptation of Monkeywrench, pretty vanilla though. He's just Gung-Ho's body with the massive improvement of adding Xamot/Tomax's arms. Without the very nice vest, he'd look like a random shirtless dude. Not much gear to speak of on this guy, just what you see him wearing and the Eels speargun. Once again, it's deep in my weapons bin somewhere, and not really much to look at anyway. I gave him a little pump action shotgun from Marauder John. Not much else to say about this guy- He's probably the least faithful to the original figure of the modern Dreadnoks, but he'll do. I'll probably get a custom head for mine at some point, though. Moving along, we get into the new box set-

It's the driver of one of my favourite ARAH vehicles, the Thunder Machine, Thrasher! Or, as he's apparently known these days, Thunder. I guess they lost the rights to the Thrasher name. Maybe the magazine was going to be a legal hassle? Is Thrasher Magazine even still around?  Anyway, a spoiled rich kid who just wants to make trouble and destroy things, Thrasher (I'm not going to call him Thunder) was introduced in 1986 with the aforementioned Thunder Machine. Obviously inspired by the Road Warrior, or maybe the Road Warriors, Thrasher was an instant favourite for me. And the new one? Well, he's a decent frankenfigure, once again, only the head is a new part here, but he captures the spirit of the original pretty well. I've got a few gripes though...

"Hello, neighbour. Just let me take my spiked sweater off and change into my slippers."

Okay, this headsculpt? It's just so... Friendly. They captured Thrasher's greaser hair beautifully, but the face looks like he's about to serve you lemonade on a hot day, not like he drives a car with twin miniguns on the hood. I guess the original had that aspect to him, but come on. Let's frowny up those eyebrows a bit, at least!

And speaking of friendly, I'm sorry, but his football/apocalypse pads are just so comically undersized now, I can't take them seriously in the least. The originals were bulky and intimidating, these are just... Laughable. So basically, other than the only two things that actually identify him as Thrasher, this is a pretty good figure. He only has the one accessory, but it's a doozy.

I must say, that makes up for pretty much any complaints I have about the figure. Talk about brutal! A fantastic raising of the stakes on the classic version. And speaking of raising the stakes-

Well, Road Pig was probably the most requested Dreadnok over the last few years, and Hasbro did not mess around. He is a repaint (except for the all new head, of course), but at least they dug into the back catalogue to pull out Rise of Cobra Night Adder to base this guy on. And it works like gangbusters. They let the accessories tell the story, and what a tale it is.

The classic cinderblock sledgehammer make its return here, and it looks just plain awful. Don't misunderstand me- It's an amazing piece of sculpture, in fact it's so amazing I simply can't help imagining the real thing being swung into my skull when I see it. Damn that's unsettling.

Also included are a sword, for some reason I simply cannot comprehend, and a replacement for his old spiky buckler, a bashed up street sign. It's a cool addition, but I do miss his old gear, especially the wrist crossbow. While we're discussing spiky things-

I don't even want to know how he gets his hair to stand up like that.

I love this headsculpt- It captures the dopey, violent nature of the big mean sonofabitch perfectly. Look at the confused expression in the eyes. Great stuff- Hasbro simply knocked it out of the park with this one. Probably the highlight of the box set (well, a close race with Zanya, anyway), this guy is a stone cold must have. I probably should have ended the post with him, in fact. But instead, for simple laziness reasons, I'm ending with-

The second casualty in the great name copyright battles, we have Gnawgahyde! You can call him Gnaw if you like, but I'm going to go ahead and use his classic name. I never really felt this guy fit in with the other Dreadnoks- He's got no biker or punk stylings, and really, he would have worked just was well as a straight ahead Cobra operative. But the Dreadnoks were hot at the time, and so he gets a backstory filled with poor personal hygiene and in the gang he goes. I guess he does fit the swamp milieu the 'Noks have going for them. I was actually going to include this guy in the final installment of this review series, seeing as he's kind of a throwaway, character wise, but I threw him in here because he's actually a pretty high quality figure.

A solid headsculpt, no complaints here, but a little plain jane compared to most of the rest of the box. I like that his hat is still removable, although I think the ARAH model was a little snappier. Like the rest of the box, he's a frankenfigure, and like most of the box, he pulls it off. Again, without the vest and hat he'd just be random shirtless guy, but with them? Solid Gnawgahyde!

A nice detail is the sheath in the small of the back with removable knife, as well as the molded fur all around the collar and down the back.Not much for accessories with this guy, just the hat, knife and a pretty nice hunting rifle.

Missing are his machete, which was possibly the most wicked of any of the ARAH blades, his bow and scabbard, which is a real missed opportunity for them to update him to a nice compound bow, but the biggest gap is his pet boar! It never had a name, as far as I know, but it was my favourite of any of the old ARAH "pets". This boar was so badass it even wore earrings! Ah well. That's the thing with this box set- It's got some real high points, but it's just filled with missed opportunities. So should you add Gnawgahyde to your collection? Hell yeah! He's one of the lazier figures in the Dreadnok lineup, but he's made from such great parts (PoC Zartan, jungle Duke & SS) that a bit of that greatness can't help but rub off.

So the Dreadnok lineup continues to be strong. The Dreadnok Battle Set box was a real gift to those of us who favour the outcasts. Next time we finish up the box with a couple of the lower points, and we're going to do an overall ranking of all the 'Noks available in the modern format. Thanks for reading- talk at you again soon!

"Just pretend you can't hear him!"