GI Joe: Conquest X-30 [25th Anniversary] - The Review

with Lt. Slipstream

This is a review I've looked forward to doing for some time.  Although I've recently acquired an appreciation for some of the classic yet physics-challenged vehicles of the line, my strongest affiliation as a GI Joe collector is towards vehicles that resemble (or approximate) real world military equipment. 

Enter the Conquest X-30:

The Conquest took over for the Sky Striker sometime, I believe, during the second season of the original cartoon series and from there it became the go-to jet fighter aircraft of the Joe team.  I will in a future post I'll talk about what I think are the comparative virtues of each vehicle the reason this happened from Hasbro's standpoint was to generate sales for a new vehicle.  Keep in mind that I don't think this is bad because after all, this is how a brand universe expands and gives us a greater number of choices as fans.  I know some view this as some sort of 'manipulation of children' into bugging their parents into buying them something new, but I think this view is too cynical.  I'm glad to have both this and the Sky Striker in my air fleet.

As for the Conquest itself, there is no direct inspiration for the Conquest in any military inventory.  It's unique forward-swept wing design was no doubt borrowed from the Grumman X-29 concept aircraft of similar configuration, but looking at them both it's clear they share little symmetry other than the forward sweep and canards.  What we have in the Conquest is a situation where the guys at Hasbro latched onto a known next-gen type of concept and ended up turning out something original and extraordinary in design while remaining within reach of the real world.  To me, this is where the much of the best product of the line comes from.  It's something that's just out of the grasp of the real world, but not too far gone to the point where it requires severe suspension of disbelief.

The X-30 (seen above) was a platform built to demonstrate the possibilities of a fighter with a forward-swept wing and canard elevator.  In it's simplest form, the idea behind forward swept wings is that while with conventional wings air moves towards and off the wingtips -generating drag as it does so, the forward sweep channels the air towards the fuselage which creates less drag on the aircraft.  Less drag means more speed and range. The greatest challenges of this type of design are the structural stresses the wings must endure from the resulting twisting action the force of lift places on them.

The experimental X-29 isn't the only real-world jet to feature forward swept wing and canards.  The Russian SU-47 'Berkut' also featured such a design and with it's twin engines and full tail resembles the Conquest more closely.

Neither of these real world comparables to the Conquest made into production, though the USSR insists it hasn't given up on the concept.  No active service military warplane utilizes a wing with a forward sleep, though commercial and civilian aircraft have incorporated them here-and-there.  The Conquest, therefore, stands apart from reality a bit, but not so much that it's outside the realm of possibility.  It is a plausible fighter, and one that showcases advanced design features that haven't made it into real combat aircraft, but could at some point.

Handsomely boxed in a motif depicting Conquests and Sky Strikers defending the FLAGG, this set was released in 2008 as part of the GI Joe 25th Anniversary line.  It's pilot, just as it was for it's initial release in 1986 is "Slip Stream", or Lt. Slip Stream.

Slipstream is very basic and a repaint of the 25th Anniversary Captain Ace, version 2 figure.  He has a new head sculpt and a paint scheme to match likeness of the original Conquest pilot.  He comes with no accessories (not even a stand).  His harness isn't normally removable and hinders his right hip articulation so that he can't be made to sit down easily.  A criticism I have of many of the 25th Anniversary figures is that some compromises were made between appearance and articulation, compromises that were solved in later lines of the modern era.  The 25th Ace at least had a removable flight helmet where Slipstream's is part of the head sculpt. To me, that alone makes the figure rather dated by comparison to modern 30th, Pursuit of Cobra, and 50th Anniversary lines.  Still, it works and has a decent appearance, even with it's flaws.

The Cockpit is roomy and should allow for the seating of most modern GI Joe figures.  The interior detail is fairly elaborate going so far as showing systems behind the pilot that are barely noticeable unless you really check.....It's hard to get enough light back there to photograph but the detailing is quite extensive for a toy.  Hasbro product shows a lot of attention to detail off-brand stuff often doesn't.

Visually, the Conquest is stunning.  Some take exception with the bright yellow colors on the missiles and (oddly) square thrust nozzles.  They do stand out to remind us that this is indeed a toy, but I don't find that they detract from the overall appearance noticeably (Note: there are earlier releases of the original with dark grey or black instead of yellow parts).  The grey plastic is beautifully understated and the symmetry very striking.  It's clean lines interrupted only by details of the control surfaces and panels worked into the mold.

I may have mentioned before in other reviews that I adore removable panels.  Being able to see what's under the hood of vehicles by carefully prying off well fitting plastic was, I think, pioneered by Hasbro when integrated into various GI Joe vehicles.  It provides not only play value and display opportunities, but a 'cool' factor rarely found elsewhere.

 

 

Everything with the Conquest isn't rosy, however.  The 25th Version includes those damnable stickers that plagued many vehicles of that Anniversary line.   These are the stickers where when you apply them, you better get it placed right the first time because if you try to remove it, it has the tendency to separate the decal layer from the adhesive on the back.  This renders stickers so effected as an eyesore that have a tendency to peel even further.  (See Below)

The left side of this [NO STEP] sticker separated when I had misapplied it and attempted to remove.  The right half is secured to the plastic correctly now, but half of it peeled away from it's adhesive layer and is just dangling.  Since I'm fairly particular about my sticker placement, this is a big minus for me.  Luckily Hasbro has stopped releasing these types of stickers in later vehicles starting with Rise of Cobra, but since this was the most recent release of the Conquest you are stuck with them unless you wish to purchase reproduction stickers from a third-party source.

Once applied, the stickers look mostly good.  The 'eyes' above aren't as transparent as I'd like but overall, properly applied, they're sharp and seem to be true to the original.  Thank goodness none of these stickers provide the difficulties the Sky Striker's front "swoop" sticker does, because that would be a mess.

The two pictures above give us a view of the Conquest's weaponry: two cannons in the nose right beneath the pilot's line of sight, two yellow missiles on each wing, and two fuel tanks.  Unlike later Hasbro jets it refrains from over-weaponizing a clean design or adding strange features.  More or less, it looks like a plausible jet fighter, and a cool looking one at that.  We'll speak more about the aircraft's weaponry during the evaluation.

The landing gear is novel and simple.  The rear locks into place both in the up and down position with a snap and the rear legs expand evenly with an inter-meshing gear coordinating them.  The front gear raises and lowers smoothly with the resistance of plastic-on-plastic, yet it doesn't quite seat flush with the body when fully retracted.  

The overall appearance and polish of the aircraft isn't quite up to scratch with that of the later 30th Anniversary Sky Striker, but it's build quality is far better than it's 25th Anniversary companion on the Cobra side, the Rattler.  It should survive quite a bit of play and abuse as nothing seems to be particularly fragile: the tail fins fall out a little too easily, but are formed of flexible plastic.  The wings are also sturdy and the landing gear is well built.  The plastic is a nice, smooth medium grey, but is a little too easy to scratch.  The missiles of the Conquest, unlike the 30th Anniversary Sky Striker's, stay on fairly well.  The quality is pretty good, overall.

Quality/Appearance:  B

Durable, but the stickers are poor and peel away from their adhesive.  Very cool overall form

Play Value/Accessories: B+

Everything works fine, has removable panels and retractable gear.  Good overall polish

Figure: C

Very plain, no stand.  Dated.

Final Grade: B

A highpoint in Hasbro product, to be sure.  It could use a little more polish and certainly dump those stickers whenever (if ever) this sees another release -and maybe give us an updated slipstream while they're at it.