Today we’re changing it up a bit. Although I’m covering three different figures today, it should be a quick one. That’s because we’re looking at some Super7 ReAction figures and, at the end of the day, there’s only so much you can say about a faux-retro toy with five points of articulation.

So grab a juicebox, put on your favorite Night Ranger tape, and let’s party like it’s some gross, corporate nostalgia-driven bastardization of 1983.

Super7 ReAction Figure GI Joe Raven, Red Laser, and Combat Engineer

When I looked at ReAction Cover Girl, Shipwreck, BAT, and a couple Cobra Troopers last year, I was surprisingly pretty happy with the figures as a whole. I still think they’re too expensive for what they are, the sculpting is too soft, and Super7 is too stingy with accessories.

But Super7 also does some creative things and delivers some nice figures when they want to. I even found that most of those toys can kind of fit in to a vintage ARAH GI Joe collection on some level, which is an added bonus.

I liked the figures, but they didn’t turn me into anything close to a ReAction Superfan. They were enough to make me consider buying a few more, but they didn’t impress me enough to do anything other than cherry-pick a few GI Joe ReAction figures per year.

Here are the three I cherry-picked for the first half of 2023– Raven, Red Laser, and a female GI Joe Combat Engineer.

I got Raven because she is a female Strato-Viper, she has a very cool look, and her episode of the old Sunbow cartoon was pretty fun.

I grabbed Red Laser because I love action force, because Red Laser has always had a cool design, and because the original AF figure is 100% unattainable for a mortal like me.

I bought the Combat Engineer because she was on sale, I like nameless background characters, and because she can help the GI Joe team become a bit less of a sausage party.

So there are my justifications. Now here are the figures.

2023 Super7 ReAction Figure GI Joe Raven Review

2023 Super7 ReAction Figure GI Joe Raven was released early on in the year, in what Super7 calls wave 5 of the line. Released alongside her were Mutt, Gladiator Snake Eyes, Gladiator Duke, Tomax, Xamot, Red Laser, a GI Joe MP, and a camouflaged Cobra Trooper.

Raven was the most interesting figure in the wave, in my opinion.

In my last Super7 review, I thought the card art was competent but not quite as good as what Super7 does for their other ReAction licenses. I think they’ve taken a big stride forward, as Raven’s card art looks stellar.

The file card is also nicely written. This still isn’t the most dynamic, eye-catching packaging out there, but it has improved over time. Which is a good thing, since a majority of collectors probably keep these figures sealed on the card.

Raven is decked out in a Cobra Strato-Viper uniform, minus the helmet. As you’ll see when we get to the comparison, Super7 actually did a really nice job recreating the uniform. It matches the 1986 figure pretty well, and it’s also pretty spot-on to how Raven appeared in “In the Presence of Mine Enemies.”

All of the paint is neatly applied and the figure looks nice. The head sculpt is particularly good– Super7 really captured Raven’s essence from the cartoon, and I love the way both her facial expression and her braids turned out. Also, the braids and Dracula collar don’t completely inhibit her head articulation. She can turn her head a bit in either direction, and it’s about as much as she needs.

There’s a bit more detail in this sculpt than you see with the average GI Joe ReAction figure, which is something I appreciate. The sculpt is still on the soft side, but that was always going to be the case.

I particularly like the sculpted grenade on her right hip and the Cobra logo patch on her left arm, which is a nice homage to the 86 Strato-Viper’s logo patch. That patch also plays a big part in her cartoon episode, so it’s nice to see some real care applied to it. I don’t have universal praise for Super7, but I really do appreciate their reverence for GI Joe as a franchise.

The back of the figure is completely unremarkable, but at least all of the painted details continue onto the back and everything is painted cleanly all around.

For accessories, Raven only includes a laser pistol.  It looks reasonably close to the one she used in the cartoon. It lacks detail and doesn’t look amazing, but she can hold it well and I guess it gets the job done.

Here she is with the 1986 GI Joe Strato-Viper, so you can see how the uniform details match up. Overall, it works really well. They even got the weird little square cutouts in the boots and the chest holster right. I’m pretty impressed with the whole thing.

I don’t own a 1986 Night Raven, but I do own a 2010 Rise of Cobra Night Raven. Raven will fit in the cockpit, but sits a bit awkwardly compared to a fully-articulated GI Joe figure.

Sorry this photo looks like shit. Hopefully it gets the point across, though.

I imagine she would likely fit into the classic Night Raven and its drone, as well, but you’ll have to test that out yourself.

Update 7/2/23: Commenter cobramotorpool let us know that Raven will not fit in the 1986 Night Raven. You can find all the details in the comment section below this post. Thanks, cobramotorpool!

If you’ve ever wanted a cool Night Raven co-pilot, then this ReAction figure might suit those purposes nicely.

For me, this figure fits in pretty well with my overall collection. She looks great with the original Strato-Viper and with the RoC Night Raven. I can see using her in many photos without a problem. It’s also nice to finally have a woman of color on the Cobra team.

Verdict: 2023 Super7 ReAction Figure GI Joe Raven has a more detailed sculpt than most other figures in the line, and the portrait is particularly nice. The paint is good and she matches up well with an actual ARAH Strato-Viper. She can also fit in her assigned vehicle. She’s also a character Hasbro would never, ever make so it’s cool to get her in some form.  I think this is about as good as ReAction figures get. If you can stomach the cost and the whole 5 POA then, then she is Recommended.

2023 Super7 ReAction Figure GI Joe Red Laser Review

2023 Super7 ReAction Figure GI Joe Red Laser was released in the same wave as Raven. The figure is a straight-up repaint of Super7’s Cobra Commander figure, which is accurate to the source material.

For those who need the context, Red Laser was originally released in 1983 for Palitoy’s Action Force toy line. Action Force, a continuation of the venerable Action Man series, was GI Joe’s UK counterpart. Early on, Palitoy featured their own molds with 5 points of articulation. As the line progressed, Palitoy used Hasbro’s GI Joe figures to bulk up their offerings. The original Red Laser was a repaint of Hasbro’s 1983 Cobra Commander, and was packaged with the Laser Exterminator toy.

Now onto Super7’s version.

Red Laser’s card art isn’t quite as good as Raven’s, in my opinion, but it’s still nice. I’m also pleased that it’s not just a player 2 palette-swap of S7’s previous Cobra Commander artwork. This figure’s packaging received entirely new artwork.

I like the file card write up, but saying “the most deadliest” is hilarious to me. Please hang onto your current copy editor forever, Super7.

(Update 8/31/23: I’ve been informed by a commenter that that Red Laser uses an entirely new mold and is not just a repaint of Super7’s previous ReAction Cobra Commander figures. I didn’t have a CC from S7 to compare it to, so I made the wrong assumption. You have my apologies and can disregard anything I say about it being a repaint.)

The figure is cast mostly in red plastic, as you can see. It’s a complete repaint of S7’s wave 1 battle helmet Cobra Commander, which is totally fine. Red Laser has always been a Cobra Commander repaint.

In broad strokes, this figure works pretty well. The paint for the eyes (and the black band around them) looks good, and the all-important Red Shadows logo is nice and crisp. The figure looks like Red Laser and I’m glad it exists.

But there are some problems. The original Red Laser lacked a lot of Cobra Commander’s painted detail, and only had one belt picked out in black paint. This figure replicates that, but the sculpt is so soft that it just kinds of looks like a big, smooth block of red.

The collar area has some decent paint and there’s a little bit of white on the lower belt, too. Thankfully the gloves and boots look clean because there’s just not much here.

Cobra Commander (and Red Laser, by extension’s) trademark leg knife is painted, too. Which was necessary.

The back is actually kind of interesting on this figure. There’s some good sculpted detail for the laser pistol recharging pack, but it also functions just like the vintage Cobra Commander’s back piece did.

The figure’s laser pistol actually plugs into his back! Hey, it’s an actual added feature. That’s not common for a ReAction Figure, so I appreciate the effort. There’s a tiny hole in the recharging pack, but the gun doesn’t have a corresponding peg. It just sits in there via friction, but it holds in securely enough so I’m not complaining.

For accessories, the figure has what you’d expect– a slightly less detailed version of Cobra Commander’s trademark Venom Pistol.

Here’s ReAction Red Laser compared to both an original 1983 Cobra Commander and Hasbro’s 2022 o-ring Cobra Commander, so you can see what I mean about the lack of painted detail.

But the lack of painted detail wouldn’t be such a big deal if the toy had a sharper sculpt. Here it is next to the original 1983 Palitoy Red Shadow, which has much crisper details and is a true vintage 5 POA figure. I also added one of the Red Shadow Troopers from Black Major just for additional context and to provide another comparison.

I will say, though, that this  Super7 Red Laser figure gets the shade of red just about perfect. It blends in pretty well with both modern offerings and the old Palitoy stuff, and I will give S7 a ton of credit for that.

Prior to the GI Joe ReAction line’s release, I wrote about my thoughts on 5 POA Joe figures and how they may or may not work for the average collector. In that article, I theorized that maybe these new toys might fit in pretty well with some of the vintage Palitoy Action Force stuff.

In short, this Red Laser figure does fit in to an acceptable degree. It’s not as detailed as what Palitoy was doing back in the 80s, but it doesn’t look out of place, either.

I think this figure is pretty decent, but it shows that Super7 could sharpen some of their sculpts and add more details because many of the true old 5 POA action figure lines didn’t look anywhere as soft as what ReAction figures are doing. I know they’re going for a “vintage aesthetic,” but many actual 80s toys had much better details than these.

Verdict: It’s nice to have the option for an affordable Red Laser that fits in fairly well with old Action Force toys. But the figure’s lack of paint detail, while accurate to the source, make it look like a big block of red. The soft sculpt also doesn’t help matters. The working charging pack is nice, though, and it’s cool that Super7 is diving into the Action Force well. This figure is Mildly Recommended if you’re open to ReAction figures.

2022 Super7 ReAction Figure GI Joe Combat Engineer Review

The Super7 ReAction Figure GI Joe Combat Engineer was released in 2022 in the toy’s line 3rd wave.

Super7 officially lists this figure as “Female Combat Engineer Ponytail Hair (Brown) .” She was also produced in many other skin tone, hair color, and hair length variants. I appreciate that Super7 gives you options with their army builders.

I like the card art on this one, too. The Combat Engineer is in a dynamic pose and it adds some excitement to the packaging.

The file card is nothing special and doesn’t really tell you exactly what a combat engineer does, but it’s better than not getting any character information at all.

The GI Joe Combat Engineer is wearing brownish-green coveralls, orange gloves, an orange hat, an orange belt, and grey boots. I am sure these troops appeared in the Sunbow cartoon at some point, but I’m not sure when or where. The overall design seems to be loosely based on the 1985 Tollbooth figure (pictured at the beginning of this section), which is totally fine with me.

Update 6/29/23: I’ve been informed by several people (the first of whom was my friend Luke aka ArchivistPrime on Twitter) that this Combat Engineer is based on an unreleased figure from the original ARAH line, who would likely have been a repaint of Lady Jaye. You can find out more here. Thanks to everyone else who chimed in, too!

I do really like this figure’s head sculpt. She looks calm and focused, and there’s just enough detail in the face that she can fit in with other action figure lines.

There’s not too much detail on her clothing– just some cargo pockets on each leg and a splash of orange just below the shoulders.

The ponytail on this ReAction Combat Engineer looks really nice, though, and allows her a full range of neck articulation. I have no complaints there.

The back of the figure continues the trend. The paint is pretty well applied, but there’s not a ton of detail to be found.

For accessories, the Combat Engineer comes with a pistol and a satchel. I’m not sure entirely what the laser pistol is based on, but I imagine something similar appeared in the old cartoon at some point. Like the other weapons in the line, it lacks detail but works just fine. The figure can hold it, at least.

The satchel is a cooler accessory, but it sits a bit oddly on the figure because of the ponytail. You kind of have to wedge the bag’s strap between the toy’s back and hair, which creates kind of an unnatural fit for the strap. I guess you could just sling it over one shoulder, but it’s much more prone to fall off that way. Still, it’s a useful accessory for other figures, too.

I don’t have a ton more to say about the Combat Engineer. I think she looks good overall. She works well as a vehicle driver (especially for the Bomb Disposal) and as a background character in dioramas or photos. The 2022 Super7 ReAction Figure GI Joe Combat Engineer also represents something we don’t really see in Hasbro’s GI Joe line– someone with an ordinary, but important, job to do. Combat engineers are an essential military specialty and it’s nice to have some figure representation.

Tollbooth and Tunnel Rat can’t do everything by themselves.

Verdict: I like this one. It’s a basic, no-frills 5 POA figure, but it looks nice and fills a vital role. This Combat Engineer works as a vehicle driver or dio-filler, and I think she fits in well with many ARAH Joe figures. This one is nothing special, but it is Mildly Recommended.

Closing Thoughts on Super7 ReAction Figure GI Joe Raven, Red Laser, and Combat Engineer

Thanks for joining me today! Next time I’ll be looking at an actual Hasbro GI Joe figure, but maybe not one you’d expect.

Overall, I’m not bummed that I bought these. I still think they’re too expensive and they need a little bit of work, but select pieces from the GI Joe ReAction line can really help boost and diversify a collection.

Has your opinion on Super7’s GI Joe ReAction line changed? Have any of the more recent figures caught your eye? Let me know in the comments!