X Review: Roadblock

There are 20 prior incarnations of Roadblock, starting back in 1984. Since then he’s been single-packed, two-packed, and in box sets.

From the classic filecard:

File Name: Hinton, Marvin F.
SN: RA538203485
Grade: E-4
Birthplace: Biloxi, Mississippi
Primary Specialty: Infantry Heavy Weapons
Secondary Specialty: Cook

Roadblock’s dream was to be a gourmet chef. He was working as a bouncer to earn money to attend the Escoffier School in France when an army recruiter convinced him that the army could train him to be a chef. Roadblock joined but found army menus and preparation techniques too appalling. Transferred to the infantry, Qualified expert: M-2 Browning .50 cal.; Heavy Machine Gun; all Warsaw Pact Heavy MGs; M-16; M-1911A1 Auto Pistol.

“A .50 cal. Browning weighs 84 pounds. Add fifty pounds for the ammo–that’s about 134 pounds of steel generating 2930 f.p.s. in muzzle velocity at a cyclic rate of 550 r.p.m. Anybody who can handle that doesn’t need a machine gun to keep me away!”

From the Amazon pack filecard:

Code Name: Roadblock
Name: Marvin F. Hinton
Military Specialty: Ninja Commando
Primary Weapons: Battle-Kata weapons system

Roadblock leads the G.I. Joe team in the fight against Cobra. Growing up on tough city streets, he was headed down the wrong path until Snake Eyes saw his potential. After years of intensive ninja training, and military experience, Roadblock has developed the unique Battle-Kata fighting system that uses on-the-fly weapon switching and martial arts moves to take out attackers.

I was so happy to see a real filecard with this pack. Until I read it. Sigh.