No no, not that Dial-Tone. The less-sought-after-non-carded-but-still-fairly-rare Dial-Tone from JoeCon 2011. The one in the Special Mission: Brazil 2 deco. (The better one, if you ask me.) So why is that?
He's mostly a repaint of the ROC Zartan with 25th Airborne arms, 25th Dusty shoulder webgear, rifle from 25th Mainframe (which was always "borrowed" from Dial-Tone in the first place) and a new head and backpack which was shared with the single-carded/loose GI Joe Collector's Club Exclusive Dial-Tone.
The new head sculpt is pretty great, and the reason I got this figure (well, plus the backpack). After seeing pics of the carded figure and shots of him loose, which has spotty-at-best paint apps on the head, and a body combination that I was never too in love with, I decided to get this figure to make a hybrid with my previous custom Dial-Tone and forego the single-carded/loose release of Dial-Tone (although I have one coming from my Club membership, I'll be sending him to someone else, and he's already spoken for). $35 off eBay was the limit I was willing to pay, so I found him at that price and snagged it.
The head is not without fault... on mine, the paint is still a bit sloppy in areas—mostly at the hairline on the figure's "right" side (viewer's left) and the mustache paint mask is a bit square and doesn't quite match the sculpt—but you can really only tell this in person. From the photos, it doesn't even really show the issue. I plan to correct this after the review. The skin tone is also a lot closer to the other Hasbro "white" flesh tone, and not so "sunburnt" as what I have been able to detect from photos of the regular release. But compared to the other version, this head has great eyes, and the mustache looks much, much better. (For me, eyes are always an issue, and perhaps the biggest paint-app "fail" that Hasbro can make. The regular DT eyes look pretty rough depending on which figure you check out).
The modified backpack is also "better" on this figure, if you're for vintage accuracy. The single-carded one seems to be a more silvery gray, but I need one in-hand for comparison. From the photos I've seen though, I don't think it's the camera making the color change. This one is much lighter, and more accurate to the original vintage figure. The sculpt is nearly the same as the vintage figure, except it's made of a rubbery plastic this time around, has a new back peg to fit the 25th figures, and the mouth piece has been slightly resculpted. Otherwise, it appears to be a modified version of the same cast. (Pictures below in the second post for comparison... My vintage one had been modded for my custom, but you can get the idea.)
The body looks nothing like the original Special Mission: Brazil Dial-Tone, which isn't a bad thing. The new sculpt comes from the Rise of Cobra Zartan, and is a pretty solid figure base for the figure. The Dusty shoulder straps work well, and tie in with the other minor green highlights on the figure. With brown pants, green boots and belt, and a black long-sleeve top with a red undershirt, the original colors are there, but go together much more realistically as something someone may actually wear. And it's not like the single-carded/loose Club Dial-Tone is that accurate anyways... This is as close—if not a better torso and leg choice combination—than the Buzzer/Airborne combination used on the other figure.
The figure has few accessories, but what you'd expect as a "25th" rendering of the ARAH figure. Backpack with mic arm, rifle and stand (and removable webgear if you count that) but he doesn't need anything else. The rifle is the same as the one that came with the 25th Comic Pack Mainframe, which left some folks scratching their heads as to why it was included with Mainframe and not Dial-Tone... Was it a hint? I doubt it, just a coincidence, considering that the Club produced Dial-Tone, and not officially Hasbro (not in the main line, anyway).
He's mostly a repaint of the ROC Zartan with 25th Airborne arms, 25th Dusty shoulder webgear, rifle from 25th Mainframe (which was always "borrowed" from Dial-Tone in the first place) and a new head and backpack which was shared with the single-carded/loose GI Joe Collector's Club Exclusive Dial-Tone.
The new head sculpt is pretty great, and the reason I got this figure (well, plus the backpack). After seeing pics of the carded figure and shots of him loose, which has spotty-at-best paint apps on the head, and a body combination that I was never too in love with, I decided to get this figure to make a hybrid with my previous custom Dial-Tone and forego the single-carded/loose release of Dial-Tone (although I have one coming from my Club membership, I'll be sending him to someone else, and he's already spoken for). $35 off eBay was the limit I was willing to pay, so I found him at that price and snagged it.
The head is not without fault... on mine, the paint is still a bit sloppy in areas—mostly at the hairline on the figure's "right" side (viewer's left) and the mustache paint mask is a bit square and doesn't quite match the sculpt—but you can really only tell this in person. From the photos, it doesn't even really show the issue. I plan to correct this after the review. The skin tone is also a lot closer to the other Hasbro "white" flesh tone, and not so "sunburnt" as what I have been able to detect from photos of the regular release. But compared to the other version, this head has great eyes, and the mustache looks much, much better. (For me, eyes are always an issue, and perhaps the biggest paint-app "fail" that Hasbro can make. The regular DT eyes look pretty rough depending on which figure you check out).
The modified backpack is also "better" on this figure, if you're for vintage accuracy. The single-carded one seems to be a more silvery gray, but I need one in-hand for comparison. From the photos I've seen though, I don't think it's the camera making the color change. This one is much lighter, and more accurate to the original vintage figure. The sculpt is nearly the same as the vintage figure, except it's made of a rubbery plastic this time around, has a new back peg to fit the 25th figures, and the mouth piece has been slightly resculpted. Otherwise, it appears to be a modified version of the same cast. (Pictures below in the second post for comparison... My vintage one had been modded for my custom, but you can get the idea.)
The body looks nothing like the original Special Mission: Brazil Dial-Tone, which isn't a bad thing. The new sculpt comes from the Rise of Cobra Zartan, and is a pretty solid figure base for the figure. The Dusty shoulder straps work well, and tie in with the other minor green highlights on the figure. With brown pants, green boots and belt, and a black long-sleeve top with a red undershirt, the original colors are there, but go together much more realistically as something someone may actually wear. And it's not like the single-carded/loose Club Dial-Tone is that accurate anyways... This is as close—if not a better torso and leg choice combination—than the Buzzer/Airborne combination used on the other figure.
The figure has few accessories, but what you'd expect as a "25th" rendering of the ARAH figure. Backpack with mic arm, rifle and stand (and removable webgear if you count that) but he doesn't need anything else. The rifle is the same as the one that came with the 25th Comic Pack Mainframe, which left some folks scratching their heads as to why it was included with Mainframe and not Dial-Tone... Was it a hint? I doubt it, just a coincidence, considering that the Club produced Dial-Tone, and not officially Hasbro (not in the main line, anyway).
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Ah OK. What did you use for his webgear?