We've previously discussed the GI Joe Classified Series packaging design, but there's something that's been left unmentioned. While the right side of the box has the neat art, the left side has these strange symbols. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there's a sound logic behind them.
Reading from the top down, the icons represent the character's Role, Gear, Skill, and Mastery. We'll explain more about that shortly. To begin with, you need to know that all the characters, both Joe and Cobra, get ranked on scale from 1 to 4, with the symbol getting more complex as you go up.
To be part of GI Joe or Cobra, you have to be the best of the best at what you do, so while a level 1 may seem low, it still represents an elite level of proficiency.
As we said, the icons are broken up into four categories and are meant to give a clear and concise at-a-glance overview of each character:
ROLE
What the character does.
GEAR
What the character uses.
SKILL
What the character is good at.
MASTERY
What the character is best at.
So, if we look at today's Destro figure as an example, we can see that his stats are as follow:
- Role: Mechanical Engineering (Level 4)
- Gear: Light Weapons (Level 1)
- Skill: Black Market Deals (Level 3)
- Mastery: Weapons Development (Level 4)
There's definietly info to be gleaned from the art, if you want to take the time to decode everything that's there.
Darn it. Wish I'd known this sooner! I would've clipped and saved that side of the box alongside the art side!
It's also fun to kind of guess what characters will be coming up based on the symbols. Like, Firefly no doubt will have stats like
Role: Mercenary
Gear: Explosives
Skill: Covert Ops
Mastery: Explosives
but what would someone like, say, Wild Weasel or a Crimson Guardsman have?