ZANZIBAR

All the other Dreadnoks can be described as biker-thug punks...I guess...may be just my own vague opinion (I just hope I don't offend any bikers, thugs, punks, or any combination of those). This guy is the resident pirate-themed guy. Zanzibar is actually the name of some island off of the coast of Africa, somewhere. You'd think with the z-name, he might be another of Zartan's siblings, but no. Now, this modern version is the only one out of the Dreadnok set that really upsets me. Why? He's missing two elements that make Zanzibar...uh, er...Zanzibar! One, the old Zanzibar had a top-knot...a "real" tuft of rooted hair sticking up out of the top of his noggin. This guy has none...sheesh! They coulda at least made a plastic one, but no...they chose none. That is probably Zanzibar's most iconic element and the thing that made the vintage figure unique. He was the only one with "real" hair. The other thing is his chest. Even if you are not familiar with the character, you gotta admit...you look at this figure and it's just missing something, isn't it? The old version had a tattered brown shirt on with armored shoulder pads over it. This guy has the armored shoulder pads down, but no shirt. Eh, just makes the figure look unfinished. Both blunders are indeed major bummers, making him the only bad figure out of the group. Admittedly, I still dig this figure despite the blaring omissions. I like what they did with him. The old one actually had no sword. What kind of stereotypical pirate has no sword? Anyway, I like that they seemed to bring out the color scheme more on the modern figure and add the compound boots to the figure. See, toy companies often reuse parts for toys. Hasbro does it a lot these days. Back in the 80s, most early Joes were all original parts...nowadays, it's actually an expected cost-cutting measure to reuse parts. Most of the bodies on these figures were used before. I haven't bothered rattling off what all the figure parts originally went to. One other note is the eye patch. The old Zanzibar's patch was on his right eye, and the new one is on his left. I wonder...is this an official blunder? The head sculpt is all-new. I mean, they did leave out the top-knot and the shirt, so it is possibly just laziness in research on the designer's/sculptor's part. One other theory: Zanzibar's personality profile makes him out to be, basically, a total bullcrap kinda guy. His second figure (a straight repaint of the original) which was released only a few years ago as a convention exclusive set had a file card further making comment that his eye patch may just be "for show" and that he actually wears it for dramatic effect. So, he may be dumb enough to not pay attention to what side he's wearing it on?! Not to toot my own horn, but a good theory. All in all, I liked the old Zanzibar, even though I never had one. He wasn't in the show (I'm not sure about the comic), but he was apparently fairly popular amongst fans on looks alone. His file cards even mention his character as being the least liked amongst his Dreadnok peers. Hmph! Well, even though the new figure lacks some key classic elements, he's still cool enough.