This is Flash, G.I. Joe's laser rifle trooper from 1982. He was in the first series of G.I. Joe figures when the line was relaunched that year. He was first available in 1982 in this so-called straight arm version. He was reissued in 1983 with a new point of articulation with this so-called swivel arm version. I will explain what those terms mean later in this video. The swivel arm version of Flash was also available in 1984. He was discontinued for the year 1985 and in 1986 there was a new laser rifle trooper, Syphon. Flash is often confused with Grand Slam, another figure that was available at the same time. A figure that also had these red pads and came with a helmet and visor. Flash was one of the original Green 13. He was one of the first 13 members of G.I. Joe and just look at him. They're mostly green. Let's take a look at Flash's accessories. He is a laser rifle trooper so he comes with a laser rifle. This is the XMLR1A shoulder fired laser rifle and it has an attached wire here that connects to his backpack. This is a fantasy weapon. It is not based on a real world design but it does have a lot of detail added to make it look more realistic. In 1983 G.I. Joe finally won its battle against the laws of physics with the introduction of the XMLR3A laser rifle with the 1983 snow job. The XMLR3A that came with snow job is supposed to be the next generation laser rifle from Flash's XMLR1A and it became the standard laser rifle in the G.I. Joe animated series. In 1983 Hasbro released the first battle gear accessory pack which included some reissues of figure accessories in different color plastic. And one of the accessories released in the first battle gear accessory pack was Flash's laser rifle but it was done in this lighter color gray. Comparing the accessory pack version of the laser rifle to the original you can see the accessory pack version is a lighter color gray. Flash's next accessory is this clear visor and this visor clips onto the helmet. These little tabs on the inside of the visor clip onto the holes in the sides of the helmet. Of course the visor attached to the helmet and this is a standard helmet that came with most 1982 G.I. Joe action figures. And it is in this medium green color which matches the color of Flash's uniform. His final accessory is his backpack which serves as a power source for his laser. The backpack has some detail not a lot of detail. There is a difference between the 1982 version of this backpack and the 1983 version. The original 1982 version that came with the straight arm flash had this shorter and kind of squared off peg. Whereas the 1983 version with swivel arm flash had kind of a longer peg with a rounded tip. Let's take a look at Flash's articulation and this is where there is a major difference between the 1982 version of Flash and 1983. The original version of Flash could turn his head from left to right like that. He could also lift his arm up at the shoulder and he could swivel it at the shoulder all the way around. And then he had the single point of articulation at the elbow. He could move at the elbow about 90 degrees. In 1983 they added a new point of articulation on the arm. Not only could he move at the elbow about 90 degrees but he had a swivel at the bicep so he could swivel his arm all the way around. This was referred to as swivel arm battle grip. Both versions of the figure were held together with a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside. He allowed them to move at the torso a little bit. He could move his legs apart about so far. He could move his leg at the hip about 90 degrees and he could bend at the knee about 90 degrees. Let's take a look at the sculpt design and color of Flash starting with his head. And his head is very plain with a neutral expression. He is a Caucasian with brown hair. On his chest Flash has those very bright red pads with silver straps that continue onto the back. Flash's arms features sculpted pads on his biceps and brown gloves. And you can see a little bit of sculpting of additional pads on the back of his hands. The swivel arm version of Flash in addition to having the new point of articulation also has just painted on patches on his arms rather than the sculpted red pads. There's a difference in the waist piece between the 1982 and 1983 versions of Flash. The 1982 Flash has this thicker waist piece with a wide belt and an H shaped belt buckle. 1983 Flash has a thinner waist piece with a more detailed belt and a different shaped belt buckle. Flash's legs feature more red pads, these oval shaped pads here. And he has boot covers with what looks like buckles that go around the back and brown boots. Let's take a look at Flash's file card. This file card was printed on the back of the card on which the action figure was packaged. You can see some of the artwork on the front of the card there. And you can tell this is a card from 1982 Flash because in 1983 the swivel arm version of Flash advertised the new swivel arm battle grip and down in this corner of the card. It has its faction as G.I. Joe. It has a nice portrait of Flash right here. It says he is the laser rifle trooper and his codename is Flash. His file name is Anthony S. Gumbello. His primary military specialty is infantry. His secondary military specialty is electronics and CBR. This CBR stands for chemical, biological and radiological. This section says Flash is highly skilled in many aspects of electronic technology and is capable of equipment repair in the field. Specialized education, electronic school, chemical school, covert electronics, qualified expert M16, M1911A1, XMLR1A, shoulder fired laser rifle. This bottom section has a quote. It says Flash is methodical and persistent. He has an innate and unshakable faith in the order of the universe. He's working on his master's degree in electronic engineering in parentheses nights. Flash did appear in G.I. Joe Media in the cartoon series. He did appear infrequently and his specialty was changed from a laser rifle trooper to a flamethrower. But in the cartoon everybody used a laser rifle. So having a laser rifle specialist was really unnecessary. In the G.I. Joe comic book he first appeared in issue number one where he used his laser rifle as a cutting tool. Flash did appear in other issues of the G.I. Joe comic book but there are some peculiarities with his appearances. For instance, in issue number six, Grand Slam is selected for a mission. But in issue number seven we see that Flash is actually on the mission. In issue number 50 of the comic book, Flash appears but he calls himself Zap.


He's coming with the development of the defense to back y'all. It's a progress last week in the bathtub challenges. Man, we're just trying to come along week by week. Day by day, that's what we're practicing to get better just day by day. Getting all communication, everybody getting it synced, it's a process. So we're just working at it. What's your on-mit to your development over the last few weeks?  I mean, the whole safety, the whole DB, they're my dogs, man. Doron is my dog, man. Great leader, learned a lot from him. Instilled me with some free game, free knowledge, free nuggets. He got a lot of years, man, and a great player, hell of a player. He helped me out with a lot of things. So we're just constantly growing together. To their practice, perfect example. He sees something out there that I didn't see while I was in. And he was on the side like, hey, whoop, doop, doop. And I'm like, OK, for some, Makeda, you know what I'm saying? And I'm going to implement that. So we all help each other, man. He's a great leader, a great person to be in the room with. So is it help that he is like that personality-wise? Because if someone comes in and takes even just a couple of series like you did last week, some vets, OK, not like that all that much. And I'm not going to help you. In fact, does that help you that he's been so brilliant? Yeah, for sure. You know what I'm saying? Free game, free, like I said, free game, free knowledge, man. He has wisdom, you know, a man who's played out much of football, you know, and is good at it and does what he does, you know, that's it for sure. When did they tell you you would get some work last week?  So, yeah, yeah.  You know, I take a lot of mental reps, you know, just be dolled in when I'm at practice, you know. Plays when I'm in, be dolled in, go on and plan a time. Plays I'm not in, you know, I'm studying, you know, at the same time, and I'm just dolled in and focused on every rep that could be in all phases, even on special teams. Just learn to consistently and constantly say, yeah. To that end, you know, going from watching you last year to this year, it does kind of seem like the game has slowed down.  Um, I don't, I mean, I pay attention to myself, of course, in my growth. I just, you know, do a lot of study in.  Just a lot of little things, you know, comfortability and environment, you know, it came into a whole different environment, you know.  You talked about, I'm sorry. No, no, I was just gonna go off of that. You know, a lot of guys say, like, the jump that you make from year one to year two is, like, it's where you want to be. Like, it's what you want to see is a significant jump, and I was just curious, like, do you feel that way when you're out there playing? Um. Like, do you feel a jump? I mean, you know, I feel the hard work I put in, but I'm just about consistent growth. So, like, you know, I could feel that, but, you know, we're about winning, you know, I wanna win in my team, so, and I'm doing whatever it takes for me to win. For me to win, to help my teammates. I'm handling my 111, my square, my responsibility, what I gotta do. Tell my teammates when, you know, the better I'll do that, the better I can help the squad win. You talked about just the impact that a veteran like Doron Harmon has on you, but like Tori said, going from year one to year two, and now having a legend like DMPs, how has his philosophy, his schemes, just this approach helped you to just take that jump that much? You know, me out a lot too, man. That's another coach that's just been through it all, man. And I learned a lot from him, you know. We'll have like little side talks on the side, on the sideline, or I'll see him through the hallway, you know. He'll give me some, like I said, some free game knowledge on it. You could do this a little bit better.  Can you give us maybe one thing that he's helped you to add to the toolbox? Work hard. Work harder. Work hard, but work harder. I can't get on those stickers, but yeah. What are your, we'll go back to Deronis. What is one example of what Deronis told you? I don't know, you just watched a film of Deronis, you know, you're like, wow, I didn't see that in my games, man. I wasn't doing it. It could just be like the slightest things, the things that a lot of players won't think about.  I mean, I could get specific and I'll be a long list of things, but I'll just give you guys some rides or stuff like that, just, you know, awareness. Know when you're, know where you're at on the field, stuff like that, you know. We like this for some reason. We're good at this for some reason.  It's really interesting, I didn't mean to cut it off. No worries. It's really interesting because I feel like the secondary, we didn't know what to expect for the secondary kind of coming in. We had some guys from here, some young guys coming in, some workies and also, you know, with Doron and Eric. They're longtime vets. It was kind of a hot spot. Talking to AJ during his training camp, he said. Yeah, nice.    Just playing with energy and just enjoying being out there, you know.   Now, that's from the game, it's fun. It'd be serious, it could be.  You know, from seeing the extra work that we're putting in, after practice, consistency from the beginning of the OTAs and every study, every coming together, the attention to detail, the hot effort, you know, everybody running to the bar. You know, I like where we're headed, man. We just got to just keep going, you know. I learned that about my group.  So, yeah. Thank y'all. Appreciate y'all. Thank y'all.