Incoming! New G.I.Joe Classified Series digital render reveals dropped today via the various “G.I.Joe” social media pages across the internet. The drop gives us a look at (3) upcoming Retro carded figures, along with a new deluxe figure/vehicle set. Check it out –
🚨 INCOMING TRANSMISSION 🚨
Here’s your first look at the next G.I. Joe Retro Cardback arrivals for 2026:
🔥 William “Wild Bill” Hardy
⚡ Techno-Viper
💥 Robert “Grunt” Graves
Classic heroes and villains, straight out of the vault and back on retro cards—just the way you remember them.
And that’s not all…
Destro is mobilizing with his Iron Grenadier Despoiler ⚔️
This thing is an absolute BEAST—seriously, the renders don’t even come close to doing its size justice.
Stay tuned… more intel coming soon.
Now, I don’t collect much classified, but for those that know me, you know that the Iron Grenadiers are by far my favorite sub-team, with IG Destro being my favorite figure in the line. There’s no way I’m missing out on this release!
Stay tuned, I’ll bring you more details as they’re made available.
SURVEILLANCE PORT 
I never got to collect the Iron Grenadiers in the 80s, but I loved the storylines when they made an appearance.
I’m still on the bubble about how I envision Destro because we’ve been conditioned to think of him as an honorable and highly intelligent leader with the MARS syndicate providing weapons to both sides, a shrewd and calculating man who could counter G.I. Joe’s Hawk if Cobra Commander saw himself as the better of General Flagg.
But I also like the hints that the cartoon and a few others let slip through that he’s not infallible and there’s a high probability he’s selling Cobra and others junk while using everyone for guinea pigs to test out the latest hare-brained technology.
“You’ve stolen a lot of money, why don’t we build a MASS device? Or a Weather Dominator…” or a more mundane pitch of “the US has an A-10, but I can give you a Rattler tanksmasher with a badass turret and some really boss pilot uniforms.”
Hoping we get a retro Iron Grenadier and the others soon, but I don’t think we’ll get a DEMON driver. It’s too big and the figure alone would just raise eyebrows. But I can make some room for an Antigravity Pod or an all-new vehicle even, instead of a callback to the 80s designs.
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Oh man, you’ve really hit on something with Destro that I think a lot of fans dance around but never quite articulate this well. That tension between “honorable arms dealer with a code” and “absolute snake oil salesman playing everyone for suckers” is honestly what makes him such a compelling character. Like, both interpretations are right there in the source material, which is kind of brilliant writing whether intentional or not.
The MASS Device pitch is chef’s kiss when you frame it that way. Destro’s essentially upselling Cobra Commander on the most overcomplicated, catastrophically unstable weapons imaginable, and you have to wonder…is he genuinely proud of this stuff, or is he sitting in Castle Destro cackling because he just unloaded another half-baked prototype on a guy wearing a hood? The Rattler pitch is even better because it’s so grounded — yeah, it’s a real tank smasher, but Destro absolutely marked it up 400% and threw in the chrome helmets as a “value add.”
The Iron Grenadiers had such a great visual identity for a faction that didn’t get nearly enough shelf time. There’s something about that gold and black aesthetic that just screamed professional compared to Cobra’s sometimes chaotic troop designs. You could feel the MARS branding even as a kid.
Your read on the DEMON driver is spot on; That vehicle was already pushing it in terms of scale, and a dedicated driver figure in today’s collector market would be priced like it came with a deed to Castle Destro. An Antigravity Pod would be a fantastic compromise though. Smaller footprint, wildly fun concept, and honestly more Destro energy (why invade conventionally when you can float menacingly?). That said, I will miss not having a place to dock the Despoiler on top of. I guess there’s always printed options to pursue if need be.
Here’s hoping Hasbro reads the room on this one. The retro collectors are absolutely there for it.
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