Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles

Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles (G.I. Joe)
Type	Action Figures
Company	Hasbro
Country	United States
Availability	1994–1995
Slogan	"From out of the past, to save the day!"
Official website

Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles is the name of a short-lived line of G.I. Joe, the military-themed toys by Hasbro. The main character is an imposing "Hard charger from the greatest generation" as depicted in his various filecards.^[1] Survivor of Omaha Beach and an infantry commander renowned for his skill, who after being frozen for over 50 years is resurrected and found out that he was subject of experiments made by the enemy. Now in the present, he possesses incredible levels of physical strength and enhanced reflexes. Devoted to destroy a "recently created" enemy team for the series called I.R.O.N. Army (International Robotic Operations Network) and its leader, General Blitz, Savage now joins forces with the G.I. Joe Team.

Toyline

The toyline is notorious for the way Hasbro eliminated the old O-ring hip system that allowed a figure to sustain the legs and provided the figure's hip articulation point, replaced by a simplier vessel for a twist peg inside the legs' frame. It is even more noticeable that the new scale used for the whole line is 4.5" instead of the classical 3.75".

Action Figures

Sixteen 4.5" and one 12" figures were produced, 6 of Sgt. Savage (1 of them a "mail-in" exclusive), 3 of Gen. Blitz, 2 of D-Day, 2 of Dynamite, 2 of I.R.O.N. Troopers and 1 of I.R.O.N. Anvil. The 12" figure was a Hall of Fame called Total Combat Sgt. Savage.

Vehicles

Three vehicles were produced for the toy line, a Jeep, a P-40 Warhawk and an enhanced enemy Panzer I.

Fictional Biography

G.I. Joe character
Cover of the toyline's mini comic, art by Joe Kubert
Sgt. Savage
Affiliation	G.I. Joe
Specialty	Infantry Commander
File name	Savage, Robert Stephen
Birthplace	Albany, NY
SN	SVGA586566
Rank	E-8 (Master Sgt.)
Primary MOS	Infantry Commander
Secondary MOS	Commando / Heavy Weapons
Subgroups	U.S. Army
Series	The Screaming Eagles / Extreme
Voiced by	Michael Donovan (Sgt. Savage and the Screaming Eagles / G.I. Joe Extreme)
Year introduced	1994

Cartoon

Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles was a single 30 minute cartoon produced by Sunbow and animated by AKOM. It was designed to promote the short-lived Sgt. Savage toyline, and a video tape of the episode was included with select figures.

This first and only episode was titled "Old Heroes Never Die", and was created by Sunbow/Gunther-Wahl Productions. A 1940s Newsreel details the story of how Sgt. Robert Stephen Savage, a War Hero awarded with the Medal of Honor in the World War II European theater, "dies" along with his entire company in a failed raid against a German scientific facility. Later, such place is discovered by a news team in the middle 1990's, it turns out that Savage survived. His frozen body is discovered, and is given to the Joes for further research. A robotic trooper invades the Joes' scientific facility, Savage awakens in the nick of time to rescue Gen. Hawk, Lady Jaye and Doc.

According to Savage, the raid where all his company died was spoiled by a traitor amongst his ranks. Later, a scientist called Dr. Garret Stromm announces to the Joes that a new super advanced space platform is about to be deployed. Savage identifies the scientist as Lt. Garrison Krieger, the traitor himself. Savage also learns that during WWII he was Krieger's guinea pig in genetic experiments and now he possesses super strength and increased reflexes, these "powers", as his whole physical condition wanes from time to time. Savage is then introduced to his new team, a squad of 6 experts in different scientific fields, all well seasoned sergeants, but unable to follow direct orders, after a brief skirmish, Savage takes control of them, now calling themselves the "Screaming Eagles".

Krieger is later seen communicating to Cobra Commander that his new "I.R.O.N. Army" is ready to be deployed, how they help the Cobra Command formation and that they are a force to be reckoned with. At the same time, the Eagles are checking the invading robot's remains, and they realize that the space platform Krieger, who now calls himself "General Blitz" helped to build is really a Doomsday device meant to control every computer system on the planet (aiming mainly at the Strategic Defense Initiative), so Savage and his team go forth to stop Blitz, his plans, and his new, completely robotic I.R.O.N. Troopers.^[2]

Hasbro Mini Comics

Savage and his team appears in a couple of mini comics titled Sgt. Savage vs. Gen. Blitz (Parts 1 & 2) within the toyline created by Joe Kubert. They depict a battle protecting an atomic plant against the feared "I.R.O.N. Troopers" and its leader, Gen. Blitz.

As a "finale" for the whole line, Hasbro stated that Savage left the team, his "Screaming Eagles" in tow, and he operates as second-in-command of Special Counter-Terrorism Unit Delta (a.k.a. G. I. Joe), possibly a hint to the company's new series, G.I. Joe Extreme .

Characters

The Screaming Eagles

A team of six well seasoned specialists on every technology and military field.

D-Day: David X. Brewi, a former Golden Gloves champion and the heavy weapons specialist.

Dynamite: Hector J. Garrido, an Argentinian chemist with "love for explosives", demolitions expert.

Grill: Darren K. Filbert, a genius in mechanics, creator of all the Eagle's arsenal and vehicles.

Head Banger: Kevin M. Kaye, a "Heavy rocker" with a knack for communications systems.

Mouse: Morris L. Sanderson, a clumsy mountain of a man, and the team's head hacker.

Tank: Dwight M. Prudence. Maybe the less developed character, he is the vehicles´ master operator.

The I.R.O.N. Army

The "International Robotic Operations Network", a shadowy cabal of elite enemy cyber-soldiers from WWII.

General Blitz: Garrison Krieger, a WWII American lieutenant, who really is a master geneticist and genius in robotics working for the enemy.

I.R.O.N. Troopers: A veritable army of cyber Behemoths created by Krieger back in the WWII as a "new master race" for world domination.

Anvils: I.R.O.N. Army master vehicle operators, artillery experts and apparently, the only non-cyborg enemies.

Live-action movie

Mouse will appear in G.I. Joe: Retaliation portrayed by Joseph Mazzello.

References

1. ^ http://www.yojoe.com/sgtsavage/
2. ^ http://gijoe.wikia.com/wiki/Sgt._Savage_and_the_Screaming_Eagles_(cartoon)

External links

• Sgt. Savage and his Screaming Eagles on Joepedia, an external wiki
• Sgt. Savage Archive at YOJOE.com
• Sgt. Savage at JMM's G.I. Joe Comics Home Page