It's1 1987 and the addition of Sgt. Slaughter to the GI Joe team has been a huge success. Then Marvel Comics' GI Joe: Order of Battle #2 (the Joes version of The Official Handbook...) comes out, and what's this inside? "Rocky"? It seems General Hawk wanted someone with willpower and gumption to train the Joes how to never give up, and who better to do that than the Italian Stallion? In '87 nine year old me couldn't google search what the heck was going on, so we just had to assume Rocky was a Joe was fact.

Then Order of Battle 3 came out and there was a retraction page saying Rocky Balboa was mistakenly included in the book and never was nor ever will be a member of GI Joe.

Curiouser and curiouser....

So what happened? I turns out Hasbro and Sly Stallone were in talks to license his likeness to make Rocky the next pop culture hero to join the Joe team. But Marvel got a little ahead of themselves and Sly pulled out at the last minute to do a deal with Coleco to make Rambo figures instead. Big Boa, who came out around the same time was supposed to be his Cobra counterpart.

I forgot about that Marvel issue for decades until recent years when I ran across it again and did some easy research t find out the backstory. And now you know...

So I decided to make a version myself though I decided to forego the silly boxing glove pugil stick instead going with the white gloves version thatr appeared shirtless in the Marvel Comics issue. So I guess he's kind of my Ultimate version? Anyway, I looked forever for a good 3.75 Rocky head cast. I saw a few Rambo and Expendables Sly heads, but then I finally found this one on eBay. The gloves I got casted from Ragin Spoon, while the upper torso came from an X-men Origins Wolverine Logan figure. The arms came from a Retaliation Roadblock while the lower torso and legs came from a Rise of Cobra Storm Shadow.

...and knowing is half the battle.

Yo Joe!