Supercop (Funskool Exclusive)

A little over a year ago, an online friend of mine sent me an email asking if I had ever heard of a Supercop figure from India and if I had any idea as to what it might be. At the time, I had not heard of the figure. I thought it might be a figure mold from the short lived toy line called Cops in the US. However, as Funskool had made the now infamous Superhero figure, I also hypothesized that it could be something completely different. A few weeks later when the first Supercop figure had its coming out party in the US, I learned that it was the second (and less constraining) suggestion that turned out to be the truth. After the initial furor over the figure died down, though, I realized that Funskool had actually put together something incredibly nice. The Supercop figure, while not really a part of the Joe mythos, has since become a vital part of my collection.

For foreign Joe variation collectors, Supercop is the best of both worlds. Not only does he utilize the parts from several different figure molds to create his amalgamation, all of those parts are also recolored from their original incarnations. The figure uses Sgt. Slaughter's head, Iceberg's arms and Hawk's chest and legs. He is totally recolored in a deep blue hue with white and gold accents. The end result is a figure that looks like a cross between the stereotypical small town sheriff you see in movies and an MP. It truly is a perfect blend of figure parts and colors that creates a figure whose purpose is immediately deductible from his appearance.

Based on the card markings, it appears that the Supercop figure first appeared around 1994. How long he was in production is really not known. However, all of his parts save the head were returned to Hasbro in 1997 and used to create the 15th Anniversary figures from that year. As such, the longest this figure could have been in production was for about 3 or so years. Aside from this carded version, though, Supercop was also available with the Super Cop Rescue Squad. This is a set of 4 recolored vehicles (Devilfish, Fang, Vamp, and Silver Mirage Motorcycle) to look like police vehicles. Like the carded figure, this set was widely imported in 2001. From this variety of sources, though, have arisen several variations in the Super Cop figure. Most of them are colorations and they are relatively minor. There has also been a waist piece variation as well. I would suggest you visit TNT's Web Camp. It is an excellent resource for both foreign and domestic Joe figure variations.

11/1/02 Addendum

The following information on SuperCop variations is courtesy of Ron Conner from TNT's Web Camp. So far, there are four versions of the SuperCop figure that he has confirmed. They are as follows:

* dark blue outfit - Flint waist - unknown upper arms (found carded) * dark blue outfit - Flint waist - Hawk upper arms (found in the box)

* dark blue outfit - Hawk waist - Hawk upper arms (found in the box)

* very dark bluish black outfit - Hawk waist - Hawk upper arms (found in the box)   The 5th version is picture on the box, but it might just be Funskool's prototype/mock-up. So there are no confirmed sightings of one in collections....yet.

* dark blue outfit - Scrap Iron waist - Hawk upper arms (found pictured on the box).   I would like to extend a bit thanks to Ron for the work he has done cataloging Funskool variations and for sharing that information so freely.

In my collection, Super Cop is a long running character. when I was a child, I once took apart my Dial Tone and Mainframe figures. I then gave Dial Tone Mainframe's chest and had him be a new character. (While some of my ideas were complex, others were horribly uninspired.) I used this figure most often as a security commander who was in charge of criminal investigations. He lead my two normal Dial Tone figures who were the security troopers. This purpose stuck to the figure and when I first returned to Joe collecting in the mid - '90's, I found this figure and once again used him in this capacity. I even went to far as to give him a Chuckles' holster in which he kept a Tiger Force Flint's shotgun. (As an interesting aside, the figure also includes a version of Chuckles' handgun.) This was his trademark. I named the figure Captain Farkus and had him be a tough as nails law enforcement officer who was sent on the most dangerous assignments.

Shortly after I moved that figure to Arizona, though, his O-ring broke. While hardly a catastrophic occurrence, it was enough for me to relegate the character to a lesser role. I had become disenfranchised with the look of that old figure and wanted something new. As per my M.O., I waited it out and kind of forgot about the character. However, the minute I saw Super Cop, I knew that Captain Farkus had returned. The look of the Super Cop figure was exactly what I was looking for in a Captain Farkus figure.

As soon as I opened my Super Cop figure, I attached the holster with the shotgun still in it and Captain Farkus returned to my collection. Now, he spends his time tracking down characters like those portrayed by the Funskool Red Dog and Funskool Cross Country figures. It is great fun and allows for some great expansion upon the traditional G.I. Joe themes. I think this is why I enjoy non-traditional figures like this guy so much. He allows me to expand my Joe world with traditionally produced figures that are not bogged down in "canonical" background stories.

While Supercop figures are not really that hard to find, they are also not that common. A great deal of them was imported to the U.S. in 2001. However, prior to that, this figure was pretty much unknown. As such, in the grand scheme of things, I think this figure will become relatively hard to find. Right now, though, he is still readily available for under $15 for a MOC specimen. As there is some serious bias against Funskool figures, though, I don't ever see this guy becoming a key to any collection. He is a great addition to any collection and is a figure I highly recommend. I know that others have no use for a figure like this, but I have found him to be very nice. Should an opportunity to add this figure to your collection arise, I would highly suggest that you seriously consider adding Super Cop to your collection.

If you have any questions, or comments, email me.