Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Rarities - Funskool Calcium Sandoz Figures

Funskool is notorious for producing their figures for a variety of corporate tie ins.  As they are owned by a rubber company who makes its fortune in tires, they have a bit different approach to product tie ins that a major American toy company may have.  In many ways, Funskool's corporate partnerships in the 1990's and early 2000's were reminiscent of Hasbro's and Kenner's from the 1970's and 1980's.  Along with Pepsodent, Complan and TV marketing deals, Funskool also worked with Calcium Valdoz for a series of figures based on G.I. Joe molds.

I'm not sure what Calcium Sandoz is.  It's a supplement of some sort that was discontinued in the UK in 2015.  But, in an effort to get children in India to take it, the company that produced the product worked with Funskool to offer some G.I. Joe figures as a promotional opportunity.  The figures were different from classic Funskool releases in two ways.  First, most of the figures are unique color schemes to the Calcium Sandoz premium.  But, more interestingly, all of the figures have a new pair of straight arms on them.  Below you can see some samples of the figures and the exclusive color schemes that go with them.

Hydro Viper:

The Hydro Viper is one of the best recolors of the line.  This blue version would be a great crew-member on a Moray.  The terrible arms, though, mostly ruin what should be a classic repaint.  It's too bad that this color scheme was never offered with the swivel arms on the standard cardback.

Funskool Calcium Sandoz Stormshadow Figures, Big Boa, Blaster, Captain Grid Iron, Psyche Out, Deep Six, Desert Scorpion, Lifeline, Sci Fi, Hydro Viper


You can see a sample of Stormshadow in the photo below.  He is missing the classic cammo pattern from the 1988 mold.

Funskool Calcium Sandoz Stormshadow Figures, Big Boa, Blaster, Captain Grid Iron, Psyche Out, Deep Six, Desert Scorpion, Lifeline, Sci Fi
Funskool Calcium Sandoz Stormshadow Figures
You see that the arms are not the original Hasbro molds for straight arms.  For some reason, these figures were all given these new arms.  This is odd as the copyright for these figures is from 2003: a timeframe when we know that Funskool was still producing carded G.I. Joe figures and had full access to the original molds.  Below you can see a Captain Grid Iron figure with the exclusive coloring as well as the back of the insert card showing not only Grid Iron's bio, but the copyright date, too.  Also note that his colors are drastically different than the carded figure variants.

Funskool Calcium Sandoz Stormshadow Figures, Captain Grid Iron
Funskool Calcium Sandoz Captain Grid Iron Figure
Funskool Calcium Sandoz Captain Grid Iron Insert & Bio


There are a lot of different figures in the set.  I'm not sure of the entire roster.  I have included the figures of whom I am aware in this post.  But, please let me know of additional figures in the comments below.

Blaster:

Here you will see Blaster with a body colored like the "Vehicle Driver" Blaster that was found bagged inside of specific vehicles in the early 2000's.  It's appearance here actually helps us understand how such a variant came to appear in vehicles.  But, this figure also uses the color scheme from the 2001 Funskool General Hawk.

Funskool Calcium Sandoz Stormshadow Figures, Big Boa, Blaster, Captain Grid Iron, Psyche Out, Deep Six, Desert Scorpion, Lifeline, Sci Fi


Deep Six:

Deep Six is colored very similarly to the single carded figure.  There are some variants on this figure with plastic that's more translucent or opaque.

Funskool Calcium Sandoz Stormshadow Figures, Big Boa, Blaster, Captain Grid Iron, Psyche Out, Deep Six, Desert Scorpion, Lifeline, Sci Fi


Desert Scorpion:

This Desert Scorpion is an interesting combo.  He has unique lower arms that are still the straight arms.  The figure's general base colors are similar to the single carded figure.  But, the figure lacks highlights and has some color differences such as the color of the figure's head/antenna.

Funskool Calcium Sandoz Stormshadow Figures, Big Boa, Blaster, Captain Grid Iron, Psyche Out, Deep Six, Desert Scorpion, Lifeline, Sci Fi


Star Brigade Sci Fi:

Again, Sci Fi has unique lower arms.  But, the figure is colored almost identically to the single carded version of the figure.

Funskool Calcium Sandoz Stormshadow Figures, Big Boa, Blaster, Captain Grid Iron, Psyche Out, Deep Six, Desert Scorpion, Lifeline, Sci Fi


Lifeline:

Lifeline uses base colors similar to the carded figure.  But, this version is missing all the paint applications.  The Funskool Lifeline has very intricate paint masks an their absence here makes the figure look unfinished.

Funskool Calcium Sandoz Stormshadow Figures, Big Boa, Blaster, Captain Grid Iron, Psyche Out, Deep Six, Desert Scorpion, Lifeline, Sci Fi


Psyche Out:

Like Blaster, this Psyche Out is in the colors of the mysterious "Vehicle Drivers" set.  But, this version has the terrible straight arms.  This color scheme for Psyche Out, but with the swivel arms, has been found in Funskool Halibna and Maldova promotional figures, too.

Funskool Calcium Sandoz Stormshadow Figures, Big Boa, Blaster, Captain Grid Iron, Psyche Out, Deep Six, Desert Scorpion, Lifeline, Sci Fi


Big Boa:

Big Boa is blue.  As a figure, this is probably his best base coloring.  The head is also more silver than the grey version from the single carded figure.

Funskool Calcium Sandoz Stormshadow Figures, Big Boa, Blaster, Captain Grid Iron, Psyche Out, Deep Six, Desert Scorpion, Lifeline, Sci Fi


The Calcium Sandoz figures have gotten to be stupidly expensive.  Bagged versions can run upwards of $500.  But, like most foreign Joes, these guys were easier to find just a couple of years ago.  And, now, many characters have all but disappeared.  However, as these were 2000's era releases, it's likely that there are more of them out there that will show up as kids from that time start looking to liquidate some toys. Until then, though, these guys are hard to find and expensive.

8 comments:

  1. Fantastic write-up! It's so cool to see all of the offerings in one place. I couldn't agree more though, straight arms ruin what would be fun offerings.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Big Boa has Blocker's legs, which is interesting. Makes him look a bit more combat ready. Scorpion has an odd mix of Dodger's waist and thighs with Blocker's lower legs. Whose legs does Grid-Iron have? Red Dog's?

    I was gonna write "Where are the others?" But Dial-Tone, Karate Fighter and Wireless Tracker are Maltova.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've got the Maltova/Halibna figures saved for next year. (Along with some fun Beach Head variants.)

      Delete
  3. Hey Mike!

    I briefied you a few days ago about one of these figures that was on Ebay. That was a Cutter with Countdown’s head, named “Wireless Tracker”.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I appreciate the heads up. The Cutter/Countdown was either a Maldova or Halibna (can't recall which, though!). I've got them slated for next year's Rarities month. I'm about out of banked stuff. So, had to hold them back for next year. Maybe more new ones will show up in the interim. (I've got one KFC promo figure, too, that needs to find an open slot.)

      Delete
    2. Fingers crossed on that KFC promo figure!

      Delete
    3. Cool, you learn something new each day, I see the funskool line much like the trilogo star wars line where they seemed like the poorer cousin but now are really sought after with some cool variants, i love the purple colored tripwire

      Delete
  4. I never knew about these :D I have 7 of these funskool pepsodent joes :) : https://youtu.be/dLvevY8fkLw

    ReplyDelete