Rarities - Canadian Stinger & ASP Set

Canada got a few G.I. Joe exclusives.  The most famous are the all black repaints of the VAMP and MMS (the M.S.V.) and MOBAT (the Consumer Distributing Cobra Combat Tank), Canada also got another exclusive gift set.  This time, though, the vehicles included were the same as the regular release.  It was their bundling and exlusive packaging that set they apart.

Rarities - Unproduced Wal Mart Duke Variant

In 2003, Hasbro confirmed that Wal Mart would be getting an exclusive set of figures.  Originally, they were planned to be "Sky Patrol" figure who would have parachutes.  The figures would have been vintage Joe style.  But, along the way, something happened.  Supposedly, the parachutes didn't pass a safety test.  So, the figures were cancelled and replaced with JvC style figures.

However, Hasbro did produce a small run of the figures that became available to Asian Joe sellers.  The main six figures were widely available.  But, there were also several variants of the figures that were available.  The most egregious is the Duke figure.

The more common figure has Duke's traditional blonde hair.  He also had dark brown pants.  But, there is also a variant available where Duke has brown hair and greener pants.  You can see the alternate figure in the pictures below.  The alternate photo that was common has tan elbows.  But, there are likely figures with the correctly colored arms, too.  In general, the blonde Duke is more desirable just due to the traditional hair color.  But, these days, either figure is a pain to find.

Rarities - Kaido Knock Offs

Many companies tried to capitalize on the success of G.I. Joe.  In most cases, they simply copied the general body construction, scale and packaging elements of the Joe line in an attempt to catch the scraps that fell out from uninformed gift givers or cheap relatives.  Most of these lines are forgettable and don't really mesh with the Joe line all that well.  In a few of them, though, Joe parts were repurposed.  Lanard, maker of the CORPS! (the most successful of the Joe copycats) took a few key Hasbro parts (Torch's torch, backpacks from Flint, Footloose and Blowtorch, etc.), made slight modifications to them and the released them as part of the gear in their figure lines.  Lucky Bell went a step further to simply combine multiple Hasbro accessories into something new that was included with their figures.  The Kaido line, by Bikin, went even further by taking gear not just from Hasbro, but also Lanard.  Below you can get an idea of the Kaido figures and some of the gear that was taken from the Joe line and rehashed into something new.

Rarities - Unproduced 2004 White Pants Night Force Action Man

The 2004 Night Force set was highly anticipated.  But, it also went through many iterations in pre-production before the final product was released.  The figure that most affected was the Tracker/Action Man figure.  Originally, the figure was meant to be Night Force Tracker.  But, he then came to be Action Man.  In between, the entire Night Force set had white pants.  So, after Tracker was changed to Action Man, but before the pants were changed to black, Hasbro made a few of these Action Man figures with white pants.

Rarities - Plastirama Filecards

In the mid 2010's, I tried to set up an international filecard archive with scans and translations of every foreign filecard I owned.  For a time, it was up and I finished translating all the Plastirama filecards from Argentina.  Then, I lost the file....

So, I thought I'd put up the scans of the old filecards and, over time, maybe retranslate them.  Most of the text isn't all that interesting.  But, below, you can see most of the more common Plastirama filecards.  There's a few gems like the Cobra De Hielo being a new character and Sgto. Slaughter's name being Alan Heavy.  But, for the most part, the filecards aren't all that great.  But, they are a fun piece of the line's history.

Rarities - Unknown Funskool Bomb Disposal and Torpedo

I don't recall the origin of the image below.  I seem to recall it being in a piece of Funskool promotional material.  The image likely came to me in the early 2000's and has been sitting in a folder ever since.  But, as you can see, this is an entirely different Bomb Disposal.  Gone is the bright Funskool green.  Instead, the base is done in an interesting tan color.  The arm and blast shields also aren't as glossy black as the Funskool production model.

On top of that, there is the weird Torpedo figure in the driver's seat.  The figure features a very orange chest...much darker than the yellow Torpedo that is a well known Funskool variant.

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Funskool Bomb Disposal that was released, having a tan alternative would have been a great addition to the line.  It would have been a more distinctive variant and something that would have warranted a purchase by many collectors who passed by a simple green shading difference.

I am not aware of any samples of a Bomb Disposal or Torpedo in these color schemes existing in the collecting world.  But, so many people like to hide stuff that there might be a few of them around and those who own them will fume that their special item made it to the light of day.  In some ways, I hope so.  It's unlikely that Funskool kitbashed this item together.  So, there's probably a few that were made at one point.  Whether they still exist, though, is something different.

Rarities - Later Series Lucky Bell Power Commandos

The Power Commandos were an obscure brand of Joe knock offs that few collectors really paid attention to.  However, after large quantities of the first series of 6 figures were found in Mexico and were cheaply sold to Joe collectors, they became a bit more famous.  Lost in the weirdness of a Mummy man and his friends, though, is the fact that the figures are spectacular rip offs of Joe...even going so far as to kitbash Joe weapons.  Beyond the first series of 6 figures, though, are at least two other waves of Power Commando figures.  The first additional wave contains repaints of the original assortment as well as a couple of new sculpts.  The second additional wave, though, features some interesting sculpts for Joe fans as you will see below.

The second wave of Lucky Bell figures included repaints of the 6 figures from the first wave.  Some of the new colors are subtle.  Others are not.  This series also saw the introduction of green weapons with the figures.  Along with the repaints, there are also 6 new figures that were introduced.  Among these are some releases that any Cobra fan will both recognize and instantly want.  So, we'll start with the good stuff first.  A HUGE thanks to the Black Major for these pics.

Below are Nite Serpent and Communicator.  You will see that Communicator is, essentially, a Cobra BAT.  He has an arm attachment (though, that was released in the first series) and his head is a dead ringer for the famous Battle Android Trooper.  Nite Serpent is even more blatant.  The figure's head is a near twin of the 1985 Crimson Guard and his body (also re-used from the 1st series) is a straight homage of the 1986 Viper.  Then, there's the colors.  He is Cobra blue and red.  Honestly, Nite Serpent is more Cobra than pretty much any figure Hasbro released after 1986.  

The cardback shows all 12 of the figures released in the 2nd series.  You see all the repainted figures as well as the newly sculpted parts.  Here are additional photos of the other figures where you can see the differences.  (To this day, I have never seen a Soundspeed or a Sniper figure from this series. The molds do show up in Wave 3, though.)

These six figures from top to bottom, left to right are: Condor Strike, Mummy Mask, Red Raven, Nite Serpent, Communicator and Metal Hawk.  This variant of Condor Strike features different parts than the original figure  He appears to be the only first series figure to now have major construction differences.  Mummy Mask is notable for his dark blue shirt and white pants.  Were his head colored in the same blue, this would definitely be a candidate for Cobra indoctrination.  Red Raven's upper body appears very much the same as his first series coloring.  He now, though, features white/tan pants.  Nite Serpent and Communicator were showcased above.  Metal Hawk (who might now be my favorite of the first six Power Commando figures) now has a lighter blue chest and the green pants.  Overall, if you're only casually interested in these figures, the fact that there are variants may slip by you.  It wasn't until I researched Mummy Mask a while ago that I realized these repaints existed at all.

Here are two photos of Lynx Eye Jack: another of the newly released figures in the second wave.  You'll note the color differences.  But, these are likely just due to age and improper storage.  The grayer figure is likely just a sun/heat damaged version of the light blue original.  Light blue plastic does not hold up well over time and is very prone to discoloration and that's the likely culprit of the visual differences in the figures below.  In the 2nd photo, you'll see the variant X Ray Eye figure.  His main difference is the orange boots.  Though, there may be other slight shading differences on the reds and greens as well.

Here you can see Lynx Eye Jack's packmate, Laser Cut.  This figure features a new, robotic looking head.  The dark blue and red body makes for another figure that would be easily integrated into a Cobra army.  You can also see a better photo of the Mummy Mask repaint.

A better photo of the Metal Hawk repaint as well as the second wave Submarine figure.  Submarine appears to be a lighter blue color than the first wave (though, this could be heat/sun damage) and now features blue pants.

Better photos of Condor Strike and Red Raven.  Condor Strike now features a different chest and arms.  Though, his legs appear to be the same as his original release.  Red Raven also now has white pants.

Some more photos, including some of the green weapons.  (Note, the 1996 POTF II era Tie Fighter Pilot rifle is just in the photo.  It was not included with these figures.)  There were no new weapons sculpted for the later wave figures.  Even the new figures included gear that was recycled from the original releases.  The green color, though, is new.

Here's a carded image of Mummy Mask/Metal Hawk.  You'll note the darker blue on Mummy Mask and his white pants.  Metal Hawk has green pants and red boots.  You see the green weapons in the package, though.  The molds of the accessories are the same as the Wave 1 figures and it doesn't appear any accessories debuted in later waves as they were all carry overs from the original releases.  But, the green color is distinct to the repainted figure wave.  You will note that the figures actually better match the card artwork.  The first wave figures featured the same card art, though, so the original releases didn't really match the coloring of the art like they did in the second series.

The third wave is the rarest and most desirable of all.  These figures were single carded.  You'll notice even more familiar parts in this series.  The bright colors really add to the bizarreness of the designs.  But, as "Space Age Soldiers", the overall ensemble works quite well.  There were at least 6 figures in this series and they rarely appear for sale.

The first figure is the same mold as Sound Speed from wave II.  He now has new, very 1990's colors.  This figure is very close to the Cobra Eel and even includes flippers.

Next up is Laser Cut.  The purple colors are new to this single carded wave. 

Lynx Eye Jack also got a brightly colored makeover.

I don't know who this figure is.  He uses the Condor Strike head, but different body parts from the other two Condor Strike releases.  I guess Condor Strike liked to have a variety of outfits and not just the same style in different colors.

Next up is Communicator.  (Again, I'm guessing at the names based on the figure's head.)  Again, the nice purples and browns appear and would be a great complement to the purple Cobras that debuted in 1986 and later.  I love that this figure features a robotic head and hand, but also flippers for use underwater.

Finally, we have the Nite Serpent figure.  Now, though, he features a different chest that's derived from the 1985 Tele Viper.  This figure doesn't appear all that useful.  But, he's just so weird that he'd be fun to have around.

In all, the Power Commandos are a great little subset of figures for a Joe collector to find.  There's at least 24 of them.  There could be more or there could be less.  But, all of them sans the first wave are pretty tough to track down.  I'd love to see more and better photos of these guys...especially side by side comparison shots.  But, this is the best I can do for now.

Rarities - Action Force Vehicle Drivers (Bubbled Figures)

Today, Action Force exclusive figures are, once again, hot commodities in the collector world.  Some of the exclusives now command premium pricing that places them among the most expensive figures in the world.  That wasn't always the case, though.  In the late '90's and early 2000's, a London based toy dealer had a massive amount of Palitoy overstock.  Among that stash was a tantalizing amount of bubbled vehicle drivers for the Pality Action Force line.  Aside from the bubbles that made them unique, these figures also included repainted G.I. Joe accessories that had not been available with the exclusive figures in their initial releases.  The dealer sold these figures for cheap for many years.  Around 2001, they realized that they had something more desirable than they had initially thought and the cheap buy it now prices on their figures disappeared and the market began to drive up the prices of the figures.  Now, the bubbled vehicle drivers command massive prices.  

Blades

Blades is a Tripwire repaint.  He's a great figure with super fragile paint.  This bubbled version includes exclusive black versions of his pack and mines.  The detector may be exclusive, too, but I'm not sure.

Red Jackal

This Destro repaint has Destro's gear.  

Red Laser

Red Laser is a Cobra Commander repaint.  The bubbled figure includes Cobra Commander's pistol.

Jammer

In a fun twist of names and molds that consterns collectors to this day, the Stalker mold was released in the Action Force line as Jammer while the Snake Eyes mold was released as Stalker.  That's still fun to sort through.

Gaucho

Gaucho is a Gung Ho repaint.  This figure features an exclusively colored backpack that matches the color of his pants.  This gear is probably the most famous exclusively colored driver gear.

Hunter

Hunter is a Cobra Officer repaint who is now a good guy.  As if that's not odd enough, he now includes his AK-47 as a member of the SAS.

Steeler:

Steeler always included his exclusive red helmet and binoculars headset.

Other figures were available in bubbles, too.  All of the figures above were relatively available with Jammer and Gaucho selling out first with the Cobra molds as fast followers.  Now, high quality Action Force drivers are tough to find in general.  But, getting the exclusive gear loose is darn near impossible.

Rarities - Unproduced 1995 "Star Brigade" Falcon

In 1999, Whiz Bang Collectibles sold off some of their pre-production G.I. Joe pieces.  These had been acquired from ex-Hasbro employees and they remain the primary source of most of the resin prototypes of unproduced 1995 items.  If you were willing to spend the money on one of their auctions, they offered you the chance to also buy some ancillary items.  One such piece was listed as "Star Brigade Falcon".

Whether or not this figure would have actually been Falcon, or even Star Brigade, is probably open to interpretation.  Many of those early prototypes were mis-labeled or simply unknown.  But, it is generally accepted that this figure is as advertised.  You will note many missing parts in the photos.  Hasbro only sculpted new parts for their pre-production pieces.  Falcon would have used some existing tooling for the remaining parts.  In this case, the waist and legs were rumored to have been the 1987 Payload.  However, that figure was planned for a full repaint in 1993 and Hasbro could not find the mold.  So, it's likely that, had this figure made it to production, it would have had different parts used to complete him.

In the years since this figure appeared, the parts have been cast and made available to customizers.  You can see one such cast that was painted up on JoeCustoms.com.  The colors on this figure are the artist's interpretation.  And, to my knowledge, we have yet to see any official coloring from Hasbro.  So, we don't really know what this guy was supposed to look like. But, the painted details give you a better look at the quality of this mold and the amazing sculpting job that Hasbro did on it.

While Star Brigade may not be every collector's passion, this Falcon figure appears to have been very well done.  It's likely that, had he been sold at retail, that he would be relatively sought after today.  The Joe line, in general, would have been better off had the 1995 figures come to light.  And, were it not for the victorious Kenner forces in the boys action figure division after their Hasbro acquisition, these figures would have seen the light of day.  Instead, we got G.I. Joe Extreme.  It's nice that we have looks into what might have been.  While the bad of 1995 gets most of the press, figures like this Falcon show that the good might have been worth it.

Photo From Whiz Bang that was offered with the 1995 Dr. Mindbender resin prototype.

Rarities - European Force Tonnerre

European Force has been one of my personal favorite bootleg sets of figures.  I first found them nearly 20 years ago.  In that time, little additional information has come to light.  The figures are rare and are the few samples that do show up tend to be in poor condition.  There are a few collectors out there with high quality loose and carded samples.  But, for some reason, they don't like to share their fortune and let other collectors learn about collectibles that are out there for the searching.  So, I'm left to scouring non-English speaking corners of the internet, hoping to find a photo or two of the figures that gives some additional insight in their design, quality and purpose.  I have finally tracked down a good photo of the figure that most intrigued me from my initial research into European Force: Tonnerre.

The first point of note is that he uses Footloose's head.  (Based on the small photos available at the time, I incorrectly refer to it as a Mercer head in the 2016 Rarities post that introduced this series to my site.)  Tonnerre is the only European Force figure to use this head.  But, other Footloose parts appear on other figures.  So, it's inclusion in the line makes sense.  You will note that the mustache is unpainted.  I'm not sure if this is just paint wear or if the hairlip was intentionally left flesh colored.

Tonnerre is interesting because he differs significantly from the figure on the back of the package.  There, the figure has a green shirt and dirtier blonde hair.  Knowing the oddball stuff in the line, it's entirely possible that the figure shown on the cardback exists out there somewhere as a variant.  But, the peach shirt is the only one I've seen.  (Which, admittedly, is less than 5 of them....)

Here you can see additional photos of the figure.  Tonnerre got his chest, waist and legs from the 1986 Dialtone figure.  And, the arms are the standard arms used on all European Force figures.  Tonnerre included a black Leatherneck rifle and a Dial Tone backpack done in  the mottled green plastic that is the hallmark of the European Force accessories.  The weird orange color on his makes him stand out among all uses of the Joe molds and creates a striking figure.  He's just really tough to find...especially in good condition.

Rarities - Light Blue Anti Venom Stretcher

In the 2000's, it was common for unproduced Hasbro concept figures to become available from Asian Joe sellers.  At first, these figs were somewhat controversial as people talked about them being midnight runs (hence, the term Midnight Chinese) or being stolen.  Usually, these things were propagated by collectors who were hoping to scare away competition as they bought up the initially scare figs.  In time, though, Ebay became flooded with most of the figures and they sold for pittances.  Some figures were always more desirable than others.  Once such figure that captured collector attention was the light blue alternate Stretcher.

In 2004, Hasbro released the Anti Venom set as their summer companion to the Cobra Urban Strike.  The set was received cooly by the collecting community at the time...mostly because it wasn't Night Force and it wasn't Cobra army builders.  In time, though, the set was more appreciated by the collector world and the members have become relatively popular today.  Prior to production, though, the set went through some changes.  At first, the set was done in dark blue.  They, it was shifted to light blue.  Finally, they settled on the tan/green combo that was actually released.

The light blue set, though, featured one other significant change: Stretcher was still black.  In production, Stretcher was given caucasian skin and renamed to Lifeline.  But, for a while, Stretcher was the original character.  It's possible that the different skin tone was simply a function of the Stretcher mold instructions featuring the original skin color.  But, this figure became the only update of Stretcher that was ever available...despite his body mold being used twice in the 2000's.

During the time of common alternate Asian figures, this Stretcher was in the second tier of popularity.  He sold higher than Duke, Charbroil or Mutt.  But, was nowhere near scarcer figures.  15 years later, though, this figure is highly sought after and usually commands a triple digit price tag.  That's more than 10 times what I paid back then.  But, is a testament to this figure's unique design and place in Joe history.

Rarities - Duke Crimson Guard Disguise Prototype

See A-Man's comments below:

This is the Duke from the Crimson Infiltrate set.  My image from 2005 was named Agent Faces.  But, it is the Duke as noted by the arms.

The Agent Faces mail away figure was a bone that Hasbro threw to collectors to get them some cheap army builders without having to resort to retail stores and the potential scalping that could ensue. And, it worked.  While some collectors were content with one figure since it was a character, those who were army builder inclined could buy this figure to their heart's content.  But, once it became known that Hasbro was going to use the mold more in 2004 and 2005, collectors backed off on Faces and saved their money for the later uses of the mold that were legit army builders.

Below you can see an unpainted prototype/test shot of the Faces figure.  The big thing about this Agent Faces figure is that you can really see the Duke head that was used to make the Faces head.  The good thing about Faces was that Hasbro painted facial hair on him that helped to distinguish him from a standard Duke release.  But, sans paint, the Duke head is plain as day.

Oddly, I like the helmet on this piece.  The actual helmet featured several different paint applications of black and silver.  In some ways, it's too busy.  The cleaner look of the unpainted helmet almost works better for me.  Though, I'd have liked the eyes painted.

Unpainted prototypes/test shots of 2000's era figures were a dime a dozen for several years.  You could buy lots of them by the dozens from Asian Joe sellers for a buck or two each.  Collectors tired of them to the point that they were completely undesirable.  Now, some of those once common figures have become more desirable...especially if they have their full array of gear, too.  It's weird to see things that the collecting community grew to hate now become valuable and hard to find.  But, that's the evolution of the collector base.

Rarities - Funskool Halibna Promotional Figures

Funskool did a lot of promotional cross overs.  (There are the Maltova, Pepsodent, Calcium Sandoz, Complan and even one with Kentucky Fried Chicken!)  One such synergy project was with Halibna.  Funskool released a set of, likely, 15 unique figures in Jordan and Lebanon.  (There may be a different number of figures or additional release locations.  Info is super spotty on these guys.)  I've been able to find photos of 4 of the figures and have seen info on at least two others.  So, there's much more to learn about these releases. 

The big difference with the Halibna figure is that they are swivel arm figures.  Gone are the weird straight arms from the Calcium Sandoz and Maltova figures.  That alone makes these figures far more worthwhile to track down and open up. These figures also included accessories.  Sometimes, they match the gear for the figure mold.  Sometimes the gear appears to have been randomly applied.

Budo:

This unique release features an all brown body.  The highlight is the bizarre white boots.  But, overall, not a bad looking figure at all.

Eel:

The Eel doesn't appear to be all that different from the production Funskool Eel.  The gear is different, though, with the inclusion of a General Hawk rifle.  

Psyche Out:

We've seen this Psyche Out before.  Similar figures have appeared as bagged Funskool vehicle drivers.  And, the figure is available with straight arms in other Funskool promotional series.  He also includes the recolored Dodger rifle that was available with the Funskool Incinerator.

Big Brawler:

Brawler is pretty similar to his common carded release.  The lower arms are different and he's not as polished.  So, it's different enough to frustrate the completist collector.  He has a Deep Six rifle instead of his Brawling Sword.

There are additional Halibna figures beyond the ones shown above.  There is a red Toxo Viper that was also available in the Calcium Sandoz series.  There is also a red and black Ozone figure that is unlike any other Ozone ever released.  It's likely that there are more figures in the series that will come to light in coming years.  We're really still uncovering a great many Funskool mysteries and obscure offerings like these Halibna figures will prove to be a source of interesting new items in the future.

Rarities - 2003 BAT Pack Pre Production Figures

In 2003, Hasbro released a BAT army builder pack.  It was cool and imperfect and lame all at the same time.  Due to the oddities of 1/2 the figures in the set, it didn't sell very well and Hasbro nixed all future "mail away" army building 6 packs and shuffled them off as Toys R Us exclusives instead.  Below is a set of pre-production BATs (and Overkill).  They are pretty much identical to what we got in production.

You will notice a few very slight differences between these pre-production figures and the production releases.  The most notable is on the BAT.  The production figure had far more yellow.  These muted colors are less in line with the 1986 figure to which the 2003 color scheme was meant as an homage.  But, I also kind of like this one better since it has more metallic colors and looks more like a robot.  Still, had these figures been released this way, it's doubtful I'd have bought any more or any less of the set.  But, this is an insight into how products change slightly before they finally get released.