Rarities - The Great 2021 Ninja Commandos Lot

In November of 2021, a lot of over 100 figures appeared on Ebay with a $4,000 BIN price.  At around $40 per figure, this probably wasn't a great deal.  Except, when you looked at the lot, there were over 60 unproduced 1995 Ninja Commando figures included!  On top of this, there were vintage test shots as well as some other oddball items.  A collector bought the lot.  But, unscrupulous people reached out the seller, offering much more than the selling price.  The lot purchase was cancelled.  And, it's likely that we'll see the figures parsed out and sold individually for much higher prices in super secret sales at some point in the future.

The one thing this lot proves is that there were more Ninja Commandos that reached full production than we ever thought.  Around 2002 or so, a collector friend of mine was able to visit Hasbro.  There, they had a bin of figures that they used to kitbash figures for the early 2000's figure releases.  In this bin of abandoned figures were several production level Ninja Commandos.  So, it's likely that Hasbro HQ got a ton of them and they just floated around: no one really knowing that something as desirable as an unproduced set of figures were collecting dust with the rest.

Here are the photos from the auction.  It's amazing that finds like this still exist out there.  You will note the following:

1. 14 Ninja Commando Budo figures
2. 12 Ninja Commando Road Pig figures
3. 14 Ninja Commando Knock Out figures
4. 14 Ninja Commando Stormshadow figures
5. 13 Ninja Commado Flint figures
6. 1 M Bison figure with blue hands
7. 2 Clear Ken Masters pre-production figures
8. Lots of bagged figures from late in the line.  Tough to see the details on them, though, for oddities.
9. Multiple Ninja Commando brown weapon trees. (Some unproduced sculpts on there.)

And, thus, another Rarities Month comes to an end.  I liked this year's group as I had more time to work on them through the year.  The archives are running low.  But, I've got one more good year in them.  Oddly some of the posts did really poorly.  Like, historically poorly in terms of overall views.  But, that could just be a function of too many posts in the last week or just the stuff got buried in all the other Joe news of the month.  Regardless, I hope you all enjoyed it and we'll see you next June!

Rarities - 2009 Funskool Carded Figures

Funskool stopped producing Joe figures in 2004.  Sales had been slipping for a while.  So, the line was cancelled even though Funskool had some additional new figures slated to appear later that year.  However, in 2009, Funskool fired up the molds again in an attempt to cash in on the G.I. Joe movie.  They re-introduced several figures from molds they still had in their possession.  While there were no "new" figures produced, they did create several more minor variants of their existing paint schemes.  On top of the oddball figure and accessory changes, each figure featured a new cardback with an explosion more akin to the pre-1986 version on Hasbro cards.

These figures were not heavily imported to the US.  Dealers didn't really bother with them as, at the time, most of the figures in the assortments were still pretty common.  And, many US dealers were still dealing with overstock from their Funskool buys more than 5 years earlier.  As there were no "new" figures in the assortment, there wasn't much incentive for anyone to really track them down.  A few people did import some cases.  And, those are the source of most of these figures today.  In 2009, no on really thought that Trip Wire would become a $200 figure.  But, the Funskool market of the 2020's has proven to have a short memory of what were once common and pegwarming figures. 

The assortment that was released doesn't really have a theme beyond the molds that Funskool still had.  We had a pretty good idea of which molds Funskool returned to Hasbro in 2003 just due to the last production run of bagged figures that Funskool ran.  But, seeing Scrap Iron in here was a surprise.  But, we've long known that the 2004 Hasbro Scrap Iron was a brand new sculpt.  So, maybe his retention by Funskool shouldn't have been so unexpected.

The cardbacks were updated to show the new figures that were put into production.  Some feature just 11 figures.  While others feature 17.  There are 18 total figures in the series.  The one figure difference is because Funskool did not put the actual character who you were buying onto the cardback.  So, Scrap Iron doesn't appear on the Scrap Iron cardback while Blaster does.  But, on the Blaster cardback, Scrap Iron does appear but Blaster does not.

Desert Scorpion

Back in February of 2001, the Funskool Desert Scorpion was among the first cheap Funskool figures I ever bought.  The Desert Scorpion is another figure that doesn't have many variants.  It's also a figure that's gotten somewhat expensive in recent years.  This later release doesn't appear to be materially different from the earlier figures, though.  This figure features the 11 back card.

Budo:

Budo has a variety of subtle coloring variants.  He also has an upper arm variant.  You'll note the very dark hair on this version and that his upper arms do not have the red pockets.

Scrap Iron:

In 2004, it was somewhat assumed that Scrap Iron was returned to Funskool.  However, when the 2004 Scrap Iron figure was released by Hasbro, it was obvious that they had made an all new mold for the character.  Funskool kept the figure.  Scrap Iron was among the first Funskool figures to appear in the 1990's.  After he was taken out of production, he appeared again in 2002.  Now, he's also appeared in the 2009/2010 timeline.  

Blaster:

Blaster is one of the biggest and easiest variants to notice.  The Roadblock machine gun has been removed and replaced with a black version of Mercer's rifle.  It makes you wonder if Funskool returned the 1992 Roadblock gun mold to Hasbro when they returned the figure mold.  And, if that's the case, it really makes you wonder why Hasbro didn't release it with either of the 1992 Roadblock repaints they released in 2004 and 2005.

Deep Six:

There's no obvious differences between this Deep Six and those made earlier.  Surely, though, there are slight shading differences.

Dialtone: 

The original Funskool Dialtone has an upper arm variant.  There are color shading differences on his chest, too.  As the Tunnel Rat mold was returned to Hasbro, this 2009 version features different upper arms than the most common early 2000's era figures.

Tripwire:

Tripwire is probably the most desirable figure from the 2009/2010 releases.  While he was always interesting, the figure has taken on a spectacular aftermarket appreciation in recent years.  This late version features the new explosion back but also has a variant filecard.  The 2003 era figures have a more closely cropped picture of Tripwire on the filecard.  The figure itself does have variations on the "Bomb Squad" text on his chest.

General Hawk:

There are many variants on General Hawk's red/orange highlights.  So, it's likely these are different than the earlier releases.  As General Hawk debuted in 2001, most of his figures tend to be of very poor quality and feature bad paint masks and construction issues.  I do need to pick up one of these General Hawks and see if the quality is improved.

Mainframe:

Continuing the theme, Mainframe is pretty similar to his earlier releases.  Funskool Mainframe's are one of the few figures that's not known for its variants.  But, with just grey, black and silver, there's not a lot of color matching to create noticeable differences.

Wild Bill:

Wild Bill also debuted in 2001.  And, there are two main variants as the figure can have either black or silver sunglasses.  For the 2009 releases, all of them I've seen have featured the black glasses.  This is another figure, though, I'd like to compare to my earlier samples to find any other changes.

Croc Master:

Croc Master features quite a few shading differences among his figures.  It appears that the wrist guard on his right arm is a darker grey than earlier figures.  And, his upper arms appear to be changed, too.

Cobra Commander:

The Funskool Cobra Commander figure never really got popular.  That's likely due to the fact that the collectors who knew this mold as the character didn't really come of age until after the era of cheap Funskool was long over.  The original Funskool figure isn't know for variants.  And, this figure appears very similar to the original.

Sci Fi:

Sci Fi is known for his belt color variations.  This version would have to be checked against the earlier figures.  But, it's likely there's another variant in the later production run.

Lifeline:

Lifeline is another once common Funskool figure that has seen a sharp upturn in popularity and pricing in recent years.  I'm not sure why.  This version features yellow arms with a green chest.  I got this same combo back in 2001.  But, this 2009 version likely has color shading differences on his green plastic parts as well as the painted highlights.

Psyche Out:

The Funskool Psyche Out is great because it's an easy and still somewhat cheap way to get a complete version of this figure mold.  The Hasbro version has gotten expensive.  But, the Funskool has stayed affordable.  Sadly, though, the figures made in the early 2000's are starting to badly discolor, even if they've been taken care of.  Hopefully, the 2009 plastic is different.

Dodger:

The Funskool Dodger is fairly obscure.  Even during the Funskool heyday, you didn't see him often.  His face paint looks a bit different than the earlier figures.

Blocker:

Blocker doesn't appear all that different from his original release.  His card art features a weird dart coming out of his gun with some bubbles around it.  There are likely color shading differences between this figure and the earlier releases, though.

Quick Kick:

The Quick Kick mold has been around forever.  And, the Funskool variants have a ton of sash and belt color variants.  

There's the 18 figures that comprise the later run of Funskool figures.  At this point, Funskool could still have these molds and make more figures in the future.  Or, the molds could be gone.  We're not sure.  The fact that classic Joes didn't appear to coincide with the Snake Eyes movie in India, though, implies that there probably isn't a domestic market for these figures any longer.  Though, I wouldn't mind if Hasbro got a couple of these molds back and put them into production.  But, that will never, ever happen.

Funskool Budo

As a kid, Budo was not a figure that I owned.  While my youngest brother got most of the 1988 series of figures, he didn't get a Budo.  From the card art, I wasn't overly interested in him.  But, then, he was in a fun issue of the comic where he's training to be a Joe.  I thought the character was OK.  But, never really thought about Budo again.  At some point in the 1990's, though, I acquired a complete Budo.  I stuck him on a shelf in my room, guarding some succulents and a weird temple incense burner I owned.  I liked the look of him and gave him Zanzibar's spear to augment his weaponry.  So, when I found another at a flea market, I bought him to give my temple a pair of guards.  These Budos stayed put until I moved out for good in 1997.  

That idea of Budo as a guard, though, stuck with me.  And, in my early Joe collecting days, I army built Budo figures.  Sadly, by the time the Funskool version was readily available in the US, I could only afford to army build a couple of figures and I focused on the Cobras.  But, knowing that this Funskool Budo included a grey sword, though, was enough to sway me to actually buy one at a time when I was extremely judicious in my figure purchases.  He joined my Budo army and got use in maybe one picture.  Then, he was packed away and never really did anything more.  The notion of a Samurai army wore thin and I sold all my excess Budo figures away.

A few years ago, though, I found the old Samurai Jack cartoon.  I really enjoyed the world building that was done in that endeavor.  Now, I see Budo as something similar.  He's a lone wanderer who fights for the side of good.  He doesn't look like much when facing a modern army.  But, he has his moments and his creativity and capability usually lead to much better results than you'd expect.  The notion of this loner warrior has existed in my collection for a long time.  Usually, it was reserved for martial arts themed figures.  And, Budo fits that motif.  The fact that his sculpt is something completely different really helps set him apart from a military figure and allows him to fit into a less structured narrative with ease.

The calling card of the Funskool Budo is the accessories.  While he includes the same complement of gear as the American figure, there is one important difference.  The Funskool Budo's sword colors are swapped from the American release.  So, you get a red scabbard and a silver sword.  So, by combining them, you get one Budo with both a silver scabbard and a silver sword.  In the days when Budo was a $4 figure, it made perfect sense to just buy one to get the sword variants.  Along with that, you get a helmet, sai and backpack that can hold his gear.  The helmet lacks the paint details from the Hasbro figure.  But, it still works well enough.

Budo was released for a good while in India.  And, he was one of the select figures who reappeared during a short Funskool production window in 2009/2010 to support the G.I. Joe movie release in India.  He was also released on a Russian card around 1998 or so.  If you check Budo figures from these various releases, they all have slight color differences with both plastic and paint.  Funskool has thousands of unintentional variants that occur just from differences in shading in the batches of plastic or paint.  So, you can go mad trying to track them all down.  But, usually, you can find the biggest differences across different releases.  So, the 2009/2010 figure will be different from those from the early 2000's and will also likely have slight differences from the Russian figure.  So, you can focus on those three first and then spend the remaining days of your life finding additional nuances.

Budo had only a few uses.  After the 1988 release, he got an odd repaint as a 1993 mail away.  The character of Budo was supposed to return in the Ninja Commandos in 1995.  There might have even been variations of his color scheme.  But, those figures were cancelled.  Fortunately, Budo's Ninja Commandos sculpt was used for the Mortal Kombat Movie Shang Tsung figure.  Budo was then shipped off to India.  Aside from the various carded figures, parts of the figure appeared in several promotional releases, often in exclusive color schemes.  His head even appeared on a Quick Kick body that made one of the stronger Funskool promotional figures.  Hasbro did not get the Budo mold back and it's likely still in India.  It hasn't been used in over a decade.  But, if it still exists, I'd buy another Budo repaint.

Funskool Budo wasn't overly popular during the heyday of Funskool imports.  As the figure was very similar to the American figure there was little reason for many collectors to pick one up.  That malaise from the time has carried over and you don't see Budo as often as you do more popular figures like the Cobra army builders and major U.S. characters.  But, he's still fairly available and not overly popular.  You can get carded figures for around $20 if you are patient and act quickly.  But, the more common price is $30-$40.  The 2009/2010 variants tend to go a little higher as they were imported in far fewer quantities than earlier releases.  As American Budos tend to run in the $15-$20 range for a nice version, the Funskool release isn't too more expensive.  But, spending $40 or $50 to get a good figure with all silver weapons now seems like folly.  If you like Budo, though, the Funskool version is kind of a must own since it's a slightly different look for the character and you can still find them.

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.

Funskool - Maltova Promotional Figures

Maltova is a chocolate drink marketed towards kids.  Funskool makes toys directed for the same market.  So, it was only natural that the two would team up for a cross promotion.  Funskool made some exclusive figures in the vein of the Calcium Sandoz figures that were either included with Maltova products or as a premium.  (Based on the ties on the packages, I lean towards them being attached to some product.)

I have no idea how many figures there might be.  Below are pics of a few of them.  Sadly, these figures have the same issues as other Funskool promotions in that they have crappy straight arms that make the otherwise exclusively terrible paint schemes less valuable for a loose collector.  But, for collectors in general, they are highly desirable and some will fetch stupidly high prices.  Each figure has a new code name included on the bio card.

Dial Tone (Navigator):

Here you have a 1994 Dial Tone torso and head that are colored similarly to the Funskool release of the figure.  It looks like he has Dodger legs.  But, I didn't look them up and am going from visual memory.  So, please offer corrections in the comments.

Cutter (Tracker):

This figure is one of the more interesting concoctions.  The figure uses the body of Cutter, but the Countdown head.  The coloring is reminiscent of both Cutter and the Funskool Grunt figure.  With swivel arms, this figure would simply be a must have.  It looks great and would be a perfect addition to either a Whale or Flagg crew.

Here's another oddball: a Quick Kick body with a Budo head.  The figure's name starts with Karate, but I can't see the rest.  I've never seen a Quick Kick custom using the Budo head and the design is kind of ingenious.  I'd easily buy this figure (if he had swivel arms) and I hate Quick Kick.  Sometimes, though, you strike gold.

Decoder:

The colors here are just iconic Funskool.  You have a Red Blocker head with an orange Psyche Out chest.  I'm not sure about the legs.  But, the whole ensemble is a great way to enjoy Funskool.

Croc Master (Snake Shadow):

This is probably the least interesting figure since it's a barely painted Croc Master.  Every other Croc Master release is better.  So, this figure would be an easy pass.

Budo (Scorpion):

Looks like Budo was a cheap mold to get into production.  This version isn't painted much at all, even though the colors of the base plastic are decent.  But, again, the production figures are better and this guy's value is as an oddity.

With all things Funskool, it's probable there are more variants out there.  But, all of these promotional figures are interesting looks at Funskool's attempts to entice new customers through other products.  Hasbro rarely did this in the Joe line.  But, they did go it.  And, Star Wars had an exclusive figure available with Fruit Loops cereal as recently as 1996.  So, there is ample precedent for such cross promotion. 

As a kid, my parents weren't too keen on tie ins if they were with brands that they did not, normally, buy.  But, I ate a ton of Fruit Loops in 1996 to get a couple of the Han Stormtroopers.  And, were even poorly articulated figures like these released as promotional items in the U.S., I'd most likely buy enough to get a full set.  But, that's what collectors do. 

Mortal Kombat Movie Edition Shang Tsung

While there are lots of unproduced vintage G.I. Joe items, two sets have been widely known and sought after since the line's cancellation in 1994.  The first is the Manimals.  While they aren't most people's cup of tea, their unproduced status made them legendary and collectors who hate Star Brigade were still driven to seek out a Manimal.  The second set is the Ninja Commandos.  This planned 5 figure subset was going to be released in 1995 and got very close to seeing production.  Production level sample figures exist in the community.  And, toy magazines of the 1990's had photos of carded mock ups.  (Rumors that thousands of cases were produced, but not released persisted into the late 2000's.  But, they have never proven to be true.)  Unlike Manimals, though, much of the Ninja Commando tooling was actually used in 1995.  It was just not used in the now defunct G.I. Joe line.  Instead, the parts found use on various figures in the Mortal Kombat Movie line.  But, one figure in that line was more than a use of parts originally planned for the Joe line.  The youthful version of Shang Tsung was a straight repaint of the unreleased Ninja Commando Budo from 1995 and has remained a sought after supplement to many Joe collections.

In the mid 1990's, I was on a crusade to find any bastions of Joe figures that were left at retail.  In general, this required a lot of time and resulted in little reward.  This was due to the fact that most of the figures that you could find from the standard, retail line were the same figures over and over again.  So, once I acquired a Dr. Mindbender, I had no desire to buy him again, even though I'd find him at several stores.  It was also due to the fact that I simply disregarded any Street Fighter, Ninja Force or Armor Tech figure as a viable option for my collection.  These figures were not the standard construction of my childhood Joes and I had no interest in acquiring them...even if they were the only Joes left at retail.  In my toy store sojourns of that time, though, I would only look at one other toy line: Star Wars.  So, there was zero chance that I would run across these Mortal Kombat Movie figures.  Even if I had, though, they would have been dismissed for the same reasons as Street Fighter and Ninja Force.  It's possible that I would have acquired a Guile repaint or two, especially had I come across the Arctic Guile that used the Blizzard Body that would have been familiar to me.  But, as my stops in the toy aisle were limited to dwindling G.I. Joe shelf space and expanding the Star Wars aisle, I never saw these Mortal Kombat figures at retail.

But, I don't feel I really missed out on much by not finding this figure at retail.  The non standard construction and martial arts theme are a lethal combo that kills my interest in a figure.  Even as a kid, I was never big on Ninjas.  Stormshadow was fun for a while.  But, his swords were more of a novelty than anything really dangerous.  Stormshadow saw more use as an infiltrator or assassin than a ninja.  Quick Kick and Jinx never mattered to me. And, Snake Eyes was simply a commando who happened to also have a sword.  The bulk of both the figure and his accessories would have been a detriment to display, especially since the larger scale would have looked out of place were this figure opposing one of my childhood figures from the 1980's. While it's generally true for me that more figures are better than fewer figures, there are some who just don't really offer anything and would have been nothing more than newer cannon fodder.  

Shang Tsung includes three accessories: a large bladed weapon that was included with many other figures, a hooked, double bladed sword and a unique helmet.  It's likely that the Ninja Commando Budo would have included a dark green weapon tree full of various martial arts weapons that were common with Ninja Force figures along with some newly sculpted parts.  The weapons included with Shang Tsung were not part of that tree and were chosen specifically for this release.  (They were also included with many other Mortal Kombat Movie Edition figures and were likely produced in large quantities to reduce the cost of the figures.)  It is likely that the helmet, though, was designed to be included with Ninja Commando Budo.  It is unique to this Shang Tsung figure and is a fun addition that gives the figure more life.  It is well designed and fits the head very nicely.  It is also the most often missing piece of Shang Tsung's gear and is a piece whose absence makes the figure weaker.

Another cool element of the Mortal Kombat Movie figures is that they featured packaging that was similar to what G.I. Joe would have been in 1995.  The mock up carded Ninja Commando figure features a full display bubble just like that of the Mortal Kombat Movie figures.  While this is a drastic departure from the traditional side carded Joe figure juxtaposed from his card artwork, it is also visually striking.  I find myself hesitating to open carded Mortal Kombat figures because the card presentation is so nice.  (But, the beat up, bend cards help make that easier.)  You can clearly see the figure and most of his gear.  But, you keep some unique elements to the figure.  This Shang Tsung oddly features the artwork from the old man version of the character.  (Which is a different figure in the Mortal Kombat Movie line.)  It's much smaller than traditional Joe artwork.  But, it kept the homage to Joe's roots and would have been a cool way to showcase the 1995 G.I. Joe figures had they actually been released.

Shang Tsung figures have typically been more expensive than the other Mortal Kombat Movie figures of equal availability.  It's relatively easy to find a loose figure with no accessories.  Complete figures are tougher to come by and will run between $20 and $25 depending upon how well the figure is labeled.  But, you can get carded versions of Shang Tsung for around $30.  Lots of Mortal Kombat Movie figures found their way to dealer stock in the 1990's, though.  And, while most of it has since been resold into the collecting world, you can still find lots (from time to time) that have several MOC Mortal Kombat Movie figures that sell for substantially less per figure.  If you can be patient and are willing to spend time looking, you can still get cheap Shang Tsungs.  But, the Mortal Kombat Movie figures have gotten substantially less common in the past couple of years.  So, those deals are getting harder and harder to find.  Personally, I don't find the figure worth those prices as I view Shang Tsung as a curiosity more than a vital part of my collection.  It's nice to have him available and he gives photos of later ninjas some depth since he's so recognizable.  But, that's about the end of his value.