1988 AGP (Anti Gravity Pod)

I quit collecting Joe in 1988.  I bought three figures.  But, that was it.  My younger brothers, though, did continue to acquire Joes throughout the year.  In the end, they acquired a good chunk of the 1988 figure catalog.  But, they did not have the same fervor for vehicles that I had when I was their age.  So, 1988 vehicles were few and far between in our household.  One that was acquired was the Anti-Gravity Pod or AGP.  This was a ridiculous design that was cool because it was new.  And, bad guy aircraft had been sparse outside of huge items like the Night Raven and Mamba that looked great but weren't all that much fun to actually play with.  My final Joe playing days of childhood had heavily focused on small aircraft battles between Sky Hawks and various Cobra drones that were vastly outgunned.  With the addition of the AGP, the bad guys finally had a weapon hat was superior to that of the Joes.

Childhood paints our memories of toys.  And, things like this AGP, which are, objectively, terrible can become beloved playthings just due to the fact that they are all you have.  And, that's the story of the AGP to me.  Upon its arrival into our home, I found it an excellent weapon to defeat the Joes.  My friends down the street, who had exited Joe and toys before I had, were more harsh in their appraisal of the AGP.  They pointed out the absurdity of the contraption.  The made fun of the colors.  And, most importantly, pointed out the absolute certain death that awaited the pilot since the entire ship was, basically, a glass cockpit with the pilot's entire body exposed.  It was this point, though, where I was able to exploit the AGP's weakness as a juxtaposition to its strengths.

The one thing I loved about the AGP was that it was heavily armed.  The Night Raven drones only had two, small guns.  The Mamba drones had even smaller guns, but did have some small missiles.  The AGP, though, had two massive guns on the front that could rotate 360 degrees.  On top of that, it has 4 large, golden missiles that looked strong enough to shoot down any Joe aircraft.  The cannons were absurd.  But, they were deadly.  The flimsy Skyhawks, that could withstand a full brace of fire from a drone, were blown to bits by the heavier weaponry of the AGP.  In fact, the Joes' introduction to the AGP was when a single one destroyed two Skyhawks in just two shots.  Both the Skyhawks were disintegrated with no hope that the pilots could have survived.  And, suddenly, the tide of the war between the factions had turned.

In short order, though, Skyhawk pilots learned that the AGP's superiority in firepower and speed were more than offset by the fact that a single burst of cannon fire to the front of the ship would shatter the canopy and instantly kill the Nullifier flying the aircraft.  I even explained the Nullifier's armored appearance by saying the pilots had to wear heavy armor to compensate for the lack of protection from the huge glass that encased them.  So, the Joes learned to attack the AGP head on.  The Nullifiers, fearing certain death, would then break their formations in an effort to create more difficult angles for the Skyhawk cannons to hone in on the cockpits.  While this was effective in keeping the pilots alive, it was not all that conducive to destroying the attacking Joes.  The Nullifiers turned to expensive and more easily dodged missiles to incinerate the Skyhawks.  In extreme situations, this was warranted.  But, more likely, the ordinance was wasted and all the combatants returned home with empty fuel tanks and no confirmed kills.

During a pursuit of the Cobras back to their base, though, the Joes also learned that the comically large engines were rather inefficient.  As such, even slight damage to them would cause the pods to lose power and be forced to land.  Just a couple bullets to the back of the engines could send an AGP into a freefall resulting a crater forming fireball on the ground below.  All of these flaws made AGPs relatively ineffective against Skyhawks.  So, they were scrapped as air to air combat weapons and used, instead, to support ground operations.  The rotating cannons could strafe the ground and were powerful enough to even destroy some Joe vehicles.  Here, the AGPs found a bit of a second life.  Though, the thin airframe was still susceptible to ground fire and infantry supporting AGPs could often be counted on as guaranteed casualties of any encounter with the Joes.

As my childhood ended, though, this was my take on Cobra as an organization.  They were willing to sacrifice large quantities of troops since they were an expendable resource.  Cobra's vehicles were designed around a single purpose.  The STUN was fast.  The AGP was heavily armed.  The SMS was powerful.  But, that singularity of design meant that each weapon they introduced was also heavily flawed.  And, it was because of these flaws that even Cobra's vastly superior numbers could not easily defeat the Joes.  Had Cobra reused Joe equipment, things might have gone better.  (Though, I was out of toys when the Python Patrol and their repainted Joe vehicles debuted.)  But, a lot of Joe vehicles have flaws, too.  So, maybe that wouldn't have been the case.

I have one main childhood memory of the AGP.  We took it to my grandparents' home in the summer of 1988.  Here, it battled my Hit and Run who was scaling the ivy covered, limestone terrace walls that defined their backyard.  In the course of the battle, Hit and Run won and the AGP crashed into a patch of ivy near the wall.  I went inside with the toys still out there.  When it was time to leave, I grabbed the AGP out of the ivy and completely forgot about the perfectly camouflaged Hit and Run who was still hidden in the ivy on  the wall.  Hit and Run stayed on that wall for months.  When we finally returned to my grandparents' house in the late fall, I found him still hanging in the green ivy.  So, for this reason, I still forever link Hit and Run to the AGP.

Since 1988, though, the AGP hasn't much mattered to me.  I did acquire a complete one in a lot in the late 1990's.  So, I still have two of them as my childhood one is still around, too.  But, things like the Firebat are superior to the AGP and I was able to get some of those in the Hasbro Canada find in 1999.  So, the AGPs have mostly just sat around for more than twenty years.  Every now and then, I've tried to get it out for a profile.  But, those attempts weren't successful until now.  Heck, one of the photos below was taken 4 houses ago.  That's how long I've been hoping to get around to an AGP profile.  And, now that I've done it, I'm not sure the AGP's fate will be improved.  There's just better Cobra aircraft to battle the small Joe flying machines.  

The AGP was just released by Hasbro.  While many Iron Grenadier vehicles went to Brazil, the AGP was not among them.  After it was discontinued at retail, though, it was available as a mail away for a short time.  In 2005, the club produced a low quality AGP repaint.  It's nearly a full mirror of the colors used for the 1988 release.  Collectors were disappointed in it as the materials used for it weren't great, the colors were odd, it didn't have a pilot and many were expecting a different vehicle to be used.  So, there's just two releases of the toy.  Which, is probably enough.  The design is odd enough that the AGP would not have been a well received retail release.  Especially, with so many other, better vehicles that Hasbro could have used in the 2000's.

AGP's aren't expensive.  Dealers sell nice, complete ones for $30 or less.  You don't find too many complete ones left to the open market, though.  As the missiles are often missing, the engine coupling is often broken and the canopy scratches easily, $30 is probably a fair price to pay for a truly mint specimen.  Most of the market interest seems to be focused on the Nullifier and you'll see mint and complete figures actually sell for more than his mint and complete vehicle!  As the colors are a good match for the 1988 Astro Viper, though, that figure becomes a much cheaper alternative to fly the actual AGP should you choose to acquire one.

Flak Viper - Where in the World

There are figures of which I am an irrational fan.  The Flak Viper is one such figure.  In the early and mid 1990's, the Flak Viper mocked me from the cardback of every figure I was able to find at retail.  I could not find him anywhere.  As Joe disappeared, I figured my chances of ever owning the figure were gone.  Fortunately, that was not the case and I was able to build a nice army of Flak Vipers as a collector.  But, the figure still fascinates me.  I can't get enough of the mold and love all his color combinations.  The two vintage releases and the two repaint era releases offer two very different takes on the mold.

The Flak Viper mold debuted in 1992.  It and the 1993 repaint are well done.  But, they are also identifiable as originating in the 1990's.  The two 2000's repaints, though, avoided many of the trappings of army builder repaints from that time.  Usually, Hasbro overdid it and the repaints were good, but had some minor issues that prevented them from becoming iconic.  But, with the Flak Viper repaints, Hasbro kept it simple and there's a Cobra blue and black repaint along with a desert themed figure.  They are well done.  

The first release of the Flak Viper is the 1992.  The debut of the sculpt showcased solid design and decent gear.  The primary colors are a bright blue and green.  They are offset with a grey sash and pants.  

The following year, Hasbro repainted the figure.  The base of the figure is the same.  However, the blue highlights have been replaced with orange. While the figure is bright, the orange is kind of fun.  This is my favorite version of the figure just because it's odd, bright and unique.  

The Flak Viper had another use in 1993.  Toys R Us got an exclusive set of Dino Hunters figures.  It was an absurd idea but capitalized on Jurassic Park. The Flak Viper's contribution is that his backpack was modified with holes that allowed it to be held by a mount.  The pack was colored in light grey.  You can still find the packs matched up with Flak Vipers from time to time.  Though, it was much more common a few years ago.  

In late 1994 or early 1995, Hasbro used parts of the Flak Viper again.  This time, the Street Fighter Movie Edition M. Bison figure included a silver version of the Flak Viper's rifle.  The silver was a cool look and a great color for the weapon.  It wasn't really a nice match for the 1992 or 1993 figures.  But, it turned out to be a great match for the later uses of the mold.

The Flak Viper mold then disappeared for a decade.  In 2004, the entire Flak Viper mold appeared in the Cobra Urban Strike set: this time under the name of Nullifier.  This figure is colored in Cobra blue with black and brown leather highlights.  It's the best paint job on this mold.  It's only drawback was the lame accessories.  The figure didn't include any of his original gear and only came with generic weapons from the 2000's.

In 2006, the final version of the Flak Viper appeared in an Operation Flaming Moth set.  This desert version was a nicely done update to the Flak Viper and was the type of repaint that made sense for Hasbro to do.  While not as nice as the 2004 release, the desert version is useful in it's own right.  The best thing about this version was the return of the full complement of Flak Viper accessories.  The black rifle and pack are also great since they work with the 2004 version, too.

The Flak Viper never got exclusive use anywhere else in the world.  The 1992 Flak Viper was released in Europe on exclusive cardbacks.  The figure is the same, though.  The Flak Viper mold is relatively unique in that it's a mold whose potential was fulfilled.  

1988 Nullifier - Around the Web

The Nullifier was originally intended as a Cobra-La character.  He retains some of the horror of that faction.  But, the figure is heavily armored and works in various capacities.  My younger brother had him and he and his AGP were around for a while.  In fact, my Hit and Run got lost in the ivy of my grandparents' back yard when I had him evading the AGP.  There's some nice content on the Nullifier out there.  Here's the best of the Nullifier from around the web.

Nullifier Profile

Nullifier by Color-Viper05

Nulllifier at Joe A Day

Nullifier by Golden Cobra 79

Nullifier at 3DJoes.com

Nullifier Pre Production at YoJoe.com

Nullifier by toysandtomfoolery

Diorama - Nullifiers

The Cobra Urban Strike set is just about my favorite Toys R Us 6 pack that was released.   The Nullifier figure was just excellent.  In those days, I was up very early to beat the traffic to my office.  In the mornings, I'd go out and water the plants, though.  Usually, the sun was only partly up.  So, you can see the shadows and lack of light on the periphery of the photos.

This was also a way to highlight my recently acquired Paratrooper Guile.

2004 Urban Strike Nullifier

While 2003 ended on a whirlwind of G.I. Joe releases, 2004 was equally frenetic.  Hasbro bombarded retail with massive amounts of product.  Sadly, the general retail line was met with relative malaise and stagnated badly.  But, the vintage style exclusives that were offered at various retailers were more successful.  The year started with a bang with both a Night Force set and the collector favorite Cobra Infantry Forces.  The next wave of 6 packs at Toys R Us were greatly anticipated, but were unknown until very shortly before their release.  While the initial reception to the packs was cool, collectors came to realize that Hasbro had put together a couple of solid sets in the Cobra Urban Strike and the G.I. Joe Anti Venom releases.  Of the 12 overall figures, though, it is the Urban Strike Nullifier who stands as one of the stronger vintage repaints Hasbro ever offered.

Hasbro released the Flak Viper in 1992.  This version is decent enough.  The mold is great, but the colors are non-traditional Cobra.  The 1993 repaint added orange highlights.  Neither figure stands among the Cobra army building greats.  But, like many of the 1990's molds, the Flak Viper had a lot of potential.  Hasbro decided to use the mold again in 2004.  Only, this time it was not the Flak Viper.  Instead, the figure was named the Nullifier.  The original Nullifier was an Iron Grenadier character released in 1988.  Why Hasbro chose to use the Nullifier name instead of the Flak Viper is unknown.  It likely had to do with copyright issues since the figure retained the Flak Viper's specialty and filecard info.  The confusion somewhat obscured the quality of the Nullifier's release.

But, as a figure, the 2004 Nullifier is top notch.  The best part was the classic Cobra coloring.  (Though, oddly enough, the figure's filecard seems to show him in the 1992 Flak Viper color scheme.)  Hasbro had heavily avoided Cobra blue prior to 2004.  But, it came back in the Infantry Set and made another appearance in the Urban Strike set.  The Nullifer features a rich, deep Cobra blue base color.  He's a perfect match for the early days of Cobra and perfectly complements the Hiss Tank.  He is offset by black highlights.  It's tough to go wrong with blue and black for a Cobra army builder.  But, this figure really worked.  As a slight added bonus, the figure also has a leather brown colored shoulder pad and thigh pouch.  It's just enough color to break up the blue and black combo without being intrusive of the figure's overall palette.  The result is a figure that fits perfectly with 1998 Cobra Troopers and can enhance the backbone of your Cobra army without straying too far from the classic color scheme.

Gear wise, though, the Nullifier's accessories stink.  None of the mold's classic gear is available.  Instead, Hasbro threw in 3 rather non-descript weapons.  One is a black version of the 1986 Lifeline's pistol.  It's not a great fit, but also not a terrible weapon.  The second is a new sculpt mold that is a weapon without a stock, but including a grenade launcher.  Personally, I detest this weapon.  But, many collectors really like it, as well.  But, it came with so many figures in its era that it seems generic.  The final weapon is based on an AR-15.  It's also a new sculpt weapon that was most famously included with the 2005 Crimson Guard set.  I like this weapon quite a bit.  But, again, it was so ubiquitous that it's lost any real connection with the Nullifier.  You will see a silver version of the Flak Viper rifle in the photos below.  This version of the rifle was included with the M. Bison figure from the Street Fighter Movie line.  It's tough to find on it's own.  The Flak Viper's full complement of gear returned in 2006 on the desert Flak Viper.  This figure featured a black version of the classic rifle.  It should be impossible to find these loose.  But, large amounts of Asian overstock has appeared and into 2016, you can buy overstock versions of the black, 2006 Flak Viper rifle for very reasonable prices.  So, these are options to re-accessorize your figures should you so choose.

The Urban Strike set was both popular and unpopular.  When it was announced, collectors were less than enthused.  Hasbro was coming off of the collector favorite Cobra Infantry set and anything that was not 6 army builders in classic colors was going to be met with derision.  Once the set came out, though, collectors warmed to it.  The characters were decent and the army builders were excellent.  But, for many collectors, buying three characters for the three army builders made the set less attractive for mass accumulation.  Shortly after the set's release, though, the first signs of trouble in the Joe line surfaced.  Toys R Us dropped the price of the set to $15 in their brick and mortar stores.  It seems this was a promotion, but it was indicative that Joe's popularity was dipping.  For this reduced price, many collectors were enticed into an extra set or two.

Personally, I find this figure pretty much the best repaint of that era.  He had everything you could ask for from a repaint with the exception of accessories.  (Which, by 2004, were pretty much never again going to happen.)  The Nullifier looks great in the Hiss, manning an ASP (Though he is a bit large for the cockpit.), or holding down a gunnery position on any number of Cobra vehicles.  He also looks good as a general infantryman.  Sure, the helmet is a bit Robo Cop.  But, the design still works on a lot of levels.  It Hasbro had released every army builder in this color scheme, they would have become a sea of banality like the drab green color did for that era's Joes and even red did for the Cobras.  But, as the releases in the classic blue were so few and far between, those who got it really stand out.  More than a decade later, this Nullifier rises above nearly all of his contemporaries as a figure that every collector should have.

The Flak Viper got decent use.  There were the two vintage versions from 1992 and 1993.  Hasbro released this figure in 2004.  Then, in 2006, Master Collector used the mold (this time with his full complement of accessories) in the Flaming Moth series of figures.  This desert colored Flak Viper is another solid repaint and has the bonus of the original gear.  While I would have, personally, liked to have seen another repaint or two, this is a case where Hasbro really took advantage of a mold.  Collectors have the vintage figures to showcase the potential and the modern figures to fulfill it.  I can't really ask for anything more from the mold at this point.  This is a rare case where Hasbro really got it right and gave collectors satisfactory repaints.

Urban Strike sets have gotten somewhat popular on the aftermarket.  Finding boxed sets can be problematic these days.  And, when you do find them, they are often $60 or more.  Individually, the figures can be equally popular.  Right now, the Alley Viper appears to be the figure du jour from the set.  But, that seems to fluctuate quite a bit.  Finding excess Nullifiers can be tougher now than it was a few years ago.  As the figure's accessories suck, you can get incomplete figures for under $5.  But, complete with filecard versions tend to run between $9 and $12.  That's a lot for a modern army building figure based on an obscure 1990's mold.  But, it's also a testament to the figure's quality and the desire of collectors to integrate the figure into their classically colored Cobra armies.

1988 Nullifier

Most subsets that were released in the Joe line are held in high disdain by modern collectors. Many, like Eco Warriors, Star Brigade, Slaughter Marauders, Cobra La, etc., have a special place in many Joe collections, at the bottom. Before the nonsense picked up serious steam, though, In 1988, Hasbro came out with the Iron Grenadiers subset. This was a group controlled by a now independent of Cobra Destro. They had their own army, equipment, and agenda. At long last, G.I. Joe had an enemy other than Cobra to deal with. Almost every figure released in the Iron Grenadiers are awesome. The Iron Grenadier figures themselves are a better version of the original Cobra troops. The vehicles were ultra modern, but made for very cool toys. From those vehicles, the AGP, is where we get this figure, the Nullifier.

This figure is as forgotten as they come. Since he was a pilot in a bizarre flying contraption, he doesn't see much press nowadays. However, this figure has become an integral part of my Cobra legions. When you take him out and start using him, you realize what a great figure this is. The guy has a tight helmet, (Plus he does have a face shield, but I don't have one with any of my Nullifiers.) cool body armor, and a size to him that makes him look like a badass. This guy is my Cobra enforcer. He carriers heavy weapons and only appears in special circumstances. I use him as a guard for high ranking officials. His mold has all the trappings of being highly modern and full of surprises. The complicated grooves on his torso armor also allow for some creative license when developing his back story. I use a couple of these guys as support for lesser Cobra forces. When they need some serious firepower, the Nullifiers come in and clean everything up for them. These guys help keep the younger, more inexperienced, and more poorly equipped Cobra forces from getting in over their head. As this is their primary usage, these guys work great in tandem. Two of them are the perfect support for a group of Vipers that are in too deep.

The AGP is a pretty fun aircraft. I currently keep mine piloted by an Astro Viper. I just can't, in good conscience, have an aircraft piloted by any figure that doesn't have a removable helmet. The death scenes with removable helmet figures are just so much fun to ever have a pilot without one. The pod is small, has a couple of big guns, and comes with four missiles. I don't think it has much basis in reality, but it is typical of the Iron Grenadiers vehicles; it is a very fun toy, if not entirely realistic. I have found that it has become one of my more frequently used Cobra aircraft. I much prefer smaller aircraft. They are more fun to play with as you can hold the bad guy in one hand the good guy in the other. I do like the Rattler, but other than that, I have found most of the big planes to be very worthless toys if you like to play with them off the ground. Don't get me wrong, an airfield diorama is very cool, but acting out dogfights is kind of a waste of time if you only have the big planes. The smaller aircraft, such as Firebats, AGPs, Skyhawks, and Mud Fighters make up the majority of my primary air wing. They engage each other in combat all the time. On special occasions, my Hurricane VTOL or P-40 Warhawk from the Sgt. Savage line (A great concept with cool vehicles, but in the wrong scale to be truly compatible with Joes that came out in 1995) come into the fray. For the most part, though, smaller planes engage each other in far more entertaining battles than a pair of Skystrikers and Night Ravens could ever.

Nullifiers are a weird figure. You don't see them that often, but not many people look for them. If you take the time to seek them out, you can find these guys without too much difficulty. They aren't expensive, as they aren't all that popular. Since these guys weren't officially Cobras, the prices don't rise meteorically due to a small painted sigil. Finding one complete with his faceshield can be a bit of a challenge, but the figure works well without it as well. If you can find these guys, they make nice army builders, both for Iron Grenadiers and Cobra. You will have to outfit them with some weapons from your reserves, but I have found that the black version of Airwave's rifle that came with the 1993 Leatherneck is a perfect gun to transform these guys into the heavy hitters for which I use them. They have become an integral part of my armies. If you give them a chance, they can become favored figures in your collection as well.

I need this guy's faceshield. If you can help, email me.