Part 1 of this series looked at my favorite weapons from childhood. This time around, I'll be looking at some of the gear that really drove my second phase of collecting. This period, technically, covers 1988 through 1997. During that time, I only was able to find a few figures. So, you're going to see a cross section of accessories. And, a few classic items will be missing because, while they were released during this period, I didn't acquire them until 1998 or later. Some of these items appeared in my early teen years when I wasn't collecting or buying Joes, but my youngest brother still was. So, the limited exposure to them made them loom larger than they otherwise might have.
Early Adult Favorites:
1. Duke/Stalker/Others MP-5 inspired rifle
As I returned to Joe collecting in the mid 1990's, I spent most of my time tracking down the remnants of the line at various retail stores. Among the first figures I found was the 1993 Duke. This is a solid figure. But, the main source of interest in him was the "new" weapons on his tree. While I was passingly familiar with Muskrat's shotgun (someday I'll tell that story...), the other weapons were ones I had never before seen. As far as I was concerned, they were completely new sculpts. It was the MP-5 inspired weapon that piqued my interest, though. It looked great with Duke. It was somehow both compact and large. This was accomplished by having the overall footprint be small while giving the weapon a larger barrel. I turned this into a story element. These newer weapons became "Generation 4" weapons. They were more powerful and could carry more ammo than earlier weapon designs. As they were new, they were limited to only the highest ranking Joes. Eventually, Cobra got some and gave them to elite troopers, too. As I got more and more 1993 and 1994 figures, the weapons became less special. And, with more colors in tow, the MP-5 like weapon became one of my favorite standards across my Joes.
Even today, this is my favorite weapon to use with 1993 and 1994 figures. It exists in a plethora of colors...some rarer than others. But, you can get it in black, gold, yellow, purple and other colors with a bit of looking around. It remains one of my key weapons. And, I'll always pick up a new one if the price is right. I have unfulfilled plans of being able to outfit the entire 1993 carded lineup with these weapons for a photo at some point. I'm not quite there on the right number of them in my collection, yet, though.
2. Annihilator Pistol
I first saw this weapon at the home of some family friends who had some younger children. I remember it being awesome. Around 1995 or 1996, I found my first Annihilator at a flea market in southern Ohio. I picked him up for the rifle. Once in hand, it reminded me of the awesome weapons from G.I. Joe #36 back in 1985. In short order, I bought as many Annihilators as I could find. The figure was "new" to me and I loved the portable helicopter. I saw them as the airborne division of the Alley Vipers and they made up a key ingredient in my early notion of Cobra urban death squads. With plenty of his weapons in hand, I had them available for use with any other figure I wanted.
And, with them in hand, my fascination with the weapon ended. It was difficult to make the weapon look good with other figures. And, it was a bit bigger than I had remembered. It was less of a one handed pistol and more of a two handed weapon that switched up my notion of the weapon's versatility. I still find it the necessary weapon for Annihilators. But, I've long since sold off my army of that figure. I have a couple of spares of the weapon, though, still hanging around. I'll use them with another figure from time to time. I do need to get a photo of it in the hands of a Fred to mimic that old comic.
3. Hit & Run Rifle
This one is a bit of a cheat. I actually did own Hit and Run when I was a kid. I bought three 1988 figures before I quit toys. And, Hit and Run was one of them. I immediately fell in love with his rifle. But, I didn't to use it very often as I left my Hit and Run hanging on a wall at my grandparents' house shortly after I got him. Once the figure was recovered, though, my Joes were put away. So, it was on rare occasion when I'd get them out. Inevitably, Hit and Run would be among the figures chosen, though. Part of it was the sheer quality of the figure. Part was his amazing rope & grappling hook bag. And, the final piece was his rifle. Everything about it seemed perfect. It had a long clip to store extra ammo. It was compact enough to be used in close quarters. And, the figures just held it perfectly. I wanted to use it with pretty much every one of my favorite figures during this time. But, I had just one sample with no way to acquire more.
That changed in the mid 1990's as weapon trees began to proliferate. The real joy was finding extra samples of this rifle being included on weapon trees of 1993 and 1994 figures. With this discovery, I was able to acquire an excellent rifle in a variety of colors. As the weapon was my preferred rifle for the 1994 Shipwreck, I came to see it as a standard rifle used by all sorts of Joe themed army builders. So, having it in cream with Snow Storm and even red with Outback allowed some consistency on the weapons used by the troops who supported the Joes. Note that this weapon is often confused with the 1992 Shockwave rifle. They are similar, but not the same. Also, some late run 1994 figures featured the rifle but with a blocked out trigger guard. Those aren't bad. But, I do prefer the original design.
Now the rifle is ubiquitous. And, I had so many of them that it's become a bit passe. But, the early 2000's brought some weapons into the mainstream to a point where they started to get stale. Hit and Run's weapon was one of them. And, while I still love it, I don't see it as the staple for every figure as I once envisioned nearly 30 years ago. But, I do still find uses for it and you'll see it being carried by other figures in some photos around the site.
4. Bullhorn's Mask
My youngest brother got a Bullhorn in 1990. I believe he was the only 1990 figure that we ever had. While his rifle was amazing and everyone still goes ga-ga over his weapon case backpack, I found the real value in him was his gas mask. I love gas masks. And, as a kid, I lamented that the only ones you could get were either Ripcord's airmask or Lifeline's rescue mask. I gave them to pilots, troopers navigating gassed caves and just to anyone I wanted to look cool. But, they had limitations (like the hose you had to plug in for it to look good) and always left me wanting more.
Bullhorn's mask, though, solved this problem. It was a self contained piece and was sculpted with the air filter right on it. When placed on the figure's head, Bullhorn could be a faceless army builder. I now had a way for more figures to be outfitted with protective masks. Unfortunately, though, the specific design of Bullhorn's mask made it so that it was form fitted for Bullhorn's head. And, that made it difficult or impossible to really use the mask with a variety of other figures. And, this limited the mask's use. But, the overall design still works. I've since found Bullhorn to be a more boring figure than I'd remembered. The mask, though, overcomes this and keeps the figure relevant to me. I just wish it was a little more flexible for use on a wider variety of figures.
5. Spearhead's Rifle
I do not know how this weapon entered into our collection. We never had a 1988 Spearhead. But, at some point, his rifle appeared among our toys. It was likely left by one of my brother's friends. As soon as I saw it, though, the rifle simply enthralled me. Mostly, this was because it was new. But, also, the rifle featured a couple of key design elements that I found among the cooler features of Joe accessories. First, it had a bayonet. But, we'll talk more about this, later. The second, and more important feature, was the strap. I had long loved strapped weapons. They allowed your figure to carry their weapon without having to always be holding it in their hand. I never like my Joes climbing a rope if they didn't have a strap on their gun because it wasn't realistic to just have their weapon magically appear at the top if they didn't have a means to carry it. It's weird what unrealistic elements bothered me when I was a kid and which didn't affect me at all.
Back to the bayonet, though. While I really liked bayonets, the piece on Salvo's rifle made the weapons footprint rather large. And, at some point in the early 1990's, I wanted a knife for some figure. The bayonet on Salvo's rifle was of sufficient size to work as a knife for a figure. So, since the weapon wasn't key to any complete figure in my collection, I snipped off the bayonet and gave the knife to someone. The paired down rifle was then smaller and looked even better with the figures to whom I gave it. At various points, I've found the snipped bayonet and wondered who's knife it was. Usually, I then remember that I cut this off from the original weapon. I'm 99% sure that the bayonet is still sitting in a plastic baggie of superfluous edged weapons stored in a shoebox in the basement closet. And, you'll see the snipped version of the rifle in a photo below.
In the early 1990's, I gave this weapon that mysteriously appeared in our home to a figure who also had a similar origin: Salvo. I don't know where Salvo came from. And, our figure just had the helmet. So, it was another likely leave behind from some unknown friend of my brother. But, Salvo and Spearhead's gun just seemed to mesh. And, without having Salvo's real accessories, it made sense for him to have this borrowed weapon. So, between 1991, or so, and 1999, Salvo always carried Spearhead's rifle. In fact, if you can find really old Salvo photos on the site, you'll see him carrying it. To this day, I more associate Spearhead's rifle with Salvo than I do with Spearhead. But, that's because Salvo is an awesome figure and Spearhead is...not.
Really, these were the dark days of Joe. I didn't collect for several years. And, when I got back into things, I was chasing the dregs of the line at retail while also scouring out the not ready for primetime flea market scene that define the pre-internet days. You didn't find a lot of Joes back then. And, those that you did find were often those from my childhood years. Meaning they were figures I already owned. So, it was hard to find items I didn't have already.
There were many more, better accessories that were released in this time. But, I didn't really acquire them until my collector phase began in earnest around 1998. We'll explore those in the final installment in a few months. Until then, though, what are some of your favorite accessories from this time? Let me know in the comments below.
.jpg "1993 Outback")
