2005 Crimson Shadow Guard - Random Photos of the Day

The Crimson Shadow Guard was a low effort release that Hasbro dropped at the end of the retail line.  It joined the HAS Set as the final sets Hasbro would give to Toys R Us as exclusives.  But, sometimes low effort is still OK.  And, in the case of the Shadow Guard, the black uniform take on the Crimson Guard worked out quite well.  We didn't need 6 of them in a single set, of course.  But, as an army builder, there were many worse releases in the repaint era.  

Of course, the Shadow Guard were flawed as they included terrible, non-sensical accessories that were mostly ninja weapons.  But, by 2005, Hasbro had all but given up when it came to the weapons included with figures.  The aftermarket had also stepped in and Marauder's Gun Runners was able to fully take advantage of Hasbro's lazy weapon complement.  

The real oddity was the inclusion of 6 identical figures.  Even the Cobra Infantry had made each figure unique.  And, later, the Viper Pit would break up the weapons and offer 1 exclusive figure among the identical soldiers.  But, this set was produced to be cheap.  So, 6 identical figures with easy to produce gear was the order.  Of course, that meant that army building collectors stopped at one or two sets since they were able to fill out obscure squads with small purchases.  But, even army building had become passe by 2005.  So, the Shadow Guard somewhat faded into obscurity.

Hasbro pretty much killed the online Joe collector community in 2005.  Their bizarre handling of the line drove away collectors en masse.  So, sets like this Shadow Guard got clearanced out.  And, when they dropped to $4 for a set, I bought way too many.  For under a buck per figure, it made sense to buy up more than I wanted.  Now, twenty years later, the Shadow Guard is still one of my most numerous army builders.  And, since they don't discolor and feature the pliable plastic of the 2000's, I actually use them way more than most figures I actually do like.

In the photos below, you'll see a version with a Fred head from the Comic Packs.  There's another with the Agent Faces head, too.  These two customs help break up the Shadow Guard.  And, with these "commanders", my Shadow Guard has a bit of characterization to it that has kept it somewhat relevant in recent years.  The Crimson Guard remains loyal to Cobra Commander.  But, the Shadow Guard is less certain in their allegiance.  If I ever want to work some intrigue within the Cobra ranks, the Shadow Guard are the first figures to come to mind.

The Shadow Guards remain pretty unloved.  While people will comment about how they like the design, the sales prices say that everyone has the figures they want.  Of the Toys R Us releases, Shadow Guards are among the cheapest figures to acquire.  And, while lots of dealers still cling to 2021 era pricing for repaint era Joe toys, they struggle to move any of them.  $15 is about the going rate for a figure.  But, you can get a carded set for under that price...indicating that the few sales are about frustrated collectors giving in to low demand.  The real price is probably half that.  But, you're going to grow grey waiting for them to come around in numbers.

1982 RAM

The RAM was my first G.I. Joe toy.  My younger brother had gotten most of the entire series for his birthday in October of 1982.  I desperately wanted some figures of my own.  I had to wait for two months before my birthday would come along and give me the chance.  However, I was to be mostly disappointed that day.  Instead of a full collection of Joe toys, I got just one: the RAM.  It was nice as we didn't actually have the RAM among my brother's birthday bonanza.  But, I also owned no figures to ride it.  Not really sure what to do with a motorcycle without a rider, I left the conundrum for another day.  That proved fortuitous, though.  The next day, after school, one friend who had been sick for my party the day before dropped by to give me my present.  It was a carded Breaker figure.  Now, I not only had a rider for my cycle, but I had THE rider for my cycle who appeared on the box artwork.  From that day one, I have been rather unable to separate Breaker and the RAM as a classic combo.

My childhood RAM suffered greatly.  This was due to the fact that it was well loved.  I played with it all the time.  This lead to it getting beat up.  The footpegs were the first to go.  Then, the kickstand was broken in half.  These were acceptable losses, though.  But, eventually, a catastrophic breakage occurred.  The sidecar pegs got broken off and the gatling cannon could no longer attach to the motorcycle.  With this loss, the RAM became less useful.  So, I tried to glue the pieces together.  I used rubber cement, though, and it melted the plastic together.  But, it wasn't strong enough and quickly broke again: now in an unrepairable fashion.

Sans weapon, the RAM kind of fell into disfavor.  When the Silver Mirage debuted in 1985, I brought out the ramshackle RAM as an accoutrement to the new cycle.  But, as the Silver Mirage proved to be a horrible piece of crap, the RAM was no longer needed.  It stuck around, though.  Mostly, the carcass lied in a pile of broken an unloved toys that made up our "debris field" where we'd have adventures.  We'd clean that mess up into a shallow box.  And, then, I'd dump it out on the floor the next time I wanted the debris to be available or I was looking for some obscure part that I thought might be in there.  (That box survived in my parents attic until the late 1990s when I finally pulled all the pieces out and added them to my personal collection.)  Sometimes, a lone assassin would ride it into a Joe base to shoot the place up.  Maybe, he'd have a bomb planted on it.  Usually, though, this rogue would get shot up well before he did real damage.  But, the RAM had moved from a key component of my main group of toys to an afterthought junk toy due to the breakage it had suffered.  I didn't really think much about that, though.  I had plenty of new Joe toys to take the RAM's place.  

Christmas of 1986, though, brought the RAM back to prominence.  Not due to its return to glory.  But, instead, due to a new, unexpected repaint that came to my collection: the Dreadnok Ground Assault RAM.  This new toy renewed the RAM and proved that its design had held up and was on par with later toy designs.  As the Dreadnok RAM was green, I adopted it for the Joes and it was never a Cobra vehicle.  This RAM remained a beloved part of my childhood play pattern until the end of 1987: when I packed all my toys away.  But, it made me realize that the RAM was something that was always going to be integral to my enjoyment of the Joe line.

Even today, in the display case next to my desk, Breaker rides the RAM.  It's just one of those images of childhood that I keep around.  As I've gotten older, I've grown to appreciate Joe toys are pneumonic devices moreso than playthings.  Mostly, that's due to the toys growing old and brittle.  But, just seeing Breaker on the RAM makes me 8 years old, again.  And, it is nice to have something around which can spark those feelings: especially when things are just a bit...too adult when bills are due, the school's calling and your boss decides he wants your role to change.  The RAM fills that need.

You'll see some criticism of the RAM for the lack of handle bars.  Hasbro, though, really promoted this when they added handles to the updated versions of the RAM in the 2000's.  As a kid, I liked the weird hand holds on the sides of the cycle and inside the front hood.  Sure, they made little sense.  But, considering the cycle was designed for straight arm figures, they worked well enough.  And, it allows for solid posing on the toy, too.  I'd often have the rider be able to hold onto the controls while shooting behind them at a follower.  

After Christmas in 1982, I had three Joe vehicles and 4 Joe figures.  They were the RAM, VAMP and MMS along with Clutch, Hawk, Snake Eyes and Breaker.  This meant that I didn't really have space on three vehicles for all four figures.  I could put Snake Eyes on the RAM, behind Breaker.  But, I Breaker had to wear his pack.  So, that meant that Snake Eyes couldn't sit behind him.  I could have had Snake Eyes drive.  But, I didn't like that.  So, instead, I'd try to sit Snake Eyes on the back of the VAMP with his legs straddling the gun.  Since that didn't really work, Snake Eyes was the odd man out.  This exclusion helped reinforce the notion of Snake Eyes being a bad guy.  It also helped that we had three of them.  So, this little army of Snake Eyes figures were my bad guys in the era before Cobras were really available.  

The RAM got releases all around the world.  Palitoy, Funskool and Estrela all released versions.  (There's probably more.  But, I've pretty much given up trying to document all the worldly vehicle releases since the information is so scattered and mostly absent.)  Hasbro released it twice.  And, during the Anniversary era, Hasbro remade the cycle with updated handle bars and more details.  There's also a model kit that is sometimes mistaken for a RAM variant.  I believe it's slightly smaller than the actual RAM.  But, you'll still see those out there from time to time.

RAMs are cheap.  Even though it has lots of small and brittle parts, mint and complete versions remain easy to find.  You can get really high quality samples in the $25 range.  But, just a little wear will cut that price in half.  Dealers still think it's 2021 and price RAMs at exorbitantly high prices.  But, unlike some other lofty dealer expectations, these high priced RAMs don't move.  So, you can acquire a nice RAM for less than pretty much any figure from its release era.  Joe vehicles ebb and flow, though.  There are times when you can't give them away and other times when they out pace figures in terms of pricing.  But, it's nice that early items like this RAM are still attainable.

1989 Night Force Repeater - Random Photos of the Day

The 1988 Repeater is a pretty solid figure.  The only real downside is that he might be a little bland.  The Night Force version that was released the following year, though, rectifies this.  The Toys R Us exclusive figure brings some splashes of color to Repeater and is, in my opinion, an upgrade over the 1988 original.  The black and dark brown better offset the green torso.  The best part, to me, though, is that the figure isn't too "Night Force" and can be used in any context as a replacement for the original figure.

Back in my early collecting days, I tended to avoid Night Force figures.  They were always expensive.  Though, expensive in 1999 is laughably cheap in 2024.  I also avoided, them, though, because I didn't find them all that compelling.  In most cases, the original versions of the Night Force team were better and more interesting.  I have this Repeated from an acquisition of 1990's era figures.  Meaning that this one is, likely, from the Rapid Deployment Force mail away that was offered in 1993.  Really, all that means is that I didn't get any accessories with him.  But, the 1988 Repeater gear works well enough and allows me to enjoy this figure either with close enough facsimiles of the figure's intended gear or with some supplemental weapons from my collection.  

The photos below were taken over the past 8 or 9 years.  I don't get this Repeater out as often as I'd probably like to.  But, he does tend to get used at least once or twice per year as he's both a solid subject of a photo and an excellent and interesting background filler.  He appears more often than any other vintage Night Force figure on this site's photos.  So, he's definitely a figure I enjoy.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on Night Force in the comments.  It's a set that, in my opinion, has always been overhyped.  In recent years, dealer types have been desperately trying to convince new collectors that vintage Night Force figures are as rare or rarer than many mail aways.  While they did have lower production numbers, Night Force figures were a staple of Toys R Us stores for most of the year.  So, they're not as rare as some of the nouveau sellers want you to believe.  Beyond that, though, I think they carry over the cachet of the late '90's when older collectors who had stopped buying Joes in 1987 discovered some of their favorites were available in "gritty, realistic" colors.  But, what are your thoughts?  Does Night Force deserve its venerated position in the hobby?  Or, are they a set you view with an air of indifference?  

1991 Super Sonic Fighters Rock and Roll - Around The Web

The Super Sonic Fighters Rock and Roll is one of those figures that, on the surface, seems bad.  But, upon a deeper review, it's a surprisingly good figure.  The base colors are amazing.  The orange is a lot of fun, too.  His gear is excellently sculpted and should be more popular.  In total, he's an underappreciated gem from later in the line.  Here's some of the best of him from around the web.

1991 Super Sonic Fighters Rock and Roll Profile

1991 Rock and Roll by corpscommandercody

1991 Rock and Roll by thedragonfortress

1991 Rock and Roll by ronnie_trickshot

1991 Rock and Roll by slipstream80

1991 Rock and Roll by thedustinmccoy

1991 Rock and Roll by 1990s_gi_joes

Funskool Rock and Roll - Rarities

1991 Rock and Roll by fun_time_at_serpentorslair

1991 Rock and Roll by sintechness

1991 Rock and Roll by relena_warcraft

1991 Rock and Roll by ptytoys2021

1991 Rock and Roll by 73larebear

2024 Ghostbusters O-ring Figures - In Package

This is a good product.  For $44, it's properly priced and the packaging is a perfect combo of collector friendly and space conscious.  I'm not a huge fan of the "retro weathering".  But, it's consistent with the retro offerings from Star Wars and gives a vibe...I guess.  Even if they never do another o-ring homage with a media property, it's awesome that these toys exist.

The figures are what they were supposed to be.  The price is right.  I can only image Joe 4 packs that had been done in this format and at this price.  Maybe they'd still be viable.  But, I hope this Ghostbusters set sells out and inspires Hasbro to take more chances like this.  Hell, they could reuse the Ramis and Murray heads in a Stripes 4 pack.  Until then, though, we can enjoy an o-ring set done right.