1988 Swampmasher

I was done with Joe in 1988.  My younger brothers, though, still picked up a few items.   Mostly, it was figures.  But, they did acquire a few vehicles, too.  And, pretty much all of those vehicles felt like upgrades over my prior year purchases of 1987 vehicles.  The Desert Fox was everything I wished the VAMP had been.  The AGP had size and heft for an aircraft while also being small enough to play with.  Then, though, there were some smaller vehicles that shouldn't have been a lot of fun.  But, they ended up being really great toys.  Among these was the Swampmasher.  It's a ridiculous design in offbeat colors that works nearly perfectly as plaything.  

The Swampmasher is just a weird design.  At its base, the vehicle is relatively normal.  But, the wheels are all on three wheeled spinners.  The idea is that the vehicle can cover any terrain.  But, as a toy, it's just kind of bizarre.  But, that's also what makes it fun.  The central body is, at its core, a square platform.  But, Hasbro layered details on top of that added visual depth and play features.  A driver sits in the main seat and has controls that he can grip.  There's a missile launcher that can elevate to shoot down planes or remain level with the ground to eliminate Hiss Tanks.  The front features a bumper and a non-working winch.  The back showcases a massive engine that is exposed.  There is a spinning dual exhaust pipe to give the vehicle some elevation.  On the back is a platform that can hold two figures.  And, there is a handlebar for the figures to hold onto.

The siren song of the Swampmasher, for me, though, is the mounted gatling cannon.  I loved the idea of gunners.  And, a vehicle with a big gun that could be controlled by a figure standing behind it wasn't a common feature on G.I. Joe toys prior to 1988.  The fact that the cannon was huge and detailed made it compelling.  I imagined the devastation it would wreak on any Cobras.  It's placement on the vehicle also allows for you to imagine that the vehicle driver is operating the cannon.  Or, you can place a figure behind it to act as a gunner.  (This was my preferred configuration.)  With the gun, the Swampmasher could be pursuit vehicle, something being chased or, just a stationary position with a massive cannon.  The thing about the cannon is that it was the central feature of the vehicle.  But, all the other small details help the gun feel like it should be there and is a realistic weapon to be on such a vehicle.

The fact that the Swampmasher has no protection for the operator made it seem like a Cobra design.  But, it also allowed me to purpose the vehicle for specific missions.  The Swampmasher wasn't a first strike vehicle.  Instead, it was a scout vehicle to get a small team of Joes into a position.  Here, the elevating cannon could be devastating against Cobra aircraft as they took off from a secluded airstrip.  Or, it would be a surprise element that would wipe out Cobra infantry as they started to advance on a Joe base.  It could even be an escape vehicle used to flee an operation, with the 360 rotating cannon able to fire behind the vehicle to cover the escape.  The weird wheel design actually did allow you to use the vehicle in water, mud, sand or other kid-friendly play environments.  And, for some kids, the wheels could have been the vehicle's signature feature.  To, me, they were just a bonus to the gun.

I would sneak my brother's Swampmasher from time to time.  It was a good way to showcase the 1988 figures he had acquired that I had "outgrown".  Plus, it was fun to mess with since you could create a quick, self contained little scenario and showcase things like the gun or wheels.  I don't really have any specific memories of the Swampmasher.  But, due to its late addition to our collection, our original survived relatively intact.  And, early in my collecting days, I acquired another one.  Since the vehicle isn't covered, takes up a small footprint and can hold figures in an unobscured way, the Swampmasher has been a staple of my photographs since the early 2000s.  I liked it since the colors were bright and fun and they helped offset many of the later run figures who emphasized in my writings of those early days.  Even today, I use the Swampmasher way more than classic vehicles I grew up with because it is so good at showcasing figures.

The one hindrance to the Swampmasher is that it can be a pain to get a figure into the driver's seat.  And, some figures won't fit at all.  (Looking at you, 1991 Tracker!)  If a figure has too many details on his leg molds, it's unlikely that you'll get him to fit into the seat.  And, it gets more problematic with later years.  A ton of 1991 figures would look great in the Swampmasher, but they won't fit into the the narrow leg slots.  My photos ended up limited because I couldn't get several figures into the vehicle.  But, 1988 figures tend to work fairly well.

The Swampmasher is in a weird place in the line's history.  It was released in 1988: a year that most "super serious collectors" consider an acceptable year.  But, at the same time, it's a weird design that uses bright colors.  The 1988 line vacillated between bright, oddball designs and classically colored vehicles like the Warthog.  It's a very schizophrenic year.  I will die on the hill that the 1988 vehicle crop is better than the 1987 series.  It's probably better than the 1986 series, too.  But, childhood nostalgia dies hard and the earlier years getting showcased in the cartoon will give them the publicity boost to erase any useful discussion about the merits of each years' actual selection of toys.  But, no one can realistically argue that the LCV is a superior toy to the Swampmasher.  

The 1988 vehicles saw wide reuse in other G.I. Joe markets.  To the best of my knowledge, the Swampmasher was not released in Brazil.  It did, though, find a second life in India.  Funskool released the Swampmasher for many, many years.  In the early 2000's, it was among the vehicles that were heavily imported by American dealers.  But, that stock has all dried up.  The Funskool release is very similar to the Hasbro version.  So, there's no reason to have both.  The Swampmasher would have greatly benefitted from a repaint.  There are excellent customs of it out there where it's painted up in a Dreadnok Ground Assault paint job.  So, the mold had some life that could have been extended.

Swampmashers sell in the $20-$25 range for a mint and complete sample.  There's actually a lot of them out there, too.  So, there's really no issue tracking one down.  If you want to save some money, you can both find some cheaper from time to time and also put one together from parts for a discount.  So, there's options for budget minded collectors, too.  For the price it's really a no-brainer acquisition.  It looks great on a display shelf and it can hold a lot of figures in the space, too.  It's a vehicle that surprises me with its versatility and usefulness.  So, I often choose it for photos over other, more popular vehicles.  Once in hand, I think you'll find the green and purple are less of a hindrance than you'd have thought and the Swampmasher is fun to have around.

1993 Ninja Force Scarlett - Around The Web

Were it not for the alternate construction style of the Ninja Force figures, they'd be among the greatest figures of the 1990's.  But, they were given spring action gimmicks that eliminated the o-ring and back screw construction that defined the line.  So, instead of the only updated figure for the Scarlett character being a late line icon, it is left to the scrap heap of Joe history.  It's a testament to what could have been.

It's too bad the Pulse line sputtered out before it could get to fun stuff like this Scarlett.  Frankly, a new take on her in this color scheme with  standard construction could be a really nice figure.  Super7 is about our only hope for that to happen.  But, they have not shown any inclination to look to the comic book for obscure designs that can't be repained ad naseum.  And, they have avoided 1990's paint jobs and characters like the plague.  So, it will probably be quite a while before a figure like this Scarlett could even be considered for another design.

Until then, enjoy what's out there that features the original, but limited 1993 figure:

1993 Ninja Force Scarlett Profile

1993 Ninja Force Scarlett by ronnie_trickshot

1993 Ninja Force Scarlett by ptytoys2021

1993 Ninja Force Scarlett by gen_liederkranz

1993 Ninja Force Scarlett at The Figure in Question

1993 Ninja Force Scarlett by gen_liederkranz

1993 Ninja Force Scarlett by ratface44_james

1993 Ninja Force Scarlett by gijoe_c4_panama

1993 Ninja Force Scarlett by camelography

1993 Ninja Force Scarlett by toysandtomfoolery

1994 Shipwreck

In many ways, I'm an odd collector.  Mostly, it's due to the fact that my primary interest in Joe all revolves around the toys.  Specifically, the action figures.  While I enjoyed the comic and watched the cartoon when I was a kid, I often found them at odds with the actual toys that were on the shelves.  I liked the toys for what they could be.  And, while I incorporated aspects of the comic and cartoon into my little Joe world, it was the flexibility of the actual toys that kept me around and brought many amazing things to life.  As such, after I had long aged out of toys and become and "adult" collector, I found myself at odds with many other collectors who got stuck on little continuity gaffes or character changes.  They allowed little things like Shipwreck now being a Navy SEAL overshadow the fact that, in 1994, Hasbro made the single best diver figure in the entire Joe line.  I didn't mind that it was Shipwreck.  I was just enamored with an amazing feat of design.

Shipwreck was one of the earliest figures I found when I started buying up the remnants of the Joe line in 1995 or so.  The instant I saw him, I knew he was a figure I had to own.  He featured classic colors, accessories that I recognized and a removable air mask that plugged into his chest.  He was everything I had ever hoped that Wet Suit or Torpedo would be.  He was among the earlier figures I managed to find.  And, when I found a second one at a Toys R Us over near Cincinnati, I immediately bought it so I had two of the figures in my collection.  

With Shipwreck in my possession, I played out adventures in my mind.  I thought back to how I would have used him when I was younger.  But, the real memory I have of him is thinking of him as secret guardians of an underwater prison where the Joes kept all their Cobra POW's.  Here, no one would know about Cobra.  And, any attempt at escape would implode the whole structure since it was so deep underwater.  Cobras would be transferred to the location in the Shark 9000 and then taken down to the airlock entrance where they would be placed inside.  Once they were entombed, the Joes didn't care what happened.  The civilization inside the structure could have been a horror of cannibalistic tribes or a bastion of culture and learning.  The idea was inspired by a forgotten Ray Liotta movie of that era where he was on an island prison and had to escape.

I imagined the Shipwrecks having to fight off Eels who were exploring the area, hoping to find the reason why so many Joe ocean going voyages stopped at this location.  Here, Eels would spear the divers in the air tanks, blowing them up.  Or, they'd sneak up behind them and pull off their masks, leaving the poor diver to asphyxiate since they were down too deep to get to the surface in time to breathe.  The Shipwreck figures stabbed more than one Eel with their giant knife.  So, the terrible deaths suffered at depths in the ocean were equally distributed among good and bad guys.  

As the 1990's turned to the 2000's, Shipwreck started to appear in my photos.  He was among the figure profiles on this site.  And, I tried to use him in various scenes whenever I could.  As I tried to photograph him, though, the limitations of him being only a diver became apparent.  I hate the figure without his air mask.  But, having him wearing the mask while he's on land, shooting at Cobras is a pathetic call back to a full wet suit Torpedo appearing on scaffolding of the U.S. Treasury back in issue #16 of the Marvel comic.  So, I began to use the figure less and less.  Even the times when I attempted to get him in the water backfired.  And, it was rare to get an actual good shot of him.  

So, the figure fell a bit out of favor.  I didn't use him nearly as often as I would have thought back in 1996 or so.  Partly, this was due to the massive influx of new figures into my collection.  The other part is that it can be tough to use divers in an aquatic setting.  I have one set of underwater photos, taken with a disposable camera in the summer of 2000.  After that, though, I had to settle for above water photos taken on puddles or rain water.  A few of them turned out nicely.  Others have elements I like, but were ultimate disappointments that weren't able to effectively communicate just how amazing this Shipwreck figure actually is.

I still have a good contingent of this figure in my collection.  I viewed him as a Joe army builder for many years.  The hidden face and lack of exposed skin made this an easy decision.  This figure was, actually, the pinnacle of my Joe army builders for a bit.  He was the first "Special Commission" commando.  This meant that the trooper had multiple advanced skills such as being a deep water diver, pilot or environmental specialty in addition to their peak combat training.  These were the guys who were just one mission away from becoming full fledged Joes.  Still, most didn't make it.  But, they were more capable than any other of the supporting troops who assisted the Joes.

Shipwreck's gear was among my favorites of the late retail run.  First, his mask plugs into his chest.  This alleviates the need for a backpack and makes the figure more self contained.   When I first acquired Shipwreck, I thought this design element debuted with him.  But, Hasbro had first used it on the 1990 Undertow: a figure I didn't know existed at the time.  The "new to me" aspect, made the mask even more useful, though.  After that, Shipwreck's weapon tree is well done.  Being cast in black plastic was always a plus.  The tree included a knife and rifle from Hit and Run, a Bullhorn rifle and a Shockwave pistol.  There are 2 stand alone flippers with the figure as well as the requisite battle stand and black missiles that fit into the grey spring loaded launcher.  

Shipwreck has some variants.  The visible difference is that the figure will either have the straps on the figure's upper arms painted black or not be painted at all.  The figure will also feature Country of Origin (COO) stamps of either China or Indonesia.  All the Chinese figures have the black straps painted.  While some Indonesian figures have the straps painted and others do not.  In addition, there is a variant on Shipwreck's "Hit and Run" rifle.  Some of them will have open trigger guards.  Others will have filled in trigger guards.  I do not have a breakdown of which COO's should include which weapon.  From the samples I've seen, the blocked out trigger guard weapons seem to be included with the Indonesia COO figures.  I remember my 2nd retail Shipwreck including the occluded trigger guard and wondering why the change the was made.

Shipwreck is also very prone to discoloration.  Be mindful of this when you search out figures.  The figure should be a solid grey.  If the figure is discolored, you'll see tinges of yellow in the grey coloring.  Many 1994 figures don't discolor evenly.  So, that makes it easy to spot arms or a chest piece that's starting to turn.  But, some will have full figure discoloration.  There are unscrupulous dealers out there who will try to pass off these discolored figures as variants.  And, on a figure like Shipwreck where there are known variants, it can get confusing.  (Especially since the 2002 Shipwreck uses nearly the exact same coloring and is often mistaken for a variant rather than a new version.)  So, watch the colors and be sure of what the figure should look like.

This Shipwreck mold got a bit of use.  There are the two paint variants that were released in 1994.  Then, in 1998, Hasbro produced the figure in aqua blue and black for an amazing repaint in their Navy SEAL team set that was exclusive to Toys R Us.  In 2002, Hasbro used the mold again for the Internet exclusive Wave V pack.  Unfortunately, this release was barely a repaint of the 1994 figure and uses the same grey base and black highlights.  You don't need both the 2002 and the 1994.  And, the fact that the 2002 figure is almost always yellowed really makes the 1994 a better option.  The mold was then retired and never appeared again.  Shipwreck appeared on the box art for the unproduced Battle Station that was to be released in 1995.  So, he would have carried over.  The box artwork shows Shipwreck in a unique pose.  His coloring is difficult to make out.  But, it appears to be the same as the 1994 figure.  So, we don't really know if Shipwreck's 1995 release would have been a full repaint, slight repaint or just a straight re-release of the 1994.  It's unfortunate that we never got to find out.

1994 Shipwreck figures were cheap for a long time.  Into the early 2010's, you could get carded figures for under $10.  That is no longer the case.  Mint and complete figures sell in the $25-$30 range.  Dealers will actually sell some for $45.  Which is really odd as carded figures still only top out around $50.  Collectors have finally realized that 1994 figures exist in lower quantities than prior years.  So, you're seeing price corrections come around.  They probably have swung too far as the market still hasn't recovered from the pandemic highs...mostly due to hoarding and the fact that most collectors don't need to sell right now.  Regardless, I find this figure worth the price.  But, I also have an attachment to him that many other collectors of my age would lack.  I'm not sure I'd pay his current pricing knowing that the Battle Corps figures are far more common than the 1994 subsets.  And, it is those subsets that seem to be the spear that drove all 1994's to overpriced highs during the early 2020's.  Shipwreck is one of the first figures I'd choose if I had to rebuild my collection, though.  So, he's worth a hard look any time you come across one.

1992 Headman - Around The Web

Headman is one of those figures that was hated for many years.  But, over time, his quality has shone through and he is now an accepted Cobra villain.  The figure's sculpt is good and matches his purpose.  Sure, he's still a little Hamburglar-y.  But, in the context of 1990's Joe villains, that's fine.  So, here's a bit of content featuring the 1992 Headman.  Check it out.

Headman Profile

Headman at Nekoman's Viper Pit

Headman by thedustinmccoy

Headman by doksewage

Headman by thedustinmccoy

Headman by ironman3719

Headman by kitbash_joe

Headman at JoeADay.com

Headman at Half The Battle

Headman at When It Was Cool

The Top 10 - 2024

So, here is the top 10 most viewed pages on the site for 2024.  The main takeaway is that Cobra Commander is always popular. (Different photos of him made up 2 of my top 9 Instagram photos, too.)  People also like to read about terrible vintage figures: especially from 1987.  Posts made in the first half of the year dominate the most viewed.  Traffic really fell off in the second half.  But, big social media sites now deliberately throttle posts with links to outside websites.  So, that limits who can see any promotion I do.  But, there were still 260,000+ pageviews and over 600 comments left last year.  So, that's really cool.

2023 Failsafe - 1008 Page Views

This 1 year retrospective of the Skystriker Haslab garnered a lot of views.  There was some good discussion on him, too.  In short, Fail Safe is an ok figure that works in the context of post vintage ARAH style releases.  But, the Skystriker has also fizzled out on the secondary market: largely due to oversaturation and the general banality of the figures.  

1984 Hooded Cobra Commander - Around The Web - 999 Page Views

The first Cobra Commander on this list.  Around the Web features tend to do about 1/2 the traffic of profiles.  But, this one exploded.  Cobra Commander is awesome and this iconic look got attention.

2024 O-Ring Ghostbusters Debut - 686 Page Views

These figures were a complete surprise.  Reaction to them was overwhelmingly positive.  The figures have just started shipping in recent weeks.  I'm hoping to get a set to profile at some point in 2025.

1987 Raptor - 565 Page Views

Raptor is a terrible figure.  Larry Hama made sour lemonade out of lemons, though, and got him a more memorable run in the comic than the figure certainly deserved.

1987 Taurus - 545 Page Views

Taurus benefits from his 1987 release year and association with Sgt. Slaughter from the cartoon.  So, a poorly designed (but well sculpted!) figure has its fans.

2004 Night Force Short Fuse - 478 Page Views

Another theme is that figures from the 2000's tend to do fairly well when it comes to views.  Night Force is a collector friendly theme.  And, Short Fuse is uses a great mold.

2005 Clear Cobra Commander - 477 Page Views

The second Cobra Commander on the list is also a 2000's era figure.  This clear figure is a gimmick that works.  

1985 Snake Eyes - 454 Page Views

The 1985 Snake Eyes might be the best figure in the Joe line.  And, this was my 25th Anniversary profile.  

Rarities - 1986 Promotional Poster - 429 Page Views

This promo from 1986 is full of pre-production figures.  That's one of the most popular years of Joe figures.  And, it was my most view Rarities post of 2024.

1994 Star Brigade Sci Fi - 420 Page Views

Star Brigade (and 1990's figures in general) have gotten more popular in recent years.  I'm going to revisit my favorite figure from the subset in 2025.  Need to get some pics of him!

We'll see what 2025 brings.  We should see some decent Super7 figures.  (Unless their venture capital overlords do them in first.)  Black Major has some amazing stuff coming and is always good for a few surprises.  LadyJayeToys has teased some Jinx and Pilot Scarlett/Ace figures, too.  So, there should be a lot happening in the world.  What resonates is always surprising, though.  So, it will be fun to see what captures your attention next year.