2004 Anti Venom Duke - Around The Web

I've had this Around the Web feature sitting in my drafts for a while.  I don't much like this Duke figure.  So, it wasn't a feature I was really looking to finish up.  Last week, though, Gen Liederkranz posted a photo (it's the 2nd link below!) of this Duke with a set of his gear from various sources.  It was amazing how much the proper gear enhanced this figure.  That set me to take the 1st photo in this post.  And, it prompted the same realization.  Duke just looks better with his real gear.

Sadly, the resculpted head is too large for any vintage helmets.  So, Duke is relegated to carrying an old Battle Gear helmet around.  But, there are now a variety of colors in which you can find Duke's M-32.  So, it's easy to find a nice match with a weapon that isn't so tied to Stalker or the original Duke.  And, both the tan and brown versions of Duke's backpack can work with this color scheme.  I'm not to the point where I like this figure.  But, I can see him appearing more frequently now that I have a good way to accessorize him.

So, check out the photos and write ups on the figure below.  There's some stuff written about him from back in 2004 so you can see how contemporary collectors viewed the figure upon his release. And, there's newer photos to see how people use him, now.

2004 Anti Venom Duke Profile

2004 Anti Venom Duke at General Liederkranz

2004 Anti Venom Duke by yo_joe_it

2004 Anti Venom Duke by fun_time_at_serpentorslair

2004 Anti Venom Set review at Generals Joes Reborn

2004 Anti Venom Duke by yovalleyjoe

2004 Anti Venom Duke by ftwten

2004 Anti Venom Set review at JoeBattleLines.com

2004 Anti Venom Duke by thejacshobby

2004 Anti Venom Duke by fun_time_at_serpentorslair

2004 Anti Venom Duke by gavinhignight

The Top 10 - 2025

This is my 10th Top 10.  We look back at an interesting year in Joe.  Hasbro abandoned 3 3/4" figures entirely.  But, Super7 picked up the mantle and delivered the largest contingent of figures we've seen since the heyday of the repaint era.  Sadly, the ReAction+ figures are expensive.  And, their heavy cartoon focus falls outside of my main interest.  So, while they are the real story of 2025 from a Joe perspective, they have little bearing on my past year.  The same is true of Black Major and Lady Jaye Toys.  They've done some amazing stuff this year, really upping their game.  But, for many reasons, they're products haven't spoken to me.  And, I've avoided new acquisitions from them.  And, lastly, kickstarters have come and gone.  Many haven't been funded.  And, some that have continue to underwhelm when the final product is in hand.  Again, I'm not interested in tacti-cool self insert characters that use Joe articulation but have no other connection to the Joe brand.  

I remain in a Joe acquisition moratorium.  It's just pure lack of interest.  I haven't bought anything in two years.  And, that's lead to some isolation.  If you're not talking about the newest and upcoming, you're just shouting into the void.  I don't really see my collection growing in 2026, either.  I'm just at a point where nothing's compelling enough to get me to buy it.

The most popular items on the site in 2025 was kind of weird.  It seems that unappreciated figures did really well.  You'll see from the list that some of the figures aren't the type of thing that you'd think people would want to read about.  But, I suspect that their relatively low place in the Joe world actually makes them interesting these days.  Everyone's read about Snake Eyes and see his figures everywhere.  But, Skidmark?  Only a special kind of sadist would write a few hundred words about him.  And, that drew people in.

So, here's the top 10 for 2025:

10. 2018 Red Laser Army Redmack - 654 page views

Factory Customs tend to do well.  Though, they aren't the guaranteed hits they used to be.  Redmack has the cachet of being a rare character that's now attainable.  He's visually interesting and still not all that common to see in the Joe content of the day.

09.  1990 Laser Viper - 663 page views

I've really struggled to find words for the 1990 Laser Viper.  My first profile on him wasn't great.  And, this 2nd one still wasn't quite where I wanted it to be.  But, I had fun taking photos of him out in the ice and snow.  And, he ended up in the top 10.  So, that's not too bad.  

08.  Swampmasher - 665 page views

I wish I had more Joe vehicles.  But, then, I have to pack up my collection and I see all the boxes and I think I should sell 2/3 of the ones I do have.  Some day, I'm going to get settled into a house that I live in for more than 3 or 4 years.  Maybe, then, I'll be able to get all my vehicles out and expand my collection a bit.  Vehicle prices have come down in recent years.  But, it's getting harder to find mint and complete versions as the plastic ages.  So, no guarantees, even if I have grandiose plans.

07. 1986 Stun - 679 page views

Vehicles always do well.  While figures are documented to death, Joe vehicles remain something that is less often seen.  They're big, bulky and a pain to get out.  But, they add so much to a photo.  The STUN was a childhood favorite.  And, it was fun to reminisce about it.

06. 2005 Winter Operations Frostbite - 687 page views

Snow photos did really well in 2025.  The 1993 Iceberg came in at #11 on the list.  And, some other profiles that featured photos in the snow also did well.  We got a massive snowfall early in the year and it lingered for quite some time.  So, I got hundreds of photos out in it to replenish my well of content.  On top of that, the Winter Operations is an obscure 2005 release.  (We'll see that theme appear again, later.)  Not many collectors pay it much mind.  So, this figure was a curiosity for many who couldn't place the figure without a visual reminder.

05. 1993 Alley Viper - 751 page views

This was a profile I did in conjunction with the Attica Gazette.  This bumblebee colored Alley Viper is more popular than it should be.  He's a fun army builder and is true to the Alley Viper character.  It all added up to a solid showing for a major character in one of his less famous color schemes.

04. 2025 Pythona - 798 page views

I don't know if I'll get a Pythona figure.  My local Target stopped stocking ReAction+ Joes over the summer.  She's the type of release that Super7 does well.  But, $25 is a lot to swallow for a character to whom I have no attachment.  But, she's, exactly, the type of figure that should appear in the ReAction+ line.  Super7's been mediocre with their figure assortments this year.  I hope they move away from the cartoon heavy influence.  But, I suspect they wanted to ensure that the owner got every figure he wanted as a kid before the line gets cancelled.  Now that they've hit the main characters, I'm hoping they delve into more ephemera like they did in the 5 POA line. 

03. 2005 Heavy Assault Set Duke - 811 page views

Ummm...I have no idea?  This is not a good figure.  But, the circumstances around the HAS set's release have been mostly forgotten.  You simply don't see the HAS figures used at all these days.  I suspect that obscurity lead to curiosity as it's not a figure you see all that often.  And, hard as it is to believe, this Duke is also 20 years old, now.  I'd have never guessed this was a top 3 profile of the year.  But, still not the biggest surprise on the list.

02. 1988 Skidmark - 834 page views

The biggest surprise goes to Skidmark.  He's the number 2 most viewed post of the year.  Which, makes little sense.  As mentioned above, though, I suspect that Skidmark's lack of popularity actually makes him more click-worthy.  You always see the big characters and rare figures out there.  You don't see Skidmark.  He's something new.  And, that brought in the eyeballs.

01. My Favorite Accessories Part 1 - 855 page views

This was my personal favorite piece of the year.  It gave me a chance to talk about some of the key weapons from my childhood and the stories associated with them.  Later installments of this series also did very well and fell in the top 20.  So, it's a subject that resonated with people.  I'll have some more of these coming in 2026, too.

So, that wraps up 2025.  I hope your year was good.  2026 will be fun.  I'm going to revisit some of the earliest figures profiled on the site and see how my views have changed in 25 years.  I've got more essays about some of the aspects of the line that really appealed to me back when I was a kid.  Rarities Month will be back with some obscure and interesting stuff, too.  I'm holding out hope that Super7 will reach bottom of the cartoon well and we might finally see a Dr. Venom or the khaki Kwinn figure.  Until then, have a great year!

2001 HQ Rock and Roll - Random Photos of the Day

I had plans for a different profile, today.  It was about 40% ready to go.  Or, so I thought.  I sat down to finish it and discovered that I had a lot more to write about than I had realized.  And, rather than post it without any narrative of how I use the figure, I decided to postpone that one until January so I have time to do it right.  This has become a theme as I have several profiles of figures I really enjoy in the same state.  I have them started.  But, haven't finished them as I feel I have a lot more to say about the figure.  So, they should get 2026 off to a strong start.

In the meantime, I decided to post some photos of this 2001/2002 Rock and Roll/Flint.  Confused?  Yeah, this figure is a mess.  And, it all started when Hasbro couldn't find the 1989 Rock and Roll mold they had recently recalled from Funskool.  So, this HQ figure was supposed to a 1989 Rock and Roll repaint.  Which might have been OK.  Instead, it is a 1994 Flint repaint that is...just OK.  

The base colors green, dark brown and grey make this figure, basically, a vintage Night Force figure.  He uses the same palette and is the only figure released in the 2000's to feature this color scheme.  In writing this right now, it dawns on me that I need to appropriate this figure as the driver of the Night Rhino instead of the crappy Dusty/Dialtone mash up that discolors the instant it's exposed to air.  You'd have a real Night Force vehicle driven by a real Night Force figure.  When it warms up, again, I'll have to match them up and see how that works out.

Until then, this figure is one of the stronger releases of his era.  The colors are different.  And, they work well on the mold.  The biggest issue is that this figure was designed with a helmet back in 1994.  But, this 2001 version doesn't include one.  I just tried out a 1994 helmet on this 2001 version a couple of days ago.  The result isn't as bad as I thought.  While colors that match the green, brown or grey on the released figure would be better, the tan and black helmet from 1994 doesn't look terrible.  It adds quite a lot to the figure.  And, seeing the body with the intended helmet allows you fully appreciate what the sculptors were going for back in the 1990's.

This figure was packed with a G.I. Joe HQ that was a repainted 1991 HQ.  It was a Toys R Us exclusive and released in different packaging in 2001 and 2002.  It was not popular among collectors of the day.  You'd be hard pressed to find any photos of it in use.  It's one of those disappearing releases from that era that simply vanished due to collector disinterest.  The only reason this figure isn't impossible to find is because massive amounts of overstock were available from Asian sellers in the mid 2000's.  You could get lots of 5 of them for under $10 shipped.  It was a deal.  Some dealers brought over a few and resold them for a couple of bucks each.  Collectors bought some lots to customize.  And, that's made this figure much more possible to find.  

And, frankly, he's worth tracking down.  The colors are nice and Flint should be in Night Force.  This mold is a better match for the 1987 and 1988 repaints than the 1985 Flint mold would be.  And, the colors coincide with the vintage design.  As he's not expensive, he's a worthwhile addition to your collection.  He's a guy I don't use that often.  But, I probably should.  And, if the Night Rhino thing works out, he might see a lot more use.

1983 Silver Pads Grand Slam - Around The Web

Silver Pads Grand Slam remains one of those figures who still carries an aura about him.  It's not an easy figure to find in mint condition.  And, while he's not the most important character in the Joe world, the figure transcends that and remains desirable.  As such, there's some decent content using the figure that's out there.  The striking colors and general rarity make for fun photos.  So, check them out!

Silver Pads Grand Slam Profile - 2000

Silver Pads Grand Slam Profile - 2023

1982 JUMP Profile

Silver Pads Grand Slam Mail Away Overstock

Silver Pads Grand Slam by 00zxcvb

Silver Pads Grand Slam by thedustinmccoy

Silver Pads Grand Slam by gen_liederkranz

Silver Pads Grand Slam by Night Force Tunnel Rat

Silver Pads Grand Slam by doksewage

Silver Pads Grand Slam by steelbrigade

Silver Pads Grand Slam by Night Force Tunnel Rat

Silver Pads Grand Slam by flatline54

Silver Pads Grand Slam by steelbrigade

Silver Pads Grand Slam by doksewage

Silver Pads Grand Slam by gijoe_guy

Silver Pads Grand Slam by steelbrigade

Silver Pads Grand Slam by still_a_big_kid

Silver Pads Grand Slam by evilface

Silver Pads Grand Slam by ftwten

2016 Desert Viper - Red Laser Army

In 1997, Hasbro produced their first Repaint Era (1997 - 2010) Viper update.  The figure was the harbinger of many Vipers to come.  Between 1997 and 2006, Hasbro released no less than 12 repaints of the highly popular mold.  In those releases, Hasbro managed to make a green Viper that (kind of) worked for forest and jungle environments.  Beyond that, though, the rest of the figures were almost entirely amalgamations of typical Cobra colors.  Lost in the sea of banality that were the two toned Hasbro repaints was the fact that the Vipers were never offered in any environmentally themed color schemes.  The 2006 Viper Pit was the perfect (and last!) chance for Hasbro to finally get Vipers into standard colors that could support Cobra's more specialized troopers.  But, they failed to deliver.  About a decade later, though, some new Vipers finally appeared.  Made by Red Laser Army, these figures filled some nice gaps in the Joe line but have also fallen into incredible obscurity.

Red Laser launched with some pretty standard color schemes.  Most of the Vipers were meant to mimic some classic Cobra paint schemes.  The figures were heavy on hues of grey, red, black and some blue.  Among the releases, though, was a straight up desert repaint of the Viper.  Clad in tan with a brown vest, this figure was a simplistic repaint that gave Cobra some effective desert fighters.  In the vintage Joe line, Cobra just the Desert Scorpion figures.  While a great figure, it's a highly specialized mold from a year that makes him a tough figure to acquire in multiples.  In 2009 or so, the first factory custom Cobra Troopers appeared.  Among the first flavors to appear were some desert Troopers.  These finally gave Cobra a force to battle against the multitude of desert colored Joe figures.

The addition of the Viper to the Cobra desert ranks offered not only another option for a desert enemy but a nice bridge between the early Cobra Trooper and the Desert Scorpion figure from 1991.  I've long felt that the backbone of Cobra's army (be in the Trooper or the Viper mold) would have environmentally themed uniforms so they could be effectively deployed in habitats around the world.  Desert Scorpions would still be the specialists who dominated the operations in that theatre.  But, they would be supported by standard Vipers wearing appropriate colors.  Not everyone shares this view, of course.  So, your mileage on the themed Vipers may vary.  But, if you're going to get a dozen color schemes on a mold, at least a couple should cover some of the major environments in which armies tend to operate.  

In 2022 or so, the Black Major introduced a new factory custom Viper mold.  Quickly, this was repainted into dozens of color schemes.  Some were standard Cobra colors.  Some were amazingly different.  And, some are just oddball.  But, now, there are finally Vipers for all seasons.  The Black Major figures, though, do not feature the removable helmet.  Among his repaints are some desert themed figures.  They are different from this Red Laser Army figure.  But, they scratch the itch that any new collector may have for desert themed army builders.  And, as of 2025, they are more readily available and easier to find.

The quality on  this figure is high.  The plastic is good.  The joints are tight.  And, the paint masks are as crisp as any vintage Hasbro figure.  The thumbs, though, are somewhat rigid.  And, the large handles of the Viper rifle make posing the figure with the weapon in his hands a tricky proposition.  I felt that the thumbs would snap when I slipped the stock behind the figure's forearm.  But, 8 years later, they are still intact.  The helmets are also an incredibly tight fit to the figure's head.  So much so that I can barely remove some of them that I've put on.  But, the tightness allows the helmeted figure to appear to be a vintage style Viper head.  It's very difficult to tell that the helmet is removable until you look closely.

The other thing that Red Laser Army brought back to the Viper was the 1986 style paint masks.  Starting in 2002, the retail repaints of the Viper mold skimped on paint masks.  And, that lack of detailing greatly hindered some figures that could have been really nice figures.  The most noticeable impact of the paint masks, though, is that they make this figure appear more in line with vintage Joes.  One of the features of various Joe eras is that they have unique looks in terms of the paint used and the manner in which masks are applied.  This desert Viper is able to bridge some of these eras because the classic paint application hearkens back to the vintage timeline.

One unique aspect of the first wave of Red Laser Army Vipers is that racial variants exist.  They are not just heads, since the figures have bare arms.  So, even helmeted, you can have diversity in your Viper ranks.  You will see two versions in the photos below.  This is another homage to Hasbro's diversity attempts of the early 2000's in the army building sets of that time.  Sadly, the skin tone variants were phased out for later RLA Viper repaints.  But, this desert figure (and some of his contemporary Viper paint jobs) has at least two skin/hair color variants.

These Vipers included three accessories.  The unique release is the removable helmet.  Hasbro never made this accessory.  So, it is all new and only available on the Red Laser Army releases.  The figure then includes a black facsimile of the classic 1986 Viper backpack.  The hallmark, of course, is the return of the 1986 Viper rifle.  This was missing from every Hasbro release after the 1989 Python Patrol Viper included a black version.  The RLA rifle is grey.  But, it's a darker grey than the vintage Hasbro releases.  It's also made of a more rigid plastic that has a distinct feel and sound when it's handled.  All of the RLA vipers included the same rifle. It's return, though, helped spark interest in these figures as the missing original gun was one of collector's biggest gripes about the 2000's era Hasbro Viper releases.

There are quite a few paint jobs of the Red Laser Army Viper figures.  Aside from the army builders that started it all, there were some private runs of figures that are fairly hard to find as well as the mold's inclusion in the "full" set of RLA figures.  There's more than a dozen repaints of the RLA figures that are available.  Some are very similar to others.  And, some of the obscure paint references didn't translate all that well to the Viper sculpt.  But, there are also some gems.  I find the desert to be my personal favorite.  But, as I was living in the desert at the time, the usefulness of the figure to me was likely greater than it was for most other collectors.  

Pricing on these figures is tough.  All the early Red Laser Army Viper repaints sit unsold in the $40 range.  So, their value is well below that.  If you can find some left to the open market, they're about $20 figures.  Which, frankly, seems low for such high quality releases that had so little permeation into the collector community.  But, the dark ages of factory customs that occurred between 2012 and 2017 is filled with some obscure, but high quality figure releases that are all but forgotten by the collecting world.  Many, though, are definitely worth tracking down.  You just have to spend a little bit of time trying to find them.