2002 Night Rhino

When G.I. Joe returned in 1997, it was not just a figure line.  It also included a full array of vehicles.  Hasbro understood that vehicles were integral to the Joe line.  And, between 1997 and 2000, Hasbro was keen to get classic molds into collector hands, often in new colors.  Starting in 2001, though, the vehicles took a turn.  Instead of all classic remakes, Hasbro started interspersing some new molds from other toy lines and even took a hand at updating a classic mold.  Sadly, the results weren't great for sales.  And, the 2001 vehicles lingered at retailers throughout the year.  They'd eventually find their way to close-out and discount retailers for 1/2 their original price.  As the vehicles slowed, so did the figure sales.  And, Hasbro announced that the o-ring renaissance of that early collector era was ending in favor of an all new approach to G.I. Joe.  The final wave of ARAHC figures was cancelled at retail.  But, one final release did squeak out in early 2002: the Night Rhino.

The main reason this vehicle managed to get to retail was because it was a Toys R Us exclusive.  Toys R Us was a strong retail partner for Hasbro.  And, during this time, TRU was both a dumping ground for cheap, overstock Hasbro toys as well as collector themed exclusives that would drive foot traffic.  Toys R Us was the only retailer willing to take a chance on o-ring Joes in 1997 and 1998.  It was the success of these lines that lead to the broader retail presence in 2000.  Even then, Hasbro partnered with them on exclusives like the Hiss III.  And, their 2002 exclusive was this repainted 1988 Warthog.  

The Warthog was one of those rare post 1987 vehicles that was generally acceptable to collectors of the early 2000's.  If you go even further back, into the late 1990's, when anything made after 1985 was suspect, you'd still find the Warthog was an allowable vehicle for your collection.  (You just had to ditch the Sgt. Slaughter as he, at the time, was not cool.)  It had good colors, featured one of the last tow hooks in the line, was armed to the teeth and held a huge amount of figures.  It was everything you could have wanted from an armored vehicle at the time.

The Night Rhino is actually very square.  It is a rather tall vehicle.  So, in person, it's a bit blocky.  The shapes work for its purpose, though.  And, its that height that offers much of the Night Rhino's play value.  The main feature is the three person crew who each have their own command seats.  There is a slot for a driver.  One for, I presume, the commander and maybe missile controller.  And, one slot for a gunner.  Each features the two position seating option that debuted on the 1984 Slugger.  You can insert the figures all the way into the seats so they are completely protected.  Then, you can close all the hatches above them to seal them in.  The fun part is that the driver's door slides over his position while the other two have flip-up doors.  It's one of those little things that you don't really think about.  But, the engineering to make the three position crew work was quite amazing.  

The vehicle is armed to the teeth...kind of.  The main weapons are two huge missiles on the vehicle's rear.  They are massive, but work against the size of the overall vehicle.  There are 12 "smoke grenade" launchers on the vehicle's side.  As a kid, these would have been a devastating weapon.  But, also one whose usefulness would have waned in time.  I liked my armor to have anti-infantry capability.  Otherwise, it was too easy for an enterprising Viper to get up close and pop a grenade into the driver's visibility slit.  This is where the Night Rhino is just OK.  It gets a lone, mounted gun in the gunner's position.  Mounted guns like this weren't overly common in the vintage Joe line.  So, each appearance was something I loved.  But, this machine gun only swivels 360 degrees and does not move up or down.  It's also positioned where it's awkward for a figure to properly hold it.  But, the idea of the machine gun is enough and makes the Night Rhino a formidable weapon.

The third play feature is that the Night Rhino is a troop carrier.  Two bay doors open in the back to reveal a large, open area where you can store figures.  They can sit on the bench seats and are held into place with a seatbelt bar.  There's just enough room to carry a small squad.  You can easily get a fully accessorized crew of 7 figures into the Night Rhino.  And, you can probably fit a few more if the figures you choose happen to have a light accessory complement.  Joe hadn't gotten any sort of personnel carrier since the Whale in 1984.  So, this design filled a few holes in the Joe team's motor pool.

The Night Rhino also floats.  The wide plastic base needed to house the full crew and carrier compartment meant a wide, flat bottom plastic piece.  This allowed the Night Rhino to be amphibious.  In the water, the vehicle sits much lower.  And, the overall profile is much sleeker.  I'd go so far as to say that the entire vehicle looks cooler when it's partially submerged than it does when it's on land.  Any vehicle that was going to hold figures was likely to float.  And, Hasbro took full advantage of this in the 1980's.  

I only had one encounter with Warthog in my pre-collector days.  Around 1990, I babysat a kid who lived behind us.  His parents had just moved into the neighborhood.  He was fairly young.  But, he had a magnificent collection of G.I. Joe vehicles in his basement.  Here, I had my first and only encounter with the Hiss II, MCC and the Warthog.  His toy room was well put together, though.  So, I was loathe to get all the vehicles out for fear of making a mess.  I did look over the toys, though, and marvel at how much improved the 1988 and 1989 designs were from those I had stopped buying in 1987.  For a brief moment, I considered buying a Warthog.  But, that never came to pass.  I did buy a lone 1989 Night Viper that summer.  But, that was the last Joe purchase I'd make until December of 1992.

One of the great strikes against the 1988 Warthog is that is has turned very brittle in the 35 years since its release.  Sadly, the Night Rhino is following the same path.  Part of this is the cheap plastic that Hasbro used during the early 2000's.  But, the other part is that the Night Rhino mold features lots of small and precisely measured pieces that don't use much plastic.  And, these tend to be door hinges.  So, they are meant to get lots of use.  It's left me being wary of using the Night Rhino too much for fear of snapping off one of the rear, bay doors.  Every time I open one, it makes a cracking sound that leaves me certain I've broken the door.  

I couldn't remember when the Night Rhino actually appeared at retail: early in the year or late in the year.  Fortunately, my photo library answered that question.  The first photos in which the Night Rhino appears were taken on March 10, 2002.  So, it was an early in the year release that hit right around the same time as the infamous Wave V that was an internet exclusive.  I do recall opening mine in a cold, dark garage after getting home from work one night.  I couldn't wait to get it into action.  And, you'll see it among photos I took in 2002 and 2003.  

Today, the Night Rhino remains an oft used vehicle for my photos.  It's just interesting enough for people to spend time reviewing any photo in which it appears.  It has limitations on how it displays figures.  But, you can get some really nice photos of armor operators in action when they are positioned in the command positions at the vehicle's front.  It's more difficult to get good photos of figures disembarking from the carrier compartment in the back, though.  The steps are steep and the doors are high off the ground.  So, it's tough to get figures into a realistic looking pose.  The opening doors do provide a good support for figures to hold onto.  So, that helps getting one or two figures into a fun photography position.  That's where you'll still see it most often.  

The Night Rhino's one of the vehicles that, in hand, is incredibly useful.  But, had it not been released at retail during the repaint era, it's unlikely I would have one.  There were several vehicles that I really wanted to add to my collection when I first started being able to buy any Joe I wanted.  Sadly, one of the first was the Hammer.  The Hammer looks great in photos.  But, as a toy, it SUCKS.  It was brittle, impossible to use with figures and just a general piece of junk.  That soured me on spending time and money on further childhood vehicle desires.  So, I never actually bought a Warthog and it was only through the acquisition of this Night Rhino that the mold entered my collection.  I suspect that, had I acquired one at a late date, I'd have regretted not picking it up sooner, though.  As, in hand, the Night Rhino delivers pretty much what it promises.

The private equity planned destruction of Toys R Us has left retail devoid of any options to release toys like this Night Rhino.  Now, the sparse 3 3/4 vehicles are the domain of "Fan Channels" or crowd funding...if they exist at all.  Even the mighty Star Wars line has nary a vehicle as part of its retail presence.  It's a shame.  During the 1990's and even into the 2010's, Toys R Us was a reliable partner for major toy companies to release vehicles and playsets.  It offered the shelf space and was willing to let a high quality item sell out in time.  It's national presence meant it could afford to finance a full run of toys like this Night Rhino.  With TRU long gone, there is no place left to fill that niche.  Some larger online toy sellers have tried.  But, usually, those were with items that companies had already produced and needed to dump somewhere.  So, the days of fun, unexpected releases like this Night Rhino are pretty much over.

The Warthog had a few uses.  Hasbro's version was released in 1988.  In Europe, there is an exclusively colored variant of the Warthog with a slightly different green base color.  It was then lost until 2002 when it appeared as this Toys R Us exclusive.  The final use came in 2006 when a desert version of the Warthog was released as a convention exclusive.  This is the most difficult of the 4 versions to track down.  There was a decent amount of potential left in the Warthog.  I once said I wouldn't hate a Cobra colored version that was released as a new version of Hiss Tank.  But, every single version that was ever made was extremely well done.  So, you can't be too mournful for the lost opportunities.

During the upswing in Joe pricing, mint and complete and boxed Night Rhinos crossed $150 and sometimes even went over $200.  Now, prices have subsided quite a bit.  You can get boxed versions for $80 or less.  If the plastic is holding up, that's not a terrible price.  Original Warthogs will cost the same or more.  And, they are much more likely to be too brittle to use.  So, the Night Rhino remains one of the best alternatives for a version of the vehicle.  In looking back, I kind of wish I'd picked up a couple more when they were at retail.  It's a nice vehicle.  But, the more I think about it, the more I realize that one is probably enough.  The vehicle has some display limitations and the idea behind all the great play features remains a better idea than practical usage.  It remains a vehicle that's worth owning, though.  And, every collector should at least give a thought to adding a version of the Warthog to their collection.

2002 Convention Paratrooper Dusty - Random Photos of the Day

In 2002, the collectors club surprised the Joe community with an exclusive set of Cobra figures that would be available at that year's convention.  Naively, many people thought the sets might price out at $5 or $6 per figure...a substantial mark up over retail.  When the real price was revealed, the community was apoplectic.  But, in fairly short order, the desire to army build every Viper overtook the price shock and the sets became very popular.  At the event itself, everyone was ga-ga over their new, Crimson Vipers.  So much so, that another, unannounced surprise at the convention slipped under the radar.  The convention was going to feature a parachute drop.  And, everyone got a figure to drop off the hotel's roof.  Instead of being some random overstock or a recently released retail figure, though, the club dropped their first exclusive G.I. Joe team member: the Paratrooper Dusty.

In the aftermath of the convention, this Dusty was relegated into obscurity.  And, he remains one of the most unheralded convention figures ever made.  The truth was, though, that Hasbro had made up an amazingly solid version of Dusty.  Sure, it wasn't his traditional desert garb.  But, the two toned shades of green that was offset by intricate paint details left us with one of the better convention figures that was ever released.  The figure featured 6 colors and a nice blend of familiar hues that hadn't, yet, been overdone.  The figure even got painted bootlaces to make his footwear stand out.  He is one of the detailed Joes of the time.  And, is a perfect example of giving a figure great accents without overdoing it and making him too busy.

Upon seeing him, I was immediately enthralled by the figure.  I quickly acquired one. (From a dealer who used to sell Plastirama overstock.  Her only items were cheap figures and vehicles from Argentina.  When you pay $800 for a carded Satan, remember that she had thousands of them that sold for under $30 each.  You're buying a popular figure.  Not a rare one.)  Upon his addition to my collection, Dusty became one of my most used figures.  You'll find him in photos from the early 2000's all the way through this past year.  He fits with so many different eras of figures that he's easy to integrate into any scene.  And, the fact that he's obscure helps to make photos more interesting.  Few people use this Dusty.  So, his appearance is always something that provides an extra layer to a photo.

In recent years, I've grown to appreciate this figure even more.  That's partially due to the fact that few figures from the repaint era can live up to the level of paint applications and quality that was imparted upon this figure.  His colors work together and they used splashes of color to make him stand out.  In a lot of ways, this Dusty feels more vintage than most figures from the 2000's.  Even convention figures tended to overthink themselves and ended up being more busy and overdone than looking like a vintage Joe.  For that reason, this figure still resonates with me and remains one of my personal favorites.

This Dusty mold got three full releases.  His original release in 1991.  A full repaint of the figure was released in 2000.  And, then this convention figure in 2002.  However, if you really want to get into it, he appeared more frequently. There is an exclusive European and Chinese release that includes different weapons.  (The figure is the same, though.)  In 1995, the whole body was used (with a new head) for the Paratrooper Guile figure.  His head, waist and legs were used on the 2002 Night Rhino Dusty.  (With Dial Tone's torso.)  The figure was planned to be released in a chocolate chip camo pattern and included with the 2001 Desert Striker.  But, he was replaced with Flint at the last minute.  And, even this Paratrooper Dusty has a pre-production variant with a painted zipper around his open shirt collar.  There might be more part usages as the 2000's dragged on.  But, that's enough for now.

Dusty even got unique accessories.  He was given a silver parachute from which he could fall to his death from the top of the hotel.  It was attached to an exclusive green colored version of the 1987 Jinx backpack.  As an approximation of a parachute rig, this setup worked just fine.  The parachute strings were tied to the sword loops on the backpack.  This, supposedly, would hold the chute in place.  And,it really did.  In the aftermath of the convention, you'd find a ton of figures who included a backpack where the parachute strings had been cut off.  The parachute had been discarded and the seller was offering just the figure and backpack.

While the parachute was secured to the backpack, the backpack wasn't all that secure to the figure.  And, hundreds of Dusty's plummeted several stories and were dashed into broken parts after their backpack came out and the figure had nothing to slow its velocity.  For a few months after the convention, you could buy lots of broken parts that enterprising scavengers had swept from the parking lot.  You couldn't really piece together a mint figure from them.  But, it was a good way to get some extra parts for customs.

The real legacy of the figure, though, is that no one really remembers him.  Collectors of the era were fixated on army builders.  And, the 1991 Dusty mold was passe.  So, the figure disappeared from collecting discourse.  It wasn't until 2007 that convention attendee exclusives started getting popular and appreciating on the aftermarket.  Slowly, these pulled in many of the early exclusives that had been selling for under their original price for many years.  The Paratrooper Dusty, though, wasn't one of them.  You could get bagged figures for under $20 well into the late 2010's.  Even today, while other convention attendee figures approach $1000 for a single release, the Paratrooper Dusty sells for under $40 with regularity.  Between the very low production run and the fact that so many were destroyed in the fall, this seems like a very low price for a high quality figure.  But, the modern collecting market makes no sense.

The end result is that you can get a high quality figure for a very attractive price.  And, as you can see from the photos below, he works very well in a variety of settings.  Dusty doesn't always need to be wearing desert camo.  There are deserts around the world that are very green.  So, having an alternate look for one of the secondary popularity characters in the line seems like it would be popular.  But, it's not.  And, that leave opportunity for you to scoop up a Paratrooper Dusty and discover his quality for yourself.

2001 Desert Striker - Around The Web

The Desert Striker is 25 years old.  It has faded into obscurity since its release.  But, even during its heyday, the vehicle was never all that popular.  Collectors of the early 2000's had multitudes of cheap vehicle options available to them.  This was enough to make the Desert Striker something of an after-thought.

Today, you don't see the vehicle all that often.  Usually, it's more a function of collectors having one nearby to enhance a photo instead of the vehicle being the focal point of the scene.  But, it is nice to see some of these early collector focused toys still in use.

Desert Striker Profile

Unproduced Desert Striker Dusty

Desert Striker at Hit and Run's Field Notes

Desert Striker by scarrviper

Desert Striker by ironman3719

Desert Striker by TitusLester32

Desert Striker by mrmikevinthepit

Desert Striker by vintagetoystuff

Desert Striker by p0intman4

2004 Comic Pack Scarlett - Around The Web

Some figures are really good.  But, you will never have occasion to use them.  Such is the case of the 2004 Comic Pack Scarlett.  She is based on a single scene in G.I. Joe #2.  In that context, the figure works.  More broadly, though, how often do you need Scarlett in a white jumpsuit?  The answer is not often.  She looks good, fills her purpose well and is not all that useful.  

As Comic Pack figures go, you don't see this Scarlett all that often.  Snake Eyes and Kwinn appear with far more frequency.  Which speaks to the usefulness of this figure.  There are situations where she's a great addition to a scene.  Few Joe photographers seem to attempt that, though.  This is one of those figures where I wish the content that was produced around the time of her release still existed.  But, that's all been lost to time.  So, check out these reviews and photos (some over 20 years old, now!) before they fade away, too.

Comic Pack Scarlett Profile

Comic Pack Scarlett by gen_liederkranz

Comic Pack Scarlett by relena_warcraft

Comic Pack Scarlett at Generals Joe Reborn

Comic Pack Scarlett at JoeBattleLines.com

Comic Pack Scarlett at 16bit.com

Comic Pack Scarlett by armed_and_plastic

Comic Pack Scarlett by doksewage

2004 Night Force Roadblock

The 2004 Night Force set featured a nice set of molds that were recently returned from Funskool.  Flint, Beach Head, Action Man and Tunnel Rat were fresh from India and Hasbro were keen to get them into production.  The set was augmented by the 1989 Downtown mold.  These five figures all meshed quite well in terms of style and bulk.  The 6th figure in the set, though, was the odd man out.  Instead of using another mold that was also of the ball headed style, Hasbro tossed in an older, swivel headed mold.  And, it was a mold that had been used twice in the prior three years.  By the time of the Night Force set's released, collectors were tired of the 1984 Roadblock mold.  It had been released enough times.  And, the last thing collectors wanted was another version of it that was also missing the classic accessory complement that was iconic to the Roadblock character.

In 1984, Roadblock was bulky.  The figure's torso was design to showcase Roadblock's muscles and size.  In looking at him through the lens of 2004, though, the limitations of this design show through.  Hasbro got much better at figure sculpting as the line progressed and figures like Roadblock, while important stepping stones, show the age of their design.  He was out of place with the other figures in the set.  The fact that Hasbro tried to use paint to cover up the fact that the original had a lot of exposed skin also made the figure's visual just seem odd.  He lost the muscle tone that was implied by his exposed flesh.  Even in 2004, Roadblock was the least popular member of the Night Force.  And, his inclusion was the most questioned by the collecting community.

I was one of those who found little purpose in the figure.  I get it that Roadblock was a hugely popular character at the time.  But, Hasbro had just gotten back the 1992 Roadblock mold.  (We didn't know it would re-debut just a few months later in the Anti-Venom set.)  And, they had used the 1986 Roadblock mold in 1997, but never given us an actual Roadblock release using that body.  Seeing the 1984 sculpt so close on the heels of the BJ's Roadblock and the 2001 Double Blast just felt like laziness.  And, that colored the perceptions of the Night Force set.  Roadblock was enough to suck some of the joy from a set that, otherwise, featured molds collectors were clamoring for.  

Hasbro's ability to paint figures grew quite a bit between the vintage Joe line and the early 2000's.  And, Hasbro took several opportunities to showcase just how far they could push the paint applications on figures.  The Night Force is one of the best examples from a retail release of that time.  Roadblock features six different colors on his body.  And, the Night Force cross pattern shows just how intricate Hasbro could be with their paint applications.  But, one of the things that the new paint proved was that, sometimes, less is more.  The Night Force figures are so elaborate that they're too busy.  The details become distracting.  And, what could be great figures end up somewhat diminished because they simply tried to do too much.  If Roadblock had more solidly colored pants with the patterned shirt, he wouldn't seem quite so distracting.  The same is true if the Spider-Man webbing were removed from his torso and the digital cammo on his legs remained.  Hasbro outsmarted themselves on several figure sets in the 2000s where they did too much.  Then, they overcorrected and did too little.  It was rare to find figures that were just right.  But, when they did hit, Hasbro was still capable of making figures that surpassed much of the vintage line.  This Roadblock, though, just wasn't one of the figures that accomplished this.

One of the things that the reuse of the Roadblock mold proved was just how important the proper accessories were with some figures.  The 2001 Double Blast used this mold and included almost all of the original Roadblock's gear.  And, as such, he's an acceptable (but boring!) repaint.  Once Hasbro removed the helmet, pack and proper machine gun, though, the limitations of this Roadblock become apparent.  I've hated this figure for 22 years.  Yet, when I finally slapped a black version of his pack on him along with a 1985 Battle Gear helmet, the figure is actually useful and can be a nice version of Roadblock to drop into photos.  

But, you have to have your own accessory store from which to outfit the figure.  The 2004 Night Force was notoriously light on accessories and all the figures included common gear that had been recently used with other figures instead of classic accessories that were intended for the molds.  Roadblock was a typical offender.  Instead of his "Ma Deuce", Roadblock included just two rifles.  Neither fit the figure.  One was the classic 1984 Firefly sub machine gun...a weapon far too paltry for Roadblock.  The second is the 1990 Big Ben rifle.  Once upon a time, this was a great weapon that was fun to have around.  By 2004, though, it was overused, overexposed and generally hated by collectors.  It also didn't fit the character.  I can't reiterate enough just how much this 2004 Roadblock is improved with a helmet and the 1984 Roadblock machine gun, stand and backpack.  Fortunately, the weapon, pack and stand were all released in bulk during the 2000's.  So, they are an easy acquisition you can get to improve this figure.

With the added accessories, I've come to not hate this figure.  But, I also still don't have any uses for it.  I much prefer to use the 1984 figure or even Double Blast when I want this mold in a photo.  This Night Force version is nice to intermingle with other 2000's era figures.  But, Double Blast is better for that, too.  That leaves this Roadblock on the outskirts of my collection.  He's just not a guy who has a lot of purpose.  And, he's so out of place among his team that he doesn't even fit there.  So, I have the photos of him I took for this profile.  That's the extent of the usage I've gotten from him in over 20 years.  That's not much of a legacy.  If you don't have a Double Blast, though, the Night Force Roadblock isn't a terrible stand in.  But, then you have to go out and find some new accessories for him.  And, that's not really worth the effort.

The 1984 Roadblock mold was only used by Hasbro.  But, it was used a lot!  The figure debuted in 1984, got a 1988 Tiger Force repaint and then proceeded to appear in 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005.  The parts (mostly the arms) were used on a multitude of other figures.  The torso even appeared on the 2006 Tommy Arashikage figure.  The 2001 repaint (which, technically, was Double Blast) was OK, but not materially different from the 1984 figure.  The 2002 Gift Set figure is an odd blue color that appears more Cobra than Joe.  (There is also an unproduced version of this figure available in red.)  The comic pack figure from 2005 is equally bad as it uses pastel yellow as the base and has a terribly sculpted new head.  Even this Night Force figure has an unproduced variant where you can find the figure in white pants.  In short, Hasbro overused the mold but still never managed to make a good repaint of this Roadblock.  Thankfully, Hasbro moved on to the 1992 Roadblock mold for their repaint mania and collectors were spared additional, bad repaints of this 1984 mold.

Despite the fact that this Roadblock, you know, sucks, dealer pricing is high.  Incomplete figures sell for $12-$15 with alarming regularity since the figure doesn't appear all that often.  Hasbro made around 20,000 Night Force sets to be sold at retail.  The sets were available both in stores and online and it took until the end of 2004 for them to really sell out.  And, large quantities of additional loose figures were available from Asia for a while.  So, the figure is out there in numbers.  But, the influx of new Joe collectors since 2018 has caused many of them to overestimate the rarity of the 2000's era figures.  The same thing happened to the 1997 and 1998 figures in 2001-2003 when a large group of collectors who had just missed the prior retail releases came online.  In time, that sorted itself out and those figures fell precipitously in price.  The same thing will happen with this Roadblock since he simply doesn't stand up to real scrutiny.  He's not the worst Roadblock.  But, that's only because Hasbro made stinkers that are even more abominable.