Friday, February 7, 2025

1983 Hawk - Around The Web

It's been a sparse month of profiles, so far.  Last week, my dog ate a bunch of accessories.  This week, the other dog got sprayed by a skunk.  I spent two full days getting the stink out of the house.  So, I'm digging deep into the reserves for something that's ready enough to keep the content flowing.  

Here's some 1983 Hawk content from around the web.  This figure is surprisingly popular and appears way more than I would have thought.  In fact, he's easier to find than many of the other original 13 Joe figures.  There's some good stuff here.  So, check the links and let the creators know you appreciate their work.


















1983 Hawk, MMS, Stalker, General Hawk


Friday, January 31, 2025

2005 Winter Operations Frostbite

When you see this figure, you'll instantly recognize the mold as that belonging to the 1983 Snow Job.  Despite this easy connection, though, Hasbro actually released this mold as many times with a different character name as they did under the name of Snow Job.  Between 1998 and 2010, Hasbro never used the mold for the titular character who is forever associated with the beard, hood and goggles.  Instead, it was used first for a new character and then twice renamed and released as Frostbite.  Were it not for the ill-conceived "Then and Now" Snow Job who bombed at retail in 2011 or so, this mold would have been used the same amount of times for Snow Job and Frostbite.  And, that seems like something that shouldn't have happened.  Snow Job is iconic.  And, even while writing this, I actually wrote Snow Job in reference to this figure instead of Frostbite on multiple occasions.  So, really, I just take this release as another color scheme for Snow Job.  And, in that vein, this figure works way better than it should.

Blue is a tough color to make work on a Joe.  Blue is Cobra's color.  And, an especially dark blue color as an accent is even more closely associated with Cobra.  So, having the blue coat on this figure doesn't make much sense.  For a time, I had designs of getting a few extra Comic Pack Trooper or Officer heads and trying them out on this body for a Cobra snow trooper.  But, I never really got around to trying it.  The hues of blue are off just enough that it would be a tough match. And, my fascination with a Cobra head on every 1982-1984 Joe body has been played out now that there are 100's of Cobra Troopers to choose from.  

I'm not sure why they just painted the inside of the figure's arms blue.  It's a weird design choice.  But, the hint of color does help break up the figure.  The one thing that is really nice, though, is that Frostbite's coat is painted onto his waist.  So, you can see the full sculpting of the coat and how it extends below his belt.  The black gloves and details, along with the rich blue, make this a more serious looking figure.  The brown beard takes a bit away from the Snow Job visage.  But, I can see his hair turning darker as the character aged.  Sadly, vintage Joe plastic is a different finish that than of the 2000's.  So, that makes a vintage Snow Job head a difficult replacement on this Frostbite body.  The sheens just don't match up.

Beyond the blue, the figure features a difficult to see but amazing detailed cream colored splatter pattern on the legs.  The color difference is subtle.  (I'm not sure if the plastic is white with the brownish strewn cream color as paint, or vice versa.)  It's difficult to see.  But, it's there.  And, it probably cost a great deal of the entire set's production budget.  You'd have thought it would be on something easier to spot on the figures.  It's not until you really examine the figure that you notice how intricate the paint masks really are.  They are easily on par with the Vypra figures from a few months prior.  With the pattern and other, detailed paint applications, this Frostbite is more akin to a convention figure than a TRU release.  Collectors don't really notice, though, because winter figures aren't overly popular and this set was out of the collective mind before it even had a chance to collect dust at retail.

Frostbite's gear is both OK and also underwhelming.  By 2005, Hasbro had given up on the notion of matching accessory complements to a figure mold.  And, they had really given up trying to give any of the Toys R Us 6 pack figures any memorable gear at all.  Despite Snow Job's ski pack, skis and ski poles being ubiquitous during the 2001/2002 release years, they were not included with this set.  Instead, the set came with a series of 1988 Blizzard snow shoes and skis.  They aren't bad.  But, they aren't as fun as the 1983 skis, either.  In addition, the figure included a 1992 Gung Ho backpack, a sniper rifle from the JvC era and the Comic Pack inspired M-16 rifle. The sniper and Gung Ho's pack with the molded rope always reminded me of Snow Job climbing the Alps in the opening panels of G.I. Joe #23.  With this gear, he'd have made a good Comic Pack figure.   As a whole, the gear isn't bad and makes for a decent looking figure.  But, it's tough to see the Snow Job mold without his iconic XMLR and ski gear.  

Despite the character choice, the enemy specific colors and the bland gear, though, this figure does work.  It looks really nice.  It's not discoloring...yet.  The more pliable plastic is preferable for any winter accoutrements you wish to pair with the figure.  And, the figure looks close enough to Snow Job that you can easily just make it Snow Job in whatever mechanism you have for the figure.  This is one of those releases in the repaint era that holds up pretty well: even though it was completely forgotten during its release window.  It's not not a figure you remember like the clear Mirage or the excellent Snake Eyes.  But, you don't hate is like you do the Backblast figure.  He's just another repaint that was blasted out to retail during a time when  Hasbro was dumping everything they could before pivoting to the DTC model.  

That, though, lead me to rediscover this figure nearly 20 years after his initial release.  I had no need for another release of Snow Job mold back in 2005.  But, now, he's much more palatable.  1983 Snow Jobs discolor very easily.  The 1997 repaint and Whiteout are both pretty close to the 1983 colors, too.  The 2003 Frostbite is a nice match for the 1994 Windchill.  But, he had no gear.  So, that leaves this figure as an alternative to the more traditional Snow Job role.  This, certainly, isn't a figure that I'd go out of my way to include in a photograph.  But, 2 weeks of snow this year has given me an opportunity to better explore my winter themed Joes and has rejuvenated a bit of interest in the hobby that I've lost in the past couple of years.  

Winter Operations figures aren't all that common to find.  By 2005, Hasbro had reduced the production run on the G.I. Joe themed sets to around 16,000 total sets.  That's down from the 20,000 that were typical for Cobra sets.  On top of that, collectors were leaving the hobby in droves by the time this set was released.  Couple that with the general malaise towards the overall set, and few collectors even bothered to buy it.  Those who did almost never bought multiples.  So, the set didn't find an afterlife from disillusioned 2000's era collectors liquidating their duplicates in the early 2010's.  You'll see dealer pricing on this figure in the $20-$25 range...which is entirely too high.  At best, he's half that on the open market.  But, there is simply no supply right now.  So, your options to  acquire the figure are limited.  But, really, if you have the 1983 Snow Job, the 1997 Snow Job, the 2001 Whiteout or the 2011 Snow Job, you have much more useful figures to represent any character you choose.  So, those are the better route to seek should you want a cheap representation of this mold in your collection.

2005 Winter Operations Frostbite, V10, Version 10, Toys R Us Excusive,  TRU, Sightline, 2017, Red Laser Army, Factory Custom


2005 Winter Operations Frostbite, V10, Version 10, Toys R Us Excusive,  TRU


Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Dogs

I have dogs.  I've had dogs for 25 years.  In that time, they've done relatively little damage to my collection.  Shortly after we moved into our first house back in 2000, our first dog came walking out of my Joe room with a Tomahawk chopper blade in his mouth.  I took it from him with no damage and he never went after another of my toys again.  That crop of dogs lasted from 2000 through 2018.  They left my stuff alone.

In 2020, we broke down and got another dog.  She is a rescue who was found wandering a reservation in New Mexico.  She's a great dog who is nothing but sweet and loving.  Her one flaw is that she does like to chew on plastic.  However, she's been pretty choosy in what she goes after.  Our boys have left toys on the floor for her whole life.  But, eventually, something got her attention and she did start to chew on certain items.  

Every now and then, she'd pick up a spare Lego.  Mostly, she'd play with it in her mouth.  But, then, she chewed up a couple of Clone Troopers.  Those were tough to lose as the boys loved them.  She got in trouble for it and we gave her more of her own chew toys.  But, every now and then, the temptation was too great and we'd find another Clone or a Batman figure chewed up in the living room.  (She really liked Clones for some reason.)  We used as an occasion to teach the kids to pick up their stuff.  

As a collector, I'm a spreader.  Rather than keep things nice and neat, I'll often spread things out on tables, desks, chairs and floors.  I do this to quickly sort things.  But, it's also a way for me to find something I'm looking for.  I have tons of unsorted baggies and shoeboxes of various parts and pieces from the Joe line.  So, it's not uncommon for me to have several areas covered in toys.  When I get busy, these things might sit out for months.  They're in the basement, out of sight and out of mind.  The dog goes down there.  But, she's never touched anything of mine.

Yesterday, though, I had a bit of time and really wanted to replace a couple of worn out shoeboxes that held some parts.  So, I brought two old boxes of stuff up to my office to work on moving to a new box during the day.  One of the boxes contained all of my unused weapon trees from figures I opened back in the '90's and early 2000's.  I love weapon trees.  I think they're really fun.  And, I kept a lot of them still on the sprues as I liked the look and wanted to have them around should I ever need them.  These were in a box in the basement that wasn't covered.  The lid of the box had gotten broken in one move or another.  So, I wanted to get them into a new shoebox with an attached lid.

I brought them up, moved them over and sorted the other baggies in the box.  (They were filled with various Battle Gear weapons.)  I arranged the trees by color.  In the old box, I had the black weapons on bottom, then grey, silver, purple, yellow and red.  In the new box, for just some variety, I switched and put them in reverse order with the black weapons on top.  I got the box all packed up.  But, I remembered that I had a couple of other baggies of Battle Gear weapons in the closet.  Before I closed the box lid, I wanted to go get those weapons.  I wasn't in a hurry.  As the afternoon wore on, it was time to get the kids from various practices and meets.  It's a multi-hour process.  So, I left.

When I came home, the house was dark.  As I turned on a couple of lights in the kitchen, I could see something on the floor on the living room carpet.  Immediately, my heart sunk.  These could only be some of my toys.  I turned on more lights.  And, sure enough, my dog had decided to go into my office, remove some of the weapon trees from the open shoe box and chew them into oblivion!

Because of the series of innocuous decisions of the day, she grabbed all my favorite black weapon trees along with the grey and silver.  The black trees are more nostalgic to me.  I've had them for 30 years, now.  They are common and replaceable.  The grey tree, though, was from the 1994 Payload figure.  Not an easy one to track down.  At least I have a spare set of loose weapons for the figure.  The silver tree, though, was one I hadn't placed when I looked at it earlier in the day.  It had a silver MP-5.  This mold is one of my favorite weapons.  And, I didn't recognize it in silver.

It was only after I posted about it that General Liederkranz gave me the horrifying news that the silver tree is from the 1994 Ozone figure.  Ozone might be the single rarest Joe released on a card.  He's gotten stupidly expensive.  And, I only have a loose one because I was able to pick up a spare carded version for a couple of bucks back in the late 1990's.  I never took his weapons off the tree because the tree was rare and I liked the look of the silver.  And, now, it's gone.

Here is the aftermath:

1993 and 1994 Weapon Trees Destroyed By My Dog

Fortunately, she seemed to focus her chewing on the more substantive stands.  So, while those were largely destroyed, a few weapons did make it out intact.  Most notably, the silver MP-5 managed to survive with little to no damage.  So, small blessings.  Here's what was somewhat salvageable:

1993 and 1994 Weapon Trees Destroyed By My Dog

I was fortunate.  Right next to the box with these weapon trees was a drawer full of 2023 Black Major figures.  She could have eaten those instead.  I think there's something about the softer plastic that she really likes.  That's why she eats Clones but really leaves the much more common Legos alone.  

So, a tough day for my Joe collection.  A tough day for me to learn some lessons, too.  It certainly could have been worse.  There were pieces of sprue all over the living room.  And, I'm sure she ate a lot of plastic.  But, she seems OK over 12 hours later.  I gave her extra food to help process the plastic through.  And, I'll find brightly colored waste in the yard when I start mowing again in a few weeks.  But, I can buy more toys, should I want them.  And, the dog is tough.  She lived on her own in the desert for quite a while.  So, we'll be OK.  It was just a surprise to walk into last night!

Saturday, January 25, 2025

2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes - Around the Web

Hasbro probably made way too many homages to the 1983 Snake Eyes figure.  None of them really make fundamental changes to the way you can view the Snake Eyes character or figure.  But, each of them is slightly different and can bring a bit of depth to any photo that otherwise features the classic version of Joe's most popular character.  This 2005 Comic Pack version, though, did bring about a new head to update Snake Eyes.  It's a neat upgrade for Snake Eyes and gives the figure a different look.

There's a nice cross section of looks at this figure from the time of his release, a few years later and then more modern looks.  So, take some time to check out the content on the 2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes from the creators below.

2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes Profile

2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes at Joe Battle Lines

2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes by corpscommandercody

2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes by joesandtoys

2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes by gijoe_for_fun

2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes at JoeADay.com

2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes by joesandtoys

2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes by mrmikevinthepit

2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes at Generals Joes Reborn

2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes by gijoe_for_fun

2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes by Flatline

2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes, G.I. Joe #21, Marvel Comics, Oktober Guard, Stomavik

2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes, G.I. Joe #21, Marvel Comics, Oktober Guard, Stomavik

2005 Comic Pack Snake Eyes, G.I. Joe #21, Marvel Comics


Tuesday, January 21, 2025

My Favorite Accessories - Part 1

I look at my collection in distinct stages.  The first, of course, is my childhood.  This covered 1982 through 1987.  The second phase is the pre-internet days of adult collecting.  For me, this was 1992 through 1997, give or take.  And, then the final phase is my adult collecting years that have occurred since I found the Stars & Stripes set in December of 1997.

As a kid, it was nearly impossible to get extras of specific weapons.  Your only options were to buy another figure or two to get the gear.  Or, really hope that a friend of yours happened to hate that particular item and you could trade him something you didn't really care for in exchange for the item you did want.  The notion of having several extras lying around was pretty much a pipe dream and impossible for all but the richest kid.  

During the mid 1990's, it was also somewhat difficult to just buy accessories.  You'd often find guys with grocery bags or shoeboxes full of Joes.  And, they'd say something along the lines of "it's too much work to figure out who gets what gear"  (there was no YoJoe.com back then).  But, at the same time, none of them would sell individual gear.  They were too afraid that you'd buy the one super rare item and they'd miss out on 4 extra bucks in later years.  1990's scalp culture was weird.  The thing those guys would do, though, was sell you the whole bag or box of figures for what, now, seems a really stupidly low price.  Sure, there'd be no female figures or Snake Eyes in the lot.  But, that was fine because you'd end up paying a dollar or two per figure.  So, you could get extra gear, but you'd get the figures to go with it, too.

The early days of internet collecting were nice as guys would pretty much trade any accessory straight up for another that they needed.  So, for a few years, you could easily trade a spare Alpine rope gun to get a Shipwreck pistol.  But, as the 2000's dawned, things like that mostly disappeared.  By then, collectors had realized which gear was the most desirable and hardest to find.  And, as the 2000's turned into the 2010's, you had the rise of online dealers who would sell individual accessories and Ebay stores that did the same.  Sure, you'd pay a premium for a 1982 Uzi.  But, they'd often sell very nice stuff from later years for cheap prices.  You could still get the charcoal Recoil rifles from later editions of the Steel Brigade for under $5 up through this time.  

Since then, the price of gear has steadily gone up.  Certain weapons that were once desired (like Snake Eyes' Uzi) did see demand tempered a bit as repaint era options became readily available. I didn't need to seek out extra 1983 weapons to arm my terrorist contingent because I could easily get 2000's era accessories that worked just as well and were a fraction of the price.  But, other gear got stupidly expensive.  Things like Flint's shotgun (that, really, were never hard to find) got really pricey as dealers flocked to the market and marked things up in the post 2018 Joe world.  Now, I'm glad that I have a lot of extra gear.  Because there is no way I'd accumulate my armory at today's prices.

For today, I'm going to focus on my childhood favorites.  There is a lot to read here.  So, I'm going to break this walk down memory lane into different parts so they are more manageable.  Here is part 1:

My Childhood Favorites:

1. Flint's Shotgun

There's just something about this weapon that always spoke to me.  It was an original design and unlike anything that had come before it in the line.  The notion of a shotgun toting badass hearkened back to the Westerns you'd see on weekend afternoon TV.  

On a boy scout trip, some of the adults were shooting skeet.  I gathered up a dozen or so spent shells and cut slits in them so that I could affix them to suspenders or a belt like Flint.  When we'd play guns in the neighborhood, I'd wear the shells over a vest.  It's amazing to think we used to run around the neighborhood, toting very real looking toy guns with real spent ammo on my chest and no one batted an eye.  This is probably the one thing that's most changed between my childhood and that of my kids.

As a kid, I lost Flint's shotgun all the time.  My original figure's disappeared at some point during his run.  In 1986, I replaced my original with a new one so I'd have the rifle, again.  That winter, we went to visit my grandparents.  We'd play in their basement.  The floor was cold, hard concrete.  But, they had about a dozen carpet sample sized rugs that we'd arrange as islands or somesuch and structure our adventures around these.  We were playing down there one afternoon and my younger brother somehow kicked Flint's shotgun off of one of these carpets.  I frantically searched for it for hours.  I picked up every carpet, got a flashlight to look under the cabinets and swept the floor with my hands. But, that Flint shotgun was gone.

A while later, my grandmother told me over the phone she had found a green gun in her basement.  She put it in her room, thinking it might be important to us.  I was sure it was Flint's shotgun.  But, when we saw her again, I was disappointed to find it was not.  Instead, it was a broken machine gun from one of my dad's old, cheap plastic soldiers.  So, the remaining years of my childhood Flint's life were spent with him wielding the weapon from the Night Landing Craft, a Snow Serpent's AK-47 or the Ripcord rifle from the Tactical Battle Platform.

When I started collecting, getting a complete Flint was a priority.  As Flint was super popular, though, he'd be in a ton of the lots I was acquiring in the late 1990s.  Usually, I'd get his gun, too.  Over time, I bought a bunch of loose Flints from online and local sellers.  I had up to 8 of them at one point.  Even after my collection  purge, though, I still have 5 originals plus at least 5 loose and 5 more carded Funskool versions.  What I can not do, though, is give Flint's shotgun  to another figure.  It just doesn't look right.  So, while I love Flint's shotgun, it is reserved for Flint and Flint alone.  

1985 Flint, Heavy Metal, Mean Dog, 1988

2. Alpine's SMG

What's interesting is that many of the weapons on my childhood list feature stories about me losing the weapon.  The reason for this is that the experience was traumatic since I loved the accessories so much and I often would no longer use a figure once his original gear was lost.  For Alpine, the main story is one of loss.  But, there are also two stories of redemption.  

Alpine was one of the earlier 1985 figures I acquired.  I remember that I already owned him by the time I got Snake Eyes in April.  And, I have cold weather, early spring memories of playing with him and the Eel on the front steps of my parents' home.  Being an early arrival, though, meant that I was less careful with him than I should have been.  In short order, I lost his pistol and broke his grappling gun.  As the figure was cool, though, I replaced my original Alpine some time in 1986 so I once again had a complete figure.

In the fall of 1986, we were playing with our Joes outside with some kids down the street.  We rarely played in their backyard as it was small and didn't have a ton of great places.  But, their dad had recently cleared out a small thicket of trees near their back fence that bordered the alley.  So, on this day, we set up an adventure there.  Among the figures I had was Alpine.  At some point, I took his gun out of the figure's hand and set it down on the soft, dry dirt.  The gun instantly disappeared.  It was gone.  I searched for quite a while, moving dirt, etc. to no avail.  My Alpine's gun was gone.

About a year later, we were playing soccer in their yard.  The ball went back into this thicket.  I went to retrieve it.  And, as I went to pick up the ball, I saw my Alpine's gun in the dirt!  By this time, we had given up toys.  But, I did show it to everyone and asked if they remembered when I had lost the gun.  I put the pistol into my pocket and added it to my stash of Joes when I got home.  Over the years, my youngest brother broke into these stashes and removed key figures.  During these thefts, my Alpine was taken and his pistol disappeared again.

In 1997, I was working a job post college and living at my parents' house until I moved to Arizona.  During this time, I dug out all my childhood toys and started displaying them on the shelves in my childhood room.  One night, as I was heading to bed, I happened to notice something weird about the SnowCat.  It seemed there was an asymmetry in the open spaces on the black underbody beneath the lights.  Upon inspection, the difference was that my Alpine's gun was wedged into the part!  No idea how it got there.  But, I had a complete Alpine, once again.  It was the same gun from the dirt thicket because the grooves of the weapon were still filled with the fine dust from a decade earlier.  With this recovery, my Alpine was again, complete.

Over the years, I've picked up one or two extra Alpine pistols.  It looks good with a variety of figures.  And, I'll often use it with other 1985 releases as a way to bring some visual diversity to a photo.  It's a weapon I still enjoy.  I wouldn't mind if I had another four or five of them.  But, I'm very happy with the number in my collection, today.  Each time I see it, I'm reminded of finding that dusty gun in the back of our friends' yard.  It's a great connection to the past.

1985 Alpine

 

3. Hawk's Pistol

I view this pistol as Hawk's.  It actually debuted with  the 1985 Keel Haul, though.  But, since I never had a Keel Haul, I had no idea that he came with a gun.  So, I view this weapon as Hawk's and Hawk's alone.  Originally, this Hawk figure first belonged to my younger brother.  And, while I did use him quite a bit, my brother was hard on the figure and lost his pistol.  This hurt as I loved the weapon and often used it with other figures.  I gave Hawk the M-203 from Leatherneck and made him a younger leader, more akin to the role meant for Duke, instead of the grizzled general.  This made the Hawk figure much more useful and kept him a key player in my collection.

Sometime in late 1987, I went to a local toy shop in my neighborhood.  It was a small, independent store that was mostly a hobby/model shop who also sold toys.  They were expensive.  But, it was just a few hundred feet away from the comic book store where I spent many, many hours of my youth.  I stopped in one afternoon and found they had marked their Joes down to $2.99 instead of the usual $3.99.  I didn't like paying that extra dollar.  Their entire stock was 1986 figures...including Hawk.  I didn't buy the figure that day.  For some reason, I felt I needed parental permission to buy a figure, even though I spent my lawn mowing money with impunity at the comic book store.  When I got home, I mentioned something about the figures being on sale to my mother.  She made a flippant comment about how it was my money and she didn't care how I spent it.  So, on my next trip to the comic book store, I dropped by Ed Shrock's Toy and Hobby and bought myself a new Hawk.

I kept this figure, though, as the younger character from before.  And, Hawk, once again, got the M-203.  I had 2 of these weapons.  (It's next on the list!)  So, that freed up Hawk's pistol to be used by other figures or in other situations.  Crankcase was the main recipient of the pistol.  But, I would also use it in specific scenarios.  So, if a Joe got caught without his weapon at the end of a firefight and he had a sculpted pistol on his leg or chest, Hawks' pistol would stand in for the sculpted weapon.  The Joe would just use it that once.  But, it allowed for me to finally put to practical use some of the sculpted details on my favorite figures.

Today, the weapon remains a favorite.  I have a couple.  I never felt the Hawk pistol was all that hard to get.  But, when I liquidated all my extra Hawks, I sold them complete with the pistol.  I think I kept one or two extras that are available.  Though, one is always with Crankcase.  Hasbro had the mold for the weapon in the 2000's.  It was included with the Convention Hardtop.  But, it never appeared again.  Instead, we got crappy new sculpt pistols in the Comic Packs that the figures couldn't hold and that were just too stubby to be any fun.  I only imagine what it would have been like to get a dozen or more extra Hawk pistols in that era.  I'd have kept them all.

1986 Leatherneck, General Hawk,


4. Leatherneck's M-203

Leatherneck's rifle had a lot going for it.  It was a bit bigger than the weapons from prior years.  But, I liked that about it since it made the weapon appear more deadly.  The main  calling card, though, was the affixed grenade launcher under the barrel.  This gave the weapon more utilization possibilities and made Leatherneck effective against both infantry and Cobra vehicles.  I always wanted more of the weapons.  In the summer of 1986, though, I lost my original Leatherneck in the bushes in front of grandfather's house.  My cousin, who lived next door, never found the figure.  And, I went months with no Leatherneck.  At some point before the end of the year, I bought another Leatherneck figure.  My main reasoning was that when I returned to Buffalo and found my original figure, I'd have a spare gun to give to other figures.

When I went back to my grandfather's in the summer of 1987, though, my Leatherneck was no where to be found.  I know the bushes were evergreen.  But, the volume of snow they received could have left him shoveled away.  So, I wasn't to get that spare rifle.  But, fortunately, the end of 1986 and early 1987 gave me another avenue.  For Christmas of 1986, I got the Mission to Brazil set.  This included a desert themed Leatherneck with the same rifle as the original.  Naturally, I kept that accessory with the figure.  But, when I really wanted the 1986 Hawk to have the rifle, I'd equip the desert Leatherneck (now a Marine army builder) with the 1984 Battle Gear Zap Bazooka.  But, then, in 1987, a new Battle Gear set was released.  Frankly, this set sucked like the earlier sets with poor colors and missing gear.  But, it did include a brown version of the Leatherneck rifle...a color that perfectly matched the Mission to Brazil figure.  So, the army builder was given the Battle Gear accessory and I had a spare M-203 to give to other figures.

As an adult collector, I discovered that the weapon was later released in black, too.  But, I also found the weapon had fallen out of favor.  I didn't see it as a team standard any longer.  I did give a black one to Recoil for a bit.  But, once I had a charcoal Steel Brigade rifle, Recoil didn't need the M-203 any longer.  And, by the time superfluous weapons were included with repaint era figures in the 2000's, I ended up with a baggie full of extra M-203s that I don't use at all.  It's a precipitous fall for one of the top weapons of my childhood.  But, Hasbro made too many better weapons in subsequent years.

1986 Leatherneck

5. Mutt's Mac 11

Mutt belonged to my younger brother.  And, he didn't take care of him.  In short order we lost the mask, nightstick and pistol.  At one point, I found the Mutt figure in the bottom of an antique wardrobe that was in my brothers' room.  Since I had pulled the figure out when it was fairly dark, I always thought that Mutt's pistol must have been  lost in the bottom of that piece of furniture.  I searched it many times.  In fact, I searched it as recently as 2013 when my mother finally moved out of the house and was giving the piece away.  No Mutt's pistol.  There were a bunch of old Legos, though.

Having lost such a cool gun always made the weapon mythical to me.  Add to that the weapon's silencer and it was a perfect accessory for Dreadnoks, Cobra leaders or even just Snake Eyes.  In 1985, I finally got a bright green Mutt's pistol in the Battle Gear.  And, despite the color, I used this weapon extensively.  I'd give it to Zartan.  Or, some nameless bad guys would use it to assassinate Hawk.  I'd place the weapon in the cockpit of the Whale where either Cutter or Shipwreck could grab it as a backup to shoot boarding Eels. It had a ton of uses.

But, I never got another black version of the gun until I was an adult collector.  While I upgraded pretty much my entire 1985 figure collection, I didn't do the same with the 1984's.  Mostly, this was due to the fact that the '84's were pretty sparse at the retailers I frequented in 1986 when I was spending to upgrade my figures.  But, also, the '84's were somewhat old news by then.  I was more interested in getting some of the newer characters back into my collection since they were the staples of the comic and cartoon.  So, a complete Mutt didn't rejoin my collection for over a decade.

Now, I have just two Mutts: both with the pistol.  But, I also have Mutts from Europe and Brazil.  So, I've got several of the pistols.  I think I have a spare or two still hanging around.  You'll find photos of the pistol being used by Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Headman and others.  It's a fun weapon to use as an alternative pistol.  I still think the silencer adds a sinister element to the weapon.  

1984 Mutt, Cutter, 1986 Wet Suit, Whale, Hovercraft

So, that's a look at the weapons that drove my childhood.  While I liked most Joe weapons of that era, these were the ones that most spoke to me.  They were the ones that were the subject of daydreams of bins of gear being available to me.  Now that I can do that, I've found that I still flock to many of these weapons and never pass them if they're offered cheaply.  (Which doesn't really happen any longer.)

I'll continue this series at some point.  It won't be next week.  But, probably this year.  This was a fun jog into the bowels of my formative Joe years.  It's good to dig into that well of memories every now and then as it helps keep some of the feelings fresh.  Let me know your childhood favorites in the comments below.

1985 Flint, 1984 Mutt, 1986 General Hawk, Leatherneck, 1985 Alpine