I have few memories of buying Joes in 1993. In fact, I'm not sure I have any. In 1993, I wasn't around much. I was busy at school in the first part of the year. I went overseas for half the summer. And, when I returned, I worked constantly to earn money for when I returned to school. When I went back to school, I had little interest in anything beyond my school life. I'm sure I went to Toys R Us over Christmas break in 1993. But, I don't remember it: even though I had to have bought some figures. My main memories of 1993 Joes, therefore, come not from their release year. But, instead hunting them down as the dregs of the line remained at retail and shipped to offbeat retailers through 1995 and into 1996.
In the summer of those two years, I'd go to Toys R Us several times per week. I worked near the local TRU store. And, if you wanted to have any chance at finding some of the new POTFII figures from the Star Wars line, you pretty much had to go to the stores multiple times per week. But, also, during the week, I was bored to tears. All my friends lived out of state. So, I had nothing to do on most nights of the week. So, a quick trip to TRU was a way to pass some time and, maybe, get lucky in finding a new figure or two.
As I didn't have much money, I'd limit my purchases to a couple of figures per week, max. As there was still a decent supply of figures, I'd wait to find new figures that I didn't already own instead of buying duplicates of figures already in my collection. At the local TRU, there were lots of Ninja Force, Street Fighter, Armor Tech and Shadow Ninja figures. The Battle Corps selection was usually sparse. But, every now and again, a new case would show up. Among the dregs of prior years that were left on the shevles, though, were a couple of Mega Marines: Clutch and Gung Ho. Both figures were somewhat intriguing. They were characters I had loved as a kid. Both of them included black weapon trees with some of my favorite molds. The colors were bright. But, that didn't bother me. What did stop me from buying them, though, was the price point. $5 for a figure was just too much. I could almost buy two Battle Corps figures for that price. So, I let the figures linger for weeks.
On my trips to the store, they were always there. There were at least 2 Gung Hos. Probably 1 Clutch. They never moved and stayed on their solitary peg. After a few frustrating weeks where I had not found any new figures to buy, I decided I was going to bite the bullet and pay the premium price for a Mega Marine. I'm pretty sure I landed on getting Gung Ho since he had a removable helmet. So, I went to the Toys R Us, ready to overpay for a figure. But, when I got there, the Mega Marines were gone! After weeks of no movement, they had been purchased: just as I decided it was time to buy one.
This development amped up my frustration at finding Joes at retail. But, it also changed my approach. I no longer felt I could leave any new Joe behind. (Well, to a point, I guess. I still skipped Ninja Force, Street Fighter, Shadow Ninjas and Armor Tech.) I'd never see the Mega Marines at retail, again. And, it was not until 1999 that both Clutch and Gung Ho finally entered my collection. As they were acquired at a time when I was amassing new figures at an alarming rate, I didn't really give them their due. And, they were infrequent subjects of any photos. I liked the figures. But, they had disappeared into the sea of 1992 through 1994 figures that were expanding in my collection.
It was only in the past decade that I've really started photographing the Mega Marines. It helps that the Monster Blaster APC is among my favorite vehicles. So, Clutch and Gung Ho appear with it. The bright colors on both Gung Ho and Clutch really pop in photos. This visual cue usually makes the photos popular as people stop to check out the colors. Outside of that, though, this Gung Ho doesn't have a lot of specific backstory. Had I gotten him in the summer of 1995, he would have found a much more important role in my collection. Just pushing him back a couple of years, though, drastically changed how important he was to me, though.
Mega Marines definitely had a shorter production run than other 1993 figures. Even back in the days when no one cared about 1993 figures, you'd find them with much less frequency than you'd find the Battle Corps series of figures. That's resulted in them also being harder to find today. They're not rare, by any means. But, you won't find them with the ubiquity of the Battle Corps 1993 figures. The higher retail price point didn't seem to have the popularity that the cheap vehicles of the line's early years had enjoyed.
Mega Marines are a series of figures that were ideal candidates for repaints. And, in 2002, Hasbro proved it when they released an amazing Mirage figure. They then topped it off with an even better version later that same year. Sadly, though, that figure was packed with a Viper. And, as such, collectors hated the figure since they had to get so many of them to army build the Viper. This hatred was misconstrued as backlash against later molds being used in the Joe line. In fact, most collectors of the early 2000s really loved the Mirage repaints. They just hated having to buy two dozen of them in order to also get the Viper army they wanted. Hasbro didn't return to the Mega Marines well for any retail figures beyond even more Mirages.
The club, though, was a different story. They did like the molds. They used the Mega Viper to great effect in 2003. And, in 2005, they repainted this Gung Ho in a dark grey and black motif. Overall, the figure is...OK. It's kind of too busy. But, at the same time, it showed that the Mega Marines molds did have potential. The upside is that the 2005 release of this mold didn't sell out at the show and remained cheap for many, many years. So, it was attainable for collectors of that era. And, for many, it was their introduction to the Mega Marines Gung Ho. The club dusted off the Blast Off and Clutch molds for use on some of their kitbashes, too. Unfortunately, none of these figures really took off among collectors. Some of that was that the color schemes or characters that used the molds weren't great. Part was that convention items were always passe after their release. The biggest aspect, though, was that it takes a particular kind of repaint to really make these molds pop. Overly dark base colors and poor accent color choices quickly render these molds mundane. The reality is that many of the 1993 figures were sculpted with bright colors in mind. So, taking that part of their development away actually brings out limitations in the mold. It's a weird paradox. But, one that played out with later uses of the Mega Marines.
Gung Ho included the classic weapon tree that became ubiquitous in 1993. Fortunately, he came with one of the best trees and, it was colored black. These black weapons alone were usually enough to get me to buy a figure. But, Gung Ho's higher price point and the fact that I had the tree in black from other retail figures, deterred me. I actually like the commonality of the black MP-5 inspired weapon of this era. It gives the Joes a bit of uniformity. Having grown up with diverse weapons for every figure, seeing several of my favorite new figures including the same weapon was actually kind of fun. The only reason I didn't buy Gung Ho was his higher price point. As a broke student, I economized as much as possible. It's why I missed many figures as I just didn't have the money to buy more when I'd find a stash. Eventually, I wore down, though. And, I made up my mind that I was going to buy Gung Ho and Clutch. I had seen them for so long I had justified the extra cost. So, I went to my local TRU where I'd seen the figures hanging for months. They had been there just a couple of days prior. But, now that I'd decided to buy them, the figures sold out. I found only empty pegs at the Toys R Us store.
Thinking back, I wish I'd scoured the store for a closeout section. Toys R Us didn't do that often during those days. But, it's possible the stock was reduced and moved. In later years, this disappearing act would also occur with Street Fighter, Shadow Ninja and even Armor Tech figures. Maybe they were boxed up and sold off to close out stores. I'll never know. But, I've never forgotten that hesitation with the Mega Marines. It lead me to more impulse purchases with the POTFII Star Wars line. I didn't want to end up passing something by for a long time and then find out it finally sold on the day I decided to buy it.
Gung Ho's helmet is the closest thing to a classic fireman's helmet that we'd see in the vintage Joe line. This similarity, though, was never explored. I felt you could easily make a classic BBQ using the helmet and some of the body molds that were around. In fact, in my early collecting days, I managed to snag a lone Gung Ho helmet expressly for the purpose of customizing it into a fireman character. I never did that. In fact, that helmet still sits in a bag of extra helmets from 1982 through 1984. A lone, neon reminder of unfulfilled ambition. Maybe I'll get around to it when I retire.
The Hasbro Joe team was big on color theory. Even starting from the first wave of Joe figures in 1982, they approached each year as a retail experience unto itself. They mixed, matched and combined various colors to create an attractive display in the store. Figures were given complementary colors so that parents felt they matched. It was a subtle way to sell more figures. It was also a way to quietly convey quality. You may not have realized why Joes looked so good. But, you did notice that the toys really seemed to tie together. This practice continued through the line's demise. And, within subsets, the same practice was applied.
When you look at the Mega Marines as a team, they work. When you look at the Cobras as an enemy, they also work. You see many of the same colors used across he figures. Gung Ho uses an olive green that's incorporated into his base. Mirage uses a similar base. Gung Ho's orange accents tie him to Clutch, Mirage and Blast Off. His yellow makes him appear unique. But, the other colors faintly tie him to the rest of his team. You know they are coherent while maintaining their individuality. You see this throughout the line's history. And, it's why you can find near perfect Joe pairings among figures that were released a decade or more apart. This approach died on o-ring figures after 1994. But, Hasbro did utilize it to a lesser degree on their early waves of the JvC figures in 2002.
One of the great things about the Joe world from about 2015 onwards was that the anti-neon crowd had mostly moved on. The smaller collector base who remained tended to appreciate the neon figures. By the early 2020's, neon figures were seeing a resurgence and had gotten actively expensive and desirable. In the past year or so, though, you've started to see more takes of "neon ruined the line!". Most of them are driven by click-chasers who are vying for attention. You see some that are just older toy collectors who are dipping their toes back into Joes and think their tired '90's takes are still relevant. It's an unfortunate development. I hope it's a passing fad. But, it's a facet of the online Joe world that's rearing its ugly head, again.
Gung Ho's mold was used twice. The Mega Marines figure saw release in 1993. A dozen years later, in 2005, the figure was repainted for a convention attendee exclusive set. That was the end. Hasbro used the 1992 Gung Ho mold far too many times. And, you really wonder if this 1993 mold would have worked in a TRU set during the repaint era. If you painted this mold up in the blue that is similar to the 1983 Gung Ho, the sculpt would likely work. I don't think I've ever seen anyone attempt a V1 Gung Ho color scheme on the Mega Marines mold. I think it could work.
Pricing on these Gung Ho's is tough right now. The market is cooling pretty fast for non-premium items. So, you'll see some mint and complete with filecard figures sell for more than $35 while others will remain unsold for $20. It seems the biggest draw to increased prices is the canister of playdoh. And, as the playdoh is certainly a dried ball of compacted dust, it really makes no sense to pay a premium for a can that probably belongs in the garbage. As a figure that, likely, exists in lower numbers than almost all of his retail contemporaries, this Gung Ho isn't a bad buy at $20. But, he's better at $15. For me, this figure conjures up college age memories. So, I find value in him that others may not. But, he is cool and makes for a can't miss display item.
