Rarities - JC Penny Breaker, Zap, Short Fuze 3 Pack

When the Joe line launched in 1982, catalog sales were still a dominant retail force.  For a toy line to maximize sales, it had to offer some form of product that was more conducive to mail away sales.  JC Penny picked up the Joe line for its Christmas catalog in 1982.  Below, you can see the catalog page with all the Joe offerings.  Here, the retailer offered several different three packs of figures.  The most famous it the set of Cobras due to the exclusive accessories.  But, there were Joe three packs, too.  Oddly, Stalker, Snake Eyes and Scarlett were offered together...long before we really knew about their connection.  But, in this case, here is the set that featured Breaker, Zap and Short Fuze.

The figures arrived in a box featuring the assortment number of 6195.  Each figure was individually bubbled and attached to their red back filecard.  The only way to remove the figure was to leave a scar from the bubble on the filecard back.  

The figures themselves are not distinguishable from the standard carded Joes of the day.  Zap does have an accessory variant, though, that will be discussed later.  The fact that the figures were packed with their gear in the bubbles made for a tight fit as both Zap and Short Fuze included the largest accessories in the original 13 lineup.

Of important note is that this Zap included either a B1 or a B2 bazooka.  The only other appearance of the B1 variant was in the JC Penny Cobra Trooper pack that was released in the same catalog.  This makes the B1 bazooka more common than the A1 exclusive in the Cobra set.  But, it's still a tough item to find.  And, it can be used to complete a legit JC Penney Zap figure.  Be sure to check out this list of Zap bazooka variants.

Below are the filecards for the figures.

There are a few items of note on the filecards.  First, is the assortment number.  It is 6195, which matches the assortment on the box and from the catalog.  This identifies the figures as being from the JC Penny set.  Second, you see that each filecard still included the flag point.

The JC Penny offerings are an interesting historical piece to remind us of the demise of the catalog sales model business.  The Internet has consumed all that business these days.  And, retailers like Penny's are just holding on for dear life and hoping that consumers still find value in a brick and mortar presence.  Finding Joes from these old mail away sets still in attached to their cards is nearly impossible these days.  And, even just the loose filecards with the flag points cut away will command substantial premiums.