The 1988 Tiger Force Roadblock was one of the final figures I bought as a kid. I found him very early in the year. And, I simply could not pass up a chance to get new Roadblock gear since my brothers had completely broken and lost all of the accessories for our 1984 version. (I had even tried to glue the barrel back to the gun to salvage the weapon!) He's probably the first figure I bought for his gear. By 1992, accessories would be the primary reason I'd buy a figure at retail.
Tiger Force is an incredibly popular subset of Joe collecting. And, Roadblock is a very popular character. But, the Tiger Force Roadblock figure is generally maligned and forgotten. Here's the best of him from around the web.
1988 Tiger Force Roadblock Profile
Tiger Force Roadblock Instagram 01
Tiger Force Roadblock at JoeADay.com
Tiger Force Roadblock on Instagram 02
Tiger Force Roadblock on Instagram 03
Tiger Force Roadblock Video Review
Tiger Force Roadblock on Instagram 04
I first encountered Tiger Force (not knowing they even existed) in late 1988 at the local small town department store which had not gotten GI JOE figures in a year or more at that point and was the only game in town (any place else was 20 to 40 minutes away), as the local variety stores also didn't care GI JOE or really any name brand toys. It was cool to get the older figures, even in some sort of odd colors. I had 1986 Roadblock but V1 had cooler gear I thought.
ReplyDeleteI think Tiger Force got a bad rap in a sense. The figures were fine (I might even lke TF Flint and Lifeline better than the originals). There were too many Tiger Force vehicles, though, but that applies to 1988-1989 vehicles overall. No kid could collect 'em all, Hasbro may have considered it a vehicle line, but I think they over did it in terms of quantity.