1991 Lifeline - Rice Krispies Mail Away

In the early 1990's, the Kellog's cereal company wanted to do a G.I. Joe promotion.  They tied it to their Rice Krispies brand of cereal.  The result was a mail away offer where you could get a "free" G.I. Joe figure if you ate enough cereal.  The figure offered was an exclusive version of Lifeline.  The figure was based on the 1986 figure and colored the exact same way.  But, there is a major mold difference.  Gone are the original legs from the 1986 figure.  They were replaced with the legs from the 1985 Frostbite figure.  The created an unique variant of Lifeline and an interesting modification for modern collectors to track down.

Kellog's had an aversion to guns.  As a company, they didn't want to promote guns on any of their promotions.  Why they chose to partner with a military themed toy line, then, seems rather odd.  But, Hasbro was game to accommodate Kellog's wishes. So, they offered a medic figure as the premium.  And, they modified to the parts used so that the gun and knife on the legs of the original Lifeline were now gone.  This was the only reason for the parts change in the figure's construction.  A few years later, Kellog's aversion to weapons appeared again.  In 1996, Kellog's offered an amazing (for the time!) Han Solo in Stormtrooper Disguise figure as a promotion for their Fruit Loops cereal.  The figure was sculpted to hold a two-handed blaster based on the Stormtrooper rifle.  But, Kellog's would not allow the weapon to be used.  So, Hasbro nixed the blaster and the figure just came with a helmet.  Finally, in 1998, the blaster appeared with a Princess Leia figure.  The Han Stormtrooper was a figure that I was happy to finally get in 1996.  So, when I see this Lifeline, I associate him with that Stormtrooper figure and it always brings a smile to my face.

Lifeline's purpose in my collection has mostly been as a nameless, faceless army builder.  The non-descript head with the molded helmet and green glasses helps fit his aesthetic into that role.  So, having a slightly different version of the figure isn't a bad thing.  I've always seen Lifeline as a field medic: often in the line of fire when trying to save a fallen comrade.  So, having him not be a character was conducive to the purpose I found for the figure.  There would be times when the medics would perish when trying to reach their victims.  Other times, they would be force to fight as Cobra overran their position.  But, mostly, they were guys doing a job that was extremely dangerous and very unrewarding.  I had more than a few medic characters who struggled with the fact that so many men they tried to save ended up dying.  It was a simple fact that medics were doomed to witness the final moments of life for many of the wounded to whom they tended. 

In 1991, it wouldn't have been out of the ordinary for there to have been a box or two of Rice Krispies in the house.  It was a cereal my family ate.  And, as there were three boys in the house then, we ate a lot of cereal.  I'd like to think that if I'd seen this figure being offered as a mail away, I'd have remembered it...even if I wouldn't have sent away for it.  But, as I already had a good Lifeline, it's possible that I did see the premium and simply ignored it since it was for a figure I already owned.  Either way, this isn't a figure that was ever overly enticing since I had the original figure and that version was solid.  But, I miss the days when cereal boxes would have decent mail away toys.  The fun of sending away for something and then pining for weeks while you waited for it to come was a right of passage for any kid of this era. 

Aside from the mold change, this Lifeline version also came with fewer accessories.  Obviously, the pistol from the 1986 was missing.  But, more importantly, the oxygen mask from the original figure was also absent.  To me, the mask is what makes Lifeline and it's one of my favorite accessories in the entire Joe line.  Seeing Lifeline without it makes the figure seem far lesser to me.  I'll buy a beat up Lifeline with a mask over a perfect figure with no mask.  The mail away version only included the white medical case and the silver backpack.  This gear is decent enough.  If I had no knowledge of the 1986 figure when I acquired this version, I would think the gear solid.  But, knowing there are accessories that are not included makes this figure seem cheap.  It should be noted this figure also has no filecard.  He was just bagged.  While it's almost guaranteed that any filecard that would have been included would have been identical to the 1986 text, the fact that it's missing makes this Lifeline even more of an oddball.

The Lifeline mold got good use.  Hasbro released him in 1986 and then this 1991 variant.  In 1988, the original mold was colored in Tiger Force colors and released on a single card in that subset.  The mold went to Brazil where Estrela released the Tiger Force Lifeline as Paramedico.  After that, the mold went to India.  There, Funskool released several variants of the figure in the late 1990's and early 2000's.  The basic premise was based on the Tiger Force release.  But, the colors are much brighter.  There are various color variants of the Funskool Lifeline, with some being rather hard to find.  After that, the mold disappeared.  Hasbro was good at getting medical themed figures into the early 2000's Joe repaints.  But, they were Stretcher and the 1994 Lifeline molds.  It would have been cool to see one more repaint of this figure, just because all of the other versions are rather extreme in color.  But, I'm also just fine with the uses we did get of the mold.

Massive amounts of overstock mail away Lifeline's found their way into the collecting world.  As such, a mint and complete figure will run you about $5.  You can still get bagged versions for under $10 and there are even sellers who offer them in bulk.  At these prices, there's no excuse for a collector to not own a high quality version of this figure.  One thing we've learned through the years, though, is that, eventually, common bagged overstock will get absorbed.  Bagged Steel Brigades used to sit unsold for $5.  Interrogator/Major Altitude packs were practically given away.  Even the multitude of common figures from the Hasbro Canada find have pretty much disappeared.  Some day, that will happen to the Lifeline figures, too.  It's doubtful it will anytime soon.  But, there's really no scenario where these figures get more common and cheaper than they are today.  So, if you want one, act now.

For me, this figure is an inferior version of the original Lifeline.  And, since even the originals remain relatively cheap, there's no compelling reason to get this figure (other than to "complete" a collection) over the original.  As a piece that tells an interesting story of the line, the figure has merit.  But, the value ends there.  The unadorned legs and lack of air mask leave this figure as lesser than the original.  But, I am a sucker for offbeat, slight variants.  So, that's why I have the figure.  The nice thing is that he remains cheap.  That alone is enough to warrant this figure a second look if he's missing from your collection.