You'll note, though, that this Grunt isn't anywhere near as rare as the other two repainted figures. This is heavily due to the fact that a well funded collector acquired untold dozens or hundreds of these figures for a diorama. That dio never came to be and tons of bubbled Tan Grunts and regular 1983 Grunts were tossed into the collecting community where they forever altered the availability of what should be a harder figure to find.
With that, the Tan Grunt remains the basis for a team of tan Original 13 Joes. And, there's a good deal of content out there on him because he's from a classic year and is such a different look for figures of that era. Here's the best of him from around the web.
1983 Tan Grunt Profile
Grunt by cyko
Grunt at Memories of Toy Morrow
Grunt at Joe A Day
Grunt at JoePedia
Grunt by Hit and Run
Grunt at 3DJoes.com
Grunt by discovolante
Grunt by slipstream
Is it glider month? LOL.
ReplyDeleteThe glider pilot figures status is somewhat odd. The Falcon and Viper gliders shipped for two years in the USA/Canada, so why would either pilot be any rarer than any other pack-in figure that shipped for as long? Viper Pilot has the fragile silver logo issue, which is what makes a good copy hard to find. (But cannot the same be said for HISS Driver?)
I suspect Tan Grunt's mystique was an early example of hype. Some kid had a figure others thought was unusual or uncommon, and a legend was created that carried over to the internet.
Where's Tan Clutch's legend? IIRC, the Vamp MK 2 only shipped in 1984, just one year. Not sure tan Clutch saw any releases outside of North America, either.
Never heard about that dio thing and the Grunts.
I know that not many kids I knew had the gliders. The crappy quality got around and parents didn't waste their money. But, I also recall boxes of each glider stacked to the ceiling in the back of either Children's Palace or Toys R Us. So, there were lots of them made.
DeleteYeah, that's the thing, this was the 80's toys were in stock everywhere, even at places that really don't sell toys anymore. A lot of gliders must've been made.
DeleteI recall the 1984 product folder said "new improved construction". But never heard anything about differences or variants in the gliders.
I think what makes Tan Grunt great was his simplicity. Those early molds were great before Joe figures started to wear costumes rather than legit military gear.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletebeirut barracks grunt!
ReplyDeleteI’ve never understood the scarcity of the viper pilot, i purchased a number of the gliders MIB from a dealers dead stock in 93 or so, and like mike said above they were clearance fodder into 85