1985 Armadillo

I have no real information in regards to the G.I. Joe toy release schedule in 1985.  It's very possible that every toy was released in the first quarter and then shipped for the entire year.  However, my recollection of the 1985 releases is different.  This could very well be a case of selective memory.  As a kid, I had no money during the winter months as I made my spending cash mowing lawns from spring through fall.  Usually, the money flowed in slowly in the spring, ramped up just as school was letting out, tapered off in the heat of the mid summer and then picked back through fall until all the leaves had been raked  up.  This overlays with my recollections of buying Joe toys.  I would get figures first in the early part of the year.  Then, I would pick up small vehicles.  By the summer of 1985, the mid size vehicles had shown up and I'd get those.  Then, the large vehicles showed up in the fall, just as the holiday season was getting ready to kick off.  It could be that I simply looked at items I could afford.  So, when I had just a couple of bucks in my wallet, I'd focus on figures or small vehicles for which I had the funds to purchase and ignore the more expensive items.  Or, my memories of longing after larger items were wiped out when the toys became part of my collection as the year wound down.  Regardless of the reason, my Joe experience in 1985 was a progression from the cheapest items available to the most expensive.  It is one of the cheap items, though, that finds itself the focus of this profile: the 1985 Armadillo.

I knew the Armadillo from the 1985 G.I. Joe catalog that had come with my Silver Mirage.  It looked like a great toy and a perfect addition to the Joe army.  And, when compared to the Silver Mirage, it was everything the motorcycle promised but failed to deliver.  The Armadillo didn't fall apart.  It was small, compact, packed with firepower and held three figures.  It was straightforward and didn't try to be anything more than it was.  It had some molded details like the front winch (non-working) and the gas tank opening to be compatible with the USS Flagg.  Beyond that, though, the Armadillo was what it was.

My first real memory of the Armadillo comes from the Friday night when I acquired Tomax and Xamot.  Comic #37, introducing the Crimson Twins and the Armadillo (among others), had just come out.  My family was out late on a Friday, but let me stop at Toys R Us.  Here, I found the twins.  I opened them on my parents' living room floor and pulled out Footloose and the Armadillo to take them on: just as seen in the comic.  I hadn't played for but a few minutes when I was sent off to bed.  But, that early bedtime cemented the memory of that night since it left the adventure unfinished and me desperately wanting to finish it out.  Through the rest of the year, the Armadillo remained a favorite toy.  It was small enough to be taken to my grandparents' homes and durable enough to survive the travel without breaking or losing pieces.  It was a perfect match for my favorite figures and was Flint's personal ride for a while.  Even as the larger 1985 vehicles entered my collection, the Armadillo remained vitally important.  The cannons were small enough to be believed as capable of taking out infantry, but also large enough and with enough range of motion to take out both Cobra aircraft and Hiss Tanks.  

As 1985 turned to 1986, the Armadillo took on a greater role.  The VAMP was still around, but didn't seem up to snuff against the newer Cobra vehicles.  And, while my new Mauler was awesome, it was big and bulky and didn't fit the "everyman" type vehicle that I was missing.  The HAVOC in 1986 was more similar to the Mauler in this vein and the Armadillo remained a key component of my Joe army.  With it, the Joes could quickly take out both Cobra Vipers and Hiss Tanks.  I had the Armadillo be the only Joe vehicle that could match the speed of a STUN, though, it lacked the armaments to destroy one.  Into 1987, the Armadillo was the backbone of Joe's landing forces as they invaded Cobra island.  They might be manned by a named Joe or some nameless, faceless "commando" who made up my Joe cannon fodder.  The vehicle's resiliency and strong construction allowed it to outlive many later acquisitions that would break more easily or that had more pieces that were easily lost.

My final memory of the Armadillo bookends my first.  In the fall of 1987, my friends from down the street, my younger brother and I decided to have one final battle with our Joe toys.  The kids down the street brought over their entire collection and we set up a massive convoy battle in a slight depression in the south side of my parents' backyard.  Figures and vehicles were hidden in every patch of ivy, beneath every bush, behind every garden rock and plant and in holes dug specifically for this adventure.  The plan was for it to last several days.  And, it kind of did.  But, a fall rainstorm ended the play early and all the toys were hastily packed up...except for a lone Armadillo.  With that final battle out of mind, we turned the backyard into a field for various sports and spent the rest of the fall and early winter playing soccer, football and kickball on the grass.  During one of the these contests, the ball went into the bushes, near the scene of the final battle.  While retrieving it, I found the missing Armadillo, with Heavy Metal still at the helm, lost in the evergreen ivy that covered the ground beneath the bushes.  I picked it up, showed it to everyone, and placed it on the deck as we returned to our game.

And with that, the Armadillo's significance to my collection ended.  My Joes were soon packed away, the Armadillo included.  When I got the toys out again nearly a decade later, the Armadillo was among those that were resurrected.  But, the tank lost its luster.  I'm not really sure why.  But, to my older eye, the Armadillo didn't hold up.  It seemed cheap and undetailed.  I suspect part of this was a function of my acquisition of the Sgt. Savage Iron Panther tank.  This 1995 release looked great from the outside.  But, had no interior at all.  This lack of detail left me feeling cheated in regards to the vehicle and gave me a more critical eye through which I viewed Joe vehicles.  The Armadillo reminded me of that disappointment and it was never able to regain its footing as a key part of my collection.  

It's tough to discuss the Joe year of 1985 without bringing up the major change the brand underwent.  First, almost all of the new figures for 1985 featured a new, ball jointed head.  This allowed for greater movement.  The bigger news, though, was how grandiose the Joe line was going to be.  Aside from figures that introduced new hoses and construction, the vehicles for the line got bigger and better.  The Mauler, Tactical Battle Platform and the Moray would have been enough to make 1985 the most expensive Joe year ever.  But, Hasbro also threw in the largest playset ever made, the USS Flagg.  A $100 toy that was 7 1/2 feet long was the most ambitious item Hasbro ever undertook.  But, the combination of a flourishing line, successful cartoon and mid 1980's hubris lead to a lineup of toys and playsets that was difficult for any other line to overcome.

The real driver of Joe's popularity, though, was that you didn't have to have $100 and a massive basement to enjoy the line.  There were items like this Armadillo that were cheap and every bit as good a toy as the larger items.  Joe made sure that it had a toy in every price point.  This way, no one was excluded from it.  One of the great lamentations I have about toys today is that they rarely offer something for everyone.  If all the toys are cheap, collectors pass it by.  If they are all expensive, kids don't know it exists.  Few lines are able to ride that fine balance between being available for kids but also appealing to adult collectors.  Even Star Wars struggles with it.  But, the 2022 toy market is vastly different from the same in 1985.  

The Armadillo saw a few releases.  After the original release by Hasbro, it also saw exclusive releases by Estrela in Brazil and Auriken in Mexico.  These are both based on the US release, but feature different shades of green.  In 1989, the Armadillo was given a new turret with missile launchers and released in the Slaughter's Marauders subset.  It's final appearance was in 2006 when it was released as a convention exclusive for Sgt. Slaughter.  During the Anniversary era, Hasbro retooled the Armadillo and released an updated version.  Aside from the Slaughter's Marauders paint job, though, most of the Armadillo releases are relatively similar.  So, there's not a lot of diversity in Armadillo designs.  Though, collectors of the mold do have several versions to track down.

Unbroken Armadillos sell in the $15 to $25 range.  As the current market is just stupid, though, you'll see dealers getting up to $60 for one.  But, as the tank was very popular, pretty sturdy and a stalwart of any kids' collection in 1985, there are a ton of them out there and you don't need to pay dealer pricing.  Be sure to make sure both footpegs on the back are intact and that none of the three contact points for the back railing are snapped.  But, you can get Armadillos with these afflictions for pretty much nothing and still have a very functional toy.  For the price and the size, the Armadillo is still worth it.  It can display three figures in a relatively small footprint and looks good with figures from 1984 through 1986 as the crew.  You can't ask much more from a small release like this.