1993 Night Creeper Leader

There are terrible figures in the 1993 line.  And, then, there are really terrible figures in the 1993 line.  This orange Night Creeper Leader figure is, easily, the worst of the worst when it comes to Joe releases and may be the worst figure Hasbro released during the vintage years.  (Nah, it's still Big Boa.)  But, to be forthcoming, much of my personal hatred for this figure arose during his release window.  You'd often find him and only him resting on a peg at an otherwise sold out retailer.  And, all the false hope instilled in me when I'd see a few Joes on the shelves, only to find them being Night Creeper Leaders doesn't help my perception of this figure.

When the Night Creepers were first introduced in the comic in the early 1990's, they were lead by a character named Aleph.  This figure is not that character, though.  It is, instead, a new character.  There's no explanation for this.  This character masks his eyes, though, to feign blindness and use his heightened senses.  The orange uniform appeared in the comics.  It was during the late run ninja madness, though.  I really need to re-read the comic from about #125 through #150 again to brush up on the end of the line lore.  But, the character was, pretty much, a throw away villain for Snake Eyes as the comic went deeper and deeper into his story.

The most famous appearances of this figure are actually on other custom figures.  The Night Creeper Leader's pants were often used in Tiger Force customs in the early 2000's.  You'd see them on European inspired Tiger Force ideas and most of them were used very effectively without even requiring any paint.  For a while, incomplete or slightly off condition figures were desirable in the customizing community for this reason.  And, if you can find any of the old customs sites from the early 2000's, it's likely you'll see this figure's legs appear rather frequently.  Even today, you'll see some kitbashes using Night Creeper Leader parts.

Normally, I adore orange figures.  The 1994 Star Brigade Roadblock remains one of my favorite figures ever released in the line.  But, for some reason, the color doesn't work for me on this figure.  I suspect a big part of that is the mold.  It just doesn't resonate with me.  I've never been a huge fan of bare chests.  Though, to be fair, the Night Creeper Leader's sculpting isn't bad.  But, that's one strike against him.  The second strike is that ninja figures didn't much matter to me back in the early '90's.  Without a firearm, the figure lost appeal.  The final strike, though, is that the figure just isn't what I envisioned a Night Creeper to be.

I was out of Joe toys in 1990.  My youngest brother got a Bullhorn.  That's the extent of the figures to enter our home.  I had no time or inclination to go to a toy store.  But, I did still  read the comic.  And, there, the Night Creepers looked badass.  I thought they had to be an  amazing figure.  So, seeing this Night Creeper leader that looked nothing like the amazing assassins from the early 90's era of the comic was a huge disappointment.  I wanted a figure that reminded me of the comic appearance.  And, this figure was about as far from that look as was possible.  And, that was enough to sink him.

I found the 1993 Night Creeper Leader several times as I chased the remnants of the Joe line in the mid 1990's.  And, I never bought him.  He joined Gristle as the only two standard carded figures from that era that I was able to find but decided to leave behind.  And, like Gristle, I've found that my original impressions of the figure were probably a bit too harsh.  While I doubt I'd have actually found a use for the Night Creeper Leader, the reality is that the figure isn't terrible.  The sculpting is strong, the proportions are nice and the colors are striking.  All of this adds up to a figure design that I should appreciate more than I do.  But, old perceptions are hard to shake.  And, when  I see this figure, I'm reminded of finding him and only him on various retail shelves and the seething disappointment I felt that another trip to a store had actually been in vain.   And, honestly, I don't really want to let all of that go because it reminds of when I was in my early 20's and evokes the feelings of the era that are getting harder and harder to recall as we get further away from them.  

The Night Creeper Leader's accessories are actually really nice.  While orange, his complement includes two well proportioned swords, the wicked knife that originated with the 1988 Hydro Viper, the crossbow from the 1990 Night Creeper (another great call back to the character's roots) and then the arm shield and wrist mounted crossbow from the 1988 Road Pig.  He's completed with the requisite spring loaded missile launcher, missiles and figure stand.  The Road Pig gear is especially nice as it's something that attaches to the figure and wasn't the type of thing seen all that often in the standard Battle Corps line of 1993 and 1994.  You can get the same tree in gold with the 1994 figure.  And, that's the way to go for better colors.  (The golden gear is also included with the Street Fighter Movie Edition Dhalsim.)  But, the entire complement feels rather close to the character in a way that few accessory trees of the era did.

The Night Creeper Leader was released twice.  (Technically, his legs first appeared on the 1990 Night Creeper and that bit of connection helps tie this figure to the original faction.)  The first is this orange 1993 version.  There is also an obscure 1994 variant that uses purple and gold.  It's, far and away the better of the two releases.  There's also an oddball Asian bootleg of the figure you can also track down.  For a crappy mold of a crappy character, that's more than enough variety for collectors to track down.  You do wonder what happened to the mold.  It didn't turn up in Brazil or India.  But, there's really no Funskool colors that would have been more ostentatious than this 1993 figure.

1993 Night Creeper Leader figures are sadly expensive....at least when compared to what you would think a terrible figure like this would cost.  You can get still get carded figures for under $15.  (Though, dealers price them as high as $30.)  But, high quality loose, mint and complete with filecard figures still sell for around $12.  That's barely any disparity for a figure that no one should really care about.  But, the 1993 series, in general, has finally found some collecting life and people are paying to fill those gaps in their collection, now.  In the long run, bad figures like Night Creeper Leader will soften while excellent figures like the Head Hunter Stormtrooper will rise in price.  That's starting to happen.  But, the weird disparity hasn't ironed itself out, yet.