Rarities - Action Force Vehicle Drivers (Bubbled Figures)

Today, Action Force exclusive figures are, once again, hot commodities in the collector world.  Some of the exclusives now command premium pricing that places them among the most expensive figures in the world.  That wasn't always the case, though.  In the late '90's and early 2000's, a London based toy dealer had a massive amount of Palitoy overstock.  Among that stash was a tantalizing amount of bubbled vehicle drivers for the Pality Action Force line.  Aside from the bubbles that made them unique, these figures also included repainted G.I. Joe accessories that had not been available with the exclusive figures in their initial releases.  The dealer sold these figures for cheap for many years.  Around 2001, they realized that they had something more desirable than they had initially thought and the cheap buy it now prices on their figures disappeared and the market began to drive up the prices of the figures.  Now, the bubbled vehicle drivers command massive prices.  

Blades

Blades is a Tripwire repaint.  He's a great figure with super fragile paint.  This bubbled version includes exclusive black versions of his pack and mines.  The detector may be exclusive, too, but I'm not sure.

Red Jackal

This Destro repaint has Destro's gear.  

Red Laser

Red Laser is a Cobra Commander repaint.  The bubbled figure includes Cobra Commander's pistol.

Jammer

In a fun twist of names and molds that consterns collectors to this day, the Stalker mold was released in the Action Force line as Jammer while the Snake Eyes mold was released as Stalker.  That's still fun to sort through.

Gaucho

Gaucho is a Gung Ho repaint.  This figure features an exclusively colored backpack that matches the color of his pants.  This gear is probably the most famous exclusively colored driver gear.

Hunter

Hunter is a Cobra Officer repaint who is now a good guy.  As if that's not odd enough, he now includes his AK-47 as a member of the SAS.

Steeler:

Steeler always included his exclusive red helmet and binoculars headset.

Other figures were available in bubbles, too.  All of the figures above were relatively available with Jammer and Gaucho selling out first with the Cobra molds as fast followers.  Now, high quality Action Force drivers are tough to find in general.  But, getting the exclusive gear loose is darn near impossible.