The Monster Blaster APC is one of those vehicles whose time has finally come. After being ignored for years and years (even with a Cobra themed repaint offered at retail) it seems collectors have come around to the quality of this vehicle. The late release date and Mega Marines subset got many to ignore the Monster Blaster. But, the vehicle is on par with early Joe releases and is full of play value. There's a little bit of content on this thing out there. It's highly photogenic. So, I hope more people take advantage of it in coming years. Here's the best of the Mega Marines Monster Blaster APC from around the web.
1993 Monster Blaster APC Profile
Monster Blaster APC by Lava Boss
Monster Blaster APC by Nekoman
Monster Blaster by tituslester32
Monster Blaster APC by Slipstream80
Monster Blaster APC at 3DJoes.com - Including the variants
Monster Blaster APC at Reasonably Intelligent Rambling
Be careful for the rear running board foot pegs, they were made too big for most vintage figures.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that there was a variant colour scheme for the Monster Blaster APC, where 1 has a Lighter Green Body with a Darker Green Bottom, and the other was a Darker Green Body with a Lighter Green Bottom, until I looked at the 3DJoes link in this posting. Though it does make sense, given at this timeframe, Hasbro would sometimes do variant colour differences for some of the toys they did, at least for both G.I. Joe and Transformers.
ReplyDeleteI think for the 2 variants, I like the Dark Green Body with the Light Green Bottom a bit more. Of course, if you got 1 of each variant, you could do a All Darker Green Version, and a All Lighter Green Version.
I'm curious if you have a sealed box, if there was a marking or a date stamp that would help indicate if it was 1 version or the other, since I know in the 2000's, there has been a few times where Hasbro did embossed printed date on the Bar Code side of the box for some variants here and there.
1 example is 2004's Transformers Energon Optimus Prime in the 1st Style/Black Packaging, where 1st releases had a Mouth on the toy, and then later releases had a full Mouth Plate(When the later Red "The Powerlinx Battles" style Packaging happened, it was the Mouth Plate version). Another is G.I. Joe: The Pursuit Of Cobra's HISS V Tank, where 1st releases were more on the brown side, and later releases were in Black. For both of these cases, it would depend on the date embossed on the box somewhere on the side with the Bar Code, that would determine if you had the earlier 1st release(Earlier release dates), or the later change releases(Later release dates).
Mind you of course for the Monster Blaster APC, this means that people would of been paying attention to such a thing at the time as well, something that might have been more difficult before the Internet became more mainstream, or if someone had figured it out between 1993 to now.
I think if you need a V.S. Cobra Vehicle for the 1993 Joe Monster Blaster APC to battle against, I think the 1993 Cobra Detonator could be a good choice, if only because they are similiar in that they are both Wheeled Troop Carriers that have missile firing abilities. Mind you, the Detonator's missiles are bigger than the Monster Blaster APC's missiles, but otherwise, I still think similiar in concept.