1987 Mercer

1987 is the year of the G.I. Joe Movie.  Not knowing that was going to be a thing, though, left the year with some oddball releases.  The weirdest was Cobra La.  The three figures simply made no sense in the context of G.I. Joe.  But, their case mates were more traditional.  The Slaughter's Renegades were three new characters who were supposedly aligned with Sgt. Slaughter.  They were a ragtag outfit cast with misfits.  When I found the set, I had to buy it right away.  Though, this was, probably, a function of the fact that I already had all of the 1987 carded figures.  Upon opening, I found Taurus and Red Dog difficult to use.  I wasn't overly fond of their figures.  But, Mercer had no such limitations.  For some reason, I gravitated to the figure.  And, quickly, Mercer became one of the most used figures in my collection.

Mercer features some odd design choices.  You can forgive the random silver armband on his right bicep.  But, some others are less so.  His pistol on his chest features a massive handle.  Yet, the rest of the weapon is comically small.  It's like a Looney Tunes mockery in reverse.  He's then also wearing two belts.  Now, often you can get away with this as one is a holster.  But, Mercer's are both around his waist and don't appear to have any function other than just adding a detail for detail's sake.  He features bare arms and bright blue pants.  His design is very emblematic of 1987 as that was a year where Joe was both traditional military and outlandish superhero/villain at the same time.  

Mercer's gear is solid.  He includes a black version of Footloose's backpack.  As a kid, I always gave him the brown Recondo pack.  I felt that pack was too contrasting to Taurus to actually be his gear.  Since the color better matched Mercer, I gave it to him.  In recent years, though, I've come to appreciate the black on Mercer.  It does blend well with him.  Mercer's gun was one of my childhood favorites.  It's a massively overlong pistol with a silencer.  I saw this as a super powerful weapon when I used Mercer in my final Joe playing days.  His weapon needed the silencer since it was so loud from the extra powder needed to generate the power of the weapon.  I often had Mercer use the weapon two-handed for this reason.

Mercer did not get much use.  He was released in the Renegades three pack.  Then, a short while later, he was released on a single card in Europe.  The upside is that this release proved the right gear for Mercer.  After that, Mercer never appeared again.  As Red Dog showed up in India in 2001, it's possible Mercer was there, too.  The club remolded a new Mercer head based on the 1987 figure in 2006.  It's not as nice as the original.  On one hand, it would have been cool to get a Mercer repaint.  But, at the same time, some of Mercer's charm is that he's an odd duck who's never appeared in any form other than this color scheme.  

1987 was a weird Joe year for me.  I knew I was starting to age out of buying toys.  But, at the same time, I was full bore into buying them as I had a lot of money from mowing lawns and free time to play with them.  When I found the Renegades in the summer, I had already bought all of the single carded figures for the year.  So, I didn't really hesitate in picking them up.  They had the Cobra La set, too.  But, I had no idea what the heck it was.  The G.I. Joe Movie didn't air in my market in early 1987.  In fact, it was only at Christmas time that year that the kids down the street said they had seen it and it included celebrity voices, etc.  They described Cobra La and I simply didn't believe them that there was a movie.  What they said was simply too ridiculous to be true.  At some point in 1988, though, I became aware of the movie either on a local station or through some other means.  All my friends had told me was true.  And, I was glad to have moved on from the cartoon for that reason.

1987 was also my final year playing with toys as a kid.  I bought 3 figures in early 1988 and was done.  I probably hung on too long.  While most every kid in my class played with Joes in 1985, it was down to myself and about four others in 1986.  By the end of the year, they were all gone, moved on to other things.  So, I spent many lonely afternoons in my room, listening to the radio while I came up with complex stories for my figures.  (To this day, I'll hear some deep cut of 1987 pop on an oldies station and it will trigger old memories of that room and the adventures I had.)  Really, the year of 1987 is one long soap opera that lead to a massive battle.  In the fall of that year, I put my toys away.  A few key figures would stay under my bed for a bit.  But, after some of my friends happened to see the shoebox in which they were stored, I was done with Joe.  My figures went into plastic baggies and were stuffed into a solid, red Lego container that we had.  I then buried that in my closet.  I then focused on more "acceptable" collectibles like sports cards.  I approached that with the same gusto as G.I. Joe.  But, Joe wouldn't leave.  I still bought the comic.  And, I'd sneak a glance at the toy aisle to see the new Joes every now and again.  But, I wouldn't actively collect G.I. Joe again for another 6 years.

When I started up again, though, I had my original Mercer available.  He was one of a handful of figures stored in a shoebox.  As he was complete, though, I found him useful.  And, I paired him with the 1992 Wild Bill as well as a beat up 1990 Stretcher I found for $1 at the Trader's World flea market in Dayton, Ohio around 1995.  This trio made up a crime force that was wanted by both Cobra and the Joes.  In the end, only poor Mercer wasn't actually working for the Joes.  So, he got the shaft while his partners in crime ended up working with the Joes on their most lucrative assignments for many years.  As these were my early collecting years, I have nearly forgotten that Mercer was part of the trio.  And, the value of having just a handful of figures has been lost as my collection has grown.  It's nice to look back to simpler times and the fun you could have with limited resources.

Mercer figures are not rare.  And, as he's the only Renegade to not feature gold paint, he's less prone to wear than his packmates.  Still, though, you often find him with scuffs on the massive silver pistol handle as well as wear to his hair and silver elements.  Dealers sell mint and complete with filecard figures in the $30 range.  If you are willing to sacrifice the filecard and wait a bit, though, you can actually buy all three Renegades for about the same price.  Left to the market, Mercer is about a $15 figure.  But, again, you can often buy sets of all the Renegades for less.  So, shop around.  1987 was a massive Joe year and figures were produced in huge quantities.  So, there are lots of options to acquire a Mercer before you spend double his value from a dealer.