Rarities - The Great 2021 Ninja Commandos Lot

In November of 2021, a lot of over 100 figures appeared on Ebay with a $4,000 BIN price.  At around $40 per figure, this probably wasn't a great deal.  Except, when you looked at the lot, there were over 60 unproduced 1995 Ninja Commando figures included!  On top of this, there were vintage test shots as well as some other oddball items.  A collector bought the lot.  But, unscrupulous people reached out the seller, offering much more than the selling price.  The lot purchase was cancelled.  And, it's likely that we'll see the figures parsed out and sold individually for much higher prices in super secret sales at some point in the future.

The one thing this lot proves is that there were more Ninja Commandos that reached full production than we ever thought.  Around 2002 or so, a collector friend of mine was able to visit Hasbro.  There, they had a bin of figures that they used to kitbash figures for the early 2000's figure releases.  In this bin of abandoned figures were several production level Ninja Commandos.  So, it's likely that Hasbro HQ got a ton of them and they just floated around: no one really knowing that something as desirable as an unproduced set of figures were collecting dust with the rest.

Here are the photos from the auction.  It's amazing that finds like this still exist out there.  You will note the following:

1. 14 Ninja Commando Budo figures
2. 12 Ninja Commando Road Pig figures
3. 14 Ninja Commando Knock Out figures
4. 14 Ninja Commando Stormshadow figures
5. 13 Ninja Commado Flint figures
6. 1 M Bison figure with blue hands
7. 2 Clear Ken Masters pre-production figures
8. Lots of bagged figures from late in the line.  Tough to see the details on them, though, for oddities.
9. Multiple Ninja Commando brown weapon trees. (Some unproduced sculpts on there.)

And, thus, another Rarities Month comes to an end.  I liked this year's group as I had more time to work on them through the year.  The archives are running low.  But, I've got one more good year in them.  Oddly some of the posts did really poorly.  Like, historically poorly in terms of overall views.  But, that could just be a function of too many posts in the last week or just the stuff got buried in all the other Joe news of the month.  Regardless, I hope you all enjoyed it and we'll see you next June!

Rarities - Kaido Figures

Back in June of 2020, my laptop power cord died.  I went about a month with no way to update the site.  I had plenty of posts ready to go.  But, not all that were published were finished.  One of those was the Rarities post on the Kaido figures.  I posted one picture and a small paragraph.  But, I had planned a much larger feature on the subset.  So, for this Rarities Month, I decided to revisit the Kaido figures and publish a more detailed write of what little I know about the Kaido figures.

I first learned of Kaido figures in 2019.  There was a random post with a weird Joe hybrid accessory that was identified as Kaido.  This lead me down a rabbit hole as I attempted to learn what other Joe gear might have been included in the line.  The line's manufacturer, Bikin, had taken both existing Hasbro gear from the Joe line as well as common gear from the Lanard CORPS! line and rehashed it into something kind of new, sometimes good and always odd.

The figures themselves are 3 3/4.  The arms feature construction very similar to Hasbro's.  The rest of the figure construction, though, then deviates.  The torso is one piece from the neck to the legs.  The legs then move forward and backward along the block crotch that is common on 5 points of articulation figures.  (Think vintage Star Wars.)  The legs feature knee joints, though, so the figures had a solid range of motion.  But, it was still less than Hasbro's.  This is the main reason these figures haven't caught on.  They are not Joe construction.  If they were, they'd be a lot more expensive and popular among collectors.

Like most lines of this nature, you see a lot of reused parts.  And, many of the figures have some drastic repaints.  However, I'm not sure of the origin of these other figures.  There might have been different series of figures.  There are also vehicles and playsets available under the Kaido name and the repaints could have been included with those.  Or, the repaints may have come from a different company getting a hold of the molds.  So, much more research to do in this area.

The figures were packaged in boxes.  You could see the figure through a bubble.  The artwork shows a speech bubble that denotes the sayings that will emanate from the electronic backpack.  There's even a slot on top of the package where the buttons on the pack are available for kids to test out the sound feature.

Here is a look at the packaging.  You can see the thick box that's reminiscent of the old cases that were used to store VHS movies.  There is a slot on top where kids could test the sound backpacks.  Each figure also included a booklet inside along with their accessories.

The cardback is interesting.  It gives a snapshot of the figures available.  There are some great names for the characters, here.  A bio card is also printed on the back so kids would know who Alpacko really was.  Finally, you'll see the printed accessories on the bottom right of the box.  This figure includes 2.  Once appears to be a hybrid between the rifle mounted on the Slugger with a barrel/bayonet from the Crimson Guard's rifle.    The other is similar to a shotgun produced by Lanard with early CORPS! figures.

Here is more Alpacko.  You can see his accessories and the figure construction.

Here is Slanders.  You'll see he includes the computer from Mainframe as well as an a relatively unmodified version of the 1983 Gung Ho's Grenade Launcher.  Note Slanders' grey hair.  You don't see grey hair on non-licensed action figures too often.  But, he is a professor.  So, the wisdom conveyed by grey hair is part of his character.

Here is Kanats.  Let's a take a second to look at that name.  It's something bizarre enough to make for a cool figure.  As this guy has a head that implies he's a robot, something like Kanats can work.  He shows that his accessories are a laser rifle that's based on a sculpt from the Lanard Space CORPS figures.

Kapawack (another great name!) includes a weapon based off of Crazylegs' rifle (with no stock to lose) and Psyche Out's pistol.

Tarkham includes two weapons.  The pistol is based on the 1987 Royal Guard weapon.  This is odd as the Royal Guard never appeared anywhere else and the weapon's usage here shows what potential the pistol had.  His second weapon is a hybrid.  I'm not 100% sure, but it looks like an amalgamation of the 1986 Zandar's rifle with the barrel being Dr. Mindbender's prod.  

Daiman is another interesting name.  And, the figure's artwork looks pretty nice.  He included a hybrid weapon featuring the back end of Leatherneck's M-203 and the front end of Baroness' rifle.  He also included a CORPS! shotgun.

Here is Molloch.  Again, great name for a character.  His gear is interesting as he includes a 1985 Eels speargun and a two piece weapon that looks like a mortar.  I'm not familiar with the origin of this piece.  So, you know it originated somewhere else, please leave a note in the comments.

Zorgev includes a huge rifle whose back half is from the 1986 Roadblock's machine gun.  I can not identify the front half, though.  So, please help out if you recognize it.

Tetrark features the weapon I'm most familiar with.  First, he includes a weapon that is twice removed from its source.  Lanard copied the rifle from the 1985 Lamprey and removed the side clip.  Tetrark includes a weapon based on the Lanard copy of the Hasbro original.  His second weapon is a combination of the 1986 Viper's rifle (back) and the 1986 Leatherneck's rifle (front).  A kind collector on Instagram gifted me two of these weapons a few years back.  They look great with a variety of Cobras and you can see them in various photos I've taken over the years.

Dr. Zargone:

Dr. Zargone has some great weapons.  The first is the pistol from the 1987 Cobra La Royal Guard.  It's a neat pistol and seeing it again somewhere else is fun.  His second weapon is a hybrid that uses the stock, handle and clip from the 1985 Crimson Guard weapon and fuses on the barrel from the 1986 Viper rifle.  It's awesome to see two classic Cobra weapons combined like this.

While you can see some of the accessories in the loose figure pictures above, here are some additional images.  You'll notice there is a combo of grey and black accessories.  Again, I'm not sure if individual figures included one color of another.  Or, if one color is from a different release.  If you have info, please drop it in the comments.

Kaido figures are very similar to the MPact figures that were made by Toymax in 1992.  It's possible that Kaido and Toymax were different entities under the same company as the figures seem to overlap quite a bit and use many of the same parts.  MPact figures include some different weapons stolen from Hasbro's Joes.  But, they appear on weapons trees.  You can see a couple of examples below.

There are more figures in the Kaido line.  But, this is a good start.  There are a ton of repaints that may or may not be Kaido figures.  I'll look into this more in the coming year with an update when I get some more info.  But, please share your info on these figures in the comments.  It's a great way to learn about some oddball and obscure releases with a tangential relationship to Joe.

Rarities - 1995 Ninja Commando Road Pig Production Sample

Yes, had the 1995 line seen production, Road Pig would have become a Ninja.  We don't know how this happened.  But, it would have occurred.  (It's likely that Road Pig's comic popularity lead to a new version of the character, even if his inclusion in a ninja subset made no sense.)  His card art would have featured him wielding a huge sword.  If you let the ninja angle go, though, you see that this Road Pig would not have been a terrible figure and fits with the previous look for the character.

Really, the only thing not to like about this figure would have been his weapons.  But, the rest of the figure would fit perfectly with any Dreadnoks just like the 1988 and 1991 versions.  He would have had Ninja Force type construction, though, with an action feature and a sealed back.  So, that would have limited his use.  If you're a customizer, though, you could make a good approximation of this figure.  The chest and arms were used on the Mortal Combat Movie Edition Liu Kang figure.  So, you could take an existing Road Pig head and use it with those parts to get a good enough version of this unproduced oddity.

There's actually lots of these figures out there.  And, after November of 2021, there were even more.  (You'll read about that on Thursday, June 30th, though!)  So, this figure is attainable and doesn't tend to sell at the $2000 or so that dealers price him at.  Sadly, though, most of the samples are in the hands of people who get more mileage out of the ownership than actually selling the figure.  So, it may take a bit to find a price that's right for you.

Rarities - Estrela Homem Bala (Bazooka) - Brazil

Brazil released nearly 140 figures in their line.  While the Brazilian exclusive figures get most of the attention from collectors, the vast majority of the Estrela line is actually figures that are based on the Hasbro paint jobs.  But, each of them has slight variances.  The plastic tends to be far harder and more brittle.  (Broken thumbs and crotches are hallmarks of Brazilian figures.)  But, the colors also tend to be different from the Hasbro releases.  Below is the Brazilian release of Bazooka where you can see some of these subtle differences.

This figure is not named Bazooka.  Instead, he is the Homem Bala.  This loosely translates as "Bullet Man".  But, in the end, he's the same guy wearing a red shirt with a number on it.  He has the same gear as the Hasbro figure.  But, if you like the Bazooka character, there's just enough difference on this version to be worthwhile.  And, the green is a great blend with other Brazilian figures so he really fits in with his cohorts.

The biggest difference between this figure and the Hasbro Bazooka is the green color of the pants and accessories.  Estrela used a deeper, richer green for their figures.  And, Homem Bala features this color on his pants and also his helmet and backpack.  The figure has also had all the COO information removed from it.  Like many other figures, the differences between this Brazilian release and the Hasbro release are small.  And, if you have one version of the character, the other doesn't bring anything other than subtle diversity to your collection.  But, I find those little things to be quite a bit of fun

Rarities - Plastirama Satan Accessory Variants

Plastirama is well known for their weapon variants.  While some figures are pretty tight and always include the same gear, others see quite a bit of fluctuation in terms of what may be packaged with the figure.  When the Plastirama overstock was common in the early 2000's, collectors had their pick of figures with the various weapons.  I didn't pay too much attention to the variants.  And, I got a Sparta with Footloose's rifle instead of the M-32 from her card art.  As they were $10 figures at the time, it wasn't a huge deal since I could get another at any time.  The more problematic releases, though, were the ninjas.  These were tough as there were several variants among them, they were $20-$30 figures at the time, and it was tough to determine which gear would look best with each figure.  Black 1984 Stormshadow gear was not uncommon in the early 2000's.  So, figures with black gear seemed blase.  The silver and golden Stormshadow gear that was available was far more appealing to me.

Satan's main difference is that figures either include golden weapons or black weapons.  Most figures include both the bow and the pack.  But, you can find figures with just the bow.  At the time, neither variant seemed overly desirable.  And, both were very available.  Now, though, the golden weapons seem to be more common.  But, due to the limited supply in the market, this could be just a function of what's available right now and could change in a year or two.  

There is also a 3rd variant where Satan includes silver weapons.  These silver versions were included with Cobra De Hielo.  It's possible that the silver inclusion with Satan was just a quality control error that occurred from time to time.  Plastirama was not too high on being consistent with their accessory complements as the line ran out of steam.  Both the black and gold bow, though, appear to be unique to Satan.  I haven't seen any Ninja Ku figures that didn't include golden accessories (and, he did not include a bow) and Cobra De Hielo appears to have only been available with silver gear.  But, with Plastirama's notoriously bad quality control, it's possible that there are some samples out there with different colors and the Cops or Jhony Quest figures may also have had oddball combos.  (Cops, in particular can have haphazard weapons.  There were stories of people finding 20+ of the same weapon in some boxes.)  So, be on the lookout if you're a loose collector and determine which gear you require to consider the figure complete.

Black Accessories:

Oddly, the black accessories are probably the most rare configuration for Satan.  Black Stormshadow gear was not available with any other figure released by Plastirama.  So, its inclusion with some Satan figures is unique.  You'll note the different positions for the backpacks in the bubbles below, too.  Sometimes, you get the pack in the traditional accessory bubble above the figure.  Other times, you see the back packaged in the figure bubble.  

Golden Accessories:

These appear to be the most common color for Satan figures.  As the golden color is unique to Argentina and the bow only appears with Satan, it's the generally accepted default for loose Satan figures you might find in Argentina.  

Silver Accessories:

Silver gear appears to be the least common color to be included with Satan.  However, you can get silver packs and bows with the less desirable Cobra de Hielo.  So, the overall availability of silver gear is much higher than its appearance with Satan would suggest.  With silver so tied to the De Hielo figure, it's my least favorite combo with Satan.

There are also Satan variants where the figure does not have the backpack.  It seems the backpack was often omitted from all three of the ninja figures released in Argentina.  So, you could claim the figure was complete with just the bow.  

Both the black and golden bows appear to be mostly unique to Satan.  Ninja Ku did not include a bow.  And, I've not seen any Cobra de Hielos with non-silver accessories.  (Though, that doesn't mean they don't exist.)  So, both bows should be considered unique.  In the days when these were $30 figures, it made sense to look to own both.  At $1000+ today, that's less likely to be something that is worthwhile.  

Rarities - European Action Force Wolverine

Everyone knows that the Wolverine was released in the Action Force line.  This black SAS repaint included the exclusive Hunter figure and has long been a desired piece among G.I. Joe collectors.  However, as the Action Force line transitioned into all G.I. Joe re-releases, there was another European exclusive Wolverine released.  This version was released in an Action Force box and included a version of the 1983 Rock and Roll who was named Ton Up.  I'll probably look at Ton Up in 2023 for Rarities month.  But, for this year, I'll focus on the exclusive Wolverine.

This Wolverine features a much darker and grayer green color.  It is substantially different from the Hasbro Wolverine.  Many European releases of standard vehicles would actually have unique plastic colors.  So, this Wolverine began a long tradition of alternate vehicles.  You will also note that the engine cover is not the same color as the vehicle's body.  This is an interesting design as it's not consistent with the box nor the Hasbro Wolverine.  It is, though, consistent with the design of the SAS Wolverine that featured a black body and grey engine cover.  

This Wolverine also features Action Force exclusive stickers.  This means it was a transition piece between the original Action Force and the version that was turned into G.I. Joe's European equivalent.  This likely means the release window for this toy wasn't large.  But, it was during the height of continental production runs.  So, it's not as rare as some of the more desirable Palitoy vehicles.  

The dark green on this version, though, is something that would likely be more popular were it better known.  The variant color helps the Wolverine stand out.  Though, then this version would not mesh as well as the Hasbro Wolverine does with other Hasbro released vehicles from 1982 and 1983.  But, that's kind of the point.  This version gives you more options to integrate a Wolverine into a color theme.  

Rarities - 2009 Funskool Carded Figures

Funskool stopped producing Joe figures in 2004.  Sales had been slipping for a while.  So, the line was cancelled even though Funskool had some additional new figures slated to appear later that year.  However, in 2009, Funskool fired up the molds again in an attempt to cash in on the G.I. Joe movie.  They re-introduced several figures from molds they still had in their possession.  While there were no "new" figures produced, they did create several more minor variants of their existing paint schemes.  On top of the oddball figure and accessory changes, each figure featured a new cardback with an explosion more akin to the pre-1986 version on Hasbro cards.

These figures were not heavily imported to the US.  Dealers didn't really bother with them as, at the time, most of the figures in the assortments were still pretty common.  And, many US dealers were still dealing with overstock from their Funskool buys more than 5 years earlier.  As there were no "new" figures in the assortment, there wasn't much incentive for anyone to really track them down.  A few people did import some cases.  And, those are the source of most of these figures today.  In 2009, no on really thought that Trip Wire would become a $200 figure.  But, the Funskool market of the 2020's has proven to have a short memory of what were once common and pegwarming figures. 

The assortment that was released doesn't really have a theme beyond the molds that Funskool still had.  We had a pretty good idea of which molds Funskool returned to Hasbro in 2003 just due to the last production run of bagged figures that Funskool ran.  But, seeing Scrap Iron in here was a surprise.  But, we've long known that the 2004 Hasbro Scrap Iron was a brand new sculpt.  So, maybe his retention by Funskool shouldn't have been so unexpected.

The cardbacks were updated to show the new figures that were put into production.  Some feature just 11 figures.  While others feature 17.  There are 18 total figures in the series.  The one figure difference is because Funskool did not put the actual character who you were buying onto the cardback.  So, Scrap Iron doesn't appear on the Scrap Iron cardback while Blaster does.  But, on the Blaster cardback, Scrap Iron does appear but Blaster does not.

Desert Scorpion

Back in February of 2001, the Funskool Desert Scorpion was among the first cheap Funskool figures I ever bought.  The Desert Scorpion is another figure that doesn't have many variants.  It's also a figure that's gotten somewhat expensive in recent years.  This later release doesn't appear to be materially different from the earlier figures, though.  This figure features the 11 back card.

Budo:

Budo has a variety of subtle coloring variants.  He also has an upper arm variant.  You'll note the very dark hair on this version and that his upper arms do not have the red pockets.

Scrap Iron:

In 2004, it was somewhat assumed that Scrap Iron was returned to Funskool.  However, when the 2004 Scrap Iron figure was released by Hasbro, it was obvious that they had made an all new mold for the character.  Funskool kept the figure.  Scrap Iron was among the first Funskool figures to appear in the 1990's.  After he was taken out of production, he appeared again in 2002.  Now, he's also appeared in the 2009/2010 timeline.  

Blaster:

Blaster is one of the biggest and easiest variants to notice.  The Roadblock machine gun has been removed and replaced with a black version of Mercer's rifle.  It makes you wonder if Funskool returned the 1992 Roadblock gun mold to Hasbro when they returned the figure mold.  And, if that's the case, it really makes you wonder why Hasbro didn't release it with either of the 1992 Roadblock repaints they released in 2004 and 2005.

Deep Six:

There's no obvious differences between this Deep Six and those made earlier.  Surely, though, there are slight shading differences.

Dialtone: 

The original Funskool Dialtone has an upper arm variant.  There are color shading differences on his chest, too.  As the Tunnel Rat mold was returned to Hasbro, this 2009 version features different upper arms than the most common early 2000's era figures.

Tripwire:

Tripwire is probably the most desirable figure from the 2009/2010 releases.  While he was always interesting, the figure has taken on a spectacular aftermarket appreciation in recent years.  This late version features the new explosion back but also has a variant filecard.  The 2003 era figures have a more closely cropped picture of Tripwire on the filecard.  The figure itself does have variations on the "Bomb Squad" text on his chest.

General Hawk:

There are many variants on General Hawk's red/orange highlights.  So, it's likely these are different than the earlier releases.  As General Hawk debuted in 2001, most of his figures tend to be of very poor quality and feature bad paint masks and construction issues.  I do need to pick up one of these General Hawks and see if the quality is improved.

Mainframe:

Continuing the theme, Mainframe is pretty similar to his earlier releases.  Funskool Mainframe's are one of the few figures that's not known for its variants.  But, with just grey, black and silver, there's not a lot of color matching to create noticeable differences.

Wild Bill:

Wild Bill also debuted in 2001.  And, there are two main variants as the figure can have either black or silver sunglasses.  For the 2009 releases, all of them I've seen have featured the black glasses.  This is another figure, though, I'd like to compare to my earlier samples to find any other changes.

Croc Master:

Croc Master features quite a few shading differences among his figures.  It appears that the wrist guard on his right arm is a darker grey than earlier figures.  And, his upper arms appear to be changed, too.

Cobra Commander:

The Funskool Cobra Commander figure never really got popular.  That's likely due to the fact that the collectors who knew this mold as the character didn't really come of age until after the era of cheap Funskool was long over.  The original Funskool figure isn't know for variants.  And, this figure appears very similar to the original.

Sci Fi:

Sci Fi is known for his belt color variations.  This version would have to be checked against the earlier figures.  But, it's likely there's another variant in the later production run.

Lifeline:

Lifeline is another once common Funskool figure that has seen a sharp upturn in popularity and pricing in recent years.  I'm not sure why.  This version features yellow arms with a green chest.  I got this same combo back in 2001.  But, this 2009 version likely has color shading differences on his green plastic parts as well as the painted highlights.

Psyche Out:

The Funskool Psyche Out is great because it's an easy and still somewhat cheap way to get a complete version of this figure mold.  The Hasbro version has gotten expensive.  But, the Funskool has stayed affordable.  Sadly, though, the figures made in the early 2000's are starting to badly discolor, even if they've been taken care of.  Hopefully, the 2009 plastic is different.

Dodger:

The Funskool Dodger is fairly obscure.  Even during the Funskool heyday, you didn't see him often.  His face paint looks a bit different than the earlier figures.

Blocker:

Blocker doesn't appear all that different from his original release.  His card art features a weird dart coming out of his gun with some bubbles around it.  There are likely color shading differences between this figure and the earlier releases, though.

Quick Kick:

The Quick Kick mold has been around forever.  And, the Funskool variants have a ton of sash and belt color variants.  

There's the 18 figures that comprise the later run of Funskool figures.  At this point, Funskool could still have these molds and make more figures in the future.  Or, the molds could be gone.  We're not sure.  The fact that classic Joes didn't appear to coincide with the Snake Eyes movie in India, though, implies that there probably isn't a domestic market for these figures any longer.  Though, I wouldn't mind if Hasbro got a couple of these molds back and put them into production.  But, that will never, ever happen.