1983 Silver Pads Grand Slam

Grand Slam was among the first repaints in the vintage Joe line.  In 1983, he, Grunt and the Cobra Trooper all got the repaint treatment.  Grunt and the newly named Viper Pilot were given prominent places as the pilots for the well hyped Joe gliders.  Those toys were garbage, though.  And, the figures remain the only good thing about them.  Grand Slam, though, had less fanfare.  Instead of getting an all new toy to call his own, Grand Slam was packaged with the JUMP.  It's likely that the excellent jet pack hadn't been perceived as a great value by the parents of 1982.  So, Hasbro decided to start including a figure to entice more people to buy it. In the 1983 catalog, the silver Grand Slam appears with no special indication that he's a new addition to an old toy.  40 years later, JUMPs remain common and attainable.  But, the Silver Pads Grand Slam has become a collector prized figure and taken on a bit of rarified air.

I would have sworn to you for many years that this figure was a 1984 release.  I had him listed as 1984 on my original profile for a long time.  This is simply due to the fact that my discovery of this Grand Slam occurred in 1984.  The local Service Merchandise store had a small section in the back where they kept smaller toys that didn't make sense to store in the display cases.  This section was mostly figures.  But, there were some small vehicles, too.  Among them was the JUMP with this newly colored Grand Slam.  This Service Merchandise was the only place I recall seeing this new Grand Slam coloring.  And, as no one else had the the silver figure, I desperately wanted the JUMP.  Each time we went to the store, I'd go back to that aisle and wait for my parents.  Inevitably, they'd find me with the JUMP box in my hands, hoping I'd get one for my birthday in 1984.  

On the big day, my parents came through.  Along with the Whale, I got a Silver Pads Grand Slam and JUMP.  Also, for that birthday, I got a new Stormshadow (my brother's from just two months earlier had already lost or broken most of the accessories) and a straight arm Scarlett figure.  I spent the afternoon and evening playing with the new Joes with all my friends, eating pizza and then watching Beverly Hills Cop.  Which, somehow my dad managed to rent without my mother's objections.  It all wrapped into a perfect day and forever associated this Grand Slam with great memories and feelings.

That alone was enough to keep Grand Slam around.  The only red pads figure we owned was an old straight arm from a HAL my brother got for his birthday in October of 1982.  So, the character seemed new.  And, armed with the jet pack, Grand Slam was a powerful force.  Through 1985, Grand Slam remained one of my favored figures and he even held his own as the class of 1985 slowly joined my collection.  At some point in 1986, a swivel arm Flash entered into our collection.  I'm not sure where he came from.  But, it was a nice figure.  For Christmas that year, my brother got the Dreadnok Air Assault set from Sears.  Not being a Dreadnok fan, though, I kept the Skyhawk as a Joe vehicle.  It became a new branch of the Joe team.  Prior to this, air power hadn't been a big part of my play pattern.  Really, a well timed airstrike or Dragonfly arrival would completely upend the adventure as air superiority was too much for Cobra to overcome.  But, the real reason was that airplanes were hard to play with.  Smaller aircraft were OK.  But, the larger toys looked great while being too large and bulky to really use in a detailed play scenario.  

I needed a pilot for this new Skyhawk.  But, I had few choices available.  I tried some figures who had sculpted helmets.  But, they could rarely fit into the vehicle.  I then had an idea.  Grand Slam, with his more unique silver colors would become the pilots of the Skyhawks (yes, the figure became an army builder) while Flash would become the more common land soldier who supplemented the new force.  In short, this worked fantastically.  The Flash figure's would invade on land while Grand Slam would fly in the air.  I would give Grand Slam either Ripcord or Lifeline's air mask, to make him more pilot-like.  Grand Slam might save the day.  He might die in battle.  In many cases, divers had to rescue Grand Slam from deep under the water where he was trapped in the cockpit of his aircraft.  Sometimes he lived and sometimes he didn't.  But, through the end of 1987, these two figures were among the most used toys in my bedroom.  

When I put my Joes away for good in 1988, Grand Slam and Flash were carefully wrapped in plastic bags and tucked away inside a red Lego container that I hid in the back of my closet.  My youngest brother, of course, would find it and remove figures when I wasn't around.  But, he was after newer toys and left the Grand Slam and Flash intact.  As an adult collector, I found that Grand Slam.  He was relatively worn and, at some point, I had replaced his crotch with that from a 1982 red Grand Slam figure.  But, he was still there.  With my memories intact, I made a high quality Silver Pads Grand Slam a key acquisition as a collector.  And, I was fortunate in that as the figure has become far too expensive for a vanity purchase these days.

Silver Pads Grand Slam figures were only available with the JUMP.  In one of the weird anomalies of the early Joe line, though, there was a three pack of Hawk, Clutch and Red Pads Grand Slam figures that were available in bags.  The Grand Slams, though, all include the Silver Pads Grand Slam filecard.  But, the figures are all red pads variants.  In an other really fun oddity, Hasbro actually factory overpainted some red pads figures with the silver paint.  As such, you'll see some Silver Grand Slams that have red paint peeking out from behind the silver.  Many people quickly out these as fakes.  But, some are legitimate products of the Hasbro factories that were trying to save money on overstock figures.

While Flash was released around the world, Grand Slam only appeared in the US.  It's likely that his parts were shipped off to make Grunts and Flashes all around the globe.  But, poor Grand Slam never saw release outside of Hasbro.  Even the comic, which made a point to showcase all of the early Joe team, ignored Grand Slam.  He got one great moment kicking Major Bludd through a bus window in issue #17.  But, that was about it other than making fun of Short-Fuse's name in #22.  Grand Slam didn't return as a character until Hasbro dusted him off in the late 2000's as part of the DTC line.  While Grand Slam figures tend to command a premium due to his reduced release area, the character is pretty much forgotten and has little influence in the Joe world.

So, this figure is pricey.  Nice, mint and complete figures will run at least $100.  Some of them with JUMP packs will even get to $150.  Dealers get the higher amount all the time.  For a figure that's "rare", though, there's actually quite a few Silver Pads Grand Slams out there.  So, it's not hard to get one.  But, you'll pay for it since perception outweighs reality for many old Joe releases these days.  As the silver paint wears easily, though, finding mint specimens is getting harder and harder.  And, my desire to showcase the figure in outdoor photos also diminishes as replacement figures become more and more expensive.  The upside to Grand Slam is that he has a figure that's found a collector afterlife.  But, the fact that it's due to rarity and price instead of quality is kind of a bummer.  Each collector will find different value in owning Grand Slam.  For me, the childhood connection makes this silver version a must own.  But, at the same time, did I not have the memories of the figure, the red pads version would be just fine for me.