Auriken Flash - Mexico

The realm of international Joes can be both fun and exciting.  It can also be an exercise in frustration.  In the early 2000's, there was little info available on foreign released Joes.  There were a few trading with minimal info.  A few collectors tracked down some foreign items and they were posted in various newsletters or even to YoJoe.com.  But, those information stores were inadequate and terribly dated.  In the mid 2000's, the first real attempt to document "all" the foreign Joe variants were undertaken.  For the time, they are incredibly detailed and feature a host of figures that, to that point, had really not been previously known to or seen by the public.  In the 15 years since that, though, no one else has really undertaken a foreign Joe project of the same scale.  And, because of that, tons of information that has been learned since those early books is scattered or even lost in various unsearchable posts.  Foreign entities from Brazil, Argentina, Europe and even India, though, are well enough known that much of the new info exists in the general collecting conscious.  But, as you descend into more obscure foreign releases, the info is more opaque and difficult to find.  And, my search into the world of Auriken Joes from Mexico proved this point.

The calling card for this Auriken version of Flash is the figure's color.  I have talked about the "Brazilian Green" color that is common among Estrela accessories and figures.  It is a dark and distinctive hue of the color.  Auriken also created their own unique shade of green.  The cool thing, though, is that this color appears on many different Auriken figures and gives them a consistency that's missing even from the original 13 Hasbro figures.  The green is brighter and more pea-colored than any American release.  The closest figure in color to the Auriken Flash would be Zap.  But, even he's pretty far off from the Mexican hue.    

The timeline of foreign Joe straight arm releases is a bit tough to nail down.  It does seem, though, that the Auriken figures were likely acquired after the molds' usage by Estrela in Brazil.  There the figures were released in boxes rather than on cards.  Flash is available with in a box.  But, he was also packaged with the Skystriker.  I'm not sure if the figures have any differences.  Though, the Skystriker figure doesn't include any gear.  Without the unique green pack, Flash loses something.  But, the fact that this color scheme is wasted on straight arm figures makes the loss less worrisome.  It's an utter shame that no one has been able replicate the Estrela, Palitoy or Auriken greens on some swivel arm factory customs.  

On one hand, I've found it odd that there are no, more recent guides to international Joes.  But, authors of guides for American figures have reported that publishers have negligible interest in an edition focusing on foreign figures.  While it would certainly sell well among the hardcore collector crowd, it would have almost no interest in the general toy collecting world since no adults would connect with toys they had no childhood knowledge of.  A few collectors have done some extensive work on foreign Joes.  But, the info they have is not publicly posted anywhere.  If you know them to ask about something, they will gladly share.  If you're just looking to see what you can learn, though, the resources for may foreign Joe releases is pretty much unavailable.  Joe figures were released in Mexico through the 1994 series.  Many of the later items were likely Hasbro stock that was given unique cardbacks.  But, again, the info on these items is spotty at best.  

Flash was released all over the world.  The straight arm figure has unique releases in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.  The swivel arm version was planned for release in Europe as Bombadier: only to be a casualty of the Action Force line's cancellation.  But, he then disappeared.  Flash did not appear in any form after these 1980's worldwide releases.  Hasbro planned a repaint for 1997, but could not locate the mold.  It has only been factory custom makers who were able to resurrect the mold and bring around some Flash repaints.  But, even those, in my opinion, have fallen short.  We don't have a Night Force Flash, nor an Action Force Flash.  (Though, we do have nice Bombadier repaints, which are awesome to see.)  There is much that could be done with the mold.  Hell, I'd love a swivel version of this Mexican green.  It's not too late for some of those items to still happen in the factory custom world.  But, Hasbro really let collectors down with their updates of the Flash character.

Pricing for Auriken figures is tough.  There's not much to go on.  Flash doesn't seem overly rare.  Loose, poor quality samples seem to sell for around $30.  A mint and complete figure, though, would likely run around $100.  Fortunately, many Auriken figures fall under the radar and you can find some deals.  But, mint and complete figures are a tough find in general.  Even Mexican collectors report that the supply of Auriken Joes in their homeland has dried up and all the figures, once far more common, have become scarce.  Collectors are now willing to pay premiums for them since the Auriken figures are the last bastion of foreign holes in many collections.  If you're a sucker for repainted classics from your childhood, the Auriken series provides another outlet to satisfy your collecting goals.  But, they're not a line that's easy or cheap to complete.