1991 Badger

We all know that the Joe line evolved during it's retail run.  The packaging changed a little.  The figures changed quite a bit.  But, the biggest change was the way vehicles were constructed.  The line started with vehicles that were nearly model kits in their construction complexity.  There were lots of individual pieces, many on a sprue, that all fit together.  In most cases, they weren't meant to be taken back apart.  But, as the line progressed, the toy market changed.  With it, Joe vehicles moved away from their model-like origins and began to feature more molded plastic that was already put together in the box.  The array of add on pieces was reduced in quality, number and colors.  But, these changes didn't mean that all the later year vehicles were bad.  They were just different.  When you look at the 1991 Badger, it's very different from a 1985 AWE Striker.  But, it's a solid toy and it won't fall apart like many of the early vehicles could should they undergo rough play.

The Badger is a small, but rough-and-tumble Joe attack vehicle.  It isn't meant to carry a lot of figures.  But, it has big tires, a stocky build and a battering ram on the front.  It's everything a small, cheap Joe vehicles was meant to be.  Had it been released in 1984, though, the tires would have been attached to a metal rod instead of plastic pegs.  The well detailed headlights and battering ram would not have been one, single plastic piece that affixed to the vehicles body.  It would have featured clear plastic lights and likely been broken into multiple pieces for a kid to put together.  Instead of the deeply sunken driver's seat that is covered with one, big canopy, the figures would have slid out in different ways and the vehicle's main gun would not have to move into an unusable position of the driver had to abandon the vehicle.

One the surface, it sounds like the hypothetical 1984 Badger might have been better.  But, let's face it, as kids, the putting together of our toys was a one time occurrence that likely delayed the adventures we had already devised on the ride home from the toy store.  The only real memory I have involving the construction of the vehicles was from Christmas of 1980 when our next door neighbor (the father of three girls) came over on Christmas and had a ball putting our toys together since he never got to play with spaceships and castles.  I wanted my toys put together quickly so that I could get down to playing.  So, the changes in construction and packaging didn't both me...provided the toy inside was good.  And, the Badger fits that criteria.

The Badger is a nice match for 1990's figures.  Really, it goes best with 1993 and 1994 releases.  The bright colors are in better alignment with figures from the line's final two years.  Seeing this vehicle in the same release year as Big Ben, Dusty, Heavy Duty and Low Light seems odd.  But, the colors are nearly the same as the Swampmasher.  And, that was released in 1988, with even more figures that weren't perfect matches.  But, Tracker, Sci Fi, Mercer and even Grunt work well with the vehicle's green and blue color scheme.  

Often times, small vehicles were among the most fun toys in the line.  The Badger isn't great in that area.  It holds one figure in the cockpit.  And, when that figure is there, it's difficult to see.  You can put two other figures on the footpegs.  So, it can really only display three figures...one of which is poorly shown.  But, even the original VAMP only holds 2 figures.  So, that shouldn't be as much of an issue.  But, the Badger is tall.  So, it's tough to integrate into photos where the figures can been seen along with the details of the vehicle itself.  But, where it excels is in the play category.  The Badger could bust through any Cobra establishment and had the firepower to finish off any stragglers.  The big tires would have been awesome for childhood me as Vipers and Crimson Guards would have been wrapped into the wheel wells after being run over.

When it comes to armament, the Badger is both well equipped and rather sparse.  It has one main spring loaded cannon that's designed to figure one of the missiles that comes with the vehicle.  The other big change was the dawn of the spring loaded weapons.  These were a function of the broader toy industry moving towards features like this.  Kids wanted weapons that could really shoot.  And, Hasbro obliged.  So, the realism of the main weapons from the early days of the line was replaced with functionality that a new generation of kids demanded.

The Badger was repainted in maroon and orange in the 1993 Street Fighter line.  The Crimson Cruiser is also a nice version that meshes well with different figures from 1993 and 1994.  Aside from that, the mold was ignored.  The Mudbuster is really a better version of the Badger that was released in 1993.  So, I'd rather have an updated version of that instead of the Badger.  The biggest thing about the Badger is that the wheels are shared molds with other vehicles.  Hasbro was starting to search for cost savings with vehicles.  So, the tires were shared with the Scorpion and the Bugg.  I don't mind the sharing of parts like wheels or missiles.  They can be the same and still unrecognized when the vehicles with the shared parts are photographed together.

Badger pricing is pretty disparate.  Dealers get around $35 for a mint and complete version.  Yet, at the same time, you'll see similar items sit unsold for $10.  As it's a vehicle, shipping is an additional cost.  But, that's still a striking difference when you see so many dealer sales.  But, the Badger's antennae is often broken and you'll often see them with the incorrect number of missiles, too.  For cheap, the Badger is something to get.  It's fun to play with.  But, it's value as a display piece is limited.  So, I wouldn't pay top end dealer prices for one.  Especially, since they aren't nearly as limited in production numbers as similar vehicles from 1994.  If you don't have many, or any!, 1990's vehicles in your collection, the Badger is a good place to start.

(This profile was disjointed as hell.  I'll get more coherency to my thoughts for next week.)