2005 Comic Pack Buzzer

Buzzer is the only Dreadnok whose character I find even remotely interesting.  Ripper and Torch are just ignorant thugs who live to create carnage.  Monkeywrench is just an English version of them who likes to blow things up.  Road Pig is stupidly annoying.  Gnawgahyde and Thrasher don't have any real characterization at all besides "generic bad guy".  And, even Zanzibar doesn't play on the pirate theme of his character and is really only somewhat salvaged by the quality of his figure.  Buzzer, though, has some depth. His intelligence allows him to be ambitious and dangerous.  Yet, the fact that he indoctrinated himself into a criminal lifestyle shows a level of arrogance that makes him psychotic.  To me, this makes for a better villain.  Guys who just want to break stuff and kill people lack motivation and are easy to defeat because they just react to their gutteral instincts.  They lack the purpose and planning of a motivated and intelligent bad guy.  And, because of that, I find Buzzer being a useful guy to have around.

So, Buzzer has remained the only Dreadnok who really gets any use in my collection.  While I don't see him as the conniving genius who was capable to leading Cobra...or was at least under that delusion, I do still see Buzzer as someone who is more ambitious than his heathen friends.  He can climb the leadership ladder a bit.  And, he's someone who's entrusted with missions far beyond those of the other Dreadnoks.  This Comic Pack Buzzer, though, is an older, wiser Buzzer.  He's given up trying to outdo Zartan.  But, he's found value in leading small bands of unruly Cobra Troops.  And, through these missions, Buzzer has managed to enrich himself.  And, instead of dreaming of a devastated, anarchic world, Buzzer has realized that he can soon make enough money to retire back to a life of books and reflection as he walks the River Cam each day.  Of course, every now and then, Buzzer will cut down a tree and block the river just to sate his most carnal desires.

This Buzzer included black repaints of all the figure's original gear from 1985.  The chainsaw, axe, gas can and backpack holder are all here.  And, that was nice since it was rare for Comic Pack figures (or, even TRU exclusive figures) to include their original gear. I have been criticized for years for the way in which I have Buzzer hold his chain saw.  I have done it this way since I was a kid.  I found this pose the closest way the figure could actually emulate the pose on the card artwork.  And, it's stuck with me for 39 years, now.  Aside from that, though, I enjoy Buzzer's gear.  I find it useful, even with no firearms.

I also like the colors on this Buzzer.  The green vest is a nice updated look that is something different enough from the original figure to appear unique.  It even works with the blue pants.  The fact that all of Buzzer's details are highlighted in gold and grey paint also makes the figure appear of higher quality than most other Comic Pack and retail o-ring figures of that era.  It's a near certainty, though, that Buzzer's legs are going to yellow and his flesh colored arms will turn darker.  The poor quality plastic that Hasbro used during this era ensures that few mint Buzzers will be around in just a couple of years.  

The supposed selling point of the Comic Packs was that the figures featured new heads.  But, for the most part, the heads were a drastic downgrade from the vintage sculpting.  Many of the heads were just terrible.  But, a few of them were kind of nice.  This Buzzer is one of my personal favorites, though.  I feel it's an upgrade over the original head.  But, at worst, it's a lateral move where the 2005 head better matches the older Buzzer who appears in the comics.  I like the updated pony tail as it makes Buzzer look like his hair his thinner and that matches the older look on his face.

Buzzer had a good life.  He got a single release from Hasbro.  There are many filecard variants.  But, the figure remains the same.  From there, Buzzer went to India.  He was among the very first Funskool figures released.  And, he featured some exclusive color variants such as dark hair or a red vest.  Some of these are very rare and expensive.  He ceased production at some point in the 1990's.  But, was among the figures that Funskool pulled back into production in 2002.  Funskool was learning of a burgeoning American market for their G.I. Joe figures.  So, in addition to their five new figures for that year, they tossed in the return of Flint, Airtight, Zarana, Scrap Iron, Buzzer, Ripper and Beach Head.  Hasbro got the mold back in 2003 and used it for the 2004 Convention figure and this 2005 Comic Pack figure.  A Buzzer knock off also exists in the European Force set of figures from Europe.  The figure features a rendition of Buzzer's head with a painted black mustache.  He is named Mygal and is the enemy leader of that small group of figures.  It's a fun one for Buzzer aficionados to track down and gives Buzzer an impressive array of rare and expensive non-Hasbro uses.

The fact that Hasbro made this three figure pack at all is surprising.  First off, Buzzer and Ripper figures that were nearly identical to the original Hasbro releases were available from Funskool at the time.  And, every toy dealer on the internet was able to stock all the Funskool figures they ever wanted and sell them for $4 each.  There were plenty of these available to collectors at the time.  In addition to that, the club had made a Dreadnok set in 2004.  This set included Buzzer and Ripper (with all their original gear) and even included Thrasher as an attendee exclusive.  While this set was out of the range of some collectors and kids would have had no idea it existed, the reality was that the set was a colossal dud.  Buzzers and Rippers from the set could be had for $7 or $8 for many years.  And, even the Thrasher would sit unsold for $10.  So, there was plenty of Dreadnok availability at the time.  And, there was even a recent proof that Dreadnoks really weren't all that popular.  

So, it was inevitable that this Dreadnok three pack with Buzzer, Ripper and Thrasher would fail.  And,  it failed spectacularly.  Many collectors skipped it as there was no reason to get another version of the characters in such close proximity.  And, others just didn't have any interest.  So, the sets floundered at various online retailers.  In time, they were clearanced out.  And, when the sets were 1/2 price, I finally bit and added them to my collection.  I picked up a couple of more when they dropped to $3 or $4 per set as I figured they'd be good custom fodder.  But, even at blow out prices, the sets sat around for quite a while.  Retail Joe was dead in 2005 and 2006.  And, there was no breathing new life into it until it had been on hiatus for a while.

But, yesterday's pegwarmer is today's hot collectible.  And, now, all the early 2000's Comic Packs command high prices.  This is odd, though.  As, the figures from this time, especially the Comic Pack figures, are not aging well.  They are discoloring in the package and you see their chests and necks cracking if you simply move an arm on  loose samples.  In short, they really aren't worth the money.  But, Buzzer's pack tends to sell in the $60 range from dealers.  Though, it's worth about $40 on the open market.  Dealers will get up to $25 for a mint and complete with filecard Buzzer.  But, if you can find an open market seller, he'll go for under $10 these days.  Chances are, though, that he'll either be discolored or will discolor within a year or two of his acquisition.  Really, it took clearance prices to get me to buy this Buzzer in the first place.  And, I really like him.  But, if I didn't own one already, I doubt I'd ever actually acquire one.  It's a neat look for Buzzer.  But, I'll never see the Comic Pack figures as anything other than clearance fodder that promised so much to collectors but delivered so little.