1986 Mission to Brazil Mainframe

As far as I can remember, I got to go to Toys R Us quite frequently when I was a child.  Part of that was that the local Toys R Us was in the same shopping center as the grocery store my mother went to every two weeks.  So, to bribe us for helping her push the cart and bag the groceries, my mother would often stop at TRU on her sojourns.  During the fall, we also had a weird conflagration of birthdays both in our family and among our friends.  So, we were always shopping for various presents.  I also suspect that my parents took us there on some weekends because it was a free way to get all three kids occupied for an hour without having to spend any money.  Regardless of the reasons, I spent a lot of time browsing the aisles of the local Toys R Us store.  

I knew the layout of the store.  And, was familiar with how the Joe section was stocked.  One day in the fall of 1986, though, I was treated to something new: a whole endcap packed solid with a bizarre box of five figures.  The set hadn't appeared in the catalogs for that year.  It was completely new.  Of course, I immediately picked it up and found that the set was actually four repainted figures of 1986 characters along with one "new" figure that I recognized as repainted parts from prior figures.  The colors on the figures were different and not really in line with the standard retail line of that year.  And, my first impressions of the set were to leave it behind and focus on other things.

In our repeated trips to the store, though, I kept going back to the Mission to Brazil set.  Each time, I'd take a box down, read over all the text and the thoroughly review the figures as best I could through the plastic.  I'd stare at it for longer and longer each time.  But, I never actually asked for it.  I've talked before about how the fall of 1986 is this weird missing memory for me.  Usually, I was all in on the newest, biggest Joe playset that was supposed to be found under the Christmas tree.  But, I have no memory of ever really wanting the Terrordrome.  It might have been fatigue and lingering disappointment at not getting the USS Flagg the prior year.  I might have known there was no hope in getting the Terrordrome.  So, it was futile to ask for it.  But, this leaves me a hole.  I have no recollection of what my big gift for my birthday and Christmas in December of 1986 actually was.  It might have been a new dirtbike.  I got one somewhere between 1985 and 1987.  But, I paid for half of it and it seems out of character for my parents to have left the other half of an item I'd been using for a while as my holiday gift.  It's a mystery that I'm not sure I'll ever unravel.

What I do remember, though, was the other gifts under the tree.  Among them were the Dreadnok Ground Assault, a couple of early release 1987 figures that we had found at the Toys R Us in the days before Christmas (Falcon and Cobra Commander stand out.) and one surprise: the boxed Mission to Brazil set.  My parents must have seen me looking at it, studying it and assumed it was something I wanted.  So, they got it for me.  

With these new figures in hand, though, I had a dilemma.  What would I do with alternate colorways of characters that were already fairly new to my collection and still in good shape and complete with their gear?  The answer soon came to me.  I viewed three of the figures in the set (Leatherneck, Wet Suit and this Mainframe) as nameless troops who shared the same specialty as the Joes from the retail line.  I explained that the Mission to Brazil colors were actually the official colors of these specialties.  But, the Joes were so good that they were allowed to wear different colors: even though the base uniform stayed the same.  So, with this, I added acquatic commandos (Wet Suit), Special Force commandos (Leatherneck) and Science Officers (Mainframe) to my repertoire of figures.  

The uses of these figures were varied.  Often, they were the ones to die during a battle.  Other times, they would be among the few survivors.  And, in special cases, some of them were promoted to full fledged Joes.  The enduring story from childhood on this theme involves this Mainframe figure.

As a kid, I had Cobra be more powerful than Joe.  This was a takeaway from the Transformers cartoon where the Decepticons (at least, ostensibly) were supposed to be more powerful of the two factions.  So, for me, Cobra had never ending equipment and troops and always had Joe on their heels.  With the arrival of the 1986 figures, though, the tide was turning.  Joe was getting better and Cobra was losing ground.  So, I came up with a story where Cobra could gain back their edge.  

I had long neglected the 1985 Sears SMS.  I had never found the missile launcher to be all that much fun since figures couldn't really interact with it.  (Though, the red Hiss Tank was a staple of all my battles.)  But, when I found it, I had an idea.  Cobra could now launch massive missile strikes from far away on Joe bases.  The first few attacks completely destroyed the bases and resulted in the deaths of countless commandos that were represented by the Mission to Brazil set.  As Cobra got closer to Joe's main HQ, the Joes had to find a way to protect their bases.  So, the bases became nothing more than a battery of guns and anti-missile defenses designed to stop an attack.  And, in a few cases, the Joes were successful in fending off a small strike.  But, Hawk knew it was only a matter of time before their defenses were overwhelmed with dozens or hundreds of missiles and the base would fall and many Joes would die.

It was then that Mainframe discovered a hidden secret in the missiles: they had an activation code.  This numerical code armed the missiles and kept their flight path true.  But, if you could broadcast the codes, you could disarm and deactivate the missiles.  It was an astounding discovery.  But, one that was practically useless because the sheer volume of numbers necessary to find the right code for every missile was impossible to broadcast in the short attack window.  The Joes needed to get their hands on an actual missile launcher unit and grab the software that generated the codes.  They could then use that to render the entire Cobra missile launch operation moot.

It's here that I'll interject.  When I was in middle school and junior high, I was a huge nerd.  I was a voracious reader and devoured information from any source to which I had access.  In 1986, I wanted to do a science experiment showing that chlorofluorocarbons would eat the ozone layer.  I even looked in science catalogs for ozone as a way to prove out a story I had seen on 60 Minutes.  I actually had notebooks by the TV to write down dates and addresses so I could send away for transcripts of shows that had stories I had found interesting.  And, because of this weirdness, I also had very few friends.  So, I spent most of 1986 and 1987 upstairs in my bedroom each day after school and on weekends: playing with my Joes in more and more complex stories.  I also listened to the local top 40 radio station.  To this day, many songs from that era bring back vivid memories of specific battles or adventures I was having with my figures while that song played in the background.

The result, though, is that I had a lot of things that were incorporated into my adventures that were surprisingly ahead of their time.  Some of this was from the Joe comic, of course.  But, my eclectic interests brought some fun ideas to the stories.  Regardless, Mainframe had a plan.  But, the Joes had to find an opportunity where they could capture one of the missile bases.  For several weeks, the Joes had near misses.  Sometimes, Cobra would just get away, pulling the launcher behind a Hiss Tank.  Other times, the Cobras would destroy the launcher, or just erase all the data on it and render it useless for the Joes' purpose.  Eventually, though, everything went right.

On this adventure, an unlikely group of good guys were in the right place at the right time to find a launcher.  They quickly attacked.  Among the group was a nameless Science Officer portrayed by this Mainframe.  Along with his bulky computer equipment, he also carried a Low Light Uzi from the 1987 Battle Gear pack.  In fact, the backpack and computer he carried were also Battle Gear because it was just different enough to make the army building figure be a bit more distinct than the actual Mainframe character.  Many of the good guys died during the battle.  But, the Science Officer displayed immense bravery and managed to actually get the codes from the launcher before Cobra destroyed it.  He and the surviving members of the party returned to Joe HQ.  With the codes in hand, Cobra's missiles were rendered useless.  For a short time, they would try to launch them from very closely proximate locations to the Joes and just hope that the short window was enough to get a hit.  But, the Joes were able to constantly broadcast the codes and that put the SMS back into a box where it would sit for a decade before I recovered it in the mid 1990's.

The Science Office was then promoted to become a full time Joe.  Back then, I would take apart all of my brothers' figures and make them into new, custom characters.  I had an old Mainframe head that would have been the basis for this new character.  But, I don't recall the character ever going anywhere.  I suspect that using Mainframe's head made him too similar to Mainframe.  And, the computer hub in my HQ was already manned by the carded, grey Mainframe and this red and tan version  from the Mission to Brazil set.  So, the actual character who grew from this adventure was lost to time.  But, that's kind of OK.  Really, some heroes are entirely forgotten.  So, to have someone who was so vital to a key part of my childhood story end up an anonymity is probably more true to life than any heroic deification.   

In the early 2000's, I tried my hand at a dio-story.  They were the rage of the time and I wanted to tell the story of this code adventure.  I changed it up a bit.  And, I used the 1986 Mainframe instead of a nameless character and the Mission to Brazil paint job.  I went to shoot it one afternoon.  And, I quickly realized that doing a dio-story was hard.  Trying to get the shots to tell the story was tough.  I found staging some of the scenes overly tedious.  And, adding the dialogue was just a nightmare: even with a full version of Photoshop on my computer.  I have a couple of photos left from that shoot that appear here and there.  But, they are mostly lost.  Somehow, they never made it into any of the various backups that I had built.  It's not really a loss.  The photos weren't great.  The dialogue was cheesy and disjointed.  And, I relied on every hackneyed cliché in the books to move the story along since my photography had so many gaps.  But, it was an homage to a vivid childhood memory.  A memory that I  feel, now, is better captured in narrative text than any image based story could ever hope to be.

The Mainframe mold had its share of uses.  Hasbro used it for these two figures in 1986.  From there, it was sent to Brazil where Estrela released it as Mainframe, too.  This figure is nearly identical to the Hasbro release.  The mold then went to India.  There, Mainframe was a staple of the early 2000's Funskool line.  The carded figure is similar to the Hasbro Mainframe in coloring.  (Though, is microphone is a different color.)  This Mainframe appeared in various promotional incentives that Funskool produced, too.  There is even an atrociously colored Halibna promotional figure that features a blood red chest with a huge black ink stain in the center, olive pants and helmet, grey boots, and the horrible straight arms that define Halibna releases.  The mold's final appearance occurred in 2009/2010 when Funskool included it in the final run of Funskool Joes that coincided with the G.I. Joe Movie's release in India.  

All of the Mission to Brazil figures are now expensive.  They're really not that rare.  I'd say they're much more common than 1988 and 1989 Night Force figures.  But, as vintage Joes go, they are on the lower end of the production number scale.  Since Mainframe utilizes gold paint, finding a truly mint figure isn't easy.  But, Mainframe is also the least popular of the Mission to Brazil figures.  So, that helps temper his pricing a bit.  Still, though, dealers will ask for $100 or more for a nicely conditioned, complete figure.  Left to his own devices, he's about a $60 figure, though.  It helps that his accessories are the same as the much more common grey, carded figure.  The difficult find is the filecard.  All the Mission to Brazil figures have unique filecards that are tough to find.  You'll probably pay $30 to $35 for just the filecard.  But, filecards aren't something that I feel are necessary to enjoy a figure.  But, this guy is still an expensive purchase for what he is.

The figure in the photos of this profile are my childhood figure.  I've never bothered to upgrade him.  Mostly, it's because I don't much care for the figure's coloring.  And, even when Joes were cheap, Mission to Brazil figures were more expensive and I'd always opt to get something new than upgrade something that was good enough since I didn't really care about him.  And, to be frank, the sentiment of knowing this is my childhood is enough for me to hold off on an upgrade.  I'm not usually the sentimental type and have long sold off my childhood Joes who were replaced by higher quality specimens.  But, this Mainframe is a figure that makes sense to remain in my collection for, at least, a little while longer.

1986 Roadblock Around The Web

I'm not a fan of the 1986 Roadblock.  I've been disappointed in it since I was a kid back in 1986.  He was a figure I anticipated upon seeing him on the cardback.  But, once I saw him in person, I lost all interest in the figure.  But, I'm very much an outlier in those sentiments.  Many people love this look for Roadblock...to the point where it's the default version of the character for some collectors.  This has lead to a nice bit of content on the figure that's out there.  So, check the links below to see some cool 1986 Roadblock stuff.

1986 Roadblock Profile

1986 Roadblock by Nekoman

1986 Roadblock at the Attica Gazette

1986 Roadblock by elevatmetoahigherhumanform

1986 Roadblock by slipstream80

1986 Roadblock by darkstarvintage

1986 Roadblock at JoeADay.com

1986 Roadblock by tituslester32

1986 Roadblock by evilface

1986 Roadblock by joerizzo2025

1986 Roadblock by viper wilson

1986 Roadblock by HCC788

1986 Roadblock by offc0ur5e

1986 Roadblock by toker_collection

1994 Action Soldier

If you were a kid in the late 1970's to late 1980's, you played with little green army men. Frankly, they probably pre-date the '70's and were available much later than the '80's.  The figures feature recognizable poses that haven't changed in decades and were a staple of grocery stores, discount outlets and other terrible retail options that existed before the large corporate conglomerates put them all out of business.  They are the lens through which many kids were introduced to the military and combat play.  You can convincingly argue that the 1982 Joe line was nothing more than a drastic update on the cheap plastic army guys every kid had.  But, it brought pose-ability, removable weapons and vehicles to the fold.  

Starting in 1983, though, Joe moved beyond these humble roots and made the line memorable with the addition of visually striking characters that made the line more than just a bunch of green toys sitting in a shoebox.  For the next dozen years, the Joe line evolved and really embraced the notion that it was a super hero trope set on a military base.  As the line died in 1994, though, Hasbro took one final stab at the line's most basic toy roots.  It released a set of 5 figures based on the 12 inch Joe figures from the 1960's.  The 30th Anniversary figures brought an out of place visual to a line with standard articulation.  The result is a set of figures that collectors mostly ignore while, simultaneously, praising them for their design, realism and overall quality.  The five figures in the 30th Anniversary line are the: Action Marine, Sailor, Pilot, Astronaut (only available in the boxed set) and the subject of this profile, the Soldier.  

The Action Soldier is, arguably,  the most basic figure in the set.  He's uninspiring and relatively bland.  But, that's exactly what he's supposed to be.  And, for that reason, the figure really works as a nameless Grunt who served in the U.S. military at some point after World War II but before Vietnam.  He has the standard green uniform.  His helmet hearkens back to the early days of the "modern" army.  He has some basic straps and pouches.  But, they aren't overdone.  He's even got two grenades on his torso.  He might be the most perfect representation of a basic soldier in the entire vintage Joe line.  But, that's part of the reason why he hasn't caught on in the collecting world.  The Joe line is about the characters: especially for the good guys.  And, having someone with no characterization leads to a figure that doesn't have a lot of uses.

In the late 1990's, I got on an Action Series figure kick.  They were cheap and pretty easy to acquire.  So, in short order, I bought a bunch of boxed figures (loose figures were pretty much impossible to find) and opened them up.  Once in hand, the Action Series figures were about everything I expected them to be.  They looked great, had cool gear and fit rather well with my later run Joe figures that were my obsession at the time.  I bought extras and...just flamed out.  The figures quickly lost their cachet.  I'm not really sure why.  To this day, I have the boxes from those early figures...most with the accessories still packed inside.  I even have several boxed figures sitting in a closet in the basement.  I planned to open them.  But, never got around to it and, still, don't really have any reason to add to my current, small army.  

And, this is where I get stuck.  Visually, these figures are great.  Having some basic soldiers around your base to do the dirty work seems like a great idea.  But, once in hand, the figures just seem...off.  If you've been around the community a long time, you might remember an early dio-story called Warfare.  The creator used the Action Series figures rather effectively.  But, IIRC, he still only had two or three of them.  There simply wasn't much need for more.  And, I think that's the main reason why I haven't been keen to army build any more of them.  Aesthetically, they are out of place among the strong characters of the Joe line.  More importantly, though, there's just better options.  I'd rather have four Law figures guarding the jail in my HQ than 4 Action Soldier...even if the Soldiers make a lot more sense.  

In looking through my photos over the past two+ decades, I don't use the Action Soldier all that often.  A few of them got sliced to ribbons by Overkill back in 2003.  And, I've used them as background fodder in many Joseph Colton photos.  But, beyond that, they're not all that common of an appearance.  I've tried in many instances to incorporate them into various scenes.  I just find them hard to do so.  Were they more in scale with the 1982/1983 figures, I think it would be easier.  Stylistically, they match up well with the 1993 and 1994 series of figures.  But, color-wise and design-wise, they are a mismatch for those more updated figure sculpts.  So, you're left with a figure stuck in between the two extremes of Joe release years.  That doesn't diminish the quality of the figure.  But, it's proven a hindrance for me to actually use him in any meaningful setting.

The Action Soldier was released two ways: as an individually boxed figure and as an included member in the 5 figure boxed set.  The main differences are that the boxed figures include brown accessories and the boxed set figures feature black accessories.  The filecards from each set have different pictures on them.  And, finally, there are variants in the way the serial numbers are painted on the figure's feet.  (For my eyes, it was really tough to make out the number on the yellow painted number against the green background.  The black background with green numbers was better.)  I'm not clear if the serial number paint variants were tied to the gift set or the individually boxed figures.  But, it's something to be looked for.  I do find it amazing that this set, commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the entire G.I. Joe brand is, itself, now 30 years old.  Somehow, the figures in this set don't seem anywhere near as old as 1960's era G.I. Joes did back in 1994.  But, that's just a function of my age and I'm sure those 12" collectors who went bonkers over this set back then, when they were in their 40's, aren't thrilled to be reminded of how much more time has passed.

Around 1998 or so, a bizarre series of keychain figures appeared at various retailers around the country.  These used the 1994 Action Series figure molds and were fully articulated.  They didn't include any accessories.  But, did have a loop to which the keychain could be attached.  The single figures were pretty cheap upon their release.  And, they were colored just like the original Hasbro figures.  However, there is also a boxed set of 4 keychain figures that feature some exclusive colors.  The Pilot is blue and yellow.  The Marine features a tan base with black cammo.  And, the Soldier is done in a very dark green with a new paint mask on his helmet with the letters MP on it.  It's a nice repaint of the soldier.  It's just too bad it's in a poor quality keychain set.  The keychains were pretty common and cheap for a long time.  But, it's been over 25 years since they debuted (however, they did pop up at different times and in different stores in later years) so I'm no longer sure if they are findable.

Hasbro did a top notch job on the Action Soldier.  While somewhat mundane, the figure still features an quality aesthetic that has been lost in the post vintage Joe releases.  He features at least 6 colors to break up the base green of his body.  The belt and boots are slightly different hues.  And, little things like his canteen cap and the golden "H" on his belt buckle also get unique paint details.  (The "H" is a great callback to the 1982 series.)  Precision paint masks like these were mostly absent from the basic 1994 line.  So, the premium price tag did come with more amenities than just an expanded accessory complement.  Hasbro put a lot of effort into this guy.  And, that quality remains today.

One of the fun things about these these anniversary figures being individually numbered is that it gives some sense of production numbers.  We know that, in general, production for 1994 figures was way lower than previous years.  And, some of the late run figures (notably, the second series Star Brigade) saw incredibly truncated runs as the line was cancelled out from under them.  In my small collection, I have numbers ranging from 20,000 something all the way up to 122,000 something.  I do wonder if key numbers were pulled back and given to Hasbro people and VIPs at the time.  But, if there's more than 100K of each of these figures, it could be that the cheap prices are just a function of the fact that Hasbro produced a boat-load of them and the massive overproduction still hasn't worked itself through the collecting world.  Hasbro put a lot of faith in adult collectors of the day buying these figures up for nostalgic reasons.  And, to be fair, a lot of older collectors who grew up in the '60's and early '70's did just that.  But, as these weren't really something they loved, these figures were also part of the mass liquidations you'd see from older 12" collectors during the late 1990's through the early 2010's  Guys had to reduce the size of their collections and stuff that wasn't meaningful to them got dumped...often for pennies on the dollar.

As mentioned above, the Action Soldier has variants in the colors of his accessories.  But, both release mechanisms included the same actual gear pieces.  The Soldier includes a green backpack that is defined by the shovel descending from the bottom.  Both variants included the same color pack.  But, the Action Marine included the same pack in a different shade of green.  So, you will see the packs confused from time to time.  But, the green that more closely matches the Soldier's base color is the correct pack for him.  The Soldier then includes a rifle, pistol (originally from the 1988 Shockwave), knife and a wall set along with the standard missile firing accessory that was mandatory on all late releases.  This gear can be black or brown.  The wall is in three pieces and includes a mount for the Soldier's rifle.  It's a great little accessory and one that's incredibly useful in setting up displays and staging photos.  You'll see a black wall in various photos throughout this site as a testament to its utility.  

The extra gear was the hook to get people to pay more for the figures back in 1994.  The suggested retail price on this figures was a whopping $7.99!  Nearly triple the Battle Corps figures of the era.  But, these were marketed as premium pieces for adult collectors.  So, the collecting tax we pay today for collecting themed releases has origins at least 30 years ago.  You could find the figures for cheaper at Wal Mart, especially as they aged on the shelves.  I'm not sure if the deluxe gear was worth the substantial price increase.  But, Hasbro put a lot of effort into the figures in an attempt to see if adult collectors could breathe a final bit of life into the 3 3/4" inch line at retail.  Sadly, like the other gimmicks of the era, though, it failed and the Joe line was pretty much dead after the July 4th holiday in 1994.

While each Action Soldier is individually numbered, the reality is that they were never hard to find.  For the first decade of so of the online collector market, you could buy all the boxed Action Soldiers you wanted for about the same price as you would have paid at retail for the figure in 1994.  Even after that, boxed figures were available for about $10 well into the early 2020's.  Now, they're still only about $20 figures if they are still boxed.  Dealers only ask about $25 in the supply starved market.  So, despite the quality and usefulness of the figure, no one really wants it.  So, this is still a figure that can be used to build up armies.  But, collectors have been saying that for decades, now and no one has really done it.  I myself burned out after about three of them back in the days when I bought anything and everything.  The Action Soldier is just one of those figures who had great quality but can never quite break through the collecting zeitgeist to fulfill his potential.

2003 Toy Fare Scarlett - Random Photos Of The Day

The Toy Fair Scarlett and Snake Eyes set was an absolute dud.  It hung around for about retail price for nearly a decade.  In the malaise, collectors missed out that the two figures in the set were actually very well done.  In fact, the Scarlett figure might be the best Scarlett ever released.  She's a great combo of the 1982 and 1997 designs.  She features amazingly detailed paint applications and a nice complement of accessories.  In short, she's anything and everything you'd want from a Scarlett figure.

In the second decade of this figure's existence, though, collectors have come around on her.  And, now, most people will acknowledge that this Scarlett release is amazing and a definite must have for any collection.  You'll see her appear with some frequency.  But, more often, she's seen as a showcase piece: something a new collector can proudly show off as something cool that's recently been added to their collections.  

For me, this Scarlett is about the only one I use.  She appears in tons of photos because Scarlett is a memorable character and this figure is always appreciated.  And, her color scheme works well both with vintage and repaint era figures.  So, you'll see her across eras in the set of photos below.

1990 Sky Patrol Altitude - Around the Web

Sky Patrol is one of those subsets that I should really like.  But, for some reason, I'm rather indifferent to it.  Sure, the figures are really nicely done...even if they are majoritively repaints.  I really like the idea of Sky Patrol and I've tried to implement them into my collection.  But, to this day, I only have two of them in my collection.  The upside is that I'm able to enjoy each figure on it's own merits rather than taking the subset as a whole.  This has lead to Altitude remaining a figure I get out for photos more often than other, similar rarity figures.  

It seems others take the same approach as Altitude has some pretty decent content on him out there.  Some of this stuff is really old and worth taking another look at.  (Though, sadly, some of the links may have expired between the time I first cataloged them and now...especially at Joedios.com.)  But, scroll through all the creators and enjoy their looks at the 1990 Altitude.

1990 Sky Patrol Altitude Profile

1990 Altitude by corpscommandercody

1990 Altitude by Hit and Run

1990 Altitude by Outrider

1990 Altitude by silencer

1990 Altitude by jogunwarrior

1990 Altitude by thedustinmccoy

1990 Altitude by slipstream80

1990 Altitude by gi_joeisthere

1990 Altitude by thedustinmccoy

1990 Altitude by ptytoys2021

1990 Altitude by thedustinmccoy

1994 Shadow Ninja Night Creeper

Shadow Ninjas are one of those ideas that seems great in a marketing room.  As a design challenge, it was probably a lot of fun to work on.  But, as an end product, the final result is a toy that's fun for about 5 minutes before you break it.  And, that's not a recipe for success.  And, collectors have responded to the Shadow Ninjas concept in kind.  As all other 1994 G.I. Joe figures see a strong uptick in popularity through the years, Shadow Ninjas remain the forgotten stepchild of the genre.  There is little content on them out there and the figures almost never appear in photos or dioramas.  Their backstory allows for some story telling.  But, it has never caught on with the community, even as concepts like Ninja Force have found more acceptance.  Of the figures in the subset, the Shadow Ninja Night Creeper probably makes the most sense.  

The 1993 Night Creeper sculpt is pretty solid.  It's a look that didn't really exist in the Cobra world prior to his appearance.  I have a soft spot for the 1993 debut of this figure.  I'll tell that story when I profile him.  This Shadow Ninja version, has less going for him.  But, the gimmick that gives the Shadow Ninja name is also the detail the deprives the 1994 release of the vibrant colors that spark the joy like the 1993 figure.  Still, the overall colors on the 1994 figure aren't terrible.  The purplish/pink torso and arms are bright.  But, they fit with the motif of the figure.  And, they are not too far removed from the 1993 colors and that allows a bit of cohesion between them.  The greyish-white pants can make the figure look dirty or discolored.  But, when in the right state, they are a nice complement for the torso.

The real issue with the Shadow Ninja figures is that they are overly brittle.  The figures' thumbs might as well be made of glass for how easily they will snap off.  All of the Shadow Ninjas suffer from this.  And, as their accessories are also made of incredibly hard plastic, it's even easier to snap a thumb just by putting the first accessory into the figure's hands.  It's becoming harder and harder to find unbroken, loose Shadow Ninja figures.  You'll often find nicely conditioned and complete figures, but with broken thumbs.  (Look carefully at the thumbs, too, as even intact pieces usually have cracks already forming due to accessory use.)  It's an affliction that's caused by the design and materials used to make the figures.  So, the only real solution is extreme care or simply not using accessories at all.

The main gimmick of the Shadow Ninjas is that they will turn color in heat and cold.  This was the selling point for the figures and justified the higher than normal price tag.  Today, the gimmick still works on most figures.  You will see large quantities of Shadow Ninjas, though, that are very white or a dull grey.  You'll even see it on carded figures.  You can often recharge the color by putting the figure in the freezer for a while.  But, even this tends to be fleeting.  (Note that the figure's elbows and shoulder joints will remain white, a function of them being designed for stress  when the figure moves.  All of these parts are meant to be white and are not discolored.)  Zartan's color changing as driven by the sun is a better gimmick.  And, it's likely the color change plastic that's the cause of the brittleness in the figures.  But, the differently colored figures you see out there aren't variants.  They're just figures stuck in various phases of their color change.

In speaking to the gimmick, though, the color changing schtick wasn't widely loved.  The Shadow Ninjas were among the last figures from the vintage run that you could find at retail: lasting well into 1996 in most areas.  The high price point wasn't enough to really justify the gimmick.  And, kids and parents bought up the alternate Joe choices long before the Shadow Ninjas were considered.  As the Shadow Ninjas hit clearance prices, many of the early toy store scalpers started buying them: hoping for future riches.  This is how you'd find large lots of them for nearly nothing at various comic book stores and scalp kiosks at the flea market during the 2000's.  Even then, though, collectors mostly ignored them and it took decades for the stock to finally be absorbed in any significant way.

Speaking of accessories, the Night Creeper is well equipped.  He includes the same weapons tree from 1993 figure.  It's a large complement of weapons, far more than he can hold.  But, all the weapons are well done.  The Shadow Ninja weapons are all made of a super brittle translucent plastic.  So, fine details like those on the Night Creeper's bow will snap with just a bit of pressure.  All told, the Night Creeper includes two swords, two knives, the aforementioned bow, a sickle and a stand.  It's good gear that works with the figure.  (If you look at the 1993 Night Creeper card art, though, it seems he was originally intended to include the accessory tree from the 1993 Slice.)  The swords work nicely without being too big and the Night Creeper's bow is a good call back to the debut of the character in 1990.  You can tie a string to the sickle.  I've done that with a 1993 version and used it like that since I acquired it back in the mid 1990's.

The real question is what do you do with Shadow Ninja figures?  For me, most of them are gimmicks.  But, the Night Creeper works within the context of the stealth idea.  I see Night Creepers exactly as advertised in terms of being an independent group who works for Cobra.  I though, see them as joining with Cobra Commander much earlier in the Cobra timeline.  Cobra likely started in the mid to late '70's in order to grow into the organization we were introduced to in 1982.  In the early days, Cobra Commander had to work with hired mercenaries.  But, he could not yet afford the best.  We saw some of these anonymous early Cobras in the first issues of the comic.  I also see, though, foreign characters like the Cobra De Aco and Cobra Mortal being part of these early days.  As Cobra grew and had greater resources, Cobra Commander could afford the services of Destro, Firefly, Zartan and others.  But, he had the problem of the early leaders who were still around.

As noted in the comic, it's likely that more than a few of these other Cobra leaders eliminated themselves through battlefield ineptitude as the Joe team got more involved.  But, as they were early members of the Cobra command, they likely had access to highly sensitive information about Cobra operations, funding and personnel.  So, the Commander had to have them all killed.  This is where I see the early incarnations of the Night Creepers coming aboard.  They would have been among those the Commander hired to take out some of the hangers-on from the organizations earliest days.  I see the Night Creepers of that era being pre-cursors to Zartan who possessed some advanced stealth technology.  The 1994 Night Creeper is the result.  And, with their suits obscuring them, they were able to specifically kill the Cobra Mortal.  

From here, I'm open to interpretation.  I could see the Commander hiring a young Zartan to take out the Night Creepers and this is where he got his holographic technology.  This would then leave open the possibility that the Night Creepers the Commander sought out nearly a decade later were a different group.  Perhaps one that found the remnants of the original group, re-organized it and turned it into something far bigger and more powerful.  Of course, this reeks of the over dependence upon a single event that revolves around the Snake Eyes story.  So, at some point, I'll have to refine the story down into something less derivative.  But, the notion of these Night Creepers disposing of the Cobra Mortal is one aspect I want to keep.  Someone had to kill all those early Cobra leaders who never appeared again.  These Night Creepers are as good as anyone to be responsible.

This Night Creeper sculpt debuted in 1993 and got the Shadow Ninja repaint in 1994.  It then permanently disappeared.  While many other Ninja Force parts returned in both the Street Fighter Movie and Mortal Kombat Movie lines, Night Creeper was not among them.  There are some foreign carded variants where you can get unique card art for the Shadow Ninja Night Creeper.  (The Shadow Ninjas are the only time that generic card art was used in the US and specific card art was used in other countries.  1993 Star Brigade got generic card artwork, but never got a foreign upgrade.)  In the 2000's, Hasbro dusted off the Ninja Force Stormshadow and Slice molds.  It would have been nice to see a repainted Night Creeper, too.  Done in original colors or some other design, the mold might have been well received.  But, the 1990 Night Creeper was a better choice and Hasbro only repainted it in 1998 and 2004.  So, you can't really fault them for the decision to go that route.

For years, Shadow Ninjas could be purchased in bulk.  Lots of 4-10 MOC figures would sell for a couple of bucks per figure.  You'd get random samplings and figures like Night Creeper were pretty easy to find.  Slowly, though, the dealers who bought those lots split them into single offerings.  The collectors who bought them sold off the doubles in either smaller lots or as individuals.  Even in 2016, you could buy most of the Shadow Ninjas for under $20 MOC and could find them with ease.  But, in the post 2018 Joe world, even carded Shadow Ninjas have started to disappear.  And, with them, the few high quality loose samples have followed.  The upside is that, when you find them, you'll pay about the same for a carded figure as a loose, mint and complete figure.  At around $25 for each, that's not a small outlay for a gimmick figure.  Left to open pricing, though, loose Shadow Ninja Night Creepers will sell for $12 or so.  But, it might take months before you see one that isn't discolored or broken.  

Like all 1993 and 1994 figures, the vast loose quantities of figures that sat unsold on Ebay for years are mostly gone.  If you're a completist, the hunt might be a challenge to keep you interested for a while.  As a collector, one Shadow Ninja is really all you need to understand the gimmick.  In this case, the 1993 Night Creeper is superior to the Shadow Ninja version.  But, the translucent figure has a bit of charm that is fun to mix with the original release.  In that vein, the figure has some value.  I'm far more forgiving of figures like this now than I was back when they were on retail pegs.  A big part of that is that, back then, they were all I had available to buy.  Now, as something different from the thousands of other Joe figures that have been released and are readily available, the Shadow Ninjas are a fun diversion.  Your mileage may vary.  But, I recommend looking into at least one of the figures for something to break the monotony of the standard Ninja Force designs.

2021 RIOT Commando (Eagle Force) - Around the Web

It's been a few years since this figure was released.  And, it's been completely forgotten.  Despite the overall quality of the Riot Commando, the figure completely failed to make a splash among the pandemic era collecting boom.  To me, this is utterly surprising.  Usually, I'm not much one for 3rd party o-ring figures.  But, I found the Riot Commando a really nice addition to the Joe line.  He perfectly supplemented many other figures and could integrate rather seamlessly with vintage and repaint era figures.

But, my tastes, once again, prove eclectic.  And, today, you don't see the Riot Commando much at all.  This is really too bad.  The figure failed so badly that it was offered at a discount for a while.  And, the future o-ring offerings that were planned for the Eagle Force line never came to be.  (Which is too bad as a couple of them were nice improvements that integrated with this figure.)  

Fortunately, there's a bit of content out there that features the figure.  Much of it was from the time of his release.  But, a couple of people still manage to keep him around and in photos every now and again.  I doubt I'll ever spark a Riot Commando renaissance.  But, I hope a few people will check out the photos below and find some appreciation for the figure.

2021 RIOT Commando Profile

2021 RIOT Commando by atwooddan

2021 RIOT Commando by gen_liederkranz

2021 Riot Commando by saintsyn

2021 Riot Commando by Gigamach

2021 Riot Commando by gen_leiderkranz

2021 Riot Commando by toy_attack

2021 Riot Commando by atwooddan

2021 Riot Commando by GigaMach

2021 Riot Commando by u.n.i.t_gi.joe

2021 Riot Commando at atwooddan

2021 Riot Commando by gen_liederkranz

2021 Riot Commando by gijoe_guy

2003 Funskool Metal Head

Sometimes, you accidentally strike gold.  In the case of the early 2000's Funskool releases, their tendency towards bizarre repaints and random accessory complements created a few different figures who transcend their origins and are very useful for collectors.  It was not likely that this was intentional.  But, the results tended to work.  The differences could be as small as a mustache painted on Law to a full blown repaint like Tripwire.  For some reason, though, Funskool got itself into an orange figure rut.  In fairly short order they released Wild Bill, Grunt, Incinerator and the subject of this profile, the Funskool Metal Head.  In general, orange figures are awesome.  And, this Metal Head combines the color with an exclusive accessory complement to create one of the more offbeat yet cool figures from the repaint era.

Metal Head has always been a solid figure.  My first introduction to him was when I was babysitting some kids down the street who had a 1990 version.  I turned his leg mounted missile launcher into a holster for his pistol and had him pilot an Imperial Shuttle.  It left an indelible impression upon me that followed me into adult collectorhood.  Like many of these early '90's memories that involved figures that I was too old to buy, Metal Head was among the very first new items I acquired as vintage Joes started to become available from online auction sites.  As these figures were the bastion of late 1990's acquisitions, they slowly fell out of favor as other, newer figures entered into my collection.  Now, I find my interest in some of these figure re-piqued just out of nostalgia for my first period of nostalgia.  Which, is kind of bizarre.

Which brings us to the Funskool release.  The early 2000's were a rather uninspired time in vintage themed G.I. Joe.  Hasbro churned out the same figure molds in similar colors for a few years and took extremely few chances on anything.  We're left with a rather banal roster of figures that, while having some gems, is largely forgettable.  One of the shining stars of the era, though, was Funskool.  While Hasbro was failing to properly interpret what collectors actually wanted during that time, Funskool was busy churning out figures that they felt would appeal to the youth in India.  As such, Joe collectors of the time had access to some brightly colored figures that brought a substantial amount of diversity to the contemporary releases.  In truth, the Funskool Joes of that era were more true to the spirit of the vintage line than the Hasbro offerings.

But, as Funskool was trying to appeal to kids, it also managed to largely alienate adult collectors.  This wasn't something Funskool actually cared about.  But, online Joe collectors sure liked to act like Funskool should care about them.  You'd see the standard diatribes lambasting Funskool for releasing obscure molds in bright colors.  While Hasbro was struggling to sell 16,000 units of o-ring Joes, Funskool was pumping figures out in quantity for their own market.  The few thousand units of each figure that were imported to American based dealers were just an extra bonus for Funskool.

That collector sentiment lead to figures like Metal Head being lambasted.  And, in that process, collectors missed out on a neat update to a cool mold.  The orange base isn't much more ostentatious than Metal Head's original red and yellow combo.  And, the inclusion of the Star Brigade Sci Fi helmet adds a completely new element to Metal Head.  You probably didn't know you wanted a Star Brigade Metal Head.  But, you could now have one.  Or, with the helmet on, this Metal Head could be a completely new character.  The possibilities were broad.  But, collectors of the early 2000's couldn't get past the "neon" of the orange base.  I do wonder how this would have fared as a 2018 or 2019 timeframe release.  Collectors were more accepting of bright colors by then.  And, they might have seen this Metal Head for what he is: a solid repaint that brings some needed color to a collection.

Personally, I scooped up this Metal Head the minute he became available.  You can see him in various photos I took back in the late summer and early fall of 2003.  There were so many Cobras coming to retail at that time that including Metal Head as a new character among them made sense.  Really, I just saw him as a different look for the Metal Head character.  But, he was used more often than many other, obscure Funskool repaints of that time.  He did, though, fall out of favor.  And, my original was part of my Funskool purge in the early 2010's.  I regret selling those off since many have not only gotten expensive but, in some cases, impossible to find.  (Look for an orange trimmed Funskool Hawk.  You'll turn grey before you find one.)  I was able to re-acquire him before Funskool pricing got stupid.  So, it's nice to have him back in the collection where he can once again join in with Incinerators, HEAT Vipers and other 1990's Cobra's where he looks most at home.

While we never had a full inventory of the molds that were sent to India, figures like Metal Head indicate that the number was far greater than just the figures that Funskool produced.  At one point, a Funskool contact informed a dealer that they had well over 100 molds available to them.  So, they large roster of figures from which to choose for release in India.  We're unlikely to ever know why Funskool chose a figure like Metal Head for release over any number of other molds.  Nor are we likely to know the full roster of which figures they had available.  One of the joys of Funskool of that era was the 5 or so new figures they put out each year.  You never knew who would be next.  And, that was part of the fun.

One thing collectors didn't really know was that, by 2002, the Funskool G.I. Joe line was starting to flounder.  It had enjoyed a retail run in India that rivaled the Hasbro run in terms of years.  So, the brand was a bit stale...even if Funskool was pretty good at supplementing it with classic vehicles and large roster of older figures that remained in circulation.  This Metal Head includes gear that was indicative of Funskool's last ditch efforts to attract new kids to the brand.  His grenade maker was an innovative idea for a figure add on.  We'd also see an ink pad and stamp with Grunt and some weird decoder thing that was included with Law.  Funskool was trying to attract kids to their figures with something new.  Hasbro tried the same thing in 1992 and 1993 with all the subsets.  But, in both cases the writing was on the wall for Joe's retail future.

Sadly, Metal Head's quality isn't great.  It wasn't until April of 2003 that Hasbro got on Funskool's case about figure quality and forced them to start producing higher quality figures.  So, it's tough to find a Metal Head made after that date.  The 2002 figures feature some blotchy paint and are very susceptible to having sonic welded arms that simply won't swivel without breaking the arm off.  (This figure began production in very late 2002 in India.  It didn't  appear for sale from U.S. dealers until 2003.  So, you'll see it referred to as both a 2002 or 2003 release.  With late in the year debut figures, it's tough to pin down an official release year.  But, this is the reason for the discrepancies you'll find.)  It's too bad since he's such a nice figure.  If you can find a figure that was opened back in 2003, it's less likely to have bad joints.  Or, see if you can find a figure made after April of 2003 (the date of manufacture is on the back of every Funskool card) to get a higher quality sample.

Metal Head debuted in 2002.  Funskool pretty much ceased G.I. Joe production around 2005.  As Funskool Metal Heads weren't heavily imported, it's tough to determine if Metal Head was among those late run figures.  To date, I'm not aware of Metal Head variants.  He may not have been in production long enough to get any.  But, at the same time, his lack of popularity among collectors drove the lack of later imports of the figure.  So, there could be undocumented variants out there, especially on his gear.  Metal Head did not return for the 2009 Funskool re-issues that were created to support the movie's release.  We haven't' seen vintage Joe molds used in India in 15 years, now.  We know that Hasbro destroyed all their o-ring molds in the late '00's/early 10's.  We don't know the fate of the molds that Funskool had in their possession.  I'd love to think that the molds are still  out there and could show up in some oddball release at a future time.  But, that's getting less and less likely with each passing day.

Metal Head's accessories are where he really shines.  The blue weapon from the 1991 Cobra Commander isn't great.  But, it actually works with this figure.  Funskool used that weapon mold often during this time.  And, they also really loved the blue plastic for the accessory color.  But, it matches with the figure.  So, that helps.  The real surprise, though, is the Star Brigade Sci Fi helmet.  Released in yellow with a red visor, this helmet actually fits Metal Head near perfectly.  It creates a drastically different look for Metal Head and, if you're so inclined, gives you another named Star Brigade Cobra figure.  The figure is rounded out by the "incentive" accessories: a grenade maker.  You get some grenade molds, some wicks and a couple of tubs of a brightly colored Play-Doh like substance.  You'd take the dough, put it in the molds with a wick in the top and Metal Head now had custom grenades to toss at your Joes.  It was a weird idea.  But, it had precedence in the 1993 Mega Marines and did offer younger kids some ancillary play value.  The idea wasn't repeated.  So, you wonder if it was considered a success or was just too expensive to replicate.

One fun fact about the playdoh substance that you could use to make Metal Head's grenades: it stunk!  When I opened this guy fresh off the card back in 2002, the substance was chemically pungent.  It was awful.  I packed it away in a plastic bag, inside a sealed plastic tub.  Every time I opened the tub, the room would become permeated with the stench.  However, when I opened another one in 2019 or so, the smell was gone.  It was likely a function of the age and the moisture having been sucked out of the substance.  So, the smell isn't likely to be still around unless you get your nose up close and personal with the drying out putty.  But, it was something at the time and remains one of my more poignant memories of first acquiring this figure.

This Metal Head also features additional paint masks that were not included on the Hasbro release.  First, his chest knife is painted.  It has a gold handle and silver blade: a nice upgrade over the original.  The figure's upper arms are not painted, like the Hasbro version is.  But, the Funskool version features painted gloves.  This breaks up the arm color in a better way than the Hasbro upper arm paint masks.  Finally, the figure's thighs feature more paint.  The upper portion of Metal Head's leg armor is painted.  And, his missile launcher holders are also painted.  This gives the figure more detail than the Hasbro figure.  And, frankly, I'd kind of like to have seen a Hasbro figure given these additional paint applications.

Metal Head was not a popular Funskool release.  Few collectors bothered to acquire him as, by his release date, Hasbro was producing more than enough army builders to keep collectors focused on that dominant aspect of the hobby.  Plus, the novelty of Funskool had worn off.  Because of that, the Funskool Metal Head is kind of hard to find these days.  You don't see them with the ubiquity of more popular characters.  Dealers offer carded figures in the $125 range.  But, the market price for a carded figure is around $40.  He's a stark reminder that dealers haven't gotten the memo that unpopular figures no longer command premium prices.  As the market plummets, figures like this Metal Head are great candidates to fall even further.  There are enough of them out there to satisfy demand.  And, as collectors economize, figures like this Metal Head will be the first to either be liquidated or simply scratched off of lists of figures that collectors want to acquire.  So, you'll probably be able to get him much cheaper in the future.