If you watch the toy commercials that aired during the vintage Joe days, you will find that they are chock full of pre-production and alternate paint job figures. Usually, this was a function of the fact that the commercials had to be shot before the actual production figures were available.
Below is the 1991 Eco Warriors Flint who appeared in the 1991 Eco Warriors commercial. The figure is actually shown with the backpack and water gun that was included with Ozone. The colors match Flint quite well. It was not uncommon to see Joe figures with incorrect accessories in commercials or in catalog photography. This was likely just a function of the producers having to make their best guesses as to which figures should have which gear.
The most interesting feature of this pre-production figure, though, is that the visor on Flint's helmet is painted a light blue. It's a small change that makes an incredible difference in the appearance of the figure. Oddly, with the visor painted, Flint's head looks similar to the 1991 Snow Serpent. But, it's almost certain that the missing paint application on the helmet was nothing more than a cost-cutting move.
If you watch the Eco Warriors commercial closely, you'll notice that the Cesspool that is used is also a pre-production design. It's still pretty similar to the production figure, though. There is also, though, a weird Duke figure that is nothing like any production Duke. The Duke also appeared in other contemporary commercials. A few years ago, someone tried to fake the Duke and pass it off as the one used in the commercial. But, it was sniffed out as a fraud by the community. But, the fact that we didn't see a production Duke until 1992 which had similar coloring, it makes you wonder if Duke was planned for a 1991 release and got pushed back. Or, if Hasbro just wanted to promote the Duke character even though they didn't have a figure of him available at retail. (Hasbro has stated that, for their Star Wars line, they can not put any figure on a box that they haven't released to retail. But, it's unclear if that's a general law or something specific to the Star Wars license.) But, it's a weird Duke that stuck around for a while before the 1992 Duke figure became available.
The second image is from the 1991 Toy Fair catalog. It also features Flint with the painted visor. You'll also note that he is now pictured with his correctly colored pack that matches production. But, he has a green version of his stand alone rifle. This weapon was never actually released in green. Which is too bad. I think the green gear is a better fit. But, it also didn't provide any contrast. And, Flint decked out in all green and yellow gear makes the gear hard to spot. The blue offsets his base colors better. So, these updated colors likely made for better retail presentation on the shelves of the time.
I'm a fan of the Eco Warriors Flint, in general. Had the figure been released with the painted visor on his helmet, I would be even more of a fan. That little paint application makes a huge difference in the appearance of the figure. It's really a shame it didn't make to the production release.
Agreed on the detail front. An even bigger shame they didn’t keep the helmet and the rifle at least when they repainted him for the 2001 Desert Striker.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely transforms a decent figure to a great one.
ReplyDeleteI never noticed this blue visor in the commercial or Toy Fair catalog, but the unpainted helmet bugged me so much at the time that I painted the visor black. That helped a lot. Not sure which color I like better now, honestly. My choice of black was perhaps a little boring, but that powder blue doesn't really go with the rest of his uniform, either.
ReplyDeleteI do like this figure quite a bit as it was released. I was never a fan of matching colors gear, especially on figures with unusual color palettes such as this one. The visor would have been a nice touch, I guess the cost cutting began in the early '90s.
ReplyDeleteThat little detail of coloring the visor makes all the difference in the world. It looks so much better than the plain yellow helmet he was released with. Sometimes those small missed details make all the difference.
ReplyDeleteAbout that 1992 Duke in the Eco Warriors commercial, is that him getting blasted by Ozone? It looks like more accurate chocolate chip camo than the red camo Duke got, plus maybe long sleeves?
ReplyDeleteI like the light blue. I wonder if part of why they cut it was the difficulty of getting paint to stick to the soft plastic if that helmet. They didn’t paint manu accessories, but I’m not sure they EVER painted one made of soft vinyl-type plastic.
ReplyDeleteThat Duke is good, and the chocolate chip camo was better than the 92 release. As a kid who got into Joes in 89, Duke was a glaring hole in the lineup—especially when they started promoting him, like with that 1991 playset to dress up as Duke with goggles and helmet. I remember being baffled at the time because there was no Duke figure available. Except the 12”…maybe in some weird way they wanted to avoid stealing his thunder?