1994 Shipwreck

In many ways, I'm an odd collector.  Mostly, it's due to the fact that my primary interest in Joe all revolves around the toys.  Specifically, the action figures.  While I enjoyed the comic and watched the cartoon when I was a kid, I often found them at odds with the actual toys that were on the shelves.  I liked the toys for what they could be.  And, while I incorporated aspects of the comic and cartoon into my little Joe world, it was the flexibility of the actual toys that kept me around and brought many amazing things to life.  As such, after I had long aged out of toys and become and "adult" collector, I found myself at odds with many other collectors who got stuck on little continuity gaffes or character changes.  They allowed little things like Shipwreck now being a Navy SEAL overshadow the fact that, in 1994, Hasbro made the single best diver figure in the entire Joe line.  I didn't mind that it was Shipwreck.  I was just enamored with an amazing feat of design.

Shipwreck was one of the earliest figures I found when I started buying up the remnants of the Joe line in 1995 or so.  The instant I saw him, I knew he was a figure I had to own.  He featured classic colors, accessories that I recognized and a removable air mask that plugged into his chest.  He was everything I had ever hoped that Wet Suit or Torpedo would be.  He was among the earlier figures I managed to find.  And, when I found a second one at a Toys R Us over near Cincinnati, I immediately bought it so I had two of the figures in my collection.  

With Shipwreck in my possession, I played out adventures in my mind.  I thought back to how I would have used him when I was younger.  But, the real memory I have of him is thinking of him as secret guardians of an underwater prison where the Joes kept all their Cobra POW's.  Here, no one would know about Cobra.  And, any attempt at escape would implode the whole structure since it was so deep underwater.  Cobras would be transferred to the location in the Shark 9000 and then taken down to the airlock entrance where they would be placed inside.  Once they were entombed, the Joes didn't care what happened.  The civilization inside the structure could have been a horror of cannibalistic tribes or a bastion of culture and learning.  The idea was inspired by a forgotten Ray Liotta movie of that era where he was on an island prison and had to escape.

I imagined the Shipwrecks having to fight off Eels who were exploring the area, hoping to find the reason why so many Joe ocean going voyages stopped at this location.  Here, Eels would spear the divers in the air tanks, blowing them up.  Or, they'd sneak up behind them and pull off their masks, leaving the poor diver to asphyxiate since they were down too deep to get to the surface in time to breathe.  The Shipwreck figures stabbed more than one Eel with their giant knife.  So, the terrible deaths suffered at depths in the ocean were equally distributed among good and bad guys.  

As the 1990's turned to the 2000's, Shipwreck started to appear in my photos.  He was among the figure profiles on this site.  And, I tried to use him in various scenes whenever I could.  As I tried to photograph him, though, the limitations of him being only a diver became apparent.  I hate the figure without his air mask.  But, having him wearing the mask while he's on land, shooting at Cobras is a pathetic call back to a full wet suit Torpedo appearing on scaffolding of the U.S. Treasury back in issue #16 of the Marvel comic.  So, I began to use the figure less and less.  Even the times when I attempted to get him in the water backfired.  And, it was rare to get an actual good shot of him.  

So, the figure fell a bit out of favor.  I didn't use him nearly as often as I would have thought back in 1996 or so.  Partly, this was due to the massive influx of new figures into my collection.  The other part is that it can be tough to use divers in an aquatic setting.  I have one set of underwater photos, taken with a disposable camera in the summer of 2000.  After that, though, I had to settle for above water photos taken on puddles or rain water.  A few of them turned out nicely.  Others have elements I like, but were ultimate disappointments that weren't able to effectively communicate just how amazing this Shipwreck figure actually is.

I still have a good contingent of this figure in my collection.  I viewed him as a Joe army builder for many years.  The hidden face and lack of exposed skin made this an easy decision.  This figure was, actually, the pinnacle of my Joe army builders for a bit.  He was the first "Special Commission" commando.  This meant that the trooper had multiple advanced skills such as being a deep water diver, pilot or environmental specialty in addition to their peak combat training.  These were the guys who were just one mission away from becoming full fledged Joes.  Still, most didn't make it.  But, they were more capable than any other of the supporting troops who assisted the Joes.

Shipwreck's gear was among my favorites of the late retail run.  First, his mask plugs into his chest.  This alleviates the need for a backpack and makes the figure more self contained.   When I first acquired Shipwreck, I thought this design element debuted with him.  But, Hasbro had first used it on the 1990 Undertow: a figure I didn't know existed at the time.  The "new to me" aspect, made the mask even more useful, though.  After that, Shipwreck's weapon tree is well done.  Being cast in black plastic was always a plus.  The tree included a knife and rifle from Hit and Run, a Bullhorn rifle and a Shockwave pistol.  There are 2 stand alone flippers with the figure as well as the requisite battle stand and black missiles that fit into the grey spring loaded launcher.  

Shipwreck has some variants.  The visible difference is that the figure will either have the straps on the figure's upper arms painted black or not be painted at all.  The figure will also feature Country of Origin (COO) stamps of either China or Indonesia.  All the Chinese figures have the black straps painted.  While some Indonesian figures have the straps painted and others do not.  In addition, there is a variant on Shipwreck's "Hit and Run" rifle.  Some of them will have open trigger guards.  Others will have filled in trigger guards.  I do not have a breakdown of which COO's should include which weapon.  From the samples I've seen, the blocked out trigger guard weapons seem to be included with the Indonesia COO figures.  I remember my 2nd retail Shipwreck including the occluded trigger guard and wondering why the change the was made.

Shipwreck is also very prone to discoloration.  Be mindful of this when you search out figures.  The figure should be a solid grey.  If the figure is discolored, you'll see tinges of yellow in the grey coloring.  Many 1994 figures don't discolor evenly.  So, that makes it easy to spot arms or a chest piece that's starting to turn.  But, some will have full figure discoloration.  There are unscrupulous dealers out there who will try to pass off these discolored figures as variants.  And, on a figure like Shipwreck where there are known variants, it can get confusing.  (Especially since the 2002 Shipwreck uses nearly the exact same coloring and is often mistaken for a variant rather than a new version.)  So, watch the colors and be sure of what the figure should look like.

This Shipwreck mold got a bit of use.  There are the two paint variants that were released in 1994.  Then, in 1998, Hasbro produced the figure in aqua blue and black for an amazing repaint in their Navy SEAL team set that was exclusive to Toys R Us.  In 2002, Hasbro used the mold again for the Internet exclusive Wave V pack.  Unfortunately, this release was barely a repaint of the 1994 figure and uses the same grey base and black highlights.  You don't need both the 2002 and the 1994.  And, the fact that the 2002 figure is almost always yellowed really makes the 1994 a better option.  The mold was then retired and never appeared again.  Shipwreck appeared on the box art for the unproduced Battle Station that was to be released in 1995.  So, he would have carried over.  The box artwork shows Shipwreck in a unique pose.  His coloring is difficult to make out.  But, it appears to be the same as the 1994 figure.  So, we don't really know if Shipwreck's 1995 release would have been a full repaint, slight repaint or just a straight re-release of the 1994.  It's unfortunate that we never got to find out.

1994 Shipwreck figures were cheap for a long time.  Into the early 2010's, you could get carded figures for under $10.  That is no longer the case.  Mint and complete figures sell in the $25-$30 range.  Dealers will actually sell some for $45.  Which is really odd as carded figures still only top out around $50.  Collectors have finally realized that 1994 figures exist in lower quantities than prior years.  So, you're seeing price corrections come around.  They probably have swung too far as the market still hasn't recovered from the pandemic highs...mostly due to hoarding and the fact that most collectors don't need to sell right now.  Regardless, I find this figure worth the price.  But, I also have an attachment to him that many other collectors of my age would lack.  I'm not sure I'd pay his current pricing knowing that the Battle Corps figures are far more common than the 1994 subsets.  And, it is those subsets that seem to be the spear that drove all 1994's to overpriced highs during the early 2020's.  Shipwreck is one of the first figures I'd choose if I had to rebuild my collection, though.  So, he's worth a hard look any time you come across one.