2001 Manimal Iguanus

So, back in 2016, I said that Iguanus would be up for a profile in 2019.  It was three years between Slythor and Warwolf's profile.  So, why not wait another three years for Iguanus?  Well, it's been 9 years, now.  Which,...damn.  But, I had occasion to take out the Manimals when it snowed in early January.  And, upon getting out Iguanus, I discovered, again, that the Manimals are really not bad toys at all.  They might be bad G.I. Joe concepts.  But, as toys and design pieces of engineering, they are quite something.

In his helmeted mode, Iguanus is pretty cool looking.  He's kind of like a space knight with a weird snake face on his chest.  His bulk and build denote he's an alien.  When he transforms, though, the reptilian head is quite amazing.  It has a tongue hidden inside.  (The Manimal designers were big on tongues.)  With the head and teeth exposed, Iguanus looks like a mutated experiment for Croc Master to tame.  The alligator inspired head is full of cracks and crevices and features raised nostrils and sunken eyes.  It's a monster that's familiar enough to rise primal fear in humans.  

The rest of the figure follows suit with lots of sculpted details.  The coloring is basic with just two shades of blue that are offset by silver highlights.  But, the look really works.  The 2001 Manimal color schemes were changed from the planned 1994 figures: ostensibly to preserve the value of the few 1994 Manimal samples that exist.  In Iguanus's case, the 1994 figure was a very dark blue/black base color with more gray highlights.  The 2001 color scheme is an improvement with one exception: the 1994 figure had yellow eyes.  (Well, some production figures did.  But, the Toy Fair spread sample did not.)  They are a creepy feature that would have worked on the 2001 repaint.  But, the red is scary enough that it's not a feature worth lamenting for too long.

My main takeaway from Iguanus and his Manimal brethren is that they are good toys.  They're really fun.  And, if you're not hung up on a make believe vision of what G.I. Joe actually is, you can find some use for the figures.  They're really fun to pose and photograph.  The quality is excellent and the transforming features are cheesy entertainment.  I'll never really tire of seeing a Manimal "eating" a Joe or Cobra.  It's difficult to pull off in any convincing manner in a photo.  But, the larger size of the Manimals makes it work.  They're never going to be among my favorite figures.  But, they are something worth owning and can really add a kooky element of fun  to anyone's collection.

The Manimals use construction more similar to that of Sgt. Savage than to the vintage Joe line.  Their legs are cut joints that were coming en vogue in the mid 1990's.  This makes them hard to pose, especially in seated positions.  But, the joints move fluidly and the figure has a strong amount of articulation.  Iguanus's hands are similar to those of vintage Joes.  Other Manimals have enclosed hands so their weapons must be inserted from above.  Iguanus does not, though.  And, his approach to accessories is more in line with vintage Joe figures: meaning he can use a wider array of existing gear should you want to take that route.  

My one beef with Warwolf and Iguanus is that they both feature a mouthful of brilliant white teeth.  I don't take umbrage with the notion of the design.  In fact, the gaping mouths are one of the most compelling selling points of these figures.  But, when two of the three characters in the subset feature the same, basic design element, the overall impact of the innovation is lessened.  On some level, it would have made sense for one of the other three Manimal molds to have been substituted for either Warwolf of Iguanus to make each figure in the individual waves more unique.  When posed together, you really notice the similarity between the two figures.  And, I would have appreciated a ZigZag or Vortex with his bird-flipping alien much more.  At this point, I'll take what we got.  But, it makes you wonder how the figures were apportioned to each wave and what thought process went into the choices.

If you really want to get to brass tacks, the Manimals failed three times.  A fourth time, they never even got started.  But, any way you slice it, Manimals were retail poison.  The original wave was cancelled in 1994 before it got off the ground.  This KB wave sat around for years and, even at clearance prices, was tough to move in a time when every Joe was flying off the shelves.  The second wave of 3 figures for KB were cancelled and never released.  A couple of years later, Funskool looked at the Manimal molds and thought about using them.  But, determined the figures were too "devilish" for them to proceed.  Some guy tried to bootleg the Manimals from the Funskool acquired molds.  An American dealer even solicited them on their website.  There are samples out there.  But, the figures were never produced.

It's hard to believe that these figures came out in 2001.  I remember buying them from KB Toys online arm.  At $9.99 per figure, they were a tough pill to swallow.  You could still buy 1998 3-packs of figures at Toys R Us stores for the same price.  But, a KB executive was a big G.I. Joe and wanted something special for an exclusive.  The Manimals fit the bill.  I want to believe that the 1995 Battle Corps Rangers figure molds did not exist in a state that was capable of sustaining a production run.  And, that would explain why they were not considered for the promotion.  At the time, the Manimals felt like a wasted slot for a Joe release.  Nearly 25 years later, I'm glad we got them.  

I think the failure of the KB Manimals, though, was simply timing.  Collectors weren't ready for Manimals or other, less traditional subsets of the Joe line.  Back in 2001, even something like Ninja Force would have failed.  And, Eco Warriors were nearly a slur in the community.  But, things have changed.  And, I think the Manimals would find a much more welcoming consumer base would they have re-emerged in the 2020's.  Collectors are more mature.  And, interesting ideas that are good toys would be a welcome deviation from much of what passes for collector oriented items in this decade.  We'll never know, though.  Manimals aren't going to return in their transforming state.  And, without that detail, there's no real reason for them to exist.

Iguanus includes two accessories.  One, a bladed weapon, is unique to him.  The other uses the same mold as one of the weapons included with Warwolf.  Iguanus' weapons, though, are silver.  He's the only of the three to feature silver accessories.  It's likely a way to simply differentiate the reused accessory mold between the 2 figures who included it.  But, it's a nice way to make the figure seem a bit more unique.  The gear isn't great.  And, were I to stumble across some loose pieces of it sitting in shoe box at a garage sale, I wouldn't even identify it as a G.I. Joe accessory.  With the Manimals, though, the gear looks good.  But, it's not a great fit for other figures.

The KB Manimals got caught in the pricing surge that the Joe line experienced since 2018.  What were, once, below retail price figures have now become somewhat pricey.  But, a lot of that is just due to the limited supply of them available.  You'll pay between $50 and $70 for a carded Manimal.  If you can find a loose figure, they'll run you about $30.  But, the only people selling them are dealers who are waiting out impatient collectors.  In reality, these figures don't have that type of value.  And, you'll find deals if you have the patience to wait them out.  But, you could be waiting a long time.  I've been saying for several years now that Joe prices are artificially high due to limited supply.  Nothing has compelled collectors to sell.  So, maybe they just...won't?  I don't think that will happen.  But, it's now going to take a 2008 type event to put the supply back into the market.  So, every collector has to make choices as to what they're willing to overpay for and what they're willing to skip.  It's a tough call each time.  A figure like Iguanus is harder than it should be.  You don't need Manimal figures in your Joe collection.  But, man, is this figure worth owning should you want to go that route.