1985 Keel Haul - Around The Web

It's been  almost 20 years since I profiled the 1985 Keel Haul.  When I did, you could get a mint and complete figure for about $25.  Now, one will run you well over $150.  It seems everyone forgot that Keel Haul was a mail away for many years.  Sure, his pistol is rare.  But, Keel Haul figures are not.  I really feel that the "vibes" based pricing of the pre-internet era has returned.  It's like we lost all our actual knowledge of collectibles that was gained between 1995 and 2015.  Since then, pricing has been routinely out of whack to actual scarcity.  And, when I think of all the bagged Keel Hauls that collectors got for $1 each from Hasbro Canada in 1999, I can't imagine their legacy would be an $80 figure to a younger generation of speculators.

As a figure, Keel Haul isn't the best.  In a lot of ways, I expected the included figure with G.I. Joe's flagship toy to be amazing and perfect.  Keel Haul is not that.  He is, though, adequate for his role.  There's not much you can do with an admiral when you don't have his ship.  With Keel Haul, though, you can find a way to use him from time to time.

Most of his content that exists features Keel Haul on board the USS Flagg.  He fits there.  As I don't have a Flagg, I've used Keel Haul in Whale and Shark 9000.  Most of my photos of him are in the Shark 9000.  This is a relic of the fact that the 1993 Keel Haul was an integral part of the Shark 9000 crew when I was filling out my collection with the ghosts of retail G.I. Joe back in the mid 1990's.  If I ever get my Whale out, again, I'll definitely use Keel Haul in a few times.  His colors would be a nice fit with the olive Whale base.  Until then, check out all the content below and let me know any funs times you had with Keel Haul.

1985 Keel Haul Profile

1985 Keel Haul by 00zxcvb

1985 Keel Haul by evilface

1985 Keel Haul by dreadnokdread

1985 Keel Haul by ussflagg

1985 Keel Haul by thedustinmccoy

1985 Keel Haul by joemazing_stories

1985 Keel Haul by gijoe_c4_panama

1985 Keel Haul by ftwten

1986 Low Light - Random Photos of the Day

The 1986 Low Light is a figure I should use more often.  He was part of my childhood's glory years.  And, he's an amazingly detailed sculpt in cool colors who included better weapons.  In short, he's a guy who should be at the forefront of far more photos in my collection than he is.  I've had to make it a point, though, to get him out and take photos featuring the figure.

The reasons for this likely stem from my childhood, though.  While Low Light was on many missions, he was often perched far away, awaiting the signal to come to the last minute rescue.  While he sat in his tree branch or rock, I'd inevitably forget he was part of the story.  And, only at the end, when it was time to clean up did I realize he was stashed behind some pine needles and I had forgotten that his specialty was needed.  So, the figure was more of a tag along than the driver of any adventure.

None of this detracts from the figure's quality.  Sure, his head is a little big.  And, blonde hair is a strong juxtaposition against the black and grey base colors.  But, the rest of Low Light is as good as '80's Joes could be.  Lots of details, bold colors and perfect accessories all add up to quite a toy.  

But, even today, I don't get much use for the figure.  He's tough to add into the background of a photo.  And, you can only do so much with the lone gunman trope.  I should, though, try a bit harder as I do think there's some more content I can squeeze from him.  Until then, let me know your thoughts on Low Light in the comments.

1987 Royal Guard

1987 was the apex of my childhood Joe collection.  I had found the first figures of the year in the weeks before Christmas in 1986.  Falcon and Cobra Commander entered into my collection and expanded the final story line of my childhood Joe world.  I began 1987 on a sprint to complete the single, carded figure line.  And, as it turned out to be a wet year that meant lots of lawn mowing money, I had the cash to pick up vehicles as I found them, too.  Upon the acquisition of my first 1987 catalog, I saw a single, weird item.  Tucked among the Cobra offerings was a bizarre three pack of Cobra La figures.  They were noted as "living organisms" and featured a figure that looked like he was affixed to a stone base.  I had no idea what this pack could be.  But, there were enough other new items in the catalog to relegate the Cobra La to insignificance.  

Sometime in the summer of 1987, on a routine trip to the local Toys R Us store, I found the newly released 3-packs from the catalog.  There were rows of Renegades and Cobra La.  I discovered the "statue" figure was actually a snake.  I'd later learn that his tail would never coil into the pose from the catalog.  But, the reality of the pack was that I had no desire to buy it.  The Renegades were far more enticing.  So, I cracked open the green wallet I carried at the time and bought myself the Renegades pack.  Feeling sorry for my little brother, though, my mother decided to buy him the Cobra La pack.  I was fine with him having it as I wanted every G.I. Joe figure to be part of our collection.  I just didn't want to spend any money on weird figures.  On the drive home, I read over the Cobra La filecards.  I still couldn't make any sense of them.  They didn't fit with any of the Joe mythos from the cartoon or the comic.  The didn't even match other figures.  Their purpose was a mystery.

I have mentioned many times that I have never seen the G.I. Joe movie.  For some reason, the movie did not air in our local market in 1987.  Instead, my friends down the street saw it when they were out of town for a week.  When they returned, the told a fantastical tale of a movie where Cobra Commander turns into a monster and Joes were voiced by stars like Don Johnson.  There was no way this could be true.  I listened to their description  of the plot.  It was here that they mentioned a bit about Cobra La.  Mostly, they recalled the new Cobra chant that added the "lalala" on the end.  On some level, I thought it was all a hoax.  But, on another, their description was too detailed and consistent to be anything but real.  It wasn't until much later that I learned the movie was an actual thing.  By then, though, I was pretty much done with Joe.  So, I had no interest and didn't watch it.

This raises the question of why I haven't bothered to watch it in the ensuing decades.  For a long time, seeking out the movie required effort and money.  I wasn't going to spend anything to see it.  And, the movie wasn't a significant part of Joe culture.  As the film became more available, though, a different malaise set in.  Not seeing the movie was a badge of honor, of sorts.  As I was a comic guy, not seeing the move gave me message board cred.  It's dumb.  But, we're all kind of dumb in our early twenties.  And, as I got over that nonsense, it opened me up to, maybe, watching the movie.  

Which brings us to the reason I still haven't watched it today.  At some point in the 2010's, the G.I. Joe cartoon would air on various channels.  Usually, it was really late at night.  I was up at some point one night and found the cartoon was airing.  So, I turned on a random episode.  And, it was, not good.  It wasn't the type of bad where you can find guilty pleasure in liking it.  It was cringeworthy.  After a few minutes, I turned it off.  I simply couldn't watch it.

Now, many of you reading this still like the cartoon.  I know Joe fans who watch it every year and even some who just always have it on in the background in their collection room.  If you still like the cartoon, good!  I'm glad you do.  My dislike of the cartoon has to do with me and my personal tastes and doesn't invalidate your enjoyment.  I liked the cartoon back when I was 11 and 12.  But, it's no longer my thing.  I should also note that upon re-reading many Joe comics, I find similar issues.  There are things I enjoyed as a kid that I find groan-worthy today.  It's OK to both recognize that you loved something when you were younger but have also outgrown it as an adult.  

All of which is a roundabout way to say that I had no idea what the purpose of Cobra La was.  And, I certainly had no inclination of how to use the figures in their "canonical" context.  What I found when my brother opened up the Cobra La three pack was a useless spike of a figure who couldn't do anything, a bland second figure that lacked any cachet and, a really useful and fun figure that kind of solved a role I had long wanted for my Cobra armies and was also really cool looking.  This third figure was the Royal Guard.  

On the card art for Cobra La, Nemesis Enforcer is wearing bat wings.  This left the green tentacles that were packaged with him as an odd, extra accessory.  I assumed it was meant for one of the other figures.  The colors kind of matched with Golobulus.  As he wasn't a figure I was ever going to use, though, it made no sense to give them to him.  I thought the tentacles were the coolest accessory in  the set.  The green color was great.  And, they had little, sculpted suction cups that made them seem like a really fun item to have around.  So, I gave these to the Royal Guard.  The green against the red wasn't the color combo I had hoped it would be.  But, it worked well enough.  And, from that day, I forever associated the tentacles with the Royal Guard figure.

I had to find a greater purpose for the Royal Guard, though.  The heavy, armored plates on the figure screamed a heavy weapons operator.  But, they also suggested a jet pack like trooper.  In 1987, flight in my Joe world heavily revolved around small aircraft.  So, it was an easy leap to have the tentacles work like bug wings that allowed the Royal Guard to fly.  They were humans encased in heavy armor to protect them in crashes.  This was a far cry from the Joes who allowed their jet pack troopers to be armor less.  It was the usage of the Royal Guard and his protective gear that lead me to adopt Maverick as the Joe jetpack trooper as 1987 ended.  The Royal Guards became specialized Cobra units who could fly into a Joe base and wreak quick havoc.  Their armor was heavy enough to resist small arms fire.  So, it was difficult to shoot them out of the sky.  They'd serve either as an attack squadron.  Or, as a relief/rescue patrol who would appear late in a battle to save Cobra hierarchy who had been taken prisoner.  Or, to simply provide cover while Cobra escaped.

The Royal Guard's usage didn't end there.  The tentacles served a second purpose: they could be detached and used to capture Joes.  The individual arms would wrap around a hapless good guy and hold with an unbreakable grip.  The small suction cups on the wings would grab onto the victim and dig into his skin.  They would then wrap tighter and tighter.  The prey could be subdued for extraction with the wings.  Or, they could be constricted out of existence.  The limiting factor on the toy, though, is that the arms aren't that long and they didn't hold their shape.  So, the idea of the wings grabbing onto someone and squeezing them to near death was far more fun than the actual playing of the same scenario.  But, the threat that the tentacles could be deployed was enough to keep many Joes away from the Royal Guard should he appear in battle.  

In the mid 1990's, I had just a shoebox of old figures that was leftover from childhood.  I did have a nice LEGO tub full of nicely conditioned and complete figures.  But, I didn't want to use them.  In the shoebox was a hodge-podge of unloved figures from my youth.  There were Dreadnoks, Quick Kick and all the Cobra La figures among some other long broken examples of figures I had liked.  These remnants formed unnamed legions who would do battle against the sparse figures I would acquire at retail during this time.  Among the figures in this box were the Royal Guard and the Nullifier.  As I was mostly focused on buying Joes at the time (and, Cobras were much harder to find!), I needed enemies for them.  The Royal Guard and Nullifer were solid choices.  I liked that both were heavily armored.  And, both of them were good fits for some of the large, 1990's weapon tree weapons.  So, both of these figures became Cobra heavy gunners.  They would carry big machine guns or some of the hand held artillery weapons that were superfluous on the weapon trees and lay waste to my army of new Joes.

As I acquired more Cobra figures, though, this purpose faded away.  The Royal Guard was the first to go.  He didn't have his antenna.  (Though, the Nullifier didn't have his face shield, either!)  And, he just didn't really have enough cachet to stick around when compared to the 1993 and 1994 figures that were become the bulk of my collection.  He was dumped back into the shoebox and stayed there until 1999 or so.  The Nullifer fared better.  He'd wield the black Airwave rifle from the 1993 Leatherneck well into my adult collecting years.  You can even read about him still getting usage in this capacity on the profile I wrote on him in the earliest days of this website.  The Royal Guard's days were done, though.  The figure went into a drawer with the rest of the 1987 Cobras.  

In 2000, though, I picked up an amazing collection from a collector.  It was a mostly complete run of figures and vehicles from 1983 through 1986.  There were some beautiful 1987 figures included, too.  Among them were a complete set of Cobra La figures.  I promptly did the same thing with them that I had done with my childhood versions: dumped into a drawer.  They stayed there until the late '00's when I purged my collection.  My many Golobulus and Nemesis Enforcer figures were all liquidated.  As were all my incomplete Royal Guards.  But, for some reason, I held onto the single complete specimen that I still owned.  I'm not sure why I kept him.  It was likely just because the buyer's market of that era wasn't going to yield a selling price I thought was commensurate with the rarity of his accessories.  But, I kept this lone Cobra La member.

Again, for many years, I didn't do anything with the figure.  There's one photo of him in the late '00's.  And, one more in the mid '10's.  Mostly, he was stuck in the back of the 1987 Cobra drawer and I didn't think much of him.  As the '20's dawned, though, I was looking for obscure figures who hadn't seen much spotlight in my photographs.  This brought me back to the Royal Guard.  His detailed sculpt, sharp colors and interesting design were enough to compel me to take some photos.  And, in doing so, I rediscovered the quality of the figure.  I'm past the point of seeing him as a flying, armored Cobra.  And, I embrace the weird.  The Royal Guard is a fun figure to photograph and works extremely well with both his contemporary releases as well as late in the line oddballs like Star Brigade and Mega Marines.  He's never going to be a personal favorite.  But, the Royal Guard's attributes are enjoyable and fun.  

The Royal Guard was used just this one time by Hasbro.  In Europe, the Slaughter's Renegades were released on single cards.  But, Cobra La didn't get the same treatment.  Mercer and Red Dog were both released internationally, in Brazil and India, respectively.  But, again, no Cobra La figures showed up.  Hasbro must have known they'd be a tougher sell than the Renegades.  During the early 2000's, cartoon figures were still fairly taboo.  So, the odds of seeing them in a Toys R Us set was zero.  It was finally during the Anniversary era that we saw the glimpse of Cobra La returning.  In the new format, a figures like Nemesis Enforcer could be given his scale from the cartoon.  While this figure was well received, it also hung around a lot.  With the advent of Classified, Cobra La has taken on new significance as we've seen some amazing takes of Cobra La characters in this format: the Royal Guard among them.  For 3 3/4' fans, Super7 made a newly colored and molded version of the Royal Guard.  It's drastically different from the Hasbro figure.  It might be more cartoon accurate.  But, my point of reference is the toys.  So, I found it far inferior to Hasbro's figure.  It sold out fairly quickly, though.  So there was a pent up demand for the character.

Royal Guards are expensive.  The antenna is the expensive piece.  Mint and complete figures run in the $40+ range.  Dealers charge a lot more due to low supply.  There are lots of 3D printed replacement antennas out there.  So, be sure to confirm any antenna is original.  There really aren't any affordable alternatives for this character.  But, figures without the antenna can be had substantially cheaper.  So, you can build up an army of antenna-less figures far more reasonably.  I wish I'd taken advantage of cheaper prices in the 2010's and picked up a couple more Royal Guards.  They look great in multiples.  But, it's also a character who I don't really use much.  And, his long ago purpose of a heavy armor Cobra Trooper is long gone: replaced with other figures who are better suited to the role.  Despite that, he has value just for his overall quality.  So, he's the type of figure who's going to get taken out every 15-18 months when the conditions match up well with his colors.  That's a better fate than many other figures ever experience.

1989 Recoil - Random Photos of the Day II

Recoil is a figure I've looked at a couple of times in the site's history.  In the early days, he was new to my collection and was among my favorite new acquisitions.  But, over time, his importance has waned.  He's not really a figure I think about all that often.  Despite that, though, I do seem to photograph him rather frequently.  In the photos below, you'll see a variety of shoots that have been taken over a couple of years.  He's often with the same cast of characters as I tend to shoot figures with their contemporaries.  This is function of how I store my figures as I keep them in plastic drawers by year and, in large years, by Joes or Cobras.  That makes it easy to grab the same figures time and time again when I'm thinking of a photo.

My thing with Recoil is that he should be awesome.  He fits all the classic criteria for a great figure.  He's just not quite there.  The powder blue accessories are the easiest mark against him.  But, with the plethora of factory custom options now available, that's an easy fix.  Maybe it's just that he unzips his tunic a bit boo much.  Or, he's wearing 1/2 of the Devo hat.  But, this guy just isn't someone for whom I've taken time to develop a character.  

Instead, he's a steady presence in photos as he works well with lots of figures and in many different environments.  He's not a guy I actively like, but one I use quite a bit.  Along with a similar realization about the 1983 Snake Eyes, it's made me re-evaluate what actually constitutes a figure I like.  While photos aren't the perfect way to gauge favoritism, they are a strong indicator.  (Some figures like the '85 Snake Eyes are just hard to photograph.)  I might spend a cold weekend looking at the figures who find themselves the subject of the most photos in my collection.  In fact, that might be a fun write up that exposes some truths about the figures I think I like the most.

2003 Snake Eyes - Toy Fare Exclusive

What does it mean for something to be the best?  It seems a simple exercise.  But, once you get a wide variety of options for a specific item, pinning down the "best" starts to become more subjective.  Such is the case with the original Snake Eyes sculpt.  Originally released in all black, collectors clamored for Hasbro to update the mold with some colored details.  Hasbro was happy to oblige with 2 updated paint job figures that were released in 1997.  That wasn't enough, though, and Hasbro continued to pump out new colorings on the original Snake Eyes figure through 2005.  Many of the figures featured very slight changes from previous releases.  After a while, they all blended together.  Which is to say, no one figure stood above the rest in terms of updated designs.  With 20 years of reflection, though, I do think one Snake Eyes release rises above the others.  It is the one version with the weirdest release vector.  But, the 2003 Toy Fare Snake Eyes offers the best package in terms of colors, accessories and quality.

Now, all of the above does need to be couched in terms of one other Snake Eyes release: the 2003 DVD Snake Eyes.  This purple version features the same paint masks as the Toy Fare version.  And, it's the best Snake Eyes released in the repaint era.  I'm excluding it, though, because the purple base allows it to serve a different purpose than any of the black base figures.  So, all of the discussion about Snake Eyes will view this DVD figure as a separate entity that is not in competition with Snake Eyes figures based on the 1982 design.

It's tough to fathom that, even in 2003, toy magazines were still powerful.  They were the first source of news for many fans.  And, despite the internet ruining their exclusive scoops in many instances, the magazines still delivered content that was difficult to acquire anywhere else.  But, the writing was on the wall.  And, Toy Fare decided to use their clout within the industry to start selling some exclusive toys directly to collectors over the internet.  This was still fairly novel at the time.  But, the magazine was able to partner with manufacturers to produce two highly desired exclusives: a Radioactive Homer Simpson and a Faker figure.  Upon the release of these figures, collectors instantly called shenanigans.  While Toy Fare "sold out" almost immediately, huge quantities showed up at dealers and resellers, often at 5x to 10x the original cost.  Toy Fare's reputation took a hit.  And, collectors viewed any offering of theirs with caution.  But, collecting is a strong high.  And, the market, while mad, didn't really vanish.  So, Toy Fare was free for their first Hasbro collaboration: a 2 pack with Scarlett and Snake Eyes.

This announcement was met with modest fanfare in the Joe community.  When it was announced, the Joe world was still 100% committed to army building.  Sets without army builders were simply ignored.  Snake Eyes was passe in the Joe world as he had been released multiple times and the character was ubiquitous.  Scarlett was a bit different.  She hadn't been seen since 1997.  And, that figure had gotten a bit pricey.  But, there were a multitude of JvC Scarlett figures available.  Collectors of the day didn't really distinguish between ARAH sculpts and JvC sculpts.  So, the character of Scarlett wasn't something that everyone was starved to acquire.  Most of the criticism, though, was around the fact that the set wasn't two army builders.  Outside the Joe world, though, there was more excitement.  For non-Joe collectors, the pack seemed an injection of pure nostalgia.  And, there was enough excitement around it that, when coupled with Toy Fare's seedy reputation, the fear of the pack selling out and getting expensive began.

Upon release, though, these fears proved unfounded.  The reasons are likely a combination of higher production numbers (necessitated by Hasbro), Joe collector malaise, non-Joe collector disinterest and the slow demise of the scalping community.  All of these factors lead to the set being available from Toy Fare for a long, long time.  The instant sell outs of the earlier exclusives didn't happen.  (Insert your favorite conspiracy theory as to why the first two items did sell out, though.)  And, Scarlett and Snake Eyes enjoyed a long availability window.  

2003 was the pinnacle of the repaint era.  As the year began,  we didn't know that.  But, by the end of the year, Joe was seeing a popularity it hadn't experienced since the vintage days.  As 2004 dawned, though, the line instantly started to decline.  And, despite a strong slate of releases in '04, the line limped towards the end of the year and was cancelled in 2005.  One thing that defined this era, though, was that Hasbro was very interested in exploring alternate release vectors for G.I. Joe figures.  Aside from retail saturation that got to stores that hadn't really stocked toys in decades, Joe also experimented with CD-ROM figures, huge boxed sets sold at a warehouse store, single carded figures, bonus figure packs, mail aways and even boxed sets like this Snake Eyes and Scarlett.  Not every product was a success.  Some failed before they even got released.  But, Hasbro was able to produce massive amounts of different figures by utilizing all these different packaging options.  Being an in house brand using existing molds allowed Hasbro financial leeway to experiment.  And, were it not for some of these products, we'd have lost out on dozens upon dozens of figures.

As a figure, this Snake Eyes introduces a new secondary color: brown.  The Action Force Stalker used grey highlights.  The Funskool figures brought us silver details.  The 1997 repaints combined both colors to make some new figures.  This 2003 figures colors the web gear in a rich, leathery brown.  It's a solid color and works well with the black base color.  The holstered knife on his chest is painted silver.  The grenade is green...except for the silver handle.  It's a little detail.  But, one that really amps up the visual appeal of his detailing.  He has a brown belt and pants pockets and is wearing slightly differently colored shoes.  The only skimp is that only the top of the bomb on his leg is painted.  There are other versions where the whole design features paint applications.  But, overall, this Toy Fare figures features the best application of paint details that offers some new colors to highlight Snake Eyes.  This is, as far as I can tell, the most intricately painted 1982 torso that was ever released.  

It's these details that make this the "best" Snake Eyes, in my eyes.  He has the most accents of any Snake Eyes figure.  And, he builds from the other historical releases.  Thing is, if you're not a fan of the brown, you might not like this version.  So, if grey is your preference, there's other figures that better use that hue.  Which leads us to the real crux of this figure.  Yes, he's great.  But, he's not really great enough to vastly surpass other Snake Eyes figures from the repaint era.  So, while this figure has all the features to rise above the rest of the Snake Eyes figures, he doesn't rise high enough to justify spending lots of time and effort to track him down over figures like the 1997 or 2004 figures.  

Superficially, I like Snake Eyes figures painted details.  But, practically, that's just not the case.  I only use the 1997 figures within the context of other 1997 figures.  The Comic Pack figure might show up from time to time.  But, mostly, I take his grappling hook and rope.  My spare Action Force Stalker doesn't see much use, either.  Usually, I just use the 1983 figure.  The all black just works.  And, his higher quality plastic make him my go to choice when I want to use a Snake Eyes figure.  In fact, I find that the 1983 is actually my preferred Snake Eyes, overall.  I use it way more than my "favorite": the 1985.  This might be convenience.  But, I find it an interesting aspect of my collection.  And, it's probable that I actually like the original look for Snake Eyes the most of all his incarnations.

This Snake Eyes included the requisite Snake Eyes gear from the era with one exception: the classic 1982 Uzi.  The figure has a 1992 Gung Ho backpack, the classic Snake Eyes ammo back and a sword from the 1989 Snake Eyes mold.  Instead of his standard firearm, he includes a silver version of the 1986 Low Light Uzi.  It's close enough for Snake Eyes.  But, the figure looks somewhat off when not paired with his classic weapon.  Fortunately, the classic Uzi returned with later Snake Eyes figures.  So, it's pretty easy to "fix" this guy should you want to.

Sadly, the quality on this figure isn't the best.  I've always felt the paint application on both figures in this set was a bit "soft".  And, it's very easy to rub and chip away the paint.  I suspect it's just a function  of the softer plastic used on the figures.  But, I'm very wary of Scarlett's paint wearing away just from putting her crossbow in her hand.  On top of that, Snake Eyes legs have a bow to them.  This is from either a bad t-hook or o-ring.  It makes his leg flair out.  It's a common affliction with earlier factory custom figures.  But, this Snake Eyes is subject to it, too.  It makes him hard to stand up.  So, again, this is a limitation for the figure that makes him less necessary.  Though, it should be noted that most of the other repaint era Snake Eyes figures also have similar quality issues.  It just seems this guy is a little bit worse than them.

It's difficult to list all the various variants of Snake Eyes.  The 1982 straight arm was released by Hasbro, Estrela, Plastirama and Auriken.  (Maybe, Rubiplas, too.)  There are some with Cobra logos as well as the Invasor or Mortal and his head was used on the De Aco.  The swivel arm version was released by Hasbro, as a European exclusive and in various colors over in India by Funskool.  Funskool was actually the first company to really paint up details on the Snake Eyes mold.  Hasbro got the mold back in 1997 and released two versions of him that year, though with some slight parts changes.  (The Roadblock waist making it's debut.)  This figure and the purple version appeared in 2003 and the figure appeared again in 2004.  The head was used on a 2004 arctic Snake Eyes and the body appeared for a final time in 2005 in another comic pack.  But, this figure included a new head.  If that's not enough, Black Major made Snake Eyes repaints in the early 2010s and another batch in the mid 2020's.  And, finally, Hasbro made an all new swivel arm mold that was released in 2022.  It's all enough to drive you mad, trying to track them all down.

The Snake Eyes/Scarlett set was a retail dud.  It was available from Toy Fare for a long time.  After a while, though, the sets were liquidated to other outlets.  Into the 2010's, you could get a set on Amazon for under the original price.  As those dried up, prices rose.  During the height of the collecting boom, these were $70+ sets.  Now, though, the prices have stabilized and you can get a boxed set in the $40 range.  Like a lot of plastic from the early 2000's, the windows and plastic inserts on the set do tend to yellow.  So, the display value of a boxed version diminishes, accordingly.  It's kind of hard to find this Snake Eyes on his own.  And, dealers will ask $40 for him or Scarlett if they are loose.  So, buying the boxed set is the only way to go.  At best, this is a $20 figure.  And, the real value is, likely, lower than that.  There's just too many options for Snake Eyes that are close enough.  The Scarlett from the set is the real plum.  So, while this is, arguably, the "best" Snake Eyes, it's not different enough from any of the others released in the repaint era to really warrant a price premium or substantial effort to add to your collection.

1997 Snake Eyes, 2003 Toy Fare Snake Eyes, The Other 1997 Snake Eyes

2001 Double Blast - Around the Web

I'm working on 2 profiles right now.  Both are arout 85% done.  But, we got a foot of snow and had a pipe burst.  So, didn't get them done.  Did manage to get the photos, though.  So, I'm hoping to drop one on Wednesday or Thursday of this week.  I want them both to fully flesh out the full story of the figure, though.  Otherwise, I'd probably just publish as is.  

In the meantime, here's a quick Around the Web showcase of the 2001 Double Blast.  Like most of the more obscure A Real American Hero releases, he's tough to find much content on.  Some of the figures just aren't different enough from their originals to warrant usage.  If you want a realistically colored 1984 Roadblock figure for a photo, you use the 1984 Roadblock.  The only thing Double Blast offers is that he's cheaper and less prone to breakage.  But, you want a Roadblock.  You settle for a Double Blast.  

Which isn't to say he's a bad figure.  25 years ago, when he was released (yes, that's right, this figure is 25 years old!) the swarm of bland, drab figures allowed him to be swallowed in banality.  Now, though, you can find value in him.  He looks like Roadblock.  He has all of Roadblock's gear.  And, the quality has held up fairly well.  So, it's not terrible to have a Double Blast lying around for when you need something just a little different for a Roadblock photo.

2001 Double Blast Profile

2001 Double Blast by jonita_rodriguin

2001 Double Blast by idealisticcrusader

2001 Double Blast by corpscommandercody

2001 Double Blast by offc0ur5e

2001 Double Blast by thedustinmccoy

Muralha (Brazilian Exclusive Flint) - Around The Web

Muralha is, basically, Flint.  Without context, a photo of Muralha would easily be mistaken for a standard Flint.  Some people might think that something seemed a little "off" about the figure.  But, at his core, Muralha and Flint are pretty much the same.  The green colors are a little darker.  The skin tone has a slightly different tint to it.  And, the accessories are that rich, deep green color that North American collectors are most familiar with from the Tiger Force Recondo.  Its a nice package for Flint that's true to his roots while being just different enough to bother you.

For me, there's not a way to get enough Flint figures.  I'd continue to buy them if Hasbro had squeezed him into their Pulse line.  And, I'll give any Super7 Flint a long, hard look.  (the headsculpt will be key)  Being able to track down at least one more international variant was a fun exercise.  It makes me wish the Plastirama Flint had been released in Argentina.  He would have been as cheap as Funskool Flints were back in the early 2000's and I'd probably have 3 or 4 of him.  

I'm always careful when taking photos of this figure.  Brazilian figures tend to have brittle thumbs and crotches.  So, breakage is always on my mind.  And, the days of finding cheap replacement parts for a release like Muralha are long gone.  That's always limited my creativity when trying to showcase this guy.  I'd like to use him more often.  But, it just doesn't happen.  I've got 3 or 4 spare Funskool Flints that are still carded in my basement.  So, those aren't as worrisome and that makes them far more likely to be my go to for an alternate Flint appearance.

Muralha doesn't appear all that often from non-Brazilian collectors.  So, you don't see him all that frequently.  And, while I really enjoy the figure for being something different, you don't need him if you have a nice 1985 Flint.  So, take a look at the Muralha content below.  You'll see lots of other Brazilian figures showcased with him in a lot of the content.  

Muralha Profile

Flint - Around the World

Muralha - MOC Rarities Post

Muralha by comandos_em_acao_gijoe

Muralha by lucianoverso

Muralha by colection.toys

Muralha by jonasgodoy_

Muralha by relinquished1979

Muralha by comandos_em_acao_gijoe

Muralha by lucianoverso

Muralha by geekcollector_

Muralha by comandos_em_acao_gijoe

Muralha by jundiaijoes

Muralha by comandos_em_acao_gijoe

To Be Clear

To make this crystal clear to everyone.  If you're a bigot, this blog isn't for you.  Leave and don't come back.  You are not welcome here.

If you can't take the mildest of critiques of failed policy and see the societal harm they caused, you really need to look in the mirror and ask yourself why.  The answer is going to scare you.  But, it might allow you to become a better person.

The world has taken a dark turn in the last decade.  And, you all know the reason why.  Rather than fight it, a vocal third of this country has allowed themselves to embrace the hatred.  It's easy.  And, it makes it so you don't have to face your own shortcomings and failures that kept you from reaching your dreams.

Beating up on marginalized communities might make you feel better.  But, it makes you a bad person.  No rationalizations that you've adopted in your mind take away from the fact that you are just terrible.  

The time for "rational discourse" is long over.  The ideas of fascism and white supremacy were defeated in 1865, 1945 and many other times in history.  They will lose again and you will have to face up to the reality that you were duped by people who don't care about you.

Losers who use language like "woke" as a pejorative are only calling out that I said something that made them uncomfortable in their bigotry and hatred.  GOOD!  You should be uncomfortable.  And, I'm not going to avoid saying things that make you feel that way.

So, go back to your AI-slop memes on Facebook where you belong.  The rest of us are going to continue to have a good time and enjoy ourselves...while occasionally laughing at your pathetic existence. 

1993 Mace

What's in a name?  You can argue that a name is your most valuable asset.  But, in some cases, it has no value, at all.  Take Mace.  As a character, he's a forgettable 1993 release who lacks any media to support his personality.  When you look at Mace, though, and consider his specialty, you can't help but wonder how the figure would have been received had it been a second version of Chuckles.  While it would not have had much of an impact on sales of the figure back then, it is likely that a simple change like that would have lead to this figure being much more accepted in 2026.  It doesn't change the fact that Mace isn't nearly the terrible figure his reputation suggests.  Instead, he's a more nuanced release that is indicative of the 1993 line.

Mace was the 9th figure I profiled back in 1999.  At the time, this figure was only 6 years old.  I had bought him at retail just under 4 years prior.  Taking photos of a "neon" figure simply wasn't done in 1999.  Much less, taking the time to write about him.  One of the things that's been, thankfully, lost in the Joe community was that definitive sense of age.  Guys who grew up with 1982 through 1985 figures were adamant theirs was the "true G.I. Joe".  But, those who came of age in the cartoon years of 1985 through 1987 also staked a claim to this mantle.  Those younger...well...they didn't matter.  Now, though, those schisms are gone.  And, the only real criticism you see of the later years of the Joe line are from people outside the hobby who try to comment on it with no knowledge that their dated opinion was drummed out of the hobby over a decade ago.  

Mace was originally intended to be included in a second series of DEF figures.  There are carded samples of the figure with DEF markings on the cardbacks.  He was included in a case with other new for 1993 characters that would have been members of DEF as well as repaints of 1992 DEF figures.  Mace was even released in Australia with DEF badges on his card.  I'm not sure of the reasons why DEF was cancelled for 1993.  The 1993 figures lacked the light up weapons that raised the prices of the 1992 figures.  Ostensibly, there was no reason to remove the added denotation from the cards except to streamline the overall carded line and provide a cleaner, retail presentation.  While carded samples of 1993 DEF exist, the '93 Toy Fair catalog clearly marks them as a Battle Corps assortment.  As they have their own page, though, it's apparent that this was still a last minute change.  (The Shark 9000 is still named the Shark BC-1 in the catalog and it clearly has DEF stickers on it.)  As the figures were unchanged, though, it's really a footnote to Mace, overall.

My original Mace write up was brief and somewhat positive.  This stems from the fact that I've always kind of liked the Mace figure.  I acquired him as an adult collector.  At first, his head mounted missile launcher was as ridiculous as it sounds.  But, with that removed, the figure had some merit.  He fits the law enforcement motif.  His sculpt is very strong.  He has a lot of features that I would have loved as a kid.  The sculpted holster across his chest is among my favorite looks for Joe figures.  He has a radio sculpted on the opposite side.  It's a neat feature that balances out his appearance.  And, as a kid, a detail that would have made Mace extremely useful as I viewed small communication devices like this on a figure to be of great importance.

The sculpted gear sitting atop Mace's cool, black jacket works very well.  I don't think his arms needed any additional details.  His hands being molded, black plastic works, too.  Sure, it was a cheap way for Hasbro to save paint.  But, in Mace's case, it works.  His tan pants match his upper torso and the colors work together very well.  The real shortcoming is that he's highlighted in yellow.  Yellow's a tough color to pull off.  In neon green or blue, Mace could have worked better.  His series of 9 figures in case, though, were already awash in oranges, blues, greens and reds.  So, Mace using yellow as his primary color was just luck of the draw.  It is striking against his black background.  And, it allows the excellent sculpted details to pop off his jacket.  I wonder if he'd be more accepted were his radio, wire and pistol grip done in grey.  They'd still offset the black and would allow the yellow to make Mace visually distinctive.  I don't want to erase the yellow.  But, adding an additional paint color would go a long way towards making Mace almost perfect.

We can't talk about Mace without spending time on the headsculpt.  By 1993, Hasbro had gotten much better at sculpting heads.  The faces were more detailed and featured more expressions.  Mace has a prominent chin and nose that are light years ahead of those figures from 1982.   Heads were slightly larger than those from the '80's.  And, this allowed for more texture on the hair and eyes.  At first glance, you'd think he's sporting a pre-Beavis blonde coif.  But, it's really a tight pull on Mace's long hair that culminates in a glorious man-bun.  You can see Mace's hair better expressed on the box art for the Shark 9000.  But, the figure pulls off the idea without treading into the territory of the plastic string hair that was used for the Ninja Force Scarlett.  It was a daring choice for Hasbro.  And, when paired with Gristle and Bulletproof, you can see that Hasbro was trying to emulate hair styles of the era with their "hip" line of drug-busting or drug-dealing figures.

It's tough to reconcile the drug related fervor of the late 1980's and early 1990's.  The disastrous "war on drugs" was just a pretext for law enforcement to terrorize urban, black communities.  G.I. Joe getting involved probably seemed like a good idea in 1992.  But, let's face it, even back then, the Joes would have been used to break down the doors of poor, downtrodden drug users rather than breaking up an international smuggling ring.  So, Hasbro moving away from the concept in 1993 helps this figure's legacy.  He's a strong enough design that he can be incorporated into other ideas.  But, I think back to the pure fear campaign that I was subjected to during my junior high and high school years about drugs (and  AIDS, too, but we'll leave that for another time....) and wonder how it affected me and my generation at large.  Gen X used to be a generation defined by their best.  The '90s were a hopeful time full of promise of a better world.  But, we turned out rotten.  And, you can't help but think that our constant exposure to propaganda like the anti-drug messaging helped condition most of us to blindly accept the propaganda machines of the 2000's.

I've long used Mace as a prison guard.  It helps that I acquired multiples of him very early in my collecting days.  And, I had a small army of him at one time.  These guards ranged from sadistic sickos who would beat and torture prisoners to incompetent cannon fodder for Cobra to mow down when they freed their comrades from confinement.  His late acquisition year prevented Mace from ever developing as a character.  And, I don't see that changing.  These days, he appears in my photos as an individual.  But, that's a result of conformity to a Joe community that sees all Joe figures as the individuals they were designed as.  I've lost some of the originality that separated my view of Joe from others.  I used to get inquiring into why certain figures were doing things "out of character" in my photos.  But, those have died off as I've become more conventional in my usage of most figures.  It's something that's starting to bug me and has gotten me thinking about how I should be approaching my collection and if I was happier with in the days before I knew how other collectors handled their Joes.

This leads us to the idea of Mace being Chuckles 2.0.  Chuckles is a throw away character who was meant to be a Magnum P.I. ripoff.  Instead, he found life as an ambiguous spy whose loyalties were unknown.  Larry Hama started this with his filecard and first comic appearance.  And, later comic writers have taken Chuckles to new, though somewhat cliched places.  But, Chuckles has found a solid second life and become a more popular character than his origins suggest.  Seeing Mace as an alternate look for Chuckles works, too.  The undercover hair and more tactical gear allows you to use Chuckles in a different way.  While I'm not sure that being Chuckles would make this figure any better, it would have certainly given it an inroads to the collecting world that was cut off due to it being a new, bland character.

Mace's accessories were fine and preposterous.  His weapon tree was perfectly acceptable. While the weapons were yellow, the designs were good.  He included a 1992 Shockwave rifle (not to be confused with a Hit and Run rifle that is similar), a 1990 Updraft pistol, a 1990 Ambush rifle and a knife from the 1991 Low Light.  It's one of Hasbro's better weapon trees and the accessories work well with Mace.  In addition, Mace included a bizarre helmet that covered one eye and left the other exposed.  To this affixed his spring loaded missile launcher.  It's just silly to attach the missile launcher to Mace's helmet.  But, it can be done and you get a totally 1990's action figure as the result.  Mace is rounded out with the requisite battle stand and yellow missiles that fired from his launcher. 

Mace had a short life.  After his Hasbro production run was complete, the mold went to Brazil.  There, Brazil released a figure in nearly identical colors to Mace as Cerebro.  Cerebro features grey pants instead of tan.  And, he includes a yellow version of the rifle that was included with Bulletproof.  Then, in 2004, Mace's chest, legs and waist appeared on the Comic Pack Double Clutch figure.  It was a surprise to see molds that were supposedly "lost in Brazil" return in such a fashion.  But, that was the end of Mace's life.  For a 1993 sculpt, that's not a terrible legacy.  Cerebro figures are pretty common.  Though, they aren't the $10 MOC purchase they were a few years ago.  So, getting all of Mace's uses isn't difficult.  

Mace has never been and is not, now, popular.  You'll see dealers clinging to 2021 optimism as they ask $30 for a loose figure.  You will see some carded figures sell in that range, just due to low supply.  But, open market carded prices remain under $20 and loose, mint and complete figures can be had for around $12...on the rare occasion that they are offered for sale.  Prices remain propped up by limited supply and massive hoarding by many who are still hoping that pandemic pricing prevails.  We'll see what gives first: their desire to store a ton of stuff in their basements or the need to liquidate for some quick cash.  Until then, Mace is a figure you can wait out.  He's cool.  But, he's not necessary.  For cheap, he's a great acquisition.  But, once the price rises, his value is quickly exhausted.  

1985 Quick Kick - Around The Web

I'm not a huge Quick Kick fan.  I've never really liked the figure.  Nor, have I found him all that useful.  But, lots of people do like him. And, in the right setting, he does look good in photos.  So, check out all the content below to see some great Quick Kick photos.

1985 Quick Kick Profile

1985 Quick Kick at the Attica Gazette

1985 Quick Kick be General Liederkranz

1985 Quick Kick by R.T.G.

1985 Quick Kick by Nekoman

1985 Quick Kick by R.T.G.

1985 Quick Kick by General Liederkranz

1985 Quick Kick by R.T.G.

1985 Quick Kick by formbx257

1985 Quick Kick at Half the Battle

1985 Quick Kick by HCC788

1985 Quick Kick by backyardjoes

1991 BAT - Random Photos of the Day

Last week, I pulled out my drawer of 1991 Cobras.  I wanted to get some photos of the Crimson Guard Immortal.  But, all 7 of my figures had a bad o-ring.  When looking through the 1991 Cobra drawer, I found that most of the army builders had loose o-rings.  My collection is from multiple sources and spans three decades of acquisitions.  So, finding such a concentration of bad o-rings made me wonder if there was something about 1991 figures.  It's weird, though, in that my Joes from that year are all still good.  And, the Cobra characters stored in the same drawer seemed to be OK.  It was just the army builders.  So, I spent an hour or so changing out all the bad o-rings and that got me on a 1991 Cobra kick.

The BAT has been a long favorite of mine.  When I got my first one back in the late 1990's, I viewed him as the new generation of named Cobra pilot who made his name flying the Firebat.  Slowly, this idea faded away and the BAT just became the robot he was meant to be.  All of this, though, is odd as I am NOT a fan of the BAT character.  I think they are a poor replacement for the horrors of war.  The notion of replacing humans with robots was just a way to sanitize the Joe cartoon.  Plus, I never found the 1986 BAT all that cool of a figure.

The 1991, though, is a different story.  The sleeker design and amazing orange and green color combo make for a striking figure.  From the minute I saw him, I was hooked.  And, I slowly built up a small army of the figure just due to the great colors.  Bizarrely, though, I'm not a huge fan of this color on other figures.  I was greatly looking forward to a 1986 BAT using the 1991 colors.  But, when a factory custom of this became available, I was underwhelmed.  Turns out, it's the combo of colors and mold that make the 1991 BAT so compelling.  

I don't use these figures as much as I should.  There was a short time where I paired them with Flak Vipers.  I really liked that combo.  But, I stopped doing it after just a couple of integrated photo shoots.  I need to get some ideas for the BAT going now that my contingent have good o-rings and will stand up to be posed.  Until then, here's some random photos of the BAT to tide us all over.

1993 Ninja Force Snake Eyes - Around The Web

The 1993 Ninja Force  Snake Eyes is actually a solid figure.  He has a strong design and great colors.  And, he has the best Snake Eyes head that Hasbro ever produced.  It's just a great look for Snake Eyes that gives him the aura of commando badass as well as fiery ninja.  Sadly, the entire figure is hindered by poor articulation.  And, that ruins the figure as he can't be posed like a standard Joe.  

It's too bad as this Snake Eyes is a great match for other 1992 through 1994 figures.  He allows you to use the character in a form that is complementary to his contemporaries.  You can really see the care that went into his creation when you pose him among other 1993 figures.  His colors blend, accentuate and pop.  It's a rare feat and proves that, sometimes, bad action figures can still be really fun collectibles.  Check out all the great content on this figure form around the web for more.

1993 Ninja Force Snake Eyes Profile

1993 Ninja Force Snake Eyes at Nekoman's Viper Pit

1993 Ninja Force Snake Eyes by fun_time_at_serpentorslair

1993 Ninja Force Snake Eyes by thedustinmccoy

1993 Ninja Force Snake Eyes by gen_liederkrantz

1993 Ninja Force Snake Eyes by HCC788

1993 Ninja Force Snake Eyes by fun_time_at_serpentorslair

1993 Ninja Force Snake Eyes by toysandtomfoolery

1993 Ninja Force Snake Eyes by codename.steve

1993 Ninja Force Snake Eyes by gijoe_c4_panama