Lost in the army builder madness that was 2002 were a slew of really nice Joe affiliated repaints. Mirage, Big Ben and even General Tomahawk were all nice alternate looks for some, at the time, underappreciated characters. Among these was what is, probably, my favorite retail release of that, the Gift Set Dial Tone.
In 2002, collectors were down on Dial Tone since he had just been released in 2000. He wasn't a figure that anyone was keen on seeing return. But, Hasbro tossed a gem into the BJ's set. We were given a nicely colored Dial Tone figure that was true to the characters roots while bringing some uniquely colored plastic to the line as a whole.
Dial Tone features some weird, sparkly, metallic plastic on his torso. It wasn't a mix that appeared again. The BJ's set seemed somewhat experimental in this regard when it came to plastic and paint combinations. But, the effect worked. Dial Tone stands out among figures from his era: in a good way. The plastic is used to offset the fact that he doesn't have a ton of paint applications. But, the figure looks like he's very intricate due to Dial Tone's layered uniform.
Sadly, this version didn't include proper accessories. At the time, 1986 Dial Tone gear was readily available and cheap. So, it was possible to give this 2002 version the vintage accessories. The grey backpack isn't a great match for the figure, though. It's become easy to black versions of Dial Tone gun. And, seeing that with the figure gives you an idea of how amazing he would look with the proper backpack in the same color.
Everyone hated this figure back in 2002 and 2003. They didn't hate it because it was bad. They hated it because it wasn't an army builder, it wasn't a Cobra. And, it wasn't one of the "acceptable" Joe characters that collectors had deemed they would accept in a retail set. So, the figure because worthless and disposable. It allowed me to pick up a couple of extras. But, mostly, these guys are stashed away in the bottom of a forgotten shoe box by guys who packed up all their Joes so they had room to line up their 8 red Undertows on a metal shelf to get some message board cred.
But, if you haven't picked up any new figures in a while, I'll suggest this Dial Tone. He's both fun and useful and really helps to give any repaint era Joe team a little zing.
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