I guess it's tradition to post up the Flying Scorpion every 5 years. Today, though, marks 25 years since I first posted my original profile on the Brazilian exclusive. At that time, he was an obscure release that no one really cared about. Now, he's among the more expensive foreign figures and commands a stupid premium. None of that has changed his importance to me. He remains the flagship figure in my collection. He's the most expensive figure I still use with any frequency. Some of the flair and creativity behind him has faded into the background. I don't have deep and evolving characterization for him any longer. But, the figure remains one of my personal favorites and one I love dusting off every few years.
Twenty Five years is a long time. It's hard to really imagine the world of August, 2001. It was such a drastically different time. 2001 was really the dawn of the Joe collecting boom. Starting in that year, prices rose, forums exploded and G.I. Joe looked like it was set to return to the cultural zeitgeist. The next three years were a blur of hundreds of new figures, constant news about the line and voluminous fan content that kept even the most voracious collector well sated.
All good things must end, though. And, Joe took a drastic downturn at the start of 2004. By the middle of 2005, the line was cancelled. Hasbro was ambitious, though, and offered the cancelled line as part of their Direct To Consumer (DTC) strategy. You can't call the Joe items anything but a failure. They were dumped to Toy R Us in 2006. But, the DTC idea was the pre-cursor to Hasbro Pulse and was a harbinger of the 2020's online focused toy collecting experience. O-ring Joes were all but silent for more than 15 years. In 2022, Hasbro Pulse brought some underwhelming releases back. They were fine. But, nothing that really caused any sort of collecting resurgence. Now, Hasbro has outsourced their o-ring Joes to Super7. And, fan creators are releasing wave after wave of factory created o-ring figures that were inspired by G.I. Joe. (Most are more Remco than Hasbro, though.) So, it's not a bad time to be a collector, these days, provided you are not trying to fill hundreds of vintage holes. Those prices remain artificially inflated.
It's kind of fun that there are now some figures who match up with the Flying Scorpion. Not all of them make sense when taken against the Sky Patrol theme. But, you can build out a nice collection of similar figures to augment this guy.
In the early 2000's, it was pretty easy to get Flying Scorpion figures. You could find carded versions for around $30. Loose figures were harder to find unless you had a connection in Brazil. But, the figures were cheap. Those days are long gone. And, you'll pay a substantial premium to add any high quality members of the Patrulha do Ar to your collection. The figure isn't rare. He's just popular and his price tag reflects that aspect of the demand curve.
Due to his high pricetag, there's not a ton of Flying Scorpion content out there. Aside from being expensive, he's also fragile. So, taking him out in the rain to pose him in the wet rocks doesn't hold a lot of appeal for those who own him. But, I still do. So, enjoy all the photos below and I'll see you again in August of 2031.
Flying Scorpion 15th Anniversary
Flying Scorpion 20th Anniversary
Flying Scorpion by comandos_em_acao_gijoe
Flying Scorpion by relinquished1979
Flying Scorpion by Harry Hendriks
Flying Scorpion by relinquished1979
Flying Scorpion by relinquished1979
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