2026 Lady Jaye - ReAction+

Lady Jaye occupies and interesting spot in the collecting world.  She's universally loved as a character.  But, pretty much everyone also agrees that her figures are...lacking.  From her action figure debut in 1985 through today, all of Lady Jaye's o-ring figures have had various issues.  Mainly, she's almost always wearing a hat...a far cry from her cartoon debut look from the fall of 1984.  The lone attempt at a hatless figure resulted in a pin head that didn't fulfill collector demand for a proper Lady Jaye.  In early 2026, a factory custom maker teased some Lady Jaye figures.  Mostly, they were a way to bring color to her mold and get out a Canary Ann figure that people could find and afford.  One of the renderings, though, featured a hatless head...exactly the type of figure collectors had long wanted.  Before these factory customs came to be, though, Super7 dropped a surprise release.  Hidden in a 4 figure set that was themed to the USA's 250th anniversary was a single, brand new mold of Lady Jaye.  Being Super7, she featured her cartoon look of a hatless head and included her iconic spears.  After 40 years, collectors had a new look for Lady Jaye.  And, it was a fairly good one.

One thing I tend to really enjoy among Joe figures is an oddly colored repaint of a classic character.  I like having alternate looks for characters as it gives them more diversity.  In the 2000's, we got tons of repaints.  Most were environmentally themed or were part of the Comic Pack series.  We got a lot of decent figures.  But, few were really innovative or took any chances.  That was the main appeal of this Lady Jaye figure.  The red shirt and blue pants are a drastic departure from any Lady Jaye appearance.  She's something new and different.  Had this figure been first released in a classic, green color scheme, I wouldn't have bought it.  I have green Lady Jaye figures.  So, this sculpt wasn't going to be enough to get me to buy one if it just offered the same, general appearance of figures I already have.  But, seeing an interesting, new color palette on the character was enough to get me to acquire one.

The 250th Anniversary theme isn't overdone.  In a decade, this will just be a Lady Jaye in a red shirt with blue pants.  That's why she works.  There's no reason for Lady Jaye to wear a color scheme like that outside of this theme wave.  But, since she doesn't have any stupid logos or is wearing a gigantic "G.I. Joe" down the front of her pant legs, the color scheme isn't limited by its intended theme.  We just got a good figure.  It's an alternate look for Lady Jaye and gives you something to stand next to Flint that isn't the sea of different green hues you get in all the other Flint/Lady Jaye pictures. 

I am too young to remember the bicentennial back in 1976.  What I do remember, though, are the haunted remains of the civic and personal displays that used to adorn small towns, roadside attractions and old barns along the highway.  Into the mid 1980's, you'd see celebrations from the bicentennial painted onto concrete walls, billboards, and structures.  They would be chipped and fading, the actual event having been years and years prior.  Restaurants would have dusty pennants on their walls talking about the "Spirit of '76".  But, as a youngster, these old attractions were enthralling.  They were like looking into a time capsule.  I wondered how something so celebrated would be allowed to rot in the elements...often in forgotten locations bereft of people.  It still seems odd to me that we're so quick to abandon something that was important to us for a moment in time.

My one big memory involving the bicentennial didn't occur until years later, probably in 1981 or 1982.  My grandfather had kind of gotten me interested in collecting coins.  He was a coin collector and had a magnificent collection.  When I'd spend a week at his and my grandmother's house, he'd give me a huge jar of pennies to look through.  He'd hide one really neat thing in it.  (Usually, an Indian Head penny.)  I'd spend an hour or two looking through it: sorting out the wheat pennies and, eventually, finding his hidden treasure.  As such, I liked coins and usually checked my dad's change every night when he came home.

One day, we went to a local nursery.  I seem to think it was near the Indianapolis Art Museum.  While there, I found a "Sensitive Plant" that I thought was really cool.  I bought it with a couple of dollars I had in my pocket.  When I got my change, I noticed a weird quarter.  It had a drummer boy on the back instead of the standard eagle.  And, the date was 1776-1976.  It was a standard bicentennial quarter.  But, I had never seen one, before.  And, just seeing the date 1776 on a coin was mesmerizing.  My dad told me it was just a regular quarter.  But, from that moment, whenever I got one, it was put into my coin collection.  My grandfather had given me giant, metal fire box to store the coins.  It was big and heavy.  In it were those old penny collecting books that were a dark blue and had slots for every year and mint mark for Lincoln pennies.  I'd drop the quarters into the bottom of the box.  At some point, I had so many that I gave up and just started spending the newly acquired ones.  But, my mother kept that metal box and it's still in her garage.  And, there are still a bunch of bicentennial quarters at the bottom of it.  

I have two major gripes with the Super7 figures.  The first is the smoothness of the figures.  The lack of sculpted clothing folds makes the figures seem more like cheap knockoffs than real Joes.  Since the first wave, though, Super7 has been working on this.  It was first noticeable in their Back to the Future line of ReAction+ figures where all the figures started to have some folds and wrinkles that made them look more realistic.  This Lady Jaye is a step forwards, too.  Sculpting changes can take a while to permeate through a line.  But, the figure smoothness is something that's getting better.  Lady Jaye isn't as detailed as her Hasbro figure from 40 years prior.  But, she's a lot closer.

The second area where I struggled with Super7 was the human heads.  Non human heads seemed OK.  But, their human heads all looked weird.  These sculpts, though, have been improving, too.  Compare this Lady Jaye head with the head from Cover Girl from the first wave of figures.  It's night and day.  Cover Girl is the 8-bit version of a human head.  This Lady Jaye is the 16-bit version.  She has some cheekbones.  Her nose and lips are better defined.  And, her eyes aren't hollow, uncanny valley sockets.  While I'm still not sold on the overall headsculpts (I still think they are too far removed from vintage Joes and make this ReAction+ line less compatible.), I do think that the improvement should be recognized, acknowledged and applauded.  One of the hallmarks of the vintage Joe was that the sculpting on figures was always improving.  1994 figures are light years ahead of 1982 figures in terms of details, face sculpts and design elements.  Super7 is following that tradition.  

Lady Jaye includes two accessories: a backpack and a spear.  The backpack looks nice.  It has painted details and fits onto the figure quite well.  The spear is what it is.  There's not much to the look of it.  But, it does fit into Lady Jaye's hands well enough.  It's rigid enough to not fall apart.  But, not so rigid that it will easily snap.  In general, Super7's accessories suck.  While the figures are improving, the accessories need to take a much larger leap forwards.  The gear doesn't seem properly scaled to the figures.  Guns and rifles are especially egregious.  As these are tantamount to any Joe line, I'd like to see some improvements made on the overall gear complements.  

The 250th wave includes 4 figures: this Lady Jaye, Snake Eyes, Duke and Falcon.  As this was both the debut of the Lady Jaye mold and a solid color scheme for her, she was the most popular figure in the set.  The Duke is generally terrible.  He's just weird.  Snake Eyes is barely recognizable as a subset member as the only distinguishing characteristic he has is a red visor.  Falcon is OK.  He's heavily blue...which is a tough color for a Joe to pull off when it's the color most associated with their enemy.  But, the original Falcon figure is pretty much sold out.  So, he seems to be the second most popular part of the set.  More figures in weird paint schemes are always welcome.  But, overall, this wave wasn't all that great, this Lady Jaye aside.  None of the other figures are as visually distinctive and will not retain the long term interest that you'll see in this Lady Jaye.

Super7 figures remain a complex collectible.  The production runs are, likely, pretty low compared to Joe's historical totals.  None of the figures are hard to get upon release.  And, most of the figures don't sell out quickly.  But, some do.  So far, they seem to have a common characteristic as cartoon figures who exist in no other form remain the most popular.  But, others (like Serpentor) have also been quick sell outs.  This Lady Jaye figure was one of the more anticipated figures we've seen from Super7.  At that same time, everyone fully expected this mold to be repainted into a cartoon or comic color scheme within the next year or so.  And, right on the heels of this 250th Lady Jaye, Super7 showed that exact figure repaint as a member of their Summer 2026 wave of figures.  So, once this mold exists in a more popular color scheme, will this red, white and blue figure still retain the cachet?  I'm not sure.  But, I prefer Lady Jaye in colors you can't get anywhere else and this figure fulfills that.

Since the dawn of the ReAction G.I. Joe line, Super7 has been retail partners with Target.  Their figures were sold in Target stores.  Starting in the latter half of 2025, though, some Target stores stopped stocking ReAction+ Joes.  No explanation was given.  And, other stores continued to receive later waves.  The 250th Anniversary wave then showed up as a Wal Mart exclusive.  As of this writing, we don't know if this is a one time deal for the promotion or indicative of a larger partnership.  Wal Mart's pre-ordering system for toys is famously broken.  And, this wave of G.I. Joe figures was no different.  Pre-orders appeared in early May and instantly sold out.  Some people had their figures shipped.  Pre-orders reopened and many people jumped to get their order in.  And, after a few days, they were all cancelled.  About a week after that, the figures were in stock and ready to be shipped.  In the ensuing weeks, the figures would rotate in and out of stock.  But, if you caught them when they were available for sale, your figures were shipped to you.  Shortly after the online orders appeared, some people did report finding the figures in stores.  And, ultimately, Super7 sold stock on their website, too.  So, the figure has good availability.  But, when she's gone, she'll be gone.

I have been harsh on  the Super7 Joe line.  The first year of releases wasn't great.   But, 2026, so far, has been pretty strong.  The figure choices are getting more interesting.  The sculpting is improving and looking more detailed and in line with Joe's long term aesthetic.  The heads are getting closer to vintage style.  I bought one Super7 figure in the first year or so of their line.  So far, in 2026, I've already acquired two more.  And, there are at least two more must haves in their next wave.  I'm never going to be all in on their offerings.  But, as they offer figures that are interesting, fill holes in my collection and are more vintage Joe compatible, I'll be picking up more of them.  I'm still holding out hope for a definitive Dr. Venom.  But, for now,  I'd rather he hold off until they dial in the sculpting even more so that the figure is perfect.  Until then, it appears there are going to be some figures to collect.  And, I'll do so.

The Zeroes - Mark X

This is the tenth year I've done this feature.  This past year was pretty good for the site.  Traffic is actually way up.  Not only did the lowest performing posts get way more views than the lowest from last year.  But, there were actually so few that were low that I had to truncate the list a bit.  Most of the items on it are more recent and haven't had the time age into their views like other pages.  The Top 10 in January of 2027 will be more fun to parse through as a lot of posts have had highs.  And, every week, some ancient post rockets to the top of the weekly rankings due to some unknown discussion that is inaccessible due to it being inside some walled garden.

So, here's the lowest viewed new posts of the past year.  I'm curious to hear your opinions as to why in the comments.

Alado - 335 Views

Not a huge surprise.  Crazylegs isn't a hugely popular figure.  And, his Plastirama release from Argentina isn't all that interesting since it's pretty close to the Hasbro version.

1983 Clutch - 405 Views

This was kind of a surprise.  Clutch is, usually, pretty popular.  And, the photo below is my most liked photo on Instagram that I've posted in 2026.  His profile didn't do well, though.  It might have just been bad timing as it seems people still like Clutch.

2001 Wetdown - 385 Views

No real surprise, here.  Wetdown is a character name no one remembers.  He's, at his core, Torpedo.  But, he lacks all of Torpedo's cachet due to the mundane code name.  The fact that's pretty similar to Torpedo is another blow against him.

2024 Sgt. Slaughter - 399 Views

This one is baffling.  The 2024 Sgt. Slaughter is one of the most popular figures released in the 2020's.  He was somewhat new when I wrote about him.  But, no one bothered to check him out.  Maybe he's a bit overexposed.  But, this figure is what every Pulse era o-ring should have been: a substantial upgrade that was still true to the original.  It's sucks that Hasbro only figured it out at the very end.

Funskool Mainframe - 250 Views

Yeah, this one makes sense, too.  Mainframe isn't all that popular.  And, an obscure foreign variant whose only main difference is a grey radio receiver isn't much to get people excited.  And, he was the worst performer of the year.

So, check these out and get those numbers up!  

Rarities - Unproduced Alternate Head 1983 Zap

One of the great laments among collectors is that the heads from the original 13 Joes were too repetitive and did not match the look of the characters from the comic.  In the Marvel series, each character had some distinctive look that allowed the reader to differentiate the characters when they appeared on the printed page.  But, the actual action figures reused parts and Hawk, Short Fuse, Steeler and Flash used the same head, Breaker, Rock and Roll and Clutch used the same head and Zap, Grunt and Grand Slam also used the same head.  Hasbro did their best to differentiate the characters by using different paint colors on the hair.  But, in the end, the figures had a sameness that simply was inferior to their comic book appearance.

It seems, though, that Hasbro had a plan to rectify this in 1983.  Originally, Hasbro planned to release a few of the swivel arm versions of the original 13 Joes with newly updated heads.  These would be unique to the figures and give the full line of 9 carded Joes all with distinct heads.  The heads got so far into the process of design that full production loose figures and even carded samples exist.  For some reason, though, Hasbro abandoned the idea.  And, the swivel arm figures kept the heads from their straight arm debut.  

Zap was one of the figures who was intended to get a new head.  Instead of the experienced Grunt head, he got a younger look that was given a Zorro mustache to give Zap real panache.  You can see the head in the photos below.

As a modern collector who was introduced to the concept of alternate heads as an adult, I don't find them all that interesting.  I think the alternate head loses something for the character.  But, a big part of that is that I'm conditioned to think of the original 13 as parts-sharing cohesion.  And, my only exposure to the alternate head is online photos.  They look weird to me because I had spent over 30 years "knowing" what a Zap figure looked like.  Once you get past that bias, you can see that the heads have merit.  While this Zap head isn't perfect.  It's an  upgrade over the repainted, grumpy old man head that he shared with Grunt and Grand Slam.  

The reality is, as a kid, the new head would have been enough for me to want the figure again.  I'd have noticed the difference and annoyingly explained to my mom that the figures were different and I needed another Zap.  So, the ploy would have worked.  (And, we had very few swivel arm versions of original 13 characters.)  I'm not sure if it would have scaled to masses of other kids.  But, the sheer volume of Joe toys sold really make you wonder why these heads weren't used.  

Hasbro spent all the money to develop them and get them to full production status.  These aren't hand painted samples.  So, all the expense had been absorbed by the line.  And, some 1983 figures were still in production as late as 1985.  Hasbro could easily have sold them in high enough volume to recoup the costs.  Imagine the "Original Adventure Team" mail away.  I ignored it as it was figures I already had.  But, think about it with a marketing caption of "All new heads!".  I'd have saved up my money and sent away for it.  Just think if the Palitoy, Takara or, even Funskool versions of these figures had featured the alternate heads.  Hasbro had plenty of opportunity to recoup the costs.  Maybe the logistics were just too much to match up the new heads with the pre-existing bodies.  But, it seems that these heads not seeing full production runs was a matter of choice rather than opportunity.

_____Update_____

Some good info on one of the comments that indicates these were planned for a 1984 release.  The card forts (specifically on the swivel arm battle grip logo) indicate the cards were 1984's.  Which, really raises the possibility that, had these been released, it would have been a shorter 1984 run and swivel arm figures would exist with both heads.  That does, though, cement the fact that, had these been released, they'd command a premium over the original head.

Since this figure's original discovery, many more have surfaced.  There are loose and carded versions out there.  Like most rarities, once one of them is finally revealed, many others come out of the woodwork.  It's like people keep  them hidden to prevent anyone from knowing about the item.  But, once it gets out, everyone pulls theirs out of hiding so they can get the street cred of owing the rare piece.  It's dumb.  But, that's how the Joe world has always worked.

Seeing items like this makes me think of how the Joe world would have changed had these been released.  For many of the earliest years, collectors often considered straight arms and swivel arms of the original 13 interchangeable.  Had these heads been used, that would not have been the case.  Would it have made the original heads or the new heads the more desirable piece?  I suspect the new heads would have made many of the swivel arm figures more desirable for kids.  Which would have translated to greater collector interest as they became adults.

Since many of the original 13 swivel arm figures are already expensive, I don't know if having new heads would have driven the prices higher.  It would have, though, lead to thousands of ancient message board posts from someone who had a "rare variant" of a swivel Zap with the straight arm head.  Those would have been insufferable.  But, the heads would have been a net positive for the line.  It's a shame they didn't happen and no one's gotten the full story as to why they were abandoned when they were so close to production.

Rarities - Nilco Snake Eyes

Funskool make G.I. Joe figures for various markets.  The Russian figures were released on Funskool cards but with Russian language on the filecards.  In Egypt, though, Funskool manufactured the figures and sold them under the Nilco brand.

The Nilco figures seem to have been an early Funskool endeavor, likely in the early 1990's.  The figures are all early Funskool releases and were manufactured in India.  They were sold in Egypt.  Though, I've heard reports they were available in South Africa, too.  But, I have never confirmed that.  The variants don't appear to be any different from what you see on Funskool packaging.  Though, there are some parts combos that appear on Nilco figures.  In those cases, though, it's just likely we haven't found the corresponding Funskool production run to match up on the parts.  

Nilco Joes occupied a vaulted place among foreign collectibles in the early days of online collecting.  Slowly, though, they fell out of favor.  Mostly, this was due to the fact that the Funskool versions of the figures were desirable enough that no one really went out of their way to seek out Nilco versions instead of the Funskool.  Through the 2000's, everything Funskool went through a bit of doldrums as the brand was considered low quality and common.  As we went into the 2010's, though, the rarer Funskool items started to get popular and pricey.  Nilco followed suit.  Collectors realized the rarity of the carded figures.  Collecting them was still a niche part of the community.  But, it was, and remains, a high dollar niche reserved for those with ample means to acquire pieces when they appear. 

Rarities - Brazilian Cobra Soldado

Cobra's iconic army building duo of the Trooper and Officer were exported all over the world.  Versions of them were released in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil.  Each of these releases features its own hue of blue to differentiate it from the those of the other nations.  It is the Brazilian version of the Cobra Trooper, though, that is the most famous of these releases.  While the other blues all tend to be dark takes on the color meant to evoke the look of the Hasbro originals, the Brazilian Soldado used a much lighter blue color.  This makes it visually distinctive and one of the more sought after versions of the Cobra Trooper that was released outside of Hasbro.

A figure that is either the same or is very similar to the Soldado was also sold as a pack in with the Brazilian Viper Glider.  This Cobra Piloto is also in the Brazilian blue.  It's tough to tell, but it might have some slight coloring differences.  Since so many Soldados were found loose, it's tough to really differentiate the figures.  But, be aware of the Piloto's existence, too.

The Soldado can be found with some different weapons.  The most common is the Rock and Roll M-60 with bi-pod.  This is how the figure is advertised in the Estrela retailer catalogs.  You can also find them with Grunt M-16's.  There are reports of him also being available with the standard Cobra Trooper Dragunov.  But, I've never seen a carded version that confirms this, though.

Sadly, the Soldado only exists in straight arm versions.  The swivel arm versions of the Trooper and Officer didn't make it to South or Central America.  That limits the usefulness of the Soldado.  Straight arm figures aren't really worth getting.  So, only have colorways in that construction can be frustrating.  Fortunately, factory custom makers have taken on the Soldado coloring and produced several versions of the swivel arm Cobra Trooper in Brazilian colored homages.  

The Soldado isn't as bright as the factory custom takes on the figure are.  So, if you're only familiarity with the Soldado is through the factory custom realm, you might be surprised at the actual hue of the figure.  You'll note the Estrela stamp on the figure's back, too.  

Soldados are surprisingly common.  Despite the high prices that many sellers try to get, the figures are always available and have been since the earliest days on Brazilian sellers.  There are collectors out there with decent Soldado armies just due to their availability.  The figure is neat and desirable.  But, it's not rare.  

Rarities - Unproduced 1988 Tiger Force Figures

Since the early days of online collecting, we've known that the Tiger Force team underwent drastic changes between the time of it's retail solicitation and actual production.  Tiger Force Ripcord was a staple of late 1990's and early 2000's customizers.  And, even Hasbro got in on the action when  they released a Wreckage figure in 2003 that was an homage to the unproduced Sabretooth.

The reasons for some of the changes are almost certainly just a function of available molds.  Ripcord and Recondo were both in production in South America around 1988.  So, it's unlikely that Hasbro had the parts to make them.  Recondo ended up being produced by Estrela simply because he and the Tiger Fly mold were both in Brazil at the time.  

We'll start with the original concept for the single carded figure team.

Only three of the six figures shown ended up being released in the production set.  (Dusty, Lifeline and Duke)  The retail set would end up including 7 figures.  Instead of Sabretooth, Recondo and Ripcord, the set included Tripwire, Roadblock, Flint and Bazooka.  The Toy Fair solicitation explicitly mentions it's a 6-man squad.  So, the change to a 7 figure team is odd.  Especially since 7 would not divide equally into a case assortment.  I can't find details on how the actual Tiger Force figure cases broke down.  But, a figure (or figures!) were either overpacked or shortpacked in order to fit the 7 man team into a case.

Another interesting aspect is the gear shown with the figures.  Since the figures are hand painted mock ups, the gear is all from original figures.  Duke's is correct.  But, everyone else is holding some gear from one of the other figures in the set.  This is likely just a photographer either having fun or simply not knowing which gear went with whom and doing their best to match it up.  The oddballs, though, are Dusty & Ripcord.  Ripcord is holding Frostbite's rifle.  While Frostbite did end up in Tiger Force, he wasn't shown (nor was the Tiger Cat) in this Toy Fair catalog.  For some reason, Dusty is using Falcon's gear.  Falcon never appeared in Tiger Force and wasn't part of these designs.  So, how his gear ended up in the photo is anyone's guess.

In looking at the figures, themselves, Duke, Lifeline and Dusty ended with production figures that are starkly close to these early mock ups.  I'll argue that the production Tiger Force Recondo is better than this planned carded release with the brown shirt.  Sabretooth and Ripcord are the two, though, that are most interesting to me.  

First is just the fact that both are solid paint jobs.  Sabretooth is remarkably detailed.  And, the colors used on him are rich and vibrant.  You realize what a pale imitation Wreckage actually was when you see this mock up in better detail.  I can't help but wonder how fans would view Sabretooth had he been released.  While we associate that mold only with Firefly today, that is largely a function of the fact that Hasbro released it as Firefly at least 8 times in the repaint era.  Had Sabretooth been released, an entire generation of Joe fans who came of age in the late 1980's would only associate that mold with Sabretooth.  

Ripcord features a rich brown lower body and what appears to be an olive upper body.  His helmet features the paint job that was, eventually, used on the Tiger Force Roadblock helmet.  Had this Ripcord been released, it would be interesting to see which was preferred among collectors.  While the original Ripcord is an iconic look, this Tiger Force version was less Tiger Force and more just an alternate look for the character that used more color.  I'm not sure which would be my preferred look for the character.  But, there's no doubt this Tiger Force version would have been well loved by collectors.  It's a shame Hasbro wasn't able to get a version of him into the Pulse assortment since they had already recast the Ripcord mold.

There's another fun little appearance on the photo for the Tiger Shark.  While the Dusty figure appears in the turret, you'll see what appears to be a yellow painted Torpedo driving the vehicle.  This is the figure's only appearance.  The catalog is clear that "Figure sold separately."  So, there's barely even a reference to the figure's existence in his own time.  It's doubtful Torpedo made it this far in the process for Tiger Force.  But, it's possible that the Tiger Shark was, in its infancy, planned to include a figure just like the Water Moccasin from four years prior.  The appearance is one of those oddball cameos that would occur more frequently in later toy commercials but was very rare in pre-production solicitation and marketing material.

Here's a different angle of the original Recondo.  Flint ended up getting a color scheme that was reminiscent of this Recondo.  Though, the Flint uses a darker brown and a lighter green for his torso and legs, respectively.  I still prefer the production Recondo to this version.  But, the brown would have been an interesting take on a desert Recondo.  So, I wouldn't have hated this version had it come to be.

Next up is the Tiger Rat.  You can kind of see the figure that would become Skystriker in the cockpit.  It's notable that the accompanying text to the Tiger Rat says that it includes the pilot "Thunder".  Skystriker would use the Thunder head, helmet and headgear.  So, the original intent, at least, was not to create a new character for the Tiger Rat.

Lastly, we have the Tiger Fly.  Here, you can see the unproduced Tiger Force Wild Bill.  Wild Bill's omission is a function  of reverse mold availability.  While Ripcord was stuck in Brazil and couldn't be added to the carded assortment cases, Wild Bill was likely in Asia, unable to be packaged with the Brazilian made Tiger Fly.  So, the logistics dictated that Recondo become the Tiger Fly pilot.  (I guess both he and Wild Bill have mustaches and wear hats....)  The original color scheme for Recondo was changed to match up the color scheme that was planned for this Wild Bill.  

Aside from all the changes to this set and the various fun it's sparked from all the unproduced elements of it, Tiger Force also caused a fundamental change in how Joes were made in Brazil.  As my friend Attica Gazette points out, prior to the release of the Tiger Force Recondo, all the figures made in Brazil featured a more sunburnt skin tone.  It's a hallmark of the early Estrela line and makes the figures recognizable.  However, after Estrela had to make a Recondo with a skin tone that matched that of the other figures in the Tiger Force set, all of their subsequent figures used the skin tone that was more in line with Hasbro's colors.  It sucked one of the unique elements of the Estrela line away.  We don't know if Hasbro mandated this change on all new figures going forward.  Or, if Estrela simply went with it because the color was now readily available.  Regardless, that's one of the unintended legacies of Tiger Force.

Rarities - Unproduced 2003 Wal Mart Sky Patrol Figures

Back in 2003, Wal Mart worked with Hasbro to release an exclusive 6 figure set.  The toys were expected to be released around the 2003 holiday season.  The original plan was for the figures to be vintage inspired o-ring figures who would include working parachutes.  It was a novel idea and one that was sure to be a hit among collectors.  Hasbro went so far as to show off hand painted samples of the figures at various shows.  Collectors got excited about the figures as any new vintage style figures were always welcomed.  But, something happened between the planning and production stages for the figures.  And, the o-ring figures were cancelled and replaced by a hasty set of JvC style figures that included one urban camo Cobra and a desert clad Joe.  In the madness that was 2003 Joe retail, these figures were still quickly gobbled up and even commanded premium pricing for a while.  But, the real story was the demise of the more highly anticipated o-ring figures.

Supposedly, the reason for the cancellation was that the parachutes that were planned for the figures would not pass safety tests.  Why this lead to the demise of the entire wave of figures instead of just the problematic accessory is anyone's guess.  (At the time, the 2003 Ripcord was supposed to include a parachute.  His accessory was also removed.  But, the figure was still released, albiet a couple of weeks delayed.)   We would, though, later learn that Wal Mart wasn't as keen on vintage style figures as they were the newer sculpting style of the JvC designs.  And, Wal Mart would later take a lot of blame for vintage style Joe completely disappearing from retail assortments and being relegated to Toys R Us exclusives and Comic Packs.  How much of this is true and how much was just Wal Mart being a convenient scape goat isn't really clear.  But, a highly desired wave of 6 figures became something of an afterthought when it was changed to something completely different.

You will note that collectors often refer to these figures as "Sky Patrol".  There is no official documentation to back that up.  It was just an easy moniker applied to this set since we didn't know their official names.  The figures that replaced them at Wal Mart did not have any special markings on them and they were just packaged as standard Venom Vs. Valor releases.  So, the "Sky Patrol" is a colloquialism meant for quick reference to this series since the "Cancelled Wal Mart Exclusive O-Ring Figure Wave that Would Have Included Parachutes" is just too cumbersome to say.

The story wasn't over, though.  First, someone found a weird pack at retail that featured an oddly colored Snake Eyes and Stormshadow in a two pack.  The figures were pre-production samples of the Wal Mart figures that had, accidentally, gotten packaged and slipped through quality control.  Shortly after this, tons of the 6 figures began to appear from Asian sellers.  As 2004 progressed, the stock didn't dry up.  And, for a while, most of the Wal Mart figures could be had for under $15 each from Asian sellers.  Despite that heavy supply, the Wal Mart figures now command a premium and run in the hundreds of dollars each, even though they exist in ample supply.

We'll start with one of the original images from a Hasbro display.  There are many things of note in this photo.  Duke appears to actually be a paint master for the 2000/2001 figure.  While he's hand painted, the coloring is nearly identical to the earlier retail figure.  There's some differences.  But, the pre-production Duke is vastly different.  Snake Eyes is just a straight up production figure from the 2002 BJ's set.  The Hiss Driver/Rip It features a gold chest.  This would be changed.  Low Light is pretty close to his final colors.  The Alley Viper is blocked out in this photo.  But, he appears to also be drastically different from the final pre-production figure.  Stormshadow isn't featured at all.

Now for the individual figures.  Each  of these are full production level figures that were widely available.  It is noteworthy, though, that there are variants of most figure.  They exist in different blue hues and some have painted logos that others don't.  There's even a hair color variant on Duke.

Snake Eyes:

Snake Eyes is the least interesting of the figures in the set.  He retains the mostly black body.  He features red goggles.  This would have been a new look for Snake eyes.  But, it doesn't really match up and isn't visually appealing.  His arms have their weird blue forearms and rivet joint.  This might have been cleaned up had the figure gone to production.  It makes Snake Eyes look like he's half trying to be a Cobra.  When the Wal Mart figures were available, Snake Eyes was always the cheapest since he offered nothing new or interesting.  Had he been released, this figure would be as ignored as the 2002 BJ's version.

Stormshadow:

The Stormshadow figure wasn't shown in some of the convention displays.  He uses the 1992 Ninja Force mold.  Hasbro had used this mold in the 2002 BJ's set.  It was an OK figure.  The mold also returned in 2004 in the Urban Strike set.  A 2003 release would have been overkill.  The blue on this figure is different, though.  And, the color scheme was well liked by collectors of the day.  Had this figure been any other Stormshadow mold, it would be better remembered and a bigger loss.  

Low Light:

Low Light was the second most anticipated figure from this set.  And, as the army building nonsense of the 2000's died down, he's supplanted the Hiss Driver as the most interesting figure in the set.  The main reason is that this is the only use of the V1 Low Light mold that Hasbro offered for retail.  We got the 1991 Low Light in 2001 with his parts also appearing on other figures.  But, the V1 Low Light didn't appear until he was released as a convention exclusive in 2008.  

It really made no sense why Hasbro didn't get this mold into the Desert set in 2004 or the arctic set in 2005.  Both would have been great slots for Low Light and would have allowed him to replace a lackluster figure or character in each of those sets.  You'll note that this Low Light uses the same paint masks as the Slaughter's Marauders version.  So, Hasbro didn't spend a ton of money to update his painted details.  In general, this is a solid look for Low Light.  And, him including his real accessories would have been a big plus that put him over the top for collectors of the day.  (You'll note his rifle later appeared in some TRU sets.)  He's very much a more muted Slaughter's Marauders figure and would be a fairly popular figure had he seen wide release.

Alley Viper:

The Alley Viper was the most popular figure when this set first showed up on Ebay.  He would command the highest prices and always sell.  This was due to the extremes of the army building mentality among collectors of the day.  They would overpay for any army builder.

This figure, though, is among the weaker in the set.  While his colors blend with the other Cobras, the reality is that they are an inferior mix to figures that had just been released at retail.  If you wanted a light blue Alley Viper, there was a great one in Wave 1.5 that was cheap and easy to get.  If you wanted a red Alley Viper, there was one in Wave 2 that was well done.  (Though, it was shortpacked and somewhat harder to find than the blue version.)  This amalgamation of the two color schemes is a nice  middle ground between them.  But, it wasn't a figure that was really needed.  And, had it been released, it would have overlapped with the Wave 7.75 blue Alley Vipers at retail and been followed up with the Urban Strike Alley Viper.  There are some variants of this Alley Viper in terms of the coloring hues and if he has a Cobra sigil or not.  So, be on the watch for that.

In short, this figure would have been even more oversaturation of a figure mold that collectors were tiring of.  I don't think we lost anything with this figure's cancellation.  But, his popularity of the time suggests that I was not representative of collecting as a whole with my sentiment.

Duke:

The Duke figure from this set is the one I lament the most.  It would have been a great Duke.  Duke has the greatest variants among the unproduced figures as there are brown haired and blonde haired heads.  There are also green pants or brown pants.  You can see both versions of the figure below.  (There are likely more, subtle variants, too.)  The green pants version is a close take to the 1984 color scheme on the 1992 mold.  Hasbro should have made more figures like this since they had so many later versions of classic characters.

Duke had a bunch of accessories.  He included an exclusive helmet.  He then came with a black version of the Snow Serpent backpack and either one or two rifles.  The common weapon between the versions was a black Beach Head rifle.  Some also included an Ambush rifle.  The accessories were decent and worked with the figure.  The brown hair were the, likely, earlier figures with the the blonde hair figure being the one we would have gotten at retail.  A blonde Duke with the green pants would have been the best Duke released during the repaint era.  It's sad we didn't get it.

Hiss Driver (Rip It):

The Hiss Driver mold was the most anticipated figure in the set.  Collectors had gotten a couple of very easy to find retail Alley Vipers.  But, the Hiss Driver mold hadn't been seen since late 2000/early 2001 when it was included in the Toys R Us exclusive Hiss III.  Collectors were keen to army build it, especially in these colors.  

It is a near certainty that this figure would have been released as Rip It instead of as a Hiss Driver.  Hasbro was keen on characters.  So, this would have likely been one rather than a nameless army builder.  But, sans an official release, the figure simply became known as the Hiss Driver.  As he was readily available and not overly expensive back in the mid 2000's, many people were able to get a few of them to drive their armies of Hiss Tanks.  The blue was close enough to the classic Cobra color that everyone wanted for every single Cobra figure mold that Hasbro had in their library.  

There is a variant of this figure.  Some are darker blue.  And, some have Cobra logos on their arms while others don't.  Neither seems more rare than the other.  Hasbro never got the Hiss Driver mold to retail, again.  There was a short run 2007 Convention Rip It, tough.  That figure is notable as it uses an inverse color scheme to this Wal Mart Hiss Driver.  Together, the two figures are a great looking pair.  But, it would cost you nearly $1000 to get both of them, today.

In the end, it's a shame collectors didn't get this set.  But, with how quickly the Wal Mart exclusive Valor Vs. Venom figures sold out, it's also likely that many collectors would have missed these at retail and they would have commanded a premium on the secondary market.  As the Joe line cratered in 2007 through 2010, collectors might have been able to get the quantities they wanted.  But, these figures would have remained highly desired and expensive today, even if they had gone to retail.  

Today, the figures command premium prices.  Most newer collectors are unaware that these were available for several years from Asian sellers.  Most of the figures were available for under $15 each for quite a while.  Some collectors army built the Alley Vipers and Hiss Drivers.  So, the figures are out there in numbers.  It's just that they are mostly held by collectors who have little interest in selling them.  Many of the figures have reached nearly $500 each in recent sales.  That's too much for these figures.  But, sanity over recently released and somewhat common items has completely left the collecting world.  So, for most collectors, their closest way to experience these figures is through photos and stories from earlier times.

Rarities - Brazilian Cobra Wolf

The Wolf has an argument as the best Cobra vehicle ever created.  I'll explore that statement sometime next winter when I profile my childhood version.  But, it's just a great toy.  Along with its release by Hasbro, the mold was given to Estrela where they released it in Brazil.  We think of Brazil as a tropical, coastal country.  But, there are mountainous highlands where snowfall is common.  When you have a toy like the Wolf, though, the quality of the toy will overcome environmental constraints.

The toy itself isn't that different from the Hasbro version.  Without inspecting the COO stamps on the underside, you'd be unlikely to determine the difference between the two.  The real fun is on the Brazilian box.  You'll note the driver is Blizzard.  In Brazil, Blizzard was released as a Cobra.  Croc Master takes the second chair.  And, for added nonsense, you have a fully geared up Hydro Viper on the side rail.  

Estrela released a full roster of vehicles in Brazil.  Most are so similar to the Hasbro versions that collectors ignored them for decades.  Increased supply has made them more accessible.  But, documentation is still sparse and Brazilian dealers tend to ask for princely sums for any high quality vehicle samples.  The overall inventory of Brazilian vehicles is another of those great collecting holes that can be fulfilling to explore.  And, seeing classics with weird box art characters is always fun.

Rarities - Alternate Weapon Schematics for 1994 Star Brigade Predacon

It's tough to say that Predacon is most distinctive of the 1994 Lunartix Aliens.  But, his figures do tend to be the most popular.  It's likely because he's the closest to a standard Joe.  And, he's easier to play with and pose than either Carcass or Lobotomaxx.  Predacon's calling card is his four arms.  To outfit him, Hasbro included a standard weapon tree with four weapons so that Predacon had a gun for each hand.  The tree had debuted in 1993 with Col. Courage.  It featured a 1987 Tunnel Rat rifle, a 1990 Sky Patrol Airborne rifle, 1987 Blaster's "pistol" and the smaller, ubiquitous pistol that had debuted with the 1988 Shockwave figure.  As weapon trees go, it's one of the best ones.  And, with Predacon, it was only used three times: two of them with short run figures.  (Predacon and the 1993 Dino Hunters Ambush.)

However, according to Hasbro documentation, Predacon was originally intended to include a different array of weapons.  And, in these cases, the weapons were not ones that had previously appeared on standard weapons trees.

The first weapon listed is the Skycreeper pistol.  This isn't a weapon you see all that often.  And, it has a very science fiction look.  

I've always felt that the Super Sonic Fighters Road Pig included great weapons.  They are a bit offbeat.  But, they work in a lot of contexts.  And, had they existed in a color outside of bright orange, they'd have been a lot more popular.  But, early customizers both ignored brightly colored weapons and didn't tend to have access to some of the 1990's weapons molds.  Seeing one as a possibility for Predacon is interesting as it would have opened up the weapon to more exposure.  And, it might be more popular today had that happened.

The next weapon is listed as being from Pysche Out.  But, it was actually used for the 1992 Talking Battle Commander Cobra Commander figure.  It is a terrible accessory.  It's not worse than some of the other molds used on '90's weapon trees.  But, it's not good and would have been a lackluster inclusion.  Though, it does fit the aesthetic of the other weapons that were being considered.

We don't know if these weapons were originally intended to be part of a weapon tree.  Or, if they would have been individually packaged like we later saw with Street Fighter Movie and Mortal Kombat figures.  The line was over by the time the Lunartix got to retail.  And, they were likely victims of cost cutting as production numbers were lowered.  

Had Predacon included these accessories, they would have felt more "his" than the generic tree he ended up with.  These weapons were more obscure, all only being included his higher price point, specialty figures.  So, they would have felt more unique.  Really, it's a shame they weren't released with the figure.  Though, had they been, they'd be among the more expensive gear from the '90's.

Rarities - Funskool Red and Yellow Beach Head

Early Funskool figures feature a lot of weird colorings.  Funskool had a bit more carte blanche to create toys for their home market.  Slowly, though, Hasbro intervened and dictated the appearance of certain figures and characters.  So, offbeat color designs on some of the earliest Funskool figures were changed so that the characters were a closer match to their appearances in cartoons, advertisements and the comic book.  

Among those early oddballs are a Beach Head with a red head and a yellow vest.  There's no reason given for the color change other than Funskool liked bright colors.  Even the figure's card artwork is unchanged from the standard colors.  But, the drastic red and yellow make for a visually disconcerting Beach Head figure.  The color palette was changed for Beach Head.  And, the more common Funskool appearance is the lime green figure that's become my default for the character.

The Red and Yellow Beach Head remains expensive.  For a time, he was among the most expensive figures in the entire line.  He's still up there.  But, he's lost some of the lustre that he enjoyed in the mid 2000's.  

There are dozens (maybe even hundreds!) of Funskool Beach Head variants.  Some, like the red and yellow figure, are sweeping changes that are instantly noticeable.  But, even within the figures from the 2000's, there are slight color changes between production batches.  You'll find brown eyes, black eyes, dark grey explosives, light grey explosives and every hue in between.  His leg camo colors can vary from barely perceivable to outright distracting.  Beach Head might be the most varied figure in the entire line.  So, those who love him have a lot to track down.  But, this red and yellow figure remains the most popular and expensive of those variants and isn't a figure you see much of these days.

Rarities - Pre-Production T'Gin Zu

The 1993 vehicle assortment wasn't much.  Most of the entries were pretty bad.  And, the Ninja Force vehicles were among the worst.  As such, the drivers of those vehicles, T'Gin Zu and the Red Ninja are relatively hard to come by.  Few people collect them in earnest, though.  So, their scarcity is largely offset by lack of demand.

It is that disinterest in the figures that allows for oddities like the original paint job on T'Gin-Zu to slip by collector's eyes.  And, the fact that it's prominently displayed on the back of the 1993 Pile Driver box just shows how little of an impact a figure like T'Gin-Zu has on the collector zeitgeist.

Below, though, you see T'Gin-Zu's original paint job.  It is much more orange than the production figure.  It appears to be a straight re-use of the 1992 Stormshadow paint masks, just in orange in yellow.  And, frankly, it makes for a better figure.  This all orange version would have leaned into the neon-ness of the '90's and created a figure that would have found at least a few fans among the more accepting collectors who grew up in the '90's.  Instead, Hasbro kind of chickened out and gave us a more muted T'Gin-Zu offering.

As a bonus, the pre-production figure also appeared in the 1993 Toy Fair catalog.  The more you look at it, the more you realize it's a shame we didn't get this coloring.  The production T'Gin Zu isn't a figure anyone really prioritizes.  So, having him be even more outlandish would have made him more fun.  Maybe we'll get a factory custom that's like this.  It's out best hope for ever seeing an homage to this unproduced design.

Rarities - Remco Ice Wonder/Yeti

Remco made an eclectic group of o-ring figures.  They were designed to be a cheap, non-licensed alternative to G.I. Joe figures that were available at discount chains.  (Many were K-Mart or Sears exclusives.)  Many of their early figures were, well, terrible.  The sculpting was bad, the quality was crap and the figures were boring.  But, as the company matured, so did the quality of their action figure offerings.  While I feel Remco peaked with their S.I.T. series, the reality is that many of their later designs are excellent.  Sadly, they are still defined by lower quality materials and wonky hands.  But, there's some interesting figures for collectors to discover.  Among them is the character of Ice Wonder: also known as Yeti.  Below are some samples that have captured my interest.

My main draw to this figure is the eerie similarity he has to Sub Zero.  But, the Remco figure debuted first.  While the idea of white and baby blue coloring on an arctic figure that also features a fur hooded coat isn't all that unique, the fact that Hasbro pretty much copied the exact design for Sub Zero seems like less of a coincidence and more an instance of influence.  But, all the military toy lines of the era seemed to borrow from one another.  It was just, usually, all the other knock-off companies copying Hasbro instead of vice-versa.

Once the figure appeared on my radar, I began to notice that he existed in a few different forms.  He was released in at least two different series: American Defense and U.S.  Forces.  (There might be more, Remco is a morass of poor documentation with few resources available.)  The few I've found seem to be named Ice Wonder for U.S. Forces and Yeti for American Defense.  But, again, there could be lots of variations among the packaging and naming, too.

Here you can see a carded Yeti and Ice Wonder:

The figure itself is full of variants.  Among them are different waists, heads with either a flesh colored neck or a white neck, and a sea of lower leg variants where the fur collars are positioned differently or don't exist at all.

Here are some head and waist variants.

Here is a figure with no fur collar on his boots.

Here is one with offset fur boot collars.  One is set at the knee and the other is set just below the knee.

Here is a sample where the fur boot collar is right above the ankle on both feet.

I'm sure there are more variants out there.  In the early days of Joe collecting, it wasn't uncommon  to get a lot of someone's childhood figures that would also include some Remco offerings.  As those collections were bought, sorted and resold, the Remco figures were removed.  Most were just tossed into junk bins as they had no collectability.  The result is that now, it's kind of hard to find decently conditioned Remco figures.  And, you tend to have to pay for them.  Back when you could buy a shoebox full of these guys for $4, it was fun to track down variants and various releases.  Now, it's more expensive that the end result is worth.  

Remco releases can be a challenging rabbit hole for a collector, though.  The Joe line is fairly well documented.  (Though, finding the documentation is now becoming hard due to the walled gardens & private communities.)  Something like Remco can keep you occupied for years as you try to track down all the various incarnations of their releases and all the variants within each one.