1987 Tunnel Rat - Random Photos of the Day 2

Tunnel Rat remains a fan favorite.  It's due to both the incredible quality of his figure and the fact that his likeness was based on Larry Hama.  So, Tunnel Rat's got a lot going for him.  He's a figure I use very often.  He looks  great with some of his gear, all of his gear, or someone else's gear.  It's rare for a figure to have that type of versatility.  So, enjoy some random photos of him while I try to muster up a new profile for this Saturday.  (If you were quick, you probably caught a preview of it when it published early on Monday!)  See you then.

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.

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.

Alado - Plastirama Crazylegs (Argentina)

Crazylegs is not a figure that mattered to me during my childhood.  In fact, I kind of hated the figure because, before I saw the figure in stores, I assumed that a new parachute figure would be even better than the 1984 Ripcord.  That didn't turn out to be the case.  Crazylegs was such a disappointment that I never used the figure at the time of his release.  A few years later, though, Crazylegs was one of a very figures available to me.  And, in this capacity, he found a new niche that suited the figure.  It was far from his airborne trooper roots and was something I made up to fill a need I had in my Joe world.  

One of the halllmarks of the Joe line was improvement.  Each year, Hasbro improved the quality of their figures or the innovation of their gear.  It's a weird concept because Hasbro wasn't really chasing anyone in the marketplace.  And, no toy lines were competing behind the Joe line, trying to unseat it, either.  (Transformers and He-Man occupied very different spaces than Joe.)  So, getting a figure like Crazylegs where he was a huge step down from a figure released 3 years earlier was a disappointment.  The weird parachute rigging didn't make for a useful figure when Crazylegs was fully accessories.  and, while you have to give Hasbro points for trying something different, the reality is that Crazylegs' parachute is light years behind the rig designed for Ripcord.  

So, Crazylegs wasn't used.  His gun, though, was.  To me, Crazylegs' rifle was the closest approximation of the Cobra weapon from the cartoon.  So, I used the weapon with various Cobras.  But, I never found it a good fit.  So, instead, the weapon found its way to other Joe figures whose gear had been lost or broken.  Even with the removable stock long lost to the sea of junk in our toy room, Crazylegs' rifle was useful to have around. In the late 1990's, I co-opted the rifle for Sneak Peek.  I viewed this figure as a "commander" who lead the nameless legions who supported the Joes.  For some reason, I liked the way the rifle looked with him.  And, to this day, you'll find photos or Sneak Peek with Crazylegs' rifle on this site.

Now, I do appreciate the Crazylegs sculpt for what it is.  He is a nicely detailed figure.  And, the Night Force version has given me a useful version of it to blend with other figures in my collection.  I did make up a character of a "Sessions Officer" that you can read about in my 1987 Crazylegs profile.  But, these days, I mostly use him as intended, just in the background of a helicopter or other aircraft photo.  The red is useful for photography.  And, since I didn't overuse him in my childhood, there are few legacy memories associated with the figure.

There were just two post 1985 figure molds released in Argentina.  Sgto. Slaughter is the first.  And, Alado is the second.  Alado uses a 1987 mold and is the latest mold to be used in Argentina.  It does appear that Plastirama had more figures planned.  Alado's cardback shows Flint and BBQ as upcoming releases.  Neither was ever released in Argentina.  Though, both figures did show up in Brazil.  There's no real explanation as to why Crazylegs and Sgt. Slaughter were the sole late run mold representatives in the Plastirama line.  When you look at the catalog of 1986 and 1987 molds that were produced by Estrela, it's robust.  While I, personally, would have preferred a cheap way to get a slightly repainted Sci Fi or BAT, you can't fault Plastirama for their mold selections.

Alado is 100% based on the 1987 Crazylegs figure.  He used the grey base with red highlights.  But, the Plastirama Alado has some drastic color differences that make him easy to spot.  They also, though, make him a less useful figure than the other Crazylegs colorings that exist.  Alado uses a darker grey as the base color for his pants and shirt.  His gloves are a darker shade of tan.  The overall paint details on the fine, black paint are softer.  And, his skin color is more peach than that of Crazylegs.  The biggest difference, though, is the overall red color that was used.  It is not glossy.  So, Crazylegs' helmet and chest are very dull.  It's a weird look as flat colors were rare in the vintage Joe line.  The red on Alado's torso is also different than that on his waist and arms.  It makes Alado look like his a custom rather than a real release.  The final photo below shows Alado alongside a Hasbro Crazylegs.  But, sadly, the photo doesn't do the differences in the red colorings real justice.  And, Alado is much more recognizable in hand than the photos in the profile suggest.

Crazylegs traveled the world.  The timing of his appearances is odd, too.  Hasbro used the mold in 1987 and 1988.  Along with the original red version, Hasbro produced an exclusive Night Force version in 1988.  Shortly after that, the figure appeared in both Brazil and Argentina.  Both of the South American figures are named Alado.  And, both are very similar to the 1987 Crazylegs figure.  These figures had to start production after the Night Force run of figures.  So, they are, likely, 1989 releases at the earliest.  If that weren't enough, the Crazylegs mold then showed up in India.  Funskool produced a red suited Crazylegs whose real calling card is his red parachute.  They also used his head on the Skydiver figure.  So, Crazylegs fans have a lot to track down.  

Crazylegs was not among the molds that Funskool returned to Hasbro in 2003.  He was not among the 2009 Funskool update figures, either, though.  So, it's likely that Funskool had the mold but chose not to release Crazylegs when they tried to drum up interest in the Joe brand when the movie debuted in India.  The character was forgotten in the early 2000's.  But, eventually, he did appear in the Anniversary sculpt era.  And, he's even been ported over to the Classified scale in the 2020's.  Crazylegs is one of those guys who had no place in the community for the first 10 years or so of online Joe discussion.  But, he was able to move up the ladder and become a solid 3rd tier character.  And, I'm still not sure how that happened.

You can acquire an Alado figure in three ways.  The first is the standard carded figure.  You can also find Alado in a C.O.P.S. box.  There's no guarantee you'll get his accessories inside the box, though.  C.O.P.S. boxes are full of random parts and it's common to get Battlefield Accessories or Pac-Rats in them in lieu of the figure's gear.  You can also find Alados on Jhony Quest cards.  He will be packaged with the Jhony Quest figure...which uses parts from the Power Commandos.  Jhony Quest Alados are likely to have his full complement of gear, though.  Both the C.O.P.S. and Jhony Quest items tend to have collectability that is only partially related to the G.I. Joe figure that's included.  So, you'll pay a premium for these alternate packaging releases versus a standard, MOC Alado figure.

Once upon a time, Alado figures were easy to find and wouldn't cost you $5 for a MOC figure.  Now, you don't see the figures all that often.  And, dealers are able to get high prices for them.  You'll see figures sell in  the $70+ range for a carded figure.  You'll probably pay about $30 for a mint and complete figure.  But, that's an even tougher find.  Of the Crazylegs figures available, the Plastirama Alado is the weakest.  And, if you're not a huge fan of the character or the figure, is worth skipping.  Just get a 1987 or a Night Force figure to experience the mold.  It's a shame that Crazylegs only really exists in the two color schemes.  The Night Force figure, though, might be the perfect rendition of the character.  So, any new paint jobs would be vying for second place.  I'd still have loved to have seen something more on the Crazylegs sculpt...just since it's do well done.  But, that never happened.

The Plastirama Alado figure on the left vs. the Hasbro 1987 Crazylegs figure on the right.

Rarities - European Action Force Taurus

Taurus is a boring figure.  He's the least popular of the Renegades and is the one you least often see in action.  The only really interesting thing about his figureis that, in Europe, he was released on a single card with new artwork.  All of the Renegades were released as single carded figures in various European markets.  There's no real explanation as to why this was.  Cobra La didn't receive similar treatment.  And, there were plenty of other '87 figures to fill out an international line.  

The card features unique artwork for Taurus. You can find the carded Taurus figures from various European markets that will feature different languages, too.  You'll note that G.I. Joe is the marketing focus for the toy.  But, there is still an Action Force subheader to tie the figure to the established European brand.

More than 20 years ago, a collector friend of mine who specialized in foreign variants believed that the European Renegades figures had slight coloring differences from their U.S. released counterparts.  He was unable to confirm this, though, as he didn't have known samples of the Euro figures in his possession at the time.  It's something I'd love to finally put to rest.  We know that many European figure releases did have slight variances from their North American counterparts...mostly just due to the fact that they were released in later years and not part of the initial run.  You'll see slight color variants all the way up to different dates stamps on some European versions of figures that, otherwise, are identical to the North American release.  Most of these are not documented and can be tough to verify.  So, if you have known samples of both releases of Taurus and see any differences, please post them up as I'd love to confirm/deny the rumors from the turn of the century.

The one thing about these figures that was of note to me is that they clearly showed which accessories were intended for which Renegade.  As a kid, I always put the black Footloose backpack on Taurus since it was a better color match.  The brown Recondo pack went to Mercer for the same reason.  While I've come around on the black Footloose pack belonging to Mercer, I can't reconcile this Recondo pack on Taurus.  Mostly, it's because I don't care about Taurus all that much.  But, seeing him with his correct backpack still looks odd to me.

There was a short time when these single carded figures were very desirable.  But, that ebbed away rather quickly.  The Renegades are rarely anyone's favorite figures.  And, Taurus and Red Dog are among the most obscure '80's figure releases.  Maybe they were dropped into the assortments to help recoup mold costs.  (The '87 Mercer was later released in Brazil and Red Dog has a famous, race changing Funskool release.)  Sadly, documentation on how European releases came to be is mostly non-existent.  Which is too bad as some of those decisions would be more interesting than getting made up stories from fading memories of the Hasbro line.

1987 Outback - Around The Web

The 1987 Outback is one of those figures in the G.I. Joe that, on its own, probably wouldn't merit the unrequited love it gets in the collecting community.  But, a solid run in the comic helped turn him into a cult hero.  And, Outback enjoys immense popularity today.  So much so that his original figure still outshines the much rare Night Force and Tiger Force versions of the character.

I've always struggled to get good photos of Outback.  That was heavily because I was reluctant to take any chances with the figure.  Others have no such qualms.  And, in the photos below, you'll find some great takes on the Outback photo and character.  

Outback Profile

Outback by strikeforce_codename

Outback by incrediblebulk

Outback by dashiellrfairborne

Outback by jeremiecapitaine

Outback by Relinquished1979

Outback by steelbrigade

Outback by gijoeggernaut

Outback by rutbullet

Outback by backyardjoes

Outback by Dashiell R. Fairborne

Outback by offc0ur5e

Rarities - Action Force Persuader

On of the most ignored facets of the worldwide Joe line is that a huge number of vehicles that were released in Europe actually feature some pretty drastic color differences from their North American counterparts.  Usually, the colors are darker and richer.  It's very noticeable when you have both the North American and European versions next to each other.  

There's no real reason why the colors were changed.  All of these vehicles were made by Hasbro in the same factories as the North American releases.  It would be one thing if just, say, the green plastic was changed.  But, you see different hues of brown, red and orange, too.  So, the color changes were deliberate and occurred over multiple years.

Below you will see an Action Force Persuader.  The vehicle features a darker green base.  As something different, the green is kind of nice.  It's a little dark.  So, it would be tougher to see in photos.  But, as part of a convoy, the different color would add some depth to the display.

There's many Action Force vehicles that feature these type of color differences.  The documentation on them is sparse and difficult to dig up.  But, the communal reference resources for the toy line haven't been updated in over a decade and it's really caught up with the community.  And, now, minor differences like these alternately colored vehicles are mostly undocumented.

1987 Raptor

The 1987 Cobras were terrible.  The Joe design team took a bizarre turn that year.  And, even the figures who turned out to be good were still pretty much oddballs.  While collectors still consider 1987 one of the core years of the line, the reality is that it's one of the weakest lineups of villains in the entire line's history.  Sure, Cobra Commander and the Techno Viper are decent.  But, they lack the panache of the marquee Cobras in a release year.  The triumvirate of Big Boa, Crystal Ball and Raptor is an embarrassing set of headliners for retail's premier action figure line of the '80's.  Today, I'll look at the second worst figure of 1987 and one of the all time turkeys in the entire line: Raptor.

Larry Hama was forced to include the oddball 1987 characters in the comics.  But, with Raptor, he made the most of it.  While Larry didn't hide his contempt for the character, he actually made him useful.  And, if you look at the cover of G.I. Joe #58, Raptor looks cool.  Sure, Hama didn't blink when he had the chance to bury Raptor alive inside the sunken freighter.  And, no one lamented Raptor's terrible demise.  For a shining moment, though, Raptor had a glimmer of potential.  And, from that comic appearance, I had a brief few days where I thought that it might be fun to actually acquire a Raptor figure.  After seeing him on the shelf, though, I shuffled him off to my younger brother while I bought a good figure.

1987 was the pinnacle of my childhood Joe world.  As such, I made sure to find a use for every figure that was released that year: regardless of how bad the figure was.  And, Raptor had stupid uses.  First, I'd make his wings be bulletproof.  He'd wrap them around himself and be invulnerable.  But, he also couldn't move.  So, he was just an immobile cocoon on the ground.   Sometimes, he'd lie there, absorbing bullets and then, as the Joe reloaded, hop up and move a few feet closer before the Joe could start shooting again.  I don't really remember the purpose of this ability beyond giving Cobra another vector of attack on a Joe base and, maybe, letting a Joe kill a big time Cobra every now and then.

Once that got boring, Raptor joined the throng of broken and unloved figures who became nameless terrorists, activists, anarchists and general rabble who would antagonize both the Joes and Cobra.  They'd pop out of the A-Team van: armed with small weapons.  (I called them BRAP weapons after the sound effects from the comic.)  They'd kill some civilians or some nameless army builders and then, themselves, get wasted by the better armed Joes and Cobras.  It was a fun way to let both main factions get easy wins.  And, was also a way for me to show my contempt for bad toys that ended up in my collection.  

The Raptor figure is just...bad.  While Crystal Ball features some really intricate detail work on the mold, Raptor lacks those subtle details that suggest at valid attempt at something cool.  The feather texture on his shoulders and arms doesn't really come across.  And, were it not for the falcon cowl, you'd miss the fact that this guy is supposed to be bird themed.  It is that cowl, though, that is the main cause of derision.  It just doesn't work.  It's way too big.  Part of this is because Raptor's head, in general, is very large.  He features the super large and detailed face that ruined several figures in 1986 and 1987.  Sticking the falcon head above him only makes this defect more pronounced.  Had they tried to make the falcon face cover Raptors (even if the mask was not removable) it would have likely worked better.  Raptor's comic appearance had the falcon head covering be more snug to Raptor's head and the look was far more convincing.  I can't really even give style points for Hasbro trying something different with Raptor because there was just no way the design was ever going to look good.

Raptor's gear sucks.  He includes a falcon with the easily breakable bird feet.  The bird feet didn't work on any of Hasbro's attempts.  And, even the softer plastic tried on Voltar's vulture in 1988 failed to produce a toy that could withstand normal play.  Raptor is then left with only a backpack/wing suit combination.  I'm not sure what the idea is.  The upside is that the fabric is very sturdy.  So, you can use it as a flying suit or just an ornamental addition to Raptor's garb.  But, it doesn't' work in either capacity.  The printed feather pattern wasn't bad for 1987.  It still, though, doesn't convey the effect of Raptor being covered in bird feathers all that well.  The design, using the standard backpack and having the fabric extend to the figure's arms, was interesting.  But, Hasbro never returned to it.  So, even they seemed to understand that the figure was a failure.  With no weapon, Raptor is even more limited.  And, as a kid, that alone was enough to sink him to the bottom of the toy box.

Raptor was used just twice.  After his release from Hasbro, his mold was sent to Brazil.  There, Estrela released a Raptor that is very similar to the Hasbro release.  There are subtle color differences, but that's about it.  Neither Raptor nor his parts were ever used again.  While you can't really say that the mold lent itself to repaints, the reality is that it worked in brown.  Though, I can say that I'd have probably loved a parrot themed repaint in really bright colors.  But, as Raptor is a weak figure and a weaker character, it's probably for the best that he was used just the two times.

I do not understand the 1987 Cobras.  While Cobra had taken a more sci-fi bend in 1986, the 1987 figures were not a logical extension of that shift.  Some of the specialties in 1987 made sense.  But, the figures simply didn't match up.  There were too many animal sidekicks and it seemed that the design team might have been simply burning failed concepts from earlier years.  1987 featured more retail figures that prior years.  So, they team may have not had the time to refine that year's releases.  And, that may the driving force behind the odd inconsistency that we see in the entire 1987 lineup.  But, three of the worst figures in the history of the line debuted in a year that is still considered "core" by most collectors.  That shouldn't be the case.  And, had Big Boa, Crystal Ball and Raptor been released in 1993, they would be universally derided and hated by all of the community.  I was old enough in 1987 that I didn't give the bad toys a pass.  And, that continues to this day as I simply have no reason to ever use any figure in that trio of terrible.

Raptors are weird to price.  Mostly, because he includes the falcon who often features broken feet.  An unbroken Falcon alone will often fetch $20.  But, at the same time, the market price for a mint and complete Raptor with an unbroken Falcon is about $17.  But, figures with either no falcon or a broken falcon will sell in the $12 range.  It's just chaos.  The unbroken falcon is the main thing to look for with a Raptor.  But, the figure is also very susceptible to pain wear: especially on his necklace and belt buckle.  So, check those areas carefully.  Really, Raptor is probably priced about right.  He's super common from Joe's highest production volume year.  And, he's very unpopular: lacking even the kitsch factor popularity of his contemporaries like Golobulus and Crystal Ball.  For me, though, even at cheap prices, the figure just isn't worth it.  The character has so little value and the figure is just bad.  I get what Hasbro was trying to do.  But, sometimes, you just have to eat some sunk costs and give up.  Had they done that with Raptor, no one would be lamenting his absence.

1987 Blocker - Around the Web

Back in 1987, I picked up 2 BattleForce 2000 figures: Blaster and Knockdown.  My brothers got Maverick and Dodger.  I always wanted to pick up a Blocker.  But, by the time I saw him again,  he was only sold in a two-pack with the Maverick figure that we already owned.  So, it was not until nearly a decade later that I acquired my first Blocker figure.  Since then, he's been my favorite BattleForce 2000 figure.  Though, to be fair, that's a relatively low bar to clear.  Here's some of the best content featuring the figure from around the web.

1987 Blocker Profile

Brazilian Blocker Weapon Variants

1987 Blocker by jogunwarrior

1987 Blocker by thedustinmccoy

1987 Blocker by bruxovigo

1987 Blocker by 1_18th_scale_skirmishes

1987 Blocker by nightforcetunnelrat

1987 Blocker by andrewofsengir6

1987 Blocker by specialmissionforce

1987 Blocker by thedustinmccoy

1987 Blocker by Slipstream80

1987 Blocker by Plastic Battles

1987 Taurus

When I first saw the 1987 catalog, it was full of toys I wanted.  Two oddball items stuck out to me, though.  The first, obviously, was Cobra La.  I wasn't sure what the hell that was supposed to be.  So, the companion three figure set also seemed weird.  At some point in the summer of 1987, I found the two three packs at the local Toys R Us.  There was no way I was buying the Cobra La set.  So, I bought the Slaughter's Renegades set while my younger brother purchased the Cobra La figures.  Once opened, I still didn't really understand the Renegades.  Taurus and Red Dog seemed out of place in the line.  Mercer, though, quickly found heavy use.  Though, I didn't really follow his ex-Viper background.

As the year progressed, the Renegades didn't appear in the comic.  This was rare for the age as even Crystal Ball showed up in an issue of Special Missions.  When our friends from down the street tried to describe the G.I. Joe Movie to me, they made no mention of the Renegades as the bizarre fate for Cobra Commander and the celebrity voices were the extent of the highlights.  So, the Renegades, and their purpose, remained a mystery to me.  So, I found uses for the two "lesser" figures in the set.  Red Dog's main value came from his pistol.  Taurus, though, never really found grounds for existence and was one of the very rare 1987 figures who I didn't fully characterize.  

Taurus's head is well sculpted.  Really, it might be one of the best sculpted heads in the entire line.  It is distinctive, unique and it conveys a sense of consternation and experience that is difficult to convey with a small, plastic countenance.  The bushy red beard and eyebrows offsetting the bald head and large ears leave you with a lasting impression of the figure.  You know what they sculptors were trying to convey and it came through very well.  It is still flummoxing to me that even  modern sculptors have struggled so mightily to match the sculpting of vintage Joe heads.  Especially when you see how much variety there was in the line.  Heck, Falcon and Taurus were sculpted in the same year and offer two extremes of head design.  Yet, to this day, people have yet to really mimic the overall aesthetic of vintage Hasbro heads.

Taurus's colors are interesting.  He was just the fourth figure in the line to use yellow as a primary body color.  (Blowtorch, Airtight and Claymore)  His legs are a pea green that are a near match for the green that would define the Night Force subset starting in 1988.  I feel this is an overlooked detail that would allow for Taurus parts to appear on more Night Force customs.  The colors aren't a bad match, though.  And, Taurus is visually interesting.  It's just that the super short sleeves, dramatically exposed chest and red facial hair offset the yellow and somewhat ruin the overall appearance of the figure.  The more I look at him, now, though, I find more value in Taurus's appearance.  Really, he's one of the most visually distinctive Joes in both colors and sculpt.  And, re-evaluating him more than 35 years later has left me with a very different opinion of the figure than I had as a kid back in 1987.  

As a kid, I didn't find much use for Taurus.  Often, he'd be relegated to the role of a nameless villain who would pop out of the A-Team van and kill a bunch of civilians: causing the Joe team to hunt him down.  In one of the Special Missions issues, Larry Hama created a radical named Horst.  He was a brainwashed zealot who blew himself to bits: thinking it would lead to eternal glory.  Instead, his comrades didn't even remember his name.  I used Taurus as a stand in for a Horst like character.  Though, it was far more often that the Joes (and, sometimes, Cobras) would kill him before he could suicide them all away.  Taurus had no name or characterization beyond being a terrorist who could offer some divergent adventures from the standard Joe vs. Cobra scenarios.

As I've grown to appreciate this figure more, though, I don't have many regrets over my childhood treatment of the toy.  Really, Taurus got every chance to capture my imagination.  He just failed to do so in any meaningful way.  As I had a pretty much full collection of Joes, though, Taurus as going to have a tough time breaking out.  He appeared near the very end of my childhood acquisitions.  And, his bizarre release vehicle to which I lacked context didn't endear him to me.  I was just confused as to why the entire Renegades team existed.  So, that left Taurus to stand on his own without the benefit of a comic book appearance.  But, one of the benefits of adult collecting is that you can reconsider figures like Taurus who didn't matter in my childhood collection.  And, in Taurus's case, he's a rare occasion where I've found him more valuable as an adult collection piece than I ever did as childhood plaything.

Taurus' gear, well, sucks.  He has the worst weapon in the three pack.  It is silver, which wasn't common for the time.  But, it's not quite a pistol.  And, also too small to be a rifle.  It doesn't really work with any figure and just always looks awkward.  He also includes a brown version of Recondo's backpack.  As a kid, I matched the black Footloose pack with Taurus as I thought the brown Recondo pack better fit with Mercer's color scheme and the black pack was a better match for Taurus.  The card artwork didn't offer any clues for the pack/figure matches.  So, I kept the Recondo pack meant for Taurus with my Mercer figure for years.  In fact, if you scroll through photos on this site from 2008 or earlier, you'll always see Mercer wearing Taurus's pack.  Now, though, we have plenty of evidence that this pack was meant for Taurus and I've evolved to using Mercer's proper backpack with his figure.

Taurus is the only one of the three Renegades figures who doesn't really have a foreign exclusive repaint.  Red Dog got a Funskool repaint in 2001.  And, Mercer saw release in Brazil about a decade earlier.  However, all three Renegades did get exclusive single carded releases in various European countries.  All of these cards feature unique artwork that wasn't available in the U.S.  Many years ago, a collector friend of mine mentioned that he thought there were extremely slight coloring differences between the U.S. and European releases of the Renegades: Taurus in particular.  But, he never confirmed it.  So, this is one of the rumored Euro exclusive releases that I'd love to someday validate.

Taurus is one of the cheaper figures in the entire line.  He is the least popular renegade and doesn't match with Mercer or Red Dog.  The yellow shirt isn't a color people much care for.  And, as such, you can still get nicely conditioned and complete Taurus figures for under $10.  Dealers do sell a lot in the $15 range.  And, the highly fragile gold paint will often drive that price point.  All of the Renegades seem pretty common.  1987 saw a high production run to coincide with the G.I. Joe Movie...which then ended up as a straight to video release.  So, the less popular figures from this year really tend to show up a lot and remain extremely cheap.  It's a just fate for Taurus as he's really not that good of a figure.  But, I do appreciate his sculpting and colors more as an adult collector than I did as a kid in the final days of childhood.

1987 Psyche Out - Around The Web

The weather's been crappy and  I've been busy with real life things, lately.  So, I had no profile to go today.  (I've got a really cool figure that I had to pull down because her write up wasn't where I wanted it to be.  She might come next week.  Or, the week after that.  Will depend upon my mood since the profile planned for the 6th of Feb. is mostly a thinly veiled rant that will further cement my status as a curmudgeon.)  I really didn't  have anything ready to go for today.  So, I did some quick looking and found some surprisingly easy to find content on the 1987 Psyche Out.

Psyche Out isn't a popular figure or character.  The fact that both his Night Force and Tiger Force variants sell for a fraction of the other figures in the series speak to just how unpopular he really is.  But, this 1987 figure is a visual treat.  The bright colors work in the context of the character.  And, his ridiculous gear can be held in suspension of disbelief due to the overall background that was given to him.

So, take some time and peruse the links below.  Leave them a comment or something just to pull the older items back into the creators' timelines.  Back to normal next week...maybe.

1987 Psyche Out Profile

1987 Psyche Out at Nekoman's Viper Pit

1987 Psyche Out by MrMikeVinthePit

1987 Psyche Out at JoeADay.com

1987 Psyche Out by yovalleyjoe

1987 Psyche Out Variants by Hit and Run

1987 Psyche Out by HCC788

1987 Psyche Out by gi_jokers

1987 Psyche Out at Serpentor's Lair

1987 Psyche Out by Flint

1987 Psyche Out by fun_time_at_serpentorslair

The Celtic Boar - 1987 Iceberg Battle Gear Weapon

This profile is a little different.  It's not about a figure.  It's not about any particular release of G.I. Joe ephemera.  It is, instead about a weapon.  Not just any weapon, mind you, but a magnificent weapon around which I developed an intricate story.  The gun itself isn't all that special in terms of design.  Really, the only thing it has going for it is that it's big.  The Joe line is full of lots of large weapons: some more realistic and useful than others.  But, this one weapon had the fortune of being in the right place at the right time.  And, as such, it is one of the very few accessories around which I built a story line.  One of the things that kept G.I. Joe so relevant to me is that I was able to expand or contract the story at any given time.  But, the diversity in the line allowed me many avenues of play to explore.  In the course of that, I developed the idea of the Celtic Boar.

I got Iceberg in the summer of 1986.  He was of little use to me in the summer.  So, he evolved into a high ranking Joe who rarely left the Snow Cat.  When he did, though, he brought out his highly powerful and deadly accurate rifle.  Iceberg's included weapon was comically large.  So, I saw it as something special that few people would carry.  As 1986 turned to 1987, my Joe world took a different tact.  Now, the world was full of criminals and outlaws who were loyal to neither Joe nor Cobra.  But, could be hired by either.  Slowly, these groups formed integral parts of my ongoing Joe saga.  I'd have to come up with various plot devices to involve them, though.  Often, they'd run guns, secret battle plans or stolen money or treasures.  They would build out hodge podge vehicles that were scraps from older, broken toys.  And, the figures would be combinations of releases I didn't care for, figures that were badly worn or broken and kitbashes of various leftover parts from when I made good looking customs that supplemented my Joe team.  These ragtags, though, could be effective.  And, when properly utilized, could do things that changed the course of the Joe vs. Cobra conflict.

This all lead to the Celtic Boar.  It was the name I gave to Iceberg's rifle.  The Celtic Boar was an impossibly powerful and accurate weapon.  It had a range of over two miles: making it an overpowered and dangerous weapon for assassinations.  With it, a person could kill Hawk or Cobra Commander from so far away that they'd get away cleanly.  There were only a handful made before they were deemed illegal and forever forbidden.  Iceberg, being high enough ranked, was able to grandfather in his possession of the weapon.  No one else, though, could.  Soon, Celtic Boars became incredibly valuable contraband.  Cobra wanted them for anonymous assassinations.  The Joe team wanted them off the market.  And, the criminal syndicates wanted them for the well paying work that would come their way with the possession of a Celtic Boar.

It was actually the grey version of Iceberg's weapon that was included in the 1987 Battle Gear pack that gave rise to the story.  The less environmentally specific coloring made the weapon more useful to me.  But, it could be a thumb breaker.  So, I was reticent to use it with my top flight figures.  But, this accessory became a legendary part of my collection.  Cobra was able to murder a few politicians in the US by subcontracting the killings to underworld cartels.  So, the Joes became an investigative unit hell bent on finding the remaining Celtic Boars that were available in the world.  So, for a period of 1987, my Joe adventures entirely revolved around various Joe teams trying to find bands of outlaws who had the weapons in their possession.  Of course, this would end in chases through the city or high speed races on country roads.  The criminals had an advantage in that the Celtic Boar could cripple most Joe vehicles that were capable of any speed.  And, it was deadly should anyone get hit with a bullet fired from the weapon.  (I imagined that if a .357 Magnum could leave an exit wound the size of a frozen pot pie, thanks to Larry Hama's usage of the phrase in the comic, then a weapon like the Celtic Boar would simply blow a person in two or remove limbs if anyone was unlucky enough to be hit by a bullet it fired.)  So, the Joes had to be very careful when chasing down criminals in possession of the weapon. 

The one limitation I put on the rifle, though, was that ammunition for it was also banned and very expensive.  Often times, the possessors of a Celtic Boar did not have the ammunition to fire out of it.  And, if they did, individual bullets cost thousands of dollars.  So, it wasn't something to wantonly waste during their attempted escapes from the law.  Usually, the Joes ended up killing the bad guys in the chase.  But, there were times when the perpetrators were taken alive.  Then, they would go off to prison for the rest of their lives, maybe even be executed as the ownership of such a weapon as the Celtic Boar warranted that type of punishment. More than a few times, nameless characters (such as those portrayed by the Mission to Brazil figures) would perish in their pursuit of a Celtic Boar.  Often, this would give the criminals who murdered them names and reputations.  With that, not even Cobra would touch them based on the heat any association with them may bring.  This would give me some villains that were not Cobra who could stand against my Joes and help keep the conflict from growing stale.

When the weapons were captured or destroyed, they were marked off a list of known weapons that were manufactured.  In an interesting bit of characterization, though, I had a couple of well respected Joes keep one of the weapons that they captured.  Flint and one of my custom characters were both growing older and less involved in field operations were the most prominent.  In my world, they were rich men.  Both of them kept a Celtic Boar for their private collections and kept them under lock and key in their secluded East Coast estates.  (Remind me to some day write about the "Family Antiquities Act" and how that law helped shield rich and successful people like Flint from the same consequences of owning illegal items that ordinary people would face.  Yes, I actually created a different code of laws for my Joe world.  I was/am a nerd.)  So, at times when the Joes needed something like a Celtic Boar and Iceberg was not available or would not go along with the mission, the Joes could get access to one without having to scrape the underworld for one of the missing weapons.

In this story, you can see many of the influences that shaped my world in the late 1980's.  My Joe world featured history and familial patriarchy that was similar to that still found in Europe.  The ability of the rich and powerful to skirt laws were a result of things like Iran-Contra and the financial scandals of the day coming to light.  And, the existence of powerful criminal syndicates were a function of the propaganda spread in the various "Just Say No" campaigns that kids of my age were subjected to.  It all evolved into a rich world full of stories to tell.  If I wanted straight military, I could get it.  But, if I wanted something a little different, the Joe line offered me the flexibility to make it happen.

Today, the Celtic Boar is just a relic of my childhood.  The 1987 grey Iceberg weapons sits in a plastic sandwich baggie with some Sgt. Rock bazookas, Corps! rifles and other, oddball accessories that had accumulated in my collection by the mid 1990's.  Every now and then, I'll see it and am reminded of the adventures which centered around the weapon.  But, neither that weapon nor the original from the 1986 Iceberg retain any real place of importance in my collection.  But, that's OK.  It allows me to remember some fun times.  The dark green carpet of my bedroom remains vivid in my memory.  I can still recall the placement and color of all the furniture in that room, even though it's been 35 years since it existed.  Things like the Celtic Boar remain mnemonic devices to help cement the memories of the mundane.  Just writing out this profile reminded me of various parts combinations who comprised the figures of the various smuggling cartels.  

The upside to the 1987 Battle Gear is that the weapon coloring wasn't terrible...at least for some of the weapons.  This Iceberg rifle is dark grey.  It really doesn't mesh with Iceberg due to this color.  But, the grey is far better for other figures than the white version from Iceberg.  Other weapons in this set that feature the grey color are the 1986 Viper rifle (which quickly found itself with the Motor Viper) and the Beach Head machine gun.  There were some pistols, too, which also found themselves being used by the various bad guys.  There was also brown gear.  Some of this was nice.  And, I used the Leatherneck gear with the Mission to Brazil figure as it both fit and allowed me to give the 1986 a grey Leatherneck rifle that I thought looked great with him.  There's some weird cream colored gear, too.  In the grand scheme of things, the weapons in this set were about as useful as those from other years.  But, the greys, of which this Iceberg rifle is a part, are about the most useful, non-original color that gear like this could use.

Battle Gear weapons remain among the least desired and cheapest accessories to acquire.  You are starting to see 1983 Battle Gear parts gain some appreciation in price just due to their similarity to the originals.  And, for many collectors, these weapons remain a useful way to augment their gearless figures from 1982 and 1983.  There are a few, select parts from later sets that have some popularity.  And, the fact that many of the 1984 and 1985 pieces are useful with factory customs from Red Laser's Army has made some of the helmets and oddly colored visors more desired than their contemporaries.  Generally, though, you can still get these pieces cheaply.  Since the colors tend to clash with their intended figures and not really integrate with other releases of their time, though, most of the gear will never really have the desirability of original pieces.  The legacy of Battle Gear is that it was an innovative concept that probably helped kids get more weapons and assisted parents and relatives who wanted to give a cheap gift.  But, the odd colors and weapon choices left the concept as one that was underutilized and could have been better executed.