My Favorite Accessories - Part 2

Part 1 of this series looked at my favorite weapons from childhood.  This time around, I'll be looking at some of the gear that really drove my second phase of collecting.  This period, technically, covers 1988 through 1997.  During that time, I only was able to find a few figures.  So, you're going to see a cross section of accessories.  And, a few classic items will be missing because, while they were released during this period, I didn't acquire them until 1998 or later.  Some of these items appeared in my early teen years when I wasn't collecting or buying Joes, but my youngest brother still was.  So, the limited exposure to them made them loom larger than they otherwise might have.

Early Adult Favorites:

1. Duke/Stalker/Others MP-5 inspired rifle

As I returned to Joe collecting in the mid 1990's, I spent most of my time tracking down the remnants of the line at various retail stores.  Among the first figures I found was the 1993 Duke.  This is a solid figure.  But, the main source of interest in him was the "new" weapons on his tree.  While I was passingly familiar with Muskrat's shotgun (someday I'll tell that story...), the other weapons were ones I had never before seen.  As far as I was concerned, they were completely new sculpts.  It was the MP-5 inspired weapon that piqued my interest, though.  It looked great with Duke.  It was somehow both compact and large.  This was accomplished by having the overall footprint be small while giving the weapon a larger barrel.  I turned this into a story element.  These newer weapons became "Generation 4" weapons.  They were more powerful and could carry more ammo than earlier weapon designs.  As they were new, they were limited to only the highest ranking Joes.  Eventually, Cobra got some and gave them to elite troopers, too.  As I got more and more 1993 and 1994 figures, the weapons became less special.  And, with more colors in tow, the MP-5 like weapon became one of my favorite standards across my Joes.

Even today, this is my favorite weapon to use with 1993 and 1994 figures.  It exists in a plethora of colors...some rarer than others.  But, you can get it in black, gold, yellow, purple and other colors with a bit of looking around.  It remains one of my key weapons.  And, I'll always pick up a new one if the price is right.  I have unfulfilled plans of being able to outfit the entire 1993 carded lineup with these weapons for a photo at some point.  I'm not quite there on the right number of them in my collection, yet, though.

2. Annihilator Pistol

I first saw this weapon at the home of some family friends who had some younger children.  I remember it being awesome.  Around 1995 or 1996, I found my first Annihilator at a flea market in southern Ohio.  I picked him up for the rifle.  Once in hand, it reminded me of the awesome weapons from G.I. Joe #36 back in 1985.  In short order, I bought as many Annihilators as I could find.  The figure was "new" to me and I loved the portable helicopter.  I saw them as the airborne division of the Alley Vipers and they made up a key ingredient in my early notion of Cobra urban death squads.  With plenty of his weapons in hand, I had them available for use with any other figure I wanted.

And, with them in hand, my fascination with the weapon ended.  It was difficult to make the weapon look good with other figures.  And, it was a bit bigger than I had remembered.  It was less of a one handed pistol and more of a two handed weapon that switched up my notion of the weapon's versatility.  I still find it the necessary weapon for Annihilators.  But, I've long since sold off my army of that figure.  I have a couple of spares of the weapon, though, still hanging around.  I'll use them with another figure from time to time.  I do need to get a photo of it in the hands of a Fred to mimic that old comic.  

3. Hit & Run  Rifle

This one is a bit of a cheat.  I actually did own Hit and Run when I was a kid.  I bought three 1988 figures before I quit toys.  And, Hit and Run was one of them.  I immediately fell in love with his rifle.  But, I didn't to use it very often as I left  my Hit and Run hanging on a wall at my grandparents' house shortly after I got him.  Once the figure was recovered, though, my Joes were put away.  So, it was on rare occasion when I'd get them out.  Inevitably, Hit and Run would be among the figures chosen, though.  Part of it was the sheer quality of the figure.  Part was his amazing rope & grappling hook bag.  And, the final piece was his rifle.  Everything about it seemed perfect.  It had a long clip to store extra ammo.  It was compact enough to be used in close quarters.  And, the figures just held it perfectly.  I wanted to use it with pretty much every one of my favorite figures during this time.  But, I had just one sample with no way to acquire more.

That changed in the mid 1990's as weapon trees began to proliferate.  The real joy was finding extra samples of this rifle being included on weapon trees of 1993 and 1994 figures.  With this discovery, I was able to acquire an excellent rifle in a variety of colors.  As the weapon was my preferred rifle for the 1994 Shipwreck, I came to see it as a standard rifle used by all sorts of Joe themed army builders.  So, having it in cream with Snow Storm and even red with Outback allowed some consistency on the weapons used by the troops who supported the Joes.  Note that this weapon is often confused with the 1992 Shockwave rifle.  They are similar, but not the same.  Also, some late run 1994 figures featured the rifle but with a blocked out trigger guard.  Those aren't bad.  But, I do prefer the original design.

Now the rifle is ubiquitous.  And, I had so many of them that it's become a bit passe.  But, the early 2000's brought some weapons into the mainstream to a point where they started to get stale.  Hit and Run's weapon was one of them.  And, while I still love it, I don't see it as the staple for every figure as I once envisioned nearly 30 years ago.  But, I do still find uses for it and you'll see it being carried by other figures in some photos around the site.

4. Bullhorn's Mask

My youngest brother got a Bullhorn in 1990.  I believe he was  the only 1990 figure that we ever had.  While his rifle was amazing and everyone still goes ga-ga over his weapon case backpack, I found the real value in him was his gas mask.  I love gas masks.  And, as a kid, I lamented that the only ones you could get were either Ripcord's airmask or Lifeline's rescue mask.  I gave them to pilots, troopers navigating gassed caves and just to anyone I wanted to look cool.  But, they had limitations (like the hose you had to plug in for it to look good) and always left me wanting more.

Bullhorn's mask, though, solved this problem.  It was a self contained piece and was sculpted with the air filter right on it.  When placed on the figure's head, Bullhorn could be a faceless army builder.  I now had a way for more figures to be outfitted with protective masks.  Unfortunately, though, the specific design of Bullhorn's mask made it so that it was form fitted for Bullhorn's head.  And, that made it difficult or impossible to really use the mask with a variety of other figures.  And, this limited the mask's use.  But, the overall design still works.  I've since found Bullhorn to be a more boring figure than I'd remembered.  The mask, though, overcomes this and keeps the figure relevant to me.  I just wish it was a little more flexible for use on a wider variety of figures.

5. Spearhead's Rifle

I do not know how this weapon entered into our collection.  We never had a 1988 Spearhead.  But, at some point, his rifle appeared among our toys.  It was likely left by one of my brother's friends.  As soon as I saw it, though, the rifle simply enthralled me.  Mostly, this was because it was new.  But, also, the rifle featured a couple of key design elements that I found among the cooler features of Joe accessories.  First, it had a bayonet.  But, we'll talk more about this, later.  The second, and more important feature, was the strap.  I had long loved strapped weapons.  They allowed your figure to carry their weapon without having to always be holding it in their hand.  I never like my Joes climbing a rope if they didn't have a strap on their gun because it wasn't realistic to just have their weapon magically appear at the top if they didn't have a means to carry it.  It's weird what unrealistic elements bothered me when I was a kid and which didn't affect me at all.

Back to the bayonet, though.  While I really liked bayonets, the piece on Salvo's rifle made the weapons footprint rather large.  And, at some point in the early 1990's, I wanted a knife for some figure.  The bayonet on Salvo's rifle was of sufficient size to work as a knife for a figure.  So, since the weapon wasn't key to any complete figure in my collection, I snipped off the bayonet and gave the knife to someone.  The paired down rifle was then smaller and looked even better with the figures to whom I gave it.  At various points, I've found the snipped bayonet and wondered who's knife it was.  Usually, I then remember that I cut this off from the original weapon.  I'm 99% sure that the bayonet is still sitting in a plastic baggie of superfluous edged weapons stored in a shoebox in the basement closet.  And, you'll see the snipped version of the rifle in a photo below.

In the early 1990's, I gave this weapon that mysteriously appeared in our home to a figure who also had a similar origin: Salvo.  I don't know where Salvo came from.  And, our figure just had the helmet.  So, it was another likely leave behind from some unknown friend of my brother.  But, Salvo and Spearhead's gun just seemed to mesh.  And, without having Salvo's real accessories, it made sense for him to have this borrowed weapon.  So, between 1991, or so, and 1999, Salvo always carried Spearhead's rifle.  In fact, if you can find really old Salvo photos on the site, you'll see him carrying it.  To this day, I more associate Spearhead's rifle with Salvo than I do with Spearhead.  But, that's because Salvo is an awesome figure and Spearhead is...not.

Really, these were the dark days of Joe.  I didn't collect for several years.  And, when I got back into things, I was chasing the dregs of the line at retail while also scouring out the not ready for primetime flea market scene that define the pre-internet days.  You didn't find a lot of Joes back then.  And, those that you did find were often those from my childhood years.  Meaning they were figures I already owned.  So, it was hard to find items I didn't have already.  

There were many more, better accessories that were released in this time.  But, I didn't really acquire them until my collector phase began in earnest around 1998.  We'll explore those in the final installment in a few months.  Until then, though, what are some of your favorite accessories from this time?  Let me know in the comments below.

1994 Shipwreck

In many ways, I'm an odd collector.  Mostly, it's due to the fact that my primary interest in Joe all revolves around the toys.  Specifically, the action figures.  While I enjoyed the comic and watched the cartoon when I was a kid, I often found them at odds with the actual toys that were on the shelves.  I liked the toys for what they could be.  And, while I incorporated aspects of the comic and cartoon into my little Joe world, it was the flexibility of the actual toys that kept me around and brought many amazing things to life.  As such, after I had long aged out of toys and become and "adult" collector, I found myself at odds with many other collectors who got stuck on little continuity gaffes or character changes.  They allowed little things like Shipwreck now being a Navy SEAL overshadow the fact that, in 1994, Hasbro made the single best diver figure in the entire Joe line.  I didn't mind that it was Shipwreck.  I was just enamored with an amazing feat of design.

Shipwreck was one of the earliest figures I found when I started buying up the remnants of the Joe line in 1995 or so.  The instant I saw him, I knew he was a figure I had to own.  He featured classic colors, accessories that I recognized and a removable air mask that plugged into his chest.  He was everything I had ever hoped that Wet Suit or Torpedo would be.  He was among the earlier figures I managed to find.  And, when I found a second one at a Toys R Us over near Cincinnati, I immediately bought it so I had two of the figures in my collection.  

With Shipwreck in my possession, I played out adventures in my mind.  I thought back to how I would have used him when I was younger.  But, the real memory I have of him is thinking of him as secret guardians of an underwater prison where the Joes kept all their Cobra POW's.  Here, no one would know about Cobra.  And, any attempt at escape would implode the whole structure since it was so deep underwater.  Cobras would be transferred to the location in the Shark 9000 and then taken down to the airlock entrance where they would be placed inside.  Once they were entombed, the Joes didn't care what happened.  The civilization inside the structure could have been a horror of cannibalistic tribes or a bastion of culture and learning.  The idea was inspired by a forgotten Ray Liotta movie of that era where he was on an island prison and had to escape.

I imagined the Shipwrecks having to fight off Eels who were exploring the area, hoping to find the reason why so many Joe ocean going voyages stopped at this location.  Here, Eels would spear the divers in the air tanks, blowing them up.  Or, they'd sneak up behind them and pull off their masks, leaving the poor diver to asphyxiate since they were down too deep to get to the surface in time to breathe.  The Shipwreck figures stabbed more than one Eel with their giant knife.  So, the terrible deaths suffered at depths in the ocean were equally distributed among good and bad guys.  

As the 1990's turned to the 2000's, Shipwreck started to appear in my photos.  He was among the figure profiles on this site.  And, I tried to use him in various scenes whenever I could.  As I tried to photograph him, though, the limitations of him being only a diver became apparent.  I hate the figure without his air mask.  But, having him wearing the mask while he's on land, shooting at Cobras is a pathetic call back to a full wet suit Torpedo appearing on scaffolding of the U.S. Treasury back in issue #16 of the Marvel comic.  So, I began to use the figure less and less.  Even the times when I attempted to get him in the water backfired.  And, it was rare to get an actual good shot of him.  

So, the figure fell a bit out of favor.  I didn't use him nearly as often as I would have thought back in 1996 or so.  Partly, this was due to the massive influx of new figures into my collection.  The other part is that it can be tough to use divers in an aquatic setting.  I have one set of underwater photos, taken with a disposable camera in the summer of 2000.  After that, though, I had to settle for above water photos taken on puddles or rain water.  A few of them turned out nicely.  Others have elements I like, but were ultimate disappointments that weren't able to effectively communicate just how amazing this Shipwreck figure actually is.

I still have a good contingent of this figure in my collection.  I viewed him as a Joe army builder for many years.  The hidden face and lack of exposed skin made this an easy decision.  This figure was, actually, the pinnacle of my Joe army builders for a bit.  He was the first "Special Commission" commando.  This meant that the trooper had multiple advanced skills such as being a deep water diver, pilot or environmental specialty in addition to their peak combat training.  These were the guys who were just one mission away from becoming full fledged Joes.  Still, most didn't make it.  But, they were more capable than any other of the supporting troops who assisted the Joes.

Shipwreck's gear was among my favorites of the late retail run.  First, his mask plugs into his chest.  This alleviates the need for a backpack and makes the figure more self contained.   When I first acquired Shipwreck, I thought this design element debuted with him.  But, Hasbro had first used it on the 1990 Undertow: a figure I didn't know existed at the time.  The "new to me" aspect, made the mask even more useful, though.  After that, Shipwreck's weapon tree is well done.  Being cast in black plastic was always a plus.  The tree included a knife and rifle from Hit and Run, a Bullhorn rifle and a Shockwave pistol.  There are 2 stand alone flippers with the figure as well as the requisite battle stand and black missiles that fit into the grey spring loaded launcher.  

Shipwreck has some variants.  The visible difference is that the figure will either have the straps on the figure's upper arms painted black or not be painted at all.  The figure will also feature Country of Origin (COO) stamps of either China or Indonesia.  All the Chinese figures have the black straps painted.  While some Indonesian figures have the straps painted and others do not.  In addition, there is a variant on Shipwreck's "Hit and Run" rifle.  Some of them will have open trigger guards.  Others will have filled in trigger guards.  I do not have a breakdown of which COO's should include which weapon.  From the samples I've seen, the blocked out trigger guard weapons seem to be included with the Indonesia COO figures.  I remember my 2nd retail Shipwreck including the occluded trigger guard and wondering why the change the was made.

Shipwreck is also very prone to discoloration.  Be mindful of this when you search out figures.  The figure should be a solid grey.  If the figure is discolored, you'll see tinges of yellow in the grey coloring.  Many 1994 figures don't discolor evenly.  So, that makes it easy to spot arms or a chest piece that's starting to turn.  But, some will have full figure discoloration.  There are unscrupulous dealers out there who will try to pass off these discolored figures as variants.  And, on a figure like Shipwreck where there are known variants, it can get confusing.  (Especially since the 2002 Shipwreck uses nearly the exact same coloring and is often mistaken for a variant rather than a new version.)  So, watch the colors and be sure of what the figure should look like.

This Shipwreck mold got a bit of use.  There are the two paint variants that were released in 1994.  Then, in 1998, Hasbro produced the figure in aqua blue and black for an amazing repaint in their Navy SEAL team set that was exclusive to Toys R Us.  In 2002, Hasbro used the mold again for the Internet exclusive Wave V pack.  Unfortunately, this release was barely a repaint of the 1994 figure and uses the same grey base and black highlights.  You don't need both the 2002 and the 1994.  And, the fact that the 2002 figure is almost always yellowed really makes the 1994 a better option.  The mold was then retired and never appeared again.  Shipwreck appeared on the box art for the unproduced Battle Station that was to be released in 1995.  So, he would have carried over.  The box artwork shows Shipwreck in a unique pose.  His coloring is difficult to make out.  But, it appears to be the same as the 1994 figure.  So, we don't really know if Shipwreck's 1995 release would have been a full repaint, slight repaint or just a straight re-release of the 1994.  It's unfortunate that we never got to find out.

1994 Shipwreck figures were cheap for a long time.  Into the early 2010's, you could get carded figures for under $10.  That is no longer the case.  Mint and complete figures sell in the $25-$30 range.  Dealers will actually sell some for $45.  Which is really odd as carded figures still only top out around $50.  Collectors have finally realized that 1994 figures exist in lower quantities than prior years.  So, you're seeing price corrections come around.  They probably have swung too far as the market still hasn't recovered from the pandemic highs...mostly due to hoarding and the fact that most collectors don't need to sell right now.  Regardless, I find this figure worth the price.  But, I also have an attachment to him that many other collectors of my age would lack.  I'm not sure I'd pay his current pricing knowing that the Battle Corps figures are far more common than the 1994 subsets.  And, it is those subsets that seem to be the spear that drove all 1994's to overpriced highs during the early 2020's.  Shipwreck is one of the first figures I'd choose if I had to rebuild my collection, though.  So, he's worth a hard look any time you come across one.

1994 Action Soldier

If you were a kid in the late 1970's to late 1980's, you played with little green army men. Frankly, they probably pre-date the '70's and were available much later than the '80's.  The figures feature recognizable poses that haven't changed in decades and were a staple of grocery stores, discount outlets and other terrible retail options that existed before the large corporate conglomerates put them all out of business.  They are the lens through which many kids were introduced to the military and combat play.  You can convincingly argue that the 1982 Joe line was nothing more than a drastic update on the cheap plastic army guys every kid had.  But, it brought pose-ability, removable weapons and vehicles to the fold.  

Starting in 1983, though, Joe moved beyond these humble roots and made the line memorable with the addition of visually striking characters that made the line more than just a bunch of green toys sitting in a shoebox.  For the next dozen years, the Joe line evolved and really embraced the notion that it was a super hero trope set on a military base.  As the line died in 1994, though, Hasbro took one final stab at the line's most basic toy roots.  It released a set of 5 figures based on the 12 inch Joe figures from the 1960's.  The 30th Anniversary figures brought an out of place visual to a line with standard articulation.  The result is a set of figures that collectors mostly ignore while, simultaneously, praising them for their design, realism and overall quality.  The five figures in the 30th Anniversary line are the: Action Marine, Sailor, Pilot, Astronaut (only available in the boxed set) and the subject of this profile, the Soldier.  

The Action Soldier is, arguably,  the most basic figure in the set.  He's uninspiring and relatively bland.  But, that's exactly what he's supposed to be.  And, for that reason, the figure really works as a nameless Grunt who served in the U.S. military at some point after World War II but before Vietnam.  He has the standard green uniform.  His helmet hearkens back to the early days of the "modern" army.  He has some basic straps and pouches.  But, they aren't overdone.  He's even got two grenades on his torso.  He might be the most perfect representation of a basic soldier in the entire vintage Joe line.  But, that's part of the reason why he hasn't caught on in the collecting world.  The Joe line is about the characters: especially for the good guys.  And, having someone with no characterization leads to a figure that doesn't have a lot of uses.

In the late 1990's, I got on an Action Series figure kick.  They were cheap and pretty easy to acquire.  So, in short order, I bought a bunch of boxed figures (loose figures were pretty much impossible to find) and opened them up.  Once in hand, the Action Series figures were about everything I expected them to be.  They looked great, had cool gear and fit rather well with my later run Joe figures that were my obsession at the time.  I bought extras and...just flamed out.  The figures quickly lost their cachet.  I'm not really sure why.  To this day, I have the boxes from those early figures...most with the accessories still packed inside.  I even have several boxed figures sitting in a closet in the basement.  I planned to open them.  But, never got around to it and, still, don't really have any reason to add to my current, small army.  

And, this is where I get stuck.  Visually, these figures are great.  Having some basic soldiers around your base to do the dirty work seems like a great idea.  But, once in hand, the figures just seem...off.  If you've been around the community a long time, you might remember an early dio-story called Warfare.  The creator used the Action Series figures rather effectively.  But, IIRC, he still only had two or three of them.  There simply wasn't much need for more.  And, I think that's the main reason why I haven't been keen to army build any more of them.  Aesthetically, they are out of place among the strong characters of the Joe line.  More importantly, though, there's just better options.  I'd rather have four Law figures guarding the jail in my HQ than 4 Action Soldier...even if the Soldiers make a lot more sense.  

In looking through my photos over the past two+ decades, I don't use the Action Soldier all that often.  A few of them got sliced to ribbons by Overkill back in 2003.  And, I've used them as background fodder in many Joseph Colton photos.  But, beyond that, they're not all that common of an appearance.  I've tried in many instances to incorporate them into various scenes.  I just find them hard to do so.  Were they more in scale with the 1982/1983 figures, I think it would be easier.  Stylistically, they match up well with the 1993 and 1994 series of figures.  But, color-wise and design-wise, they are a mismatch for those more updated figure sculpts.  So, you're left with a figure stuck in between the two extremes of Joe release years.  That doesn't diminish the quality of the figure.  But, it's proven a hindrance for me to actually use him in any meaningful setting.

The Action Soldier was released two ways: as an individually boxed figure and as an included member in the 5 figure boxed set.  The main differences are that the boxed figures include brown accessories and the boxed set figures feature black accessories.  The filecards from each set have different pictures on them.  And, finally, there are variants in the way the serial numbers are painted on the figure's feet.  (For my eyes, it was really tough to make out the number on the yellow painted number against the green background.  The black background with green numbers was better.)  I'm not clear if the serial number paint variants were tied to the gift set or the individually boxed figures.  But, it's something to be looked for.  I do find it amazing that this set, commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the entire G.I. Joe brand is, itself, now 30 years old.  Somehow, the figures in this set don't seem anywhere near as old as 1960's era G.I. Joes did back in 1994.  But, that's just a function of my age and I'm sure those 12" collectors who went bonkers over this set back then, when they were in their 40's, aren't thrilled to be reminded of how much more time has passed.

Around 1998 or so, a bizarre series of keychain figures appeared at various retailers around the country.  These used the 1994 Action Series figure molds and were fully articulated.  They didn't include any accessories.  But, did have a loop to which the keychain could be attached.  The single figures were pretty cheap upon their release.  And, they were colored just like the original Hasbro figures.  However, there is also a boxed set of 4 keychain figures that feature some exclusive colors.  The Pilot is blue and yellow.  The Marine features a tan base with black cammo.  And, the Soldier is done in a very dark green with a new paint mask on his helmet with the letters MP on it.  It's a nice repaint of the soldier.  It's just too bad it's in a poor quality keychain set.  The keychains were pretty common and cheap for a long time.  But, it's been over 25 years since they debuted (however, they did pop up at different times and in different stores in later years) so I'm no longer sure if they are findable.

Hasbro did a top notch job on the Action Soldier.  While somewhat mundane, the figure still features an quality aesthetic that has been lost in the post vintage Joe releases.  He features at least 6 colors to break up the base green of his body.  The belt and boots are slightly different hues.  And, little things like his canteen cap and the golden "H" on his belt buckle also get unique paint details.  (The "H" is a great callback to the 1982 series.)  Precision paint masks like these were mostly absent from the basic 1994 line.  So, the premium price tag did come with more amenities than just an expanded accessory complement.  Hasbro put a lot of effort into this guy.  And, that quality remains today.

One of the fun things about these these anniversary figures being individually numbered is that it gives some sense of production numbers.  We know that, in general, production for 1994 figures was way lower than previous years.  And, some of the late run figures (notably, the second series Star Brigade) saw incredibly truncated runs as the line was cancelled out from under them.  In my small collection, I have numbers ranging from 20,000 something all the way up to 122,000 something.  I do wonder if key numbers were pulled back and given to Hasbro people and VIPs at the time.  But, if there's more than 100K of each of these figures, it could be that the cheap prices are just a function of the fact that Hasbro produced a boat-load of them and the massive overproduction still hasn't worked itself through the collecting world.  Hasbro put a lot of faith in adult collectors of the day buying these figures up for nostalgic reasons.  And, to be fair, a lot of older collectors who grew up in the '60's and early '70's did just that.  But, as these weren't really something they loved, these figures were also part of the mass liquidations you'd see from older 12" collectors during the late 1990's through the early 2010's  Guys had to reduce the size of their collections and stuff that wasn't meaningful to them got dumped...often for pennies on the dollar.

As mentioned above, the Action Soldier has variants in the colors of his accessories.  But, both release mechanisms included the same actual gear pieces.  The Soldier includes a green backpack that is defined by the shovel descending from the bottom.  Both variants included the same color pack.  But, the Action Marine included the same pack in a different shade of green.  So, you will see the packs confused from time to time.  But, the green that more closely matches the Soldier's base color is the correct pack for him.  The Soldier then includes a rifle, pistol (originally from the 1988 Shockwave), knife and a wall set along with the standard missile firing accessory that was mandatory on all late releases.  This gear can be black or brown.  The wall is in three pieces and includes a mount for the Soldier's rifle.  It's a great little accessory and one that's incredibly useful in setting up displays and staging photos.  You'll see a black wall in various photos throughout this site as a testament to its utility.  

The extra gear was the hook to get people to pay more for the figures back in 1994.  The suggested retail price on this figures was a whopping $7.99!  Nearly triple the Battle Corps figures of the era.  But, these were marketed as premium pieces for adult collectors.  So, the collecting tax we pay today for collecting themed releases has origins at least 30 years ago.  You could find the figures for cheaper at Wal Mart, especially as they aged on the shelves.  I'm not sure if the deluxe gear was worth the substantial price increase.  But, Hasbro put a lot of effort into the figures in an attempt to see if adult collectors could breathe a final bit of life into the 3 3/4" inch line at retail.  Sadly, like the other gimmicks of the era, though, it failed and the Joe line was pretty much dead after the July 4th holiday in 1994.

While each Action Soldier is individually numbered, the reality is that they were never hard to find.  For the first decade of so of the online collector market, you could buy all the boxed Action Soldiers you wanted for about the same price as you would have paid at retail for the figure in 1994.  Even after that, boxed figures were available for about $10 well into the early 2020's.  Now, they're still only about $20 figures if they are still boxed.  Dealers only ask about $25 in the supply starved market.  So, despite the quality and usefulness of the figure, no one really wants it.  So, this is still a figure that can be used to build up armies.  But, collectors have been saying that for decades, now and no one has really done it.  I myself burned out after about three of them back in the days when I bought anything and everything.  The Action Soldier is just one of those figures who had great quality but can never quite break through the collecting zeitgeist to fulfill his potential.

1994 Shadow Ninja Night Creeper

Shadow Ninjas are one of those ideas that seems great in a marketing room.  As a design challenge, it was probably a lot of fun to work on.  But, as an end product, the final result is a toy that's fun for about 5 minutes before you break it.  And, that's not a recipe for success.  And, collectors have responded to the Shadow Ninjas concept in kind.  As all other 1994 G.I. Joe figures see a strong uptick in popularity through the years, Shadow Ninjas remain the forgotten stepchild of the genre.  There is little content on them out there and the figures almost never appear in photos or dioramas.  Their backstory allows for some story telling.  But, it has never caught on with the community, even as concepts like Ninja Force have found more acceptance.  Of the figures in the subset, the Shadow Ninja Night Creeper probably makes the most sense.  

The 1993 Night Creeper sculpt is pretty solid.  It's a look that didn't really exist in the Cobra world prior to his appearance.  I have a soft spot for the 1993 debut of this figure.  I'll tell that story when I profile him.  This Shadow Ninja version, has less going for him.  But, the gimmick that gives the Shadow Ninja name is also the detail the deprives the 1994 release of the vibrant colors that spark the joy like the 1993 figure.  Still, the overall colors on the 1994 figure aren't terrible.  The purplish/pink torso and arms are bright.  But, they fit with the motif of the figure.  And, they are not too far removed from the 1993 colors and that allows a bit of cohesion between them.  The greyish-white pants can make the figure look dirty or discolored.  But, when in the right state, they are a nice complement for the torso.

The real issue with the Shadow Ninja figures is that they are overly brittle.  The figures' thumbs might as well be made of glass for how easily they will snap off.  All of the Shadow Ninjas suffer from this.  And, as their accessories are also made of incredibly hard plastic, it's even easier to snap a thumb just by putting the first accessory into the figure's hands.  It's becoming harder and harder to find unbroken, loose Shadow Ninja figures.  You'll often find nicely conditioned and complete figures, but with broken thumbs.  (Look carefully at the thumbs, too, as even intact pieces usually have cracks already forming due to accessory use.)  It's an affliction that's caused by the design and materials used to make the figures.  So, the only real solution is extreme care or simply not using accessories at all.

The main gimmick of the Shadow Ninjas is that they will turn color in heat and cold.  This was the selling point for the figures and justified the higher than normal price tag.  Today, the gimmick still works on most figures.  You will see large quantities of Shadow Ninjas, though, that are very white or a dull grey.  You'll even see it on carded figures.  You can often recharge the color by putting the figure in the freezer for a while.  But, even this tends to be fleeting.  (Note that the figure's elbows and shoulder joints will remain white, a function of them being designed for stress  when the figure moves.  All of these parts are meant to be white and are not discolored.)  Zartan's color changing as driven by the sun is a better gimmick.  And, it's likely the color change plastic that's the cause of the brittleness in the figures.  But, the differently colored figures you see out there aren't variants.  They're just figures stuck in various phases of their color change.

In speaking to the gimmick, though, the color changing schtick wasn't widely loved.  The Shadow Ninjas were among the last figures from the vintage run that you could find at retail: lasting well into 1996 in most areas.  The high price point wasn't enough to really justify the gimmick.  And, kids and parents bought up the alternate Joe choices long before the Shadow Ninjas were considered.  As the Shadow Ninjas hit clearance prices, many of the early toy store scalpers started buying them: hoping for future riches.  This is how you'd find large lots of them for nearly nothing at various comic book stores and scalp kiosks at the flea market during the 2000's.  Even then, though, collectors mostly ignored them and it took decades for the stock to finally be absorbed in any significant way.

Speaking of accessories, the Night Creeper is well equipped.  He includes the same weapons tree from 1993 figure.  It's a large complement of weapons, far more than he can hold.  But, all the weapons are well done.  The Shadow Ninja weapons are all made of a super brittle translucent plastic.  So, fine details like those on the Night Creeper's bow will snap with just a bit of pressure.  All told, the Night Creeper includes two swords, two knives, the aforementioned bow, a sickle and a stand.  It's good gear that works with the figure.  (If you look at the 1993 Night Creeper card art, though, it seems he was originally intended to include the accessory tree from the 1993 Slice.)  The swords work nicely without being too big and the Night Creeper's bow is a good call back to the debut of the character in 1990.  You can tie a string to the sickle.  I've done that with a 1993 version and used it like that since I acquired it back in the mid 1990's.

The real question is what do you do with Shadow Ninja figures?  For me, most of them are gimmicks.  But, the Night Creeper works within the context of the stealth idea.  I see Night Creepers exactly as advertised in terms of being an independent group who works for Cobra.  I though, see them as joining with Cobra Commander much earlier in the Cobra timeline.  Cobra likely started in the mid to late '70's in order to grow into the organization we were introduced to in 1982.  In the early days, Cobra Commander had to work with hired mercenaries.  But, he could not yet afford the best.  We saw some of these anonymous early Cobras in the first issues of the comic.  I also see, though, foreign characters like the Cobra De Aco and Cobra Mortal being part of these early days.  As Cobra grew and had greater resources, Cobra Commander could afford the services of Destro, Firefly, Zartan and others.  But, he had the problem of the early leaders who were still around.

As noted in the comic, it's likely that more than a few of these other Cobra leaders eliminated themselves through battlefield ineptitude as the Joe team got more involved.  But, as they were early members of the Cobra command, they likely had access to highly sensitive information about Cobra operations, funding and personnel.  So, the Commander had to have them all killed.  This is where I see the early incarnations of the Night Creepers coming aboard.  They would have been among those the Commander hired to take out some of the hangers-on from the organizations earliest days.  I see the Night Creepers of that era being pre-cursors to Zartan who possessed some advanced stealth technology.  The 1994 Night Creeper is the result.  And, with their suits obscuring them, they were able to specifically kill the Cobra Mortal.  

From here, I'm open to interpretation.  I could see the Commander hiring a young Zartan to take out the Night Creepers and this is where he got his holographic technology.  This would then leave open the possibility that the Night Creepers the Commander sought out nearly a decade later were a different group.  Perhaps one that found the remnants of the original group, re-organized it and turned it into something far bigger and more powerful.  Of course, this reeks of the over dependence upon a single event that revolves around the Snake Eyes story.  So, at some point, I'll have to refine the story down into something less derivative.  But, the notion of these Night Creepers disposing of the Cobra Mortal is one aspect I want to keep.  Someone had to kill all those early Cobra leaders who never appeared again.  These Night Creepers are as good as anyone to be responsible.

This Night Creeper sculpt debuted in 1993 and got the Shadow Ninja repaint in 1994.  It then permanently disappeared.  While many other Ninja Force parts returned in both the Street Fighter Movie and Mortal Kombat Movie lines, Night Creeper was not among them.  There are some foreign carded variants where you can get unique card art for the Shadow Ninja Night Creeper.  (The Shadow Ninjas are the only time that generic card art was used in the US and specific card art was used in other countries.  1993 Star Brigade got generic card artwork, but never got a foreign upgrade.)  In the 2000's, Hasbro dusted off the Ninja Force Stormshadow and Slice molds.  It would have been nice to see a repainted Night Creeper, too.  Done in original colors or some other design, the mold might have been well received.  But, the 1990 Night Creeper was a better choice and Hasbro only repainted it in 1998 and 2004.  So, you can't really fault them for the decision to go that route.

For years, Shadow Ninjas could be purchased in bulk.  Lots of 4-10 MOC figures would sell for a couple of bucks per figure.  You'd get random samplings and figures like Night Creeper were pretty easy to find.  Slowly, though, the dealers who bought those lots split them into single offerings.  The collectors who bought them sold off the doubles in either smaller lots or as individuals.  Even in 2016, you could buy most of the Shadow Ninjas for under $20 MOC and could find them with ease.  But, in the post 2018 Joe world, even carded Shadow Ninjas have started to disappear.  And, with them, the few high quality loose samples have followed.  The upside is that, when you find them, you'll pay about the same for a carded figure as a loose, mint and complete figure.  At around $25 for each, that's not a small outlay for a gimmick figure.  Left to open pricing, though, loose Shadow Ninja Night Creepers will sell for $12 or so.  But, it might take months before you see one that isn't discolored or broken.  

Like all 1993 and 1994 figures, the vast loose quantities of figures that sat unsold on Ebay for years are mostly gone.  If you're a completist, the hunt might be a challenge to keep you interested for a while.  As a collector, one Shadow Ninja is really all you need to understand the gimmick.  In this case, the 1993 Night Creeper is superior to the Shadow Ninja version.  But, the translucent figure has a bit of charm that is fun to mix with the original release.  In that vein, the figure has some value.  I'm far more forgiving of figures like this now than I was back when they were on retail pegs.  A big part of that is that, back then, they were all I had available to buy.  Now, as something different from the thousands of other Joe figures that have been released and are readily available, the Shadow Ninjas are a fun diversion.  Your mileage may vary.  But, I recommend looking into at least one of the figures for something to break the monotony of the standard Ninja Force designs.

1994 Star Brigade Sci Fi

1994 Star Brigade has long been one of my collecting focuses.  Back in 1999, when this site started, I was about the only person to talk about Star Brigade in any capacity beyond pure vitriolic hatred.  In the twenty five years since, though, collector attitudes about Star Brigade have softened.  And, more importantly, the low production numbers for the 1994 series have proven frustrating for collectors who attempt to finish their vintage Joe runs.  Nowadays, some 1994 Star Brigade figures will break triple digits.  Their oddity and scarcity driving an upswing in popularity.  Not all figures are caught up in that wave, though.  This 1994 Sci Fi remains relatively inexpensive for the modern collector.  But, that price is not indicative of the figure's quality as the 1994 Sci Fi features excellent sculpting, fun colors and a cadre of accessories that would have been fantastic for kids of the day.

There were two waves of 1994 Star Brigade figures.  The second wave, containing the Lunartix aliens, Countdown, Ozone and Effects saw the lower production run.  And, in the early days of Joe collecting, the aliens secured a morbid curiosity among collectors who would buy carded versions just to have due to the perceived rarity.  The first series, though, probably didn't see much of an increase in production run over the second wave.  But, it was generally held in low regard by Joe collectors of the late 1990's and early 2000's.  The figures in that wave, though, were excellent.  Blackstar, Cobra Commander, Duke, Spaceshot and this Sci Fi were all either entirely new or mostly newly sculpted parts.  Payload and Roadblock were repaints and carry over characters from the 1993 series.  But, they all combined into a visually distinctive wave of figures that showed a considerable investment by Hasbro as the Joe line was slowly diminishing at retail.

This Sci Fi might be the most impressive of the new, non alien, sculpts for the Star Brigade series.  (I'll accept arguments on this point, though.)  He features a textured space suit that is overlaid with an armored chest.  His head is surrounded by a collar that is a perfect fit for the figure's helmet.  It's a vast improvement of the idea that was introduced with the 1983 Ace figure.  The left arm has a sculpted hand cannon.  And, there's enough other details to provide the necessary heft to really view this figure as an astronaut.  

Around 1992 or so, Hasbro got wind that their competitor, Kenner, was looking to bring back their Star Wars line.  Joe had bested Star Wars before.  But, much of that could be contributed to the ending of the original trilogy as well as general retail fatigue.  The Joe team of the time wasn't too keen on being beaten in the marketplace they now dominated.  So, Star Brigade came to be.  If you look at Star Brigade, you see lots of Star Wars like elements.  Spaceshot is, basically, Han Solo.  This Sci Fi features a lot of elements borrowed from Boba Fett.  The most apparent is the arm mounted gatling cannon.  Aside from the absurdity of this weapon (where would the ammo be stored?!?) it's a fun callback to Fett.  The figure even has chest armor that is similar to Fett's.  Hasbro even introduced aliens as a way to broaden the scope and compete directly with the denizens of Jabba's Palace or the Cantina.

My main interaction with this figure only came as an adult collector.  I got hooked on 1994 Star Brigade early in my collecting days and quickly found carded versions of the entire set.  Back then, loose Star Brigade figures were nearly impossible to find.  But, as I was still paying well under $5 for a carded figures, it was worth it to just open up any extras I acquired.  (This is how I got Countdown and Ozone.)  I didn't get a loose Sci Fi until the early 2000's.  And, that version wasn't in great condition and only had the helmet.  Only recently have I picked up a high quality version of the 1994 Sci Fi.  And, he's great.  I don't really have a ton of ways to use the figure right now.  But, he's good to have around and I'll surely have him out flying a helicopter or something as the weather turns warmer.

Sci Fi's accessories are pretty good.  His helmet may be the best piece.  It's two fused pieces of plastic that give an hard grey top and back with a pinkish face shield that features triangular ridges that obscure Sci Fi's face but also give the helmet great depth.  His base weapon is a black version of Cold Front's pistol.  The large size, though, works in the space context, though.  Sci Fi's pack is an interesting contraption.  It's large and bulky.  It has two arms that provide additional gear.  One side is a sculpted gun that's reminiscent of the arms from Payload.  The other side is the spring loaded missile launcher.  The launcher has a peg that fits into the pack's side to prevent it from moving.  You can take the peg out and then move the launcher up and down.  The pack also has a hook sculpted to the top of it.  This hook was compatible with Sci Fi's remaining gear.  He also included a rope and two "weights" that were hooks to connect to toys, furniture or other items that would give Sci Fi a zip line feature.  The pack could slide across the rope.  Stupid little things like this were greatly appreciated by childhood me.  And, their inclusion is a fun reminder that the 1994 Joes were toys first that were meant to be enjoyed by kids.

This Sci Fi mold has some history.  Which is not common for sculpts that debuted in 1994.  While the figure's head was recycled from the 1991 and 1993 Sci Fi figures, the rest of the body was new.  For some reason, Sci Fi appeared in the Funskool line.  I'm not sure why he's be chosen over other newly sculpted 1994 figures.  But, the Funskool Sci Fi is very similar to the U.S. version.  There are some obscure and hard to find Funskool variants.  But, in general, they are all similar enough to this 1994 U.S. figure that only the most attentive collectors would really notice the difference in a photo or display.  I'd have loved to have seen a full rehash of the 1994 Star Brigade line in India.  But, getting Sci Fi, Countdown, TARGAT and Ozone was a nice bonus.  As a fun aside, Sci Fi's helmet was recolored and included with the Funskool Metal Head figure.  You wouldn't think this helmet would work on Metal Head.  But, it does.  Sadly, that Metal Head is hard to find today.  But, the helmet on, he works as a new Cobra Star Brigade member.

Gone are the days of cheap Sci Fi figures.  While you could easily get a carded version of this figure for $10 as recently as a decade ago, the general scarcity of the 1994 Star Brigade series has caught up with Sci Fi, too.  While he's not a $100 figure like Roadblock or Ozone, dealers routinely get $40-$50 for mint, loose and complete versions.  This seems odd since you can still buy carded figures in the $50-$60 range.  Left to his own devices, though, Sci Fi tends to top out around $25...leaving him one of the cheaper 1994 Star Brigade figures.  This is likely a function of the similar Funskool figure being so available and relatively cheap, too.  Collectors have options to get Sci Fi.  For $20, he's not a bad figure.  I love Star Brigade, so I tend to be overly enthusiastic about the figure quality.  But, if you want Sci Fi as the laser rifle trooper, the 1991 and even 1993 figures are better.  (Though, not really much cheaper.)  But, this Sci Fi shows much of what was possible with the Joe line in later years and the sculpting and colors really work to create a fun combat astronaut.  If you find value in that specialty, this is a figure for you.  If not, well, there's lots of other Sci Fis to fill your needs.

1994 Beach Head

One of the reasons I maintain this site and write voluminous amounts of words about G.I. Joe is that it also serves as a means to preserve memories.  When I first started doing this, it had only been three years since I had last bought vintage Joes at retail.  My childhood playing days were only slightly more than a decade removed.  Memories were fresh and vibrant.  So, I started to write them down.  In the twenty years since, many of those memories have faded away.  But, since I had recorded some of them, my recollections of earlier days proved a mnemonic device to help keep some things recallable.  But, some details are now lost to time forever.  I can tell you for sure that I picked up a 1994 Beach Head at retail sometime after 1994.  I am no longer certain, though, if I also found the 1993.  I know that the color differences on Snow Storm were enough for me to realize that two figures were different versions.  But, I no longer remember if I found the 1993 Beach Head at retail.  Even my review of that figure from 21 years ago makes no mention of my first acquisition.  I am certain of my 1994 figure, though.  But, we'll get to that detail later.

One oddball relic of my 1990's collecting days is that I never really got around to properly sorting all the boxes, cardbacks and paperwork that were included in various retail purchases.  As I was still in school at the time, I didn't have room for everything and only kept the boxes from the Shark 9000 and the Cobra Parasite.  Into these boxes, though, I stashed the full cardback of every figure I bought at retail.  I had kept filecards as a kid and still had them around.  But, but the mid 1990's, I realized that I missed out on the full cardbacks.  (There was one, random, full Torpedo cardback that was in a cabinet behind the bar in our basement.  I don't know why.  It was probably there for more than a decade before I got around to rescuing it.)  It was not a mistake I'd make a second time and I kept all of my 1990's era figure cardbacks fully intact and stored them in the Parasite box.  At various points, I took them out of that box and put them into another.  But, the stack of those cardbacks was maintained and not co-mingled with other, later acquisitions.  This has given me a decent record of which figures I bought at retail during that time.  (Though, not all of them as several cardbacks from 1992 and 1993 did disappear: likely as inadvertent additions to a trash pile.)  These figures are complete with price tags which help me place them into various acquisition spaces.

It is here that I am assured of my 1994 Beach Head.  First, I recall the yellow vest.  It was something difficult to reconcile at the time. (As were the yellow weapons.)  But, once I found a niche for the figure, he then worked.  I also have the cardback for the figure stashed among my other acquisitions of that era.  And, it is the 1994 cardback.  I'm pretty sure I found him at a Toys R Us near Cincinnati, OH back when I frequented a couple of stores in the northern suburbs.  Regardless, though, the yellow vested version of this figure was my first exposure to the mold and became a player in my small collection of the mid 1990's.  

The centerpiece of my 1990's collection was the Shark 9000.  For some reason, I was interested in both maritime combat as well as underwater adventures.  Finding the boat at a local K-Mart for 1/2 price certainly helped that, though.  My initial crew for the Shark 9000 was standardized.  The included Cutter was at the helm.  The 1993 Keel Haul was in the command seat and controlled the on board combat operations.  The 1994 Shipwreck took the third seat and was the onboard combat diver.  (He might also hide away in the torpedo hold if the 1993 Duke needed to be aboard for any reason.)  The 1994 Dial Tone manned the gunner's position in the turret.  I needed my gunners to be able to communicate and I really liked removable helmets for them.  The crew was completed by the two side gunners.  One, on the helm's side, was Ice Cream Soldier.  The other side was home to this Beach Head.  I didn't like how shallow the gunner's stations were, so I always bent the figure's knees to get them closer to the weapons they operated.

From here, the Beach Head was a nameless, faceless gunner.  He's often die, hit by stray bullets from the more deft Moray gunners.  Sometimes, he'd be able to clear out the back of the Moray and prevent a cadre of Eels from going overboard to cause havoc.  But, more often than not, he was the anonymous casualty of a battle.  A guy who had a job and died doing it.  During the mid 1990's, angst was the word of the generation.  But, personally, I saw it more as futility.  You could work hard, be successful and still have it all not matter.  And, that's how I viewed most of the guys who fought Cobra.  They'd fight hard, die quickly and be forgotten and replaced by another person without the Joes giving it a thought.  I explored that expendable human life notion quite a bit in those days.  And, even today, I'm left with struggles about the the insignificance of a single person.  I even think about old Joe collectors who dominated some early forums and discussion places and have since passed on.  With one exception, I'm about the only one who remembers their names and contributions.  

Today, though, this figure isn't much used.  I prefer the 1993 paint job and will use it when I want a rendition of later figures to be the subject of a photo.  So, aside from photos specifically for this profile or a later photo feature, this 1994 Beach Head is rarely used.  Had my Shark 9000 held up to the heat better, I'd probably have it on display with this figure among the crew.  Instead, the multiples I have of this yellow vested figure sit in a drawer, awaiting the time when I need them.  At some point, I'm going to resuscitate my Hovercraft and that will, likely, open up more avenues for photos with this figure.  Until then, he sits tucked away in a closet with the rest of my collection that rarely sees the light of day.

The one upside to the 1994 Beach Head is that he includes the same weapons as the 1993.  The same was not true of the 1994 Alley Viper, the only other full repaint in the 1st wave of 1994 figures.  Sadly, though, Beach Head's weapons aren't great.  They are bright yellow and include an eclectic assortment of weapons.  There is a 1988 Spearhead rifle, sans the strap, as the centerpiece weapon.  Then, he includes the weird double pistol from the 1989 Recoil that simply never made any sense.  He has the requisite 1988 Shockwave Pistol along with a knife, spring loaded launcher, missiles and a stand.  With the yellow vest, this Beach Head is better matched to his weapons.  But, today, black versions of the 1986 Beach Head machine gun are cheap and easy to find.  And, this figure looks much better with that and a black V1 Beach Head backpack than he does any of his included gear.

Beach Head is a mostly new mold.  He features the legs from the 1988 Shockwave: just reversed.  This mold appeared in 1993 and then got this repaint in 1994.  Right after this, the mold was sent to Brazil.  There, Armadilha was released.  This was a new Cobra character that used the 1993 Beach Head mold.  The colors are similar to the Hasbro version from 1993.  But, they are different when compared.  (Check out my profile on Armadilha to see the difference.)  The figure probably works better as a Cobra.  But, the colors are so close to the Hasbro release that it's tough for me to see them as different characters.  For those who don't much care for the 1993 Beach Head figure, though, that may be less of an issue.  While it's a near certainty that Hasbro had the mold during the 2000's, it was never used.  Even the Convention Shockwave was given legs so Hasbro didn't have to look for this mold.  While there's a lot that could have been done to make this mold pop in terms of alternate color schemes, the reality is that it made no sense to force this as Beach Head when the superior 1986 mold was available.  While I'd have loved to have seen this figure repainted, I would have been about the only one and three uses for it are good enough...even if they are all very similar.

For many years, I considered this yellow vested Beach Head figure somewhat rare.  This was entirely driven by the fact that in 1999, I was corresponding with an influential collector and dealer.  He had been active through all of Joe's late retail years and possessed an amazing collection.  Yet, he did not have a yellow Beach Head.  I'm not sure why.  But, it was one of the final figures he needed.  At the time, carded 1994 figures could be somewhat difficult to track down.  So, I had my feelings of rarity reinforced by observation bias.  Even as the figure started to appear with frequency in later years, I held steadfast to the notion that this was a "rare" retail figure.

And, to be frank, he kind of is.  While not rare by any means, the 1994 repaints seem to be less prevalent than other 1994 figures.  And, 1994, in historical terms, probably saw the lowest retail production numbers of any Joe year.  Collectors, though, regarded the 1994 series with ranges of hatred to complete indifference.  So, the figures remained available and cheap (especially MOC) through the 2000's and into the 2010's.  But, in the last few years, supplies have started to dry up and collectors are finally seeing the downstream effects of the low production numbers.

That hasn't, though, translated to super high prices.  While it can still take a while to find a mint and complete 1994 Beach Head, you can buy them for under $15 when they do appear.  In fact, it seems the more common 1993 figure is the more desirable and commands a premium while the 1994 is relatively ignored.  Even carded versions, when you can find them, run under $40.  Considering the lower production runs of 1994, that's probably a pretty good deal.  But, with the market crumbling, it will be interesting to see if the skyrocketing prices of 1993 and 1994 figures are able to sustain themselves or if they will fall back into historical norms due to the fewer collectors who specialize in them.