2022 SDCC Carded Skystriker Figures

I was really hoping these figures would be released on the old resealable bubble cards that were used for convention figures.  You'll have to tear up the cards to get a set of loose figures, which is what I'm after.  So, that kind of sucks for loose collectors.  

The artwork on the never before carded figures looks pretty weak, though.  It's similar to the fan art inspired stuff we see on Super7 cards.  It's definitely lost the feel of the vintage work.  It's just a bunch of guys (and one girl) standing around.  Meh.  These will definitely look out of place among either vintage carded figures and even the 2022 releases that were based on the standard vintage artwork.

But, these will resell for stupid amounts.  I'm guessing over $300 easy for the Cobra Commander, maybe higher if the vintage market hasn't cratered by the time this is released.  But, man, is his artwork weak.  It's really amazing how much the Ripcord artwork (which is based on the vintage) stands out among the rest of the statues.

Haslab Skystriker - Funded!

So, on 12/6, the Rancor failed.  Despite a strong last minute surge, it still fell about 500 backers short.  Instantely, this lead to doom and gloom among the Joe groups that the Skystriker was sure to fail, too.  And, at about 85% heading into the final day, it was kind of a possibility.  But, as we neared 12 hours before the funding deadline, the backers suddenly surged.  Over 600 Skystrikers were backed in under an hour.  And, the next hour saw over 400 more.  Slowly, the counter climbed over 98%, over 99%.  And, then, it stopped.  There was a major Amazon Web Services outage on this day.  And, the counter got stuck at 9924.  

But, after a while, it jumped and the Skystriker was fully funded with about 8 hours to go.  From there, the numbers continued to climb.  Historically, about 2/3 of the orders for a Haslab are placed in the final 2 days.  But, the failure of the Rancor and the quick funding of the Ghostbusters Pack put some of that historical context in doubt.  The various Joe forums were full of gloom about the Skystriker's fate.  More collectors than you would think took up a schadenfreude approach and took glee in the impending doom.  But, as the numbers rose, those posts and comments started to disappear.  For a moment some of the toxicity of Joe fandom was beaten back in shared accomplishment that will bring some desired toys to the collecting world.

Now, the Skystriker is happening.  It's the most ambitious Joe toy since at least 2005 and, maybe, since 1993.  It's also a telling milestone.  We know that vintage style Joes are making some kind of a return in 2022 for the 40th Anniversary of the line.  To see a flagship toy get produced by a collector base that's still firmly stuck in the "wait for Ross" mentality gives me hope that a retail Joe line will get a little more of a marketing nudge than it might otherwise have.

Around 3 hours away from the funding mark, the Skystriker passed the Scarlett tier of 13,000 units backed.  This means that pilot Scarlett will be made and it makes this Haslab a better than retail cost proposition.  In the last 90 minutes of the campaign, though, there was a final surge.  And, the Skystriker's final number was 16,784 units backed.  This meant that not only was Scarlett unlocked, but Ripcord, too.  So, the final product will include 7 figures, the plane and the deck vehicles.  Not too bad when you consider what the aftermarket pricing on the figures will be.

In the end, 12/7 was as much fun as February 15th, 2002: the date that the internet exclusive Wave V debuted at online retailers and the entire Joe world was united in their desire to get them and the frustrations as ambiguity set in.  Days like that are rare in the Joe world.  Nearly 20 years between two dates is a lot.  But, for now, there's something to be happy about in regards to Joe.  When those two huge boxes show up at my door sometime in 2023, though, we'll see how the happiness lasts as I try to explain $500 in toy airplanes to my wife.

HasLab Skystriker

I will preface with the fact that I am not a big fan of HasLab.  In general, it's a way for Hasbro to overcharge for a toy and assume absolutely minimal risk.  They take our money, sit on it for a year or more and then ship out an overpriced toy.  The upside to it is that you do get some offerings that would never be supported at retail.  But, paying $250 for an item that would sell for under $100 at a retail store is a tough pill to swallow.  The collectible toy market, though, is in a place where people are both willing and able to overspend for items that they want.  Hasbro realized this and is capitalizing on it.  I can't blame them.  I don't like it.  Yet, I'm about to drop $230 for the latest HasLab offering, the Skystriker.

I'm not a huge Skystriker fan.  While the plane looks great, the reality is that it's large, difficult to play with and takes up a huge footprint on display.  Despite all that, it does look amazing on display.  And, this new version (to ship in 2023!!!!) is only meant as a display piece.  It includes a stand.  But, everything about it is meant not as a toy but a piece of decor for an office, rec room or other such place in a collector's home.  Again, I'm not big on that.  I love Joe because they are toys.  

For me, though, the real value is in the figures.  The initial backing includes two figures: a rehash of the 1983 Ace and an all new co-pilot figure.

Ace figures are neither hard to find nor expensive.  So, I would have liked something on his paint apps to set him apart from the original.  But, as an homage piece, anything other than the original Ace coloring would have seemed out of place.  It's certain that these figures will be all new sculpts, likely based on the originals.  The real gem, though, is the co-pilot figure.  Not yet named, this mold is light years ahead of the new ARAH-style pieces Hasbro tried to scupt in the 2000's.  He has Ripcord's head.  So, it's tough to see him as anyone except Ripcord.  But, the chest looks pretty good.  I do not like the painted faces.  They look weird and are easy to chip and rub, even just in storage.  And, helmets, like the co-pilots, wreak havoc on painted faces.  So, I do hope that's something that changes prior to production.

Hasbro has to sell 10,000 of these for the Skystriker and the 2 figures to happen.  That is all but a certainty to happen.  Beyond that, though, Hasbro went ahead and revealed three other tiers right off the bat.  And, I will say that it's good that they did.  With just the plane and 2 figures, I would have been hesitant.  But, the possibility of 6 figures makes me all in.

The first tier figure is a flight suit Scarlett.  Coming available at 13,000 units, she is also all but guaranteed to be released.  It's an odd figure, Scarlett in Ace's flightsuit.  But, it's something different and the coloring isn't something you've really seen in the Joe line.  And, she'll be $80+ within a year of this thing's release.

The next tier brings us Ripcord.  At 16,000 backers, I'd put Ripcord at about 90% certainty to happen.  This is supposed to be a "Night Force" Ripcord.  As my friend RTG said, this figure looks like an early 2000's custom figure.  But, it is Ripcord.  And, fans have been clamoring for a new Ripcord since the early 2000's.  The figure is relatively bland.  But, the parachute rig really helps him.  Not being Duke also really helps him.  And, again, this is going to be an expensive aftermarket purchase.

The final tier brings us the army builders of this project.  For the first time ever, Hasbro is making flight crew.  The yellow and red figures are nothing special.  But, also something that every USS Flagg owner will love.  You see the re-use of the Ripcord legs and arms.  But, they appear to have new chests and heads.  The digital renderings kind of make them look like CORPS! figures.  But, I suspect they'll be decent enough.  And, considering their role, will fit perfectly for their intended purpose.

The Skystriker also includes a re-fueling and ammo vehicle.  Again, this is a little something extra that's sure to spur rumours of a HasLab Flagg is the Skystriker does well.  The vehicles are pretty cool.  Joe has always needed a missile rack to carry around re-loads for aircraft.  And the fuel vehicle is also something that's useful outside of the deck of an aircraft carrier.  For the money, that's a nice add on.

Below are more pictures of the Skystriker from the Hasbro promo images.  For $230, this thing is expensive.  But, it's also a reseller's dream.  The vehicles will recoup some money.  But, the figures alone are guaranteed to be at least $300 or more on the aftermarket.  And, the plane itself will sell for a premium.  That's why I think this will reach the 18,000 backers without issue.  While there aren't a ton of Joe fans, there are enough.  And, many people will buy two of these.  The resellers will pounce, too.  And, speculators know that HasLab's like this tend to appreciate pretty well.

In the end, this Skystriker was a surprise.  It's a low risk offering that's sure to find a market.  While not my choice, it's also fine and something I'm going to buy.  That's the first time I've said that about a high dollar Hasbro item in decades.  Let me know your thoughts on the Skystriker in the comments.

1997 Ace

As a kid, I loved pilot figures.  Most of this was holdover from my obsession with Star Wars and the Rebel pilots attacking the Death Star.  The problem, though, was that the Joe pilots of the 1980's left me wanting more.  The original Ace was cool.  But, I had long lost his helmet before my mania over pilots really set in.  Slipstream simply didn't work.  And, Lift Ticket was too specific to his chopper.  I tried Airtight.  But, that didn't seem right.  What I really wanted was a pilot with a removable helmet and an air mask.  You know, like every pilot in every military movie that was produced in the 1980's.  But, it never happened during my childhood.  Only after I was long out of Joe, in 1992, did Hasbro produce the near perfect fighter pilot figure.  This figure was a version of the classic Ace character.  But, it had the removable helmet, flight suit and air mask that I had always wanted as a kid.  I felt I missed out on a figure that would have driven a large part of my childhood adventures.  But, I was also grateful that the 1992 Ace existed.  In 1997, Hasbro resurrected the mold, painted it in a more drab color scheme and offered the 1997 Ace, one of their best pilot figures ever created.

This 1997 Ace is nicely colored but also somewhat lacking.  In 1992, neither Ace's chest details nor the overall straps were painted.  In 1993, Ace was given an upgrade.  Here, his flashlight and pouches were painted to showcase the details on his chest.  But, the overall straps were left the same color as the rest of the figure.  This 1997 figure finally paints the shoulder straps and buckles.  It's a great detail that helps break up the color on the top of the figure's torso.  But, the chest details are left unpainted.  The perfect Ace would have had both the straps and chest gear highlighted.  So, the figure is still imperfect.  And, it seems like a waste to make new paint masks for the straps and buckles but not use the 1993 chest details, too.

The main difference between the 1993 Ace and this 1997 figure is the color of the green used as his body base.  The 1997 figure is far more brown and drab.  He's dark enough that the green highlights tend to be lost.  The 1993 figure is much more vibrant and visually distinctive.  While the photos below show the color contrasts on the 1997 Ace figure, they do tend to be more muted when looked at in less than ideal light.  The biggest issue with the figure is that, with his helmet on, he loses the contrast of his skin and hair color.  The helmet is just one color with no paint.  As it matches Ace's body color, the figure blends together into a brownish green mass.  Were the goggles painted (as they were on every other release of the helmet), this figure would appear far more distinctive when the helmet is worn.  

 Ace's gear is OK.  Gone is the sidearm that was a selling point of the 1992 and 1993 figure.  One odd point about this Ace is that his air mask pretty much always has white stress marks on the plastic.  This is a relic of how the figure was packaged.  But, finding a real 1997 mask with no stress marks is difficult...if not impossible.  Ace's helmet was not painted at all.  The 1992 and 1993 figures featured painted goggles and helped make the helmet a selling point of the figure.  With this 1997 helmet on, Ace appears unfinished.  Having goggles the same brown as the rest of the helmet seems cheap.  And, it makes it so this Ace actually looks better without his helmet than with it.

Back in 1997, I was blase about the newly released Joes.  I first found them in December of that year.  But, at the time, Hasbro's Star Wars line was in its full glory.  New figures were showing up every six weeks or so.  And, as 1997 turned to 1998, Hasbro improved the quality of their Star Wars sculpts, fixed many availability issues and offered collectors characters and outfits that had never before been imagined.  So, when it came time to divvy up my collecting dollars, Star Wars got the bulk of them.  The 1997 Joes seemed expensive since you could get vintage versions of the toys and figures for the same or, in some cases, even lower than retail prices.  There was no reason to drop $25 for a retail Thunderbolt with Ace and Hawk when I could spend the same money and get a vintage Rattler: often with Wild Weasel and maybe a gunner.  

At the time, though, 1992 and 1993 Ace figures weren't easy to find.  (The 1992 figure would become ubiquitous in 1999, though, after the Hasbro Canada find put tons of bagged versions into circulation.)  Despite that, the repainted figure wasn't enough of an enticement for me to buy a Thunderbolt.  As the 1992 and 1993 figures entered into my collection, my need for a 1997 diminished.  I did acquire one, though, as part of a lot in early 2001.  Once in hand, I warmed to the Ace figure.  While it wasn't as good as the 1993, it was good to have a version that was close enough and featured the softer plastic of the 1997 releases.  

From there, the 1997 figure slowly became an army builder.  Ace flew my A-10 for a while.  But, his ideal home was among the smaller aircraft that joined my collection in the 1990's.  Here, Ace found himself at the helm of underwhelming planes.  But, it was these types of flying machines that defined my childhood more than something like the Skystriker.  So, it was a place of importance for the figure.  In the years since, though, this figure has taken a backseat to the 1993 Ace.  I like the brighter colors better and just find it a better figure for photography than this 1997 release.  But, just because a mold has a better color scheme doesn't mean the current one is bad.  And, that's the case with this 1997 figure.  He can be the best Ace in a collection but still not the best Ace figure available.

This Ace sculpt debuted in 1992.  It was quickly repainted in 1993.  In 1995, the body mold appeared on the Street Fighter Movie Paratrooper Guile figure.  This orange and green figure included a new head, but did feature the standard helmet and mask.  This 1997 was the final full usage of the mold.  In 2003, though, Hasbro produced a Slipstream figure that used a new head and a modified Ace body mold.  The coloring was solid.  But, the head was terrible and the modifications to the figure's body rendered future offerings of Ace moot.  This is too bad as the figure would have used a 1983 color scheme update, and still had life for a Sky Patrol or Night Force paint job, too.  

1997 Aces are an odd duck to price.  Too many of them sell for $50+ from various dealers.  Many non-Joe specific dealers, mistake the figure for something undesirable and sell him cheaper.  You have to be quick, though.  Left to his own devices, a mint and complete 1997 Ace runs between $20 and $25.  That's more than double his packmate of the 1997 Hawk: showing Ace's popularity since that Hawk is a nicely done figure, too.  But, seeing as how 1993 Aces (the best use of the mold) are now $35 figures and even the 1992 figure scratches $30, this is the cheapest alternative collectors have for this Ace mold.  And, that's really too bad as this figure sculpt is amazing and every collector should have a shot at it.

1998 Ace - Around The Web

Ace was the Joe Team's original fighter pilot.  His white and red uniform defines the character.  But, in 1998, Hasbro updated the figure with a darker color palette and the result is a release that has since become rather sought after.  The grey and black 1998 Ace is a perfect Night Force pilot.  But, he's also so well done with intricate paint applications and colors that he works better than the original figure in all but a handful of use cases.  Here's the best of the 1998 Ace from around the web.

1998 Ace Profile

1998 Ace by Slipstream80

1998 Ace by yotothejoe

1998 Ace by ironman3719

1998 Ace at JoeADay.com

1998 Ace by Slipstream80 02

1998 Ace by yotothejoe 02

1993 Ace - Around The Web

The 1992 Ace was an amazing update to the classic G.I. Joe pilot.  But, his more obscure 1993 repaint was actually done in better colors and remains the pinnacle paint job for this mold.  The olive green, black and gold makes for a great combat pilot.  And, the helmet and air mask fit well to make Ace both useful in and out of the cockpit.  Due to the unpopularity of the Ghoststriker with which Ace was included, the figure is somewhat hard to find these days and you don't see him around like you probably should.  Here's the best of him from around the web.

1993 Ace Profile

Ace by Soundwave

Ace Pre Production at YoJoe.com

Toy Fair Ghost Striker F-16 Presentation at JoeADay.com

1983 Ace - Around The Web

I first got Ace for my 10th birthday.  He immediately became a favorite...to the point I lost his helmet twice in the first week I owned him since I took him everywhere.  Both times, I found the helmet and Ace continued to be a key part of my youth.  Eventually, Ace morphed from a pilot into a deep sea diver.  But, time took its toll and Ace faded away: replaced by better pilot figures.  There's a decent amount of content on Ace out there.  So, here's what I found around the web.

1983 Ace Profile

Ace at Toys From the Past

Ace by Flint

Ace at Joe A Day

Ace at 3DJoes.com

Ace By The Michael Mercy

Ace Pre Production at YoJoe.com

Rarities - DeSimone Convention Figures

In the 1990's, there were G.I. Joe conventions.  They were, largely, the bastion of 12' Joe collectors.  But, Hasbro was often in attendance and offered merchandise to help support the endeavors.  One such promotion was the DeSimone convention figures.  James DeSimone was a prominent collector of the day who is best known for his guidebooks on 3 3/4 Joes that were released in the '90's.  At one point, he created some convention "exclusive" figures for sale at the various 1990's era conventions.

Hasbro offered DeSimone overstock of a few mail away figures which DeSimone then handpainted with store bought materials to create some exclusive figures.  His first two endeavors were the Police Officer and Race Car Ace.

Race Car Ace is nothing more than a repainted 1983 Ace figure.  He came with a handcrafted race car.  The idea was definitely rooted in the exploits of the 12' Joe mythos when he became less military and more adventurer.  The Ace figure isn't particularly noteworthy and modern customizers would cringe at the quality as you can see in the photo below.

The second figure was the Police Officer.  This figure is noteworthy because DeSimone used overstock Starduster figures to make his customs.  Seeing high quality Stardusters selling for over $100 in modern times makes it hard to fathom that there was once overstock of the figures.  But, DeSimone got some and painted them up.  The result, like the Ace, isn't stellar.  But, it was something different for the time.

The most famous figure, though, is the convention Infiltrate Jinx.  This figure is popular as DeSimone included it in his guidebooks.  Jinx stepped up the production in that she included a card.  Hasbro "sanctioned" the figure, for what that's worth.  But, it is also known that if you were willing to pay market price, you could still have an "official" convention Jinx made by DeSimone himself after the conventions.  Jinx has two variants, a blue Cobra logo or a black Cobra logo.  The logo colors differentiated when you acquired the figure.  Collectors don't seem to place any particular desirability of one color over the other any more, though.

Today, these figures are expensive.  They can command a few hundred dollars.  But, authentication is tough as anyone could make one with relative ease and there is no way to verify that any figure is the real deal or a later reproduction.  So, buyer beware with these items.  In the end, they are glorified customs.  (As are all non Hasbro produced convention "exclusives".)  So, you're paying a lot for something that's easily forged.  The figures are part of Joe history.  But, they are too sketchy for me to ever spend any money on.

Diorama - Eel In Training

We had a bit of early winter rain.  Overnight, it turned cold and the ground water froze.  We then got a light dusting of snow.  I liked the idea of Arctic training for the Eels and thought of having them break through the ice.  Rather than attacking the Joes, I turned the table and had the Joe surprise the trainees.  I was hoping to get some better photos of Airborne.  But, none of those turned out.  The plan was to use the pics for a Duke profile, too.  But, I only ended up getting his back.  Still, this was a fun set to set up and take as the weather wasn't too bad, but the setting made it look like it was.

1993 Ace

Ace is an iconic character in Joe lore.  His original figure is one of the most distinctive looks from the line's original years.  He featured a futuristic design that was integrated with his Skystriker's colors.  It was a nearly perfect blend of figure and vehicle.  However, as the line progressed, the pilot figures did not substantially improve.  Slipstream, Ghostrider, Dogfight and Windmill were all poor figures in comparison to Ace in terms of looking like pilots.  In 1992, however, Hasbro created a new design for Ace that had the look of a more traditional fighter pilot.  Unfortunately, the figure was colored more like a Cobra than a Joe since he was all blue.  In 1993, though, Hasbro repainted the figure in a olive drab color scheme that gave collectors a figure that I find to be the definitive pilot of the vintage line.

By and large, this Ace still has faults.  Many of the details on the mold are unpainted.  The flight suit appears to be overly bland except for the black band and gold highlights.  The figure definitely suffers from the lack of paint applications that plagued the line's final years.  But, the overall package still works quite well.  The mold is incredibly detailed, but not too bulky.  Ace's neck is painted red and that adds a splash of color to the figure that brings some needed depth without overwhelming the figure.  The helmet and mask are a great accessory combo.  The helmet even features gold paint on the goggles for a more solid design.  The fact that they plug into the flight suit only adds to this figure's overall quality.  You have a completely self contained pilot that features flight gear that at least borders on normal.  The figure also includes the "Low Light" uzi that first appeared in 1986.  I always liked it when pilots included pistols.  I don't really know why, but it adds dimension of danger to them and allows you to use them as more than just a figure sitting in the cockpit of a jet.

As a character, though, I can only use the V1 figure as Ace.  That is the iconic look for Ace and, to me, is the only look I can envision as the character.  But, this figure is simply too good not to use in some capacity.  As such, I see this figure either as an updated Slipstream or Ghostrider rather than Ace.  I have also used this figure as a generic pilot in certain cases.  So, I find use for the figure: just not as Ace.  The main problem I have, though, is that while this figure looks great in the Dragonfly, his mold is a bit larger than the early figures and it does not fit.  He is a perfect match for the Razor Blade helipcopter.  But, the larger size does somewhat limit this figure's use in early vehicles.

This Ace mold got its share of use.  After the vintage figures in 1992 and 1993, the mold was used again in 1997 in the Toys R Us exclusive figure offerings.  The body was resurrected in 2003 and used for the Slipstream figure included with the Conquest.  (This figure, those featured a new head.)  It has yet to appear after that.  However, when you consider that both this and the 1992 figure are fairly good and that the 2003 figure gives a body color that creates another look for Ace, this mold is probably played out.  I would love to see a new take someday that really uses paint applications to show off the mold's details.  But, I don't think that will ever happen at this point.

This Ace is hard to find.  Unlike Cutter, Nitro Viper and Windchill, this Ace was never available as an overstock figure.  (The 1992 Ace figures, though, were widely distributed as overstock and were even available from Hasbro Canada until 1999.)  The only way to get Ace was with the Ghostriker X-16 jet.  As such, this figure isn't the easiest to track down.  But, for whatever reason, collectors have never warmed up to this version of the character.  As such, a mint and complete with filecard version of Ace will run between $12-$15 even to this day.  Considering the figure's scarcity and his overall quality, that's a pretty good deal.

1998 Ace

The 1997 Toys R Us exclusive Joe releases were much maligned at the time.  Collectors weren't overly fond of them and the online sentiment against them was great.  By 1998, some of the vitriol had subsided.  The '98 TRU exclusives, though, seemed to have taken some of the criticism from 1997 and used that as a guide in designing the second year of the figures.  The result is that the 1998's are, by and large, much more collector friendly with solid molds, muted, realistic colors, excellent accessories and useful characters.  Of course, the majority of collector time was spend on the Cobra Infantry Team.  But, if you dig deeper into the vehicle drivers from 1998, you find that they are all extremely well done updates to some classic molds.  The pilot of the 1998 Conquest, Ace, is no exception.

My reality in 1998 was that I was buying all the figure three packs that I wanted.  But, I avoided the vehicles.  At the time, I was living in an apartment and space was at a premium.  I wasn't to the point in Joe collecting where I was trying to complete the series.  Mostly, I was building my figure collection with the items that were most available, were most desirable to me and took up the least amount of space.  At the time, vintage Stingers were readily available, the MOBAT sucks and I still had my childhood Conquest.  As such, I passed on the TRU vehicles.

By 2001, I regretted this decision.  I was a completist by then and wanted every figure from the vintage and modern re-release lines.  By that time, figures from 1997 and 1998 had become both scarce and expensive.  But, through trades and good luck, I was able to fill the gaps and acquire all the figures from those years.  Ace was one of the final figures I added to my collection.  He was an afterthought since I was more interested in repaints of the 1992 Ace mold at the time.    But, once I had the figure in my collection, I realized how well done he really was.  The subtle grey and black were a great look for the mold and really gave Ace something that his original figure was missing.

This version of Ace is convention quality.  Hasbro really started skimping on the ARAH style figure paint applications when they took the line to full retail.  But, the TRU figures are detailed to nearly the same level as vintage figures.  Ace has a nice dark grey base that is a stark contrast to the white uniform from the vintage figure.  He is accentuated with black, silver and gold highlights.  These make him look like more of a pilot as the metallic colors better fit the detailed hoses and buckles of the mold.  The most interesting feature, though, is the silver band that runs around the base of Ace's helmet coupler.  It breaks up the huge ring to which the helmet attaches and gives Ace's flight suit substantially more depth.  It now looks like Ace's garb is actually multi-layered rather than one, continuous piece of clothing.  This was how Hasbro should have approached all of their ARAH style re-releases.  Using different colors and paint applications to showcase molds in new and exciting ways.  In the cases where they took this approach, the results are figures on par or even surpassing the vintage releases.

The 1998 TRU 3-figure packs had at least three, distinct production runs: one in late 1998 ahead of the holidays, one in the summer of 1999 as a refresh for all the Star Wars Episode I toys that were starting to back up on the shelves, and a final run right before the holidays in 1999 that were designed to give holiday shoppers more than just Oktober Guard and Seal Team pegwarmers.  I do not, though, know if the vehicles also saw three separate production runs.  For the most part, the vehicles were pegwarmers and sold very slowly.  So, it's possible that there was just the one run.  Based on the scarcity with which the vehicles appear on the secondary market in relation to the figure three packs, I would say that it's unlikely the vehicles saw additional production runs.  This, of course, explains the relative scarcity of all the 1998 vehicle drivers.

The Ace mold has been used just twice: once in 1983 and again in 1998.  The 1983 figure, though, was available as a mail away for years and the mold was likely in production long after the Skystriker was gone from retail shelves.  Ace was not released in any foreign exclusive design, even though his aircraft was.  After 1998, the mold did not appear in any of the ARAH themed fighter jets or aircraft.  Basically, it just fell into obscurity.  It's possible that this mold is available.  But, having 2 top notch repaints of Ace is all I need.

If you have looked for this figure recently, you would be surprised at how frustratingly unavailable he is.  This version of Ace has gotten rather difficult to find.  As such, in 2012, loose, mint and complete with filecard figures sold anywhere between $35 and $70!  The $70 price tag was a bit ridiculous, though, as you could purchase a MIB Conquest for that price plus a little more shipping.  But, it shows that this figure has some popularity.  But, Joe line historians can recall a time not too long ago when 1998 Vypra figures never sold below $60.  Now, they routinely sell for under half that amount.  Like the Vypra, Ace is a figure many collectors missed.  In their zeal to get a sample, one or two people likely overpaid and hysteria set in.  The result is that the figure is currently priced at his zenith and, over the next couple of years, you will see prices fall back to more reasonable levels.  Ace will still be tough to find, just not as expensive.  Personally, I could not justify this type of price tag for this figure.  He is a welcome addition to my collection and my preferred version of the mold.  But, paying even $20 for him would seem like overkill.  But, based on his rarity, this is likely a price that is sustainable and, did I not own the figure, be the target at which I would feel comfortable adding him to my collection.

1983 Ace

Back in 1983, every boy in my class wanted the Skystriker. It was the holy grail of the day. More than the Headquarters or the MOBAT, the Skystriker was the one toy everyone wanted. One of the few benefits to having a birthday 10 days before Christmas was that I always got at least one major present for the holiday season a week and half before everyone else. In 1983, that present was the Skystriker. I was the first in my class to have it and boy did it not disappoint! The jet was everything a just turned 10 year old could want: swing wings, retractable landing gear, missiles, bombs, big engines, removable seats and working parachutes. Coupled with all this was the pilot: Ace. Part fighter pilot, part astronaut, Ace had the look that we all imagined was the cutting edge of American military technology. With him behind the stick, Cobra Commander and Destro simply didn't stand a chance. Their puny FANGS were no match for the Skystiker's might.

Ace is the the Joe fighter pilot. Really, there isn't any argument regarding that. Sure, there are other pilots in the line, but Ace is the definitive character when it comes to piloting Joe's premier aircraft. The only real question regarding the character is which version to use. The 1992 mold is, in my opinion, the best pure fighter pilot figure released in the line. It is a perfect mold that matches the images of what a fighter jock should look like. However, it is Ace's original incarnation which is most associated with the character. To this day, when I use Ace, it is the original mold. The later mold figures, though superior, are nameless pilots who simply support Ace in his role as the leader of the Joe air wing.

The mold itself is solid, even if the coloring is unspectacular. Aside from the unique head piece that allows for the bubble helmet, Ace's body mold features tons of hidden details. There is a combat knife, breathing tubes and a pistol molded onto the figure's chest. The mold features puffy ridges on the arms and legs. They suggest insulation and protection that any high G-force fighter pilot would need. Alas, many of the details of the Ace mold are left unpainted. The figure features three basic colors: not counting the head. It's likely that Hasbro went soft on the paint applications on this figure as it was included with a high price point vehicle. The extra design money was better spent on details like the intricate stickers or working parachutes on the Skystriker itself. As a kid, things like this weren't that important. As an adult, it helps to show the mindset of the designers of the time. They had the money to create a great figure as an accompaniment to a great toy. They just didn't have quite enough design budget to finish painting the figure.

I opened my Skystriker on my birthday night. It was too hard to go to sleep with that great new toy sitting underneath my bed. That night, I took a flashlight to my room and after I was sent to bed, I got out the flashlight and played with my new Skystriker and Ace under the bed frame. In the darkness, I imagined Ace a spaceman landing on the moon or other far off planet. His bubble helmet and futuristic design simply took my mind in that direction. I stayed up far too late that night, but it was not enough to dull my excitement. The next day, I took Ace to school with me to show off on the playground. That morning, we had Mass prior to school starting. After church, I went to take my new Ace out of my backpack when I discovered a horror of horrors: Ace's helmet was missing! A quick check showed a hole in the compartment in my pack where I had stored the figure. Obviously, the helmet had fallen out. I searched my classroom in vain but the helmet was nowhere to be found. At recess, I searched the playground in earnest, but had no luck. I went home, crestfallen at my bad luck. I still had one glimmer of hope, though. The next morning, before school, I went into the church. I went to the pew where I had been sitting (we were seated by grade and had assigned seats so it was easy to remember where I'd been) and looked underneath it. Tucked between a few dust bunnies was my Ace's helmet! This was a tremendous relief for me. I secured the helmet into a plastic bag in my backpack (after checking to ensure no holes) and kept it safe the rest of the day. Later in the week, I brought the entire plane in for show and tell. While the females of the class were less than enthused with my new pride and joy, the boys met it with great interest. At lunch, they all took turns looking it over in anticipation of finding their own under the Christmas tree just a few days later....

With a vivid memory like this, you can be sure that Ace was one of my most used Joes. In time, I broke his crotch, his left thumb and wore out all his joints. But, I still had the helmet. Somewhere around 1986, I bought another Ace of a school friend who was outgrowing his Joes. This was a nicer conditioned figure, with helmet, that took the place of my worn original. (The original Ace figure was then taken apart and his head was used for one of my own characters that I created back then. Of course, this character was also a pilot, but had more ground combat experience than Ace.) By that time, though, my Skystriker had seen better days. A few crashes and emergency ejections had left the canopy destroyed and the body broken and battered. The plane simply wasn't an important part of my collection anymore. But, Ace was. Without a fighter for him to pilot, Ace found his way to the co-pilot chair of the Tomahawk helicopter. This was short lived, though, as I wasn't thrilled with the way Ace's colors meshed with the new chopper. Still, I found another use for the figure.

If you've read my profile of the 1993 Payload figure, you can see a glimpse of Ace's use. By late 1986 and early 1987, I was getting a bit old for Joe. This lead to changing play patters and an expanded view of what Joe was. Rather than just a bunch of unique characters, I created various army building type roles. This allowed Joe to better deal with a Cobra that was more an individual nation than the terrorist organization it was originally designed as. I created a few figures who were the basic grunts of the Joe army. One day, I had Cobra electrify the surface of a deep body of water. The Joes had to break the surface in order to stop the Cobra plot. I had the typical diver figures of the day, but their gear would not withstand the energy field that covered the water. Enter Ace. Ace's suit became an all-purpose "Special Missions" suit that allowed the wearer to breath for several hours under very deep water. It had the flexibility of a wetsuit, but the strength of a high pressure diving suit like Deep Six. I armed the figure with Torpedo's backpack and Sci-Fi's gun and my new unit of ultra elite Joe commandos was born. With this new duty, the Ace figure was given new life and was a vital part of my collection until I packed my Joes away in early 1988.

If you fast forward a few years, Ace was one of the first figures I reacquired in the mid-'90's. I found a nicely conditioned Ace figure in a $1 bin at Trader's World outside Dayton, Ohio in 1995. The seller promptly lectured me about how no figure that wasn't mint and complete with their filecard would ever be "worth" anything. Frankly, I didn't care. I bought the figure because Ace was an important part of my collection. When I started buying Joes in earnest in 1998, I slowly amassed about 6 Ace figures. But, by 2001, Ace was attracting decent sales prices and trade offers, so I liquidated about half of those. To this day, though, I have three complete Ace figures in my collection. While his role has been replaced by the Payload figures, I still have a soft spot for the original Ace that started it all.

Today, this Ace doesn't get much use in my collection. While his white and red coloring melded perfectly with the Skystriker, it is harder to find other jets that go with him as well. Plus, I don't have much use for large jets in my collection any more. They take up a lot of storage real estate and don't offer much in terms of displayability. Sure, the plane looks nice, but you can display a couple dozen figures and 2 small vehicles in the Skystriker's footprint. However, Ace marks an important turning point for me as a collector. In 1982, I bought a few Joes. In 1983, though, they were displaced by the just released Return of the Jedi figures. I went into Star Wars full bore. After the movie hype died down, though, I found myself drawn back to Joes. Airborne was the figure that brought me back and I vividly remember adding the Dragonfly to my collection in October of 1983. (Saved up lawn mowing money for that!) But, it was the Skystriker that cemented Joe as my toyline of choice. Ace offered a bit of diversity in his use. He could be a pilot, a diver or an astronaut. As such, I didn't need Star Wars figure when I wanted to play in space. Joe now allowed for that. Going into 1984, I exclusively collected Joe and Joe was the toyline that dominated my room for the next few years. The reason I collect today is the experience and joy I felt as a child when I first acquired a toy like the Skystriker. That pure, unadulterated joy is a feeling that is hard to replicate in adulthood. Looking back at childhood playthings that brought that feeling, though, is a great way to keep grounded: especially as life grows more and more hectic with marriage, mortgages, kids, car payments, utility bills, office politics, and the other trappings of adulthood. I wouldn't go back to 1983 for anything in the world. But, I do enjoy having the memories of that time as it allows me to relax and put some of the modern problems into perspective. Frankly, that alone is enough to keep me collecting for the rest of my life.

The Ace mold was only used in the US. Originally released from 1983 to at least 1985 at retail with the Skystriker, Ace was available as a mail away for years. To this day it is quite common to find bagged Ace figures with red backed filecards. Even as the Skystriker mold was exported around the world, Ace stayed behind. Hasbro dusted off the mold in 1998 and produced a high quality, darker repaint. But, the mold has been MIA since then. That's not a bad thing as the Ace mold is a bit skinny, is easy to find in its original form and isn't a figure that really needs another repaint. So, I'm not disappointed that Hasbro has steered clear of it with the few recent aircraft releases we've seen.

On the surface, Ace figures should be hard to find. He was released in 1983 with a higher price point vehicle. But, this is not the case. Besides the fact that the Skystriker was one of the more popular Joe toys in its day, Ace was also released as a mail away for many years. In fact, Ace was very much like the Hooded Cobra Commander in that he was pretty much continuously available from 1983 through at least 1993. As such, Ace figures aren't that hard to find today. Still, like many of his 1983 brethren, Ace is prone to discoloration and finding pristine white samples can take a bit of time. (You will notice that the Ace figure in my photos features spotty discoloration. My nice version is packed away and this was the version I had most handy.) Still, Ace isn't a figure that will set you back too much money. As a classic, Ace is a must have for any collection. But, if you only want one pilot for your entire Joe fleet, then I'd still go with one of the later Ace versions.

1992 Ace

I spent the better part of my Joe collecting years in search of the ultimate pilot figure. I tried adapting different figures, and even customizing my own with both paint, new pieces and different accessories. My search was always in vain, though. I wanted a pilot that had a cool flight suit, came with a helmet that covered his head, but was also removable, and had an air mask. It was this final point that was the most important. I purchased an extra Ripcord figure just to have a spare mask to use on my custom pilots. When Lifeline came out, his mask immediately found itself on my pilot figures that wore helmets and visors. The idea was there, but I wanted Hasbro to release a figure that would be the only pilot figure I would ever need. In 1992, they did so.

This figure is fabulous. The color scheme is very sublte blue, but the white helmet and tight fitting mask cap it perfectly. The fact that the mask plugs into Ace's flight suit is just another top notch feature that makes this guy so perfect. This figure's only main flaw is that the detail on his flight suit is lost in its bi-color scheme. Had they painted a little detail on the features they were kind enough to mold to his body, I think this figure would be much more popular. As a side note, they did color a little more of the detail on the later editions of this figure in 1993 and 1997. Both of those guys are also very nice, but this version remains my favorite.

For some reason, this figure receives no collector attention. He is simply forgotten. While the original Ace is highly thought of and is a principle part of most people's collections, this guy is just another jobber from the later years. The original Ace came with one of the best vehicles of all time. This guy came with some lame battle copter. I think this difference explains why this figure is so obscure. People just don't know about him. Were this guy to have been released in the '80's, I think he would be selling at a much higher price point. The nice thing, though, is that modern collectors can now find and appreciate this figure without having to deal with all the trappings of a hot second hand market collectible moniker attached to him. He is typical of the 1992-1994 figures. They are often underappreciated and overlooked. Savvy collectors, though, can use this blase attitude to their advantage and build up their stores of the nineties figures before the general collecting community catches on to the later gems, like Ace, the Flak Viper, the Crimson Guard Commander, General Flagg, and Shockwave.

Aces should be easy to find. Sure, he came with an obscure vehicle that is seldom seen, but he was available as a mail in figure and was even part of the Hasbro Canada Find. (That's where I got mine. I sure wish I had bought more than 2 of them!) You never, though, see them for sale. I think most people that have this figure, keep him. He is too cool to ever sell. The 1993 version is much, much harder to find, but this figure is still a bear. The nice thing is: most don't consider this figure an integral part of their collections. While they rarely appear, when they do, they don't get grossly expensive. By that token, though, you should still expect to pay seven or eight dollars for a MIB specimen. One that has the filecard, though, will go higher. If you like pilots, though, this guy is worth every penny. He is the only pilot figure I use. Once you have him, I think he will hold a similar distinction in your collection.

I like Aces and would like a couple of more. I'm also after both the 1993 and 1997 versions. If you can help, email me.