1987 Persuader

Many collectors like to pretend that G.I. Joe is about realistic military operations.  It's not.  G.I. Joe is just a comic book with super heros and super villains that happens to be set in a military unit.  From the beginning, Joe contained sci-fi elements and was far more than the traditional green army men who were cheap, WWII homages that kids got as gifts at the grocery store.  Joe dipped heavily into science fiction from the beginning.  And, that only continued through the rest of the line's run.  Right smack in the middle of it all sits the Persuader.  It's a tank with laser cannons.  But, G.I. Joe is realistic military!  Just look at the olive drab!  But, that was the genius of Joe.  It combined traditional military with science fiction fantasy and wrapped it around a group of super villains.

That aside, though, the Persuader is a toy that has some limitations.  But, it's still a lot of fun.  The Persuader gets a pass from me because of its release date.  1987 was my final year playing with Joe toys as a kid.  So, the new releases from that year got both special attention since they were new, but also retained their relevance since they were the final memories that were packed away.  The Persuader filled the role of utility vehicle.  At the time, Havocs were the Joe's heavy weapons that were most effective against Cobra.  But, they had limitations such as non-swiveling weapons and their tracks made them slower than the ultra fast Cobra STUNS.  So, the Persuader was the answer.  It was lighter and quicker than Havocs.  And, the turret could track and destroy the fleet STUNs.  

The Persuader, though, had other value.  I saw a mine sweeper on the front of the tank.  So, the Persuader often lead any Joe convoy to sniff out any explosive booby traps Cobra might have buried on the road.  The Persuader's driver (always Backstop!) was also relatively protected as exposed vehicle drivers go.  So, taking the point made a lot of sense.  The missiles were rarely used and tended to be more for battlefield disruption and chaos than any actual targeted destruction.  It was the cannon that did in most STUNs.  And, the smaller cannon above the driver was effective against Dreadnok Trikes that made up the remainder of my Cobra mechanized cavalry.  

As 1987 progressed, though, I found limitations in the Persuader.  The heavier cannons made it less effective against Cobra infantry.  Even the smaller cannon didn't really make sense for this purpose.  I found myself wanting something with different weapons.  I drew up pictures of a Persuader inspired tank that, instead of large lasers, featured heavy machine guns on the turret.  The design was intended for anti infantry use.  And, after I had that vision in my head, the real Persuader seemed a disappointment.  But, before the Persuader could disappear from my collection, my youthful days of playing with Joe ended.  At the end of 1987, I packed all my toys away and never played with them in any meaningful way again.

As a design piece, the Persuader is a substantial step below the similar price point vehicles from prior years.  First off, the cannon on the turret is bigger than the cannon on the Mauler.  It seems silly for this to be the case.  And, that poor proportion throws off the entire tank.  Beyond that, though, the Persuader is plain.  Earlier vehicles always included little things like removable panels, superfluous accessories or super details that make them jump to life.  The Persuader lacks all those things.  In 1983 and 1985, Hasbro made vehicles that included tow ropes.  For the Persuader, the tow rope is a molded detail on the tank's body.  Little things like this make the Persuader feel cheap.  It lacks the panache of earlier vehicles and definitely seems a bit out of place among its peers.  

The Persuader pictured below is mine from my childhood.  I've never upgraded the toy as I've never had reason to.  This one sat in my parents' attic for years.  But, survived relatively well.  The only real issue is the broken tow hook.  I still remember the incident that lead to this damage.  I had attached the Road Toad to the Persuader's hook.  I had a few figures and was going to take the whole setup to a different room.  As I didn't have enough hands, I picked up the Persuader and found that the tension on the Road Toad's hitch was enough to hold it in place.  So, I held the Persuader with the Road Toad locked onto the tow hook.  As I walked, the hook snapped, the Road Toad fell to the floor and my Persuader was permanently damaged.  Oddly, I wasn't too broken up over it.  Usually, such breakage on a Joe vehicle doomed that toy to the bottom of our toy box.  But, the Persuader hung around after that trauma and continued to serve in the final convoy adventure that my friends and I had before I packed up my Joes permanently and didn't really play with them again.

The Persuader was reissued as part of the Night Force subset.  The black body seems cool.  The orange accouterments certainly diminish it a bit.  There are some international releases, too.  The most famous is the Plastirama release from Argentina.  This release isn't popular due to any significant variation.  It was just widely available in the early 2000's when large quantities of Plastirama overstock were imported to the U.S.  Through 2002, it was easier and cheaper to buy a MIB Plastirama Persuader than it was to buy a mint and complete with Backstop Hasbro Persuader.  The market has ironed out those inefficiencies in the past 17 years, though.  There's really no reason for the vehicle to return.  It's fun enough.  But, the coloring of the original is fine and the mold's limitations are with the giant cannons, not the palette.

You can mint and complete Persuaders for about $20.  Many of those will even include a mint and complete Backstop.  In this era of dumb Joe pricing, the Persuader remains the rare bargain.  But, that's heavily a testament to the vehicle's lack of popularity and overabundant release year.  The Persuader isn't a great G.I. Joe toy.  But, for the price, it is good enough to serve a purpose.  Talented customizers can do a lot with the vehicle and they remain cheap enough to cut one up and see what can happen.  It's good that there's still a few affordable G.I. Joe toys.  And, of them, the Persuader is probably one of the best of those that remain.

1987 Backstop - Around the Web

Backstop is one of the final figures from my childhood.  He and Persuader comprised most of my Joe heavy armor during the latter half of 1987 and he remains important to me for that reason.  The figure's yellow pants make no sense and there's no justifying them outside of childhood nostalgia.  But, he checks that box for me.  Backstop was surprisingly popular when I looked for content.  Here's the best of him from around the web.

Backstop Profile

Argentina (Plastirama) Backstop Profile

Backstop by Purple Cobra

Backstop by Slipstream80

Backstop at 3DJoes.com

Backstop by thedustinmccoy

Backstop by Edwin80s

Argentine Exclusive Backstop

In the late '80's and into the early 90's, the Plastirama toy company in Argentina produced G.I. Joe figures exclusively for the Argentine market.  Since then, collectors have flocked to this line due to it's exclusive figure offerings and the general to extreme rarity that defines many of the figures.  Plastirama produced a decent amount of figures using molds from 1982 through 1985.  Many of the figures are close to the American counterparts.  But, when Plastirama deviated from the standard paint applications, they really deviated.  The Plastirama line offered nearly a dozen characters who were unique to Argentina.  One of the last figures they produced, though, was an odd hybrid.  Plastirama took an existing mold and repainted into another existing character.  The result is the Argentine Backstop.

Most people can forget Backstop.  He is a forgettable character using an unfortunate color scheme that came out in a year full of iconic figures.  His vehicle is rather boring and pales in comparison to other, similar price point vehicles from the adjacent years.  But, for some reason, the character clicked with me.  From the moment I got the American figure, he was immediately thrust into an important role.  For many years, he and the Persuader were my go to armor vehicle...ahead of even the Mauler.  This Argentine figure, though, doesn't capture that magic.  While the colors are reminiscent of the US release, I have a hard time seeing this figure as anyone other than Blowtorch.  As such, this figure really is just a display piece for me.  It makes for a good background in a photo since it usually draws viewers' attention and draws a comment or two.  Beyong that, though, the figure doesn't have much additional use.

Backstop is a mishmash of red, yellow, hunter green and silver.  On paper, it should be terrible.  Were this an American release, it would be terrible.  (Like the real Backstop is.)  But, as a foreign release, the look of the figure gets a little more leeway.  Collectors are forgiving of monstrosities when they are from foreign countries and can be hard to find.  Like most Argentine figures from around his time, the figure's paint masks are often sloppy.  The overall construction quality also varies.  It seems that many of the Argentine figures that were found were not properly stored for many years.  As such, even figures right off the card (or, out of the bag in Backstop's case!) can be brittle.  So, you have to be a bit careful when you try to fit him into a tight vehicle.

Backstop was only available in Argentina, packed with the Plastirama Persuader.  The figure includes a filecard that features an actual picture of the toy rather than artwork.  The figure includes a silver version of Doc's helmet and a silver air mask.  These are exclusive to Backstop and can be difficult to track down if not acquired with the figure.  The actual date of Backstop's production is difficult to pinpoint.  Backstop is likely one of the final Plastirama figures ever produced.  He may not have appeared until the early '90's.  But, due to the difficulty of tracking down hard evidence of release dates in Argentina, this is mostly guesswork.

Backstop uses the mold from Blowtorch with Doc's waist.  This was a popular configuration in Argentina as Backstop shared the construction with both Antorcha and TNT.  Aside from his uses in Argentina and the US, the Blowtorch mold also appeared in Brazil, Mexico and Europe.  The mold disappeared after the Argentine releases and has not been seen since.  Homages to the vintage Blowtorch have been released in both the New Sculpt and Anniversary Sculpt Joe lines.  It would be great to someday see this mold either in drab green or even Action Force colors.  But, that's not likely ever going to happen unless a bootlegger takes on the mold.

The Argentine Backstop has become relatively hard to find.  Loose, mint and complete with filecard figures can be expensive as $70.  But, since a lot of people still don't realize that a boxed Plastirama Persuader includes the Backstop figure.  So, you can often buy one of those for around the same price.  A large number of Persuaders were acquired by toy dealers during the Plastirama warehouse find.  So, this figure is more common than a lot of people realize.  In 2001/2002, you could often get boxed Persuaders for under $20.  So, a lot of collectors do have the figure.  As an oddity in an Argentine collection, Backstop is worth having.  But, he lacks the "wow" factor of Satan, Ninja-Ku or even TNT.  But, he is something completely different.  For me, that makes him worth having as part of my collection.

1987 Backstop

I'm not sure the reason, but I've lately been profiling many 1987 figures. I think the primary reason is that 1987 was, esentially, my Joe swan song. I went all out purchasing figures that year, but 1987 was really the last year that I collected Joes with any gusto. I had finally reached the point where I was getting too old to be patrolling the toy aisles and getting excited whenever I found a new Joe I still needed. Of course, this didn't mean I didn't make the occasional trip to the toystore, but my post '87 collection used to be a fraction of that before.

From the get-go, Backstop got a lot of use in my collection. He came with the Persuader tank. This vehicle had all sorts of potential, it was basically a Joe version of the Hiss tank, but really came up short when it came down to the nitty-gritty. The gun turret had this huge, overdone cannon rather than smaller, more realistic guns like the Hiss tank. Frankly, it's a cheap vehicle that lacks any real detail or distinguishing feature. The reason it looked so cool in the catalogs, though, was because the design could have been great. My disappointment with the Persuader was made up for by my liking of Backstop. I've always liked vehicle drivers. They are often the more avant garde figures of their year. Since they were packaged with vehicles that sold regardless of the figure, the designers could include figures that took some chances in accessories, design, and color. For that reason, I liked the vehicle drivers. They weren't the run of the mill figures that were all too prevalent in the mid '80's. Backstop is no exception.

That being said, Backstop is a cool figure. You can't see his yellow pants when he is sitting in his vehicle. I always explained them away by saying that if Backstop was out of his Persuader, he was in desperate trouble and would need a bright color to attract the attention of potential rescuers. The figure, like the Motor Viper and Airwave, has the cool dual leg holsters. His green torso and red gloves are no longer all that great, but worked for me way back when. He also has heavy armor molded on his shoulders and upper chest that would offer some protection to his exposed areas when he was driving. His coups de gras, though, is his helmet. It is highly reminiscent of the old Battlestar Galactica helmets. It has a long, open area in front of his mouth that allows you to see his entire face, even when he is wearing the helmet. I've always been a sucker for removeable helmets, especially ones that were unique. Because of this, Backstop became an important figure to my collection.

From the beginning, Backstop had a few distinguishing characteristics. One: he was Canadian. As far as I can remember, Backstop was the first foreign born Joe. Second: his filecard indicated that he was big, strong and mean. Of course, many Joes' filecards said things to this effect. With Backstop, however, I took it as cannon. As he never appeared in the comic or cartoon as a major character, I was free to do with him what I wanted. I made Backstop a big, huge, hulking man who was a world class fighter. I also used him to intimidate both Cobras and other Joes alike. He was kind of an anti-hero. He would do what he was supposed to do, but he wouldn't let a little thing like being on the same side stand in his way of hurting someone. Of course, this lead to all sorts of adventures where the Joes had to let Backstop out of jail in order for him to help them. It may be cliched, but it was a fun new story line for me when I was a child.

As a figure, this rendition of Backstop did not appear in any other Joe line anywhere in the world. The entire body mold, though, was reused for a Sky Patrol figure in 1990. Backstop's Persuader tank, though, did see international release: most famously in Argentina. This tank actually includes another Backstop figure. Instead of this mold, though, the Argentine Backstop uses the entire body of Blowtorch (only with Doc's waist) in colors similar to the American Backstop. It is a unique figure and one that is well worth tracking down whether you are a fan of the Backstop character or not. I think that this Backstop mold, though, could be repainted into something interesting. It's not likely at this point, but I would not mind seeing Backstop return in colors that are more flattering.

Backstops appear every now and then. Usually, he exhibits heavy paint wear and is missing at least his gun and also his helmet. Finding one mint and complete may take a bit of a search, but is very do-able. He isn't very expensive, though, so he doesn't find a great deal of popularity when he is offered for sale. He is a figure with limited uses, but is nice to have. I've gone without one for several years and, now, don't really know what to do with him. He's the type of figure that I want to use, but don't have the arena for him just yet. Perhaps, with the addition of a couple of new tanks, Backstop will regain his former popularity. Even if he doesn't, I still have my memories of my childhood.

I like Backstop and could stand to see a repaint of him at some point, but I don't really want any more. Who is your favorite vehicle driver? Let me know.