20th Anniversary Key Moments - 1995 Unproduced Dr. Mindbender

In 1999, I dropped way too much money on a figure that was sold as a 1995 Battle Rangers Flint prototype.  I missed out, though, on the figure I really wanted: the unproduced 1995 Battle Rangers Dr. Mindbender.  The person who bought it had every intention of hiding it away and keeping it from collectors.  But, a cool thing happened: turns out the dealer selling the prototypes had an extra Mindbender and he sold it to another collector who kept photos of it in the community.  As luck would have it, this person wanted to sell his right at the time I was in position to buy one.  And, with a little negotiating, the 1995 Dr. Mindbender entered my collection in May of 2001.

I like weird figures.  G.I. Joe's appeal to me was that it wasn't just some random military line where every guy was in the same color and basic uniform.  Really, it was super heroes that happened to be in the military.  And, wacky figures that stretched the boundaries of realism were what attracted me to the line and kept me in to this day.  This Dr. Mindbender would have been the culmination of that tradition.  The figure is an homage to the self-mutilating 1993 Dr. Mindbender while also having roots in the iconic 1986 version.  It would have been the perfect benchmark villain for 1995.  But, that never got to be.

The Joe line died before this figure saw the light of day.  Many collectors deride the 1990's as moving off topic of the classic Joe of the 1980's.  But, really, only 1993 heavily strayed from the military fantasy of the bygone decade.  1994 did have Star Brigade and Hasbro was going to go heavy on the aliens and Manimals in later 1994 and 1995.  But, the core of the Battle Corps Rangers would have matched with the 1994 Battle Corps in that it was pretty true to the line's roots.  And, 1995 would have seen many classic characters return to the line...just like we saw in 1994.  In short, it wasn't the neon or a loss of focus on Joe's core that derailed the line.  G.I. Joe had just run it's course after 13 consecutive years of retail release.  1995 would not have saved the line.  But, had it seen production, it's likely that collectors of 2020 would be hugely over-paying for the lower production runs that surely would have accompanied the 1995 retail releases.

This Mindbender really started a trend for me showcasing more and more rare figures.  Mostly, I branched into foreign Joes as those became my focal point after my acquisition of this Mindbender.  And, from the summer of 2001 through 2004, the site became known more for foreign and rare releases than the actual lesser appreciated figures that had driven the first 18 months of the site's life.  It was a reputation that lasted for a long time.  In the past 5 years, though, I've exhausted my supply of rare releases.  So, I've turned more to the site's roots of finding uncovered gems or just odd figures that no one cares about.  Each focus was aligned with my collecting philosophy of the time.

I no longer own this Mindbender.  He was a casualty of my collection purge in the early 2010's.  I simply didn't have a need to own him any longer and got a good enough offer that it made sense to liquidate him.  In some ways, I regret it.  This figure is great and it was always fun owning a piece of Joe history.  But, in other ways, it made no sense to hold onto a figure that was barely a display piece.  My collection is focused on loose toys as that's what I played with as a kid and appreciate today.  This Mindbender wasn't painted and, therefore, wasn't all that useful to me beyond being a conversation piece.

Since 2001, a lot more of these figures have surfaced.  We even have found hand painted samples.  And, Hasbro released the intended card for this figure a few years ago.  So, we know a lot more about him than we did 19 years ago.  But, the age of social media is swallowing the Joe knowledge that's out there.  And, photos, info and stories of figures like this Mindbender are lost in private groups and the poor search functions that plague sites whose only purpose for existing is to get users to constantly share new content (so they can sell ads).  The Joe world is losing its collective archive and most of the discoveries of the past decade are not well documented in a place that's easily accessible to Joe fans.  I bought this Mindbender to help prevent that from happening.  For a while, things were OK.  But, the past few years have turned the tide and the secretive nature of the Joe world has won out and collectors of today simply don't have access to the recesses of the Joe line's history and many gems like this Mindbender will simply never be known to the Joe collecting public.  And, that's too bad.

Rarities - 1995 Sea Wolf (Unproduced Whale)

Hasbro had lots of stuff planned for the 1995 line.  Sure, there was an abundance of ninjas and space stuff with an even greater emphasis on aliens.  But, there was also going to be a standard line that was more geared towards the traditional military themes that were so dear to just coming of age collectors in the mid 1990's.  Aside from the return of fan favorite characters in new outfits, Hasbro also looked at bringing back many classic vehicles.  Among them was a proposed repaint of the 1984 Whale Hovercraft called the Sea Wolf.

The Sea Wolf was planned to be an arctic themed release that utilized either a white or grey base for the whale instead of the classic olive green.  It seems Hasbro was big on the arctic theme for 1995 since there exists quite a bit of box art showcasing arctic themed vehicles, figures and gift sets.  It seems odd as the US wasn't really engaged in any arctic combat.  But, it may have just been a phase and a way to release some cool toys in color schemes that were different from the originals, but not neon or oddball colors.

There are 4 characters shown the artwork.  The two in the cockpit are the 1994 Shipwreck figure (a likely choice and a figure that would almost certainly have been re-released in 1995 since he was new in 1994) and the 1993 Duke figure.  Duke, though, is in his desert cammo, 1993 release colors.  It seems unlikely that Duke would have seen a straight re-release in 1995.  It's been long rumored that the 1993 Duke was going to be released in 1995 in green and black cammo.  So, this picture might be a placeholder.  Or, it might not.  We don't really know.  The gunner stations are manned by the planned 1995 Battle Corps Rangers Footloose character.  This mold would have been repainted into Shipwreck, too.  But, the '94 Shipwreck's appearance in the cockpit really cements this gunner as Footloose.

The final figure is unknown to me.  It seems that this arctic figure would have been a single carded release.  Aside from appearing on the Sea Wolf art, he also shows up on the Battle Station artwork.  Anyone appearing on the art for two major releases was surely planned to be a carded figure.  But, who would he have been?  Snow Job is a possibility, though the figure lacks the signature red hair.  Frostbite is an obvious back up.  While he had a 1993 release, Hasbro was starting to reuse characters again and again as the line wound down.  So, it's entirely possible it would have been a new take on him.  Or, it could have been a new character.  Regardless, we can surmise he would have been a single carded release.  Since he appeared on so much vehicle artwork, we can also deduce he would have likely been in the first series of figures released in 1995.  So, his artwork and, possibly, resin prototype figures might still exist somewhere.  I'd love to see this character come to light.

The biggest thing to note about the artwork is that there's nothing really noteworthy about it.  In fact, it appears the Sea Wolf was going to be a straight Whale repaint.  Hasbro wasn't going to create spring loaded weapons to replace the classic missile launchers or cannons.  They weren't going to integrate some sort of action feature to make the toy "exciting" to the kids of the day.  It seems it was going to be the basic toy from 11 years earlier.  And, frankly, had it been released, there's a good chance that mint and complete Sea Wolves would be more expensive and harder to find than Whales today due to lower production numbers.  Being a Whale aficionado, I'm sure I'd have bought this in a second: even if it didn't include any figures.   It would then have quickly joined my childhood Whale and Shark 9000 as the backbone of my Joe navy.

This concept artwork was not really changed for the final box art.  The final product was planned to include a "Special Edition Duke Figure".  It's doubtful the Duke would have been a straight up 1993 repaint as shown on the artwork.  But, it might have used his mold.  The final presentation is a solid combo of the updated style of artwork we started to see in the mid 1990's while hearkening back to the classic vehicle box of the 1980's.  It really cements that the 1995 line would have included some gems.  It's very odd to me that planned items from 1995 never saw the light of day in either the 1997/1998 series or the 2000's era repaints.  If the Sea Wolf mold was ready to go in 1995, how was it not available just 2 years later?  With so many Battle Corps Rangers figures in the full resin prototype stage, why didn't we see at least one included in a Toys R Us ARAH style figure set?  These answers are probably lost to time at this point and would only result in contentious back and forth with a company who has largely left Joe behind at this point.

I often wonder what the Joe world would look like had many of the 1995 items come to fruition.  It's unlikely that they would have saved the line for a 1996 run.  Joe was fatigued.  But, then again, the return of Star Wars to toy shelves in 1995 really jump started the collecting world.  And, coupled with the rise of the cheap and ubiquitous internet, Star Wars invigorated a collecting culture that has survived and thrived since then.  So, it could be that had 1995 occurred, Joe would have hung around long enough to catch the collector wave of late 1997 and we might have never seen a true hiatus of vintage Joes.  But, that didn't happen.  And, we are left to salivate over items like this that never came to be.

1995 Dr. Mindbender Concept Art

As part of the ill conceived "HasCon", Hasbro released this spectacular 1995 Dr. Mindbender Battle Corps Rangers artwork.  It is, to my knowledge, the debut of what would have been this figure's card artwork.  It has taken nearly 25 years for this artwork to come out and it's rather disingenuous of Hasbro to have held it back for a self serving convention that doesn't cater to Joe fans rather than showcase it at any of the 15 Joe conventions that have been held: many encompassing major milestone anniversaries of the brand.  That aside, though, we finally have a glimpse into what this character may have looked like on retail shevles.

From the hand painted sample of this figure that exists, we knew that the figure would be mostly purple and black.  So, the colors aren't really a surprise.  But, there are a few elements to the figure that do stand out.  The most obvious is the black version of the 1992 Wet Suit's rifle.  This is a terrible weapon and would have been a huge disappointment for this figure.  It's an odd choice for sure.  I'll discuss that more later on, though.

The next interesting part is Mindbender's hand.  In the unpainted prototype, the hand appeared to be a monstrous deformity.  On the painted figure, the hand was just purple.  Initially, I could have seen this just being a cost saving measure.  However, the artwork shows that the hand is actually a glove and the razor sharp fingernails are metal weapons built into the fingertips.  On the one hand, this is kind of a cool.  But, on the other hand, it takes away from the monster aspect of Dr. Mindbender.  The unpainted piece always conjured up a ghoulish image of a broken Dr. who was the victim of his own mad experiments.  This artwork, instead, shows a man wearing armor to enhance his fighting prowess.  It's a drastic departure from my ill formed, preconceived notions for the figure.  So, I feel that it's destroying 20 years' worth of my imagination of what this figure would have been.

The final aspect of the art that is great is that we can see Mindbender with his helmet on.  The unpainted prototype has the helmet.  But, the hoses were hard resin, despite the fact that there were holes in the back of the helmet which appeared to be for the hose ends.  This art shows that the figure was likely to have had hoses that did attach into the helmet.  It's possible they would have separate pieces.  Or, the entire helmet may have been planned to be flexible plastic like the mask on the 1994 Shipwreck.  Either way, it could have worked.

Coming back to the gun...I wonder if this Dr. Mindbender was supposed to be a diver.  My first inclination is definitely not.  He doesn't have flippers and any diver would be drawn with those.  But, the Wet Suit gun gives me pause.  and, this artwork clearly shows the mandible like helmet, much more clearly.  This is interesting because of the bug like figure that appears on the 1995 Tactical Battle Platform artwork.  As this figure is attacking the TTBP, it's obvious he is a Cobra.  He is also wielding the Wet Suit gun.  The character's head, though, is looking up with pincers.  In looking more closely at this Mindbender, it appears this is very likely meant to be Dr. Mindbender crawling out of the deep the attack the Joes.  Plus, the helmet with the hoses looks like it could be underwater breathing gear.

Now, I have no idea why Hasbro would make Dr. Mindbender (of all people!) a diver.  It is possible.  The prototype Dr. Mindbender appears to have a webbed left hand.  However, this detail is missing in the artwork.  At any rate, it makes me that much more interested to read this figure's planned filecard to see what Hasbro intended for him.

Rarities - 1995 Battle Rangers Dr. Mindbender - Hand Painted Sample

I end this month of Rarities with my favorite of all: a hand painted 1995 Dr. Mindbender figure.  This Dr. Mindbender figure has long been a favorite of mine.  The facial scars, deformed hand and sinister cloud of mystery that hung over him all added up to a figure that I had to own.  It took me just two years to finally track one down and add it to my collection.  The white, resin prototype was the crown jewel of my collection for many years.  From this unpainted piece, my mind created an abstract vision of what the figure would have looked like at retail.  I imagined something spectacular, befitting the mold and character.  About 5 years after my acquisition of the figure, a colored version finally appeared on the open market.

When the first painted sample of this figure appeared, I was disappointed.  In looking at the figure, I don't really have reason to be disappointed.  But, I am.  The purple and black are an excellent base color scheme.  They are true not only to Cobra, but the character in specific.  Why, then, did I find the figure underwhelming?  The reason was that having owned an unpainted version for so long, I had grandiose ideas of the figure's possible appearance in my head.  The primer colored head of my prototype always lead to believe the Dr. was very pale and ghoulish in color.  Seeing a flesh colored face, with the prominent scars only subtly filled in was a dose of reality so different from my expectation that I couldn't reconcile it.

My biggest complaint was the Dr.'s deformed left hand.  I always imagined this as ghostly flesh with rotted fingernails and exposed bone.  Instead, he's wearing a purple glove.  The hand is the coolest part of the mold and it's buried in the same base color as the figure.  I also always saw the head scars as more pronounced.  On the resin prototype, they are very distinctive.  But, the flesh colored paint hides these traits and makes the figure appear less macabre than the prototype.  If the head was ultimately to be cast in flesh colored plastic, maybe the scars would have been more noticeable.

The reality of the 1994 G.I. Joe line, though, was that paint applications were being skipped in an effort to save money.  As such, that is the likely reason for the two tone body on the figure with unpainted details.  Mindbender's mustache and monocle would have been paint applications and, if the scars were painted, they would have been another.  So, the figure's head was rather expensive and Hasbro had to save money on the rest of the body.  So, the figure's appearance fits with the times, even if it is a bit underwhelming to me.

I have always said, and continue to maintain, that had this Dr. Mindbender been released, he would be a collector favorite.  The design approaches the best appearance of the character and the included helmet would have been an awesome additional accessory that would have given the figure much more breadth.  The figure made it to the resin prototype stage and was very close to production level.  Was the tooling destroyed in the '90's?  Was it too far away from production stage for Hasbro to have used in the 2000's?  Or, did they care or even bother to look?  Those are the questions I have.  The 1995 unproduced figures should have been among the first candidates to see release in the 2000's.  A two pack of this figure and Battle Corps Rangers Footloose would have rivaled army builders in terms of collector acquisitions.  But, that never happened.

Again, this is a case where collectors missed out.  This figure would have been a spectacular release.  But, pretty much every Battle Corps Rangers figure would have been, as well.  I'd trade most of the Battle Corps figures from 1993 for a full production 1995 release.  They planned figures would have been that much better.  At this point, though, ever seeing the 1995 molds at production levels is likely a pipe dream.  Even if the tooling is still out there, there is no mechanism that could drive Hasbro to possibly put them into production for collectors.  That's too bad.  We missed some great stuff in 1995.  At least items like this leave us a bit of a legacy of that lost year.

1995 Unproduced Battle Corps Rangers Dr. Mindbender

Back in the summer of 1999, a prominent G.I. Joe dealer offered via Ebay a number of A Real American Hero prototypes. For most, it was the first real look at many of these items. Naturally, Joe fans flocked to auctions and saw their first glimpse of what the proposed 1995 line was going to look like. During all this hullabaloo, Ebay crashed. During the span when the auctions ended, Ebay was only available periodically. Because of this, many collectors missed out on their chance to snipe away these prize prototypes at the last minute. I was one of these frustrated collectors. I finally connected to Ebay only to discover that the figure that most intrigued me, a very unique and incredibly cool Dr. Mindbender figure, was gone. Instead, I settled for the Battle Rangers Flint and just figured that my one opportunity to own the Dr. Mindbender was gone forever. About a year later, another Dr. Mindbender appeared on Ebay from the same dealer. Unfortunately, I had just bought my house, and just couldn't come up with the money necessary for a purchase this large. In the auction, the dealer commented that this was his last Mindbender. I figured this was it. However, just a couple of weeks ago, another opportunity presented itself. I decided that I couldn't let this go. I made an offer the owner of this figure and it was accepted. Now, finally, I have the crown jewel of my collection: the unproduced 1995 Battle Rangers Dr. Mindbender.

It is well known that 1995 would have been a very interesting year for Joe. While concepts like the Lunartix aliens, Manimals and Replicators would have taken Joe to the very edge of science fiction and the Ninja Commandos would have given us yet another Snake Eyes and Stormshadow rehash, the Battle Rangers would going to be the more military themed Joe toys. Characters like Flint, Footloose, and Duke were going to anchor the Joe team while Cobra was finally going to see a new Baroness and, of course, a newly frankensteined Dr. Mindbender. The line was also going to feature a few repaints from the 1994 Battle Corps series and was going to also have a full array of newly molded vehicles. The paint schemes were going to be realistic, (You can see the beginnings of this with the 1994 releases. While '93 offered horrid color choices, 1994 was much better. Figures like Stalker, Shipwreck, Joseph Colton and Snowstorm all had very nice, more realistic color schemes that showed Joe was regaining its focus.) and the line may have even included original accessories rather than the hated weapon tree. All in all, the Battle Rangers could have salvaged a little of Joe's lost dignity in the mid '90's. At least the new releases have helped take away the bad memories of what was the original Joe's final years.

Why do I like this figure? I really can't tell you. From the moment I first saw it, this prototype grabbed me more than any other element of Joedom that I have ever seen. I think it was the incredible detail on the figure. His mold is just astonishing. The level of detail put into the hand and head are far above any other figure ever produced. Frankly, I don't know how they could have mass produced this figure without losing some of the head detail. The other thing about that is so neat is the helmet. He is the only '95 prototype I have seen that actually comes with an accessory. The helmet fits onto his head perfectly. I think of it as a Darth Vader type thing where the helmet helps his ravaged body survive. While I know of no evidence that points to a purported paint scheme for this figure, I let my imagination run wild. I'm sure he would have offered the nice, subtle, realistic color scheme that was found on all the other Battle Rangers figures. (Flint and Footloose can be seen in Battle Rangers production art. A copy of a painted Baroness hard copy has been found. A character that seems to be the Battle Rangers Duke can also be seen on many licensed Joe items from the late '94 - early '95 era. Another unnamed and unknown Cobra figure is shown on the box art of a new Cobra helicopter. [See YoJoe.com for details.] He could have been a new version of Cobra Commander, a totally new named Cobra villain, or a new Cobra army builder who would have rounded out the Cobra assortment in 1995. All are very nice and would have fit in very nicely with the Joe line as a whole.)

The main thing that grabbed me, though, was the darkness of the character. This Dr. Mindbender looks truly evil. Of all the characters in Joedom, none, not even Snake Eyes, would have experienced the horrors to which Mindbender was subjected. The look of evil in his eyes, as well as the devastated body would have created a character that would have been the epitome of darkness. Personally, I feel that Mindbender would have been a monster capable of doing gruesome things to prisoners, spies, and poor test subjects. In this capacity, he is underrepresented. The Mindbender we saw in the comics and cartoon was not this dark. I think Joes' creative team, though, was steering for a new path with a character this mutated. Remember, in 1994 and 1995, Spawn was starting to see some popularity on the toy market. The dark character was something that was selling at retail. It made sense for the Joe brain trust to look down this avenue. Personally, I would love the opportunity to see Dr. Mindbender appear in the new comic in the same characterization that was meant for the Battle Rangers. Perhaps, with his rumoured (I stress, RUMOURED!) appearance in wave IV of the new Joes that are slated for this fall to coincide with the comic release, we might finally get a glimpse of this character as he was planned to be.

The one thing about this figure that many people will deride is that he looks so sci-fi. The mutated hand and scarred face make this figure appear to be something out of a horror flick rather than a simple, military villain. However, closer examination of the Mindbender character reveals that this figure follows a path that was laid down by the original 1986 version almost a full decade before this figure was ever conceived. The 1986 filecard made reference to the fact that Dr. Mindbender liked to experiment on himself. It would only make sense that his mutated hand would be the side effect from one of his experiments. The scarred face (it's hard to see because of the photography. Once I get my digital camera back working, I will get more detailed pictures of the amazing head sculpt.) also shows that the good Dr. has been working to update his computer enhanced body parts. The original file card said the Dr. Mindbender had become vain. It would only make sense that he would attempt to remove the computer terminal from the outside of his head in order to improve his appearance. The scars he left behind, though, would seem to indicate that he still has a good way to go before his countenance is back to anything near its original state. All of this, though, shows that the Battle Rangers would have been a subset for Joe diehards. They took the personality traits laid down in all the filecards and expanded upon them to create a new manifestation of the character. Again, it was all of Joedom's loss that the Battle Rangers never came to be. I think they would be held in very high regard by the modern collector had they ever made it to full scale production.

Personally, I know of three unique examples of this figure. All are in private collections. There seems to be a consensus, though, that this figure probably had about a dozen of them produced. I would imagine that at least 6 survive to this day. I would imagine that at least one is still in the possession of the source for most of the '95 prototypes that have made their way to the second hand market. A couple of others are probably sitting in private collections, never to be known for many, many years. The rest, I would imagine, are quietly rotting away in Cincinnati's Mount Rumpke, or some other similar place, along with other '95 Joes, Gargan, and the Luke Skywalker in Robes figures. Perhaps, some day, we will know the full story of the Battle Rangers and find a treasure trove of the unreleased toys. Until then, we only have snippets, like these prototypes and the box mock ups you can find at YoJoe.com. Despite the fact that it would greatly reduce the monetary and collectible value of this figure and the Flint, I would like to see these molds used in the line of new releases. I'm not sure if the general Joe buying public is ready for this version of Dr. Mindbender, but I know that I, and many other collectors, would relish the opportunity to own this figure in a playable version. It would help bridge the gap between Joe's original run, and its current manifestation.

*****

Updated 10/10/06

In 2006, the first painted test shot of Dr. Mindbender appeared. The figure was in a base of dark purple with black highlights. It is a very muted tone for the figure and one that, at first glance, I was disappointed in. However, as this figure had been built up inside my head for over 7 years, there was no way the first glance of his intended coloring would have lived up to the hype. With more reflection, though, I actually quite like the color scheme as it was in line with the intentions of the Battle Corps Rangers, kept with the character's roots and was visually pleasing. My one gripe was that the skin tone for Mindbender was vibrant. For some reason, I've always pictured this figure with a more ghoulish skin tone. I figured the facial bruises from the massive surgeries couples with the lack of sunlight from hiding his visage inside the mammoth helmet would have left Mindbender's skin an otherworldly palour. Naturally, it would have been tough for Hasbro to pull this off, but it would be the one change in the way I would represent the figure were I the one painting it up.
The appearance of this painted Mindbender gives us more insight into what was planned for the Battle Corps Rangers line. I have long felt it would have been a line that collectors would have enjoyed without being the repetitive monotony we have seen in the post '94 re-releases. This figure shows the perfect evolution of the Mindbender character over a decade. It offered a glimpse into a more monstrous world of Cobra. I think that would have been a vision that collectors would have enjoyed had it come to fruition.

*****

This Dr. Mindbender figure is my favorite unproduced item. Would you like to see the Battle Rangers some day see a wide release? Do you think this is a cool figure? Let me know your thoughts.

1995 Unproduced Battle Rangers Flint (Unnamed Figure)

Many of you may have seen this figure on Yojoe.com. listed as an unnamed prototype. This is the exact same figure you see there. (They get a lot more hits than I will, and I believe figures like this should be shared with as broad a segment of the collecting community as possible.) I believe it is a prototype of the Battle Ranger Flint that was scheduled for release in 1995.

From the looks of this figure, 1995 would have been a great year for military figures. Personally, I think the '94 figures had their moments and were pretty cool. The '94 Shipwreck is one of my more used figures. 1995, though, seems as if it would have given collectors a chance to focus on military toys without having to deal with all the Star Brigade that was also planned for that year. Much of the conception art from the Battle Rangers that has survived shows that Hasbro was returning to the good old days. I don't know how many figures would have been in the Battle Rangers line. In fact, this figure is the only 1995 prototype I have seen, except for the infamous 1995 Baroness, that was not from the Star Brigade series. If they were serious about a return to traditional military, Hasbro really screwed up in not releasing these figures. The detail is great, and they seemed to be going back to some popular older molds to help overcome what could be perceived as lack of creativity. Had it not been for Hasbro and Kenner's marriage, and the desire to reintroduce Star Wars figures, we might still be seeing new Joes every year. While I like Star Wars, that was certainly not enough to kill G.I. Joe. (Of course, I doubt I would have 40 Stormtroopers had there also been Joes available to compete for my toy dollar.)

You will notice that this figure has great detail. I can only imagine what kind of paint scheme he would have had. It looks like he is wearing a life preserver. In actuality, I like to think it was a flak vest, or something else cool like that. You will notice, though, that the vest could also be exaggerated by Hasbro's insistence on making the '94 and later figures with higher shoulders and broader chests. I think it was their last ditch attempt to "buff up" the figures to be more in line with other contemporary toy releases. After this trick failed, they went on to Sgt. Savage and the awful G.I. Joe Extreme. The existing Battle Rangers art that depicts Flint shows him drab gray and green. This color scheme actually looks very cool and would have made an excellent figure. Of important note about this figure is that his legs are from the 1985 Lamprey. Other prototypes didn't have the legs if they were reusing old molds. Why this one does, though, is a mystery. It would make sense that Hasbro would reuse old molds since that was their practice during the final years of the line. I just found it odd that this figure is complete while other prototypes only exist with their newly molded parts. It does, though, tell you how close we were to getting a 1995 line.

Recent discussions with others who own prototypes of 1995 figures has yielded some interesting new observations. It appears, that Hasbro may or may not have been toying with the idea of taking the waist articulation away from Joes. Many of you have seen the concept figure at YoJoe.com that is a block figure in basic Star Wars construction. It has poseable arms, legs, and head, but the waist is one solid piece and does not move. Other people who have prototypes from the Battle Rangers line have reported that while their figures have the same O-ring construction as the rest of the line, the waists are fused together to not allow movement. That is not the case with this figure. He has full waist articulation. The question is, what were Hasbro's plans regarding waist articulation? Were they planning to do away with it? If so, why would they keep the basic O-ring construction the same but take the extra step to fuse the pieces together? Could it also be that other prototypes were from earlier stages of development and had not had the articulation added in yet? It could also be that since this figure utilizes legs from an already existing figure that he would have kept the waist articulation while the other, completely new mold figures would have not had any. Of course, this would have created an incredible inconsistency in the line, but, in the mid '90's, Hasbro wasn't too keen on attention to detail. Whatever the explanation, all the '95' prototypes are a fascinating look into what Joe would have become had Star Wars not been reborn.

There has been a recent (July-August 2000) rash of 1995 prototypes appearing for sale on the second hand market. At least 2 more versions of this figure have appeared, as well as a few new figures. One of those new figures is making the rounds as Flint. Does that mean that this figure is not the intended Battle Rangers Flint? Well, I still don't think so. I appears that the Battle Rangers line was going to be articulated in the same manner as the rest of the line. I also appears that there was going to be another subset where the waist articulation was going to be changed. This new Flint has the different waist articulation. Hasbro had released the same character in different outfits and different subsets before, so it is not all that strange that Flint would have appeared in both the Battle Rangers subset and another subset at the same time. This differently articulated subset, which, by all indications, would have at least included this aforementioned Flint, a new Stormshadow, and a new version of Duke appeared to have been more sci fi in nature. While the figure you see here is fairly tame and realistic, these figures are more similar to the Mega Marines and 1993 Battle Corps lines. It certainly would have been interesting to see what type of subset these guys would have been put into, but, alas, it is not to be.

(8/24/00) Thanks to heads up reader Ben for pointing out to me that the Flint and Stormshadow prototypes that surfaced are from the doomed Ninja Commandos line. You can read all about the Ninja Commandos, as well as check out painted prototypes and see mocked up card art at YoJoe.com.

Thanks, Ben!

This also brings up another point. A prototype of the 1995 Battle Rangers Footloose has also recently surfaced. This figure only had newly molded chest pieces and head. It follows the pattern of the figure you see here. If the Battle Rangers were to be the only 1995 subset that included classic articulation, it would make sense that they would utilize existing molds as a cost cutting move. Of important note, though, is that the Footloose prototype closely matches the Battle Rangers conception art that can be seen at Yojoe.com. While this figure was not sold to me with a name, it does closely match the character on that concept art that has been identified as the Battle Rangers Flint. It is possible that the character was simply called Flint in publicity literature as it is an identifiable name However, Footloose was hardly a popular Joe. It doesn't make sense that one new Joe would have been renamed for publicity paraphernalia and the Footloose figure would not have been renamed to Duke. (Duke was a much more recognizable name and was also supposed to be included in the Battle Rangers line. I have never seen any prototypes for him, but the recent discovery of the Footloose and the additional versions of this figure would seem to indicate that he must be out there somewhere.) It is for these reasons that I still am a firm believer that this figure is the intended 1995 Battle Rangers Flint.
***Updated 12/14/03***

As it has been over 4 years since I first showcased this figure, a lot has changed and a little has changed. The Joe world is a bit different than it was then as just about every figure known from the '95 assortment has appeared for sale a few more times. (I've added the Dr. Mindbender to my collection.) My guess is that there are probably less than 12 of these figures out there. The number might be smaller than that, but it is an educated guess. Surprisingly, though, collector interest in pieces like this remains low. While people will pay over $1,000 for a production level unproduced figure (even when there is no documentation from Hasbro to support the figure's authenticity) they don't seem too terribly interested in these unproduced resin prototypes. That's nice, though, as, if you can find them, these pieces (which I consider a greater part of Joe history than anything produced since) don't command the price tags you are accustomed to seeing for production level unproduced figures.

The real question that begs to be answered, though, is: where are these 1995 molds? While these resin pieces don't seem to indicate that the molds were ready for production level figures, they do show that they aren't that far off. As we've gotten the Manimals with the re-releases, it would make sense that, if these molds still existed, we would have seen at least a couple of them make it into production. As we have not, I am lead to believe that these molds are not available to Hasbro. They could simply not be finished and deemed not worth investing in when usable molds are abundant. They could be lost in a warehouse with their documentation separated so the molds can not be used. Or, they could be sitting in India. Whatever the case, I would like to know. I think that the '95 Battle Rangers figures are worth digging up, even if only two or three of them ever see production. Hopefully, the future will hold more information about these figures.

***

As with other existing prototypes I have seen, we, the collectors, were really short changed by Hasbro never releasing these figures. The '95 line promised great detail and cool figures for both the military purist and people like myself who really liked the Star Brigade figures. I can only imagine what else the Battle Rangers line would have offered, but if this figure is indicative, '95 could have been one of those years that collectors really cherish.