My Favorite Accessories - Part 2

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

Early Adult Favorites:

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

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

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

2. Annihilator Pistol

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

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

3. Hit & Run  Rifle

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

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

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

4. Bullhorn's Mask

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

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

5. Spearhead's Rifle

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

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

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

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

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

1990 Bullhorn

I bought my last childhood Joes in 1988.  I bought no figures in 1989.  But, in the year of 1990, I did buy a solitary figure.  However, it was a 1989 Night Viper.  While I was fully engaged with the 1989 new figures and knew who they were, I was not similarly engrossed in 1990.  I had new pursuits filling my time.  I liked many of the characters who appeared in the comic.  Their designs looked interesting.  But, not interesting enough to really get me to think about buying them.  My younger brothers had also heavily outgrown Joe.  They had never really liked it as much as I had and when my interest flagged, so did theirs.  But, being more of an age where toys were still acceptable gifts, they'd get an occasional Joe figure.  My main foray into 1990 figures was when I babysat some kids down the street.  They had the newer Joes and I'd see them when I took care of them.  My main memories of that collection was Metal Head.  (They also had a Paralyzer and Big Ben that I saw in 1991.)  I've looked at Metal Head enough, though, that I turned to the one figure that we did own from 1990: Bullhorn.

In my household, we had just one 1989 figure: Scoop.  And, that pattern continued in 1990.  My youngest brother picked up a Bullhorn at some point.  I found the figure and was immediately enthralled with him.  The design was strong, his rifle was amazing, the sniper pack was what Destro had promised in 1983 and his gas mask was the type of accessory I had wanted since 1984.  In 1990, though, all my Joe toys were put away and those that my brother still had out were beat up, incomplete and generally spread around the house.  So, Bullhorn was more of an imagination figure for me.  I imagined how I would have used him had he been a part of my childhood.  His gear opened up new possibilities for me as the only real gasmasks that the Joes had were Ripcord's, Blowtorch's and Lifeline's.  And, each of those was set aside for specific purposes.

When I started collecting Joes as an adult, our old Bullhorn was still around.  He wasn't mint and some of his gear was gone.  So, as I sought out lots of figures, Bullhorn was a figure I'd target.  I used to have a point system for lots I was considering.  Figures with a score of 1 were either figures I didn't have, army builders or figures like Bullhorn where I'd buy extras even if they were Joes.  So, Bullhorn got a 1 and I ended up with a good little army of them for a while.  With the figures in tow, I set about trying different accessories with them since I found Bullhorn's main rifle to be unwieldy.  In time, I found Topside's and Freefall's weapons worked well with them.  And, even Sub Zero's heavy machine gun could be useful.  With the masks on, the figures could be an elite unit of army builders.  

Joe underwent several accessory stages.  The early figures included a helmet, weapon and maybe a pack or visor.  In 1983, the packs got larger and the weapons more detailed.  1984 was a major step forward with animals and additional gear.  1985, though, kind of stood still.  While ropes and rubber hoses were added, the overall amount of accessories per figure was pretty similar to 1984.  The line then stayed constant through 1988.  In 1989, though, the volume of accessories began to rise.  The number and intricacy of the accessories took a noticeable step forward.  In 1990, the figures were nearly over-accessorized.  Almost every figure includes a ton of gear and is often not able to store it all.  It was likely a way of appealing to the value of parents who were starting to see larger sized figures compete with Joes as the gift of choice for their children.

This means that Bullhorn is excellently accessorized.  Really, the least interesting part of his gear complement is his namesake bullhorn.  It's two pieces and really well done.  Supposedly, the pistol grip is a "gas gun" with a bullhorn attached.  It makes no sense and I've always seen it as a bullhorn.  There's a round whole on the back of the gun that implies it should have had a place where it could be hung.  But, no such peg exists and it may be a remnant of Bullhorn's design that was removed earlier in the pre-production process.  Bullhorn's main rifle is cool looking.  But, it's rather big and can be a thumb breaker.  At the time, I thought it was amazing.  But, the weapon lost its luster over the years.  It appeared in a variety of softer plastic weapon trees in 1993 and 1994, though, and those can be easier on thumbs.  There are also two grey versions of it.  One is a hard to find 2008 convention piece.  The other is a Stargate weapon and it gives Bullhorn something different to use.  

It is the remainder of Bullhorn's gear that really sets him apart.  The calling card for the figure is his sniper and case.  This time around, though, the bulky case holds three pieces that can be combined into a sniper rifle.  The case features a keyboard to imply it is locked.  The actual sniper rifle, when put together, isn't very impressive.  But, it's a stock, body and sight that interconnect to make a whole new accessory.  Really, it's something that's more cool as a concept than it is an actual plaything.  But, that was kind of the point.  Bullhorn's gas mask rounded out his accessories.  It is my favorite part of the figure.  And, I use it on a variety of figures when the situation calls for it.  The mask fits really well.  And, since it's not a helmet, it is a very different look for a figure wearing protection from toxic gases.  Sadly, the gas mask never returned and that's a shame.

Bullhorn didn't get much use.  He was released by Hasbro.  There is a European exclusive accessory variant that's not easy to find, but also not different from the American figure.  Bullhorn's legs were used on the 1993 Bazooka figure.  He then disappeared until 2008.  He then appeared as a convention figure that was included with a repainted Hammer.  This 2008 figure had 1992 Shockwave legs since the original lower body was separated from the mold in 1993.  The 2008 isn't materially different from the 1990 figure.  And, Bullhorn could have used a nice repaint or two at retail during the early 2000's.  Seeing him in more urban coloring or even environmentally themed could have been a great way to update the mold.  This didn't happen, though.  So, collectors have few options for Bullhorn and those beyond his standard release are hard to find and can get prohibitively expensive.

Bullhorns were once cheap.  As Joes got popular, he rose in price.  But, as interest faded, he dropped back down, again.  Now, though, he's somewhat in the middle.  While many 1990 figures have gotten absurdly expensive, Bullhorn hasn't gone nuts...yet.  Both dealers and the open market seem to agree that a mint and complete with filecard Bullhorn is about a $25 figure.  It's rare to find such synchronicity.  Sure, some dealers will get a lot more.  But, there's plenty still available for that price.  You can get figures for a couple of bucks with the mask running about $5 and his sniper pack running about $12.  So, the complete version is still the way to go.  Bullhorn's gear works well with some other figures and extra gas masks are always a welcome accessory to have around.  So, even if my late 1990's army building obsession with Bullhorn has subsided, I can still appreciate the figure always find use for his gear.

1990 Bullhorn - Around The Web

Bullhorn is one of those Joes that doesn't get a lot of press.  But, when he's brought up, everyone loves him.  From the solid colors to the amazing gear, the Bullhorn figure has something for pretty much every Joe fan.  There's some good content on him out there.  Here's the best of Bullhorn from around the web.

1990 Bullhorn Profile

Bullhorn by Scarrviper

Bullhorn at JoeBattleLines.com

European Exclusive Missile Firing Bullhorn

Bullhorn by Falcon Chile

Bullhorn Commercial by 3DJoes.com

Bullhorn Diorama

Bullhorn by 7inch_gang

Bullhorn at CobraIsland.com

Bullhorn by Nekoman

Bullhorn at JoeADay.com

Bullhorn Video Review by Formbx257

Rarities - European Exclusive Firing Weapons Figures

Everyone is familiar with the European exclusive Action Force G.I. Joe repaints, the 6 European Tiger Force exclusive figures and even the more obscure European variants of Mutt and Spirit.  But, there were actually many more European exclusive figures.  Some are just minor color differences.  Some are date stamp discrepancies.  And, some are exclusive accessory variants.  It is the last category that is the focus of today's profile.  In the 1990's in Europe, Hasbro released 15 figures who featured exclusive accessories.  They are defined by the fact that the most identifiable characteristic is that most included spring loaded, firing weapons.  But, these are a lot of interesting tidbits hidden within these figures that we'll look at below.

The 15 figures are all 1990 and 1991 figure molds.  It should be noted that most, if not all of these figures were also released in Europe with their American accessories.  But, these altered releases were exclusive to the continent.  I'll start with my favorite of the bunch, the Rock Viper.

As you can see in the photo above, the Rock Viper now includes gear from the 1991 Snake Eyes figure.  The backpack is in an exclusive dark maroon color.  But, the thing that I really like is the neon green gun and missile.  The green is a nice color offset for the Rock Viper and I don't mind neon accessories in some cases.  But, this colored missile and gun are exclusive to this European version of the Rock Viper.

Next up is the Night Creeper you see below.

The main reason I like this version is because I like the Night Creeper in general.  This version, though, includes the backpack and launcher from the 1991 Mercer figure in a dark purple to match the Night Creeper figure.  He also includes an exclusive silver missile.

Next up is Ambush.

The obvious difference in Ambush is his accessories.  He now includes the backpack and missile launcher from the 1991 Snow Serpent in an exclusive light tan color.  He also have the Snow Serpent missile in red.  But, if you look closely, the figure itself is different.  Instead of dark brown cammo on his body, this Ambush features a brighter, lighter brown that has an orange-ish hue.  It is definitely a variant to Ambush.  Though, I'm not 100% certain that this cammo variance was exclusive to Europe or was also available elsewhere.  This European figure also features exclusive card artwork.

The 1991 jet pack General Hawk stands out because he does not include a spring loaded weapon.

As you see above, Hawk includes the launchers and missiles from the 1991 Crimson Guard Immortal figure.  They appear to be in the same color as the CGI weapons.

Next, we have Bullhorn.

Bullhorn is still the same great figure.  But, this version includes the 1991 Snow Serpent missile launcher in an exclusive maroon color.  He also has a neon green missile.

The most famous figure from this crop of missile launching figures is the 1991 Dusty.  This is because Dusty was also released in Asia with the same accessory configuration.  (There were some other figures in this series that also saw Asian releases with the alternate gear including Range Viper, Laser Viper and Desert Scorpion.)

You see Dusty includes the 1991 Red Star AK-47 and missile launcher.  The figure also features unique card artwork that showcases his alternate inclusions.

The 1991 Low Light follows the Dusty.

Low Light also includes the 1991 Red Star launcher and missile.

Up next is the Laser Viper.

This Laser Viper variant includes the missile launcher and missile from the 1991 Sci Fi figure.

Pathfinder shares a detail with Laser Viper:

Pathfinder also features the 1991 Sci Fi missile launcher.  These accessories appear to be unchanged from the American Sci Fi figure release.

Captain Grid Iron makes the Sci Fi launcher reuse a trifecta.

Captain Grid Iron, though, also features exclusive card artwork to help make him a little more interesting than just the reused launcher.

Metal Head brings us back to exclusive gear.

Metal Head includes a golden launcher from the 1991 Cobra Commander figure.  He also includes the standard 1991 Cobra Commander gun.

The final four figures are all Cobra army builders.

Range Viper:

The Range Viper also features Red Star's AK-47 and missile launcher.  He includes an exclusive golden missile, though.

SAW Viper:

The SAW Viper includes the gear from the 1991 Incinerator figure.  He also features exclusive card artwork that showcases his different accessories.

Desert Scorpion:

The Desert Scorpion includes the backpack and missile from the 1991 Mercer figure.  The only exclusive part of the figure is the card artwork that shows an oddball configuration for the new gear.

Undertow:

The Undertow figure also uses the gear from the 1991 Snake Eyes figure.  But, it's in an exclusive red color meant to mimic the Undertow's colors.  He also features an exclusive grey missile.

As accessory variants don't tend to command great attention as opposed to figure variants, these European figures remain very obscure.  But, they are generally hard to find and carded figures can command a premium in the right setting.  I'd love to track down a few of them as the offbeat colors are right up my collecting alley.  But, the general rarity of them makes them another fun subset in foreign Joe collecting.  One final picture is from a European catalog that showcases several of the figures in their alternate accessory configurations.

Diorama - Secret of the Ooze

In the fall of 2001, I took these pics out in the yard.  I hadn't really brought out the Toxo Vipers in over a year and I wanted to showcase them more.  Plus, it was always good to use Cesspool.  I had the idea of finding the Toxo Zombie as a deceased Toxo Viper and it gave me chance to finally get some photos of that figure, too.

This was the first real fall I'd seen in 4 years and it re-affirmed that season as my favorite.  These pics are 15 years old, now.  The entire vintage Joe line could have been released with room to spare in that time.  Sadly, these figures are all gone from my collection.  At the time, no one cared about them and you could get them cheap.  Now, they are much harder to find.

1990 Bullhorn

Sometimes an accessory does a figure make. This is the case with Bullhorn. The figure isn't all that great, but the gas mask makes this guy a must have in every collection. Like the '84 Ripcord, this figure is about useless if he doesn't have some of his accessories. The mask is a must. The rifle is okay, and the put-together gun from the case pack is a good idea that didn't translate well into the toy. Still, this figure must be had just for the mask. It was an awesome accessory. Had it only been compatible with more Joes, Bullhorn might have reached stratospheric popularity heights. Alas, he did not. Many collectors don't like this figure. In fact, what little attention he receives is usually bad. I don't know why this figures is viewed negatively. He is in very militaristic colors, has a decent sculpt, though his head sucks, and has good accessories. I think he suffers from the dilemma of all the 1990's. He was sandwiched in between two great years that had dozens of figures. There were just so many figures on the retail shelves in the late '80's and early '90's that many of them have disappeared into anonymity.

When I first found places to talk about Joes, this figure's lack of popularity surprised me. How could people not like this figure? I still don't have an answer. The figures released in 1990 are rather forgotten. They came out between two spectacular years and don't receive much recognition from pricing authorities. Many new collectors think, if the price is low, the figures must be common and very poorly designed. This is not the case with most of the 1990's. My youngest brother got this figure after I had stopped collecting Joes. After seeing him, my interest returned and I started to prowl the stores on my lunch hours and actually bought a figure or two. That original Bullhorn met a quick demise. It was only years later that I was able to get another one. I now have about 5 of them. I use them both as trench and tunnel soldiers as well as security officers (riot police).

I think part of the reason Bullhorn is relatively obscure is that he is never shown wearing his mask. Most people showcase Joes sans accessories. As such, you can't get a real idea of what a figure looks like. Without his mask, Bullhorn is awful at best. With it, he is a great figure. I have always hated not having access to pictures of figures with their helmets, masks, etc. on them. Some helmets look great in the package, but look awful on the figure. (Effects, most notably, comes to mind.) Other figures don't look like much, but when they have their full complement of accessories, they are awesome. I have designed my site to remedy this. If someone discovers a figure they would have otherwise overlooked, then my goal has been accomplished. Don't get me wrong, I understand why many sites show the figures without accessories. Those sites also serve as a valuable reference guide. They don't have an agenda to promote a particular figure. I do. That is the sole purpose of Mike's Forgotten Figures.

Bullhorns are rather easy to find. For some reason, he has never caught on in the collecting community. He is a cool figure, though, and is often found in lots. Many kids had him for the mask. He was popular in his day, but his star has diminished as time has passed. This is good, though, as he remains a very cheap figure to purchase. Bullhorns are in just about every lot that has figures made in the early '90's. Even loose, mint, and complete, he is very affordable and you can build an army of them. Since the mask obscures his face, this is a good figure to have more than one of. He is fun to have and looks good in any number of dioramas. I hope Bullhorn remains unpopular. If this is the case, he should stay cheap and remain a good, cool figure beginning collectors can start with.

***Updated 11/24/03***

Since I wrote this profile a few years ago, some things about Bullhorn have changed. While I mentioned that he gets no respect in online collecting circles, that is no longer the case. Bullhorn is now more highly regarded as a figure and is considered an important part of many people's collections. This has greatly affected his availability as complete Bullhorns now command a bit higher price that I originally indicated. My guess is that this is mostly due to the fact that the crowd who grew up with Joe in the late '80's and early 90's has now come of collecting age. In the last 5 years, the collecting conscience has stayed, relatively, the same age. This has allowed different stages of the line to have their time in the sun. The original 13 Joes are now somewhat by the wayside and aren't, usually, held as the pinnacle of Joe's success as they once were. While those figures have historical significance, you now see more collectors who hold affinities for later years of the original line. This is nice as it keeps the overall collecting perspective fresh, but is also frustrating as some previously cheap figures like Bullhorn suddenly become popular and a bit more pricey. As this site has now been online for over 4 years, I've had occasion to chronicle some of the changes in the collecting world. That's why I'm going back to some of these older profiles as info that was correct when I wrote them has now changed. It's been fun for me to see the evolution of the collecting experience. Hopefully, you feel the same.

***

The Bullhorn mold made a surprise return in 2008 as a convention exclusive figure. However, the trademark gas mask was missing. Still, it was nice to see the figure return. But, once again, his late appearance showed how many molds Hasbro really did have access to. I can only imagine a Bullhorn figure appearing in the Anti-Venom or Night Force sets. Those could easily have been figures for the ages. It is a testament to the wasted potential that the Joe line from 2002 - 2006 really was. Maybe, someday, we will see someone who has a bit of respect for the vintage toys try another line and they will do it right. We can only hope at this point.