The Top 10 - 2021

 2021 has been an interesting year.  We've seen massive amounts of factory customs.  There were a few "retro" items available.  And, most importantly, Hasbro is bringing back some vintage Joe style figures with commemorative releases and the Haslab Skystriker.  2022 has much for Joe collectors to look forward to.  Promises of a variety of products that should hit everyone's collecting niche abound.  

Looking through this year's top 10, it's an eclectic mix.  Numbers 2 and 3 are really surprising.  But, in general, the popularity seems to be all over the place.  The site saw a massive uptick in visitors as both the pandemic raged and the Snake Eyes movie drew close to release.  Even after the movie's disappearance from popular culture, though, the traffic has remained high.  The site got 189,000 page views this year.  That's a substantial increase from years past.

Without further ado, here are the top 10 posts in terms of pageviews that were released in 2020.  I put that caveat on there because the most viewed post on the site in all of 2021 was, once again, the 1984 MANTA.  I don't know why.  But, it more than tripled the number 1 post that was new in 2021.

10. 1986 Claymore 

Claymore is a "rare" figure who's price has far outstripped his value to a collection.  As I got him for Christmas in 1986, though, he's somewhat important to me.  And, his rarity always attracts eyeballs.

9. 2017 Commando 

Red Laser Army figures tend to do well.  Snake Eyes figures tend to do well.  So, combined, they clocked in as the 9th most popular new post on the site this year.

8. 1983 Hawk 

Hawk is kind of a surprise.  I looked at the MMS last year, too.  And, it was one of the worst performing new profiles of the year.  So, to see the Hawk included with the vehicle get so many additional views just goes to show how valuable the inclusion of the drivers really was.

7. 2020 Black Major Bonecrusher 

Bonecrusher was my pick for the best figure of 2020.  I still maintain that it's an excellent design that brings some needed life to the 1985 Snake Eyes mold.  It showing up there is no surprise.

6. 1987 Crystal Ball 

Crystal Ball really shouldn't be among the most viewed profiles of the year.  But, I can also see how he does belong.  Everyone knows him.  And, sometimes, people just can't look away, even at something that's goofy and silly.

5. 2021 Zica Toys Riot Commando 

To be honest, I thought the Riot Commando would have done better.  It's an awesome figure and I got him within days of his 1st release.  But, it seems this figure hasn't really caught on in the vintage Joe world.  I expected lots of photos of him to appear in the months after his release.  That hasn't happened.  And, the Riot Commando seems to be fading into obscurity.  That's an unjust fate for a solid figure with amazing paint applications that's priced right.

4. Chinese Toxo Zombie

This one kind of makes sense.  The Toxo Zombie has become a popular figure.  Obscure carded figures tend to perform well.  And, this is a relatively unknown foreign variant, too.  It all added up to a well read post.

3. 2001 Crossfire

Ugh.  Crossfire sucks.  I despise this figure and have since his release 20 years ago.  Yet, I must not be in tune with the community on this one as here he is, the third most viewed page on the site in 2021.  Controversy gets clicks, I guess.

2. Stargate Lt. Kawalsky 

This one is surprising.  Stargate figures get zero mention in Joe groups.  And, while these figures include Joe accessories, they aren't all that exciting to anyone but variant nerds like myself.  But, I suspect the offbeat nature of the figure and the loose connection to Joe brought in many casual readers.

1. Haslab Skystriker

No surprise that the biggest Joe news of the year lead the site in traffic.  It wasn't a huge advantage, only about 30% more than Lt. Kawalsky.  But, nothing beat out the Skystriker announcement.  The night the Haslab funded was one of the most fun Joe collecting nights in my more than two decades of being a member of the online collecting community.  Here's to another one in 2022.

Thus ends another year of Joe fandom.  We know we're getting o-ring figures in 2022.  We just don't know who and when.  But, it will happen.  And, assuming they aren't impossible to get, you'll probably see them here.  The night of the Skystriker funding was one of the most fun Joe world experiences of the past 20 years.  It's my hope that Hasbro can strike that kind of magic more often.  

As 2022 is the 40th anniversary of the vintage Joe line, I'm going to take a different tact for the first part of the year and profile something each week in chronological order starting with 1982 through, at least 1994.  (I'll see how I feel about touching on post '94 years.)  It will follow my personal chronology with the line, how I grew with the line, abandoned it and then came back.  

I hope you and yours have had a solid 2021 and wish you a better 2022.  We have much to look forward to this year and I will enjoy sharing it with you!

1986 Claymore

My first recollections of the Mission to Brazil set come from the fall of 1986.  The set showed up at my local Toys R Us store and was a mainstay of the Joe aisle for the rest of the year.  Eventually, the sets found their way to an endcap where they were stacked so high that they would fall of the shelves if you took down a box to look at it.  It was here that I held the box in my hand on each of our family's trips to Toys R Us.  I looked over the figures...unsure if I really wanted them.  The odd colors and familiar molds seemed a bit out of place in the Joe world of the time.  But, the more times I saw the set, the more I wanted it.  Despite, this, though, I never actually asked for the set.  But, my parents must have seen me staring at it, reviewing the contents and reading over the storyline.  Because, on Christmas morning in 1986, the Mission to Brazil set was under the tree.

1986 is an odd year.  Every year, at Christmastime, I got a flagship gift.  It had been the G.I. Joe HQ in 1983.  I got a Whale in 1984 and a Moray in 1985.  (I tried for the Flagg, but it was not to be.)  In 1986, though, I didn't get a large toy as a present.  In fact, I have no recollection of even asking for anything like the Terrordrome.  I had bought myself a Tomahawk in October of that year.  And, my youngest brother did get a Night Raven, too.  But, I have no memories of my large gift that year.  I do know that I got a new dirt bike around this time.  I paid for half of it, though, as a deal with my parents.  Maybe that was the gift.  But, it was out of character for me to have to pay for part of my own Christmas gifts.  Family photos offer no clues as we rarely took pictures on Christmas morning.  (A mistake I'm not repeating with my kids.)  So, I don't know why I didn't get a big toy for Christmas that year.  But, I did get the Mission to Brazil set.  (There was also a Dreadnok Ground Assault set.  Maybe that was my "big" gift.)  And, that ended up being a gift that helped define my Joe world until my final days of childhood.

By the end of 1986, my Joe world had turned into a complex, ever running story.  My adventures would stretch for weeks with character growth, death and defeat as central themes.  To prevent this from exhausting my supply of Joe characters, I had to come up with army building figures for the good guys.  This was where the Mission to Brazil set fit in perfectly.  The recolored Mainframe, Dialtone, Wet Suit and Leatherneck all became nameless specialty troopers who could die with impunity and not affect the main characters of my Joe story.  Each was integral to my story as the Joes could now withstand the might of Cobra, suffer casualties and not cost me one of my favorite figures or characters when one of them perished.  I have profiled all of the figures in the set (and, now, Claymore twice!) due to the importance this set played during my final year of childhood play.  

But, the cornerstone of the playset, this Claymore figure, never got the chance to take a place of prominence in my collection.  I had some stories in mind for him as I stared at the mountains of sealed boxed at my local Toys R Us stores.  And, when I got the set, Claymore was really the highlight.  But, he simply didn't last.  His crotch snapped almost immediately.  And, the character of Claymore never got a chance to really join my collection.  Instead, he was an idea.  But, that idea never blossomed into anything more since the character didn't have a figure to play out his role.  So, Claymore remains one of those figures that got away.  He would have been great and probably a key player in my childhood collection.  But, the fragile figure prevented that.  And, by the time a nice Claymore came around, I had far too many new figures to really take time to explore the character that Claymore could have become.

Claymore's construction is problematic.  He features Footloose's head (that would also later appear on Rumbler), Flint's arms and waist, Dusty's legs and the Tele Viper chest.  On one level, seeing so many different figures used to create this amalgamation helps distinguish him from any of the originals.  But, the Tele Viper chest is both rather distinctive and oddly proportioned.  This gives Claymore an asymmetrical appearance.  But, the bigger issue is that the parts were not engineered to work together.  If you have ever looked for Claymore figures, you see a high number of them with broken crotches.  This is due to the fact that the Dusty legs are larger than the 1985 Flint's legs.  So, they are much more likely to break the crotch on the Flint waist than the legs originally designed with the waist piece.  By 1986, I didn't break figures.  But, I broke Claymore just trying to sit him into a vehicle.  And, I did it damn near the day I got him.  (The crotchless figure you see in the photos below is my actual childhood figure.  His joints and paint are almost pristine because I broke him so quickly.)  With that bit of bad luck, Claymore was relegated to second or third tier status among my Joes of the day.

Claymore's colors are interesting.  The bright yellow base can be troublesome for collectors.  On the 1993 Leatherneck, the color is ridiculed.  But, on Claymore, the 1986 release year makes the community more forgiving of the banana colored pants.  But, the figure is amazingly detailed and features intricate paint masks that place layers of brown, black, silver and green onto the various features of the figure's parts.  The brown and green are earthly and grounded.  This offsets the yellow and makes the figure appear less bright than he actually is.  I do feel that were Claymore a carded release, he would not be as well regarded.  Collectors are always more forgiving of harder to find figures.  But, Claymore is a nice match for the rest of the class of 1986 and looks right at home with them when on display.

Claymore's gear is not good.  He includes a green version of Footloose's helmet that is not painted.  It is often mistaken and you see many, many Claymore figures with an incorrect helmet.  (Sometimes, you can find a Footloose with a Claymore helmet, though.)  The helmet matches the green color of Claymore's vest.  So, it's a nice match.  Claymore also included an Uzi.  My version included a 1985 Snake Eyes Uzi.  It is indistinguishable from the original release of the weapon.  There are also reports of Claymore's that included the 1986 Uzi that was originally packed with the 1986 Low Light and would show up again with Law in 1987.  In the late 1990's, there were a great deal of sealed Mission to Brazil accessory sets that were available from various dealers.  These mostly included the 1986 Uzi. But, seeing as how these were sold 20 years ago and I'm the only one who remembers them, it's possible they are another false memory.  I have not seen a sealed set with the 1986 Uzi in a long time.  Every collector has their preference on weapon.  But, I feel Claymore looks out of place with the 1986 Uzi and that his filecard art shows the 1985 version, too.  As a kid, I needed Claymore to have a backpack.  The excellent 1986 Hawk backpack is a color match for Claymore's green helmet and body.  So, to this day, I consider this pack an essential part of any Claymore figure.

Claymore was released just this one time.  (There may be a European variant that does not have the cammo pattern on his pants.  But, I'm still not convinced these aren't production errors rather than variants.)  The character never returned in the vintage line and was even ignored in the repaint era.  He didn't appear until a convention set in the 2010's.  All of the figure's parts were eventually released in Brazil with their original molds with some then moving on to India.  In the early day's of online collecting, repainted Claymore's were a staple of customizers.  Some used parts from the 1985 figures.  But, Claymore's were easy enough to find that customizers would even repaint an extra that they might have lying around.  It's a shame that collectors didn't get to see Claymore return.  A repaint of this parts combo in different colors would have been nice.  But, a new take on the character would also have been welcomed in the 1990's.  

There are very few rare G.I. Joe figures.  But, there are some that are rarer than others.  And, Claymore (along with his set mates) is probably the least produced 1986 figure release.  (AVAC would take the honor.  But, later mail aways increased his availability.)  And, while there are figures from the 1990's and 2000's that were produced in far fewer quantities than Claymore, his key release year raises his desirability far over those other figures.  So, you'll pay a substantial premium for the figure.  While Claymore was always expensive, he got a nice boost in the 2000's when he starred in a comic.  This appearance spiked the figure prices.  While they did subside when Joe hit pricing doldrums in the early 2010's, the price of Claymore's has since skyrocketed and he's one of the most expensive vintage, American figure releases.  A mint and complete version with the correct helmet will fetch $100 to $225 depending upon the filecard's inclusion or just general sentiment at the time.  The helmet is the key accessory, though.  And, you can get a nicely conditioned Claymore with no gear for around $70.  Since Footloose helmets are good enough and his uzi is easily findable, that may be the way to go.

Aside from rarity, though, I don't see a compelling reason to own the figure.  Claymore didn't appear in the vintage comic nor the cartoon.  If you didn't have the Mission to Brazil set, you would have no knowledge that this character even existed.  But, for many collectors, having a complete set from their childhood years, even if that includes figures they never owned as kids, is a priority collecting goal.  And, since Claymore is both prone to breakage as well as paint wear, you get premium prices for premium figures.  I own a nice one because I had a childhood connection to the figure.  But, even my Claymore broke quickly and he was never a vital part of my childhood adventures.  The four repainted figures from his set were far more key to me and they remain more relevant from a memory perspective.

Diorama - Viper Attack

I was setting up a photo shoot for my Sgt. Slaughter profile.  I got a bunch of '86 figures out and showcased some Vipers, too.  Several of the photos were better as larger sets in lieu of the more focused Slaughter profile.  So, I put these photos together in a mini dio.  This was taken in early spring just as my garden was coming in.  It was fun to get several of these figures together: even if the photo style seems horribly dated now.

1986 Claymore - Around the Web

Claymore was the only original character in the 1986 Toys R Us exclusive Mission to Brazil set.  He has potential as a character.  But, the figure is bright yellow.  Were he a 1994 release instead of 1986, collectors would have a very different opinion of him.

1986 Claymore Profile

1986 Claymore at Joe a Day

Claymore at 3dJoes

Claymore at Wikipedia

Claymore at JoeDios.com

1986 Claymore - Mission to Brazil

Most people know of the Mission to Brazil set that was available in 1986. While many people consider this piece a must for their collection, the figures that came in the set left much to be desired. Of the five, only Wetsuit and Leatherneck really had playable versions. Claymore, the only original figure in the bunch, wasn't much better. This figure isn't very good. They took spare parts, repainted them, and turned them into one of the more forgettable figures from the line. What is sad is that they took a good character, and a great idea and implemented it poorly. (Kind of a foreshadowing of the entire 1992-4 editions.) The arms, head, waist, and legs are great. The repainted Televiper chest, though, makes this figure look not quite right. I never liked figures with open necked shirts. In some cases they worked. In this case, well, you be the judge.

I really liked Claymore, for the two weeks I used him. You will notice that the sample below has a broken crotch. This happened almost immediately after I first got him. The Crotch piece, originally designed for the 1985 Flint, has skinny legs, like Flint's, in mind. The reuse of the fat Dusty legs on this figure ensures that the broken crotch affliction is rather common. As such, it's hard to find a loose figure that is completely mint. This was a fun figure to own. Claymore was cool and his color scheme was very different from other figures of that year. His accessories kind of suck, but they could easily be changed out to make a more combat ready figure. I never used him as a covert operative, but as another ordinary joe. I managed to find some use for him after the "accident" but I never really have been able to use a broken figure. Since I broke him so early on, though, this figure is in otherwise excellent condition. I've always wanted to put together a Claymore from his original parts and see what he looked like. I can't imagine it would be pretty.

While the Mission to Brazil set as a whole remains a holy grail for many collectors, the individual figures are rather forgotten. Claymore gets little press. He was never used in the comic and I don't think he ever appeared on the cartoon. As with most repaints, he is hard to find for completists, but is often overlooked by casual collectors. In my opinion, Claymore is only the third or fourth best figure in the whole Mission to Brazil set. This is pretty bad considering that the set as a whole doesn't much measure up against the figures that were available on the shelf. This was Hasbro's first attempt at bizarre color schemes. The bright yellows and dark and light reds didn't really make figures that people wanted. I think this set's sales were a disappointment as Toys "R" Us did not have an exclusive G.I. Joe boxed figure set again until 1997.

Unfortunately, Claymore is one of the more difficult to find Joes. He is rarely found mint and complete. (This is why I have yet to upgrade mine.) His crotch was brittle and they are often seen in this condition. There are also reports that he came with two different guns. Since the accessories were packaged separately from the figures in the set, though, it's hard to determine if your Claymore has his original accessories. Claymore is rather expensive. Like all the Mission to Brazil joes, he was only available for a very short time at Toys "R" Us stores. Collectors, though, seem to misinterpret his rarity. At the time, Toys "R" Us was filled with these sets. They didn't even sell them out during Christmas, which is the originally marketed season. I don't think this figure is as rare as some people would have you believe. Granted, it is difficult, but there are still many Mission to Brazil packs still Mint in Box out there. The production run, while definitely less than other carded figures, is probably in the realm of many of the vehicle drivers from the $25 and up vehicles of the time. Of course, when you pursue this figure, you're also chasing it's mystique. There are very, very, very few truly rare joes. As such, sets like this tend to get a bit more press than they deserve. When it comes to individual figures, though, many people forget about Claymore.