1983 Cover Girl Around The Web

I first got Cover Girl for Christmas in 1983.  But, shortly after that, she completely disappeared from my collection.  I don't know where she went.  Cover Girl was then absent through my childhood Joe adventures and only reappeared when I started collecting and filling in the gaps in the early Joe years.  As a figure, she's probably not as well done as Scarlett.  But, Cover Girl is both an important character and a fan favorite.  Here's the best of her from around the web.

1983 Cover Girl Profile

1983 Wolverine Profile

Sparta (Argentina Cover Girl) Profile

Cover Girl by steelbrigade

Cover Girl by Trina Colada

Cover Girl by Slipstream80

1983 Wolverine

The first two years of Joe vehicles shared a common look and theme.  They were cast in military green and designed to interact with the figures.  Each figure and vehicle was sculpted in a way to ensure total compatibility so that any figure would work with any vehicle.  There is a uniformity to their design that disappeared as the line moved forward.  To this day, many of the most iconic Joe vehicles were released in these starting years.  Among the VAMP, HISS and Skystriker, though, is the Wolverine.  While not as famous as other vehicles, the Wolverine is still popular enough.  As a kid, though, I did not appreciate nor like this vehicle.  Now, that is no longer true.  The Wolverine has a place among the classic Joe releases and is well worth a look.

The Wolverine entered my collection at Christmas in 1983.  We got a lot of toys that holiday and pretty much wrapped up the Joe line for that year.  As the Wolverine, technically, belonged to my younger brother, though, it was lost in the sea of toys that we had received.  Within a few weeks, though, the novelty of my acquisitions was wearing down.  I looked to the Wolverine as something new to check out.  I tried integrating it with my Joes.  But, I found the toy limiting.  From a play value standpoint, it had to major issues that I really could not reconcile.  First, it could only hold one figure.  For me, figures were the reason why I played with the toys.  Give me three or four characters and I could entertain myself for hours, vehicle or no.  It was nice that the Wolverine could hold a driver.  But, it didn't even have foot pegs for another figure.  I tried setting figures all over the vehicle in a variety of ways.  But, as soon as the convoy rolled out, the extra figure would fall off.  I did not like vehicles that were so limiting and that was a mark against the Wolverine.

The second issue was the lack of guns.  As a kid, the missiles just weren't any fun.  For a 10 year old, guns had unlimited supplies of ammo.  This, to me, was not unreasonable.  However, it was an issue that the Wolverine could only shoot 12 missiles.  Once they were expended, there was no place to hold any more on the vehicle.  This seems silly in retrospect as there are any number of ways to plausibly reason that the Wolverine carried at least another set of projectiles.  But, I think the real issue is that I didn't find missile fun to play with.  I'd pull one out of the launcher and have it destroy a Cobra vehicle.  But, that took the Hiss Tank out of commission, which limited my fun.  Plus, as figures were the focal point of my adventure, it was impossible for a missile to take out an individual person who was constantly moving around.  So, the Wolverine quickly found itself played out.

There were, though, two upsides to the vehicle, too.  The first, of course, was the tow rope.  I found that extremely useful.  I'd use it to tow vehicles from other toy lines, or attach to a string I rigged on the APC.  In short, it found more uses than the Wolverine itself.  But, the brittle nature of the tow rope was quickly manifested and one of the ends was snapped off.  Once this happened, the tow rope was phased out.  The second part of the Wolverine that I liked was the engine cover.  To me, these were sleeping bags and supplies for the troops out in the wild.  For some reason, I wanted my figures to have long term survival gear.  The larger backpacks of 1983 made this a reality.  But, I had lots of figures who didn't have their own gear.  I'd take the engine cover off the Wolverine and store it in my APC so that there was more supplies for the entire Joe team.

The Wolverine's final death knell in my childhood collection, though, was when my brother broke the cap to the missile launcher.  This held the missiles in place.  Once it was broken, the entire launcher just sagged and pointed right at the vehicle's body.  There was more than one occasion where the Wolverine blew itself up due to this defect.  In later years, I kept the Wolverine around as a way for the Joes to defend their headquarters.  It served as anti aircraft defense.  This way, it could hold a broken down figure and be out of the way.  It never went into the fray as its ordinance was expended trying to stave off attacking Cobra aircraft.  In this capacity, my Wolverine died out and was tucked into the attic for a decade before I pulled out the parts and tried to salvage what pieces I could.

Now, though, I appreciate the Wolverine more for what it is.  Having mobile missile launchers would be a key strategic point for the Joes.  They could use them offensively to attack.  Or, defensively to defend a position or base.  A dozen missiles is a pretty good amount of firepower, too.  Beyond that, the vehicle is incredibly detailed, well colored and doesn't maintain too large of a footprint.  It fits well with the early year figures and is that perfect blend of design that makes you think the Wolverine actually did exist in this size.  The vehicle's driver, Cover Girl, is decent enough.  (I lost her in childhood, though.)  Now, she is as tied to the Wolverine as Clutch is to his VAMP: a perfect blend of machine and operator.

The Wolverine mold had a very good life.  After the U.S. release, the entire vehicle was recolored in black and released as the SAS Wolverine.  (It included the highly sought after Hunter figure.)  After that, Hasbro released the toy in the various international markets they served including Europe and Japan.  (The European Wolverine is a darker green than the American toy.)  The mold then made it's way to Brazil.  Estrela released a Wolverine for a while.  It's similar to the American version, but the green is a different shade.  In 1989, the Wolverine base was used for the Lynx tank.  After that, the mold disappeared.  If you like the same vehicle in different shades of green, there's a lot for you.  The black Action Force version is nice, too.  So, Wolverine fans can keep themselves busy with the various versions that were released.

As the Wolverine is an early Joe vehicle and has a reputation for a few hard to find pieces, you will see a lot of high priced dealer offerings in the $70 to $80 range.  These are overpriced, though.  Lots of Wolverines were produced and many of them survived.  Plus, the vehicle isn't one that collectors tend to army build or hoard.  So, you have ample supply.  With a little patience, you can get a mint and complete Wolverine for around $45.  That's a lot for what the vehicle is.  But, if you want to sacrifice the tow rope, the price drops into the $20 range.  Frankly, I find both prices too high for this vehicle.  But, my opinion of it is heavily colored by my childhood disappointment with the toy.  So, collector mileage may vary.  For me, the Wolverine remains part of my desire to have a complete collection of figures and vehicles from my core childhood years.  Beyond that, I don't find much use for it.  But, lots of collectors do enjoy the vehicle.  So, taken with fresh eyes, the Wolverine can still be fun to have around.

1983 Cover Girl

At various points in my childhood a mystery would arise.  In these cases, a toy that was relatively new would suddenly disappear without a trace.  It happened to my new Nien Numb figure in 1983.  It happened to my new Major Bludd on Christmas break in 1984.  It happened to one of my 1985 Snake Eyes figures at my Grandparents' house in Dayton in 1985.  It happened to a Leatherneck figure in the bushes in front of my Grandfather's house in Buffalo in 1986.  It also happened to one of the many new figures I received for Christmas in 1983: Cover Girl.  As such, Cover Girl was never a major player in my collection outside of the fact that she simply vanished.

In our house, Christmas of 1983 was spectacular.  There wasn't a Joe toy that wasn't under our tree.  In 1983, my youngest brother turned 5 and was able to have the last of a series of major heart surgeries.  My younger brother and I were shuffled off to spend the entire summer with our Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle in Ohio.  My youngest brother came out of the surgeries just fine and my parents were relieved to a degree that I can not fathom.  As such, my parents went hog wild on presents for Christmas.  Not only did we find tons of Return of the Jedi figures and vehicles under the tree, but pretty much the entire 1983 Joe line was there as well.  My Grandparents came over and bought each of us a few figures.  I could see Gung Ho and Snow Job through the tissue paper wrapping my Grandmother had used.  The presents sat there for a few days, waiting for Christmas morning and building our anticipation.

When the Christmas morning melee was done, our living room was stacked with unopened boxes of pretty much any toy collectors' best dreams.  Our neighbor, a father of three girls, came over and helped my Dad put together all of the new vehicles and the coup de gras: the G.I. Joe Headquarters.  My haul included the APC along with all the figures I was missing from the year.  My youngest brother got the Wolverine.  As it wasn't mine, I didn't pay it much attention for a while.  But, as the year progressed, I grew interested in the Wolverine's potential.  Soon, though, I became flummoxed by the Wolverine's limitation as a toy.  It only held one figure.  On top of that, once the 12 missiles were expended, it was unarmed.  Plus, my brother had broken off the top piece that held the missile launcher to the base: rending the launcher unable to stay pointed any direction but down: directly at the vehicle's body.  As such, the Wolverine fell out of favor.

Cover Girl, though, had a different fate.  At first, I only would use the Wolverine's intended driver with the vehicle.  Cover Girl found a home in this role.  Without a sidearm, though, she was an afterthought if she were out of her vehicle.  However, before I could really develop the character, Cover Girl disappeared.  The figure simply vanished.  While things got lost in our house all the time, they were usually things like small accessories that likely ended up in my mother's vacuum.  It was rare to lose a figure.  One might be gone for a while.  But, once I realized it was gone, I would go on a search of my room, my brothers' room, the toy room, under the living and family room couches and through the basement.  These long searches would almost always find the figure or part that was missing.  Cover Girl, though, never turned up.  I scoured the house and interrogated my brothers.  But, no one had any clue as to her whereabouts and no one had any recollection to removing her from the house.  Thus, Cover Girl forever disappeared from my childhood G.I. Joe collection.

In the grand scheme of things, I think these mysterious, missing figures all evened out.  In later years, a perfectly conditioned Flash, a Track Viper, a Salvo and a complete Tiger Force Recondo all entered into our collection with no knowledge of their acquisition.  Maybe they were left behind by my brother's playmates.  Maybe my Cover Girl was left at one of my brother's friends houses and they simply forgot they even took her there.  But, had Cover Girl not vanished, it's unlikely I'd have anything to say about her.  She is certainly not as cool as the regularly carded 1983 or 1984 Joe figures.  And, she would likely have been relegated to "bottom of the box" duty to only come out when I had no other figures available.  It's odd that her story is one of absence.  But, it has kept the figure in my mind for over 30 years and given me a chance to reminisce about a great time in my life.

As a mold, Cover Girl certainly has limitations.  The body mold is fairly strong with lots of nice details.  The head sculpt, though, is not good.  Cover Girl's head definitely shows the sculpting limitations of the time.  It is overly large with close cropped hair.  You realize how much of a leap forward the 1984 Baroness figure really was with the separately sculpted hair piece when you look at Cover Girl.  Her pursed lips give her a sterner appearance than you'd expect from a former fashion model.  But, that might be the reality of the male dominated 1980's military.  The coloring is very well done with earthy browns juxtaposed with splashes of bluish grey detailing.  She does have painted flesh hands, which are both prone to paint wear as well as general breakage.

While Cover Girl was relegated to a vehicle driver role in the U.S. and Canada, she found a second life in South America.  The mold was used to create a new character named Sparta in both Brazil and Argentina.  On top of the new character, the mold was also released with new artwork as a single carded figure.  Both Sparta figures are heavily reminiscent of the American Cover Girls, but are still different enough to be worthwhile additions to any collection.  The great thing for American collectors is that large caches of carded Sparta figures from both Plastirama and Estrela were found in the early 2000's, putting large quantities of the figures into the collecting community.  The mold likely died in South America.  Were it available, it's likely it would have been used since Hasbro released multiple Scarlett, Lady Jaye and Baroness figures.  A high quality Cover Girl repaint would have been nice.  Even if the character had been named Sparta, but been given a completely different paint, it would have been a great way to update the mold.  But, collectors have a couple of options for the figure that, while somewhat expensive these days, aren't all that hard to find.

In the 1990's, before the rise of the internet, all female figures from the Joe line were considered "collectible".  This attitude carried over in the 2000's, even though it was now evident that the female figures from the line didn't exist in substantially different quantities than their male contemporaries.  But, it made Cover Girl figures expensive.  In those days, she was a $20 figure all the time.  As the 2000's wound down, the figure got substantially less expensive.  Now, though, she is fairly pricey again.  Mint and complete with filecard figures sell in the $22 range.  You can get a mint figure for around $17.  If you sacrifice a little condition, the price falls pretty drastically.  But, it rare to find a nice Cover Girl for under $10.  So, she's going to cost you.

In the days when Plastirama Spartas were available MOC for $10, that was the way to go to get the mold.  Now, though, Spartas are more expensive, so Cover Girl is the preference if you want the mold.  For the price, the figure doesn't seem worth it.  The mold has limitations.  But, females are few and far between in the vintage Joe line.  So, Cover Girl's lone appearance makes the mold more desirable than if she had been revisited as a repaint or an updated character.  The lack of childhood connection has left this figure as an outcast in my collection.  But, it's nice to have her around for the rare occasion when her appearance makes sense.  I doubt I'd pay the current prices to acquire a Cover Girl.  But, it's also unlikely I'll part with the one I have.

Sparta (South American Exclusive Cover Girl)

After Cover Girl won the most recent Feature Character Spotlight sponsored by YoJoe.com, I was left wondering how I was going to profile the character. As a child, my Cover Girl figure disappeared only weeks after I acquired her. As such, I have no memories of her role in my childhood collection. As an adult, I have had little use for Cover Girl as her figure is rather horrid and really doesn't offer anything special to a collection. This didn't leave me with many options until I remembered a figure I acquired several years ago and had just packed into a box, never to really be seen again. Back in late 2000, I acquired a few Argentine exclusive figures for bargain basement prices. One of the figures I picked up was the Argentine release of the Cover Girl figure named Sparta.

The first thing about Sparta that attracted my attention was her exclusive card art. Many of the early Argentine Exclusives featured original card art that was only available in South America. When you couple this with the exclusive color schemes and the different use of figure molds that were previously only available as vehicle drivers in the US, the Argentine Joe line becomes a nice way to broaden a collection. I will state that the figure quality is hit and miss and the Argentine stuff I've had is not quite as nicely done as the Brazilian exclusive figures as the paint apps can be a bit off and the figures can be brittle to the touch. Still, if you take these figures for what they are and aren't too hard on them, they can be integrated into a predominantly American Joe collection.

Sparta's specialty is a "Secret Agent". While that may be a bit broad, I think that it allows her some leeway in character that could make her quite interesting. As I've done with Quarrel, Sparta has become a different character for me who is busier when she isn't being used as a figure than when she is. It is the idea of her infiltration skills that makes her appealing and useful in my collection. As a figure, she isn't all that spectacular. The idea of her as a South American born spy who is living on Cobra Island and reporting Cobra activity back to the Joes, though, is more interesting. She is a character that gives the Joe team a little more depth and makes them more of a truly international anti-terrorist force. In this day and age, I think the inclusion of foreign Joes is imperative to their overall success. Cobra is surely a global organization and having a team of only Americans working against them would allow Cobra great advantages in it's operations outside of the US.

Sparta does sport an exclusive color scheme. It was obviously based on Cover Girl's, but is slightly different. One thing to note is that the Argentine and Brazilian figures are slightly different and you can tell the difference between the two. Their card art is the same, but the Brazilian figure's package is also distinctively different. Plus, the Argentine figure has an accessory variation where some include Stalker's gun and others include Footloose's gun. Still, regardless of the differences, Sparta figures are simple to track down and are a more cost effective method of diversifying your female Joe ranks.

Both Brazilian and Argentine Spartas are easy to find. You can still get either of them MOC for under $20 or so. One thing to note, though, is that most of the Sparta figures that are readily available on the second hand market are from overstock that was not properly stored in South America. This means that many of the figures may not be of indicative quality as compared to other contemporary South American releases. Many Spartas are brittle and require care when handling them so they do not break. This is a function of being stored in high temperature environments for a long period of time and is something to remember when you go to add Sparta to your collection. Still, for the money, Sparta is a great way to pick up a carded version of a mold that was never offered that way in the US. The exclusive art is just icing on the cake. I'm not sure what role Sparta will ever play in my collection, but she is an interesting part of international Joe history and makes a solid addition to any collection.

Sparta is a decent character who I wouldn't mind seeing integrated into the American line.