1993 Dr. Mindbender - Around The Web

Dr. Mindbender's character is far more popular than any of his figures would suggest.  The original version looked like a circus strongman.  This 1993 version features a solid sculpt.  But, the colors are bright and really don't match with the mold.  But, the good Dr.'s popularity prevails and he remains a top tier Cobra character.

Because of this, the 1993 figure is far more popular in Joe content than I would ever have guessed.  There's tons of photos and write ups available on the figure.  So, scroll through and check out all the great work that's been done with the 1993 Dr. Mindbender.

Dr. Mindbender Profile

1993 Dr. Mindbender by relena_warcraft

1993 Dr. Mindbender by dashtacker

1993 Dr. Mindbender by discovolante

1993 Dr. Mindbender by cobragram

1993 Dr. Mindbender at JoeADay.com

1993 Dr. Mindbender by gijoe_for_fun

1993 Dr. Mindbender by bruxovigo

1993 Dr. Mindbender by Slipstream80

1993 Dr. Mindbender at Nekoman's Viper Pit

1993 Dr. Mindbender by thedustinmccoy

1993 Dr. Mindbender by discovolante

1993 Dr. Mindbender by ronnie_trickshot

1993 Dr. Mindbender by thedustinmccoy

1993 Dr. Mindbender by python.patrol_benny

1993 Dr. Mindbender by fosilru

1993 Dr. Mindbender by HCC788

1993 Dr. Mindbender at Action Figure BBQ

1986 Dr. Mindbender - Around the Web

1986 upped the ante for oddball Cobra villains.  Dr. Mindbender was no exception.  He introduced the color purple as the primary Cobra color.  (Sure, Tele Viper had some.  But, Mindbender made it his centerpiece.)  And, his lack of shirt would come back on several characters in 1987 when things got really weird.

Mindbender, though, is a character who transcends his figure and is generally beloved by collectors.  They forgive his ensemble due to his release year and importance in the comic book story line.  

There's some good stuff on Dr. Mindbender out there.  So, check all the links below.

1986 Dr. Mindbender Profile

1986 Dr. Mindbender by Nekoman

1986 Dr. Mindbender by dreadnok_dread

1986 Dr. Mindbender by backyard_battles

1986 Dr. Mindbender by 00zxcvb

1986 Dr. Mindbender by thevintagetoylife

1986 Dr. Mindbender by A-Man

1986 Dr. Mindbender at JoeADay.com

1986 Dr. Mindbender by purple_cobra75

1986 Dr. Mindbender by flint

1986 Dr. Mindbender by thedustinmccoy

1986 Dr. Mindbender by badger23actual

1986 Dr. Mindbender variant by Hit and Run

1986 Dr. Mindbender by HCC788

1986 Dr. Mindbender by specialmissionforce

1986 Dr. Mindbender at Half the Battle

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.

1993 Dr. Mindbender

As Joe slowly disappeared from retail in the mid 1990's, I scoured every retail store I could find in an attempt to build my collection as much as I could before the figures disappeared forever.  As money was limited, so were my purchases.  In the early days, I was more choosy and would only buy the figures that most fit with my vintage collection.  Then, as those disappeared, I picked up figures who were poorly colored, but had good gear.  Once those were gone, I pretty much bought every figure I could find since it was rare to find more than two or three figures at any given store.  There were a few figures, though, where I bent the rules.  In most cases, it was simply due to the fact that the character was one from my childhood and that was enough for me to consider the new figure: even if the coloring was, shall we say, poor.  This leads to the 1993 Dr. Mindbender figure.  A yellow and purple nightmare mish-mash of color with eye-burning yellow accessories was not the type of figure I'd usually buy.  But, I was always fond of Dr. Mindbender as a character.  So, seeing a new version of him on retail shelves brought a nostalgic wave strong enough to overcome the coloring limitations.  So, this Dr. Mindbender became one of the earliest figures to get added to my small collection of retail Joes.

I'd love to sing the praises of this Mindbender mold.  And, it is extremely well detailed and shows a remarkable advance in sculpting over figures released earlier in the line.  But, truthfully, this mold is kind of bad.  Through the years, I've seen a great many customizers take a crack at this mold in an attempt to redeem it.  But, most of the solid paint jobs only accentuate the fact that this mold has severe limitations.  It's big, bulky and makes Mindbender look like an aging body builder.  The head looks like Mindbender.  But, it could have been used for another Cobra character and no one would have really associated it with Mindbender.

Dr. Mindbender's gear is atrocious.  His weapons are all bright yellow and completely useless.  But, taking the color out of it, you are still left with an assortment of accessories that is fairly lame.  While Mindbender got 5 guns and a knife, the choices for him are poor.  He includes versions of the weapon originally included with Dee Jay and the gun from Voltar: both among the poorer weapon sculpts in the line.  He get's the 1991 Sci Fi rifle.  But, no hose to connect to it's peg.  When I found weapons like this on in 1993 and 1994 figures, I was left to wonder why the peg was there.  I wasn't familiar with any weapons past 1988.  So, I wasn't sure if the weapon was taken from another figure with a pack that attached, or if the figure I was buying at retail was supposed to include a pack and hose that were omitted for cost cutting reasons.  He includes a yellow pistol modeled after that from the 1988 Iron Grenadier.  But, the handle is much thicker and it's difficult for him to hold.  The otherwise awesome 1989 Snake Eyes Uzi is the same.  It has the thick handle and bad coloring.  I did like the zigzag knife from the 1988 Hydro Viper.  But, preferred the red version that came with the 1994 Viper.  Plus, he has the crappy spring loaded launcher that was ubiquitous in 1993.  Really, there's no reason to track down the figure's gear at all unless you're a completist.

For me, this figure was never Dr. Mindbender.  In the summer of 1994, I sketched out the future of my take on Cobra on a set of index cards while minding the office of a real estate company.  These characters all needed figures.  And, the new takes on classic Cobras that came out between 1992 and 1994 filled many of these slots I needed for these custom characters.  As such, I have a fondness for these neon monstrosities that extends beyond visual appeal.  To me, they are intricately intertwined to my entire Joe mythos.  This Mindbender was not the classic Dr.  Instead, he was a new, technologically savvy villain who aided my younger Cobras achieve incredible success in South America.  These characters represented the idealism of my youth when I still thought anything was possible and that a new generation could make a real difference in the world.  I was smart enough to equip these young turks with a grizzled mentor who aided and guided them in their military and political careers.  But, his death left them on their own where they were able to take Cobra to unprecedented highs.

This Dr. Mindbender mold is mostly chastised for the fact that it uses the 1986 Viper legs.  Starting in 1997, the Cobra Viper repaints were all missing the original legs because they were separated from the Viper mold and added to this Dr. Mindbender.  When Hasbro went to reform the Viper, they could not find the legs and the V1 Bat legs were substituted: to the angst of collectors for the next decade.  Hasbro claimed the legs were lost before finally resculpting parts of them.  Personally, I never got the issues with the BAT legs on Viper repaints.  I still found the 1998 Cobra Trooper one of the best figures Hasbro ever released.  But, this Dr. Mindbender was cursed a million times in the 2000's by collectors who lamented the loss of the legs from the prized Viper mold.

This entire Dr. Mindbender was sent down to Brazil where he was released in colors nearly identical to this American figure.  The Brazilian Dr. Mindbender is noteworthy for the fact that he includes near identical weapons to the European Tiger Force Blizzard figure.  In the early 2000's, the Estrela Dr. Mindbender was very easy and cheap to find MOC: far moreso than the Tiger Force Blizzard.  There was a fear that the Estrela gear and the Euro gear would get switched to make complete figures.  You can tell the difference in materials between the two by simple touch and sound, though.  The mold disappeared after the Brazilian release.  While Hasbro claimed those molds were lost, some of Dr. Mindbender's contemporaries appeared in Hasbro releases in the 2000's.  So, it's likely they had access to the mold and could have brought a vintage Dr. Mindbender mold to the repaint era.  But, Hasbro was too lazy to undertake a project like that and Dr. Mindbender remains the most important Cobra named character that Hasbro never revisited.

As a character, Dr. Mindbender showed some remarkable consistency.  The original figure featured a monocle over his right eye.  This figure has the cybernetic enhancements over the right eye.  The figure's filecard specifically mentions these enhancements as something Mindbender had done.  The planned 1995 Dr. Mindbender, though, had these mechanical bits removed with the scars to match.  It was an amazing little detail that showed the designers love for the line.  No kid would have cared about matching scars for a character.  But, there they were on the unreleased Battle Corps Rangers figure.  I wish that attention to detail had continued with the post vintage Joe releases.  But, it was lost when the original Joe team was scattered to the wind.

This figure is pretty much worthless.  You see lots of dealer sales in the $8 range.  But, that's heavily a function of few loose mint and complete figures being available.  You can get a carded figure for around $10 without much trouble.  Most 1993 figures remain easier to find MOC than they are loose, mint and complete with filecard.  If you can find a loose one, it will run you in the $6 range with just loose figures, sans accessories, selling for as little as a buck or two.  So, there's no reason to not get a version of the figure and really no reason to not pick up a second one in an attempt to customize the mold.  If you just want one representation of the Dr. Mindbender character, though, go with the 1986 figure.  Were it not for the nostalgic pull of this figure, I'd probably hate him.  There's not a lot of redemption available to the mold.  But, he is a rare second take on the Mindbender character.  And, it's always better to have alternatives for a character, especially if they will never get too expensive.

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 - Asian Bootleg 1992 and 1993 G.I. Joe Figures

I've saved the oddest item of all for last.  In the late 2000's/early 2010's, carded bootleg examples of 1992 and 1993 G.I. Joe figures started showing up in Asia.  They were on cards mimicking the vintage carded look for G.I. Joe.

The figures sometimes attempt to be similar to the colors shown on the card artwork.  In other cases, they are very off.  But, the figures are spectacularly bad.  They are definitive bootlegs if only for their horrendous quality and garish design.

Below you will see ten of the figures offered.  There may be more.  I'm not sure of the origin.  But, some figures, like Cobra Commander can be interesting due to the different paint jobs.  I own the Iceberg figure, but have never gotten around to opening him.

These figs were dirt cheap when the first appeared, often selling in the $5 MOC range.  Today, they are still relatively cheap with the most popular figures running around $20 for a MOC figure.  As an interesting display piece, the figures have some value.  But, they are really, really awful in terms of quality.

Diorama - Bat Factory

There was a time when I bought a lot of new sculpt figures.  They were cheap and plentiful and were a way to buy something at retail.  The Joe world was a lot of fun in 2002 and 2003 as the community was especially vibrant.  2004 started a downturn, though.  These photos were taken in 2004 when the single pack figures started showing up at local CVS stores.  By the end of 2004, I had abandoned collecting anything other than vintage style Joes as Hasbro made collectors jump through too many hoops to get the figure they wanted.

Ultimately, sold my entire new sculpt collection to fund the purchase of some bootleg Cobra Troopers.  I don't regret that decision at all.

You will notice the unpainted Neo Viper pre-production piece below.  At the time, it was cheaper to get figures like this than it was to buy retail figures.  How times have changed on that front.

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.

1986 Dr. Mindbender

In the pantheon of Cobra characters, Dr. Mindbender is certainly near the top. One of the most recognizable and oft-used Cobra lackeys in Joe media, Mindbender is the perfect villain: vainly and oddly dressed, egomaniacal and overly ambitious. Why, then, have I only visited the character one time in 7 years of profiling figures? I think the answer lies in the fact that there really isn't a released ARAH version of Dr. Mindbender that lives up to his characterization. His second version is bright neon, even if a solid mold. The original figure, and subject of this profile, is better, but still has some of the goofiness that keeps it from being great.

Dr. Mindbender went through quite an evolution in the design process. He was, at times, a circus performer, a former professional wrestler and went by the Dr. Brainwave. The final character that was settled on for this design, though, was an orthodontist who experimented with the brain as a means of pain control. He then went mad after experimenting on himself. This works on many levels as it establishes the character's intelligence but also gives him a comic-book type origin that reconciles with his outlandish attire. The figure itself his a mash of flesh and purple. When adorned with his signature cape, the figure is set against a nice black backdrop. The mold is tightly designed and features the details that were the hallmark of earlier Joe molds. His has pushbroom mustache and a monocle that define his countenance. They are the characterizing marks (like Major Bludd's eyepatch) that enable Mindbender to remain a villain even though his full face is exposed. His ensemble is completed with oversized boots and metallic looking suspenders that were, no doubt, used to accentuate the good Dr.'s abs. The colors do work well together, even though they were a departure from earlier Cobra villains.

In my collection Dr. Mindbender is less Cobra strategist and more mad scientist. I have had the Dr. recover from his horrid scarring that was evident on the unreleased 1995 figure, but have left the mental scars of being such a monster behind. These days, my Mindbender roams a dark, underground laboratory on Cobra Island where he creates genetic mutations and works to perfect surgical and chemical methods of enhancing human strength, intelligence and endurance. In these depths, Mindbender is more of a spectre to most of Cobra. He has a dedicated group of "Acid-Vipers" (the purple 2002 Viper figure) who do his bidding. When they are seen above the surface, it means either that the Dr. has achieved a breakthrough in his research or one of his monstrosities has escaped and is once again terrorizing Cobra Island.

With this characterization, Mindbender is no longer a trusted member of my Cobra hierarchy. He remains a powerful ally to those in power as Mindbender holds the keys to the most horrid dungeons and torture chambers in the world. That alone makes him worth having around. This leads to those in power tolerating Mindbender and placating his needs. He has an ample research budget, a wealth of human test subjects (with no pesky moral guardians to keep him from destroying them in any manner he sees fit) and free reign to conduct his experiments. When something goes wrong, the full might of the Cobra army is at his disposal to eliminate and problems that escape his lab.

I view Mindbender as a man of incredible intelligence whose moral compass was lost in his accident. As he has experienced disfigurements beyond the recognition of most people, Mindbender has fallen even deeper into the depths of his black mind. He doesn't flinch at the most gruesome tortures or experiments. His mental illness is simply so far gone that he lost all human compassion. His minions of Acid-Vipers share this mentality. When he ventures from his lab, though, Mindbender can still show glimpses of his former self. He is still rational and listens to those above ground. Once in his lab, though, all bets are off and he is capable of acts that defy description.

One of the reasons why Mindbender has become such an ghost of his former self is because none of his figures really give me the look I can imagine for someone of Mindbender's established, canonical character. While this mold is excellently designed, he still looks like a circus strongman. It's hard to take him seriously in a militaristic organization like Cobra when he's dressed like a sideshow attraction. Thus, I had to find other uses for the character. My development of Mindbender keeps him in the minds of the other, more figure-friendly Cobras, but also keeps Mindbender's figure out of the limelight.   Don't get me wrong, though. I like this version of Dr. Mindbender. As a design, it is quite good and fits with his super-villain personality quite well. The mold is well adorned with small detail, solid paint applications and great accessories. His cloth cape was one of the best ever offered in the vintage line and remains a staple of the character to this day. Like other characters such as Raptor and Big Boa, though, the actual design of the figure simply no longer fits with the look of my Cobra hierarchy. Until Hasbro releases a new ARAH style Dr. Mindbender, the character is doomed to his more obscure role in my collection. This is too bad as I do like Dr. Mindbender as a character. His influence over Cobra shaped much of how my current Cobra world is structured. His role in Serpentor's creation generated political fallout that is still felt almost 2 decades after that scientific achievement.

After its use in the US and Europe, the V1 Dr. Mindbender mold was sent down to Brazil. He was released there as part of the Iron Grenadiers subset. After that, the mold never surfaced again and is presumed lost in South America. (Mindbender's Brazilian contemporaries included the Astro Viper and V2 Destro, both of whom have resurfaced but also Overlord and the Iron Grenadier, both of whom are lost.) This was the fate of both retail releases of Mindbender as his '93 figure was also released in Brazil and never appeared again. As such, Dr. Mindbender has not been revisited in ARAH-style since the rebirth of the line in 1997. He is one of the biggest characters who has yet to appear. But, since any appearance would require retooling of at least the character's head, it is unlikely that we will see a Dr. Mindbender figure in the near future. If you collect new sculpt figures, one of the highlights is the 2003 Dr. Mindbender in a lab coat. This is a more scholarly Dr. Mindbender and an idea that would be welcome in ARAH style.

Time was, Dr. Mindbender figures would set you back a bit. I distinctly remember selling a complete version for ~$15 back in late 2000. They climbed a bit above that in 2001 but have since fallen quite a bit and can now routinely be had for ~$11 for a mint and complete version. As the figure's mustache is very susceptible to paint wear and it is unlikely we'll ever see this mold again, that is probably a fair price for a pristine specimen. I keep two of this figure in my collection (one for display and one for use) as the character is so important. Mindbender is a staple of pretty much every Joe collection and still stands as one of the best developed Cobra characters. It's just too bad there aren't more figures choices to represent him.

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.