1983 Dragonfly - Around The Web

It's tough to beat the Dragonfly.  It's a drastically superior toy to the over-rated Skystriker.  And, even after 11 years of additional releases, the Dragonfly held up and remained a necessary element of any collection.  It both displays well and doesn't take up a ton of space.  It has a lot of details and features that give it depth that makes it visually interesting.  And, it works perfectly with the figures from that era.

There's plenty  of content on the Dragonfly out there.  So, stop by all the links below and check it out.

1983 Dragonfly Profile

1983 Dragonfly by cyko_9

1983 Dragonfly by cobra_florence

1983 Dragonfly by jonita_rodriguin

1983 Dragonfly by darkstar_vintage

1983 Dragonfly by gen_liederkranz

1983 Dragonfly by thedustinmccoy

1983 Dragonfly by codename.steve

1983 Dragonfly by still_a_big_kid

1983 Dragonfly by littlegreenmentoyz

1983 Dragonfly by Evilface

1983 Wild Bill

I've finally done it.  In 20 years of profiling figures, I've never actually completed a figure year's worth of profiles.  In many cases, I'm close.  In some cases, it's just one or two figures before that year is complete.  But, I've never actually closed out an entire year.  My focus has always been to switch around and not get too focused on any specific year in too short a period of time.  With this profile of Wild Bill, all the new figures that were released in 1983 are now done and have been reviewed.  It's an odd feeling since I always like to have options for figure years as subjects of future profiles.  But, I've told most of my stories about specific years and there is some redundancy if you read everything about a year in one sitting.

Wild Bill's entry to my collection came in the fall of 1983.  I had mowed lawns all summer long and had properly saved my money.  Now, I wanted to buy something big.  At the time, there was really only one option: the Dragonfly.  It was the one toy the kid around the block hadn't gotten, yet.  And, it was awesome.  On a warm, early Fall day, my mom took me to the recently opened Kohl's store.  There, I found my Dragonfly and bought it.  Both of my younger brothers complained bitterly about not getting something.  So, my mom bought them Tripwire and Torpedo.  Somehow, since I was buying my own toy, I didn't get a figure bought for me.  This recurred in my childhood for the next several years.  Apparently, I'm somewhat bitter about it.  But, it also created a sense of self reliance that I maintain to this day.  And, I've always simply worked to buy the things I want.  I miss out on some things due to my independence.  But, I've also gotten to do some amazing things due to the same spirit.

Back to the Dragonfly, though.  I got the copter home and opened it by our front, screen door.  A light drizzle fell as I put it together.  When done, it became the flagship of my burgeoning Joe collection.  Instantly, Joe had the full upper hand in any firefight.  At the time, we might have had a FANG to battle the Dragonfly.  So, the Joe copter quickly became the ruler of the toy room.  Once I got a Hiss Tank for Christmas that year, Cobra finally had a weapon capable of shooting down the Dragonfly.  By the holiday season, I also had a Skystriker.  And, while the Skystriker was cooler looking from afar, the reality is that the Dragonfly is a substantially better toy with way more play value than the titular Joe aircraft.

The same, though, could not be said about the pilot of the helicopter: Wild Bill.  After the emeralds that were Clutch and Steeler from 1982, Wild Bill seemed like a letdown.  He had some interesting designs.  But, he was definitely a step below the carded figures from 1983 in terms of details and quality.  His orange hair was a bit too orange.  It gave him a comical appearance: something that was a complete departure from how Larry Hama portrayed him in the comic.  His head was also too large.  And, it dominated his appearance.  It made him out of proportion with the other, existing figures.  I kept him in the Dragonfly as it was better there than wasting one of my better figures as the pilot.  But, in general, Wild Bill was a huge disappointment as a figure.

One frustrating thing about Wild Bill was that he became one of Larry Hama's go to Joe characters.  He appeared often in the comic and maintained starring roles through the mid '80's as I started using my collection as a creative outlet.  It sucked to see Wild Bill done up as a great character in the comics but to have his figure be so lackluster.  To this day, it's tough to reconcile Wild Bill's character with his original toy.  The early Hasbro designers had something for very open collars.  And, far too many figures look like refugees from a cheesy Midwestern disco.  Wild Bill is a prime example.  The rest of his motif is just kind of bland.  While the green and brown that dominates his design isn't a bad combo, it just feels kind of tired after the other, amazing new offerings that preceded him in 1983.

The figure just looks off.  His head is too large for his body.  This proved out, too, when trying to place Wild Bill in the front seat of the Dragonfly (like the box art showed!).  Wild Bill would not fit in a way that allowed the canopy to close without unnatural finagling of the figure.  Yes, I would eventually learn from the comic that Wild Bill would fly from the back seat of the chopper.  But, that initial frustration with him fitting didn't do the figure any favors.  It also didn't help that, generally, I'm not a fan of the cowboy look.  I'm an urbanite.  I always have been.  The "western" look wasn't something I ever found particularly appealing.  So, again, my personal biases helped to shape my opinion of the Wild Bill figure.  I would not start buying the comic until June of 1984.  By then, my opinions of the figure were pretty set and I would instead lament that there was not a good Wild Bill figure instead of trying to rethink my stance on the one that did exist.

Wild Bill is a Bill Kilgore (from Apocalypse Now) knockoff.  You have the helicopter pilot wearing historic military gear.  You can almost hear Wagner playing when the Dragonfly makes an appearance.  But, in 1983, I had no idea that the original character existed.  So, Wild Bill seemed like something new to me.  I figured he was just a cowboy knock off character since there were still lots of cowboy toys floating around in the early 1980's.  His Texas steer belt buckle, Civil War era cavalry hat and twin, ivory handled six shooters all completed his look.  (Wild Bill also wears his antique weapons handles forward.  At the time, one of my Dad's old cap guns from the 1950's was still at my grandparents' house.  It had a real leather holster.  I always carried the pistol handles forward, too, as I thought it was a cooler look than the standard handles back.)  It makes little sense to wear them like this on your legs.  But, it's a design choice that helped Wild Bill stand apart from his contemporaries.

The Joe line of 1983 was perfectly timed.  While Return of the Jedi figures stole the thunder from G.I. Joe in the early part of the year, their grip as the prime toy of our household had been weakened by the 1982 Joes.  In the late summer of 1983, one of my brother's friends came over.  He brought with him his new Airborne figure.  I was immediately enthralled by the swivel arm battle grip.  That one little change to Joe construction completely changed the way with which you could interact with a figure.  And, it was all it took for Joe to permanently displace Star Wars.  From 1983 onward, Joe dominated our house.  And, aside from a smattering of Star Wars Christmas presents, Joe was pretty much the only toy I ever bought again.  

1983 is also important, though, because Joe took a huge leap forward.  While the 1982 line was far more sci-fi than most modern collectors care to admit, it was still steeped in the classic military motif that matched the World War II homage green army figures that you could buy at every grocery store during the early 1980's.  In 1983, though, Joe stepped away from the green base figures of the prior year and introduced a massive amount of color to the line.  While you still had some green figures like Wild Bill, Hasbro also introduced tan, blue, grey, white, red and silver to the line.  Along with the colors, though, came the characters.  Gung Ho and Wild Bill were larger than life.  Snow Job and Tripwire were the funny, supporting cast and guys like Doc, Torpedo and Ace were serious specialists with credentials to support their new looks.  

Cobra, though, took a bigger leap.  While Cobra Commander had always been more super-villain than terrorist, the crop of 1983 Cobras made it clear that G.I. Joe was really a story of heroes and villains rather than a textbook on military operations.  Major Bludd gave Cobra credibility with the affiliation of such a dangerous desperado.  But, Destro, with his steel mask and massive size, firmly cemented Cobra as a group of enemies who weren't some third world despot.  Sure, the military lingo and specialties were there to keep Joe grounded in its military roots.  But, 1983 was the step forward that prevented Joe from quickly stagnating at retail like so many other toys did.  

You can make a case that the 1983 Joes were the stepping stone towards making the modern G.I. Joe equal to their predecessor from the 1960's.  Kids could now play in sky, under water, in the snow or even the desert with their figures.  And, within the next two years, there would be a Joe figure to cover pretty much every adventure a kid could conjure up.  So, G.I. Joe could be a military line.  But, it could also be a science fiction line.  (I do believe that one reason why it was so easy for kids to evolve from Star Wars to G.I. Joe was because Joe had some familiar themes like lasers, sharply dressed villains and a variety of characters that would connect with various personality types.)  It appealed to fans of comic book heroes and villains and also offered chances for standard civilian adventures.  Joe figures were compatible with toys from all other 3 3/4 figure lines because their articulation and construction allowed them more freedom of mobility.  It was far less frequent to be able to successfully integrate other 3 3/4 figures into Joe vehicles because the Joe toys were designed specifically to work with bending knees, flexible waists and, now, swiveling arms.

Now, I have to be ingenuous about this transition, too.  Star Wars also suffered from the reality that Return of the Jedi ended the story.  Darth Vader and Boba Fett were dead.  The Empire was defeated.  There were no real stories left to develop with the toys.  And, this ending also opened the door for Joe.  The crop of 1983 Cobra villains were super villain archetypes and turned the Joe saga from some generic army guys fighting knock off Nazis to a full blown chess match of fully developed heroes and villains who had motivations, grudges and the wherewithal to battle each other to a standstill that could generate stories for years.  Star Wars lost that when the major players had their arcs come to an end.  We're just now, 40 years later, starting to see how the Star Wars universe could have been expanded.  But, without the availability of modern TV techniques, it's doubtful Star Wars could have pulled it off in 1983.

One odd memory I have of Wild Bill is that the kid around the block gave me his straight arm Steeler figure in late 1987 or so.  Both of the thumbs were broken.  But, I found that Wild Bill's arms were a suitable substitute.  So, one of our spare Wild Bill figures was taken apart and used to upgrade Steeler.  I then found that the rest of the Wild Bill parts were pretty useless for making kitbashes of new characters.  To this day, the rest of that Wild Bill that was sacrificed so Steeler could join my collection remain in a box of discarded and unloved parts.  I got rid of the Steeler with the wrong arms in one of my collection purges.  So, there's no reuniting the entire figure.  But, it's one of those odd remnants of my childhood collection that still haunts my collecting closet.

Wild Bill didn't see much use.  He was released by Hasbro and no one else in the vintage line.  In some European catalogs, you see mock ups of a Tiger Force Wild Bill (they are hand painted samples) flying the Tiger Force Dragonfly.  It was likely that Wild Bill was the original choice to be the pilot for that chopper, too.  But, the mold availability didn't match up.  So, Recondo was released instead.  I have to say that getting a Tiger Force Recondo far surpasses a possible Tiger Force Wild Bill.  So, I applaud Hasbro for that decision.  Oddly, in 2001, Funskool dropped a Wild Bill repaint.  While their orange release featured new arms, it had the rest of the Wild Bill body.  It was odd to see for sure.  But, the brightly colored figure is pretty fun.  It remains a travesty that we didn't get the 1992 Wild Bill mold in 1983 colors during the repaint era.  Hasbro had the mold and it would have been a well received figure.

As far as 1983 figures go, Wild Bill is cheap.  Mint and complete with filecard versions sell for around $20.  And, you can get them for 1/2 that with a little patience.  Wild Bill's tend to discolor pretty badly, even on otherwise mint samples.  So, it can be a hassle to find a perfectly colored one.  (You will see guys try to pass off a "white undershirt" Wild Bill.  But, this is just a discolored chest.  Even mine that you see below is starting to go.)  But, this is a figure that I don't care enough about to spend any time tracking down.  I don't even really like him as the pilot of the Dragonfly and I replace him every chance I get.  But, Wild Bill is iconic.  So, you pretty much have to have him if you own a Dragonfly.  

1983 Dragonfly

In the spring of 1982, I started mowing lawns for some spending money.  I made a whopping $7 per week.  But, in the context of 1982, that was a mint.  I was 8 years old.  I didn't really spend money on anything other than toys.  And, I really couldn't spend it without my parent's at least tacitly agreeing to my purchase.  In 1983, my earnings remained the same.  I was then shuffled off to relatives for several weeks in the summer, so I didn't really have much spending money.  But, once I returned home, I began to fill the coffers again.  By the early fall, I was back into the swing of things.  I also felt a bit more empowered to spend my money.  After seeing my brother's friend get nearly the full gamut of 1983 Joes for his birthday, I was hooked on one item in particular: the Dragonfly helicopter.

My fixation began as the Dragonfly and the Skystriker were the only two toys that this friend around the block didn't get for his birthday.  I wanted to be the first to have something.  So, I set the Dragonfly in my sights.  I knew that the newly opened local Kohl's store near our home had them in stock.  I saved my money for a few weeks and finally convinced my mother to take us there so I could buy my prize.  I didn't really know how much the Dragonfly would cost.  But, I had enough money to buy it.  (My mother then promptly bought both my brothers a figure, Torpedo and Trip Wire, so they didn't feel left out.  I got to spend my money, they got stuff for free.  But, I'm not hung up on that all.  Not at all.)  I took it home and slowly opened it in the front door alcove of our home.  The front door was open and the cool fall air and the scent of the softly falling rain wafted in through the screen door.  In this setting, I assembled my Dragonfly.

Upon it's completion, it was almost everything I had wanted.  I was disappointed that the seats were not removable.  I don't know why this mattered to me, but it did.  Other than that, the toy was all a nine year old could have desired at the time.  My brothers crowded me for a chance to play with it.  But, I kept it to myself for the first few days and promptly made it the focal point of my play.  The Dragonfly remained in this capacity until December when I got the Skystriker.  Once that was in our collection, the Dragonfly fell off its pedestal and my brothers were able to play with, and severely damage my existing toy.  The skids were broken.  The canopy was snapped and the rotor was finally torn off the fuselage.  The once proud capstone of my collection was quickly relegated to the heap of broken toys that filled a toy box in our room.

As a toy, the Dragonfly was really awesome.  It was light years ahead of other toy helicopters of the era.  It was an excellent color and sleek design.  The rotors turn with the sliding of a small, unobtrusive white switch on the side.  The ergonomics were perfectly executed as it's easy to hold the toy aloft and spin the blade.  Great fun for any kid.  Aside from this, the Dragonfly is armed to the teeth.  It had 4 missiles, 2 bombs, a swivel (and, if you got it early enough) and raising chin gun and, finally, a skid mounted cannon that plugged into the chopper's body.  The Dragonfly could fight air to air with the missiles and guns as well as devastate ground troops with the cannon and bombs.  Underneath the copter's body was a working winch.  It included a long rope and hook.  It could be used for figures or vehicles.  (I always figured Airborne's card art featured the rope from a hovering Dragonfly.)  And, just for giggles, Hasbro threw in removable engine covers that hid the solid design of the inner machinery of the chopper.  They were totally unnecessary pieces, but provided the additional play capabilities and value that more than justified their higher price point over the bargain store, generic military toys that were common in the day.

You could stand a figure on the peg that jutted from each side of the Dragonfly's skids.  This allowed the chopper to move troops into battle.  Doc's stretcher fits on the skids, too.  The cockpit, though, was always a bit confusing.  The box art clearly showed Wild Bill in the front seat.  The stickers on the outside, beneath the seats denoted Lt. William Hardy (AKA Wild Bill) being in the front.  Yet, if you put Wild Bill in the front seat, it was difficult to get the canopy to close all the way.  But, in the back seat, Wild Bill fit perfectly.  All the comics of the time showed Wild Bill piloting the Dragonfly from the back seat, too.  So, I switched Wild Bill to the back and he's been there ever since.  Airborne was the natural fit for the front, gunner position.  Though, Duke also quickly found a home there.  Since Flint's filecard denoted he was a helicopter pilot, he would also spell Wild Bill as the pilot in the Dragonfly from time to time.  But, he would also see time in the gunner's seat.  However, Joe figures started getting bulkier in 1984.  So, for many figures made after the Dragonfly's release year, the cockpit is a very tight fit.  And, most of the late line release year figures will not fit into it at all.

Between Christmas of 1983 and through the 1984 birthdays and holidays, though, we ended up with three Dragonflies in our home.  Each of my brothers got one for some occasion.  (Both of these later arrivals had the solidly molded chin guns.  A variant I quickly noticed since the static piece was such a downgrade over the moving weapons from my original purchase.)  As their interest in the chopper quickly faded, I was able to put together a solid version that remained the stalwart of my Joe air force for a while.  Into the latter part of 1985, we had two Dragonflies with intact rotors.  I recall this because I had them re-enact the scene from Marvel Issue #40 where two copters hold the Tactical Battle Platform aloft.  I was able to carry the TTBP with two winches for a few feet.  But, one of the hooks snapped and my TTBP fell to the floor, relatively unscathed.  But, even these could not last.  Once again, my brothers intervened and the last salvaged Dragonflies suffered the same fate as my original: scrap in a box of broken, unloved toys.

Around 1986, though, the kids down the street and I pretty much merged parts of our collections.  They would bring boxes of toys to my house and I'd take some to their house.  We'd have various adventures in our respective yards since each brought some different terrain to the table.  One of the toys they had was a well preserved Dragonfly.  This would become the final Dragonfly I would play with as a kid.  As I tried to put my toys away, my youngest brother would keep getting them out and playing with them.  He'd hide them from me so that I wouldn't know he was in my room.  And, as such, that final Dragonfly took a beating, too.  It wasn't until 2000 that I finally got a high quality Dragonfly for my collection.  But, fate keeps intervening and even that copter has suffered some damage from 17 years of moving and being stored out in the garage.

Oddly, specific memories of the Dragonfly are few and far between.  My most memorable battles were always fought by ground troops.  And, were usually dominated by the the characters rather than the action or the machines.  But, the Dragonfly was often around.  It was used to bring new warriors to the battle and carry away the wounded.  It would rarely stay around and fight, though.  When the Rattler came into being, the Dragonfly would end up battling it from time time.  The Dragonfly's missiles were more than a match for the slow flying Cobra aircraft.  In retrospect, it's odd that the chopper didn't get more time as a combat weapon.  The cannons are perfect anti-infantry weapons and the bombs and missiles were excellent eradicators of Cobra armor.  But, it's likely this arsenal that made the Dragonfly less useful.  In reality, it would come in and annihilate a poorly organized and covered ground force.  And, my play adventure would have been swift.  As that didn't fit the way I developed my stories, the chopper was relegated to a lesser role.

Once the Tomahawk entered into my collection, though, that changed.  The Tomahawk became a combat workhorse for the Joes: one to which Cobra had no answer.  A lot of this was built from the late 1980's focus on Vietnam and the images of the support choppers that appeared both in the Joe comic and other media as well.  Also, around 1986 or so, my local Boy Scout troop got to use a military helicopter as part of our campout.  One of the troop's older members' wife was one of the top ranking military officers in the state.  She arranged for a support chopper to land in a field on one of our camping trips.  We then got to climb over and play in it.  The same chopper then dropped a crate of food onto the top of a local mountain.  We hiked up and got to eat the air dropped food.  (The crate shattered upon landing and food was scattered everywhere.  But, that was less important than the fact that it was a helicopter drop.)  So, this real life experience drove more interest in later choppers and really made the Dragonfly a toy I appreciate more as an adult than I ever did as a kid.

The Dragonfly was a staple of G.I. Joe releases around the world.  It saw exclusive versions in Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina and Mexico.  Hasbro released versions in Europe and Japan.  It was repainted for the Tiger Fly in 1988 and the mold was used again around 1995 in the Street Fighter Movie line.  (Though with some modifications.)  The mold returned as the Locust in 2000.  But, then the Dragonfly disappeared.  Granted, the Locust ended up as discount store fodder.  But, pretty much all of the 2000 vehicles did.  It makes no sense that neither Hasbro nor the club found a slot for another Dragonfly release.  Collectors would have fawned over a Night Force or even Sky Patrol themed version.  But, none of that ever came to pass.  There's a lot for collectors of the mold out there.  But, there could have been so much more.

Mint and complete Dragonflies see a wide variance in price.  You can get them on the open market for under $40.  But, some will sell for as much as $100.  It depends on how many are out there.  Dealer pricing tends to hover over $65.  But, there's a lot to choose from around $40 from casual sellers.  You'll see some pricing fluctuation based on the chin gun variants, the clarity of the canopy and there are a lots of small and easily broken parts that can be obscured or hidden in photos.  So, you have to be aware.  But, there's a lot of different price ranges from which an interested buyer can choose.  I'm not sure I'd pay over $60 for a Dragonfly anymore.  It's cool.  But, I can live without it.  However, I'm saying that with a decent one in hand.  Were it gone, I might have a different opinion.

Diorama - Eel In Training

We had a bit of early winter rain.  Overnight, it turned cold and the ground water froze.  We then got a light dusting of snow.  I liked the idea of Arctic training for the Eels and thought of having them break through the ice.  Rather than attacking the Joes, I turned the table and had the Joe surprise the trainees.  I was hoping to get some better photos of Airborne.  But, none of those turned out.  The plan was to use the pics for a Duke profile, too.  But, I only ended up getting his back.  Still, this was a fun set to set up and take as the weather wasn't too bad, but the setting made it look like it was.