Rarities - Flash (Plastirama Version from Argentina)

The final Flash entry is this Plastirama figure from Argentina.  This guy also features a darker body color.  But, he has a flatter finish than the Estrela figure.  The green is also a slightly different hue.  While the 3rd series of Plastirama figures were widely imported to the U.S., the first series are surprisingly findable, today.  They're not cheap and you'll spend time searching them out.  But, they aren't mythic like the fabled 2nd series.

I find looking at the different releases of the same character kind of fun.  It really showcases how much figures changed between their international releases.  There was a time when most collectors dismissed figures like this, thinking they were all very similar.  But, as you can see from the past few days, each foreign company put their own, unique stamp on their releases.

Rarities - Flash (Rubiplas Version from Venezuela)

Today, we feature the rarest of the foreign Flash figures: the Rubiplas release from Venezuela.  Rubiplas figures are the last great, unexplored reaches of the Joe line.  While we have some good info about earlier releases, they were releasing figures in Venezuela for many years after these straight arms were retired.  

There are two points of interest on this figure.  First, he includes a dark green version of Doc's helmet instead of the standard 1982/1983 helmet.  The second is the light brown hair color.  It's very distinctive and nicely offsets the darker green of the body.  These two items represent the biggest tells of the Rubiplas figure.  

In general, Rubiplas figures are not easy to find.  There was a time for a couple of years where there were a couple of different ways to acquire them.  But, those seem to have dried up.  Now, you're left chasing the few samples that were imported when the Venezuelan sellers were active.

They're neat because they are different and have some weird oddities to them.  There's really no explanation why this Flash features a Doc helmet.  But, this helmet wasn't available in a similar color to the dark Rubiplas green anywhere else.  (The AP helmet from Hasbro is drastically different.)  So, the figures have a cachet since they are so distinguishable.  Someday, I hope to see better info on the full Rubiplas line come to light.  Until then, it's just crumbs here and there.

Rarities - Flash (Auriken Version from Mexico)

I profiled this Auriken Flash a few years ago.  Instead of deeper, darker green from Brazil, this Mexican release features a much brighter and distinctive green hue.  Frankly, it's amazing.  And, I'd love for factory custom makers to emulate it on some of their releases.  It's drastically different from anything released by Hasbro.  So, it really stands out.  And, juxtaposed against the red of Flash's pads, you get a stunning toy.

Rarities - Flash (Estrela Version from Brazil)

Today marks the beginning of a few days of Flash.  Flash was released around the world.  So, I'm going to showcase each of his releases.  First up is the Estrela release from Brazil.  You'll note that this Flash is a much darker green color.  The greens used on the early Brazilian figures are much richer and more vibrant than those used by Hasbro.  And, the set of early Brazilian figures has much more visual distinction between the characters than Hasbro's original 13 figures.  I would have loved for this color to appear among the factory customs...especially when the Flash mold was available.

Auriken Flash - Mexico

The realm of international Joes can be both fun and exciting.  It can also be an exercise in frustration.  In the early 2000's, there was little info available on foreign released Joes.  There were a few trading with minimal info.  A few collectors tracked down some foreign items and they were posted in various newsletters or even to YoJoe.com.  But, those information stores were inadequate and terribly dated.  In the mid 2000's, the first real attempt to document "all" the foreign Joe variants were undertaken.  For the time, they are incredibly detailed and feature a host of figures that, to that point, had really not been previously known to or seen by the public.  In the 15 years since that, though, no one else has really undertaken a foreign Joe project of the same scale.  And, because of that, tons of information that has been learned since those early books is scattered or even lost in various unsearchable posts.  Foreign entities from Brazil, Argentina, Europe and even India, though, are well enough known that much of the new info exists in the general collecting conscious.  But, as you descend into more obscure foreign releases, the info is more opaque and difficult to find.  And, my search into the world of Auriken Joes from Mexico proved this point.

The calling card for this Auriken version of Flash is the figure's color.  I have talked about the "Brazilian Green" color that is common among Estrela accessories and figures.  It is a dark and distinctive hue of the color.  Auriken also created their own unique shade of green.  The cool thing, though, is that this color appears on many different Auriken figures and gives them a consistency that's missing even from the original 13 Hasbro figures.  The green is brighter and more pea-colored than any American release.  The closest figure in color to the Auriken Flash would be Zap.  But, even he's pretty far off from the Mexican hue.    

The timeline of foreign Joe straight arm releases is a bit tough to nail down.  It does seem, though, that the Auriken figures were likely acquired after the molds' usage by Estrela in Brazil.  There the figures were released in boxes rather than on cards.  Flash is available with in a box.  But, he was also packaged with the Skystriker.  I'm not sure if the figures have any differences.  Though, the Skystriker figure doesn't include any gear.  Without the unique green pack, Flash loses something.  But, the fact that this color scheme is wasted on straight arm figures makes the loss less worrisome.  It's an utter shame that no one has been able replicate the Estrela, Palitoy or Auriken greens on some swivel arm factory customs.  

On one hand, I've found it odd that there are no, more recent guides to international Joes.  But, authors of guides for American figures have reported that publishers have negligible interest in an edition focusing on foreign figures.  While it would certainly sell well among the hardcore collector crowd, it would have almost no interest in the general toy collecting world since no adults would connect with toys they had no childhood knowledge of.  A few collectors have done some extensive work on foreign Joes.  But, the info they have is not publicly posted anywhere.  If you know them to ask about something, they will gladly share.  If you're just looking to see what you can learn, though, the resources for may foreign Joe releases is pretty much unavailable.  Joe figures were released in Mexico through the 1994 series.  Many of the later items were likely Hasbro stock that was given unique cardbacks.  But, again, the info on these items is spotty at best.  

Flash was released all over the world.  The straight arm figure has unique releases in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.  The swivel arm version was planned for release in Europe as Bombadier: only to be a casualty of the Action Force line's cancellation.  But, he then disappeared.  Flash did not appear in any form after these 1980's worldwide releases.  Hasbro planned a repaint for 1997, but could not locate the mold.  It has only been factory custom makers who were able to resurrect the mold and bring around some Flash repaints.  But, even those, in my opinion, have fallen short.  We don't have a Night Force Flash, nor an Action Force Flash.  (Though, we do have nice Bombadier repaints, which are awesome to see.)  There is much that could be done with the mold.  Hell, I'd love a swivel version of this Mexican green.  It's not too late for some of those items to still happen in the factory custom world.  But, Hasbro really let collectors down with their updates of the Flash character.

Pricing for Auriken figures is tough.  There's not much to go on.  Flash doesn't seem overly rare.  Loose, poor quality samples seem to sell for around $30.  A mint and complete figure, though, would likely run around $100.  Fortunately, many Auriken figures fall under the radar and you can find some deals.  But, mint and complete figures are a tough find in general.  Even Mexican collectors report that the supply of Auriken Joes in their homeland has dried up and all the figures, once far more common, have become scarce.  Collectors are now willing to pay premiums for them since the Auriken figures are the last bastion of foreign holes in many collections.  If you're a sucker for repainted classics from your childhood, the Auriken series provides another outlet to satisfy your collecting goals.  But, they're not a line that's easy or cheap to complete.

1983 Battle Gear #1

After Christmas of 1982, I owned four G.I. Joe figures.  But, between Snake Eyes, Clutch, Hawk and Breaker, I had just one gun.  Three of the four figures did not include weapons.  This greatly limited my play options.  I went so far as to find an HO-scale coupler for train cars that kind of looked like a pistol and used it for Breaker.  I desperately wanted additional accessories so that all my figures could not only have at least one weapon, but even a choice of some of my favorite weapon designs.  My wishes came true one day when we were in Buffalo, visiting my grandparents.  We were there for a short trip early in the year.  We hadn't taken many toys, confirming the trip was shorter than our normal week.  But, when out shopping, I found a new pack of G.I. Joe accessories at a local store.  It was the original Battle Gear pack.

The pack was cheap enough that my mother bought one for both my younger brother and I.  With these weapons, I now had the ability to give Clutch a visor as well as offering a spare Uzi to Breaker.  I could choose any weapons I wanted for Hawk and Clutch, too.  Of course, Clutch got Stalker's M-32.  But, I also added some accessories to the VAMP.  The new Breaker headset would fit behind the seat with the wire tucked into the seam between the seat and the bottom of the vehicle.  So, this allowed for anyone riding shotgun in the VAMP to be able to communicate with the rest of the team.  I also placed a spare Uzi on the same spot.  This way, the VAMP had a backup small arm if it crashed or just ran out of gas.  Hawk, well, I learned a hard lesson with him.  I tried to get Grunt's M-16 into his hands and it immediately snapped his thumb.  That was the end of that Hawk figure.  And, it's part of what pushed me back to Star Wars figures as 1983 crept on.  

The odd thing about the Battle Gear pack was that the accessories were colored differently from those included with figures.  The weapons themselves are a lighter grey color than the original gear.  Even in 1983, I could easily tell the difference between the Battle Gear and original weapons.  But, the weapons are close enough in color to be useful.  The visors are identical to the originals, though.  The helmets and backpacks, though, were very different.  The helmets were dark brown and did not match any figure.  The packs, though, were worse.  They were a tan color.  Again, they matched no figures until the 1983 Falcon Glider Grunt was released.  There was no explanation for the color changes.  In fact, the 1983 promo catalog showed original gear in the set.  So, the color change was a later decision that was never explained.  

The 1983 Battle Gear set includes every accessory from the 1982 line.  There are 4 visors, two Uzis and even Snake Eyes' ammo pack.  There were three exceptions, though.  Short Fuze's mortar and stand were omitted as was Zap's bazooka.  These three pieces would later show up in white in the 1984 Battle Gear set.  But, again, there was no explanation as to why they weren't included.  It was made weirder by the fact that their shared backpack was included with the 1983 set.  The fact that both those accessories underwent design changes could explain it.  But, both the 1982 Snake Eyes Uzi and Stalker M-32 are different from the 1983 releases of both accessories.  So, other weapons were modified, too.  The exclusion of these weapons remains a mystery nearly 40 years later.

The biggest new feature of the Battle Gear set is the battle stands.  These little rectangles of plastic brought a whole new element to Joe collecting.  The stands allowed kids to pose their figures and stand them up in any pose they desired.  The Battle Gear included two stands.  Starting in 1984, differently colored stands would be included with several small playsets.  By 1993, every figure included a stand on their weapon tree.  This ingenious idea allowed kids to display figures.  But, it also allowed them to put their toys away on a shelf using vertical space and keeping their gear on.  

In the early days of Joe collecting, the ubiquity of 1983 Battle Gear weapons allowed customizers to accessorize their creations with great aplomb.  They were free to paint, slice up and otherwise modify the Battle Gear weapons without worrying about their original accessories.  For dealers, though, the 1983 Battle Gear provided a great way to bilk unsuspecting collectors out of their hard earned money by offering them as original gear with original 13 figures.  Even today, you'll see many seller "mistake" Battle Gear weapons for the original.  But, the colors are blatantly different and there's no excuse for any mistakes by a seller.  

The value to a collector today is that this Battle Gear is an excellent option to properly outfit factory custom figures.  Many of Red Laser Army's figures are obvious homages to various foreign and unproduced characters from the Joe line's earliest days.  They, though, lacked gear that was a perfect match for them.  Battle Gear allows you to give these characters the weapons they deserve.  And, while the 1983 helmets and packs aren't great for many figures, the weapons are a great way to update the homages.  Having some cheap alternatives for that purpose is a definite plus.

Back in the early 2000's, before people got stupid with Joe prices, it was relatively easy to put together a small team of original 13 figures in a tan style.  With Grunt, Clutch and Doc bodies, you could make a tan Breaker, Hawk and Stalker.  If you were handy with a little paint, you could put together a decent Snake Eyes, too.  And, the Battle Gear weapons are a perfect match for this set.  To this day, I store my Tan Grunt with the Battle Gear backpack and M-16 since they are so closely aligned in color to the figure.  The tan works with Scarlett, too, as a way to better accessorize her.

For me, the real value of the Battle Gear came many years after its initial release.  In 1986 and 1987, I often had third faction terrorists or freedom fighters (really, they're the same thing just with different marketing depending upon which side they battle against) who would interject into the Joe vs. Cobra conflict.  My favorite was having them drive up to a ceremony in the A-Team van, open the door and pop out with small sub machine guns and mow down the dignitaries in attendance.  As small weapons were not overly common in the Joe line (and, most of the ones that did exist were in use by their original owners!) the Battle Gear Uzis were a great means of making these civilian fighters a more formidable force.  I'd toss in some of the larger rifles, too, as part of their getaway plan.  

My other random memory of the Battle Gear weapons comes on a cold winter's day, probably in either 1984 or 1985.  It was a Sunday and I had been playing with my Joes in the garage.  (It was warmer in there than outside, but still counted as outside play.)  I picked them all up and took them in.  A few hours later, right before dinner, I went back out to put away some bikes or balls and happened to find a Battle Gear M-60 on the floor.  It wasn't part of my team that had been in the garage that day.  And, it was a neat find as we didn't have a regular Rock and Roll and this Battle Gear version was the only copy of his weapon in our possession.  I took the weapon inside.  Really, though, it's not finding the weapon that was memorable.  Instead, it was the feeling I had as I picked it up off the floor.  For some reason, I got an overwhelming feeling of sadness that it was Sunday night and I was back to school on Monday.  To this day, I get the same feeling on some Sunday afternoons as the sun goes down.  Every time I do, I think back to that day in the garage, finding Rock and Roll's gun and then being saddened by the fact that my fun was over and it was back to work early the following morning.

You'll see some dealers command premiums for various accessories in this set.  The Uzi tends to command the highest price and sells for around $7, even as dealers ask double that.  But, the real value in the set is the visors.  As such, you'll usually find sets that are sold sans visors.  A whole loose set with no visors will run about $20.  On their own, though, visors sell for around $20.  So, getting the visors, too, will be expensive.  You can get carded sets in the $85 range.  Which, with 4 visors is a little lower than the loose price.  For just the weapons, the price is probably decent.  Original Uzis aren't easy to find and this is a cheap way to get them.  My only real lament is that the other Battle Gear packs in subsequent years didn't follow the close coloring of the originals like this first attempt at additional accessories did.

1982 Flash - Around the Web

Flash is one of the more distinctive original 13 Joe figures.  While lots of collectors like him, it seems most people have him already.  The figure was released around the world in various shades of his American release.  Here's some of the top content on the character around the web.

Flash Profile

Flash Video Review

Flash Video Review 2

Flash Wiki

Plastirama Flash at Leaky Suit Brigade

Flash at JoeDios.com

1983 Flash

Recently, I was asked to rank the original 13 Joe figures in relation to each other.  One figure had to be best and one had to be the worst.  There were a string of criteria including accessories, mold, paint applications, etc.  I had to look through each figure as if it were 1982 and none of the future Joe figures were known to me.  The results were somewhat surprising to me.  In the end, it was Flash who had the highest score.  He had great, original accessories, intricate paint details that were vibrant, and a sculpt that was shared only with his clone, Grand Slam.  I had always liked Flash (Really, who doesn't?!?) but was amazed that he scored so highly against the rest of his rookie G.I. Joe class.  But, as I look at the figure again, it is obvious that this is a design of amazing quality and a figure well worth a lofty place in the line's history.

As a kid in 1982, Flash was one of the Joes that everyone wanted the most.  His specialty and look lent himself to popularity among kids who were largely playing with Star Wars figures at the time.  The animation in the commercials at the time showed the rifle cutting through steel doors like butter.  It was a great image and one that made Flash much more dangerous than any real world laser weapon of the time.  But, for some reason, Flash was one of the few original Joe figures who eluded me.  We had nearly every figure in our collection by the end of 1982, but Flash and Steeler were both missing.  (We had 3 Snake Eyes figures between the 3 boys, but no Flash!)  As such, Flash was only part of my Joe world when I visited friends who had one.

Around 1986, though, a high quality Flash figure came into my collection.  I don't recall where it came from, but it showed up one day with just the helmet and visor.  It likely belonged to one of the kids in our neighborhood who left it at our house and never remembered to come retrieve it.  But, that addition sparked a new use for the figure.  I gave Flash the rifle from a spare Snow Job figure and made him the first of the Joe army builders in my collection.  Soon, Silver Pads Grand Slam joined him as a nameless, army building pilot who helmed the Sky Hawk.  In this capacity, Flash flourished.  His red pads were body armor that protected him against the Vipers of the day.  He could die over and over again, or save the day.  It was a perfect fit for a high quality mold.

Flash's hallmark are his accessories.  His highly detailed laser rifle plugs into his equally designed backpack.  (Though, in an anomaly, Flash's artwork always showed the rifle plugging into a tube on the pack rather than the pack itself.  It is a small detailed difference between the art and the figure.)  This accessory combination simply could not be separated.  Flash had to have the rifle and pack in order to be useful.  Add to this his visor, and really, Flash wasn't nearly the same figure missing even one of his accessories as if he had them all.  But, that was the model of the time.  Joes all featured weapons that were as distinct as their uniforms and code-names.  It added a level of depth to each character.  It also, at least to me, really allowed Joe to stand apart from the knock off military lines that proliferated in the years after Joe.  None could capture the combo of unique weapons, mold and paint like Joe and it really made them appear even more cheap than they were.)

The Flash mold was incredibly popular the world over.  After it's release in the US for both Flash and Grand Slam, it went to South American where exclusive Flash figures were produced by Plastirama, Auriken and Estrela in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil respectively.  In Brazil, the mold was also used for the exclusive Cobra De Aco figure.  Flash was also slated for release in the Europe as part of the Action Force line.  A sample of this figure actually exists in the collecting community.  But, the figure was never actually released and a loose version is one of the rarest figures in the line.  Hasbro wanted to bring the mold back in 1997 in the Stars and Stripes set, but the mold was lost.  As such, collectors were never treated to remade Flash figures during the resurgence of Joe that began in 1997.  He remains one of the re-paint line's greatest omissions.  Hasbro could easily have milked many repaints from the mold for Flash, Grand Slam and Cobra De Aco.  Considering that Hasbro remade molds for Lady Jaye, Cobra Trooper, Mutt and others that they only used once, skipping Flash just doesn't compute.  But, it does leave this original figure as a lone wolf among Joe's original 13 members.

Flash figures can be pricey.  Mint and complete versions can go as high as $22 - $25 each.  But, you can also get them in the $15 range with a little patience.  For that price and considering that this figure is 30 years old, Flash is a pretty good buy.  He works with figures from other years, has a distinct look and is a character that hasn't been done to death.  As such, I wouldn't consider any collection complete without one.  I consider Flash to be an essential figure, even if the notion of a steel cutting laser mounted to his back is still a bit far fetched.  But, that willing suspension of disbelief is what made Joe so popular during its heyday and is a strong reason as to why collectors still flock to the line today.