Rarities - The Great 2021 Ninja Commandos Lot

In November of 2021, a lot of over 100 figures appeared on Ebay with a $4,000 BIN price.  At around $40 per figure, this probably wasn't a great deal.  Except, when you looked at the lot, there were over 60 unproduced 1995 Ninja Commando figures included!  On top of this, there were vintage test shots as well as some other oddball items.  A collector bought the lot.  But, unscrupulous people reached out the seller, offering much more than the selling price.  The lot purchase was cancelled.  And, it's likely that we'll see the figures parsed out and sold individually for much higher prices in super secret sales at some point in the future.

The one thing this lot proves is that there were more Ninja Commandos that reached full production than we ever thought.  Around 2002 or so, a collector friend of mine was able to visit Hasbro.  There, they had a bin of figures that they used to kitbash figures for the early 2000's figure releases.  In this bin of abandoned figures were several production level Ninja Commandos.  So, it's likely that Hasbro HQ got a ton of them and they just floated around: no one really knowing that something as desirable as an unproduced set of figures were collecting dust with the rest.

Here are the photos from the auction.  It's amazing that finds like this still exist out there.  You will note the following:

1. 14 Ninja Commando Budo figures
2. 12 Ninja Commando Road Pig figures
3. 14 Ninja Commando Knock Out figures
4. 14 Ninja Commando Stormshadow figures
5. 13 Ninja Commado Flint figures
6. 1 M Bison figure with blue hands
7. 2 Clear Ken Masters pre-production figures
8. Lots of bagged figures from late in the line.  Tough to see the details on them, though, for oddities.
9. Multiple Ninja Commando brown weapon trees. (Some unproduced sculpts on there.)

And, thus, another Rarities Month comes to an end.  I liked this year's group as I had more time to work on them through the year.  The archives are running low.  But, I've got one more good year in them.  Oddly some of the posts did really poorly.  Like, historically poorly in terms of overall views.  But, that could just be a function of too many posts in the last week or just the stuff got buried in all the other Joe news of the month.  Regardless, I hope you all enjoyed it and we'll see you next June!

Rarities - Ninja Commando Knock Out

Knock Out is the third out of five Ninja Commando figures I've looked at during this month of rarities.  What makes him significant, though, is that he was the lone new character included in the set.  He bears no real resemblance to any, existing figure or character and was, likely, designed as someone who was all new.  And, while it's possible that his filecard exists out there, somewhere, we really don't  have much knowledge about the figure or character behind it.

Who was Knock Out? We don't know much about him.  Good guy or bad guy?  It's hard to say.  If the Ninja Commando Stormshadow was a Cobra, then Knock Out was likely a Joe.  If Stormshadow was a Joe, though, then Knock Out was likely a Cobra.  Stormshadow's pre production card artwork is inconclusive as to whether he's Joe or Cobra.  And, the figure does not feature any Cobra sigils.  But, then again, neither does Road Pig.  So, that alone does not indicate allegiance.  However, Stormshadow's 1994 and 1992 figures were both Joes.  So, his most recent figures had all been good guys.  But, the last issues of the comic had Stormshadow returning to Cobra.  So, it's all very confusing.  But, based on the figure's overall look, colors and the fact that Stormshadow was most likely a Joe, I conclude that Knock Out would have been a Cobra.

Going with the assumption that he is a Cobra, this figure is pretty good.  The dark blue offset by the silver is a striking contrast.  While the open chest does diminish the overall appearance, it's not too much when you consider the figure's release year.  It is the head, though, that is the most interesting part of the mold.  I see a lot of Darth Vader in the general design.  But, the silver eye slits definitely give Knock Out a villain vibe.  I could see this figure have generated some collector attention had it made it to production.

For me, the non standard construction of the Ninja type figures is a real interest killer.  It makes a figure like this appear to not be a G.I. Joe figure since I associate them with the classic o-ring construction.  But, in looking more in depth at the Ninja Commandos, I'm more and more impressed with them.  The figure design was certainly top top notch.  And, the chosen colors were more in line with Joe's traditional approach to figure appearance instead of going with '90's neon.  While I probably would have passed this figure by in 1995, Knock Out would have found an aftermarket home in my collection.  His look is solid and he's distinctive.