Rarities - Unproduced 2001 Manimal Vortex

In 2001, KB Toy Stores managed to snare a G.I. Joe exclusive.  Despite the heavy emphasis on "military realism" that dominated the 2000 and 2001 Hasbro offerings, KB managed to acquire the rights to the legendary Manimals figures.  To much fanfare, they released the oddball toys in separate waves.  The first wave consisted of Iguanus, Slythor and Warwolf.  This wave was dead on arrival at retail.  Within weeks, Manimals were backed up at every KB Toy Store in the country.  No one wanted them.  So, the planned second wave of Manimals was cancelled: making them the only twice cancelled concept in G.I. Joe history.

There are a lot of reasons why this all happened.  A powerful person inside the KB family was a huge G.I. Joe fan.  And he, likely, had a lot to do with these forgotten concepts getting resurrected.  But, at the time, the hype of Manimals far outweighed their actual popularity.  While lots of carded Manimal figures had sold for around $1,000 each in the mid 1990's: the same figures were sitting unsold at half that price at the turn of the century.  The collectors of the day found the figures too far removed from what Joe should have been.  And, as such, those collectors had no interest in them: even if they were the most famous unproduced item in the Joe line at the time.

At the time, I was a Star Brigade junkie.  I saw the first three figures in the stores and didn't buy them.  They held no appeal to me.  Finally, after a month or so, I broke down.  KB's online arm was participating in the ridiculous Star Wars clearance sales of that time.  They had Stormtroopers in stock and I ordered a ton of them.  The price was stupidly low.  So, seeing that they had the Manimals in stock, too, I added the three figures to my order.  If not for the cheap Star Wars figs, I'd probably have left the Manimals behind.

But, in relative terms, the second wave of Manimals probably contained the more interesting molds from the series.  In this case, we see the Vortex figure.  As a closed up design, Vortex isn't all that spectacular.  He looks like a bulky, armored knight.  If he didn't open up, the figure would look right at home among a number of mid 1990's toy lines.  The special part of the figure occurs when you open him up, though.  Inside, you find a a super creepy, 6 nippled, smiling alien who's pointing to the sky.  (Or, kind of flipping you off.  Not that there's a message in there.)

Like all the Manimals, Vortex is not great.  But, just for sheer weirdness, the character has some value.  He's just so out there.  It's doubtful that Vortex would be any more popular than the other 5 Manimals had all 6 been released at retail. But, the stupid little alien inside is something a little different and kind of makes me want this guy.

In actuality, the unproduced 2001 Manimals are probably rarer than the 1994 unproduced Manimals.  It's just that no one really cares about the repaints in relation to the originals.  This figure is weird and strange and completely not a G.I. Joe figure.  And, all that makes it better.  Manimals aren't for everyone.  But, things like this Vortex show why.  I'm torn as to whether I'd have bought the 2nd wave of Manimals in 2001 had they been released.  On some level, I think I would have since I was kind of a completist back then.  But, I was also on an extremely limited budget in 2001 and 2002 and it's very probable that $30 worth of Manimals would not have made the cut of items I purchased. 

This Vortex, though, remains a reminder of what Joe could have been.  I think that if KB had, instead, offered a 6 figure set of unproduced 1995 Battle Corps Ranger figures, all six would have been made and they'd be among the most desired figures from the ARAHC era of the early 2000's.  Instead, we got 1/2 of the Manimal run since collector interest wasn't strong enough to justify a second wave.

Rarities - Unproduced 1994 Manimal Slythor

As one of my Halloween profiles, I dug out the Manimal Slythor.  My sample was the KB Toys exclusive release from 2001.  Below, though, you will the Slythor figure as he was originally designed.  In 2001, Hasbro and KB were concerned about creating a figure that could be confused with an original Manimal and deliberately produced them with different colors.  While the KB version was green, the original intent was for Slythor to be red.

You will note that the figure still has his inappropriately placed tongue.  But, the yellow eyes are far more pronounced on this version than on the later paint job.  The weapon is also cast in gold plastic rather than the black from 2001.  In general, this figure appears angrier than the 2001 release.  But, I think the 2001 paint job is actually better.  It looks more like a snake and the darker eyes give the beast a more plausible appearance in his non-transformed state.  If you're going to repaint something, I'd always prefer the repaint be an upgrade over the original.  And, in this case, I think it is.

Here you can see the Manimal cards.

You'll note that Manimals are not only part of Star Brigade, but also part of the Lunaritx Empire.  This ties them more closely with Carcass, Lobotomaxx and Predacon.  (You'll note that this figure's color scheme is also very similar to the Mexican Predacon's.)

The cardback shows off just the Manimals with cross sells of the new Power Fighters and the then pegwarming Armor Bot from 1993.  Another noteworthy item is that Slythor is number 44 in the planned releases of 1994 Joes.  However, the second wave of Star Brigade figures that were released in 1994 begin their numbering at 49: after the Manimals.  So, the Manimals were planned for release within the Star Brigade window.  Why they were cancelled when the wave of Lunartix aliens who were planned after them made it out is anybody's guess.  You will also note that the Manimals were made in Indonesia as Hasbro sought ways to further cut costs on a dying line.

In looking back, there probably wasn't anything that was going to change Joe's fate in 1994.  Had the Manimals been released, they couldn't have hastened the demise of a franchise that was already deceased.  In that respect, it's unfortunate we didn't get them.  But, at the same time, were these actually released figures, no one would care about them at all.  I'm about as big a Star Brigade fan as there is.  Yet, I don't really consider the 2001 Manimals part of that line.  I don't display with the other astronauts and I can't find a way to integrate them: even though I've found Predacon, Lobotomaxx and Carcass relatively simple to do so.

For me, the Manimals remain an interesting part of Joe lore.  Lots of casual toy collectors in the mid to late 1990's were aware of the brand only because of the Manimals and the few specimens that seeped into the collecting world.  There are more carded Manimals than many would like to believe.  In the late 1990's and early 2000's, Manimals were a staple on Ebay.  Usually, you could get a few each year.  Carded versions would sell for a couple of hundred dollars at the most since collectors didn't care.  That's not the case now as real rarities and unproduced Joe items have exploded in price and popularity.  Now, this figure is easily over $1,000 for a carded sample, maybe even a few times that.  It's not a price I'd pay as I don't find the figures all that interesting as far an unproduced Joe items go.  But, your mileage may vary.

2001 Manimal Warwolf

I suppose something's not really a tradition if you've only done it one time in 17 years.  But, a Halloween Manimal profile is something that makes sense.  (And, JoeADay.com did it first this year.)    Slythor was my first back in 2013.  So, I'll showcase Warwolf now and you can expect Iguanus in 2019.  That will bookend nicely.

The Manimals are the most infamous legend in G.I. Joe lore.  In 1994, each figure in the Joe line was numbered.  The Manimals were numbered lower than the second series of Star Brigade figures that were released.  So, they were intended to make it to retail: which was reinforced by their appearance as coming soon on the back of the series 2 Star Brigade figure.  This is why so many loose and carded samples of the figures exist.  Hasbro had every intention of releasing them.  But, when it was time to start cancelling the line, the Manimals were the first to go.  (Many collectors were very unsure if the 2nd series Star Brigade would make it out to retail, too.  Hasbro was less than committal on what would and would not be released as the line died out.  For most collectors, finding the series 2 Star Brigade on retail shelves came as an immense surprise.)  It's possible that the higher price point of the Manimals in terms of production costs may have been the reason they got the ax while the Lunartix made it out.  In terms of concepts, the two aren't that far apart and the Manimals are more in line with other, more popular toy lines of the mid 1990's than the Lunartix are.

As a mold, Warwolf is, in my opinion, weaker than Slythor and Iguanus.  His "transformation" is somewhat boring and the wolf head doesn't really pop like Slythor's snake head.  The teeth are well detailed, though.  The selling feature, though, is that Warwolf has an articulated tongue.  While the usage of this is probably nil, it is a neat little feature that shows the care applied to the Manimal design.  Outside of this, though, there's not much to be impressed with.  The figure has no o-ring and, instead, features the slide joint legs that were starting to appear in the mid 1990's.  The hands just have holes poked through them for the Kenner POTF era pre-cursor rifles to fit into.  The artwork shows eyes painted onto the side of Warwolf's head.  Those eyes do not exist on the figure itself.  It's a wasted paint application.  But, had the eyes been painted on, they would not have likely looked good.

The planned deco for the 1994 Warwolf is vastly different than what we saw in 2001.  The retail figure features a human flesh colored head.  It's likely meant to be a "disguise" for Warwolf to blend with humanity.  The 1994 figure, though, was completely different.  The head was a much darker color and he had red eyes.  The appearance was much more alien and worked to a far greater level than the flesh colored figure we saw in 2001.  Instead of the production green and blue body, the original used light purple and maroon as the color base.  In general, the 1994 was a far better figure.  But, better is relative.  The coloring would have been an upgrade over what was released.  But, the different construction and general theme remained the same.

Manimals were an utter retail disaster.  At $10 per figure, they were almost double the cost of a retail 2 pack from the ARAHC at Wal Mart.  They clogged the pegs at KB Toy Stores around the country for several years.  KB immediately cancelled the 2nd series of figures due to poor sales of the first wave.  KB also refused to clearance them and it was only through sheer attrition that they finally disappeared from retail.  In the following years, aftermarket pricing was so low that few sets would go up for sale.  Usually, the price for a set was below retail.  A decade a half after their release, though, pricing has started to rise.  Carded, the figure sells between $20 and $30.  (The other two Manimals seem to be similarly priced.)  Loose, mint and complete figures are not commonly found.  But, those sell in the $15 to $20 range.  Though, this price is likely predicated on the lack of options and if you have multi year patience, you might get them for less.  As a $20 figure, Warwolf doesn't hold up.  As a $10 figure at retail in 2001, Warwolf didn't hold up, either.  If you're a glutton for the horror that could have befallen the Joe line, this figure is worthwhile.  But, even a Star Brigade aficionado like me has little interest in the figures.  As a window into history, they have value.  But, it's tough to put that value into action.

Personally, I am ambivalent towards the Manimals.  They are decent enough toys.  They are G.I. Joe.  But, they are just so odd and differently designed that they don't feel like they belong with vintage G.I. Joe figures.  Mine sat unopened for years.  I finally opened them up and dropped them into bags in order to save some space.  They have sat in those bags for over a decade.  Slythor came out one time in 2013 for a profile.  Warwolf has come out just this one time for this profile.  And Iguanus has never come out of the bag.  It's possible that, someday, they could make their way to a Star Brigade display.  But, even then, I don't see them being anywhere but in the back of the display, out of sight and out of mind.  Most other collectors have similar feelings and you rarely see these guys displayed any way other than MOC.  They're just too bizarre to ever be relevant to the majority of Joe collectors.

2001 Slythor - Manimal

There aren't many G.I. Joe figures that really fit into a Halloween motif. (Well, there are quite a few that work as ironic costumes, but that's another story.) You have a few space monsters, zombies and the general menagerie of costumed villains. But, I wanted to find something even more oddball and obscure for the rare opportunity of a profile posted on Halloween. A Manimal figure really fit the bill. The figures are generally obscure, stray from even the most liberal definition of vintage Joes and are of a construction type that makes them more a separate toy line than something easily integrated into a Joe collection. They are also, though, one of the most famous pieces of Joe lore. So, it became an easy selection.

The Manimals have the inglorious distinction of being the only G.I. Joe concept to be cancelled twice. The first series was sculpted, molded, painted and even carded back in 1994, only to have the rug pulled out and the line killed. The same happened again in 2001. The response to the Manimals was so poor that the second wave of the figures was cancelled. KB Toy stores had shelves full of Manimal figures well into 2003 and even 2004. The figures were spectacular failures. Most Joe collectors easily foresaw the retail disaster. But, in 2000 and 2001, Hasbro was still stubbornly clinging to 1990's collector mentality: collectors wanted remakes of obscure items, even if those items were terrible the first time, collectors liked army builders, but didn't mind getting an extra character with them, stores wouldn't support single carded figures, collectors would blindly buy anything with the brand name attached, etc. In time, failures like the Manimals broke Hasbro of some of these notions. But, others persist to this day.

The Manimals are en extension of Star Brigade. Had the Joe line survived later into 1994 and 1995, the Star Brigade line would have continued to expand with new astronauts, new Lunartix aliens and a host of new concepts that would have further bended the line away from its traditional figure-construction roots. Manimals, Replicators, War Dogs and other concepts were ways that Hasbro could infuse more science fiction into the line and develop toys that were not constrained by the O-ring/T-hook construction scheme. Really, though, Hasbro could have put the entire 1994 and 1995 Star Brigade concept as a completely separate toy line. The heroes could have been the same Joe characters, or they could have renamed the figures that used Joe molds. The result would have been a science fiction type toy line that would have been free of the legacy of G.I. Joe and could have competed directly against the Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers toys that were dominating the action figure aisle at the time. Standing alone, the Manimals, Lunartix and other bizarre concepts might have put together a solid little retail run. But, it's likely that Hasbro wasn't about to launch a new toy line without the brand support of G.I. Joe and, almost conversely, Hasbro needed new life from new concepts to shore up flagging Joe figure sales. Plus, many of the specialties and bios from the 1994 Star Brigade series sound like blatant Star Wars rip offs. With the knowledge that Kenner's flagship line would return in 1995, it's unlikely that Hasbro wanted another sci-fi to compete against itself.

If you look at the Slythor figure, you can see from his design the influences other toy lines had on the designers. Slythor's head is straight out of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line. The offset eyes, over sized ears and hyperbolically exaggerated teeth all give him the appearance of a toady for the Turtle's Shredder character. The '90's visor just completes the image and really dates the figure's design. The snake head is barely hidden in the figure's chest and I'll leave it to the reader to make jokes about the snake's tongue folding into the figure's fly. The original Slythor concept in 1994 was a red bodied figure. The KB version, though, changed the colors in an attempt to preserve the value of the originals. In the case of Slythor, the green color is an improvement that allows for the figure's details to come out and follows more in line with the character's snake form.

But, once you get past that, you see that there is a level of detail and paint application that would make this figure stand out among most of the low quality toys from the early '90's. The eyes on the snake head are excellently painted. And, the figure features no less than 7 different colors interspersed around the body. The construction quality is top notch and the entire figure is very solid. While the Manimals followed some tenets of standard G.I. Joe construction, they also deviated. Slythor does not have a standard O-Ring waist. Instead, his legs are closer to the construction of Sgt. Savage figures. (A line of World War II era soldiers fighting against aliens like the Manimals might have actually been a better retail concept than the Sgt. Savage line as it was released.) The result is that there are kneeling and sitting poses that are difficult to manage for the figure. But, since most collectors either have the figure only carded or standing in a standard loose pose, the construction limitations are not as much of an issue.

Slythor is actually quite imposing. The figure stands taller than standard Joe figures and is powerfully built. His hands feature razor claws that let you know this is a terrible monster. But, really, what do you do with a monster in G.I. Joe? Cobra's forays into genetic experiments and chemical enhancements might produce some one off mutants. In the past, the Lunartix aliens fit those roles, though. The Manimals simply don't fit. Displayed among the Lunartix and other Star Brigade figures, they can be visually interesting. But, that is about the extent of their involvement in any collection. I am an unabashed Star Brigade fan, but I have no use for the Manimals. That pretty much sums up their place in the Joe world.

I have always viewed this character's name as slee-thor. Basically, the name is a He-Man version of Slither. However, the earliest images of the Manimals have this character named Slither. So, it's likely that the actual pronunciation is more like Slither than my Slee-Thor version. But, I like Slee-Thor better and will likely to continue to pronounce his name that way. Seeing the spelling of the name change is an interesting insight into the designer's intentions. Did they run into copyright issues with Slither? Did they just want to spice the name up and make it appear more alien? We will likely never know. But, it is nice to have of this insight into an unproduced character.

Slythor includes three accessories: a pistol, a rifle and a visor. The pistol is fairly interesting and is reminiscent of the Air Devil's gun. The rifle is huge and doesn't really work with the figure because the bulk of the barrel overwhelms the cylindrical handle and falls out of the figure's hands. The rifle looks very much like the "extra" guns that were included with the 1995 era Star Wars figures. The visor barely fits onto the figure's head and falls off easily. Had this figure been a vintage release, it's likely the visor would be an expensive accessory as I nearly lost it twice on the garage floor when I took the figure out for the photos below.

The Manimal molds were used by Hasbro to create the unproduced figures in 1994, the released wave of figures in 2001 and the unreleased wave of figures in 2001. After that, Funskool acquired the molds. However, Funskool determined they would never release them because the figures were too "devilish". However, in the mid-2000's, an enterprising person from India contacted a few American dealers about an unsanctioned run of Manimal figures made in Funskool factories. These would not have been Funskool releases and would not have fallen under Funskool's licensing agreement with Hasbro. The whole thing was very sketchy from the start. Fortunately, the deal never came to pass and there were never any Manimals made in India. It is likely, though, the molds are still there and it's doubtful that Hasbro would want them back.

Today, Manimals cost about the same as they did 12 years ago. The $9.99 retail price was stupidly high at a time when you could get two figures for $5.84 at Wal-Mart. But, that's part of the reason that KB Toys isn't around anymore. It's not that easy to track down Manimal figures. But, even carded, they rarely sell for more than $12-$15. Dealers ask a lot more: banking on expediency trumping frugality. But, the modern collector can acquire these figures for about the same real dollar cost as the collector from more than a decade ago. That, more than anything, defines the ultimate failure of the Manimals. Had they been released, they would be hated to a degree reserved for only the most disdainful of Joe releases. Even being an "unproduced" item, they can not muster up excitement since they deviate so much from Joe's roots.