1994 Star Brigade - Carded Set

In the second half of 1998, I really started to look to G.I. Joe collecting as my hobby of choice.  I had dabbled a bit in a Joe resurgence for a while.  But, the retail stream of new Star Wars figures consumed not only most of my money, but also my time.  However, by the summer of 1998, the Star Wars market was over-saturated.  The huge volume of shipments and new waves that included carry over figures from earlier releases had caused a pegwarming backup that was unprecedented.  While the early part of 1998 had been a great time of constant new figures and refreshed army builders, Hasbro had made too much and the waves planned for later in the year could not get out to retail.  This resulted in a some waves being cancelled, others only showing up in obscure retailers and the complete reboot of the line in early 1999.  To me, though, the retail frustration of Star Wars, coupled with my first major promotion in my adult career lead me down another path along which I could spend my money.  All of this, of course, coincided with the emergence of Ebay as a means to purchase items that were not available from local toy dealers or second hand shops.  As I shifted my collecting priorities, I first focused on a few items from the Joe line that I had long wanted.  Among them were a Hammer, the 1989 Rock and Roll and, at least one Lunartix Alien.

In 1998, the alien figures, MOC, fetched about $15 on the secondary market.  This seems low, but was a princely sum back then.  You could get lesser character 1985 figures MOC for that price at the time.  So, it was a large purchase when I bit the bullet and got a Lobotomaxx figure.  When he arrived, I realized how cool the overall card presentation was.  I liked the colors and look of Star Brigade.  And, I had a connection to the 1993 series that I had found at KB Toys liquidation stores a few years prior.  As I surveyed the other 1994 Star Brigade offerings, I was enthralled by the designs and colors.  At the time, the figures were relatively hard to find, especially if you wanted them loose.  However, you could find them carded: and they were cheap when you did.  So, I put together my first complete series of carded figures: the 1994 Star Brigade.

The '94 Star Brigade line was divided into two distinct series.  The first wave consisted of Cobra Commander, Cobra Blackstar, Sci Fi, Payload, Space Shot, Duke and Roadblock.  The second wave contained Ozone, Countdown, Effects, Lobotomaxx, Predacon and Carcass.  This left an unlucky 13 figures in the retail, single carded line.  But, the overall presentation remained.  Gone were the generic pink cards from 1993 and in was a visual delight of black, blue and purple with a clean G.I. Joe logo running up the card's left edge, culminating in a bright Star Brigade logo at the card's top.  Each character got his own, unique card art along with a yellow "gimmick" tag that touted some feature of each figure.  In short, they were a crisp, clean look for the last unique retail wave of figures to hit stores.

Wave 1 showcased Hasbro's commitment to the line.  5 of the 7 figures featured either mostly new parts, or all new parts.  On top of this, the characters all included a wide array of feature rich accessories that were essential for retail success at the time.  Hasbro did skimp on the overall paint applications, though.  Most of the figures only have three or four minor paint masks.  And, Duke and the variant Roadblock only featured one paint mask on their entire body.  This Roadblock and the Payload figure were repaints of Star Brigade molds that had been released in 1993.  Which, in turn, were mostly repaints of prior years' retail release figures.  So, the line spent money wisely in terms of bringing something new to the market.

1994 Star Brigade Wave 1: Duke, Sci Fi, Space Shot and Cobra Commander

1994 Star Brigade Predacon - Lunartix Alien

It has been a while since I profiled an astronaut figure. That's mainly due to the fact that I've exhausted what I can say about the space element in the Joe line and I kind of ran out of figures to showcase. However, I recently opened up one of my spare carded Predacon figures that had been sitting in a box for almost 4 years. I had long wanted a loose Predacon, but found that the experience of owning the figure was substantially less fun that wanting to find a loose one.

As a mold, Predacon is probably the most useful Lunartix alien. Carcass is decent, but his bendy arms prevent him from being truly useful. Lobotomaxx is just a bit too out there with his long neck, four legs, and tail. He looks neat in the package, but is a little awkward to use. Predacon seems fairly useful. He is well colored in shades of light blue, white and green. His four arms are all articulated in standard Joe fashion and have some detailed adornments that look like ceremonial armour. His head is well formed and highly detailed with his molded teeth and snake-like hair. His eyes retain a truely reptilian look. As such, Predacon seems almost like he could be a Cobra genetic experiment gone awry.

Where the Predacon figure fails, though, is in his body construction. He has huge feet. These over sized appendages tend to cause loose knees in the figure as the standard knee joint was not made to withstand the increased mass of the figures lower legs. As if this weren't enough, Predacon is sculpted so that he is permanently bent over. It's difficult to explain, but his torso is bent so that he can stand up straight only when his knees are bent. (Such as in the photographs below.) This feature makes the figure nearly useless as he can not move in a manner that enhances play. Frankly, I think that had the Lunartix alien portion of the Joe line continued, it would have failed due to the figure quality rather than the concept. While aesthetically pleasing, all three aliens are lacking in play value and would have made for a boring toy line to most children.

Where this construction does help Predacon, though, is that it makes him more animal like. Even with his knees bent, it appears as if Predacon is from a species that has only recently been able to walk erect. This feature has lead to my using him as a hybrid genetic experiment. I use Predacon as the result of an early failed experiment to give humans certain animal reflexes. As a horrid shell of a human, Predacons (There are more than 1. It took Mindbender a while to get it right!) roam the swamps on Cobra Island. From time to time, one is rounded up and set loose as either a training exercise for some Cobra Troopers or an act of terror against a Cobra enemy. As the Predacons are animalian, though, they are mostly dangerous as raging beasts. They lack the intelligence to properly utilize their physical abilities. Hence, my use of the figure is rather limited.

If you want to know my take on Star Brigade and its place in the Joe line, you can read any of a number of my other Star Brigade profiles. My stance on Star Brigade as a concept has not changed. I still think they are among the most eye-pleasing subsets ever offered. But, I'm not naive enough to think that a Star Brigade's return to retail would be a big hit among collectors. As such, as we see more and more themed ARAH style Joe sets released, I think that we would be best served to avoid Star Brigade for some time. Eventually, after most other subsets have been done, there could be a call. Properly done, a Star Brigade set could be cool. However, it simply would not sell fast enough to justify its production. Released now, such a set would probably kill the potential for any future ARAH style themed sets. So, while Star Brigade remains among my favorite parts of Joe lore, I would prefer them to remain in the past rather than risk future Joe offerings by having them appear now.

While they were produced in limited quantities, Predacons are actually kind of easy to find. MOC, they are just about everywhere. He will, though, usually set you back a bit more than the other 2 Lunartix aliens as he remains the most popular. Loose is a different story. As such, if you want this figure, it's probably easier to just buy a carded one and open him up. However, my experience has been that this figure is much more interesting MOC than he is loose. While I normally recommend all things Star Brigade, that is not the case with Predacon. He is a cool addition to a collection. But, his design is just not conducive to use. As background in a Dr. Mindbender's lab diorama, the figure would work. As an enemy to Star Brigade, though, he leaves a lot to be desired. As that is most fans' assessment of Star Brigade as a whole, though, Predacon is probably destined to remain a collecting afterthought.

While I've got all the American Predacons I need, I would still like a Mexican version. If you have one available, email me.