1994 Star Brigade Sci Fi

1994 Star Brigade has long been one of my collecting focuses.  Back in 1999, when this site started, I was about the only person to talk about Star Brigade in any capacity beyond pure vitriolic hatred.  In the twenty five years since, though, collector attitudes about Star Brigade have softened.  And, more importantly, the low production numbers for the 1994 series have proven frustrating for collectors who attempt to finish their vintage Joe runs.  Nowadays, some 1994 Star Brigade figures will break triple digits.  Their oddity and scarcity driving an upswing in popularity.  Not all figures are caught up in that wave, though.  This 1994 Sci Fi remains relatively inexpensive for the modern collector.  But, that price is not indicative of the figure's quality as the 1994 Sci Fi features excellent sculpting, fun colors and a cadre of accessories that would have been fantastic for kids of the day.

There were two waves of 1994 Star Brigade figures.  The second wave, containing the Lunartix aliens, Countdown, Ozone and Effects saw the lower production run.  And, in the early days of Joe collecting, the aliens secured a morbid curiosity among collectors who would buy carded versions just to have due to the perceived rarity.  The first series, though, probably didn't see much of an increase in production run over the second wave.  But, it was generally held in low regard by Joe collectors of the late 1990's and early 2000's.  The figures in that wave, though, were excellent.  Blackstar, Cobra Commander, Duke, Spaceshot and this Sci Fi were all either entirely new or mostly newly sculpted parts.  Payload and Roadblock were repaints and carry over characters from the 1993 series.  But, they all combined into a visually distinctive wave of figures that showed a considerable investment by Hasbro as the Joe line was slowly diminishing at retail.

This Sci Fi might be the most impressive of the new, non alien, sculpts for the Star Brigade series.  (I'll accept arguments on this point, though.)  He features a textured space suit that is overlaid with an armored chest.  His head is surrounded by a collar that is a perfect fit for the figure's helmet.  It's a vast improvement of the idea that was introduced with the 1983 Ace figure.  The left arm has a sculpted hand cannon.  And, there's enough other details to provide the necessary heft to really view this figure as an astronaut.  

Around 1992 or so, Hasbro got wind that their competitor, Kenner, was looking to bring back their Star Wars line.  Joe had bested Star Wars before.  But, much of that could be contributed to the ending of the original trilogy as well as general retail fatigue.  The Joe team of the time wasn't too keen on being beaten in the marketplace they now dominated.  So, Star Brigade came to be.  If you look at Star Brigade, you see lots of Star Wars like elements.  Spaceshot is, basically, Han Solo.  This Sci Fi features a lot of elements borrowed from Boba Fett.  The most apparent is the arm mounted gatling cannon.  Aside from the absurdity of this weapon (where would the ammo be stored?!?) it's a fun callback to Fett.  The figure even has chest armor that is similar to Fett's.  Hasbro even introduced aliens as a way to broaden the scope and compete directly with the denizens of Jabba's Palace or the Cantina.

My main interaction with this figure only came as an adult collector.  I got hooked on 1994 Star Brigade early in my collecting days and quickly found carded versions of the entire set.  Back then, loose Star Brigade figures were nearly impossible to find.  But, as I was still paying well under $5 for a carded figures, it was worth it to just open up any extras I acquired.  (This is how I got Countdown and Ozone.)  I didn't get a loose Sci Fi until the early 2000's.  And, that version wasn't in great condition and only had the helmet.  Only recently have I picked up a high quality version of the 1994 Sci Fi.  And, he's great.  I don't really have a ton of ways to use the figure right now.  But, he's good to have around and I'll surely have him out flying a helicopter or something as the weather turns warmer.

Sci Fi's accessories are pretty good.  His helmet may be the best piece.  It's two fused pieces of plastic that give an hard grey top and back with a pinkish face shield that features triangular ridges that obscure Sci Fi's face but also give the helmet great depth.  His base weapon is a black version of Cold Front's pistol.  The large size, though, works in the space context, though.  Sci Fi's pack is an interesting contraption.  It's large and bulky.  It has two arms that provide additional gear.  One side is a sculpted gun that's reminiscent of the arms from Payload.  The other side is the spring loaded missile launcher.  The launcher has a peg that fits into the pack's side to prevent it from moving.  You can take the peg out and then move the launcher up and down.  The pack also has a hook sculpted to the top of it.  This hook was compatible with Sci Fi's remaining gear.  He also included a rope and two "weights" that were hooks to connect to toys, furniture or other items that would give Sci Fi a zip line feature.  The pack could slide across the rope.  Stupid little things like this were greatly appreciated by childhood me.  And, their inclusion is a fun reminder that the 1994 Joes were toys first that were meant to be enjoyed by kids.

This Sci Fi mold has some history.  Which is not common for sculpts that debuted in 1994.  While the figure's head was recycled from the 1991 and 1993 Sci Fi figures, the rest of the body was new.  For some reason, Sci Fi appeared in the Funskool line.  I'm not sure why he's be chosen over other newly sculpted 1994 figures.  But, the Funskool Sci Fi is very similar to the U.S. version.  There are some obscure and hard to find Funskool variants.  But, in general, they are all similar enough to this 1994 U.S. figure that only the most attentive collectors would really notice the difference in a photo or display.  I'd have loved to have seen a full rehash of the 1994 Star Brigade line in India.  But, getting Sci Fi, Countdown, TARGAT and Ozone was a nice bonus.  As a fun aside, Sci Fi's helmet was recolored and included with the Funskool Metal Head figure.  You wouldn't think this helmet would work on Metal Head.  But, it does.  Sadly, that Metal Head is hard to find today.  But, the helmet on, he works as a new Cobra Star Brigade member.

Gone are the days of cheap Sci Fi figures.  While you could easily get a carded version of this figure for $10 as recently as a decade ago, the general scarcity of the 1994 Star Brigade series has caught up with Sci Fi, too.  While he's not a $100 figure like Roadblock or Ozone, dealers routinely get $40-$50 for mint, loose and complete versions.  This seems odd since you can still buy carded figures in the $50-$60 range.  Left to his own devices, though, Sci Fi tends to top out around $25...leaving him one of the cheaper 1994 Star Brigade figures.  This is likely a function of the similar Funskool figure being so available and relatively cheap, too.  Collectors have options to get Sci Fi.  For $20, he's not a bad figure.  I love Star Brigade, so I tend to be overly enthusiastic about the figure quality.  But, if you want Sci Fi as the laser rifle trooper, the 1991 and even 1993 figures are better.  (Though, not really much cheaper.)  But, this Sci Fi shows much of what was possible with the Joe line in later years and the sculpting and colors really work to create a fun combat astronaut.  If you find value in that specialty, this is a figure for you.  If not, well, there's lots of other Sci Fis to fill your needs.

1991 Sci Fi - Around The Web

The 1991 Sci Fi is a rather popular figure.  Really, he solves for pretty much all of the criticisms of the 1986 debut figure.  This later redesign features a removable helmet, smaller rifle and an overall sculpt that is less bulky than the original.  In all, the figure is a strong update to a character who isn't all that high on most collectors' lists.

There's some nice content featuring the figure out there, though.  For many collectors, the figure is their laser trooper.  And, all the figure's gear allows for some cool posing.  You'll see a bunch of these in the photos and content below.

1991 Sci Fi Profile

1991 Sci Fi by viper_space

1991 Sci Fi by evilface

1991 Sci Fi by TunnelRat

1991 Sci Fi by gijoe_c4_panama

1991 Sci Fi by albafica

1991 Sci Fi by Slipstream80

1991 Sci Fi by gvilla74

1991 Sci Fi by cowledcollector

Rarities - 2009 Funskool Carded Figures

Funskool stopped producing Joe figures in 2004.  Sales had been slipping for a while.  So, the line was cancelled even though Funskool had some additional new figures slated to appear later that year.  However, in 2009, Funskool fired up the molds again in an attempt to cash in on the G.I. Joe movie.  They re-introduced several figures from molds they still had in their possession.  While there were no "new" figures produced, they did create several more minor variants of their existing paint schemes.  On top of the oddball figure and accessory changes, each figure featured a new cardback with an explosion more akin to the pre-1986 version on Hasbro cards.

These figures were not heavily imported to the US.  Dealers didn't really bother with them as, at the time, most of the figures in the assortments were still pretty common.  And, many US dealers were still dealing with overstock from their Funskool buys more than 5 years earlier.  As there were no "new" figures in the assortment, there wasn't much incentive for anyone to really track them down.  A few people did import some cases.  And, those are the source of most of these figures today.  In 2009, no on really thought that Trip Wire would become a $200 figure.  But, the Funskool market of the 2020's has proven to have a short memory of what were once common and pegwarming figures. 

The assortment that was released doesn't really have a theme beyond the molds that Funskool still had.  We had a pretty good idea of which molds Funskool returned to Hasbro in 2003 just due to the last production run of bagged figures that Funskool ran.  But, seeing Scrap Iron in here was a surprise.  But, we've long known that the 2004 Hasbro Scrap Iron was a brand new sculpt.  So, maybe his retention by Funskool shouldn't have been so unexpected.

The cardbacks were updated to show the new figures that were put into production.  Some feature just 11 figures.  While others feature 17.  There are 18 total figures in the series.  The one figure difference is because Funskool did not put the actual character who you were buying onto the cardback.  So, Scrap Iron doesn't appear on the Scrap Iron cardback while Blaster does.  But, on the Blaster cardback, Scrap Iron does appear but Blaster does not.

Desert Scorpion

Back in February of 2001, the Funskool Desert Scorpion was among the first cheap Funskool figures I ever bought.  The Desert Scorpion is another figure that doesn't have many variants.  It's also a figure that's gotten somewhat expensive in recent years.  This later release doesn't appear to be materially different from the earlier figures, though.  This figure features the 11 back card.

Budo:

Budo has a variety of subtle coloring variants.  He also has an upper arm variant.  You'll note the very dark hair on this version and that his upper arms do not have the red pockets.

Scrap Iron:

In 2004, it was somewhat assumed that Scrap Iron was returned to Funskool.  However, when the 2004 Scrap Iron figure was released by Hasbro, it was obvious that they had made an all new mold for the character.  Funskool kept the figure.  Scrap Iron was among the first Funskool figures to appear in the 1990's.  After he was taken out of production, he appeared again in 2002.  Now, he's also appeared in the 2009/2010 timeline.  

Blaster:

Blaster is one of the biggest and easiest variants to notice.  The Roadblock machine gun has been removed and replaced with a black version of Mercer's rifle.  It makes you wonder if Funskool returned the 1992 Roadblock gun mold to Hasbro when they returned the figure mold.  And, if that's the case, it really makes you wonder why Hasbro didn't release it with either of the 1992 Roadblock repaints they released in 2004 and 2005.

Deep Six:

There's no obvious differences between this Deep Six and those made earlier.  Surely, though, there are slight shading differences.

Dialtone: 

The original Funskool Dialtone has an upper arm variant.  There are color shading differences on his chest, too.  As the Tunnel Rat mold was returned to Hasbro, this 2009 version features different upper arms than the most common early 2000's era figures.

Tripwire:

Tripwire is probably the most desirable figure from the 2009/2010 releases.  While he was always interesting, the figure has taken on a spectacular aftermarket appreciation in recent years.  This late version features the new explosion back but also has a variant filecard.  The 2003 era figures have a more closely cropped picture of Tripwire on the filecard.  The figure itself does have variations on the "Bomb Squad" text on his chest.

General Hawk:

There are many variants on General Hawk's red/orange highlights.  So, it's likely these are different than the earlier releases.  As General Hawk debuted in 2001, most of his figures tend to be of very poor quality and feature bad paint masks and construction issues.  I do need to pick up one of these General Hawks and see if the quality is improved.

Mainframe:

Continuing the theme, Mainframe is pretty similar to his earlier releases.  Funskool Mainframe's are one of the few figures that's not known for its variants.  But, with just grey, black and silver, there's not a lot of color matching to create noticeable differences.

Wild Bill:

Wild Bill also debuted in 2001.  And, there are two main variants as the figure can have either black or silver sunglasses.  For the 2009 releases, all of them I've seen have featured the black glasses.  This is another figure, though, I'd like to compare to my earlier samples to find any other changes.

Croc Master:

Croc Master features quite a few shading differences among his figures.  It appears that the wrist guard on his right arm is a darker grey than earlier figures.  And, his upper arms appear to be changed, too.

Cobra Commander:

The Funskool Cobra Commander figure never really got popular.  That's likely due to the fact that the collectors who knew this mold as the character didn't really come of age until after the era of cheap Funskool was long over.  The original Funskool figure isn't know for variants.  And, this figure appears very similar to the original.

Sci Fi:

Sci Fi is known for his belt color variations.  This version would have to be checked against the earlier figures.  But, it's likely there's another variant in the later production run.

Lifeline:

Lifeline is another once common Funskool figure that has seen a sharp upturn in popularity and pricing in recent years.  I'm not sure why.  This version features yellow arms with a green chest.  I got this same combo back in 2001.  But, this 2009 version likely has color shading differences on his green plastic parts as well as the painted highlights.

Psyche Out:

The Funskool Psyche Out is great because it's an easy and still somewhat cheap way to get a complete version of this figure mold.  The Hasbro version has gotten expensive.  But, the Funskool has stayed affordable.  Sadly, though, the figures made in the early 2000's are starting to badly discolor, even if they've been taken care of.  Hopefully, the 2009 plastic is different.

Dodger:

The Funskool Dodger is fairly obscure.  Even during the Funskool heyday, you didn't see him often.  His face paint looks a bit different than the earlier figures.

Blocker:

Blocker doesn't appear all that different from his original release.  His card art features a weird dart coming out of his gun with some bubbles around it.  There are likely color shading differences between this figure and the earlier releases, though.

Quick Kick:

The Quick Kick mold has been around forever.  And, the Funskool variants have a ton of sash and belt color variants.  

There's the 18 figures that comprise the later run of Funskool figures.  At this point, Funskool could still have these molds and make more figures in the future.  Or, the molds could be gone.  We're not sure.  The fact that classic Joes didn't appear to coincide with the Snake Eyes movie in India, though, implies that there probably isn't a domestic market for these figures any longer.  Though, I wouldn't mind if Hasbro got a couple of these molds back and put them into production.  But, that will never, ever happen.

1993 Star Brigade Sci Fi

Star Brigade is one of my favorite Joe concepts.  For a young adult collector who had missed most of the figures released between 1990 and 1994, all of the figure molds seemed new.  The concept of Joes in space was also not that much of a stretch as Star Wars was starting to come back and the sci fi element of Joe that had been present since 1982 wasn't really out of place.  And, even if I didn't want to use the figures as astronauts, many of the molds were very close to the pilot figures that I had always wanted when I was a kid.  Upon finding them at a closeout store, I had to have more.  And, as the 1990's wound down, I found myself snatching up cheap Star Brigade figures at every chance I had.  In this buying spree, I would up with several 1993 Starfighters.  While the ship was just OK, the pilot included, Sci Fi,  is a visual treat that works spectacularly with the space theme.

Sci Fi is interesting as he's the only Star Brigade member to have two, distinct uniforms.  Most Star Brigade figures saw repaints of their 1993 molds.  But, Sci Fi got this 1993 repaint of the 1991 Sci Fi figure and an all new figure in 1994.  There's no real reason for this.  But, Sci Fi had the "space-y" name that could be co-opted into the new series.  And, the figure was futuristic looking.  And, the helmet really works for a space pilot, too.  All of that added up to Sci Fi being a logical choice for the pilot of the 1993 Starfighter.  

The color scheme chosen for this figure somewhat matched the vehicle he was intended to fly.  While the Starfighter was just a mostly recolored 1988 Cobra Stellar Stiletto, the new white coloring made it stand apart from the original design.  And, Sci Fi's white and blue color scheme blended nicely with the ship.  This made Sci Fi a good match for his ride while also hearkening back to the 1983 Ace as a pilot in an all white motif.  The end result is one of the Joe line's more obscure releases.  But, also one that has a lot of different uses and is an excellent way to really make a photo pop due to his limited appearances.

Sci Fi includes two accessories.  The first is his helmet.  It is the same helmet mold from 1991, but cast in white with blue paint.  It's a nice helmet that fits on the head extremely well.  The second is the laser rifle from 1991.  Sans pack and hose, the rifle is pretty useless.  I've never really liked it.  But, part of that is I was introduced to it in the Battle Corps era and the peg on the back of it for a hose was never explained or used in the Battle Corps figures.  The pack, rifle and hose, though, make a pretty nice rig.  And, they look great with the 1991 Sci Fi as well as this 1993 repaint.  Even the 2001 Laser Viper's accessories make for a good companion to this figure.  So, there are easy options to improve the figure and make him more useful.

By 1993, Hasbro wasn't too keen on including drivers or pilots with their vehicles.  But, the 1993 series had more vehicle drivers than the 1992 series.  Still, the slots used for the 1993 vehicle drivers were all repaints of prior figures.  This was likely due to lower production runs of the vehicles that precluded the expense of sculpting an all new figure for the release.  The reused molds add to the perception of 1993 as a repaint year.  But, all of the vehicle drivers offer something drastically different from their mold's original release.  Repaints done right are always welcome and the 1993 series delivered in that regard.  The fact that this Sci Fi matches the coloring of the Starfighter is an added bonus and makes him feel like he was designed with his ship in mind.

This Sci Fi mold got two uses in the vintage line in 1991 and 1993.  It then re-appeared in 2001 as the body for the Laser Viper.  This worked well enough since the Laser Viper's coloring was drastically different from the Joe figures.  And, he included a new head, too.  That was the end of Sci Fi, though.  While the Laser Viper could have used a repaint (maybe in the unproduced color scheme), the real shame is not getting this 1991 mold in 1986 colors.  This mold would have certainly lent itself to green, black and silver.  And, knowing that Hasbro molds like the 1992 Duke, 1991 Low Light, 1992 Wild Bill, 1992 Ace, 1992 Mutt and others, the fact that they didn't update the newer molds in the colors of the V1 seems a missed opportunity that collectors would have loved.

1993 Sci Fi figures aren't overly expensive and also seem to be relatively common.  Mint, loose and complete figures run between $10 and $15 on the open market.  The helmet is the expensive piece as you can get incomplete figures for under $5.  Bagged figures are relatively available, too, but will run $25 or so.  The Sci Fi figure is very prone to discoloration and the white plastic holds stains.  So, you'll find a lot of figures with solid paint and joints that look terrible due to the plastic's poor qualities.  But, for the price, this is both a great Sci Fi figure and distinct enough to own even if you have the 1991 version.  

Rarities - Funskool Calcium Sandoz Figures

Funskool is notorious for producing their figures for a variety of corporate tie ins.  As they are owned by a rubber company who makes its fortune in tires, they have a bit different approach to product tie ins that a major American toy company may have.  In many ways, Funskool's corporate partnerships in the 1990's and early 2000's were reminiscent of Hasbro's and Kenner's from the 1970's and 1980's.  Along with Pepsodent, Complan and TV marketing deals, Funskool also worked with Calcium Valdoz for a series of figures based on G.I. Joe molds.

I'm not sure what Calcium Sandoz is.  It's a supplement of some sort that was discontinued in the UK in 2015.  But, in an effort to get children in India to take it, the company that produced the product worked with Funskool to offer some G.I. Joe figures as a promotional opportunity.  The figures were different from classic Funskool releases in two ways.  First, most of the figures are unique color schemes to the Calcium Sandoz premium.  But, more interestingly, all of the figures have a new pair of straight arms on them.  Below you can see some samples of the figures and the exclusive color schemes that go with them.

Hydro Viper:

The Hydro Viper is one of the best recolors of the line.  This blue version would be a great crew-member on a Moray.  The terrible arms, though, mostly ruin what should be a classic repaint.  It's too bad that this color scheme was never offered with the swivel arms on the standard cardback.

You can see a sample of Stormshadow in the photo below.  He is missing the classic cammo pattern from the 1988 mold.

Funskool Calcium Sandoz Stormshadow Figures

You see that the arms are not the original Hasbro molds for straight arms.  For some reason, these figures were all given these new arms.  This is odd as the copyright for these figures is from 2003: a timeframe when we know that Funskool was still producing carded G.I. Joe figures and had full access to the original molds.  Below you can see a Captain Grid Iron figure with the exclusive coloring as well as the back of the insert card showing not only Grid Iron's bio, but the copyright date, too.  Also note that his colors are drastically different than the carded figure variants.

Funskool Calcium Sandoz Captain Grid Iron Figure

Funskool Calcium Sandoz Captain Grid Iron Insert & Bio

There are a lot of different figures in the set.  I'm not sure of the entire roster.  I have included the figures of whom I am aware in this post.  But, please let me know of additional figures in the comments below.

Blaster:

Here you will see Blaster with a body colored like the "Vehicle Driver" Blaster that was found bagged inside of specific vehicles in the early 2000's.  It's appearance here actually helps us understand how such a variant came to appear in vehicles.  But, this figure also uses the color scheme from the 2001 Funskool General Hawk.

Deep Six:

Deep Six is colored very similarly to the single carded figure.  There are some variants on this figure with plastic that's more translucent or opaque.

Desert Scorpion:

This Desert Scorpion is an interesting combo.  He has unique lower arms that are still the straight arms.  The figure's general base colors are similar to the single carded figure.  But, the figure lacks highlights and has some color differences such as the color of the figure's head/antenna.

Star Brigade Sci Fi:

Again, Sci Fi has unique lower arms.  But, the figure is colored almost identically to the single carded version of the figure.

Lifeline:

Lifeline uses base colors similar to the carded figure.  But, this version is missing all the paint applications.  The Funskool Lifeline has very intricate paint masks an their absence here makes the figure look unfinished.

Psyche Out:

Like Blaster, this Psyche Out is in the colors of the mysterious "Vehicle Drivers" set.  But, this version has the terrible straight arms.  This color scheme for Psyche Out, but with the swivel arms, has been found in Funskool Halibna and Maldova promotional figures, too.

Big Boa:

Big Boa is blue.  As a figure, this is probably his best base coloring.  The head is also more silver than the grey version from the single carded figure.

The Calcium Sandoz figures have gotten to be stupidly expensive.  Bagged versions can run upwards of $500.  But, like most foreign Joes, these guys were easier to find just a couple of years ago.  And, now, many characters have all but disappeared.  However, as these were 2000's era releases, it's likely that there are more of them out there that will show up as kids from that time start looking to liquidate some toys. Until then, though, these guys are hard to find and expensive.

1986 Sci Fi - Around the Web

Sci Fi isn't a figure that I really enjoyed as a kid.  Even as an adult, his oversized head and gear takes a lot away from an otherwise decent design.  The bright green color is eye-catching, though, and does brighten up what had been, up until 1986, a relatively modest mix of figure colors.  Here's the best on him from around the web:

Sci Fi Profile

Sci Fi Video Review

Sci Fi at JoeADay.com

Sci Fi at Joepedia

Sci Fi Video Review 2

Rarities - European Exclusive Firing Weapons Figures

Everyone is familiar with the European exclusive Action Force G.I. Joe repaints, the 6 European Tiger Force exclusive figures and even the more obscure European variants of Mutt and Spirit.  But, there were actually many more European exclusive figures.  Some are just minor color differences.  Some are date stamp discrepancies.  And, some are exclusive accessory variants.  It is the last category that is the focus of today's profile.  In the 1990's in Europe, Hasbro released 15 figures who featured exclusive accessories.  They are defined by the fact that the most identifiable characteristic is that most included spring loaded, firing weapons.  But, these are a lot of interesting tidbits hidden within these figures that we'll look at below.

The 15 figures are all 1990 and 1991 figure molds.  It should be noted that most, if not all of these figures were also released in Europe with their American accessories.  But, these altered releases were exclusive to the continent.  I'll start with my favorite of the bunch, the Rock Viper.

As you can see in the photo above, the Rock Viper now includes gear from the 1991 Snake Eyes figure.  The backpack is in an exclusive dark maroon color.  But, the thing that I really like is the neon green gun and missile.  The green is a nice color offset for the Rock Viper and I don't mind neon accessories in some cases.  But, this colored missile and gun are exclusive to this European version of the Rock Viper.

Next up is the Night Creeper you see below.

The main reason I like this version is because I like the Night Creeper in general.  This version, though, includes the backpack and launcher from the 1991 Mercer figure in a dark purple to match the Night Creeper figure.  He also includes an exclusive silver missile.

Next up is Ambush.

The obvious difference in Ambush is his accessories.  He now includes the backpack and missile launcher from the 1991 Snow Serpent in an exclusive light tan color.  He also have the Snow Serpent missile in red.  But, if you look closely, the figure itself is different.  Instead of dark brown cammo on his body, this Ambush features a brighter, lighter brown that has an orange-ish hue.  It is definitely a variant to Ambush.  Though, I'm not 100% certain that this cammo variance was exclusive to Europe or was also available elsewhere.  This European figure also features exclusive card artwork.

The 1991 jet pack General Hawk stands out because he does not include a spring loaded weapon.

As you see above, Hawk includes the launchers and missiles from the 1991 Crimson Guard Immortal figure.  They appear to be in the same color as the CGI weapons.

Next, we have Bullhorn.

Bullhorn is still the same great figure.  But, this version includes the 1991 Snow Serpent missile launcher in an exclusive maroon color.  He also has a neon green missile.

The most famous figure from this crop of missile launching figures is the 1991 Dusty.  This is because Dusty was also released in Asia with the same accessory configuration.  (There were some other figures in this series that also saw Asian releases with the alternate gear including Range Viper, Laser Viper and Desert Scorpion.)

You see Dusty includes the 1991 Red Star AK-47 and missile launcher.  The figure also features unique card artwork that showcases his alternate inclusions.

The 1991 Low Light follows the Dusty.

Low Light also includes the 1991 Red Star launcher and missile.

Up next is the Laser Viper.

This Laser Viper variant includes the missile launcher and missile from the 1991 Sci Fi figure.

Pathfinder shares a detail with Laser Viper:

Pathfinder also features the 1991 Sci Fi missile launcher.  These accessories appear to be unchanged from the American Sci Fi figure release.

Captain Grid Iron makes the Sci Fi launcher reuse a trifecta.

Captain Grid Iron, though, also features exclusive card artwork to help make him a little more interesting than just the reused launcher.

Metal Head brings us back to exclusive gear.

Metal Head includes a golden launcher from the 1991 Cobra Commander figure.  He also includes the standard 1991 Cobra Commander gun.

The final four figures are all Cobra army builders.

Range Viper:

The Range Viper also features Red Star's AK-47 and missile launcher.  He includes an exclusive golden missile, though.

SAW Viper:

The SAW Viper includes the gear from the 1991 Incinerator figure.  He also features exclusive card artwork that showcases his different accessories.

Desert Scorpion:

The Desert Scorpion includes the backpack and missile from the 1991 Mercer figure.  The only exclusive part of the figure is the card artwork that shows an oddball configuration for the new gear.

Undertow:

The Undertow figure also uses the gear from the 1991 Snake Eyes figure.  But, it's in an exclusive red color meant to mimic the Undertow's colors.  He also features an exclusive grey missile.

As accessory variants don't tend to command great attention as opposed to figure variants, these European figures remain very obscure.  But, they are generally hard to find and carded figures can command a premium in the right setting.  I'd love to track down a few of them as the offbeat colors are right up my collecting alley.  But, the general rarity of them makes them another fun subset in foreign Joe collecting.  One final picture is from a European catalog that showcases several of the figures in their alternate accessory configurations.