My Favorite Accessories - Part 2

Part 1 of this series looked at my favorite weapons from childhood.  This time around, I'll be looking at some of the gear that really drove my second phase of collecting.  This period, technically, covers 1988 through 1997.  During that time, I only was able to find a few figures.  So, you're going to see a cross section of accessories.  And, a few classic items will be missing because, while they were released during this period, I didn't acquire them until 1998 or later.  Some of these items appeared in my early teen years when I wasn't collecting or buying Joes, but my youngest brother still was.  So, the limited exposure to them made them loom larger than they otherwise might have.

Early Adult Favorites:

1. Duke/Stalker/Others MP-5 inspired rifle

As I returned to Joe collecting in the mid 1990's, I spent most of my time tracking down the remnants of the line at various retail stores.  Among the first figures I found was the 1993 Duke.  This is a solid figure.  But, the main source of interest in him was the "new" weapons on his tree.  While I was passingly familiar with Muskrat's shotgun (someday I'll tell that story...), the other weapons were ones I had never before seen.  As far as I was concerned, they were completely new sculpts.  It was the MP-5 inspired weapon that piqued my interest, though.  It looked great with Duke.  It was somehow both compact and large.  This was accomplished by having the overall footprint be small while giving the weapon a larger barrel.  I turned this into a story element.  These newer weapons became "Generation 4" weapons.  They were more powerful and could carry more ammo than earlier weapon designs.  As they were new, they were limited to only the highest ranking Joes.  Eventually, Cobra got some and gave them to elite troopers, too.  As I got more and more 1993 and 1994 figures, the weapons became less special.  And, with more colors in tow, the MP-5 like weapon became one of my favorite standards across my Joes.

Even today, this is my favorite weapon to use with 1993 and 1994 figures.  It exists in a plethora of colors...some rarer than others.  But, you can get it in black, gold, yellow, purple and other colors with a bit of looking around.  It remains one of my key weapons.  And, I'll always pick up a new one if the price is right.  I have unfulfilled plans of being able to outfit the entire 1993 carded lineup with these weapons for a photo at some point.  I'm not quite there on the right number of them in my collection, yet, though.

2. Annihilator Pistol

I first saw this weapon at the home of some family friends who had some younger children.  I remember it being awesome.  Around 1995 or 1996, I found my first Annihilator at a flea market in southern Ohio.  I picked him up for the rifle.  Once in hand, it reminded me of the awesome weapons from G.I. Joe #36 back in 1985.  In short order, I bought as many Annihilators as I could find.  The figure was "new" to me and I loved the portable helicopter.  I saw them as the airborne division of the Alley Vipers and they made up a key ingredient in my early notion of Cobra urban death squads.  With plenty of his weapons in hand, I had them available for use with any other figure I wanted.

And, with them in hand, my fascination with the weapon ended.  It was difficult to make the weapon look good with other figures.  And, it was a bit bigger than I had remembered.  It was less of a one handed pistol and more of a two handed weapon that switched up my notion of the weapon's versatility.  I still find it the necessary weapon for Annihilators.  But, I've long since sold off my army of that figure.  I have a couple of spares of the weapon, though, still hanging around.  I'll use them with another figure from time to time.  I do need to get a photo of it in the hands of a Fred to mimic that old comic.  

3. Hit & Run  Rifle

This one is a bit of a cheat.  I actually did own Hit and Run when I was a kid.  I bought three 1988 figures before I quit toys.  And, Hit and Run was one of them.  I immediately fell in love with his rifle.  But, I didn't to use it very often as I left  my Hit and Run hanging on a wall at my grandparents' house shortly after I got him.  Once the figure was recovered, though, my Joes were put away.  So, it was on rare occasion when I'd get them out.  Inevitably, Hit and Run would be among the figures chosen, though.  Part of it was the sheer quality of the figure.  Part was his amazing rope & grappling hook bag.  And, the final piece was his rifle.  Everything about it seemed perfect.  It had a long clip to store extra ammo.  It was compact enough to be used in close quarters.  And, the figures just held it perfectly.  I wanted to use it with pretty much every one of my favorite figures during this time.  But, I had just one sample with no way to acquire more.

That changed in the mid 1990's as weapon trees began to proliferate.  The real joy was finding extra samples of this rifle being included on weapon trees of 1993 and 1994 figures.  With this discovery, I was able to acquire an excellent rifle in a variety of colors.  As the weapon was my preferred rifle for the 1994 Shipwreck, I came to see it as a standard rifle used by all sorts of Joe themed army builders.  So, having it in cream with Snow Storm and even red with Outback allowed some consistency on the weapons used by the troops who supported the Joes.  Note that this weapon is often confused with the 1992 Shockwave rifle.  They are similar, but not the same.  Also, some late run 1994 figures featured the rifle but with a blocked out trigger guard.  Those aren't bad.  But, I do prefer the original design.

Now the rifle is ubiquitous.  And, I had so many of them that it's become a bit passe.  But, the early 2000's brought some weapons into the mainstream to a point where they started to get stale.  Hit and Run's weapon was one of them.  And, while I still love it, I don't see it as the staple for every figure as I once envisioned nearly 30 years ago.  But, I do still find uses for it and you'll see it being carried by other figures in some photos around the site.

4. Bullhorn's Mask

My youngest brother got a Bullhorn in 1990.  I believe he was  the only 1990 figure that we ever had.  While his rifle was amazing and everyone still goes ga-ga over his weapon case backpack, I found the real value in him was his gas mask.  I love gas masks.  And, as a kid, I lamented that the only ones you could get were either Ripcord's airmask or Lifeline's rescue mask.  I gave them to pilots, troopers navigating gassed caves and just to anyone I wanted to look cool.  But, they had limitations (like the hose you had to plug in for it to look good) and always left me wanting more.

Bullhorn's mask, though, solved this problem.  It was a self contained piece and was sculpted with the air filter right on it.  When placed on the figure's head, Bullhorn could be a faceless army builder.  I now had a way for more figures to be outfitted with protective masks.  Unfortunately, though, the specific design of Bullhorn's mask made it so that it was form fitted for Bullhorn's head.  And, that made it difficult or impossible to really use the mask with a variety of other figures.  And, this limited the mask's use.  But, the overall design still works.  I've since found Bullhorn to be a more boring figure than I'd remembered.  The mask, though, overcomes this and keeps the figure relevant to me.  I just wish it was a little more flexible for use on a wider variety of figures.

5. Spearhead's Rifle

I do not know how this weapon entered into our collection.  We never had a 1988 Spearhead.  But, at some point, his rifle appeared among our toys.  It was likely left by one of my brother's friends.  As soon as I saw it, though, the rifle simply enthralled me.  Mostly, this was because it was new.  But, also, the rifle featured a couple of key design elements that I found among the cooler features of Joe accessories.  First, it had a bayonet.  But, we'll talk more about this, later.  The second, and more important feature, was the strap.  I had long loved strapped weapons.  They allowed your figure to carry their weapon without having to always be holding it in their hand.  I never like my Joes climbing a rope if they didn't have a strap on their gun because it wasn't realistic to just have their weapon magically appear at the top if they didn't have a means to carry it.  It's weird what unrealistic elements bothered me when I was a kid and which didn't affect me at all.

Back to the bayonet, though.  While I really liked bayonets, the piece on Salvo's rifle made the weapons footprint rather large.  And, at some point in the early 1990's, I wanted a knife for some figure.  The bayonet on Salvo's rifle was of sufficient size to work as a knife for a figure.  So, since the weapon wasn't key to any complete figure in my collection, I snipped off the bayonet and gave the knife to someone.  The paired down rifle was then smaller and looked even better with the figures to whom I gave it.  At various points, I've found the snipped bayonet and wondered who's knife it was.  Usually, I then remember that I cut this off from the original weapon.  I'm 99% sure that the bayonet is still sitting in a plastic baggie of superfluous edged weapons stored in a shoebox in the basement closet.  And, you'll see the snipped version of the rifle in a photo below.

In the early 1990's, I gave this weapon that mysteriously appeared in our home to a figure who also had a similar origin: Salvo.  I don't know where Salvo came from.  And, our figure just had the helmet.  So, it was another likely leave behind from some unknown friend of my brother.  But, Salvo and Spearhead's gun just seemed to mesh.  And, without having Salvo's real accessories, it made sense for him to have this borrowed weapon.  So, between 1991, or so, and 1999, Salvo always carried Spearhead's rifle.  In fact, if you can find really old Salvo photos on the site, you'll see him carrying it.  To this day, I more associate Spearhead's rifle with Salvo than I do with Spearhead.  But, that's because Salvo is an awesome figure and Spearhead is...not.

Really, these were the dark days of Joe.  I didn't collect for several years.  And, when I got back into things, I was chasing the dregs of the line at retail while also scouring out the not ready for primetime flea market scene that define the pre-internet days.  You didn't find a lot of Joes back then.  And, those that you did find were often those from my childhood years.  Meaning they were figures I already owned.  So, it was hard to find items I didn't have already.  

There were many more, better accessories that were released in this time.  But, I didn't really acquire them until my collector phase began in earnest around 1998.  We'll explore those in the final installment in a few months.  Until then, though, what are some of your favorite accessories from this time?  Let me know in the comments below.

Funskool Spearhead

I've been reviewing Joes for a long time.  Every now and then, I scroll back through old profiles.  I do this now to validate old memories and also research the hobby happenings of the time.  This brings many of my old photos to light and I see them again, recalling the circumstances of their creation.  One such photo I recently stumbled upon was from a summer of 2001 profile of the Night Force Muskrat.  In the background of those photos was the Funskool Spearhead.  I have now owned this figure for 21 years.  That's three and half times longer than any vintage Joe was part of my world.  Yet, in all that time, I have little recollection of using the figure.  And, in looking through other photos, the figure rarely shows up outside of a few appearances in the early 2000's.  And, yet, this is a spectacular figure that is superior to the American release in most every way.  And, even if you consider the Night Force version of Spearhead to be better, the price and availability difference between the two still tilts favorably towards the Indian release.  

Spearhead's color palette is his primary calling card.  Instead of being based on the brown and orange figure from Hasbro (like the Brazilian release of the mold was), this Indian figure was based off the 1989 Night Force color scheme.  The result is a figure with charcoal grey, dark brown a little bit of blue highlight thrown in.  He's pretty much a Night Force figure.  But, is also different enough from the 1989 Toys R Us exclusive that he can stand on his own.  It's an interesting choice from Funskool to go this route.  And, it makes me wonder if they only had the paint masks for the Night Force figure as a reference point.  (Though, his card art shows him in colors akin to his 1988 release.)  The manner in which Joe molds moved around the world remains extremely opaque.  And, it would be interesting to learn how certain figures were chosen for foreign releases and why they were given their colors in the new markets.

One thing that has always stood out on Spearhead is the figure's bulk.  He feels bigger and taller than other Joe figures.  And, the size of his helmet doesn't help.  He often looks awkward in photos.  I do think his torso is large, as Joe figures go.  It gives Spearhead very broad shoulders.  And, he features a long neck.  (Blizzard was the same in 1988.)  So, it can be difficult to use Spearhead parts for customs.  And, you don't see the figure as often as you'd think as I don't find him an easy subject of which to get a good photo.

And, that's the main reason why this figure hasn't really gotten much use over the years.  While he looks insanely cool, it's hard to get him posed in adequate ways that meshes well with other figures.  Really, I've never much used the 1988 Spearhead for similar reasons.  Even when getting out 1988 figures, specifically, for a photo shoot, I find Spearhead not fitting into the scene.  While I love his weapon, I find it looks awkward in his hands.  Oddly, I didn't find then when I have a version of it to Salvo in the early 2000's.  There's just something about Spearhead that makes everything look out of proportion with the figure.  Ostensibly, Spearhead should be up there with Dusty in terms of desert figures.  But, he's not.  And, he's never taken on an afterlife like his 1988 classmates Shockwave and Hit and Run have.  So, that leads me to believe that I'm not alone in find the figure just a bit "off".

Spearhead includes his full gamut of accessories.  He has a grey and black helmet, a cool grey colored gun and machete and then two other pieces that are more Funskool.  He gets a neon green backpack.  And, while this color may seem out of sorts, the reality is that it actually complements the figure very well.  It provides a splash of color and the dark colors of the figure help to mute the brightness of the green.  His bobcat, Max, is a bright orange color.  It's kind of a scary, irradiated look for the pet companion.  The paint on Max can be tacky, too.  So, you'll often feel a residue left behind on your hands if you handle one.  The bright orange reminds you that this figure is Funskool.  But, the overall colors on the accessories are a perfect fit for the figure and allow him to be among the more useful Funskool releases.

The Spearhead mold was used in its entirety 4 times and his parts were used on an additional figure.  The 1988 and 1989 Night Force Spearhead figures were the lone Hasbro releases.  Shortly thereafter, the mold went to Brazil where a figure named Baoineta was released.  This figure is similar to the 1988 Spearhead figure and has two variants.  Funskool then got the mold and started producing this Spearhead version in the late 1990's.  Funskool also used the mold for their Street Hawk figure.  Early releases used the Spearhead chest with later versions only retaining the legs and waist.  Funskool also produced a significant vehicle driver variant of Spearhead that is all brown and the mold also appeared in the Calcium Sandoz figure premiums by Funskool.  Most of the Funskool variants, aside from the carded version, are hard to find and relatively expensive.  So, this carded release remains the best and cheapest option for a Spearhead fan.

While the early 2000's era Funskool figures have gotten substantially harder to find and more expensive since the supply from India dried up, Spearhead hasn't really taken on any sort of aftermarket fame.  Figures like Trip Wire (Who many collectors of his release era army built!) are four or five times more expensive than a Spearhead.  But, you'll still pay around $25-$30 shipped for a loose figure.  It's tough to find them loose and complete.  You'll see lots of dealers asking close to $100 for a loose figure, but those don't sell.  Neither do the carded figures at $60.  You can get carded figures in the $40 range with patience.  But, will have more luck at $50.  I have a long history of opening $30 foreign release G.I. Joe figures.  But, I don't think Funskool Spearheads will ever get as pricey as Flying Scorpions or Urzors.  So, if you're missing the figure, he's not overly expensive to buy a carded figure and open him up.  He's substantially cheaper than an American Night Force Spearhead and close enough in colors to make the savings more than worth it.

1988 Spearhead - Around the Web

Spearhead was an interesting figure who came out after I had just quit collecting Joes.  As such, he always seemed cooler than he ended up being.  His gun, though, found its way to my brothers collection, even though we never had the figure.  There's a good deal of content on him around the web:

Spearhead Profile

Spearhead by wigramjoe

Spearhead Video Review

Spearhead at JoePedia

Spearhead Pre-Production at YoJoe.com

Spearhead at 3DJoes.com

Spearhead at JoeaDay.com

1988 Spearhead

There were many times during my childhood where I would review the cardback of a figure to see what else was coming out that year.  There were always some figures whose artwork made them look extremely cool.  But, once you saw the actual figure in the package, it was obvious that the mold and paint did not live up to the artwork.  One such figure is the 1988 Spearhead.  His card art makes him look menacing and cool.  He has a unique shape, stylish helmet and an amazing weapon.  The figure, though, is awkward, bulky and oddly colored.  The result is a figure that should be better than he actually is.

I've said may times before that I didn't really collect Joes in 1988.  My younger brothers, though, still did.  As such, we still had a good portion of the 1988 line in our home, it just did not belong to me.  Spearhead, though, was not one of those figures.  No one in my family ever owned him.  We did, though, have one of his guns.  Somehow, a Spearhead rifle appeared in our home at some point in 1988.  One of my brothers' friends likely left it behind.  I saw this weapon and was intrigued.  It was large, detailed and unlike anything else from my collecting experience.  It slowly made it's way through a few figures until it ultimately ended up in a bag of random weapons that survived into my adult collection.

As a collector, though, I had to find the figure with which this weapon was included.  When I found Spearhead, I remembered the artwork and thought he would be a great addition to my neophyte collection.  I acquired one in the late '90's and was immediately disappointed in the mold.  The figure's torso is too large, his neck is too long and the tan and orange coloring just doesn't work.

Through the past decade, I have taken thousands of pictures of Joe figures.  In most of the photos, there are random figures dispersed throughout the scene to bring depth, action, interest, etc.  Through time, I have managed to capture just about every figure in some form or another.  Usually, those who I have left out have either been because I didn't own the figure or because the figures were generally useless (Manimals and Armor Tech Star Brigade.)  However, in searching my photos, I never see Spearhead.  I occasionally see the Funskool version poking around in the background.  But, the original, American figure just never made his way into any scenes.

Spearhead's greatest claim to fame is his included bobcat: Max.  There were a few Joes who included animal companions.  Junkyard and Order made sense and dogs are a vital part of all law enforcement and military organizations.  Polly worked since a sailor and parrot made as much sense as anything else.  Timber worked because a mystic like Snake Eyes could surely tame a wild wolf.  But, what about Spearhead got him to bond with a bobcat?  A bobcat is really a rather random animal companion.  I guess it sounded cool that this guy had the feral cat as his combat companion.  But, it's probably the least plausible of any animals up to that time.  (Even Voltar's vulture was more credible.)

The Spearhead mold has actually gotten fairly good use: it's just not overly diverse.  The mold was used for this original figure in 1988 and then a Night Force version in 1989.  From there, the mold went to Brazil where Estrela released it as Baioneta.  This figure is nearly identical to the version 1 Spearhead.  After that, the mold appeared in India.  Funskool released a Spearhead figure that is based upon the Night Force version.  It is an excellent version of Spearhead and much cheaper alternative to the Night Force version from the US.  Funskool also used various parts of the molds for the Street Hawk figure that was released in India for a number of years.

Spearhead figures are not difficult to find.  Nor are they expensive.  Mint and complete with filecard figures range from $8 to $12.  For that price, there's no reason to let this figure remain unacquired.  But, thinking that you will get a ton of use for Spearhead is likely a stretch.  I have found him to be nothing more than a filler in my collection.  He is OK, but nothing special enough to warrant use.