The Top 10 - 2021

 2021 has been an interesting year.  We've seen massive amounts of factory customs.  There were a few "retro" items available.  And, most importantly, Hasbro is bringing back some vintage Joe style figures with commemorative releases and the Haslab Skystriker.  2022 has much for Joe collectors to look forward to.  Promises of a variety of products that should hit everyone's collecting niche abound.  

Looking through this year's top 10, it's an eclectic mix.  Numbers 2 and 3 are really surprising.  But, in general, the popularity seems to be all over the place.  The site saw a massive uptick in visitors as both the pandemic raged and the Snake Eyes movie drew close to release.  Even after the movie's disappearance from popular culture, though, the traffic has remained high.  The site got 189,000 page views this year.  That's a substantial increase from years past.

Without further ado, here are the top 10 posts in terms of pageviews that were released in 2020.  I put that caveat on there because the most viewed post on the site in all of 2021 was, once again, the 1984 MANTA.  I don't know why.  But, it more than tripled the number 1 post that was new in 2021.

10. 1986 Claymore 

Claymore is a "rare" figure who's price has far outstripped his value to a collection.  As I got him for Christmas in 1986, though, he's somewhat important to me.  And, his rarity always attracts eyeballs.

9. 2017 Commando 

Red Laser Army figures tend to do well.  Snake Eyes figures tend to do well.  So, combined, they clocked in as the 9th most popular new post on the site this year.

8. 1983 Hawk 

Hawk is kind of a surprise.  I looked at the MMS last year, too.  And, it was one of the worst performing new profiles of the year.  So, to see the Hawk included with the vehicle get so many additional views just goes to show how valuable the inclusion of the drivers really was.

7. 2020 Black Major Bonecrusher 

Bonecrusher was my pick for the best figure of 2020.  I still maintain that it's an excellent design that brings some needed life to the 1985 Snake Eyes mold.  It showing up there is no surprise.

6. 1987 Crystal Ball 

Crystal Ball really shouldn't be among the most viewed profiles of the year.  But, I can also see how he does belong.  Everyone knows him.  And, sometimes, people just can't look away, even at something that's goofy and silly.

5. 2021 Zica Toys Riot Commando 

To be honest, I thought the Riot Commando would have done better.  It's an awesome figure and I got him within days of his 1st release.  But, it seems this figure hasn't really caught on in the vintage Joe world.  I expected lots of photos of him to appear in the months after his release.  That hasn't happened.  And, the Riot Commando seems to be fading into obscurity.  That's an unjust fate for a solid figure with amazing paint applications that's priced right.

4. Chinese Toxo Zombie

This one kind of makes sense.  The Toxo Zombie has become a popular figure.  Obscure carded figures tend to perform well.  And, this is a relatively unknown foreign variant, too.  It all added up to a well read post.

3. 2001 Crossfire

Ugh.  Crossfire sucks.  I despise this figure and have since his release 20 years ago.  Yet, I must not be in tune with the community on this one as here he is, the third most viewed page on the site in 2021.  Controversy gets clicks, I guess.

2. Stargate Lt. Kawalsky 

This one is surprising.  Stargate figures get zero mention in Joe groups.  And, while these figures include Joe accessories, they aren't all that exciting to anyone but variant nerds like myself.  But, I suspect the offbeat nature of the figure and the loose connection to Joe brought in many casual readers.

1. Haslab Skystriker

No surprise that the biggest Joe news of the year lead the site in traffic.  It wasn't a huge advantage, only about 30% more than Lt. Kawalsky.  But, nothing beat out the Skystriker announcement.  The night the Haslab funded was one of the most fun Joe collecting nights in my more than two decades of being a member of the online collecting community.  Here's to another one in 2022.

Thus ends another year of Joe fandom.  We know we're getting o-ring figures in 2022.  We just don't know who and when.  But, it will happen.  And, assuming they aren't impossible to get, you'll probably see them here.  The night of the Skystriker funding was one of the most fun Joe world experiences of the past 20 years.  It's my hope that Hasbro can strike that kind of magic more often.  

As 2022 is the 40th anniversary of the vintage Joe line, I'm going to take a different tact for the first part of the year and profile something each week in chronological order starting with 1982 through, at least 1994.  (I'll see how I feel about touching on post '94 years.)  It will follow my personal chronology with the line, how I grew with the line, abandoned it and then came back.  

I hope you and yours have had a solid 2021 and wish you a better 2022.  We have much to look forward to this year and I will enjoy sharing it with you!

Chinese Toxo Zombie

Eco Warriors are awesome.  They have been awesome since 1991 and the fact that it took nearly 30 years for the rest of the Joe community to come around on them shows how little taste Joe collectors tend to have.  Zombies were never awesome.  They were kind of interesting.  Then, they got stupidly overexposed and are more cliche than scare-vehicle these days.  But, the intersection of the two from 1992 is awesome.  It's awesome because the Eco Warriors neon purple outweighs overdone zombies.  But, it's also awesome because the character isn't an undead.  Instead, it's a toxic mutated Toxo Viper who has lost his humanity due to a rotting body and mind.  Sure, it's a bit out into the sci-fi realm.  But, Joe has always been sci-fi, despite the best efforts of military purists to re-define it.  And, the notion of the Toxo Zombie works quite well in the context of the super-villain like Cobra.

In the mid 1990's, Hasbro produced Joe figures for release in China.  Most collectors know these figures from the Chinese Major Bludd, Flint and Duke variants.  But, there are also several other figures: some common and some really rare that were produced.  The series of figures produced in 1994 are the most common and remain easy to find to this day.  This is due to the fact that many were sold to American discount retailers in the 1990s and were actually available in the US.  There are other series, though, that are harder to find and didn't see the same US distribution.  Among these is the Toxo Zombie figure.

As a figure, the Toxo Zombie is pretty good.  The entire premise is that a Toxo Viper was mutated into something less than human.  As such, the Zombie uses the Toxo Viper's uniform and replaces parts with worn away pieces that show the rotting flesh beneath the compromised suit.  The pinkish color with light green highlights make the figure look like a bleached out Toxo Zombie who fell into terrible chemicals.  Grisly grey flesh is exposed on the figure's left arm and foot.  Some of the armor is worn away and the pants are pock-marked.  The face shield is cracked to reveal a dismal visage with pink flesh, a sunken eye and a permanent grimace of pain.  For 1992, the sculpting is amazing.  But, must of the detail is lost by lack of paint applications.  This was also common in 1992.  With a differently colored face, blackened teeth and more hollow eyes, this figure could have been a work of art.

I've long been an Eco Warriors fan.  And, the 1991 Toxo Viper is among my preferred later Cobra army builders.  It was fun to have a single Toxo Zombie around to enhance photos.  But, I never really found a lot of use in an army of them.  With a few in hand now, though, there is some fun in having a Joe or two flee from a horde of brain dead monsters who only have evil intent.  But, it's also something that has little substance.  The idea of Dr. Mindbender or Cesspool having a few of these creatures in the basement of some warehouse is fun enough.  But, making them an essential part of a Cobra army doesn't work.  With no cranial capacity left, the Zombies are just listless masses that meander around the battlefield.  You could drop one or two into a Joe base for some chaos.  But, they would also be quickly dispatched since they don't really have any abilities beyond the scare factor.

It's here that my interest in the Toxo Zombie kind of ends.  I have no real story built around them.  Instead, the purely visual treat that is the pink and green help bring some photos to life.  So, I do tend to use them with some frequency as they bring much needed life to many displays and photos.  And, for that reason alone, the figures are very valuable to me.  It's always nice to bring color to a photo and the Toxo Zombie works for that end.  Maybe if they were $10 figures, I might be inclined to pick up a few more and find something to do with them.  But, the zombie craze made all Toxo Zombies desirable and the relative scarcity of the figure has helped his inflation outlive the fad.

There are a few noteworthy features about this figure and his card.  The first is the most obvious.  This Toxo Zombie includes a gun and backpack.  They are the same weapons that were included with the Sludge Viper and Toxo Viper from 1991.  It never made sense to me that the Toxo Zombie didn't include accessories.  So, seeing them here seems more correct.  The next noteworthy detail is that the card is printed in Chinese.  In many cases, foreign cards feature stickers placed over American carded figures.  That is not so in this case.  The card is printed in Chinese, just like the more common figures that were released in 1994.  This brings up the final point.  The cardback features a 1995 copyright.  So, this figure was produced by Hasbro in 1995.  Now, we don't know if the figures were leftover stock from the 1992 run or a new production run altogether.  But, this late date is very interesting since the line had been cancelled in the US by then.

American Toxo Zombie figures have never been easy to find.  But, they have gotten much more desirable in the past couple of years.  Carded American figures sell in the $40-$60 range.  Loose figures are offered by dealers in the $30-$40 and an appalling amount of them sell for that price.  Left to their own devices, Toxo Zombies are around $25 figures on the open market, though.  This Chinese version is both somewhat common and also obscure.  You can get carded figures in the $75-$100 range.  Though, the price will ebb and flow based on the number in the market.  The figures are the same and loose versions are, supposedly, indiscernible from the American releases.  So, loose, the only real differentiating factor is that this figure would have gear (that could have been pilfered from a Toxo or Sludge Viper) and the unique filecard/cardback.  It's doubtful anyone would pay an extreme premium for that.

1992 Toxo Zombie Around the Web

So, it turns out that people seem to like Zombies these days.  Caught up in that cultural zeitgeist is the 1992 Toxo Zombie figure.  Back in the late 1990's and early 2000's, this figure was pretty much a joke.  Collectors hated the fact that it even existed.  Now, though, the Toxo Zombie figure is rather popular.  Just looking at the sheer volume of content below, you can see that the figure has become a staple of many people's collections.  It is a favorite of photographers and the Toxo Zombie often appears on various online communities.  Here's some of my favorite content on the Toxo Zombie from around the web:

Toxo Zombie Profile

Toxo Zombie at ARAH Gallery

Toxo Zombie Pre Production at YoJoe.com

Toxo Zombie at JoeADay.com

Toxo Zombie by OldBaldysToyChest

Toxo Zombie by JamietheTeleViper

Toxo Zombie by ScarrViper

Toxo Zombie at 3DJoes.com

Toxo Zombie Halloween at JoeADay.com

Secret of the Ooze Dio

Toxo Zombie by Outrider

Toxo Zombie at Half The Battle

Toxo Zombies at JoeDios

Toxo Zombie by b33jb

Toxo Zombie Returns at JoeADay.com (He really likes the Toxo Zombie!)

Toxo Zombie by kaboomtoys

Toxo Zombies by total_madness_customs

Diorama - Secret of the Ooze

In the fall of 2001, I took these pics out in the yard.  I hadn't really brought out the Toxo Vipers in over a year and I wanted to showcase them more.  Plus, it was always good to use Cesspool.  I had the idea of finding the Toxo Zombie as a deceased Toxo Viper and it gave me chance to finally get some photos of that figure, too.

This was the first real fall I'd seen in 4 years and it re-affirmed that season as my favorite.  These pics are 15 years old, now.  The entire vintage Joe line could have been released with room to spare in that time.  Sadly, these figures are all gone from my collection.  At the time, no one cared about them and you could get them cheap.  Now, they are much harder to find.

1992 Eco Warrior Toxo Zombie

Starting with Serpentor in 1986, Joe really established that its world would incorporate elements of science fiction as part of the military reality. While fans have debated this point endlessly and come to no definitive conclusions, my feeling is that these sci-fi elements made Joe stand out from a traditional military toy and helped to keep the concept fresh for almost 15 years. Of course, the whole sci-fi thing was taken a bit too far. By the end of the line Joe was off fighting space aliens. Through the years, though, there were some concepts that were actually kind of neat, even if they were offbeat. A perfect example is the Toxo-Zombie.

Toxo-Zombies are intended to be Toxo-Vipers who have been exposed to toxic chemicals (hence their moniker of the "Leaky Suit Brigade") and have mutated into horrible monsters. They are not quite alive and not quite dead. In this sense, their concept is actually quite good. While the idea of men turning into undead zombies after exposure to chemicals is a bit "Night of the Living Dead"-ish, it does give Cobras forays into chemical and biological warfare a bit more depth as it shows they have progressed beyond the stages of known toxic agents. This alone gives Cobra an added element of danger as they now have the ability to expose normal people to these types of chemicals and could turn a populace against itself. This could give Cobra the ability to create an army out of anyone and would save their own troops until the original carnage was past. The ability to create monsters like this would give Cobra a remarkably powerful weapon.

In my collection, this figure serves dual purposes. If you look around at some of my previous pictures you will occasionally see a Toxo-Zombie. Usually, they are positioned to appear as if their carcass has been uncovered. (That is also the theme of one of the photos below.) The reason for this is that I tend to use Toxo-Zombies as dead Toxo-Vipers. The Zombie mold appears to be a Toxo-Viper who had a stroke of bad luck and ended up a victim of some Cobra plot. Usually, the Joes find the body afterwards and are then left with the mystery of what Cobra is planning. While this use limits this figure, it is a way that I've incorporated him into a my Joe world that does not have monsters and aliens. However, I do also use this figure in his intended purpose. Recent world events really point to the fact that, if Cobra were real, they would be heavily involved in chemical and biological warfare agents. As Cobra would be able to test their concoctions on live volunteers, it is very plausible that something like a Toxo-Zombie might result. As such, I do use this figure, occasionally, as a product of a biological agent. They are very dumb, very strong and VERY angry. As long as their intended victim is armed, Toxo-Zombies pose little threat. However, unleashed into the public at large, they can be quite dangerous.

This figure mold is interesting in that it is almost exactly like the '92 Toxo-Viper. The similarity is intended as this figure is supposed to be one of them gone mutant. I'm not entirely clear as to whether Hasbro altered the Toxo-Viper mold to create the Zombie or if they simply cast the differing parts. As the Toxo-Viper's legs were used on the '94 Major Bludd figure, it is most likely that these figures share common parts but had distinct parts molded separately. If that is the case, then it is highly probable that Hasbro still has access to the molds for these figures. While I don't think the collecting world at large would welcome their return, I know that I would buy several "Toxo" themed sets. They could include 2 of the '92 Toxo-Vipers, a Zombie, 2 "corroded" BATs who could haul around the chemicals, and one named Cobra. (As Cesspool was last seen in Brazil, it probably wouldn't be him.) While that might be a little to "real" in the modern world, I think it would make for a neat set that would allow modern army builders to move beyond the staples of Vipers and BATs and give Cobra a new type of threat that is more in line with traditional terrorist capabilities.

Toxo-Zombie figures aren't too tough find, if you're willing to look for them. If you hope to acquire one casually, they can be a bit more of a challenge. The 1991 Eco-Warriors figures were a spectacular failure at retail. This lead to decreased interest in the '92 figures and has made them harder to find. Like most of the Eco-Warriors, it is actually easier to find a MOC Toxo-Zombie. And, due to the lack of demand, those can be had at prices that make it acceptable to open one. The good thing, though, is that there are a lot more of the early '90's figures coming into the second hand market. While still not common, you couldn't find Toxo-Zombies a few years ago. Now, if you are willing to look at bit, you will see that dealers are now able to get them and sell them for decent prices. To me, the Toxo-Zombie is a good deal. He's a neat figure that has amazing detail, even if his purpose is limited. I think that, though, has kept him rather unpopular and allows the modern collector to enjoy a figure like this without breaking the bank. It's nice that there are at least a few figures like that left.

I'm set for Toxo-Zombies. What I think would be neat for the new line, though, would be a Toxo-Viper that could change to a Toxo-Zombie. What about you?