Flak Viper - Where in the World

There are figures of which I am an irrational fan.  The Flak Viper is one such figure.  In the early and mid 1990's, the Flak Viper mocked me from the cardback of every figure I was able to find at retail.  I could not find him anywhere.  As Joe disappeared, I figured my chances of ever owning the figure were gone.  Fortunately, that was not the case and I was able to build a nice army of Flak Vipers as a collector.  But, the figure still fascinates me.  I can't get enough of the mold and love all his color combinations.  The two vintage releases and the two repaint era releases offer two very different takes on the mold.

The Flak Viper mold debuted in 1992.  It and the 1993 repaint are well done.  But, they are also identifiable as originating in the 1990's.  The two 2000's repaints, though, avoided many of the trappings of army builder repaints from that time.  Usually, Hasbro overdid it and the repaints were good, but had some minor issues that prevented them from becoming iconic.  But, with the Flak Viper repaints, Hasbro kept it simple and there's a Cobra blue and black repaint along with a desert themed figure.  They are well done.  

The first release of the Flak Viper is the 1992.  The debut of the sculpt showcased solid design and decent gear.  The primary colors are a bright blue and green.  They are offset with a grey sash and pants.  

The following year, Hasbro repainted the figure.  The base of the figure is the same.  However, the blue highlights have been replaced with orange. While the figure is bright, the orange is kind of fun.  This is my favorite version of the figure just because it's odd, bright and unique.  

The Flak Viper had another use in 1993.  Toys R Us got an exclusive set of Dino Hunters figures.  It was an absurd idea but capitalized on Jurassic Park. The Flak Viper's contribution is that his backpack was modified with holes that allowed it to be held by a mount.  The pack was colored in light grey.  You can still find the packs matched up with Flak Vipers from time to time.  Though, it was much more common a few years ago.  

In late 1994 or early 1995, Hasbro used parts of the Flak Viper again.  This time, the Street Fighter Movie Edition M. Bison figure included a silver version of the Flak Viper's rifle.  The silver was a cool look and a great color for the weapon.  It wasn't really a nice match for the 1992 or 1993 figures.  But, it turned out to be a great match for the later uses of the mold.

The Flak Viper mold then disappeared for a decade.  In 2004, the entire Flak Viper mold appeared in the Cobra Urban Strike set: this time under the name of Nullifier.  This figure is colored in Cobra blue with black and brown leather highlights.  It's the best paint job on this mold.  It's only drawback was the lame accessories.  The figure didn't include any of his original gear and only came with generic weapons from the 2000's.

In 2006, the final version of the Flak Viper appeared in an Operation Flaming Moth set.  This desert version was a nicely done update to the Flak Viper and was the type of repaint that made sense for Hasbro to do.  While not as nice as the 2004 release, the desert version is useful in it's own right.  The best thing about this version was the return of the full complement of Flak Viper accessories.  The black rifle and pack are also great since they work with the 2004 version, too.

The Flak Viper never got exclusive use anywhere else in the world.  The 1992 Flak Viper was released in Europe on exclusive cardbacks.  The figure is the same, though.  The Flak Viper mold is relatively unique in that it's a mold whose potential was fulfilled.  

Mutt - Where In The World

The Mutt mold's history is extremely interesting to me.  First, it's one of my favorite vintage molds.  I like both the character and the figure.  Secondly, Mutt had a major alteration done to his mold in Brazil that allows us to confirm that the same mold moved around quite a bit and there were not multiple instances of the mold.  As a figure, Mutt was produced by Hasbro, Estrela, Auriken and then Hasbro again.  In 2004, Hasbro resculpted Mutt for a retail release.  But, this just adds complication to the story.  So, we'll start at the beginning.

In 1984, Hasbro released the Mutt figure.  He was part of the first lineup that really benefited from the line's success.  The 1984 series showcased more in depth sculpting, especially on the figures' heads.  The real hallmark, though, was the bounty of accessories that the 1984 series offered.  Mutt was one of the greats: featuring a silenced pistol, nightstick, helmet, face muzzle, a dog leash and his signature, the dog Junkyard.

1984 Hasbro Mutt

The character was featured in both the cartoon and the comic.  While Mutt never achieved major character status, he was a secondary player who was able to garner a bit of popularity.  Among my peers, Mutt was well liked, mostly due to the inclusion of his dog, Junkyard.  That feature upped his popularity, even if he didn't have as much media exposure as Duke or Roadblock.

After Mutt was discontinued at retail in 1985, the mold was sent to Brazil.  This is where Mutt's history gets a little odd.  Estrela toys released the figure as Mastim around 1986 or so.  However, they modified the mold.  For some reason, they removed the insignia on Mutt's chest.  This seems a random and unnecessary change.  The insignia was part of the chest mold and didn't have any paint masks.  Ostensibly, there was no reason to remove it.  Anecdotally, I've hear from a Brazilian collector that the patch was somewhat reminiscent of symbols worn by Brazil's dictatorship government and it may have been removed to avoid any associated with them.  It makes for an interesting story.  But, one that's completely impossible to verify and should be taken for what it is: speculation.  Aside from the patch, Mutt's colors are generally darker than the American figure's and he has a darker skin tone.  The figure also features an accessory change as he now includes a black 1982 style helmet rather than the American helmet with the molded goggles.

Mastim - Brazil Mutt Release

After Estrela released the mold, Mutt surfaced for a brief time in Mexico where Auriken released the figure using the Estrela mold.  (Estrela licensed the molds they had to Auriken which is why the Mexican figures so resemble the Brazilian lineup in terms of characters.)  The Mexican figures didn't deviate too much from their American designs.  Mutt has some slight color differences, but we'll look at those more later.

Auriken Mutt - Mexican Release

In 1989, Estrela released the Mutt mold again.  This time, the figure was repainted and was released in the United States.  This new Mutt was known to American collectors as the Slaughter's Marauders Mutt.

1989 Slaughters Marauders Mutt

Around 1991, Hasbro got the Mutt mold back from Estrela.  It appears that they reclaimed several molds at the time.  It's not really apparent as to why.  However, it may be that there was a mold exchange and Hasbro sent large volumes of newer molds to Estrela in exchange for getting older ones back.  We don't really know the details of Hasbro's international mold sharing agreements and they are one of the few remaining, truly unexplored facets of the vintage Joe line.

With the Mutt mold in hand, Hasbro produced an exclusive version that was only released in Europe.  This Irish character was not Stanley Perlmutter, but an Scotsman named Andrew Macenzie and featured a flock of orange hair.  It's noteworthy that the gun, Junkyard and nightstick released with this figure are actually dark grey.  It's hard to note the differences in photos and, can even be tricky in hand.  But, there is a difference in color to the Euro exclusive gear.  Also of note, Mutt's original helmet returned with the European release without explanation as to its absence.

European Exclusive Mutt

Below, you can see a visual comparison of all the worldwide Mutt releases.  (You can click on the image for larger versions that better show the detail.)

Mutts From Around the World

The top row are the three Mutt releases based on the American color scheme.  The first is the Hasbro Mutt released in the US and Europe.  The second figure is the Brazilian Mastim figure.  You can see the vastly different skin tone.  Aside from this, the patch is removed.  The general color scheme features a brighter green body and darker brown vest.  The third figure is the Mexican release by the Auriken toy company.  The skin tone is pastier and the green body is darker, but the brown vest is brighter.  You will notice the patch is missing here, too.

Note the similarity in blue color between the Slaughter's Marauders figure and the European exclusive figure.  This may be just coincidence.  But, the Euro figure features an exclusive paint mask on the figure's chest knife, too.  The paint masks were similar to the vintage figure rather than similar to the Marauders figure.  This is also odd.  In 2003, Hasbro planned a series of Wal Mart exclusive figures.  Among them was the V1 Low Light.  That figure featured the same paint masks as the Slaughter's Marauders figure from 1989.  It's possible that this was just a function of the fact that the Marauders Low Light also has a European exclusive release.  But, it appears that paint masks may have become available and then unavailable at various points in the lives of molds.

Interestingly, in 1990, Spirit and Mutt were paired together by Larry Hama for a story line beginning in issue #100 of the Marvel comics series.  It was an odd pairing at the time as the characters had never really interacted much.  It might have been a way for Hasbro to get the characters into some media after their 1989 Slaughter's Marauders release.  But, then, you would have expected some of the other members to reappear, too.  Or, at least for the characters to appear in their Marauders uniforms.  It may have been that Hasbro planned for the two exclusive repaints of these characters to have a worldwide release.  But, they couldn't find a slot for them in the American line and they became European exclusives instead.

In 2004, Hasbro decided that Mutt would make a return to retail.  However, instead of finding the old mold, Hasbro resculpted the character's head and chest.  On this resculpt, the chest insignia returns.  The mold was just used one time for the Anti Venom Mutt.  But, there are also two unreleased variants of the figure.

Unproduced Anti Venom Mutt - Light Blue

Hasbro's decision to recast the mold is odd in light of the fact that the Low Light mold was in Hasbro's possession.  Of the Slaughter's Marauders molds, BBQ and Sgt. Slaughter ended up in India.  Footloose has never appeared again.  Three figures, Spirit, Mutt and Low Light, though, were released in Europe.  Hasbro still had the Low Light mold.  It would stand to reason that they still had Mutt and Spirit, too.  So, why did they recast?  Maybe it was cheaper than searching for the original mold.  Maybe the original wasn't usable, but was useful enough to get a cheap recast.  Maybe Hasbro was just lazy.  Collectors would have loved a re-release of both Spirit and Mutt in the 2000's.  Both figures were popular and people would have bought them, especially with their original gear.

Junkyard also has variants unique to the various figure releases.  The 1984 Hasbro Junkyard features a brown belly paint mask that you can see below.  Both the Brazilian and Mexican Junkyards also have this paint mask.  The brown paint was removed for the 1989 Slaughter's Marauders release.  The European, grey, Junkyard also has no paint masks.  For the three that do have paint mask, telling them apart is very difficult.  The Mexican version appears to have a bit of  a shine to it.  But, that's a small sample size and could just be wear.  As the three Junkyards were made in different places, they should be different.  But, telling them apart is very difficult.

The rest of Mutt's gear also has slight differences.  The Estrela and Auriken versions included a black 1982 helmet instead of Mutt's standard head gear.  The 1989 Slaughter's Marauders version also included this helmet.  The European Mutt brought the helmet back, though.  Mutt's muzzle has some differences, too.  The Estrela version I have is a more rigid plastic.  Again, though, small sample sizes may be at play.  The 1989 mask, though, is a much softer plastic.  I have found that this version tends to feel oily to the touch as the plastic isn't holding up as well as collectors would like.  Mutt's leash, Mac-11 and nightstick are tough to tell apart.  There are slight differences in the plastic composition.  But, they are tough to discern on such small pieces.  The biggest difference in the European Mutt that includes very dark grey versions of the helmet, gun and nightstick.  Again, the differences are difficult to see.  In hand, the comparison is easier to spot.  But, on a cursory glance, it's easy to confuse American Mutt accessories with the European gear and many "complete" European figures actually include American guns or nightsticks.

You can see some of the accessory differences in the photos below.

Mutt Accessory Comparison

Mutt Helmet Comparison

Mutt has 5 versions of the original figure for collectors to track down.  Three of them, though, are based on the American version.  There are three versions of the resculpted Mutt, too.  So, there's a lot out there for the Mutt collector.  But, there was a lot that could have been done with the mold.  If Hasbro had it, along with his original gear, he would have been great in Night Force, Tiger Force or even in an arctic theme.  But, that never happened.  So, we have what we have.  The Auriken and Estrela Mutt figures are not overly common.  But, they are not rare, either.  Finding them mint and complete can be a challenge, though.  The Euro Mutt is also tough to find.  But, again, he's not impossible.  And, prices on the Euro figures have fallen in the past 5 years or so.

The main Mutt mystery is why Estrela removed the chest patch.  But, the greater question is the ultimate Fate of Mutt.  Did he get shuffled off to India and is still rotting in a Funskool warehouse?  Or, did Hasbro have him and just fail to either realize that collectors would welcome him or understand that they had the mold at all?  Regardless, collectors got a decent run of Mutt figures from around the world.  There isn't a great deal of diversity in them, but he got more releases than many other figures.  An important part of my enjoyment of the Joe line comes from the international takes on the classic figures from my youth.  I get a chance to enjoy the figures again and get something a little different in my collection.  Hopefully, this piece gives collectors more information so they can make the best decisions for them when diving into foreign Joe collecting.

Ripcord - Where in the World

Ripcord has been a fan favorite for as long as I've been collecting Joes.  His original figure with the amazing accessories caught the attention of a generation of kids.  But, his run in the comic established the character as more than a niche player in the Joe mythos.  Despite the popularity, though, the Ripcord figure only had one release in the United States: the 1984 version.

This figure coupled a base, military green with some basic camo to create a solid figure that hearkened back to the first year of Joes while still incorporating the more modern sculpting of 1984.  What made the figure, though, was his gear.  Aside from the rifle and helmet, the focal point of Ripcord was his parachute rig with attachable air mask that affixes over his face around the helmet.

Hasbro produced the figure in 1984 and 1985.  Hasbro also packaged Ripcord figures for release in Europe under the Action Force banner.  This kept the figure in circulation for several years.

In 1988, Hasbro planned for a subset of repainted figures called Tiger Force.  Among the original members was a repainted Ripcord.  This would have been Ripcord's second appearance in the line and would have been a welcomed version.  Handpainted samples of Ripcord appeared in some early advertisements for Tiger Force figures.  But, when Hasbro went to put the mold into production, it was missing.  Well, not so much missing as it had been sent to South America.

This leads to the second appearance of Ripcord: in Brazil.  Here, the figure was released as Fumaca.  This Estrela produced figure is a darker green than the American figure.  The regular accessories were included with the Fumaca figure.  What was notable, though, is that Fumaca features exclusive card art.  The Brazilian artwork showcases Ripcord freefalling, but also pulling his mask down a bit to expose his face.  It's a subtle difference.  But, Ripcord and Airborne were the only two American characters to get Brazilian exclusive card art.

The timeline for Ripcord's release in South America is a bit murky.  Typically, Estrela released figures first and the molds then showed up in Argentina where Plastirama used them.  It's possible that this timeline was followed as the Ripcord mold showed up in Argentina where it was released as a figure named Fuego.

However, around 1990 or 1991, Estrela released the mold again.  This time around, though, the mold was not Ripcord.  This time it was released as a Cobra member of Python Patrol named Relampago.  This new character was a Cobra, but utilized the full Ripcord body mold.  His gear, though, was gone.  (Though his rifle did appear with his exclusive contemporary, Gatilho.)

The interesting point on Relampago is that there are new paint masks.  Aside from the obvious cammo pattern (which matches that of the Python Tele Viper that was released in the US) the figure also includes painted cuffs around the neck and wrists.

Finally, we have the Plastirama release.  Like I said above, the exact timeline is unclear.  Maybe Plastirama released Fuego after Estrela released Relampago.  It would make sense and would explain why the Plastirama molds are largely gone.  The figure's green is brighter and he has flesh painted hands.

Plastirama, though, then used the Ripcord mold as a repaint of their exclusive Sokerk figure.  This figure was an all tan repaint of the full figure mold.  It did not, though, include any of the classic Ripcord accessories and, instead, features a light tan Doc helmet and an M-60 from Rock and Roll.  Originally, Sokerk was a repainted swivel arm Grunt figure.  But, later editions were this Ripcord repaint.

Here is a full comparison of all the Ripcord figures released:

You can see the difference as the figures go from left to right: Hasbro US release, Estrela Brazilian release, Plastirama Argentina release and the Brazilian Relampago.  The Fumaca figure is darker than the Ripcord figure, but the dark green cammo is colored blue.  The Fuego figure is much brighter green, but keeps the blue from the Brazilian release.  The accessories have similar differences with Fumaca's being darker green and Fuego's pack being a greenish brown and a glossy black rifle.

In the end, the figures are different, but not overly so.  For fans of Ripcord, none of the foreign releases aside from Relampago and Sokerk are not really all that different from the US version.  It would have been great to get a Tiger Force Ripcord and if that cost us the chance at Fumaca and Fuego, I would be OK with that.  But, when given a choice between the Python Patrol Ripcord, Sokerk and a Tiger Force version, I'll stick with the Python Patrol version or Sokerk since they something so different and allows for a great expansion of the Cobra or Joe ranks.

Flint - Where in the World

G.I. Joe figures were released all over the world.  Some foreign releases were just Hasbro produced figures in international packaging.  Others, though, were made by different companies for the markets which they served.  As such, many figures saw different releases around the world, often with minor to major differences from the American figure.

Hasbro made the first Flint figure in 1985.  He was released through 1986 with no figure modifications.  What is notable is that the figure features a 1985 date stamp on the mold.

In 1988, Hasbro repainted Flint in Tiger Force colors and released him for that one year.  This figure included an updated 1988 date stamp on the figure's legs.

Subsequent to this, Hasbro also produced Flint figures for release in Europe under the Action Force line and in Japan.

Takara (Japanese) Flint Release

After Hasbro was done with the figure, the mold began it's movement around the world.

Flint's first appearance was in Brazil.  Here, the figure was released as Muralha.  He was colored very similarly to the American version.  Overall, he has a darker green hue and his accessories are in the Brazilian Green color that is common to Estrela figures.  This figure also features a prominent 1988 date stamp.

After the Brazilian release, Flint started to appear on the final cardbacks for Plastirama figures in Argentina.  However, Flint was not actually released there.  The line was either cancelled or Plastirama never actually got the Flint mold.  But, his appearance is an interesting turn in what was planned.

Around 1993 or 1994, Hasbro planned to release Flint in China.  The packaging was prepared with the original Flint artwork (in Tiger Force colors as the original had been painted over).  However, since the mold was gone, they could not use it.  Instead, they created an exclusive figure from existing molds and released it in China in colors nearly identical to the Tiger Force Flint.  The Chinese Flint (AKA Tiger Force Falcon) is a great way to get the Flint artwork with a high quality figure.  Plus, they tend to be really cheap.

Finally, the mold was sent to India.  Here, Funskool started producing Flint figures in the 1990's.  The mold they used was the 1988 date stamped version.  Though, Funskool made an attempt to blot it out.  During these initial runs, Flint had several variants on his am construction.  He used arms from both the 1992 Roadblock mold as well as the 1986 Zandar mold.  At some point in the late 1990's, Funskool stopped producing Flint figures.

In 2002, though, Funskool resurrected the Flint mold.  He was released as both a carded figure and as a bagged vehicle driver pack in figure.  Funskool ran several different runs of Flint figures.  Often changing out parts and modifying the colors during 2002 - 2004.  Flint was released with upper arms from Blocker, Blaster and Roadblock.  You can see some major color differences in the various variants in the photos below.  In April of 2003, Hasbro re-acquired 18 molds from Funskool.  Flint was among them.  (The Blocker arm variant was the final production run in 2003 and was only available bagged.)  Once Hasbro had the mold back, the began to use it again.

Funskool (India) Flint Variants

At the time that Funskool ceased production of Flint, there were three major Flint variants in the world: Hasbro, Estrela and Funskool.  Below you can see a comparison of all three:

Hasbro (US) Flint, Muralha (Brazilian), Funskool (India) Flint

Once the mold was back in Hasbro's control, they quickly put it into production.  The first use was in the high quality 2004 Night Force set.  The figure was given new arms this time around and is also noteworthy for the return of the 1988 date stamp.  The reason this is interesting is that it appears Hasbro had control of another set of Flint legs rather than the ones returned from Funskool.  The Night Force set also included Beach Head: who was also late of Funskool.  When Hasbro updated the date stamp on Beach Head, they made it a 2003 date.  So, why was Beach Head updated and Flint not?  Maybe it was easier to fix the 1988 on Flint's mold.  Or, there might have been two sets of molds.  It is known that many figures from 1985 and earlier had two molds.  But, there was just one set of instructions to put them together.  So, it's possible that Hasbro had access to Flint all along, but not the means to put the mold into production.  Once they got the details back from Funskool, they used their mold.  This might also explain why Flint's accessories, that were included with the Funskool figure, never appeared in the U.S. again.

Large quantities of "unproduced" Night Force samples were sold to American collectors in the mid-2000's.  The major difference is that the figures feature all white pants.

Hasbro used the mold again in 2005.  This time, the figure was given a new head in a Comic Pack.  The rest of the body was the standard Flint, but the colors were similar to the original version.  The Comic Pack was widely clearanced and is generally unpopular with collectors.

The final appearance of Flint was when Master Collector used his head for two convention figures in 2010.  These heads were put on 1993 Duke bodies.  They are solid figures, but would have likely been better received were they full V1 Flint repaints.

In all, there are a lot of Flint figures for a collector to track down.  There are not any "out there" repaints that are often associated with foreign Joe releases.  But, the differences are great and plentiful enough that fans of the mold and character can spend a lot of time searching for.