1987 Zanzibar - Around The Web

Dreadnoks are not my favorite theme in the Joe line.  And, after the 1985 series, the Dreadnoks took a drop in design.  But, for some reason, I really like Zanzibar.  I think it's a remnant of him being an important figure in the final year of my childhood.  The idea of a pirate is somewhat cliche'd and doesn't make a lot of sense in the context of 1987.  That doesn't prevent him from fitting into the 1987 Joe line.  And, until about 2018, the Zanzibar profile was among the top 10 profiles that ever appeared on this site.  So, he has a bit of popularity.

There's some good content using Zanzibar out there.  Check out the links and enjoy the best of Zanzibar from around the web.

1987 Zanzibar Profile

1987 Zanzibar by scarrviper

1987 Zanzibar by Flatline

1987 Zanzibar by decobray2010

1987 Zanzibar by HCC788

1987 Zanzibar by thedustinmccoy

1987 Zanzibar by dreadnokdread

1987 Zanzibar variants by Hit and Run

1987 Zanzibar by backyardjoes

1987 Zanzibar at JoeADay.com

1987 Zanzibar by Lava Boss

1987 Zanzibar by flatline54

1987 Zanzibar by gijoe_pty

1987 Zanzibar by recondo martin

1987 Zanzibar by thedustinmccoy

1987 Zanzibar

1987 was a good year for me.  It was a wet spring and summer that filled my pockets with lawn mowing money and there was lots of great stuff available on which I could spend my hard earned cash.  Throughout the spring and summer, it was rare that a trip to Target didn't net me some sort of new toy.  It might have been an '86 figure upgrade, a small battlefield playset or one of the many new figures that were released in '87.  My parents grew uneasy with the amount of money I was spending on toys.  But, I had earned it and it was mine to spend.  But, I got more and more pressure to reduce my buying as spring turned to summer in 1987.  

Zanzibar looked intriguing as a toy when I first saw him in the 1987 catalog.  I found him at a local Kohl's store in the spring of 1987 and quickly snatched him up.  Zanzibar immediately became a favorite figure.  His cool pistol was fun.  But, the best part was the air skiff.  In the Joe world I had at the time, flying machines were very rare.  Outside of jet packs and a few jets, they pretty much didn't exist.  The reasons were mostly practical in that in made no sense for Cobra to constantly ground assault G.I. Joe headquarters if they had aircraft.  Take the aircraft away and the strategy made more sense.  Because of the lack of flight, little vehicles like the Air Skiff became incredibly powerful.  While Zanzibar could not outfit an entire legion of Cobra Troopers, the flying contraption made him a very deadly foe to the Joes.

Zanzibar would often swoop in just as the Joes were leaving the confines of their base to chase of the Cobras.  This left them susceptible to attack and Zanzibar was able to inflict heavy casualties.  (In 1986, Serpentor's Air Chariot had played the same role.  But, the Joes managed to shoot it down and, ultimately, kill Serpentor.  The '87 Cobra Commander made this possible.)  He became the most dangerous Cobra out there.  The Joes made him public enemy number one.  As the summer wound down, Zanzibar maintained his status.

In the early fall, I took a small batch of Joes with me when my parents rented out a cabin in Southern Indiana for a week.  I saw this time as one of the final Joe stories I would play out.  I'd be starting 8th grade in the fall and was too old to be playing with toys.  (On another note, it was during that trip that I first visited the college I would end up attending.  That 1987 visit was enough to pique my interest and a 1991 official visit cemented my attendance there.)  I found a stream in the woods and built up a dam.  Here, the small group of Joes and Cobras played out their final endgame.  In the skirmish, Zanzibar was finally killed.

Upon my return home, my interests turned to a more teen aged pursuits. One day, some friends and I found a few Joes and decided to hand them from a string out of the 2nd story window of my parents garage.  This left the figure dangling in front of a cinder block wall.  We all went as far away as we could we in the yeard and began to throw freshly fallen walnuts at the figures.  Zanzibar and Monkeywrench were the two figures who were chosen.  Monkeywrench was pretty much destroyed.  But, Zanzibar survived with just some minor scuffs and paint chips.  Around 1991, though, my little brother had dug my Zanzibar out of my closet and left it on the floor. My parents' new puppy found the figure and chewed off his arm and pulled out most of his hair.  Thus died the vintage Zanzibar.

Zanzibar's first comic appearance was in G.I. Joe #60.  It has a great cover and the story inside introduces a wide array of 1987 characters.  When I first bought the issue, though, it didn't sit right with me.  The artwork used was very out of whack with prior Joe comics.  It was too different from the artwork to which I had grown accustomed.  If you collected comic books in the early 1990's, though, there's a good chance you are aware of G.I. Joe #60 for other reasons.  At that time, comics drawn by Todd MacFarlane were widely collected and would sell for decent prices.  (At least, decent for recently published works.)  As such, you'd often see G.I. Joe #60 tossed in with MacFarlane Spider Man titles at various comic shops in an attempt to capitalize on the artist's popularity.  (When the Joe comic was cancelled in 1995, a special re-issue of G.I. Joe #61 with artwork from Todd MacFarlane that was not, originally, used in the issue was released as the final issue of the Joe comic.  It is worth a good amount today, but more due to the rarity and obscurity of the fan favorite title than Todd MacFarlane.)  It explained the bizarre muscularity of Chuckles in #60 and the rest of different artwork.

Zanzibar has great accessories...depending upon your definition of what his accessory complement consists of.  Not in dispute is the figure's pistol.  It is a larger weapon that was unique to Zanzibar.  The two components in question are the spear and hammer.  Many collectors consider these to parts to the Air Skiff rather than accessories for Zanzibar.  Others consider them part and parcel to the Zanzibar figure.  (It should be noted they were included in the bubble with the figure, implying they are part of him.)  When buying a "complete" figure, it's important to know if you are getting all the pieces you intend as the definition of completeness varies.  The spear and the hammer, though, are solid additions to the figure.  For years, the spear was used by a Budo figure on my cactus shelf: guarding an incense burner sculpted like a Mayan temple.  But, it remains a fun accessory for Zanzibar and is a slightly different notion of Dreadnok weapons.

The Zanzibar mold was used twice. Once for this original figure and then again in 2004 for the Convention Exclusive Zanzibar figure.  With the pirate motif in full bloom, it's doubtful that any of the parts could have been seamlessly integrated into any other figures.  And, there really is no need for more than 2 Zanzibar figures.  So, you can't say the mold was wasted.  This 1987 version is about perfect in terms of design.  (There is a variant on the V1 figure in terms of how Zanzibar's facial hair is painted.  One release is fuller than the other.  But, I'm not sure which variant corresponds to the mail away figure versus the retail release.)  The Convention figure is different, but not better.  So, there's at least something more than one release for the Zanzibar fan to track down.

Zanzibar figures are not expensive.  You can still buy mint in bubble figures for around $10.  (It seems there was a lot of overstock Zanzibars that made their way into the collecting world.)  Mint, complete with filecard figures can be purchased for around $5.  (You can still get sealed in box Zanzibar and Air Skiffs for around $20.)  For whatever reason, there is a large volume of high quality Zanzibar figures still out there.  The result is that the modern collector can get a solid figure for almost nothing.  That's a good thing.  Sadly, the cheap price will color this figure in the eyes of many collectors.  But, as I had the vintage connection, Zanzibar remains a valued member of my collection.

2004 Zanzibar - Convention Exclusive

Since 2002 the annual G.I. Joe convention has offered collectors a multitude of exclusive figures. Most of them are molds that are not otherwise seen: but at a higher price. As such, the convention exclusives are still a source of much debate among the collecting community. However, for the most part, the figures that have been offered have been a nice change from the bland retail ARAH releases that we have seen. While some of the character selection has been suspect, the Convention figures have also brought back a wide variety of obscure molds that had never previously been repainted. Zanzibar is just such a figure.

Zanzibar has had a tough life in my collection. When I first got the original figure, he quickly became one of the most used characters in my collection. His unique look, solid colors and cool accessories made him an essential element of my enemy minions. Unfortunately, by the time Zanzibar came out in 1987, I was near the end of my Joe collecting childhood. So, one fall day, some friends of mine and I decided to torture a few Dreadnoks. My parents had a two-story garage. The top part was wood with a window. The bottom was solid cinder block. So, we got a long string and hung Monkey Wrench and Zanzibar out of the second story window and then threw ripe walnuts at them. Somehow, Zanzibar escaped relatively unscathed. Monkey Wrench was pretty much destroyed, though. However, to prove that escaping that fate wasn't enough to spare his life, that original Zanzibar also fell prey to my family's new puppy in the early '90's. While I still have the figure, he has a many broken parts and a hand that was gnawed off.   Usually, though, having a mauled childhood figure isn't too big a problem for me. In the years I've been collecting, I've managed to replace just about every figure I've ever wanted. However, for some reason, Zanzibar has been hard for me to acquire. I have never picked up another version of the original figure. He and the 1987 Mercer remain the 2 childhood figures that have simply eluded me in my adult Joe acquisitions. I'm not really sure why, but it has allowed me to remember Zanzibar for what he was in my childhood rather than what I did with the character as I got older.

This convention figure, though, really doesn't offer much that hasn't been done before. Sadly, the Dreadnoks are not molds that really lend themselves to repaints. Their tattered look is hard to disguise with color and most of the repaints fall flat due to that reason. It's not that the figures are bad, it's just that they don't really supplement the original versions. Instead, they offer a replacement. When I'm buying a repainted figure, I want it to be something that the original figure is not. In the case of Zanzibar, the only thing he offers beyond the original is the fact that I have a nice copy of this version. However, this Zanzibar is still a nice figure. He features an intricate paint mask with a full 8 different colors. He has sharp details painted all over the mold including a brown eyepatch string that surrounds his head. This is a detail that was even left unpainted on the original figure in 1987. It is in this detail that the convention exclusive figures succeed. Most of them feature these complex paint applications that simply make their contemporary retail release ARAH figures pale in comparison. Of course, this is problematic as collectors see the nice paint masks on convention figures and then see the skimpy coatings on retail figures. It does create a dichotomy among the series and perhaps shrouds a bit of resentment among those who are not able to acquire the convention sets as they feel they are financially distanced from quality figures.

In my collection, this Zanzibar is just Zanzibar. He no longer is the major player he once was, but is a useful character from time to time. I mostly use Zanzibar as a scavenger who sells scrap and other materials to Cobra. They melt them down and re-use them for projects on Cobra Island. Zanzibar still retains some affiliation to Zartan. But, since Zartan has moved more into the higher echelons of Cobra politics in my Joeverse, Zanzibar has little contact left with Zartan. While I still retain Buzzer as someone who participates in Cobra operations, I don't use Zanzibar in the same way. He is simply someone who might be found on Cobra Island at any given time. If he hears of some mission or objective that interests him while he is there, he might go along: if the price is right. Since this no longer really fits the aims of my Cobra, Zanzibar is mostly left as one of the fringe characters who might show up every now and then but is mostly a farce among the real combat troops who now comprise most of Cobra.

As far as availability goes, this figure is both somewhat rare and also somewhat common (as convention figures go!). At the 2003 Convention, Master Collector publicly brandished the production numbers for their Firefly packs. This year, though, there was no such hullabaloo. In fact, despite convention goers purchasing multiple packs for friends back home, Master Collector had some of these sets left over. (My guess is that the $40 price tag for repaints of easy to find and not highly sought after figures may have played into that.) As such, many collectors had their chance to add these figures to their collection without having to spend outrageous sums on the secondary market. In the long term, though, this Zanzibar (and the other Convention figures) will become harder to find. As their entire production run is concentrated in the existing collector base, though, I don't foresee a large price increase as the demand has already been met. That isn't to say that this guy will be able to be had for under $7, but it does mean that I don't see him ever running upwards of $25 or so.