1982 Flash - Around the Web

Flash is one of the more distinctive original 13 Joe figures.  While lots of collectors like him, it seems most people have him already.  The figure was released around the world in various shades of his American release.  Here's some of the top content on the character around the web.

Flash Profile

Flash Video Review

Flash Video Review 2

Flash Wiki

Plastirama Flash at Leaky Suit Brigade

Flash at JoeDios.com

1983 Cover Girl

At various points in my childhood a mystery would arise.  In these cases, a toy that was relatively new would suddenly disappear without a trace.  It happened to my new Nien Numb figure in 1983.  It happened to my new Major Bludd on Christmas break in 1984.  It happened to one of my 1985 Snake Eyes figures at my Grandparents' house in Dayton in 1985.  It happened to a Leatherneck figure in the bushes in front of my Grandfather's house in Buffalo in 1986.  It also happened to one of the many new figures I received for Christmas in 1983: Cover Girl.  As such, Cover Girl was never a major player in my collection outside of the fact that she simply vanished.

In our house, Christmas of 1983 was spectacular.  There wasn't a Joe toy that wasn't under our tree.  In 1983, my youngest brother turned 5 and was able to have the last of a series of major heart surgeries.  My younger brother and I were shuffled off to spend the entire summer with our Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle in Ohio.  My youngest brother came out of the surgeries just fine and my parents were relieved to a degree that I can not fathom.  As such, my parents went hog wild on presents for Christmas.  Not only did we find tons of Return of the Jedi figures and vehicles under the tree, but pretty much the entire 1983 Joe line was there as well.  My Grandparents came over and bought each of us a few figures.  I could see Gung Ho and Snow Job through the tissue paper wrapping my Grandmother had used.  The presents sat there for a few days, waiting for Christmas morning and building our anticipation.

When the Christmas morning melee was done, our living room was stacked with unopened boxes of pretty much any toy collectors' best dreams.  Our neighbor, a father of three girls, came over and helped my Dad put together all of the new vehicles and the coup de gras: the G.I. Joe Headquarters.  My haul included the APC along with all the figures I was missing from the year.  My youngest brother got the Wolverine.  As it wasn't mine, I didn't pay it much attention for a while.  But, as the year progressed, I grew interested in the Wolverine's potential.  Soon, though, I became flummoxed by the Wolverine's limitation as a toy.  It only held one figure.  On top of that, once the 12 missiles were expended, it was unarmed.  Plus, my brother had broken off the top piece that held the missile launcher to the base: rending the launcher unable to stay pointed any direction but down: directly at the vehicle's body.  As such, the Wolverine fell out of favor.

Cover Girl, though, had a different fate.  At first, I only would use the Wolverine's intended driver with the vehicle.  Cover Girl found a home in this role.  Without a sidearm, though, she was an afterthought if she were out of her vehicle.  However, before I could really develop the character, Cover Girl disappeared.  The figure simply vanished.  While things got lost in our house all the time, they were usually things like small accessories that likely ended up in my mother's vacuum.  It was rare to lose a figure.  One might be gone for a while.  But, once I realized it was gone, I would go on a search of my room, my brothers' room, the toy room, under the living and family room couches and through the basement.  These long searches would almost always find the figure or part that was missing.  Cover Girl, though, never turned up.  I scoured the house and interrogated my brothers.  But, no one had any clue as to her whereabouts and no one had any recollection to removing her from the house.  Thus, Cover Girl forever disappeared from my childhood G.I. Joe collection.

In the grand scheme of things, I think these mysterious, missing figures all evened out.  In later years, a perfectly conditioned Flash, a Track Viper, a Salvo and a complete Tiger Force Recondo all entered into our collection with no knowledge of their acquisition.  Maybe they were left behind by my brother's playmates.  Maybe my Cover Girl was left at one of my brother's friends houses and they simply forgot they even took her there.  But, had Cover Girl not vanished, it's unlikely I'd have anything to say about her.  She is certainly not as cool as the regularly carded 1983 or 1984 Joe figures.  And, she would likely have been relegated to "bottom of the box" duty to only come out when I had no other figures available.  It's odd that her story is one of absence.  But, it has kept the figure in my mind for over 30 years and given me a chance to reminisce about a great time in my life.

As a mold, Cover Girl certainly has limitations.  The body mold is fairly strong with lots of nice details.  The head sculpt, though, is not good.  Cover Girl's head definitely shows the sculpting limitations of the time.  It is overly large with close cropped hair.  You realize how much of a leap forward the 1984 Baroness figure really was with the separately sculpted hair piece when you look at Cover Girl.  Her pursed lips give her a sterner appearance than you'd expect from a former fashion model.  But, that might be the reality of the male dominated 1980's military.  The coloring is very well done with earthy browns juxtaposed with splashes of bluish grey detailing.  She does have painted flesh hands, which are both prone to paint wear as well as general breakage.

While Cover Girl was relegated to a vehicle driver role in the U.S. and Canada, she found a second life in South America.  The mold was used to create a new character named Sparta in both Brazil and Argentina.  On top of the new character, the mold was also released with new artwork as a single carded figure.  Both Sparta figures are heavily reminiscent of the American Cover Girls, but are still different enough to be worthwhile additions to any collection.  The great thing for American collectors is that large caches of carded Sparta figures from both Plastirama and Estrela were found in the early 2000's, putting large quantities of the figures into the collecting community.  The mold likely died in South America.  Were it available, it's likely it would have been used since Hasbro released multiple Scarlett, Lady Jaye and Baroness figures.  A high quality Cover Girl repaint would have been nice.  Even if the character had been named Sparta, but been given a completely different paint, it would have been a great way to update the mold.  But, collectors have a couple of options for the figure that, while somewhat expensive these days, aren't all that hard to find.

In the 1990's, before the rise of the internet, all female figures from the Joe line were considered "collectible".  This attitude carried over in the 2000's, even though it was now evident that the female figures from the line didn't exist in substantially different quantities than their male contemporaries.  But, it made Cover Girl figures expensive.  In those days, she was a $20 figure all the time.  As the 2000's wound down, the figure got substantially less expensive.  Now, though, she is fairly pricey again.  Mint and complete with filecard figures sell in the $22 range.  You can get a mint figure for around $17.  If you sacrifice a little condition, the price falls pretty drastically.  But, it rare to find a nice Cover Girl for under $10.  So, she's going to cost you.

In the days when Plastirama Spartas were available MOC for $10, that was the way to go to get the mold.  Now, though, Spartas are more expensive, so Cover Girl is the preference if you want the mold.  For the price, the figure doesn't seem worth it.  The mold has limitations.  But, females are few and far between in the vintage Joe line.  So, Cover Girl's lone appearance makes the mold more desirable than if she had been revisited as a repaint or an updated character.  The lack of childhood connection has left this figure as an outcast in my collection.  But, it's nice to have her around for the rare occasion when her appearance makes sense.  I doubt I'd pay the current prices to acquire a Cover Girl.  But, it's also unlikely I'll part with the one I have.

1991 Cobra Night Vulture - Around the Web

The Cobra Night Vulture is an amazing mold that is very reminiscent of Snake Eyes.  The colors are a bit loud, but he's definitely worth another look.

Cobra Night Vulture Profile

Night Vulture at JoeDios.com

Night Vulture at JoeBattleLines.com

Night Vulture at Action Force.dk

Night Vulture at G.I. Joe Wiki

Night Vulture at Joeaday.com

2005 Comic Pack Flint

2004 had all the makings of a remarkable Joe year.  First, Hasbro reacquired 18 of the most popular figure molds from Funskool.  Secondly, they were knee deep in producing two near quarterly vintage Joe exclusives for Toys R Us.  Finally, they were launching a line of retail release comic book figure packs.  These were three figures in vintage style and a comic book for a retail price of 9.99.  There was so much potential, collectors were salivating.  At the end of 2004, though, things had drastically changed.  The Funskool molds were used sparingly and the classic accessories were mostly missing from the sets.  The Toys R Us army builders that showed so much promise fizzled into poorly accessorized and oddly colored banality.  And, the comic packs were a sea of the same green colored bodies over and over again.  As 2005 came and went, so did the retail Joe line.  Unable to find retail partners willing to sustain the line, Hasbro turned to their fledgling online toy store to sell Joes exclusively.  The line launched with much fanfare.  Among the solid vehicles and army builder packs were some new comic packs.  At first glance, they were a departure from the retail norms: using later issues and figure molds.  But, the issues that plagued the line in 2004 were too deeply rooted.  The potential for greatness was there.  But, the ability to execute on that potential was not.  Among the forgotten releases of the initial DTC waves is the Comic Pack Flint.

The Comic Packs were an ingenious idea.  Three figures and a story to act out for a cheap price should have been a home run.  And, initially, they were.  The first wave sold well enough.  But, over ordering on the first wave created backups around the country.  For collectors, the first three packs were great with the long awaited release of Kwinn, new takes on Clutch, Hawk and Stalker and a Cobra Trooper.  But, after they had two of each pack, collector interest turned elsewhere.  The problem was compounded when the 2nd wave of packs looked very much like the first wave.  Confused parents saw the familiarity and thought they had already bought the pack.  Wave 2 ended up on clearance throughout the country and the third wave (with the Oktober Guard) ended up getting a truncated production run due to lack of retailer interest.  Hasbro's initial insistence to go chronologically likely doomed the packs since there was too much homogeneity in the initial 10 issues of the comic.  Had they skipped around to get a more diverse figure crop, the outcome might have been different. (Sadly, Hasbro learned from the Joe mistake and didn't repeat it when they introduced comic packs into the Star Wars line and later brought them into the Anniversary style Joe releases.)

By the time Comic Pack #76 was released in DCT, collectors had tuned out the comic packs.  They were generally thought of as clearance fodder and many people simply waited for discounts rather than pay full price.  The additional shipping cost caused by the comic pack's bulk also made online ordering far less attractive.  The pack, in the package, looked decent.  A redesigned 1986 Hawk, 1987 Tunnel Rat and this Flint were a compelling cast of characters.  The execution of them, though, was deeply flawed.  Hawk was overly bright and the recast 1986 chest did not mesh well with the Talking Battle Commandos version's legs.  The figure was a definite downgrade for the Hawk character, even if the flat topped blonde head was a welcome addition.  Tunnel Rat was awful.  The new head was far too large.  Tunnel Rat's trademark gear was missing and the base colors were too similar to the '87 versions.  The two figures seemed like a wasted opportunity for Hasbro to appease the neglected vintage Joe collecting base.

For me, though, Flint was the most disappointing.  V1 Flint is my favorite mold in the entire Joe line.  The prospect of getting a new version of it, even with a new head, was tantalizing.  But, the actual figure was not.  This Flint is done up in colors too similar to the original's.  At the time, Funskool Flint's were readily available for $4: and those included the original accessories.  If you wanted a V1 Flint derivative, the Funskool was a vastly superior option.  Aside from the color snafu, though, the new head was underwhelming.  Flint's cocky grin shaped his personality.  This figure's blank stare showed a laissez-faire attitude by the Hasbro design team that was obvious to collectors of the time.  It was a dismal showing for my favorite character.  The main redeeming point was the inclusion of the newly sculpted M-16 rifle.  It was a staple of the comic packs, but actually looks decent with the figure.  The newly sculpted shotgun, though, was awful and a dreadful reminder that Hasbro didn't use the vintage accessories that were available from Funskool.

To say that DTC was a failure understates the epic failure that it was.  Hasbro cut bait on the experiment in 2006 and sold all their lingering overstock to Toys R Us for deeply discounted prices.  Toys R Us rolled out the line nationwide and promptly saw the items collect dust on their toy shelves, too.  Comic packs were available well into 2008 in most parts of the country.  Toys R Us's online arm as well as the Hasbro Toy Shop discounted the comic packs down to around $4 each.  Even at these slashed prices, the stock was slow to move.  Collectors were leaving the hobby in droves and the figure offerings just weren't compelling enough, even at below wholesale price for a pack.

As such, this figure is worthless today.  Collectors don't care for him and there are multitudes of better Flint alternatives available.  Even MOC, this set can be had for less than original retail from a decade ago.  It's a fitting fate for figures like this.  Hasbro mailed in their design efforts.  Those who threw this junk at collectors, though, have moved on: sometimes to better things.  As they aren't collectors and weren't really concerned with the legacy of the franchise upon which they were working, it's unlikely that the general absence of this figure from the collecting conscience is something they even consider.  For those of us still left, it's a bitter reminder of how the line was treated as it's second retail run sputtered to an ignominious end.

1986 Claymore - Around the Web

Claymore was the only original character in the 1986 Toys R Us exclusive Mission to Brazil set.  He has potential as a character.  But, the figure is bright yellow.  Were he a 1994 release instead of 1986, collectors would have a very different opinion of him.

1986 Claymore Profile

1986 Claymore at Joe a Day

Claymore at 3dJoes

Claymore at Wikipedia

Claymore at JoeDios.com