1993 Dr. Mindbender

As Joe slowly disappeared from retail in the mid 1990's, I scoured every retail store I could find in an attempt to build my collection as much as I could before the figures disappeared forever.  As money was limited, so were my purchases.  In the early days, I was more choosy and would only buy the figures that most fit with my vintage collection.  Then, as those disappeared, I picked up figures who were poorly colored, but had good gear.  Once those were gone, I pretty much bought every figure I could find since it was rare to find more than two or three figures at any given store.  There were a few figures, though, where I bent the rules.  In most cases, it was simply due to the fact that the character was one from my childhood and that was enough for me to consider the new figure: even if the coloring was, shall we say, poor.  This leads to the 1993 Dr. Mindbender figure.  A yellow and purple nightmare mish-mash of color with eye-burning yellow accessories was not the type of figure I'd usually buy.  But, I was always fond of Dr. Mindbender as a character.  So, seeing a new version of him on retail shelves brought a nostalgic wave strong enough to overcome the coloring limitations.  So, this Dr. Mindbender became one of the earliest figures to get added to my small collection of retail Joes.

I'd love to sing the praises of this Mindbender mold.  And, it is extremely well detailed and shows a remarkable advance in sculpting over figures released earlier in the line.  But, truthfully, this mold is kind of bad.  Through the years, I've seen a great many customizers take a crack at this mold in an attempt to redeem it.  But, most of the solid paint jobs only accentuate the fact that this mold has severe limitations.  It's big, bulky and makes Mindbender look like an aging body builder.  The head looks like Mindbender.  But, it could have been used for another Cobra character and no one would have really associated it with Mindbender.

Dr. Mindbender's gear is atrocious.  His weapons are all bright yellow and completely useless.  But, taking the color out of it, you are still left with an assortment of accessories that is fairly lame.  While Mindbender got 5 guns and a knife, the choices for him are poor.  He includes versions of the weapon originally included with Dee Jay and the gun from Voltar: both among the poorer weapon sculpts in the line.  He get's the 1991 Sci Fi rifle.  But, no hose to connect to it's peg.  When I found weapons like this on in 1993 and 1994 figures, I was left to wonder why the peg was there.  I wasn't familiar with any weapons past 1988.  So, I wasn't sure if the weapon was taken from another figure with a pack that attached, or if the figure I was buying at retail was supposed to include a pack and hose that were omitted for cost cutting reasons.  He includes a yellow pistol modeled after that from the 1988 Iron Grenadier.  But, the handle is much thicker and it's difficult for him to hold.  The otherwise awesome 1989 Snake Eyes Uzi is the same.  It has the thick handle and bad coloring.  I did like the zigzag knife from the 1988 Hydro Viper.  But, preferred the red version that came with the 1994 Viper.  Plus, he has the crappy spring loaded launcher that was ubiquitous in 1993.  Really, there's no reason to track down the figure's gear at all unless you're a completist.

For me, this figure was never Dr. Mindbender.  In the summer of 1994, I sketched out the future of my take on Cobra on a set of index cards while minding the office of a real estate company.  These characters all needed figures.  And, the new takes on classic Cobras that came out between 1992 and 1994 filled many of these slots I needed for these custom characters.  As such, I have a fondness for these neon monstrosities that extends beyond visual appeal.  To me, they are intricately intertwined to my entire Joe mythos.  This Mindbender was not the classic Dr.  Instead, he was a new, technologically savvy villain who aided my younger Cobras achieve incredible success in South America.  These characters represented the idealism of my youth when I still thought anything was possible and that a new generation could make a real difference in the world.  I was smart enough to equip these young turks with a grizzled mentor who aided and guided them in their military and political careers.  But, his death left them on their own where they were able to take Cobra to unprecedented highs.

This Dr. Mindbender mold is mostly chastised for the fact that it uses the 1986 Viper legs.  Starting in 1997, the Cobra Viper repaints were all missing the original legs because they were separated from the Viper mold and added to this Dr. Mindbender.  When Hasbro went to reform the Viper, they could not find the legs and the V1 Bat legs were substituted: to the angst of collectors for the next decade.  Hasbro claimed the legs were lost before finally resculpting parts of them.  Personally, I never got the issues with the BAT legs on Viper repaints.  I still found the 1998 Cobra Trooper one of the best figures Hasbro ever released.  But, this Dr. Mindbender was cursed a million times in the 2000's by collectors who lamented the loss of the legs from the prized Viper mold.

This entire Dr. Mindbender was sent down to Brazil where he was released in colors nearly identical to this American figure.  The Brazilian Dr. Mindbender is noteworthy for the fact that he includes near identical weapons to the European Tiger Force Blizzard figure.  In the early 2000's, the Estrela Dr. Mindbender was very easy and cheap to find MOC: far moreso than the Tiger Force Blizzard.  There was a fear that the Estrela gear and the Euro gear would get switched to make complete figures.  You can tell the difference in materials between the two by simple touch and sound, though.  The mold disappeared after the Brazilian release.  While Hasbro claimed those molds were lost, some of Dr. Mindbender's contemporaries appeared in Hasbro releases in the 2000's.  So, it's likely they had access to the mold and could have brought a vintage Dr. Mindbender mold to the repaint era.  But, Hasbro was too lazy to undertake a project like that and Dr. Mindbender remains the most important Cobra named character that Hasbro never revisited.

As a character, Dr. Mindbender showed some remarkable consistency.  The original figure featured a monocle over his right eye.  This figure has the cybernetic enhancements over the right eye.  The figure's filecard specifically mentions these enhancements as something Mindbender had done.  The planned 1995 Dr. Mindbender, though, had these mechanical bits removed with the scars to match.  It was an amazing little detail that showed the designers love for the line.  No kid would have cared about matching scars for a character.  But, there they were on the unreleased Battle Corps Rangers figure.  I wish that attention to detail had continued with the post vintage Joe releases.  But, it was lost when the original Joe team was scattered to the wind.

This figure is pretty much worthless.  You see lots of dealer sales in the $8 range.  But, that's heavily a function of few loose mint and complete figures being available.  You can get a carded figure for around $10 without much trouble.  Most 1993 figures remain easier to find MOC than they are loose, mint and complete with filecard.  If you can find a loose one, it will run you in the $6 range with just loose figures, sans accessories, selling for as little as a buck or two.  So, there's no reason to not get a version of the figure and really no reason to not pick up a second one in an attempt to customize the mold.  If you just want one representation of the Dr. Mindbender character, though, go with the 1986 figure.  Were it not for the nostalgic pull of this figure, I'd probably hate him.  There's not a lot of redemption available to the mold.  But, he is a rare second take on the Mindbender character.  And, it's always better to have alternatives for a character, especially if they will never get too expensive.

1993 Spirit Iron Knife Mail Away - Around the Web

The 1992 Spirit figure was a great mold update of a classic character.  But, he was included in an obscure release with lower production numbers.  So, Hasbro repainted the figure in 1993 but also released it in an obscure mail away promotion.  The result is an excellent repaint that's rather hard to find.

This is my de facto Spirit figure.  The colors are strong and he looks good with an array of accessories. There's not a ton of content on this figure out there.  But, being an obscure release from the line's latest years generally leads to a dearth of information.  He remains one of my favorite figures, though.  Here's what I could find on him from around the web.

Spirit Profile

Spirit Dio 1

International Action Force at JoeADay.com

1993 Spirit by dreadnokdread

Menace in the Wilderness Insert at YoJoe.com

International Action Force at 3DJoes.com

Spirit Dio 2

1984 Deep Six

The early years of the Joe line were nothing but hit after hit.  With each subsequent year, the inventory of great toys increased.  As a kid during this time, there were basically no toys I didn't want when I looked at the catalogs.  In retrospect, there were a couple of items that aren't great.  The MOBAT never clicked with me as it was big and only held one figure.  The gliders weren't any fun because they didn't really work and they fell apart with the first crash.  In 1984, though, I was introduced to the first real disappointment in the Joe line: the SHARC.  From the catalog photos, the SHARC looked pretty strong.  In hand, though, it was a series of disappointments.  Biggest of all, though, was the included figure: Deep Six.

I started buying G.I. Joe comics in the summer of 1984.  My first three issues were numbers 27 through 29.  One of the main characters in those issues was Deep Six.  He was wearing a very different outfit from his figure.  But, I thought he looked cool and the character was interesting.  When my youngest brother got the SHARC one summer day, I was excited from seeing both its and Deep Six's appearance in the comics.  Upon holding the toy, though, the limitations became immediately clear.  First and foremost among those was the Deep Six figure.  Gone was the articulation that made the Joe line.  Deep Six was a bulky 5 points of articulation figure who couldn't hold any accessories.  Everything that made the Joe line the toys of choice was absent on Deep Six.

That isn't to say, though, that the figure is without merit.  He fits perfectly into the SHARC.  Unfortunately, though, this makes the SHARC suck more than it makes Deep Six a cool figure.  But, for a guy who would be a true deep sea diver, this bulky suit and helmet kind of work.  Given the limitations of figure sculpting in 1984, the figure is a passable job.  The 1989 Deep Six figure showcases how Joe sculpting improved over the years, though it's not a 100% recreation of this figure.  The basic elements of the figure, including the clear bubble are kind of fun.  I recall a couple of times when Deep Six would get, well, deep-sixed, when he was on a mission deep underwater and his suit would fail.  But, those were few and far between.

When I was a kid, I wasn't much of a customizer.  However, I did frankenstein many of my broken or worn out figures into new characters.  The issue with this, though, was that I often ended up with two figures who had the same head: the correct Hasbro figure and the new custom I made out of an old version of that figure.  Many, many times I looked at the Deep Six head and thought it would be a great way to create a new character.  Several times, I stuck a screw driver into the seams on the figure's body and began to pry him apart.  Each time, though, I chickened out.  I didn't want to break the Deep Six figure, even if I had no use for him.  So, the head sat, unused, until the figure was put away.

I had such contempt for Deep Six that I didn't actually consider him a figure.  While I packed all my figures away so they would be preserved, Deep Six wasn't given such consideration.  Instead, he was dumped into a shallow box full of broken and mismatched vehicle parts.  Here, he sat in my parents' attic for over a decade.  When I dug him out, he was covered in shingle dust from a roof replacement.  He was dropped back into the box and left there.  Even as I became a collector, Deep Six was neglected.  I didn't even put him in the 1984 drawer.  He was kept with spare parts.  Today, he's at least moved up to join the other 1984 figures in their storage container.  But, that's about the end of him.  This profile is the first, and likely last, time I've photographed the figure.

To this day, I despise the SHARC.  I wanted it to be so cool and fill the gap of both airplane and submarine that needed to battle the Water Moccasin and the FANG.  But, it was so disappointing that I consider it an utter failure to this day.  Not everyone agrees and there are collectors who quite enjoy the SHARC.  But, I don't and this Deep Six is a big reason why.  I would have loved Hasbro to have given us a decent land based Deep Six using the Topside body as a base.  Then, I could have enjoyed the character from my first comics.  But, instead, this figure is just a lump of plastic that inhabits space in my collecting room.  When I look at him now, I don't see a reason for the contempt with which I hold this figure.  But, grudges from childhood die hard and this Deep Six is one that I'm still disappointed with.

Deep Six was actually used more than once.  The figure was released in Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina.  All the foreign releases are nearly identical to the American figure with just slight color variations.  And, all were released with their respective foreign variants of the SHARC.  In the early 2000's, there were a ton of Plastirama Deep Six figures that were available from American dealers: often for just a couple of bucks.  Like the rest of the once common Argentina overstock, though, those figures have largely dried up.  I would have loved to have seen Deep Six's head reused on another Joe figure at some point in the line.  (He would have been a better choice for the Starduster head.)  But, that never happened. And, the fewer uses of this mold, the better.

There is a question as to what makes up a complete Deep Six figure.  Do you consider the bellows and hose to be part of the SHARC or part of the figure?  In the end, though, this is largely irrelevant as the parts in question are easy to find in either regard.  You can get Deep Six figures with the bellows for around $8.  You can get Deep Six figures with no gear, but still on the bubble for about the same price.  If you just want the figure, they drop to $5 and below.  In short, the figure is cheap.  But, outside of having him for completeness, there's really not other reason to own the figure.  The articulation is poor and he is completely useless outside of his vehicle.  Fortunately, Hasbro didn't really tread into driver/vehicle fusion like this again.  And, one misstep in the early days isn't too bad of a track record.

2006 Comic Pack "Classified" (Snake Eyes) - Around the Web

The Comic Packs ushered in an era of unbridled optimism when they were announced in 2004.  But, by the end of that year, the luster had worn off and the packs fell into the same trap as the rest of the Joe line with generally uninspired ideas and shopworn products.  So, the Joe line died at retail and was reborn as a Direct to Consumer product sold by Hasbro.

The DTC waves contained a huge amount of amazing toys and figures that greatly surpassed anything released at retail.  But, the PR damage done to the line by Hasbro was too great and the footprint of the online only sales was too small for the line to overcome.  Eventually, it was all sold to Toys R Us where it rotted on the pegs in their stores for a couple more years.

Lost in all this were quite a few good figures: this Classified version of Snake Eyes among them.  It's a completely different take on Snake Eyes and a smart way to overcome the limitations of the character design in the comic.  There's less out there on this figure than I thought there would be.  Most of the old review sites are long gone and few non-Joe sites really bothered with the DCT toys for review.  So, here's the best I could find on this figure from around the web.

Classified Profile

Classified at JoeADay.com

Classified review at GeneralsJoes.com

Classified review at JoeBattleLines.com

Outlaw - Red Laser Army So Cal Joe Show Exclusive

If you collect vintage Joes exclusively like I do, you have been abandoned by Hasbro for over a decade.  Even the club turned its back on you eight years ago.  In short, there is, officially, nothing new to collect for aficionados of this figure style.  However, factory custom figure makers have filled that void.  Starting shortly after Hasbro told vintage Joe collectors to get bent, factory custom makers have filled in massive army building gaps for those of us who have a desire for something new.  In 2017, the game was upped when army builders were joined by a phalanx of "character" figures who offered collectors even greater diversity in their collecting options.  The last of these figures to be released in 2017 was originally exclusive to the So Cal Joe Show held in Southern California in the fall of 2017.  Outlaw used existing parts that were created by factory custom figure maker Red Laser's Army that were then combined into an exclusive amalgamation and color scheme.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a huge fan of a Torpedo head on a figure that's not a diver.  Mostly, this is bias leftover from childhood.  Torpedo was THE diver on the Joe team.  And, while he that awkward appearance in G.I. Joe 16 wearing his dive suit on land, I simply couldn't see the figure as anything other than an aquatic adventurer.  So, I see the Torpedo head on this Outlaw as a bit of a detriment.  However, the covered face also offers a bit of leeway in the character's design.  Red Laser's Army has produced the head from the 1982 Flash/Hawk/Steeler figures.  It's been used a couple of times already.  So, giving this figure the same head would simply make him appear to be either Hawk, Flash, Steeler or Starduster.  None are great options.  The 1982 Snake Eyes head (which Red Laser also used to great effect on his Commando figure) is too iconic.  It's appearance always holds ties to Snake Eyes or the foreign characters of Cobra De Aco or Cobra Mortal.  So, using Torpedo as an alternate head was a bit of creative chance that worked out fairly well.



The thing I like about the character Factory Custom figures we have seen so far is that they look like they could have been released in 1983.  The colors are basic, but consistent with what Hasbro used.  If toys would have required two or three repaints in order to turn a profit back in the 1980's, I could see the Joe line filled with figures like the Red Laser Army offerings that mixed up parts and brought some additional colors to the Joe ranks.  For someone like me, who still holds the early Joe years as my most nostalgic, these figures are the perfect addition to my team.  Even the bright green paint on his head is a match for the 1983 Zap's highlights.  The use of black and grey chest pieces also adds some depth to the figures and helps them stand out among 1982 and 1983 figures.  Yet, they are still true enough to their roots that they blend in, too.

The main reason I have interest in this figure, though, was that something about it reminded me of Joe Colton.  I saw this configuration of parts and color and thought that a vintage Clutch head on this body would be a nice rendition of a 1970's era Joseph Colton.  He's part military, part adventurer and part covert ops. You can see my lbc in the photo below.  I need to touch up the head.  But, I think the head is just a bit too big for the body.

This notion of Colton is a way to bring that character into the early Joe team, before he went to work for other branches of the government.  I like characters like this since they would have been around as the Joe team was being formed in the late 1970's and early 1980's.  Colton likely would have input into the team's purpose and design.  While he, ultimately, left to pursue other interests, he was still a part of the group who made Joe the international force they would grow to become.

There is a very small, but vocal, minority of collectors who are opposed to these factory customs.  Early on, it was populated by groups of collectors who defended Hasbro.  But, Hasbro has shown they don't care about the existence of these figures at all.  Now, the detractors are heavily people who worry about the values of their collections.  And, if I had 10's of thousands of dollars invested in toys, I might have concern about value, too.  One of the things we've seen in toy collecting in the past couple of years, though, is greater and greater price disparities between loose and carded or boxed items.  This is almost exclusively driven by the fact that carded or boxed items are far rarer than loose and it's extremely unlikely someone's going to find massive amounts of carded or boxed overstock vintage G.I. Joe toys sitting in a warehouse.  I've felt that the chasm between loose and boxed/carded will grow wider in coming years.  Packaged items will be the "collectibles" that are used for investment.  While, loose items will be the domain of casual collectors who run mostly off of nostalgia.  In that regard, I don't mind factory custom items.  They are all easy to tell apart from the originals and they offer casual collectors a way to enjoy some items that are harder to find or too fragile to ever take out of their protective cases.

In terms of gear and construction, Outlaw isn't stellar.  He includes just two small pistols.  They have very fat handles and are definite thumb-breakers.  The weapons, though, are two tone.  I didn't look closely enough to see if the paint was factory or aftermarket.  But, the pistols are different from the similar weapons included with the Red Laser Army flavors of Steel Brigade figures.  Returning to the thumbs, Outlaw's hands are small and closed.   I fear forcing any large weapon into the hand for fear of breakage.  It's a common issue with many of the 2017 releases.  And, as many include fatter handled weapons, it's a legit concern.  But, the Joe groups are full of pictures of the various figures holding their weapons.  So, it can be done.

The factory paint on the figure is very nice.  You do see some issues with the eyes from time to time, though.  But, the grey/black shirt, leather brown straps, green pants and grey highlights add up to a visual feast.  A six color figure is better than what Hasbro offered to collectors at retail between 2003 and 2005.  Plus, the colors complement each other and don't create a look that's too busy.  He has enough color to be interesting while being generic enough to not get lost in visual overload.

Outlaw figures were first available at the So Cal Joe Show.  Unsold figures were then sold in the $15 range to general collectors.  As of now, that's about the price you'll pay for one of these guys.  Factory custom figures have generally gone two routes on the aftermarket.  They either become really cheap and easy to find.  Or, they dry up and see a good bit of appreciation.  As the creators of these figures have gotten better at both estimating collector demand as well as creating figures that collectors get excited over, we've seen the more recent figures tend to take the latter path.  But, with another large year of figures ahead for collectors, some solid designs are sure to get lost in the shuffle.  As such, I have no idea on the future for Outlaw.  I bought mine so that I could make the Joseph Colton custom figure. Others bought him for his exclusive nature.  And, others bought him because he's cool.

Whatever the reason, this is a figure that's well made, designed correctly and should hold collector interest over time.  Low production numbers will keep him from being overly common in the subsequent years.  But, I also don't see this guy being among the most popular figure offerings, either.  Basically, he's the perfectly average figure.  Which, frankly, was one of the most important aspects of the vintage Joe line.  Not every character or figure was a superstar.  But, the other characters existed as both support and as entry points for kids who liked firefighters, dogs, mountain climbers or pilots.  I see Outlaw in that vein.  Plus, he's designed in such a way as to make him conducive to photographs.  So, that's a lot going for a figure that would otherwise, likely, be forgotten in a couple of years.