Rarities - Light Blue Anti Venom Stretcher

In the 2000's, it was common for unproduced Hasbro concept figures to become available from Asian Joe sellers.  At first, these figs were somewhat controversial as people talked about them being midnight runs (hence, the term Midnight Chinese) or being stolen.  Usually, these things were propagated by collectors who were hoping to scare away competition as they bought up the initially scare figs.  In time, though, Ebay became flooded with most of the figures and they sold for pittances.  Some figures were always more desirable than others.  Once such figure that captured collector attention was the light blue alternate Stretcher.

In 2004, Hasbro released the Anti Venom set as their summer companion to the Cobra Urban Strike.  The set was received cooly by the collecting community at the time...mostly because it wasn't Night Force and it wasn't Cobra army builders.  In time, though, the set was more appreciated by the collector world and the members have become relatively popular today.  Prior to production, though, the set went through some changes.  At first, the set was done in dark blue.  They, it was shifted to light blue.  Finally, they settled on the tan/green combo that was actually released.

The light blue set, though, featured one other significant change: Stretcher was still black.  In production, Stretcher was given caucasian skin and renamed to Lifeline.  But, for a while, Stretcher was the original character.  It's possible that the different skin tone was simply a function of the Stretcher mold instructions featuring the original skin color.  But, this figure became the only update of Stretcher that was ever available...despite his body mold being used twice in the 2000's.

During the time of common alternate Asian figures, this Stretcher was in the second tier of popularity.  He sold higher than Duke, Charbroil or Mutt.  But, was nowhere near scarcer figures.  15 years later, though, this figure is highly sought after and usually commands a triple digit price tag.  That's more than 10 times what I paid back then.  But, is a testament to this figure's unique design and place in Joe history.

Rarities - Duke Crimson Guard Disguise Prototype

See A-Man's comments below:

This is the Duke from the Crimson Infiltrate set.  My image from 2005 was named Agent Faces.  But, it is the Duke as noted by the arms.

The Agent Faces mail away figure was a bone that Hasbro threw to collectors to get them some cheap army builders without having to resort to retail stores and the potential scalping that could ensue. And, it worked.  While some collectors were content with one figure since it was a character, those who were army builder inclined could buy this figure to their heart's content.  But, once it became known that Hasbro was going to use the mold more in 2004 and 2005, collectors backed off on Faces and saved their money for the later uses of the mold that were legit army builders.

Below you can see an unpainted prototype/test shot of the Faces figure.  The big thing about this Agent Faces figure is that you can really see the Duke head that was used to make the Faces head.  The good thing about Faces was that Hasbro painted facial hair on him that helped to distinguish him from a standard Duke release.  But, sans paint, the Duke head is plain as day.

Oddly, I like the helmet on this piece.  The actual helmet featured several different paint applications of black and silver.  In some ways, it's too busy.  The cleaner look of the unpainted helmet almost works better for me.  Though, I'd have liked the eyes painted.

Unpainted prototypes/test shots of 2000's era figures were a dime a dozen for several years.  You could buy lots of them by the dozens from Asian Joe sellers for a buck or two each.  Collectors tired of them to the point that they were completely undesirable.  Now, some of those once common figures have become more desirable...especially if they have their full array of gear, too.  It's weird to see things that the collecting community grew to hate now become valuable and hard to find.  But, that's the evolution of the collector base.

Rarities - Funskool Halibna Promotional Figures

Funskool did a lot of promotional cross overs.  (There are the Maltova, Pepsodent, Calcium Sandoz, Complan and even one with Kentucky Fried Chicken!)  One such synergy project was with Halibna.  Funskool released a set of, likely, 15 unique figures in Jordan and Lebanon.  (There may be a different number of figures or additional release locations.  Info is super spotty on these guys.)  I've been able to find photos of 4 of the figures and have seen info on at least two others.  So, there's much more to learn about these releases. 

The big difference with the Halibna figure is that they are swivel arm figures.  Gone are the weird straight arms from the Calcium Sandoz and Maltova figures.  That alone makes these figures far more worthwhile to track down and open up. These figures also included accessories.  Sometimes, they match the gear for the figure mold.  Sometimes the gear appears to have been randomly applied.

Budo:

This unique release features an all brown body.  The highlight is the bizarre white boots.  But, overall, not a bad looking figure at all.

Eel:

The Eel doesn't appear to be all that different from the production Funskool Eel.  The gear is different, though, with the inclusion of a General Hawk rifle.  

Psyche Out:

We've seen this Psyche Out before.  Similar figures have appeared as bagged Funskool vehicle drivers.  And, the figure is available with straight arms in other Funskool promotional series.  He also includes the recolored Dodger rifle that was available with the Funskool Incinerator.

Big Brawler:

Brawler is pretty similar to his common carded release.  The lower arms are different and he's not as polished.  So, it's different enough to frustrate the completist collector.  He has a Deep Six rifle instead of his Brawling Sword.

There are additional Halibna figures beyond the ones shown above.  There is a red Toxo Viper that was also available in the Calcium Sandoz series.  There is also a red and black Ozone figure that is unlike any other Ozone ever released.  It's likely that there are more figures in the series that will come to light in coming years.  We're really still uncovering a great many Funskool mysteries and obscure offerings like these Halibna figures will prove to be a source of interesting new items in the future.

Rarities - 2003 BAT Pack Pre Production Figures

In 2003, Hasbro released a BAT army builder pack.  It was cool and imperfect and lame all at the same time.  Due to the oddities of 1/2 the figures in the set, it didn't sell very well and Hasbro nixed all future "mail away" army building 6 packs and shuffled them off as Toys R Us exclusives instead.  Below is a set of pre-production BATs (and Overkill).  They are pretty much identical to what we got in production.

You will notice a few very slight differences between these pre-production figures and the production releases.  The most notable is on the BAT.  The production figure had far more yellow.  These muted colors are less in line with the 1986 figure to which the 2003 color scheme was meant as an homage.  But, I also kind of like this one better since it has more metallic colors and looks more like a robot.  Still, had these figures been released this way, it's doubtful I'd have bought any more or any less of the set.  But, this is an insight into how products change slightly before they finally get released.

Rarities and Oddities - 2020

Tomorrow kicks off the 2020 Rarities and Oddities month.  Last year was lame.  This year should be a little better as I've got several items queued up for the entirety of the month.  This is my fifth year doing this and there's lots of past posts to catch up on if you haven't seen them.

As my standard disclaimer, these items are photos I've acquired through the years from public auctions or old postings that are long gone.  I'm not a fan of the secretive nature of the social media forums that require membership and have lousy search functions.  They hide some of the hidden past of the line in plain sight.  Some don't agree with my approach.  But, I feel that sharing rare pieces of the Joe line is really what this hobby is about.  

Through the years, I've gotten hate mail of all sorts.  Most are guys who are still "writing articles" that, years later, have yet to appear.  One guy told me that presenting a series of figures that wasn't 100% complete would "mislead" collectors.  He was one who said he'd be publishing a "real" article soon.  Haven't seen it three years later....

I hope you enjoy this year's celebration of all things weird, odd and rare in the Joe world.  And, if you have something you'd like to share, get in touch with me.  I'll gladly host anything you write with your byline so that more awesome knowledge is shared with the community at large.