2002 Gift Set Firefly - Around The Web

This "poo-headed" Firefly has aged much better than many figures of his era.  While he's still not a good figure by any means, he's something completely different from other figures from his time.  The paint masks are strong, the colors are unique and his gear makes little sense.  But, that's what makes the figure interesting.  He's fun to photograph since he stands out so much.  Here's the best of the 2002 Gift Set Firefly from around the web.

Gift Set Firefly Profile

Gift Set Firefly by strikeforce_codename

Gift Set Firefly by fun_time_at_serpentorslair

Gift Set Firefly at Nekoman's Viper Pit

2002 Gift Set Review at General's Joes Reborn

2002 Firefly at JoeADay.com

2002 Firefly by 1action_figure1

Chinese Toxo Zombie

Eco Warriors are awesome.  They have been awesome since 1991 and the fact that it took nearly 30 years for the rest of the Joe community to come around on them shows how little taste Joe collectors tend to have.  Zombies were never awesome.  They were kind of interesting.  Then, they got stupidly overexposed and are more cliche than scare-vehicle these days.  But, the intersection of the two from 1992 is awesome.  It's awesome because the Eco Warriors neon purple outweighs overdone zombies.  But, it's also awesome because the character isn't an undead.  Instead, it's a toxic mutated Toxo Viper who has lost his humanity due to a rotting body and mind.  Sure, it's a bit out into the sci-fi realm.  But, Joe has always been sci-fi, despite the best efforts of military purists to re-define it.  And, the notion of the Toxo Zombie works quite well in the context of the super-villain like Cobra.

In the mid 1990's, Hasbro produced Joe figures for release in China.  Most collectors know these figures from the Chinese Major Bludd, Flint and Duke variants.  But, there are also several other figures: some common and some really rare that were produced.  The series of figures produced in 1994 are the most common and remain easy to find to this day.  This is due to the fact that many were sold to American discount retailers in the 1990s and were actually available in the US.  There are other series, though, that are harder to find and didn't see the same US distribution.  Among these is the Toxo Zombie figure.

As a figure, the Toxo Zombie is pretty good.  The entire premise is that a Toxo Viper was mutated into something less than human.  As such, the Zombie uses the Toxo Viper's uniform and replaces parts with worn away pieces that show the rotting flesh beneath the compromised suit.  The pinkish color with light green highlights make the figure look like a bleached out Toxo Zombie who fell into terrible chemicals.  Grisly grey flesh is exposed on the figure's left arm and foot.  Some of the armor is worn away and the pants are pock-marked.  The face shield is cracked to reveal a dismal visage with pink flesh, a sunken eye and a permanent grimace of pain.  For 1992, the sculpting is amazing.  But, must of the detail is lost by lack of paint applications.  This was also common in 1992.  With a differently colored face, blackened teeth and more hollow eyes, this figure could have been a work of art.

I've long been an Eco Warriors fan.  And, the 1991 Toxo Viper is among my preferred later Cobra army builders.  It was fun to have a single Toxo Zombie around to enhance photos.  But, I never really found a lot of use in an army of them.  With a few in hand now, though, there is some fun in having a Joe or two flee from a horde of brain dead monsters who only have evil intent.  But, it's also something that has little substance.  The idea of Dr. Mindbender or Cesspool having a few of these creatures in the basement of some warehouse is fun enough.  But, making them an essential part of a Cobra army doesn't work.  With no cranial capacity left, the Zombies are just listless masses that meander around the battlefield.  You could drop one or two into a Joe base for some chaos.  But, they would also be quickly dispatched since they don't really have any abilities beyond the scare factor.

It's here that my interest in the Toxo Zombie kind of ends.  I have no real story built around them.  Instead, the purely visual treat that is the pink and green help bring some photos to life.  So, I do tend to use them with some frequency as they bring much needed life to many displays and photos.  And, for that reason alone, the figures are very valuable to me.  It's always nice to bring color to a photo and the Toxo Zombie works for that end.  Maybe if they were $10 figures, I might be inclined to pick up a few more and find something to do with them.  But, the zombie craze made all Toxo Zombies desirable and the relative scarcity of the figure has helped his inflation outlive the fad.

There are a few noteworthy features about this figure and his card.  The first is the most obvious.  This Toxo Zombie includes a gun and backpack.  They are the same weapons that were included with the Sludge Viper and Toxo Viper from 1991.  It never made sense to me that the Toxo Zombie didn't include accessories.  So, seeing them here seems more correct.  The next noteworthy detail is that the card is printed in Chinese.  In many cases, foreign cards feature stickers placed over American carded figures.  That is not so in this case.  The card is printed in Chinese, just like the more common figures that were released in 1994.  This brings up the final point.  The cardback features a 1995 copyright.  So, this figure was produced by Hasbro in 1995.  Now, we don't know if the figures were leftover stock from the 1992 run or a new production run altogether.  But, this late date is very interesting since the line had been cancelled in the US by then.

American Toxo Zombie figures have never been easy to find.  But, they have gotten much more desirable in the past couple of years.  Carded American figures sell in the $40-$60 range.  Loose figures are offered by dealers in the $30-$40 and an appalling amount of them sell for that price.  Left to their own devices, Toxo Zombies are around $25 figures on the open market, though.  This Chinese version is both somewhat common and also obscure.  You can get carded figures in the $75-$100 range.  Though, the price will ebb and flow based on the number in the market.  The figures are the same and loose versions are, supposedly, indiscernible from the American releases.  So, loose, the only real differentiating factor is that this figure would have gear (that could have been pilfered from a Toxo or Sludge Viper) and the unique filecard/cardback.  It's doubtful anyone would pay an extreme premium for that.

2008 Headhunter BAT - Around The Web

The 2008 convention set is one that promised a lot but delivered a little.  The Headhunter Stormtroopers were pretty bad.  The Headhunters were weird colors.  And, the BATs had some issues.  For many years afterwards, all of these figures were cheap.  You could get BATs for about original cost for quite a while.  Now, though, some of the stink of the set has dissolved and you see figures from it commanding a premium, again.  This Headhunter BAT has nice colors, perfect gear and matches up quite well with just about any faction you desire.  There's not a ton of content on him out there.  But, here's what I could find.

2008 Headhunter BAT Profile

2008 Convention Set Review at GeneralsJoesReborn

Headhunter BAT at Action-Force.dk

2008 Convention Set Review at Basement Toys

Headhunter BAT At Hisstank.com

2008 Headhunter BAT by the.faceless.master

2005 Imperial Processional Baroness

 In 2004, Hasbro created the concept of Comic Book packs.  This product feature three classic G.I. Joe figures along with a comic for the low, low price of $9.99.  The main selling point of the comic packs, though, was the figures included would be updated to reflect their comic book appearance.  For the initial wave of figures, this meant almost all new heads were used on the figures.  Among the newly sculpted heads was an updated Baroness.  This design featured longer, flowing hair, an improved face sculpt and, most importantly, the ability to wear removable glasses.  Despite the ambitious attempt at re-doing a collector favorite figure, Hasbro fell a bit short with the design.  Collectors didn't really warm to it and the Baroness/Cobra Commander/Cobra Trooper packs quickly backed up around the country...even though they included a popular army builder.  As the Joe line died in 2005, Hasbro attempted to reduce costs of their Toys R Us exclusive offerings.  The figure mold choices included in the final four sets was not inspired and the accessory complement was even worse.  In the Cobra Imperial Processional set, the new Baroness head appeared again.  This time, it was atop an oddly colored body that was a shade between red and copper.  Once again, collectors ignored this Baroness design and this 2005 has fallen into the abyss of figures that have been left behind by today's collecting world.

One of the things we know about the Hasbro designers of the Joe line in the early 2000's is that they somewhat resented vintage Joe figures.  They couldn't build their resumes in the industry working on two decade old toy designs.  This was why there was far more effort spent on the JvC figures and, later, the anniversary figures than the vintage repaints could have ever imagined.  This is a big reason why the repaints of that time aren't very inspired.  At times, though, the designers got to do something new on vintage figures.  One of those items was the removable glasses for the 2004 Baroness.  In theory, this was an amazing idea.  Taking one of the character's hallmarks and turning it into a changeable part of the figure was somewhat ingenious.  But, just because you can do something doesn't always mean that you should.  And, while the idea behind removable glasses is good, the actual execution left much to be desired.  The glasses are bulky, cloudy and generally ruin the aesthetic of the Baroness's new head sculpt.  Another example is the Baroness' hair.  While her updated hair is more detailed than the 1984, compare it to the 2005 Cover Girl who was released the same year.  It's a night and day difference in what the designers were capable of creating.

The Processional set was another idea that was probably pretty good.  But, the execution wasn't great.  The figures feature and odd copperish-red color that doesn't match with any other Cobra figures in the line.  Cobra Commander and the Baroness made sense for figure inclusion.  The idea of 4 guards wasn't bad.  But, the molds combined for the guards were just a bit too offbeat.  Had this set included a Serpentor and been done in green and gold, it probably would have been substantially more popular.  Were the figures even in a more classic red, they'd better fit with other figures and be more key to collections.  As a stand alone figure, this Baroness isn't that great.  The 2002 Convention figures are substantially better and work well with more figures.  This figure can work as a cheap alternative.  But, that's about the extent of her value.  The new head isn't a perfect match for the body and I prefer the original Baroness head in every release.

Baroness' gear is crap.  The glasses are small and easily lost.  But, since most of the figures are in collector hands, they are not hard to find.  But, they really look bad on the figure and there's no real need to have them.  They are difficult to affix to her head.  And, once on, the glasses look far more like goggles than corrective eyewear.  Again, a good idea whose resources should have been spent on better weapons for the figure.  Aside from that, she includes a crappy silver pistol that was originally released with Ambush.  She can't really hold it well and it appears oversized with the figure.  Baroness never really had any great accessories.  And, this release is no different.  The entire set lacked accessories.  And, Baroness included the only firearm among the 6 figures.

The Baroness mold has a short and long history.  In the vintage line, she was released just once: in her classic black outfit in 1984.  This same figure saw packaging in European and Japanese markets, too.  In the mid 1990's, Funskool acquired the Baroness mold.  They released a figure that was a direct homage to the American Baroness for a few years.  (Funskool Baroness figures are relatively easy to find in comparison to her Funskool contemporaries.)  As some point, Funskool released Rednok in the Complan Commandos line.  This was a low quality red Baroness that is exceedingly rare.  Hasbro got the mold back in 1997.  That year, they released a nicely done blue Baroness figure.  She wasn't quite cartoon colors.  Nor was she quite Cobra blue.  But, it's a nice repaint.  In 2000, the mold was redone in black and red but released as Chameleon.  Again, this is a solid figure and the color scheme was based on the unreleased 1995 Baroness that was planned for Battle Corps Rangers.  In 2002, a crimson Baroness was released in the initial convention set.  This, and her fuchsia variant, are excellent releases.  After that, the quality dropped off.  This new head debuted in the 2004 comic pack.  This figure was also blue.  But, generally, didn't stand up to the 1997-2002 figures.  The mold died with this 2005 Processional figure.  Hasbro never gave us a true cartoon colored Baroness.  Nor did they give us a grey and black version.  In short, we got two poor Baroness figures instead of something collectors would have enjoyed.  And, the new head really shortchanged the 2004 and 2005 figures even more.

The Imperial Processional Set was a dud.  It was a dud in retail stores.  It was a dud online.  It was a dud with collectors.  And, it was a dud with kids.  It sat and sat and sat.  Eventually, sets were sold at Amazon.com for around $6 each.  Even at that price, it took them quite a while to finally sell out.  Even today, these sets are relatively easy to find and Baroness remains cheap.  Because the market is crazy and many buyers are dumb, you see dealers, from time to time, get between $15-$21 for a mint and complete with filecard figure.  Left to her own devices, though, the same figure will sell between $5 and $7.  If you want a Processional set, you can get a complete one for around $30 and that's probably the way to go.  Outside of the matching figures, this Baroness has little value.  For a figure that Hasbro used quite frequently in the repaint era, the quality of Baroness releases diminished after 2002.  That's too bad as the mold has potential and cartoon fans are left without a definitive version.  This figure remains just another reminder that Hasbro of that time simply couldn't get it together when it came to collector themed releases.

2020 Killer Moth - Spinmaster Batman Line

 Growing up, I only read Marvel Comics.  I'm really not sure why this is.  I had cut my teeth on Superfriends in the late '70's and early '80's.  But, Marvel published G.I. Joe.  And, by buying that title monthly, I was exposed to the Marvel titles of the day.  So, I guess it was just destined that I'd eventually find my way to the Avengers (West Coast was preferred though!), Spider Man and a few other hero titles.  I simply never ventured into the DC side of the business.  I remember the kids around the block having an issue of Batman where a criminal falls/jumps off a building and dies.  He then goes to hell with a giant spider in it.  That fascinated me.  But, not enough to jump on the DC bandwagon.  I didn't hate DC.  I just was more comfortable with Marvel.  

Though the years, not much changed.  I left comic super hero books behind in the '80's.  (Aside from a short run of McFarlane Spider Man titles.)  I liked Marvel heroes.  But, not enough to actually get interested in any of the Marvel movies or TV shows.  My youngest son, though, eventually took a liking to Batman.  And, due to the Lego use of the Batman character, he was enthralled with Lego Batman toys.  Even this year, he got a large Lego Batman set that he put together first thing Christmas day.  

Early in 2020, though, I came across a new line of Batman action figures made by Spinmaster.  Slowly, I got slightly interested in them.  The articulation looked good.  And, there were enough characters in the first wave to make it interesting.  Plus, they were $8 each.  In this day and age, no quality 3 3/4 or 4 inch figure line is sold at that price.  I showed them to my son.  But, he had little interest.  Lego still dominated his world.  As the poo-storm that was 2020 raged on, the line felt like something I should introduce to my boys.  I bought a couple of figures over the summer, when the toy aisles were emptying in case there wasn't stock for Christmas.  Once I had the first couple of figures, I did some digging online and found the next wave of figures coming.  There was no Harley Quinn, Penguin, Two-Face or Bane.  Instead, there was a villain I'd never really heard of: Killer Moth.  The figure was a galling palette of bright colors...exactly the type of thing that I had to find.

If you follow this blog, you know that I enjoy neon G.I. Joe figures.  While they are seeing an uptick of interest these days from younger collectors, I've been on board the neon train since the figures were at retail.  All too many action figure lines for kids try to be "gritty and real!" and feature tons of dark, drab colors.  Even the Disney era Star Wars films fell into this trap.  This leads all the figures to appear the same at retail.  You buy the same boring thing over and over.  Even among the Batman line, you see the traditional greys, blues and blacks with sparing flashes of color.  That's why this Killer Moth so appealed to me.  The bright orange, purple, green and red all recalled the visually exciting action figures from my youth and the 1990's when I started collecting.  (Look at the both the vintage Joe and Kenner Star Wars line and you'll see lots of bright colors.  Way more than you probably remember.)  

In the end, 2020 turned into a nice Batman Christmas at our house.  I picked up about 20 figures from this line due to the availability and price point.  I really wanted to get the same number of Star Wars figures.  But, there simply were not that many to be had.  Even perusing Amazon and online versions of brick and mortar retailers, there were just a few figures from the Star Wars line that my kids had any interest in.  (One of them will appear on May 4th, though.)  The thing is, in that 20 figures, there were just 3 versions of Batman, two Jokers and three Robins (I liked the Robin releases and my kids like him from Teen Titans Go!.)  There was a nice cadre of lesser known Bat-Villains to serve as foils for the heros.  Killer Moth, Firefly and Talon are fun toys that, normally, would have only appeared as a line died it's death from obscurity.  Instead, my boys get to have fun with some adventures with lesser known characters.  And, in case they want something more traditional, there is still a Joker, Catwoman and Killer Croc to fill out their adventures.

Upon opening them, my boys loved them.  The figures moved easily, had vehicles with which to interact and were in scale with the cheap military and Star Wars figures they also received for Christmas.  The volume of Batman figures allowed each boy to have their own version or two of the titular character.  But, the quantity of villains also gave each of them several figures who could fight Batman, Robin and Batwoman.  I like the figures for the same reasons.  They are toys in ways that most other retail options for action figures are not.  Within minutes of opening their figures, my boys had already divided the Robins and Batmen into Batman 1, Batman 2, Robin 1, Robin 2, etc. and played with each other for hours.  They got a Batcave as well and they worked out elaborate scenarios where the supervillains defeated the military only to face Batman.  Fun, fun times.

In general, my kids haven't been into action figures.  Lego, of course, has dominated their childhood.  But, early in 2020, I let them play with my Star Wars figures from the mid 2000's.  If you know these figures, they are among the best Hasbro ever released.  I figured them a fad.  But, they kept playing with them, building bases and, generally, establishing stories and universes that reminded me of my childhood.  This Batman line allows me to bring some other elements into Star Wars play.  The figures are compatible.  And, while Batman fighting Darth Vader seems ridiculous to an adult like me, it gives my boys the world building possibilities that I often desired as a kid.  I'm glad to see the Batman line has plans through 2021 and hope it rivals the old Kenner line in terms of longevity.  (And, I want to see a Machine Gun Joker in Spinmaster form, too.)  So far, the line has some good vehicles, a playset and a bunch of cheaper vehicles that are really just forms to get deluxe style figures into the mix.  But, having items that can interact with figures really helps keep interest up.  So, I'm looking forward to the rest of what 2021 has to offer.

The Batman line is fun because it's somewhat collectible.  There is a companion line of DC Comics figures anchored by Superman.  But, Wal Mart didn't carry it in 2020, it only had a couple of waves and the ancillary characters were pretty hard to find.  Both lines are compatible.  Along with the standard releases, though, Spinmaster included notions of "Rare" figures and "Super Rare" figures.  These were a combination of repaints or special chase figures like all golden plastic variants.  These were shortpacked in cases.  But, due to the volume of figures that shipped, it wasn't impossible to find most of the variant figures in the Batman line.  Killer Moth didn't have a variant.  But, the variant figures from the wave were often there when I found Killer Moths at retail.  (I don't go to stores in the morning.  These were all after work finds implying they had been on the shelves for some time.)  The chase figures are fun when they are something you can find.  Most companies err by making the chase figures too hard to track down and they become scalper fodder.  When they are available enough, the resellers skip them and collectors have the joy of finding something oddball.

These figures are well articulated.  The move at the head, should, elbow, hip and knees.  They don't spin at the waist.  But, the increased aesthetic of that missing articulation works out well.  The figures are somewhat comical with large feet and hands.  But, that allows them to hold gear and also stand without too much trouble.  Even the flimsy sculpts of Catwoman and Batwoman move well and allow for full posability.  Modern Star Wars figures often have stiff joints and will break before some of them will move.  None of the Spinmaster figures I own have suffered from that and they seem like better toys, even if they are not better collectibles.

The Batman line includes, mostly, three accessories with each figure.  Several of the accessories are included among several figures, though often in different colors.  The 2020 Batman figures also had most figures as part of individual themes.  This means that most figures have an accessory color variant.  And, this variant is completely impossible to determine without opening the package.  This version of Killer Moth included an orange gun, blue money case and a dark blue batarang.  The alternate version lacks the batarang and the case is silver and the gun is green.  Both figures also have removable "moth wings".  The accessories, frankly, aren't great.  They are somewhat comical and oversized.  But, they also work because there are few action figure lines that have playful gear that's both bizarre and brightly colored.  The gun works well enough with Killer Moth.  The money case is interesting.  But, it's also kind of lame since it has bills flowing out of it.  In general, the gear with these figures is fun.  But, it's not the realistic type thing you see with Star Wars or G.I. Joe figures.  It's more like larger sized Imaginext gear.

So far, Killer Moth has only shipped in Wave 2 of the 2020 Batman releases.  It's possible he could reappear in a 2021 wave.  But, it's also likely that, if he does, he'll have at least a slight repaint.  If you were looking at retail stores during the time when Wave 2 was shipping, it wasn't hard to find a Killer Moth.  But, once that wave got through the system in the early fall, the figure has been absent from retail.  As such, you'll pay around $12-$15 for a carded Killer Moth today.  I have no insight into the long term collectibility of the Spinmaster line.  Personally, I hope it's wildly successful and goes on a run to rival the Kenner Batman lines from the late 1980's and early 1990's.  But, 30 years later, most of those figures are pretty much worthless.  But, $12 isn't a lot to pay for a high quality action figure made in 2020.  (Most retail figures of this scale are around that price.)  So, even at the higher pricing, this is a figure that's worthwhile.  He's visually fun and is a good toy.  As a parent, there aren't enough action figures that are good toys.  So, that just makes this Killer Moth all that much better.