Rarities - Plastirama 2nd Series Figures

You know them.  I know them.  Everyone knows them.  The 2nd series of figures released by Plastirama in Argentina are, arguably, the most famous foreign rarities of all.  All of the 6 figures in the series are rare and very expensive.  Even today, the existence of carded figures other than Glenda remain rumors and speculation.  But, the figures themselves do now exist in enough quantity that anyone with the money can acquire them within a reasonable timeframe.

In 2001, Argentina went through an economic crisis.  One of the side effects of this, was that many enterprising Argentines discovered that they could sell G.I. Joe figures to Americans for very large sums of money.  So, as 2001 turned into 2002, tons of these figures (which, previously, had existed in quantities you could count on one hand) wafted into American and European collections.  Instead of lowering demand for the figures, though, the newfound availability brought the figures out of the shadows of the Joe world and gave them new prominence.  It lead to discoveries like the fact that Manleh included a parachute.  (Which was not known until that timeframe.)  Quickly, much was learned about the figures and they joined the general Joe lexicon.

Despite the cutesy mnemonic device that is "argen seven", there are really only 6 figures in the 2nd series.  (The 7th figure, Cobra Invasor was released in series 3 and is much easier to find and exists in greater quantities than the 2nd series figures.)  Here are each below:

Glenda

Glenda is a Scarlett repaint done in Argentina blue and chrome.  The head paint tends to be bad on all the figures.  She included a headset from Breaker and Flash's laser rifle.  As neither accessory fits on the figure, they were odd choices.  But, the blonde hair, striking blue base and the chrome highlights have made Glenda the second most famous figure in this series and a long time collector favorite.

Cobra Mortal

Arguably, the most famous foreign figure of them all, the Cobra Mortal remains the definitive holy grail of the Joe collecting world.  The economic crisis of the early 2000's in Argentina brought a lot of these figures to the market.  But, a lot was still a pretty small number overall.  Today, high quality samples of the Mortal sell for a couple of thousand dollars.  The figure was remade for the 2006 convention and has seen representations in the anniversary line as well.  The Mortal included Scarlett's crossbow.  (The Uzi  and ammo pack appear to be an incorrect inclusion in the photo.)  It is an odd choice for the figure.  But, adds to his overall bizarreness.  The mostly chrome body offset with red and black has become an iconic look for the Snake Eyes mold and the Plastirama Mortal is one of the most sought after figures from any toy line.

There is debate about the Cobra logo.  Some figures have been found without the logo.  It was initially believed that these were just samples where the logo rubbed off.  However, the abundance of them had lead to well founded speculation that the figure without a Cobra logo may be a legit variant of the Mortal.

Manleh

Manleh is a pretty drastic repaint of the classic Stalker mold.  First off, the figure is caucasian.  He is also colored in Argentina blue with yellow highlights.  For years, Manleh was actually harder to find than any other figure from his series.  In time, that evened out.  The figure includes an Uzi and a parachute.  The parachute was only discovered in the early 2000's.  But, it has become more available since then and complete Manlehs can be found.

Redmack

Redmack is a brown repaint of the 1982 Hawk figure.  This version, though, includes a brown helmet and backpack along with a version of Rock and Roll's M-60 and bi-pod.  The most interesting part of Redmack, though, is his card art.  The exclusive to Argentina painting clearly shows the character using the Zap/Short Fuse chest in lieu of the grenade/knife chest that was common to so many original figures.  This shows that Plastirama had a different idea for the Redmack figure that was changed rather late in the process.  It could be they needed the parts for other figures or made a mistake.  But, it gives Redmack something more interesting than just being a Hawk repaint.

Shimik

Shimik is an amalgamation of the Grunt/Grand Slam head with Rock and Roll's body.  The figure features dark skin as it's main differentiating point.  The overall look is excellent, though.  And, Shimik is easily on par with the more popular Mortal and Glenda figures in terms of a unique look.  To make you a bit sick to your stomach, though, this figure was not well regarded in the early 2000's when large quantities of him started appearing for sale.  Shimik figures sold as low as $17 for a few months.  That's hardly the case now.

While the sample below is pictured with an uzi, Shimik did not actually include that weapon.  Instead, he had a version of Stalker's M-32.  Along with that is a black backpack and helmet along with a version of Steeler's visor.  The visor is the interesting accessory.  Steeler showed up in Europe around 1984 and then appeared as a mail away in the U.S. after that.  But, this is the only evidence of him in South America.  It's possible that Hasbro sent the straight arm mold for Steeler to various South American Joe producers and they simply chose to not use it.  It could also be that Hasbro sent all the original 1982 accessory molds to South America and continued using duplicate molds for later Hasbro releases.  It's a great unknown.  But, seeing the visor here raises questions of what other molds were sent to Estrela and Plastirama.

Topson

The Topson figure is somewhat problematic.  The figure is a great repaint of Breaker of long sleeve arms.  He includes a grey helmet and a grey version of Grunt's backpack.  You see quite a few pictures out there of Topson with a grey version of Blowtorch's helmet, too.  However, that helmet was released in grey in the U.S. and is quite common.  There is no evidence that the Blowtorch helmet survived to Brazil, Mexico or Argentina as all the Blowtorch figure molds from these countries are either repainted 1982 helmets or repainted Doc helmets.  We've never seen a carded Topson, so anything is possible.  But, the timeline of accessories the disappearance of the helmet mold on figures with whom it's release make sense lends a great deal of skepticism to that helmet having been released in South America.  So, buyer beware if you see one with a Blowtorch helmet.

As if that's not enough, the figure also likely included a small phone/remote control.  This appears to be the remove from the Flamethrower Pac Rat.  It is, of course, often missing from the Topson figure.  On his card art, Topson is actually seen with a Snake Eyes ammo bag with an antenna sticking out of the top.  It's odd, to say the least.  But, all this makes finding a complete Topson the most daunting of the 6 figures in the series.

Here's a group photo of some other samples.  The second photo is likely the best example of the actual accessories that were included with the figures.  But, until we find carded samples, it's impossible to know for sure exactly what gear each character included.

Rarities - DeSimone Convention Figures

In the 1990's, there were G.I. Joe conventions.  They were, largely, the bastion of 12' Joe collectors.  But, Hasbro was often in attendance and offered merchandise to help support the endeavors.  One such promotion was the DeSimone convention figures.  James DeSimone was a prominent collector of the day who is best known for his guidebooks on 3 3/4 Joes that were released in the '90's.  At one point, he created some convention "exclusive" figures for sale at the various 1990's era conventions.

Hasbro offered DeSimone overstock of a few mail away figures which DeSimone then handpainted with store bought materials to create some exclusive figures.  His first two endeavors were the Police Officer and Race Car Ace.

Race Car Ace is nothing more than a repainted 1983 Ace figure.  He came with a handcrafted race car.  The idea was definitely rooted in the exploits of the 12' Joe mythos when he became less military and more adventurer.  The Ace figure isn't particularly noteworthy and modern customizers would cringe at the quality as you can see in the photo below.

The second figure was the Police Officer.  This figure is noteworthy because DeSimone used overstock Starduster figures to make his customs.  Seeing high quality Stardusters selling for over $100 in modern times makes it hard to fathom that there was once overstock of the figures.  But, DeSimone got some and painted them up.  The result, like the Ace, isn't stellar.  But, it was something different for the time.

The most famous figure, though, is the convention Infiltrate Jinx.  This figure is popular as DeSimone included it in his guidebooks.  Jinx stepped up the production in that she included a card.  Hasbro "sanctioned" the figure, for what that's worth.  But, it is also known that if you were willing to pay market price, you could still have an "official" convention Jinx made by DeSimone himself after the conventions.  Jinx has two variants, a blue Cobra logo or a black Cobra logo.  The logo colors differentiated when you acquired the figure.  Collectors don't seem to place any particular desirability of one color over the other any more, though.

Today, these figures are expensive.  They can command a few hundred dollars.  But, authentication is tough as anyone could make one with relative ease and there is no way to verify that any figure is the real deal or a later reproduction.  So, buyer beware with these items.  In the end, they are glorified customs.  (As are all non Hasbro produced convention "exclusives".)  So, you're paying a lot for something that's easily forged.  The figures are part of Joe history.  But, they are too sketchy for me to ever spend any money on.

Rarities - Unproduced 1995 Ninja Commando Budo

The Ninja Commandos are one of the more famous groups of unproduced Joes.  Historically, the rank just behind the Manimals in terms of notoriety.  This is mostly due to the fact that they were very close to production.  And, like the Manimals, exist in full production versions: just very few of them.  The set was designed as a 5 figure group featuring Road Pig, Knockout, Stormshadow, Flint and Budo.  Of the group, Budo made a lot of sense.  He had a martial arts background (though as a Samurai) and was in need of an update.  Of the figures in the set, Budo is also the most famous, but for different reasons.

If you look at the figure below, he may look familiar.  The reason is that the entire figure figures was used to make the Mortal Combat Movie Edition Shang Tsung.  Unlike Flint and Road Pig (whose parts were used elsewhere, but not as entire figures) Budo's full mold was resused.  Shang Tsung is nothing more than a Budo repaint.  And, as a result, has become a rather sought after among G.I. Joe Collectors.

For those familiar with Shang Tsung's appearance, though, the Budo figure is a bit of a contrast.  The figure actually bears some resemblance to the 1993 Mail away Budo figure.  The teal, black and red isn't as good of a color combo as the maroon and brown of the Shang Tsung figure.  Neither figure fully paints the details on the mold. The black body of this unreleased Joe, though, obscures much of the work that went into sculpting the pieces.

In the case of this figure, since a full (and, in my opinion, better) repaint was released at retail, I don't think collectors really missed out by his cancellation.  As I was scouring the last remnants of the Joe line at retail in 1995, I surely would have come across this figure had Hasbro released him.  And, I'm equally sure that I would have left him rotting on the pegs due to the odd construction, boring gear and less than inspiring colors.  But, seeing him as he never got to appear is interesting and gives collectors a glimpse in some of the other Joe ideas that never got to see fruition.

Rarities - Unproduced 2003 Convention Figures

We have learned that the Joe figures from the 2000's often went through several stages of almost production before the final color samples received sign off and went into full production for retail release.  Many of those samples have given collectors some amazing variants to track down.  The convention figure release of that time, though, underwent similar processes.  The overstock, though, was usually harder to find (a by-product of the low production runs) and not often drastically different from the actual figures released.  Below, though, you'll see some of the 2003 Convention figures in their pre-production state.

The Lady Jaye and Falcon figure are drastically different from the release figures.  The most interesting part of this figure is that Lady Jaye very nearly matches the hand painted mocks ups that were proposed for the 1997 Lady Jaye figure.  (She's also close to the Volga figure.)  The Major Storm figures are pretty close to the production colors: as is the Black Dragon Trooper figure.  You'll note the green helmets and black weapons for Major Storm.  The production figure included golden accessories very similar to his vintage versions.  It appears that the original intent may have been to differentiate his modern updates from the 1990 versions.

The most interesting part of this photo is the golden Crankcase rifle.  This weapon was never released by Hasbro in the 2000's and it's appearance raises questions.  The obvious answer, though is that Major Storm uses the waist and legs from Crankcase.  Also, in 2004, Hasbro released a product description for an AWE Striker with Crank.  Crank ended up being a re-release of the 2002 Dial Tone figure.  The product description showed that Crankcase was, at least, considered for release.  But, this gun is just more evidence that Hasbro had access to parts of the 1985 Crankcase mold.  The fact that it never appeared is just another example of how Hasbro wasted slots on poor figures and cost collectors something more interesting.  Why Master Collector chose to not use this weapon is a mystery.

Rarities - 2001 Pre-Production Laser Viper

It seems odd that the A Real American Hero Collection's success at retail caught Hasbro off guard.  But, it seemed to do so.  The first was only shipped in 2000 and Target did not carry it.  Wave 2 showed up quickly and then shipped for nearly six months.  The third wave was kept relatively quiet.  But, when blurry pics first surfaced of it, collectors went bananas over the possibility of a new Cobra Trooper.

Soon, though, it became evident the figure was not a Cobra Trooper but a newly created Laser Viper.  The first showcase of the figure, though, was drastically different from the production figure.  Below you can see how Hasbro originally envisioned the figure.

Of the 4 figures shown, the Laser Viper is most drastically different.  Instead of the solid blue figure with red vest, Hasbro went with a silver body that was more reminiscent of the Lamprey and Sub Viper.  Frankly, the look is more apropos for a laser trooper and I like the design better than the actual production figure.  It does't appear that the Fast Blast Viper was changed all that much beyond some lighter grey highlights.  You will see the early, prototype, head on Sure Fire.  Low Light appears to be nothing more than a 1991 figure.  So, they hadn't really done anything with him, yet.

The Laser Trooper was a retail success.  But, that was more based on the fact that he was an army builder released at a time when any army builder would sell out: no matter how ridiculous.  He wasn't hard to find, but was always the first figure to appear.  The figure was carried over into Wave IV as well.  It would have been awesome for the Wave IV to have been a repaint done in this originally proposed style.  Collectors would have welcomed the diversity and we would have gotten a decent repaint of a figure that was liked at the time.

The Laser Viper disappeared after his 2001 release.  By 2002, Hasbro had moved on to releasing Vipers and Alley Vipers as the base, vintage style Cobra troops.  The brought around BATs in 2003 and finally remade the Cobra Troopers every collector wanted in 2004.  Those later releases doomed the Laser Viper to obscurity and there was no call for another look for the figure.  That's too bad as these early samples show that the Laser Viper could have had at least one solid repaint that collectors would have enjoyed.