After Christmas of 1982, I owned four G.I. Joe figures. But, between Snake Eyes, Clutch, Hawk and Breaker, I had just one gun. Three of the four figures did not include weapons. This greatly limited my play options. I went so far as to find an HO-scale coupler for train cars that kind of looked like a pistol and used it for Breaker. I desperately wanted additional accessories so that all my figures could not only have at least one weapon, but even a choice of some of my favorite weapon designs. My wishes came true one day when we were in Buffalo, visiting my grandparents. We were there for a short trip early in the year. We hadn't taken many toys, confirming the trip was shorter than our normal week. But, when out shopping, I found a new pack of G.I. Joe accessories at a local store. It was the original Battle Gear pack.
The pack was cheap enough that my mother bought one for both my younger brother and I. With these weapons, I now had the ability to give Clutch a visor as well as offering a spare Uzi to Breaker. I could choose any weapons I wanted for Hawk and Clutch, too. Of course, Clutch got Stalker's M-32. But, I also added some accessories to the VAMP. The new Breaker headset would fit behind the seat with the wire tucked into the seam between the seat and the bottom of the vehicle. So, this allowed for anyone riding shotgun in the VAMP to be able to communicate with the rest of the team. I also placed a spare Uzi on the same spot. This way, the VAMP had a backup small arm if it crashed or just ran out of gas. Hawk, well, I learned a hard lesson with him. I tried to get Grunt's M-16 into his hands and it immediately snapped his thumb. That was the end of that Hawk figure. And, it's part of what pushed me back to Star Wars figures as 1983 crept on.
The odd thing about the Battle Gear pack was that the accessories were colored differently from those included with figures. The weapons themselves are a lighter grey color than the original gear. Even in 1983, I could easily tell the difference between the Battle Gear and original weapons. But, the weapons are close enough in color to be useful. The visors are identical to the originals, though. The helmets and backpacks, though, were very different. The helmets were dark brown and did not match any figure. The packs, though, were worse. They were a tan color. Again, they matched no figures until the 1983 Falcon Glider Grunt was released. There was no explanation for the color changes. In fact, the 1983 promo catalog showed original gear in the set. So, the color change was a later decision that was never explained.
The 1983 Battle Gear set includes every accessory from the 1982 line. There are 4 visors, two Uzis and even Snake Eyes' ammo pack. There were three exceptions, though. Short Fuze's mortar and stand were omitted as was Zap's bazooka. These three pieces would later show up in white in the 1984 Battle Gear set. But, again, there was no explanation as to why they weren't included. It was made weirder by the fact that their shared backpack was included with the 1983 set. The fact that both those accessories underwent design changes could explain it. But, both the 1982 Snake Eyes Uzi and Stalker M-32 are different from the 1983 releases of both accessories. So, other weapons were modified, too. The exclusion of these weapons remains a mystery nearly 40 years later.
The biggest new feature of the Battle Gear set is the battle stands. These little rectangles of plastic brought a whole new element to Joe collecting. The stands allowed kids to pose their figures and stand them up in any pose they desired. The Battle Gear included two stands. Starting in 1984, differently colored stands would be included with several small playsets. By 1993, every figure included a stand on their weapon tree. This ingenious idea allowed kids to display figures. But, it also allowed them to put their toys away on a shelf using vertical space and keeping their gear on.
In the early days of Joe collecting, the ubiquity of 1983 Battle Gear weapons allowed customizers to accessorize their creations with great aplomb. They were free to paint, slice up and otherwise modify the Battle Gear weapons without worrying about their original accessories. For dealers, though, the 1983 Battle Gear provided a great way to bilk unsuspecting collectors out of their hard earned money by offering them as original gear with original 13 figures. Even today, you'll see many seller "mistake" Battle Gear weapons for the original. But, the colors are blatantly different and there's no excuse for any mistakes by a seller.
The value to a collector today is that this Battle Gear is an excellent option to properly outfit factory custom figures. Many of Red Laser Army's figures are obvious homages to various foreign and unproduced characters from the Joe line's earliest days. They, though, lacked gear that was a perfect match for them. Battle Gear allows you to give these characters the weapons they deserve. And, while the 1983 helmets and packs aren't great for many figures, the weapons are a great way to update the homages. Having some cheap alternatives for that purpose is a definite plus.
Back in the early 2000's, before people got stupid with Joe prices, it was relatively easy to put together a small team of original 13 figures in a tan style. With Grunt, Clutch and Doc bodies, you could make a tan Breaker, Hawk and Stalker. If you were handy with a little paint, you could put together a decent Snake Eyes, too. And, the Battle Gear weapons are a perfect match for this set. To this day, I store my Tan Grunt with the Battle Gear backpack and M-16 since they are so closely aligned in color to the figure. The tan works with Scarlett, too, as a way to better accessorize her.
For me, the real value of the Battle Gear came many years after its initial release. In 1986 and 1987, I often had third faction terrorists or freedom fighters (really, they're the same thing just with different marketing depending upon which side they battle against) who would interject into the Joe vs. Cobra conflict. My favorite was having them drive up to a ceremony in the A-Team van, open the door and pop out with small sub machine guns and mow down the dignitaries in attendance. As small weapons were not overly common in the Joe line (and, most of the ones that did exist were in use by their original owners!) the Battle Gear Uzis were a great means of making these civilian fighters a more formidable force. I'd toss in some of the larger rifles, too, as part of their getaway plan.
My other random memory of the Battle Gear weapons comes on a cold winter's day, probably in either 1984 or 1985. It was a Sunday and I had been playing with my Joes in the garage. (It was warmer in there than outside, but still counted as outside play.) I picked them all up and took them in. A few hours later, right before dinner, I went back out to put away some bikes or balls and happened to find a Battle Gear M-60 on the floor. It wasn't part of my team that had been in the garage that day. And, it was a neat find as we didn't have a regular Rock and Roll and this Battle Gear version was the only copy of his weapon in our possession. I took the weapon inside. Really, though, it's not finding the weapon that was memorable. Instead, it was the feeling I had as I picked it up off the floor. For some reason, I got an overwhelming feeling of sadness that it was Sunday night and I was back to school on Monday. To this day, I get the same feeling on some Sunday afternoons as the sun goes down. Every time I do, I think back to that day in the garage, finding Rock and Roll's gun and then being saddened by the fact that my fun was over and it was back to work early the following morning.
You'll see some dealers command premiums for various accessories in this set. The Uzi tends to command the highest price and sells for around $7, even as dealers ask double that. But, the real value in the set is the visors. As such, you'll usually find sets that are sold sans visors. A whole loose set with no visors will run about $20. On their own, though, visors sell for around $20. So, getting the visors, too, will be expensive. You can get carded sets in the $85 range. Which, with 4 visors is a little lower than the loose price. For just the weapons, the price is probably decent. Original Uzis aren't easy to find and this is a cheap way to get them. My only real lament is that the other Battle Gear packs in subsequent years didn't follow the close coloring of the originals like this first attempt at additional accessories did.
