I profiled this Auriken Flash a few years ago. Instead of deeper, darker green from Brazil, this Mexican release features a much brighter and distinctive green hue. Frankly, it's amazing. And, I'd love for factory custom makers to emulate it on some of their releases. It's drastically different from anything released by Hasbro. So, it really stands out. And, juxtaposed against the red of Flash's pads, you get a stunning toy.
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Today marks the beginning of a few days of Flash. Flash was released around the world. So, I'm going to showcase each of his releases. First up is the Estrela release from Brazil. You'll note that this Flash is a much darker green color. The greens used on the early Brazilian figures are much richer and more vibrant than those used by Hasbro. And, the set of early Brazilian figures has much more visual distinction between the characters than Hasbro's original 13 figures. I would have loved for this color to appear among the factory customs...especially when the Flash mold was available.
Estrela released about 150 unique figures in Brazil. Most of them were very similar to the Hasbro figures. But, every figure had subtle differences. (With the exception of the figures that Estrela made for release in North America like the Slaughters Marauders and some mail aways.) In the old days, these differences were often ignored. But, in the past two or so decades, collectors have come to appreciate the subtle color nuances that exist between Hasbro and Estrela made figures.
The biggest difference is often the Brazilian green color. It is a richer and deeper green color. It appears on many Brazilian figures from the earliest years through the end of the Estrela line in 1995 or so.
Below, you can see the Brazilian release of Fast Draw that's named Reaktor. First, Reaktor is a great name...even if it would seem at home on a He-Man character. Secondly, you'll note that Reaktor was a member of the Brazilian Battle Force 2000 subset. He replaces Dodger, whose mold was retained by Hasbro for use in the Sonic Fighters line.
The most notable difference on the figure is the Brazilian green on both the figure and his accessories. There are other color modifications, too, especially the hue of red on his accents. Overall, though, the figure is darker than the Hasbro made figure. It allows for easy visual distinction between the versions.
.jpg "Brazilian Fast Draw, Reaktor, Forca2000, Battle Force 2000, 1987, Estrela, MOC")
Every year, Hasbro would go to the New York Toy Fair. Here, they would showcase a catalog of their upcoming year's worth of toys. As the Fair was early in the year, the catalog would often feature early designs and pre-production figures from various toy lines. Below is not the 1986 catalog. I'm not actually unsure of the origin of this image. But, it's not from the official Toy Fair catalog. But, in this promotional image, you can see several pre-production figures from the 1986 line. The 1985 figures are all production level. But, there are lots of 1986 goodies to explore.
The most interesting thing, of course, is that Mainframe still includes the little stands that were meant for his computer. The holes into which these would have been inserted did manage to survive on Mainframe's production computer. But, the stand was never released. It is likely this was done to save cost as the stand didn't really add any additional play value. But, the artifacts of it's early existence are proved out by its appearance in this photo.
Most people viewing this will likely focus on the BAT that is in the front and center of the presentation. You'll notice that it has a different chest hologram as well as a different head. This head appears squatter and fatter than the sleek head on the production figure. I think the production figure looks better. But, your mileage may vary.
Hawk also features an additional paint application on his helmet. The goggles are painted black. It's a very nice additional detail. And, while it would have been great to see it at retail, it's also not enough of a change to really notice it's missing.
Several of the figures feature alternate heads. The BAT and Dial Tone's heads are the most jarringly different from their production counterparts. There are also lots of subtle paint differences, too. Some of these figures might have been hand painted samples. The awkward posing on the 1986 figures suggests that they were not production level at the time the photo was taken.
You'll notice that Iceberg, Leatherneck, Low-Light, Monkeywrench, Zandar, Zarana and Roadblock are all missing from this display. I'm not sure why. I can see Zandar and Zarana being later releases while they finished up the color changing. (Zarana is noted in some material as featuring a color changing "mohawk" which never came to be.) All of these figures, though, do appear in the official Toy Fair catalog for 1986...with a few pre-production oddities of their own. By the time of the Toy Fair catalog, though, all of the pre-production figures from this photo (except the BAT) had been replaced with production figures: even while the missing figures remained pre-production in that later photo
Stormshadow was also carried over into 1986. This makes sense for one of the most popular G.I. Joe figures ever released. There was a time when I was hell-bent on finding a grey Stormshadow filecard that would denote his 1986 release. I can't recall if I ever succeeded in doing so or not. But, check out that 6109 assortment that included Stormshadow. You got Stormshadow, the 1985 Snake Eyes, Crimson Guard, Flint and the BAT in one case. By Toy Fair, though, the assortment was modified to drop the Crimson Guard, but add the Eel, Low Light and Leatherneck. That would have been a dream assortment to find hanging on the shelf at your local stores.
These old catalogs are a treasure trove of early designs and pre-production kitbashes. In later years, Hasbro got better at including more production level figures in their materials. At least until 1993 and 1994. But, we'll talk about those at a later time.
If you watch the toy commercials that aired during the vintage Joe days, you will find that they are chock full of pre-production and alternate paint job figures. Usually, this was a function of the fact that the commercials had to be shot before the actual production figures were available.
Below is the 1991 Eco Warriors Flint who appeared in the 1991 Eco Warriors commercial. The figure is actually shown with the backpack and water gun that was included with Ozone. The colors match Flint quite well. It was not uncommon to see Joe figures with incorrect accessories in commercials or in catalog photography. This was likely just a function of the producers having to make their best guesses as to which figures should have which gear.
The most interesting feature of this pre-production figure, though, is that the visor on Flint's helmet is painted a light blue. It's a small change that makes an incredible difference in the appearance of the figure. Oddly, with the visor painted, Flint's head looks similar to the 1991 Snow Serpent. But, it's almost certain that the missing paint application on the helmet was nothing more than a cost-cutting move.
If you watch the Eco Warriors commercial closely, you'll notice that the Cesspool that is used is also a pre-production design. It's still pretty similar to the production figure, though. There is also, though, a weird Duke figure that is nothing like any production Duke. The Duke also appeared in other contemporary commercials. A few years ago, someone tried to fake the Duke and pass it off as the one used in the commercial. But, it was sniffed out as a fraud by the community. But, the fact that we didn't see a production Duke until 1992 which had similar coloring, it makes you wonder if Duke was planned for a 1991 release and got pushed back. Or, if Hasbro just wanted to promote the Duke character even though they didn't have a figure of him available at retail. (Hasbro has stated that, for their Star Wars line, they can not put any figure on a box that they haven't released to retail. But, it's unclear if that's a general law or something specific to the Star Wars license.) But, it's a weird Duke that stuck around for a while before the 1992 Duke figure became available.
The second image is from the 1991 Toy Fair catalog. It also features Flint with the painted visor. You'll also note that he is now pictured with his correctly colored pack that matches production. But, he has a green version of his stand alone rifle. This weapon was never actually released in green. Which is too bad. I think the green gear is a better fit. But, it also didn't provide any contrast. And, Flint decked out in all green and yellow gear makes the gear hard to spot. The blue offsets his base colors better. So, these updated colors likely made for better retail presentation on the shelves of the time.
I'm a fan of the Eco Warriors Flint, in general. Had the figure been released with the painted visor on his helmet, I would be even more of a fan. That little paint application makes a huge difference in the appearance of the figure. It's really a shame it didn't make to the production release.
