1994 Shipwreck
Shipwreck is probably among the most memorable and iconic GI Joe characters in the franchise. Especially for people who came in on Sunbow, Shipwreck was kind of the cartoon’s alternative to Clutch, as a similar kind of personality who was easier to identify with than characters like Flint, Duke or Snake Eyes. Despite his popularity, he really never received all that many toys, only being represented by his original in ‘85 and this Battle Corps version nine years later.
So this version of Shipwreck is a diver, which is hard to say whether this makes Shipwreck more usable or less usable. Although it’s the most recognizable element of the character, Shipwreck seems a little more cohesive outside of his sailor duds. It weakens his identity a bit, but also makes me imagine a lot of different scenarios where you might find Shippy in diving gear. Since I was a kid I’ve always imagined this Shipwreck going on a lot of sabotage missions, rendering him somewhat of a Joe equivalent to Firefly.
Like many ‘93 and ‘94 figures, Shipwreck is recycles the waist and legs from older sculpts, in this case ‘86 Wet Suit. In a few cases this mold recycling was a little more arbitrary, like with ‘94 Major Bludd, but here I feel like it somewhat benefits the figure for tying him back to Wet Suit, and adds a little continuity to their designs. They’re both GI Joe divers, it sort of makes sense to me that they’d share similar equipment/outfits.
For parts, you get a diving mask, two flippers, a Shockwave pistol, Bullhorn’s Steyr AUG, and a Hit&Run riffle and knife all in black, in addition to a silver missile launcher (and it’s missiles). I always appreciate old figures that came with decent looking black guns, even if it might’ve been nicer for him to have some kind of diver-specific part like a spear gun. The rubber mask is really one of the most fun parts that comes with this figure, as it also makes him one of the only diver figures that has a fully removable mask and air-intake.
This mold got a couple of repaints, most of which weren’t really better than this release, but not really worse either. He showed up in ‘98 as a part of the Navy Assault Unit set, colored black with bright green highlights. He then showed up another time in 2001 as apart of the ARAHC line, looking just like this figure with the addition of paint-wipes. This figure already had fine colors, so I’m not sure there’s much else you’d do with it, though a brighter repaint might’ve been kind of neat.
‘94 Shipwrecks go for about $15 to $20 complete, though for much less incomplete. I notice this with more Battle Corps figures these days, where there’s huge discrepancies between what a complete and incomplete figure will go for. It strikes me as odd, given that with most of these figures like Shipwreck, the parts are totally generic and not even unique to the figure. His exact same tree of parts was included with both Cross-Country and the two versions of Battle Corps Roadblock, so between the three of them, there’s a lot of these parts out there. Either way, he’s a nice figure, and worth getting in some fashion.
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- This photo is kinda bad, but I took it 12 years ago, which makes me nostalgic now.
I liked this guy so much that I bought 2 of them at retail. I never cared for it being Shipwreck. But, I loved the fact that it could be a non-descript diver. The mask was the type of thing I’d wanted since I was a kid. So, it just won me over.
I also loved that he didn’t come with a speargun. Having him include real weapons made me think of him as more of a raider and shoreline invader than a diver. I always wanted SEALs to operate as the Eels did in Special Missions #1. And, Shipwreck including these weapons got me there.
For a figure that was pretty ridiculed and disliked in the early 2000’s, he fetches a pretty good price now. (Everyone’s forgotten about Stinky Diver.) I’m really surprised at how much many of the more common 1994 figures have risen in price. It’s tough to see this figure going for $20+ when I used to army build them for $3 or $4 each and carded figs sold for $10.
I expect that it’s difficult to find this figure complete because most kids and collectors didn’t keep the generic accessories with him. I re-accessorized most of my ’90s figures that came with weapon trees.
One very important accessory Hasbro missed with this figure is an air tank! The mask just plugs into his dive suit with no visible place to store oxygen. What exactly is he breathing from there? Toroedo’s backpack had ridiculously small air containers, but at least there was something.
It’s a chest rebreather system, albeit a bit too small looking.
Having characters in different environment gear isn’t a bad thing. But yes, this was one of just two Shipwreck in the vintage line, so it seems odd. They chose to ignore Torpedo, which this figure could’ve been sans facial hair.
The carrying case handled launcher was different and IIRC, unique to the figure.
If Battle Corps were more figures like this, even in just realistic coloration, people might’ve been kinder to it.
This is a figure I’ve never seen in person, or any of the repaints for that matter, it was neat to learn he used 86 Wet Suit parts!
I’m not really sure where I stand on Shipwreck as a diver. Him being a sailor was kind of a unique aspect to the character, that separated him from Torpedo and Wet-Suit. Also that boat in the background is very cool what’s it from?
The boat is the Hurricane from a line called Soldier Force, which I think is just the new name for True Heroes. For around $30, it’s a really neat toy that has a lot of potential for photos.