1993 Outback
V1 Outback is one of my favorite GI Joe figures. He looks cool, he has great accessories, a great character, and in general, fits the part of the kind of moive-like action hero who can sometimes fight big battles all on his own, if your imagination works that way. All of that together makes for a character we should see more often than we do, but his fourth (kinda third) toy from Battle Corps left a lot to be desired.
So originally Outback V3 would’ve been apart of the Eco Warriors, but that sub line was canceled similar to DEF, and it’s releases were moved over to the Battle Corps lineup of ‘93. The colors on this release are extremely bright, which is fairly similar to the tones you typically saw from Eco Warriors. The figure was then promptly repainted into some new colors more similar to the Battle Corps toys, and that’s where you wind up with version 4.
This Outback has a curious look to him, to say the least. For some reason he’s wearing a hardhat now, which makes him look more like a random lumberjack or construction worker. His shirt and pants are also much more on the plain end, and he doesn’t seem to be wearing anything that would protect him from the dangerous chemicals the Eco Warriors would typically encounter. To make him even better, he’s primarily green and khaki, with bright blue and orange details all over, in addition to some little bits of gold and black. I really can’t think of a figure that had more random colors than this one.
Gotta be honest, I find almost nothing redeeming or fun about this figure. A lot of the ‘93 redesigns were on the controversial end, like with Dr. Mindbender or Law, but those toys at least have some interesting visual elements going on with them. This Outback however, just looks really boring. The design is bland and doesn’t really seem to serve a clear purpose. Even the infamous Fishn’ Trip Bazooka from that year looks a lot more appealing than this figure does. In decent colors this mold might be salvageable, but there’s not much potential that was wasted here.
For accessories you get a tree of bright red parts, featuring Hit&Run’s carbine, Big Ben’s LMG, Ambush’s EM2 rifle, two missiles and a figure stand (as well as a blue missile launcher). It’s weird how almost every other Joe included some kind of knife or machete, but the survivalist just comes with random guns. At the very least, they are good guns, so if you’re another individual who’s developed a fondness for bright parts, you could probably find some uses for them. They don’t really make this Outback a good toy though.
Almost every Battle Corps Outback you will find is MOSC. Carded, he’s worth about $14, and loose he’s worth about $9. It’s really funny how heavily certain ‘93 and ‘94 Joes were hoarded by speculators who expected to get rich off of these; the fact that almost every example of this Outback that you find is carded makes me wonder how many kids ever even played with this guy.
Just to be clear (because your text is a little ambiguous on it), your photos are of the V4 figure with khaki pants and black hardhat. The V3 (that was originally supposed to be in Eco Warriors) had weird blue/green marbled pants and a bright yellow hardhat.
That’s true, so I added “(Version 4)” to the tittle text just now. Thanks for the input!
A thick chested figure. Because the original Outback was muscled?
The head sculpt is good.
The chest gear is lost in a sea of orange.
He’s like a cave explorer/search and rescue version. If he had gear to back that up, he’d be more liked. But this a case where generic random accessories don’t do the figure any favors. I doubt the eco warrior release would’ve been better, probably just a squirt gun.
Battle Corps created this weird thing where characters could be distinctly different, have bright colors, yet become generic because of accessories and presentation.
Oof! This figure is not good. Does anyone know why Hasbro started using these plump torsos in 1993? They came out of nowhere, and they infect so many figures (Outback, Mace, Cross Country, Shipwreck, etc.) The sculpting in the 90s was usually really strong, but then some figures had torsos shaped like walnut shells. So weird.
I wasn’t a kid. But, I did open mine back in ’95 or so when I found one at retail. I actually did like him. I saw him as a combat engineer: not Outback.
Sadly, the best paint job on the mold is the Brazilian Marfim. Early on, Marfim was like a $10 carded figure and was plentiful. Then, they all disappeared and he’s stupidly expensive.