2007 Lt. Clay Moore
Tank shenanigans aside, the best convention set ever made was probably the 2007 “Tanks for the Memories” set. I say that, because most of the convention sets strike me as boring retreads of old molds and concepts, likely chasing whatever was trendiest with collectors at the time. Whereas the 2007 set and to a lesser degree the 2003 set provided more new characters and concepts than just “An Iron Grenadier that looks different!” or “Road Pig, but in camo sweats!”. Case in point, Lt. Clay Moore is totally new and fresh, and is still the only toy of some guy who appeared for a minute and a half of a single Sunbow episode (Besides an ME figure I noticed after I wrote this, that totally looks like poo.).
Lt. Clay Moore isn’t a super important character or anything so fascinating that’s he’s better than Firefly or Zartan. As a figure though, what’s nice about him is that he represents something original, which stands out among a brand that’s been very inward looking for decades. It’s the same thing that makes characters like the equally poorly-named Shadow Tracker become instant hits, as neither of these identities are really all that captivating. Comparatively though, they’re a lot more interesting than the same limited roster of familiar names and faces in increasingly gaudy colors and outfits, or a newly invented army-builder that servers no real purpose.
With that said, I don’t have the most uses for Lt. Clay Moore. That’s not because he’s a bad figure, but rather, because he uses Balrog’s head, and I already use Balrog as a different Cobra. Clay Moore also loses some value in my collection for being a Shock Viper commander, and while I’m lucky enough to own a convention Clay Moore, I’m not lucky enough to own a single Shock Viper of either variety. For me, that doesn’t make him a figure without it’s uses, but it’s something that frustrates me when I want to use him. I see him as being a less skilled version of Major Bludd that Cobra keeps on file for when Bludd’s busy, hiding or otherwise unavailable. Just an elevated mook with a small amount of identity.
The toy’s made from the head of ‘93 Balrog with the full body of ‘94 Ice Cream Soldier. It’s a nice pairing of sculpts that has it’s advantages and disadvantages: I tend to find the larger Street Fighter head looks a lot more natural and at home with big-headed ‘86 figures, so Lt. Clay Moore matches up pretty nicely with some classic Vipers. The Ice Cream Soldier sculpt was also one that deserved some good repaints. It was already done in blue once before as the ‘02 Shock Viper, but as he leads those guys, I tend to find his colors to be more complimentary rather than repetitive. He also gets the advantage of looking a lot better than the Shock Viper, since that toy was slathered in a nasty looking wash, whereas Clay Moore has a nice and vibrant blue, mixed with some black and silver that makes him fit right in with a variety of Cobras.
If Lt. Clay Moore has a weakness, it’s probably his accessories. He includes a helmet (DTC Major Bludd’s), along with a grey gun and bazooka that was repurposed from General Blitz, from the ‘95 Sgt. Savage line. The nice thing is that the parts do make this feel like an entirely new figure. The less nice thing is that none of them are particularly good: his rifle is an FG 42. Despite being for a larger figure, it scales okay here too, but what’s irksome about the sculpt is the complete lack of a clip or magazine. The bazooka was a particularly odd choice too, given that most adult collectors cry at the very sight of a spring-loaded missile launcher, so it seems like a weird thing to include with an adult targeted toy (although it doesn’t look bad). Even the helmet is slightly flawed as it doesn’t really fit too tightly on his head, though some might prefer that to avoid paint-wear.
So when it comes to pricing Lt. Clay Moore… I really have no idea. Only one’s been up on eBay in the last three months, a listing from China that sold for $90, which was also incomplete. There’s no other Lt. Clay Moore’s that have been for sale, so it’s hard to figure out what one is really worth, but $50 to $90 would probably be about right. Complete ’07 Convention sets go for around $700, so that’s probably the smarter way to get one if you just happened to have $700 dollars laying around and nothing to do with it. Used to, this was a fairly cheap convention figure, hence why I own one at all. When he came out, it was a buyer’s market on top of being an o-ring figure when most people were “upgrading” to 25th Anniversary sculpts. The prices are finally starting to really drop on vintage stuff, but as this figure is hard to find now, I suspect he won’t get much cheaper any time soon.
It’s odd they got away with using Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat heads even if they were just on Convention figures. Speaking of Balrgo, if I had a choice between owning Clay Moore or SF Movie Balrog, I’d choose SF movie Balrog (whom I’ve seen in person).
The pairing of Lt. Clay Moore with a bunch of sexy female Cobra troopers was…questionable. That’s all I’ll say. And where were his Shock Vipers? Most con sets don;t have a leader without his troops. Which are flame throwers, except now they aren’t?
I forgot they made that modern version of Clay Mooore. I saw maybe one pack from that final Toys R Us wave.
The figure you saw in TRU was probably Tombstone, probably one of the few new characters introduced in the 50th Anniversary line–though his head sculpt was used for the Club’s FSS Clay Moore.
This was one of the stronger figures the convention team made. The head worked. And, the face paint wasn’t too distracting like it had been on the 2006 Red Dog. The colors were great and Clay Moore got convention level paint applications which really got to show off the quality of the Ice Cream Soldier mold in a way that even the 2002 Internet exclusive did not.
The gun is a sculpt that was created for the abandoned 1995 Battle Corps Rangers line. I forget which figure would have had it. But, Sgt. Savage was a graveyard for lost 1995 Joe accessories.
The characters in the ’07 set were great. The army builders were probably the worst idea Hasbro ever had. Their inclusion was championed by the guy who used to post pics of himself with adult film stars on the official G.I. Joe Fan Club webpage back in the late 1990’s. Which adds an extra layer of ick to the idea of the Night Stalker.
But, I think the overall set and attendee exclusives were my favorites of all the con sets. Still lots of wasted potential. But, a lot of gems. What’s odd is that they were all super cheap and available for years. But, the ’07’s have dried up moreso than most other years that had similar production runs. (Especially since there weren’t overstock ’07 con figures widely available from Asia.)
Lt. Clay Moore is on my list of regrets after I got rid of all of them that I had. He seems like the one guy I would have kept, too. So, I can’t really recall why I purged him from my collection. Now, no way I’m paying the current prices for any Con fig. They’re just too common for $300+ like you see. I expect them to fall pretty hard as the market evaporates. But, they’ll take the longest since they’ll be the last figures to go from many collections.
Wait, the Sgt. Savage gear was meant for the Battle Rangers?
A lot of it was. The Cryo Freeze Sgt. Savage included the mini-sub that was planned for the ’95 Mindbender. I believe the Arctic Stormtrooper’s gear was meant for the ’95 Blizzard.
One of the old DeClassified .pdf newsletters has a ton of the details. Though, I’m not sure if they’re still online or not.