Monthly Archives: November 2018

1985 Tollbooth

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1985 Tollbooth

Tollbooth is a strange figure for sure. He’s obscure, but he’s also fairly well liked by collectors. He’s a good looking figure; but isn’t all that useful. He has the older swivel-neck construction in a year where most of the other releases had ball joints. For one reason or another he’s a figure that’s just stranger than he should be.

Anything associated with GI Joe from 1986 and prior is a core part of the brand’s image and is generally well remembered. Odd characters like Copperhead and Wild Bill for example, aren’t really all that important yet Joe fans can sometimes herald them as irreplaceable parts of any decent character roster. That’s likely why characters like this continually saw updates going as far back as the tail-end of the vintage line. It makes sense, as this was the golden age for GI Joe; Tollbooth seems to be an exception to this line of thought however.

His obscurity likely isn’t helped by the vehicle he came packaged with, the Bridge Layer. It’s just a guess, but I imagine a typical kid buying Joe vehicles would go for something more action oriented like a Moray or VAMP ahead of what’s essentially a support vehicle. Of course, that’s far from a dismissal of the Bridge Layer. It’s a cool vehicle but logically, it’s only useful if you already have a collection of GI Joe vehicles at hand.

Tollbooth’s sculpt is honestly fantastic, and features a lot of nice details to look at. I think the best part is his head, with his strongly pronounced square jaw and tilted hardhat. There’s a lot of personality that just seems to emit from it that you didn’t see in every figure back then. The open shirt and dog-tags go along with that look.

The going rate for a mint Tollbooth is about $12 and sans hammer $6. He’s a really nice figure to go for so little, but the truth is that there isn’t too much to do with him. He’s meant to fill a support role and primarily drive a niche vehicle, so there’s not a whole lot of need for him. On the flip side, when you look at the quality present in a figure this obscure, it really speaks volumes about how much care went into the line to that point.

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1985 Tollbooth Links:

Forgotten Figures

Yo Joe

Joe a Day

1987 Crystal Ball

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1987 Crystal Ball

Originally, I was going to take a new photo of Raptor for this week’s post and write about him, but I forgot where I put him. So instead, I’m looking at a figure of similar quality and status among the collecting community: Crystal Ball.

1987 was the start of a different chapter in the life of the vintage ARAH line. With the GI Joe movie leading the push, the toy line took a deeper step into the sci-fi and fantasy elements of the line. It would seem fair to say that most of these concepts never took off well, and Crystal Ball’s a good example of that.

It may even be fair to say that Crystal Ball was one of, if not the most unpopular figure from the original line. Of course, there’s nothing but old stories and anecdotes to back up that claim, but it’s pretty common you hear about how badly this figure peg-warmed upon release. My older brother who had this figure, wasn’t even old enough for toys until closer to 1990. Let that paint an image in your head of how long these lingered at retail while all of the other ‘87 and ‘88 figures had long sold out.

With his infamous nature being said, I find that Crystal Ball really isn’t that bad of a figure, at least not compared to a few of his contemporaries. The paint is rather well detailed on the figure, especially his head. His hair is painted black and white, I suppose to represent graying; his eyelashes and irises are separately painted black and red too. The rest of the figure’s design may not make the most interesting Cobra agent, but at the very least it’s nicely colored and detailed.

Crystal Ball has two major weaknesses, the first being his character. He’s a hypnotist, and he interrogates Joes by reading their minds… I mean I guess it’s only as crazy as aliens, monsters, Serpentor and whatever else I’m fine with in Joe, but Crystal Ball just seems hokey on a conceptual level. It’s commonly said that Stephen King and his son Owen were either involved with, or directly created this character, which explains it enough for me.

“Born of a Romalian father (who supposedly had “second sight”) and an American mother from Bangor, Maine, Crystal Ball actually was the seventh son of a seventh son . . . and such men, the gypsies of old believed, were possessed of supernatural powers. That may or may not be true, but Crystal Ball can sometimes read minds, making him a unique addition to the Cobra forces, especially as an interrogator of captured Joes. Cobra doesn’t use torture to interrogate their prisoners; when Crystal Ball is having one of his good days, they simply don’t need to.
“When Crystal is around, ya don’t just have to watch what you’re sayin’; you have to watch what you’re thinkin’!” ”

Crystal Ball’s other major weakness, is his parts. The only thing he includes is a holographic shield that clips on his wrist. It’s a boring part/gimmick and I doubt it held the attention of children back then for long. Interestingly, most of the 1987 Cobra’s don’t include a gun, and Crystal Ball is no exception.

As you may know, the market for vintage figures has seen a lot of bizarre pieces shooting up in value recently. That’s certainly not the case for Crystal Ball, as this guy is as worthless as ever. Often you can find mint, complete Crystal Ball’s going at auction for around $5. If you don’t care about his silly shield, his value seems to plummet further to only a dollar or two. It’s very telling as to what collectors feel about the figure. Personally I don’t think he’s that bad, but I can’t think of a reason why anyone would really need him.

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1987 Crystal Ball Links:

Yo Joe

Half the Battle

Diorama by Cradea2

 

2005 Zartan (DTC Comic Pack)

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2005 Zartan

In 2005, GI Joe was low on my collecting radar and Toys R’ Us was a seldom stop for me. So most of the comic pack figures came and went without my knowledge. My collecting interests changed a lot as the 2000‘s came to a close, and with a bigger interest in oddball 2000‘s items like these, I picked up most of the good comic pack figures around 2010 and ‘11. The overstock was so bad on these they were available for years after release at retail price and even below that, which provided me with a good avenue for some unfamiliar sculpts. One such sculpt that I had never owned, was Zartan.

I think Zartan could be argued as one of the most important villains in the GI Joe storyline, but unfortunately, he doesn’t have a great history of action figures. After the classic V1 figure, you have a strange but decent Ninja Force release, a terrible ARAHC figure, some novel Joecon items, and a pair of sub-par New Sculpt era figures. As someone who wasn’t even born in the 80’s, it was always frustrating to have to few options for such a cool character.

For a comic-pack release, this Zartan is really nice. The colors are nicely different from the V1 figure, but aren’t so much of a departure that they look wrong. Of course, he no longer changes colors like the V1 figure, but some collectors might appreciate that gimmick being lost. Save for the head, the sculpt is entirely recycled from the V1 figure and marks the only other time it saw a retail release. If there had been a handful more of good or even decent repaints of this figure, this release might not have been as worthwhile, but such was not the case.

Speaking of that head, I have mixed feelings on it. Like a lot of figures from the time, it’s a little small. The face sculpt is pretty good, although I think the shape of the cowl looks a little exaggerated. The face paint is also strange looking, with black going all the way up his forehead.Has he ever looked like this? The sculpt looks a lot worse without that trademark diamond pattern on his face.

I never liked Zartan’s removable chest and leg pads. Like with the HEAT Viper, it seems they serve no purpose beyond getting lost. This figure loses Zartan’s iconic pistol and disguise and replaces it with a bow, arrow and quiver. The convention figure didn’t have it either, so I assume it was lost in the transition between Funskool and Hasbro. These parts were a huge appeal with the original and it’s a shame they were lost. At the very least, the new bow and arrow set’s nice in it’s own right, and is an appropriate part for the character.

V1 Zartan’s aren’t cheap or easy to get, and the later figures are all either novelties or are crappy. So if you want an alternative for a decent Zartan figure, your choices are this one and the Funskool figure. They certainly aren’t as easy to find as they used to be (what is), but the sealed set with a nifty Fred Cobra Commander, Zarana and a reprint of #74 barely tops $20, so that’s not a bad option.

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2005 Zartan Links:

Generalsjoes

Yo Joe

Joe A Day