1987 Sea Slug

Posted on February 24, 2020 by mwnekoman

1987 Sea Slug

1987 was a weird year for GI Joe. I imagine it was hectic at Hasbro following the relative failure of the ‘86 Transformers movie, the cancellation of Sunbow season 3, and the fact that ARAH was on it’s fifth straight year, with the initial batch of fans getting out of toys. Reflecting this, you saw a real shift in the line’s style compared to the prior years, and some strange figures such as the Sea Slug are potentially a result of that.

The Sea Slug is a figure I have a hard time arguing a need for. There are so many naval Cobras that are vastly more fun and interesting than him, not to mention visually pleasing. I think the only reason I even own the figure is because I bought him during a depressed phase in my life where literally any vintage figure I could get my mitts on was a vice to help me through the week. The bright side of toy collecting as a vice, is that unlike other stress outlets such as substance abuse, I suffer no long-term repercussions other than having this terrible figure to gripe about.

A lot of 87‘s have remarkably good sculpts and character designs. Just of the Cobras, I can find a lot to like about the Techno Viper, Cobra Commander, Gyro Viper, and even the Royal Guard. The amount of interesting detail you see on the Sea Slug is far less than any of those figures. His torso is almost devoid of anything to make it remarkable or interesting. The rest of his look, like his head or the sculpt on his boots is just weird and tacky looking. The vague shapes and details make him look more like a Flash Gordon reject.

Sea Slugs, like too many other Cobra’s have a prominent chest decoration that’s made from delicate silver paint. It’s strange, given that other figures from this point aren’t as often worn as earlier figures like the Cobra Officer. It’s actually quite easy to find perfectly mint Techno-Vipers, compared to Sea Slugs. Not trying to make it sound like they’re rare or precious or anything, but anecdotally, they seem more prone to wear.

Amusingly, he comes with a small pistol. Much like the figure, it’s neither necessary nor very good, but as a small bonus it’s definitely something that adds more value to a vehicle driver. I could’ve swore I had one, but upon further investigation, it seems I don’t. Must have never bothered with it because it’s pretty mediocre looking, but maybe when I get around to getting a Sea Ray, I’ll get a pistol for this guy too.

I always feel like a lousy groupthinker whenever I dismiss a figure like this, that seemingly no one else likes either. Complete Sea Slugs can be had for as little as $5, which is astounding given how much other figures go for on the market these days. Though, the Sea Slug is a terrible and almost useless figure, so it makes sense to me. As a notorious cheapskate and army-builder hedonist, I’m tempted to get another, though frankly I doubt I will.

Sea Slug Sea Ray GI Joe arah cobra vintage o-ring hasbro

1987 Sea Slug Links:

2005 Frostbite (Valor vs Venom)

Posted on February 10, 2020 by mwnekoman

2005 Frostbite

Normally, I might’ve not thought to write about a figure this odd from the New-Sculpt era, but, a brief and sudden snowstorm gave me an opportunity to explore him for a bit to take some snow photos before the snow melted. In hindsight, the so called “New-Sculpt” era comes off as an obscure footnote, paling in comparison to the size and scale of GI Joe in the 1980‘s. Yet, toys like this one were of good quality, and were I given the option to do so, I would use this construction for a revival of the GI Joe brand.

The New-Sculpt style of figures was flawed, but in ways I think it would be ideal if Hasbro went back to this construction style.Ultimately, this was a modern take on the classic o-ring construction, which meant that the figures had similar function and playability. Compared to the 25th/Modern style figures, these were much less fiddly and were functionally more consistent. The later construction cemented GI Joe as a collector’s line, which has ultimately lead us to the current moment. While articulation and functioning-gear gimmicks like removable pistols and vests are good, it’s imperative that the toys retain the overall function and play pattern that made them popular at the line’s peak moments.

As for Frostbite, the design lacks character in certain regards, but overall is a good quality figure from this period in time. The proportions are quite good, and the sculpt has the right amount of detail as well. The main problem with the figure is that he’s generic and lacks the character of V1 Frostbite. Looking at his head sculpt which lacks his distinctive beard, you could just as well say he’s some Viper as much as he is Frostbite. Touching back on my earlier point, I feel like this figure represents a problem with the era, in how it demonstrates this style of construction at it’s best; while also demonstrating the line’s overall lack of character and identity.

The accessories are a bit curious, but in general I’d consider them fun. He includes a snowboard, missiles for the snowboard, a riffle, a gauntlet communicator, and a paintball gun, oddly. Most of these parts seem pretty standard, although nice overall. As the first instance of this paintball gun, I feel like it’s inclusion is worth commenting on. It’s a fairly nice part, but why does he have it? What does he do with it? I can’t really think of anything besides just that paintball was popular at the time. The rest of his parts are decent, the snowboard in particular is quite good. Besides being able to mount the missiles on it, it has adjustable foot mounts that add extra playability to the piece. The fact that the parts are fun and relatively unique to the figure does a lot to elevate him over many of his contemporaries.

There’s a variant of this figure for whatever it’s worth in the form of the 2008 single-card release. Like all of those figures, slight changes were made to the paint colors, such as his goggles, skin, and most noticeably the camouflage on his legs. It’s pretty insignificant, and of course the 2005 release is objectively better for including parts, though, it is very interesting to see how much a figure can change between production runs that are only a few years apart.

New-Sculpt figures aren’t valued by collectors, and this is reflected in the price of figures like Frostbite. If you hunt, you can get a complete Frostbite for a handful of dollars, but, it does seem that that would require some hunting now. Like with many figures from the Valor vs Venom line, only a handful ever seem to be on the market at any given time. If you wanted to represent this period in you collection with the best it had to offer, Frostbite’s a figure worth tracking down.

Gi joe frostbite valor vs venom 2005 2004 Snow Wolf Cobra vvv vintage hasbro

2005 Frostbite Links:

Yo Joe

Joebattlelines

General Joes

Forgotten Figures: Rarities – Unproduced 2002 – 2005 New Sculpt Figures

1992 Rat

Posted on February 4, 2020 by mwnekoman

1992 Rat

There’s been a wave of 90‘s nostalgia spreading through the Joe community as of late, which as a kid of 1990‘s, I want to warmly embrace. The 1990‘s was full of pieces from the GI Joe line that were excellent, but there was also the things we love to forget. And of the things that we love to forget, one of which is the Cobra Rat.

I’m not really enough of an expert to know why, but the 1992 and ’91 vehicles are a particular kind of terrible. It’s like almost everything from those years was cheap or poorly designed, save for a few examples the like the excellent Parasite or the Storm Eagle. The Rat is no exception to this and is one of the cheapest vehicles I’ve ever handled.

The vehicle is completely hollow with no bottom. In hand, you might think you’re missing half of the vehicle’s hull, but no: it’s totally complete that way. As such, the vehicle’s construction is very simple, mainly consisting of one body piece, with a bunch of smaller pieces that clip onto it. This inherently makes the vehicle feel cheaper than almost any other piece I’ve handled, to the point that I’d say it doesn’t even feel like a GI Joe toy.

Despite all of this, I have a very mild, mild sentimentality towards the Rat. The 25th Anniversary line really took my interest in 2007, which was during my early teen years. Since there was no vehicles until late 2008 for that line, collectors had to make do with what vintage vehicles could support the bulky and frigid articulation of those figures. Incidentally, the Rat has a generously roomy cockpit, helped especially by the fact that any figure’s feet poke through the bottom of the vehicle, so I ended up using it more prominently than I otherwise would have.

The vehicle has at least a few gimmicks, so I guess you could say that’s one of it’s redeeming features. First, is a launching rotor that tabs onto one side of the back of the vehicle, with a second that can be carried on the other side. There’s a pair of rotating saws that clip into the bottom of the vehicle, and lastly, two double-miniguns that can turn to the vehicle’s sides. Most of these gimmicks are pretty bland if you ask me, but I’ll admit the miniguns look cool, and I’ve imagined more than a few times what the fate of the Steel Brigade on the other side of them would look like.

Because of it’s obscurity, you don’t see Cobra Rat’s as often as other vehicles. However, make no mistake: It’s an almost worthless vehicle and practically nobody wants them. So, if you’re in the market for one, the good news is that you’re likely to pay more for shipping than you will the entire vehicle. Aesthetically, I could see how someone might think it looks good enough for display with some other 90‘s Cobra items, but it’s really a terrible vehicle and I don’t recommend it.