2005 Scrap Iron (Comic Pack)

Posted on April 27, 2020 by mwnekoman

2005 Scrap Iron (Comic Pack)

During the 2005 Comic Pack line, it was a rare day when you saw a set that featured three good figures. More of the time, you’d get one or two good figures, and one figure that was completely unnecessary. Such was the case with this Scrap Iron, who’s easily the worst release of the character, but also has an egregious flaw that’s not come to light until recent years.

The truth is, I do not now, and never have really hated this figure. Objectively, it’s a barebones repaint in neon colors with bad accessories, though it does still have some appeal. If you like brightly colored repaints, it’s pretty fun seeing the Scrap Iron mold rendered in ridiculously bright colors that are similar to the Cobra Soldados. It’s curious and stands out particularly well, so there’s some novel appeal if you like that.

The mold is a full repaint of the Urban Division Scrap Iron from 2004, which was already a great version of Scrap Iron and a solid recreation of his original tooling. With that being the case, it really makes me think this slot would’ve been better used on some other repaint besides a Scrap Iron. Plenty of good ARAH molds got overlooked in this era for a figure like this one, who seems unnecessary. In it’s own right, this repaint is passable, but it reflects how Hasbro rarely made the best choices during this time.

The last nail in the coffin for this figure is the yellowing. In 2020, it’s more often you see these badly discolored than you do in mint condition, and that’s very disheartening for a figure that’s barely fifteen years old. Even MOC examples are turning green at an alarming rate, while the Serpentor and Firefly packed beside him remain pristine. It points me to think that this figure yellowing is a foregone conclusion, and one’s that haven’t will eventually. Here’s a montage of sealed examples I found on eBay, just from a recent search:

gi joe scrap iron comic pack hasbro 2005 valor vs venom

Other figures from the early 2000‘s are having similar issues (Spy Troops CC, Alley Viper, ect), but it appears most pronounced in this guy. Truthfully, it’s a relief that a boring figure like this one is what must be doomed to discolor, rather than a better release from the same period. Still, it speaks to me that the quality of 2000‘s plastic formulas may not be as good as we thought when these figures were new.

Parts are a pretty big issue with this figure. He includes the 1992 Destro pistol, the Shockwave pistol, and the bazooka with the muzzle from 1991 Zap. I guess you didn’t see that Zap bazooka everyday, so it wasn’t typical, though it feels far from natural with Scrap Iron. The Destro pistol is a good part, but it played itself out in the 2000‘s and was far too generic. Then you get the Shockwave pistol, which really is just a terrible and oversized part. Overall, a generic selection of mediocre parts.

These Scrap-Irons aren’t worth a lot. Typically they go for around $5 on the seldom occasion you find one apart from the Firefly and Serpentor he came with. With the other two, you can still get them for as little as $15. If you can’t get this guy as a freebie with Firefly and Serpentor, there’s really no reason to bother. Even if you like the look of the figure, there’s no guarantee it won’t just spontaneously discolor at a given moment, which erodes what little appeal this figure had in the first place.

2005 Scrap Iron (Comic Pack) Links:

Yo Joe

Joe A Day

1992 Big Bear

Posted on April 21, 2020 by mwnekoman

1992 Big Bear

Big Bear is a weird figure for me. A few oddities about him, mainly his deco, have always turned me towards 1998 Gorky as my default version of the sculpt. I still think that’s a somewhat better figure as Big Bear than the original is, but this is a very strong figure from the tail-end of the line that’s worth recognizing.

One of the coolest things GI Joe did in the 90‘s (that oddly enough, it’s rarely credited for) is bring us figures based on the October Guard from the early Marvel issues. This came in the way of Red Star, and Big Bear, neither of whom were characters from those early issues, but it was cool for them to finally put the concept in toy-form so many years after the fact. Of course, the most amusing part is that the Soviet Union dissolved the year before this toy came out, but that didn’t lessen the usefulness of the figure.

The quality and style of Big Bear has a lot more in common with an early eighties figure than it does a nineties figure. The sculpt is highly detailed and the colors are fairly good too. His design features a simple uniform that avoids being busy or over-the-top, and instead shows natural details like fabric folds and whatnot. The only thing I can really gripe about is that his paint applications leave something to be desired. The colors themselves are pretty good, but he looks somewhat flat with so much green and nothing else to really break up his colors. I also really hate that his eyes are red like his beard, which looks cheap to me.

I find his parts to be very interesting and curious; his gun in particular. The card describes it as an AK-88, a fictional Soviet-styled SMG, but it looks a lot more like the real-life PP-19 Bizon SMG. Many strange guns in ARAH were based on actual designs, so it doesn’t seem odd that this gun would be based on the Bizon. Yet, as far as I know, the Bizon was still in the planning in 1993. It could just be a coincidence, but it has made me wonder over the years if this gun was based on an early patent for the Bizon or something similar to that. A bigger gun enthusiast might know more definitively, but it’s cool to me none the less.

As for his overall load out, it’s pretty good. You get the aforementioned AK-88, which is a great part the figure can easily hold and pose with. You also get a nice and simple backpack, a missile launcher, and a stand. The missile launcher is really an ugly and oversized piece that provides nothing for the figure, but ignoring it, the figure has a decent gun and backpack similar to classics like Leatherneck, or the Viper.

Big Bear’s are worth about $8 complete, on a pretty consistent basis. 1992 figures are pretty common, so it makes sense that he doesn’t go for a whole lot. Still, it’s a cool figure that’s especially worth having, even if you’re not a big 90‘s fan. Then again, for all that he’s worth, I still think the 1998 Gorky is the better Big Bear.

1992 Big Bear gi joe Cobra ARAH vintage Hasbro October guard red star volga gorky

1992 Big Bear gi joe Cobra ARAH vintage Hasbro October guard

1992 Big Bear Links:

Funskool Skydiver

Posted on April 7, 2020 by mwnekoman

Funskool Skydiver

When I first got into collecting vintage and o-ring figures again, online Joe dealers still had ample supplies of Funkskool overstock. I took a pretty standard approach to this and sought out what I mainly considered to be the best stand-ins for costly vintage figures, like V1 Flint, but one figure stood out to me as being so strange that I had to have him: Skydiver.

A lot of the time you’ll see this figure identified by collectors as Tiger Force Crazylegs, but I really don’t know why people think that. Nothing about the figure identifies him as Crazylegs, or a member of the Tiger Force. The only thing that ties him to either of these concepts is the usage of Crazyleg’s head and gun, with some yellow and black pattern pants that vaguely resembles the poorly done tiger-camo on Funskool Tiger Force Life Line. Skydiver is pretty clearly defined on the card as being his own character.

Note: Image borrowed from Yo Joe, link at the bottom. I’ve spent days looking for my Skydiver card and have no idea where I put it…

Speaking of the card, have a look at that thing! Is he dropping into a volcano? A few Funskool figures were released on non-standard cards like this, which featured unique art and backgrounds. Unique characters like Super Cop, Street Hawk and Super Hero came on cards like this, which I’m somewhat unclear on the significance of.

Skydiver is made from the body of 1986 Beachhead and the head of 1987 Crazylegs. It’s an interesting parts combo that fits pretty well and looks decent for a paratrooper. Crazylegs and Beachhead both had similarly sized heads, so the proportions don’t look much worse to me. What really sits this figure apart from Beachhead or Crazylegs, is his insane color scheme. All red torso, bright yellow camouflage pants, bright blue belts, everything that could be bright is bright. Still, that colorful and bizarre look is what’s charming about the figure.

For parts, Skydiver comes light with only Crazyleg’s gun and a very cheap parachute. No stock is included for the gun, and the parachute ties around his shoulders: there’s no backpack or anything that it ties or attaches to. It’s a little disappointing that his parts are so sparse, but things like this are sometimes easier to overlook in the general picture of Funskool’s bizarreness. I could try and say “At least the gun’s black!”, but with a figure like this, I’d have probably found it entertaining if the gun were powder blue too.

What prompted me to write about this figure, was discovering the insane new value he’s attained like many other Funskool figures. $100 seems to be the new normal for Skydivers, which is astounding considering a decade ago you could barely give this figure away. I wholeheartedly don’t recommend paying that much for this figure, as he’s neither rare nor particularly exceptional.

Though, it is somewhat of a separate topic, the massive increase in value for Funskool figures is fascinating to me. Technically speaking, these figure are not rare. In fact, many of them are probably some of the most common, most produced GI Joe figures in existence. Yet, a few short years after they were imported en masse, these figures have seen a consistent increase in value across the board, and become far more scarce (on the market). It’s a complete mystery to me why this happened, but it’s also fun to watch how long it lasts.