1986 Leatherneck

Posted on September 28, 2021 by mwnekoman

1986 Leatherneck

I really have a fondness towards 1986 Joes, although I don’t think it was the best year of the vintage line. Largely, it’s the year where Hasbro began replacing characters and doubling up on more guys with the same specialty. Leatherneck for example, comes off as a replacement for Gung-Ho. One could argue he’s not a bad replacement for Gung-Ho though, or in some ways, is a nice compliment as an additional Marine.

When I started buying vintage Joes in the late 2000‘s, I had almost no money, and a lot of classics were typically out of my price range. For the most part though, 1986 guys were a cheap series of figures to complete, so my early o-ring acquisitions were characterized mostly by guys from this one year. During that time, I ended up giving more attention to figures like Leatherneck than I otherwise might have done, so my opinion of the figure is colored by a sense of sentimentality I rarely feel towards most stuff.

Leatherneck is one of those go-to Joes you can use in a lot of places with a lot of other figures. I really like the relative consistency you can see in his design and colors when compared with figures like Flint and Footloose just to name a few. The only real downside to this is that he does lose some uniqueness, which is something Gung-Ho still has over him. Still, I’m not huge Gung-Ho fan, and the generic qualities of Leatherneck lends him to more situations for me.

The sculpt is pretty sharp on Leatherneck. I particularly like his vest/torso, and find that the details are very crisp on it. It’s a fair argument to say that other parts of the sculpt are a bit on the softer end, but overall it’s good enough for me. The only thing that really bothers me about the overall look of the figure, is the paint on his arms. While most of his deco is quite good, the flesh paint on his arms isn’t quite opaque enough, meaning his hands have a slight greenish hue. It bugs me a bit.

As for his parts, Leatherneck included a simple kit consisting of a small backpack and a gray M-16A2 w/ M203 grenade launcher. I find this M-16 a bit vexing, as I don’t like the sculpt very much. Compared to other M-16 sculpts like Frostbite’s, I feel the details just don’t come out as strong here. I also think the handle looks really long, especially compared to the nice M-16 sculpt from ‘82 Grunt. To redeem this one though, I think it’s nice that Hasbro showed enough attention to detail to sculpt multiple variants of the M-16. This particular model wasn’t even that old when Leatherneck came out.

Right now, a complete V1 Leatherneck will cost you around $15 to $18. I was pretty astounded by this, as $15 seemed like what one would fetch on the high-end, but there’s even odd examples of Leatherneck’s selling for $30! It’s far more than he’s worth and it’s quite apparent to me that he’s been badly affected by the current price surge. I’ve seen a lot of people with Marine family members (or who have been Marines) and have a special attachment to Leatherneck for that reason alone, so it’s probably why his price has gone up so much.

1986 Leatherneck Links:

Featured Images from ARAH Gallery

Posted on September 21, 2021 by mwnekoman

This week’s blog post didn’t pan out, largely because of the constant rain I’ve been getting. However, I’ve been meaning to start a new feature here at The Viper Pit, showing off some of the fantastic images posted at my forum ARAH Gallery. Here’s some favorites by Forgotten Figures, The Dragon Fortress, General Liederkranz, and Attica Gazette:

Overlord – Mike T.

The Prisoners – R.T.G.

The Mauler Was Here – General Liederkranz

Satellite Shenanigans – Dragonfortress

If you feel impressed too, feel free to stop by ARAH Gallery and post your own fantastic images.

1993 Gristle

Posted on September 14, 2021 by mwnekoman

1993 Gristle

I’ve spoken before of how I’m a big fan of the Headhunters, so it probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that I like Gristle a lot. Overall he’s kind of a mediocre figure, but he has enough of a role, and presents enough quality that I’ve always found him to be useful. Given that I also don’t like the 1993 lineup much as a whole, he stands out to me as probably one of the best releases from that year.

The Headhunters are a small group, so they don’t have much in the way of named agents. In fact, Gristle is literally the only unique Headhunter besides Headman, who’s the group’s requisite leader. This alone makes him fairly important in my collection, and overall I’d rate him as actually being a bit more useful than Headman. Headman’s a background character, possibly more so than Cobra Commander; going out and getting directly into danger wouldn’t make much sense for him. Meanwhile, Gristle acts as the field-commander for the Headhunters, and would probably be often found in the middle of crack alleys that the Headhunters have turned into war zones.

Technically, Gristle is a Cobra, because the DEF line was canceled and his sculpt was shuffled off to the ‘93 Battle Corps line-up. I don’t think of him this way very much, as I prefer to think of the Headhunters as a separate and distinct threat from Cobra, though, one that might intermingle with them and their related organizations. Mind you, the whole War on Drugs angle of the DEF line was probably one of the most propagandistic moments for the brand, so it really wasn’t a travesty that they moved away from that. Still, I prefer having a diverse selection of bad-guys/terror groups to making Cobra any more bloated than it already was by ‘93.

Gristle has a pretty nice sculpt. While I like late-line 90‘s figures, I typically associate them with busy designs that often overcompensate on things like grenades. Gristle, for the most part, only wears a detailed bike-suit with nothing on it that looks too absurd. His head’s a little cheesy with that pony-tail, but I like it. It gives him some personality that he certainly needs. There’s also a really nicely sculpted skull-buckle on his waist, which is sharp and nicely done compared to other attempts at a similar detail.

The colors could be a weak spot on Gristle, despite the nice sculpt. I’ve personally gotten to where I care a lot less about fluorescent colors than I used to, though this particular combination of burgundy with green-yellow strikes me as being very ugly, besides being very neon. For a longtime, I really wanted to get the darker colored Joecon repaint of this figure, but I always prioritized different things over a drab repaint of a figure I already like, so I never ended up with one.

His parts are okay. Like most of his contemporaries, he comes with nothing unique, and instead a generic runner of parts also seen with the Headhunter Stormtrooper and the Star Brigade Astro Viper. That includes a Rock Viper PSG1 rifle, ‘92 Destro’s pistol, and a Shockwave knife, all rendered in a dark red color that matches the figure. As well, he also included a yellow missile launcher, missiles, and a figure stand. These are decent guns, so he’s not much worse off for including them, but generic parts always hurt the appeal of a figure, if only by a bit.

Like with many figures these days, the prices of ‘93 Gristles can be random. Still, you can occasionally get one complete for about $10, and even carded for $20 if you look for long enough. I don’t think Gristle has ever been very popular, and 1993 figures tend to be common too, so that’s likely why his price has remained low.

1993 Gristle Links:

Forgotten Figures

Half the Battle

Joe a Day

1986 Low-Light

Posted on September 6, 2021 by mwnekoman

1986 Low-Light

Low-Light’s a figure that hits all the right notes, which makes him a favorite for me and probably most other Joe fans. His character was great in Sunbow, his toy had a fantastic specialty, and it’s colors were perfect. He’s not perfect, and I think he might be a slight step-down in quality from some of the ‘85 icons, but he’s still probably one of the best GI Joe figures ever made.

I feel like for myself, Low-Light offers an alternative to Snake Eyes, especially after Snake Eyes became primarily a ninja. In my mind, he’s a top-tier commando badass who can do basically anything, and sometimes may have been a slight Golgo 13 expy. This is also what I’ve usually used Commando Snake Eyes as, but I really just don’t like Snake Eyes that much, so Low-Light suits me better. He has a face and a personality that Snake Eyes lacks, and also isn’t caught up in the overexposed Arashikage plot-line, which tied up a few too many characters in my opinion.

Low-Light’s design is super cool. He has one of those futuristic vests you saw a lot in his year, with figures like Roadblock and Cross-Country. The quality of the sculpt is very strong, and the details are both crisp and plentiful on him. I also really like his goggles, which make him look a tad more mysterious, and also introduce a nice splash of red to an otherwise drab figure. There’s enough zippers and pockets on Low-Light to almost make him look busy, but it works in the figure’s favor, especially helped by having enough paint to make these details stand out nicely.

There’s one thing that bugs me about Low-Light, and it’s his head. Like a lot of the ‘86 cast, his head is pretty big. I think it’s a bit better than Beachhead’s, but it’s still on the larger end. I think I’ve commented on it before, but the big heads in ‘86 are just bizarre to me. It seems like a lot of the ‘85 figures were moving towards more solid proportions with what you can see in Flint, Alpine, Footloose and others, but then we go back to big heads a year later. It doesn’t ruin the figure or anything close, but it’s always something that stuck out to me about figures from this year.

A classic part of the figure is his gear. He included a sniper-rifle, an uzi, and a nice black backpack. The sniper rifle appears to be an Enfield L39A1, though years ago I always assumed it was an M14. It’s a really nice sculpt with a night-scope, and a detachable bipod. Of course, the bipod is flimsy and seems to be always missing, but it’s a nice play feature either way. The uzi got around to a few other figures, and is the same one later included with Law and Order. It’s inclusion here is nice, as it really provides Low-Light with some action oriented roles and allows him to be more than a guy taking pot-shots with a sniper-rifle.

In my opinion, ‘86 Low-Light is the only Low-Light you really need, but the subsequent uses of the mold, and updates to the character are all pretty solid too. This mold got a great repaint in Slaughter’s Marauders, and then was used in green for an ‘08 Joecon figure. Sadly, the SM figure is very brittle, and the Joecon figure is worth a fortune, while not really providing anything this figure doesn’t already give. As an alternative, there’s the ‘91 sculpt which had strong colors, and two fun repaints. I like that toy, but I’ve never really liked it as Low-Light for the lack of his cap and goggles.

Finding a complete Low-Light seems to be mildly tough, as they’re usually missing either the bipod or the uzi. Despite that, he’s extremely common, and also not very expensive, running around $20 for a complete figure, and between $6 to $10 for one missing a part or two. I’m surprised he’s not been hit worse by the price surge of late, though, maybe that’s a sign things are slowly winding down on that note.

1986 Low-Light Links:

Forgotten Figures

Half the Battle

Icebreaker’s HQ