The Viper Pit

1991 Interrogator

Posted on May 16, 2022 by mwnekoman

1991 Interrogator

For what he is, Interrogator is a pretty recognizable and popular Cobra. He’s also a pretty unimportant character, packaged with an obnoxious vehicle, so the interest in him despite that speaks pretty well to his quality. I feel sometimes like you have to invent a reason to really need him, but that too, is only because this figure is so massively cool looking that there’s a compulsion to do so.

Interrogator has a fantastic sculpt, and the colors go a long way to highlight his quality. Right away, the coolest part of the figure is probably his head, which is very reminiscent of V1 Cobra Commander. Always felt the softness of CC’s blue helmet weakened an otherwise cool design, though Interrogator executes a similar idea in a superior fashion. His chest straps are also very distinct looking with that nifty Cobra symbol displayed on his chest, and a few other nice details like a pair knuckle dusters; those seem pretty telling of his interrogation methods.

It has to be said too, that his colors are absolutely perfect. It’s strange, because the blue and black are much more of a throwback to the Cobra colors we saw in the early eighties. The silver trim on the front pad of his outfit looks a little strange to me, but the bright color contrasts really nicely with the rest of what he has going on. The red visor ties him to several other figures from around that time, such as the Battle Corps Viper, Eco-Warriors Toxo Viper, Sonic Fighters Viper, and few others. Despite that this makes them pair decently, I tend to prefer how he looks with ’86 Vipers best, which incidentally, I have no photos of.

Sadly, the downside to the Interrogator, is that he doesn’t really bring much new to the table. A problem I often run into with this guy, is that I can’t think of a specific need for him. It doesn’t help that there’s somewhat of an overlap between his role and Dr. Mindbender’s (as well as Crystal Ball). Visually, he’s cooler than either of those characters, but it does make me wish the comics or something could have done a little more with him, just to expand his role a bit more.

In my head, I like to imagine he’s an OG Cobra from the 70‘s, and had the qualifications of a Crimson Guard prior to their formation. May possibly be ex-KGB or CIA (or both), and was a Cobra Commander loyalist that helped smooth over the Fred-VII coup. For me, the original Cobra Commander stayed dead, and was replaced by a series of actors, which at one point included Interrogator. Playing the role of a ruthless yet charismatic leader isn’t well suited to him though, so eventually he switches out with another Cobra elite, resuming his former role.

He only comes with a single gun, which makes sense, as he’s a technically a pilot. I don’t have it, since I used to think the claw at the end of it looks lame. I still sort of think that, but in recent years I’ve become more interested in showing all of my figures with their appropriate parts. Though, the odd gun really isn’t the strongest part of this figure, and for the time being, I’m perfectly fine just giving him a spare Chuckles pistol or some such.

Amazingly, a serviceable Interrogator isn’t really expensive, running around $20 for one with his gun. I believe he used to go cheaper, like everything else, but for a relatively popular Cobra, that doesn’t seem like much to me. I see this guy as being a must-have from the 90‘s, as I really can’t think of too many collections where he wouldn’t look at home.

1991 Interrogator Links:

The Dragon Fortress

1986 HAVOC

Posted on May 2, 2022 by mwnekoman

1986 HAVOC

When I was a kid, I loved GI Joe: the Movie. It was one of the only pieces of media I had to know GI Joe by, all on a continually degrading VHS recording, probably from before I was born. Among the mostly 1986 and ‘87 cast featured in the film was the HAVOC. I knew the STUN, also prominently featured in the film through the Python STUN, but there was no Sky HAVOC in my house, leaving me to wonder for years what kind of awesome vehicle it might be. Then at some point in the 2010‘s I finally got one, and to this day I’m still not sure what to think about it.

Because of it’s connection to the movie, and those years spent wondering what it might be like, it’s one of the few 80‘s Joe items I have some real sentimental value with. Not a lot, but I’m biased in favor of it just for the fact that I wanted one for so long, and the satisfaction associated with finally getting one. When I try to put that aside, I’m mightily tempted to call the HAVOC a bad vehicle, as it treads a fine line between “fun” and “very stupid”.

The best thing about the HAVOC is that it has a lot of play features. The worst thing about the HAVOC, is that none of them work very well. There’s a lot of oddities with it’s design, where like with many Joe vehicles, you ignore the explicit danger it presents it’s crew in favor of having a fun toy that can do more: it’s a rule of cool kinda thing. The HAVOC’s features include it’s deployable hovercraft, an adjustable turret, turning tracks, and an opening canopy, supporting a grand total of four figures to crew the vehicle (twelve, if you count the foot-pegs on the outside of the vehicle). Seems like some modestly fun gimmicks, but virtually all of them have some flaw or issue.

The thing that bugs me most is by far the turret. The obviously stupid thing about it is that it leaves the gunner in plain sight with no protection whatsoever. Less obvious is that it can not aim left or right without turning the entire vehicle. Even less obvious, is that the turret can not be in it’s lowered position and still allow for the vehicle’s main canopy to be opened. Every time you want to get a figure in and out, you have to jack this ratcheted turret way up, just to get the canopy open. Was it tacked on at the last second? It just feels like an afterthought.

Even the main driver’s area is crummy. Why does the driver and co-pilot operate the thing with their faces planted in a monitor, laying on their bellies? It’s almost as bad as the SHARC, and that vehicle is only the way it is to support Deep Six. I really don’t have any gripes with the large glass canopy, since the vehicle’s meant to be fun, and I get that seeing the toys inside it is a lot more fun than an opaque canister. Still, the whole driving on your belly thing looks lame, and I really wonder who was working on the brand at the time that had such a fascination with this.

The back half of the vehicle is mostly taken up by it’s hovercraft bay. On the outside of it, there’s some guns and orange missiles. Inside, there’s the hovercraft which rests in a specially shaped grove. It could be sort of cool, but really, this is probably the biggest let down about the vehicle. If they had just sculpted the floor boards and inner panels differently, you could have more figures in there or even have it double as a mobile command station, like with the MAGGOT. Instead, it’s just empty, and you can barely fit a few extra figures around the hover craft by balancing them.

The recon craft is alright. It’s got two guns, some nicely sculpted engine details, and pivoting fans on it’s ventral side, which I guess allows it to turn or maneuver. It’s fun, but also somewhat unspectacular. On a side note, when I’m bored and being stupid, I’ve wondered what a GI Joe version of Mario Kart might be like, where Duke can fly in this recon craft in a race against Serpentor on his chariot, Cobra Commander in a Flight Pod, and Destro in his Despoiler. Add in the Chameleon and the Weapon Transport and you have enough for a full game. I can’t really think of anything else when I see this recon vehicle.

All things considered, it’s still a mildly fun vehicle if nothing else just because it does have a few things it can do. I think what’s just so jarring about it though, is that it does so much of it so poorly, when most of the toys released around it are better for less money and space. I like it’s overall shape and the way it looks with the more sci-fi focused ‘86 and ‘87 guys, but after that, it’s a very cumbersome vehicle, and it’s appeal is rather limited.

Prices seem to vary for a HAVOC, but generally you can get a decent one around $20, sometimes more, sometimes less. It’s surprising, but vehicles don’t seem to carry the value of figures, where now a V1 Leatherneck will cost you more than this vehicle will most of the time. Of course, this isn’t a very good vehicle, but when nostalgic tooners are paying $200 for a Cobra Commander, you’d think it’d get a bump just based on the Sunbow association.

1986 HAVOC Links:

Adambobomb

Funskool Airtight

Posted on April 25, 2022 by mwnekoman

Funskool Airtight

A lot of international Joe figures fall into a general category of “things that are neat to have, but you don’t really need”. That’s a shame, because used to, it was fun to collect odd color variants from across the world and only pay a small premium for it… or no premium at all! Nowadays, things aren’t so fun, and if international figures aren’t mind-blowingly overpriced, they’re harder to come by. This is the gist of common Funskool figures like Airtight.

1985 Airtight is a cool figure and sculpt to begin with, and is one of the best figure’s from arguably GI Joe’s best year. That’s still the case here, and there’s not much lost in the Funskool iteration of the figure compared to Hasbro’s. Mainly, the plastic and paint hues are slightly different tones, which does at the very least make him pair a little better with different Hasbro figures. Personally, I’m fond of how the brighter green looks with Clean Sweep, so this is the Airtight I might use more often with 90‘s Joes.

That said, this figure is not overly exotic or interesting, just different. I’ve never really used him all that much, as despite how cool any Airtight figure is, he’s got a pretty limited specialty. For years I passed this guy up just because I was content with the Hasbro version, and this wasn’t something odd like Sky Diver or Tripwire. I think while he was still cheap my brother got me one as a gift, which I appreciate more in hindsight. A small variation like this wasn’t even worth the $17-ish price of a Russian one that popped up a few years later, but it was neat while these figures were cheap.

You get the same parts as the Hasbro release, including his backpack, sniffer, and two different hoses. The hose for his head on this release apparently doesn’t work very well, but I wouldn’t know since mine is missing it. Save for the lower quality hoses, his parts are nice and basically look like the Hasbro equivalents. That used to be really cool back in the day when a $3 Funskool figure could be used to augment a domestic one, not that anyone can really do that any more.

This figure used to be super common, and technically, he should be one of the most common GI Joe toys in existence given that Funskool produced them for so many years. When you consider the fact that Funskool produced these for multiple countries for upwards of 15 years(or more?), the population of India versus the United States, and the fact that additional Airtights were commonly packed with Funskool vehicles, I can really only imagine just how many of these there are in the world. That said, as big as GI Joe was in ‘85, Hasbro probably did not make as many Airtights as Funskool did.

Today, Funskool Airtight is a $20 figure. Not the most expensive Indian release by far, but an absurd price given how common he still is. Then again, we’re pretty much watching the dollar collapse at the moment, so maybe I should just start convincing myself this is actually a fair price. Either way, I’m glad I acquired one in the good ol’ days when figures were cheap, as modern collecting really doesn’t support whimsical purchases.

Funskool Airtight Links:

The Dragon Fortress

1985 Torch

Posted on April 11, 2022 by mwnekoman

1985 Torch

My opinion on Dreadnoks tends to come and go, as sometimes I find myself greatly appreciative of their place in the line, and sometimes I feel they’re a bit overplayed. Of course, that’s true of most themes you find in GI Joe, as GI Joe rarely had a good idea it doesn’t completely wear out (ninjas, faceless army-builders, ect). Regardless, Dreadnoks are generally a staple of the GI Joe line, and usually the older ones like Torch, tend to be the better ones.

Of the original three Dreadnoks, I didn’t go for Torch until I already had Funskool Buzzer, and an ‘85 Ripper. That generally reflects my views on the three, where Buzzer is the best, closely followed by Ripper, and then Torch is more of an afterthought. Nothing about Torch really makes him a bad figure, on the contrary, he’s actually nicely done in several ways. As a character though, he doesn’t really stand out apart from the other two, and starts to just seem forgettable, over time.

In some ways I’ve grown an appreciation for his lack of uniqueness, along with other bland Dreadnoks like Monkeywrench, after contemplating him less as an individual, and more so as a mook with a backstory. I won’t be army-building Torch (although I do have two), but thinking about him less along the lines of Zartan or even someone like Copperhead, and more as something of a less anonymous Viper, seems to open more doors for him and other Dreadnoks in my head.

Torch is the guy in the lot who wears a leather vest, and surprisingly, that’s a motif Hasbro didn’t really reuse much despite them being a biker-gang. Almost every other Dreadnok is either completely shirtless or wearing some small and insignificant piece of cloth, which makes a lot of them look more like homeless people and less like bikers in my mind (though, Ninja Force Zartan wears a leather vest too). His sculpt is covered in the typical amount of golden-year details that bring him to life, though my favorite thing about his look, is that it’s very apparent what he represents without really having to know anything about him. I would’ve liked a figure like this a lot as a kid because of that.

For parts, you get his signature welding-torch and a backpack in connects to. It’s sort of weird he didn’t have an extra weapon when Buzzer had an ax and Ripper had a rifle, but Torch just comes with two parts. It’s also weird that his torch connects via a plastic cord on the weapon itself, much like the breakage prone gun with Flash and older figures; while Ripper used the black hose that became standard after this point. Makes me wonder if Torch was designed a little earlier than Ripper.

The median price of a Torch right now seems to be around $20, which isn’t bad, but is still a little more than I expected. This guy used to be lot fodder and one of the cheaper Dreadnoks to get, but now a decent one will run you at least that much. Still, he’s a cool enough figure that if I didn’t already have one, I wouldn’t mind paying that much for him.

1985 Torch Links:

2001 Big Brawler

Posted on April 1, 2022 by mwnekoman

2001 Big Brawler

Big Brawler is the butt of many jokes, and has been a loathed character among GI Joe fans since his creation. When you know the history of the character and a little of what was going on back then… It’s not hard to imagine why. Still, like a lot of ARAHC figures, he’s kind of nice when taken in on his own. Kinda.

To understand a little more of why Big Brawler is so egregious, let’s take a look at his filecard:

“A master of both psychological warfare and hand-to-hand combat, Big Brawler has engaged in top secret operations against despots and terrorists worldwide. When it became evident that most of the world’s terrorist activities were orchestrated by COBRA, Big Brawler transferred from Army Intelligence to the G.I. Joe team. He now takes his battle directly to the snake pits, while acting as liaison to the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM). He has a natural ability to persevere in the adverse conditions of the world’s jungles, in ways that Tarzan himself would be envious of. Big Brawler has refused all officer-level promotions, preferring to remain on the front lines where the real action takes place.
Despite his superior intelligence-gathering and infiltration skills, Big Brawler is quick-tempered and can’t resist the urge to pound any COBRA on sight. Since his first mission, when he was only supposed to take photos of a secret spy headquarters but “improvised” and blew up the island instead, he has been regarded as a loose cannon. Good thing he’s a G.I. Joe – he’s too dangerous to be anything else.”

I have so many sick burns, buzzwords and clever one-liners I could unload at this tripe, but really you just have to laugh and take it for what it is. Most of these filecards from around this time are easily this corny, though this one seems especially great when you consider that it’s the story for a guy who looks like the coomer wojak. You also have to know that he’s named after Brian Mulholland of the GI Joe Collector’s Club. I’m personally foggy on exactly why Brian got a GI Joe figure named after himself, but I thought the Collector’s Club had a lot to do with writing some of these files. That sort of makes it narcissistic, in addition to being cringey.

Onto the figure, Big Brawler’s a repaint of 1987 Outback, with a new head. For the most part, it’s an appealing looking figure based on a underused mold, and makes a nice, cheap alternative to the expensive Night Force Outback. Of course, a major flaw of the figure is the aforementioned new head, which looks pretty terrible. The proportions look squished, and his neck is pretty long too. The figure would’ve been better if they had just reused Outback’s original head, and that’s a shame.

Another thing that really bugs me is the paint on his biceps: there’s no flesh color above the swivel joint, giving him these weird and ugly bands on his arms. Otherwise, his paint applications and colors are okay. There’s not really a whole lot going on, and he feels a lot less detailed than Outback, but everything that needs to be painted is painted. Still, there’s a certain cheapness to this figure, that when combined with his head, makes him feel a lot more like a dollar-store bootleg than a real GI Joe toy.

His accessories include Outback’s flashlight, ‘92 Big Bear’s backpack, and ‘91 Red Star’s rifle, in addition to a figure stand. I hope the Red Star rifle is more of a coincidence and not an intentional inclusion for the figure, as I hate to think they ditched Outback’s parts in favor of making him seem more like some hackneyed Rambo knock-off (stolen AK). His backpack is magical and unlike Outback’s, Big Brawler’s can stick to him without straps! I want one of those in real life.

My personal hope was to go to eBay, find some idiot who payed a gigantic sum for Big Brawler, and then berate them here. However, most people aren’t that dumb, and Big Brawlers still aren’t very expensive relative to everything else. He’s easiest to find carded with Tripwire for about $20, some odd loose examples will go for around $10. Put all of the cringe and ugliness of this figure aside, and I think he’s nice for that much. It’s a repaint of a good mold, and if you really wanted the figure would still look pretty decent with his head swapped for Outback’s.

Gi joe arahc duke night rhino big brawler side track cobra commander

“That’s right chumps, I just caught the guy you’ve been after for 19 years, all by myself! Maybe you dudes should go back to basic training while I grab my Medal of Honor.”

2001 Big Brawler Links:

TBM Red Shadows Night Viper

Posted on March 28, 2022 by mwnekoman

TBM Red Shadows Night Viper

I’ve talked a lot (actually too much) about how much of a stereotypical Night Viper fan I am. Partly because The Black Major produced an ample amount of Night Viper customs for me to gnaw on, but I’ve also had plenty of opportunities to talk about official offerings from Hasbro and Funskool. While most of TBM’s repaints are cool, there’s not much to say about them that you can’t say about any other variation, though, the Red Shadows version is in particular, a favorite, so here’s a few unique things about it.

Despite how popular the Red Shadows are as a theme, truth is, I’ve gotten pretty tired of them. I’m not tired of Palitoy’s excellent vintage figures, but more so the contemporary trend of taking any Cobra, coloring him bright red, a calling it a Red Shadow, like with this Night Viper. It’s always popular and much of the time, the colors are quite striking, but it also dilutes the Red Shadows into just being Cobra with a singular, monotonous color scheme. It’s the same problem the Collector’s Club had with Iron Grenadiers, where they made “new” characters like the Iron Anvil, but only using the original Iron Grenadier’s color scheme, which was repetitive.

I say all that, but I have a glowing opinion of this Red Shadows Night Viper. I don’t know why, but I absolutely love the way the Night Viper looks in fluorescent red, which was something I realized a few years prior when Hasbro made the incredibly odd 50th Anniversary Night Viper. When TBM announced he was making Night Viper customs, the thing I wanted most was some approximation of that figure from the o-ring mold, and this release was pretty much that.

Of course, finding a way to justify a bright red night fighter is virtually impossible, so this figure can be a Red Shadow and bypass my normal grievances with that, just because. Truth is, a bright red Night Viper is pretty asinine at face value. For me, I like the mold, and the bright color makes a few of the details stand out, in addition to just giving me something different to fiddle around with. It’s all I could want from a novel bootleg, so I don’t care if it’s unrealistic.

Parts are the same thing you get with every TBM Night Viper: Visor, scope, gun and backpack. TBM’s experimented with odd part inclusions on more recent releases, which has often been a good thing, though, there’s nothing wrong with a figure like this, which stays loyal to the original’s loadout. I think the Night Viper’s gear is cool and does everything it needs too, although once you get these parts enough times they do get pretty old.

Because these don’t show up for sale too often, it’s hard to say what people are paying for them. Most of the other custom Night Vipers trend between $20 to $30, so it’s probably fair to assume that’s what this figure’s worth. Still, there’s a lot of interest in the Red Shadows, so that alone might put this one on the slightly higher end. They nicely compliment an Action Force collection, so I think they’re worth seeking out if you can find one under $30.

Funskool Beachhead

Posted on March 21, 2022 by mwnekoman

Funskool Beachhead

For whatever reason, Beachhead was among the lot of Funskool figures I had the easy opportunity to obtain, but chose to ignore in the late 2000’s. At that time, I saw Funskool figures as a cheap and decent way to get some carded ARAH figures, but I only wanted ones that were a close approximation of their Hasbro counterparts (Can’t quit kicking myself over that!) such as Flint. Part of this, was because I was still getting over my childhood germophobia, which prevented me from buying loose stuff. If you’d believe it, I also had a fairly strong distaste for lime green, which put me out of Funskool Beachhead for a very long time.

Cut forward to late 2017, when a large crop of Russian release Funskool Joes showed up on eBay. As Funskoolers were already starting to shoot up in price, I didn’t screw around and made a few new acquisitions, even if it meant paying $20 a piece for them. As a recurring theme with Funskool figures, I love the way new figures will show up out of seemingly no where, saturate the market, and then suddenly disappear. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if more odd Funskool items showed up soon, from India or some other country.

Beachhead’s a nice figure, and oddly, a character I don’t use all that often. I think part of it’s that I’m lukewarm on most of Beachhead’s toys, besides the Battle Corps figure. I like the V1 figure a lot, but it’s a notoriously fragile figure, and that often frightens me into not touching him, especially with current Joe prices. While this Funskool figure isn’t a cheap alternative, it’s softer plastic does mitigate most worries over breakage, which is nice, as it’s opened me up to using him more.

If you can get past his ugly head (a staple of a 1986 sculpt), Beachhead provides a lot in his sculpt. My favorite detail in particular is the spare magazines on his chest, which is something you see less often on a GI Joe than a pile of grenades. The baggy BDU looks good too, it makes the figure look a little stocky with his head, but it has a nice commando look to it. It’s generic enough that it could be reused for another character (like Skydiver), but it still has a lot of detail, especially in all of the right places.

The colors are nice here. 13 years ago, I was very irritated by lime green, but I’ve since warmed up to the tone and like it on Beachhead just as well as the original’s darker color. Something refreshing about Funskool figures, is that they tend to have better contrasting colors than their domestic counterparts. The camo on Beachead’s pants is more vivid on this figure, and that’s a nice change of pace.

Included with Funskool Beachhead is all of his original gear: his SMG, satchel, and backpack. Beachhead’s SMG was always a very cool part that was easy for figures to hold. I also consider it an important part for the figure, since it matches with the sculpted magazines mentioned earlier. His backpack is pretty nice and has a lot of detail, although I never liked how boxy it was. I’m also pretty certain his satchel is just slightly more flexible, which comes across to me as a big plus.

Sadly, the cheap Russian Funskool figures from five years ago have all evaporated, and the era of the covid-collector has led to figures like this one pricing around $50 to $60. It’s really a matter of time before people go back to doing whatever they used to waste money on (traveling, kayaking, social gatherings that involve copious amounts of alcohol), but for now lockdown noobs are still a thing, and they make fun toys too expensive. If I hadn’t gotten this one back in 2017, I’d definitely wait until the current market dies down.

Funskool Beachhead Links:

The Dragon Fortress

1993 Night Creeper Leader

Posted on March 14, 2022 by mwnekoman

1993 Night Creeper Leader

I’ve been on a late-90‘s kick lately, which I think is supported by the fact that there’s simply so many figures from ‘93 and ‘94 to talk about. These are far from the best figures in the vintage line, but for me, they’re both nostalgic and interesting to take photos of, since even to this day, most of the figures are fairly underexposed. This Night Creeper Leader for example, has very few dio-photos.

When it comes to ninjas, I’m pretty picky. I tend to find that it’s easy for ninja plot lines in GI Joe to get out of hand, and when GI Joe gets away from being a military fantasy, that tends to kill my interest. For example, I got pretty bored with the comic issues that featured Jinx and Billy a lot, or issue 91, which stood out to me as being less interesting during a recent reading of the later Marvel issues.

Night Creepers however, really manage to blend things together and capture the cool and fantastic side of the GI Joe franchise. They’re ninjas, but they’re also modern looking assassins who are believably dangerous. It feels like to me they tie ninjas into the military fantasy of GI Joe somewhat better, rather than feeling so much like a martial arts fantasy spinoff of the brand, which is more of what you see with so many Arashikage ninjas.

The Night Creeper Leader reuses the lower half of the ‘90 Night Creeper, and has a new chest, head and arms. This tactic was pretty cheap of Hasbro, as at the point to where half of the toy was recycled as well as all of it’s parts, you weren’t getting very much that was new. At the same time, the designers did a good job with this limitation, and by reusing Night Creeper parts, the Night Creeper Leader has some nice and obvious continuity with his troops. The new parts of his sculpt look super muscular, and he has a pretty solid look for a ninja.

This figure came in orange with black details and tiger stripes, whereas the recolor from the next year used purple, yellow and gold. I’m usually surprised that the purple color scheme seems to be the more popular one, as this orange look is far more pleasing to my eyes. Of course, if you really hate 90‘s colors and want something fun to do, you can just swap the legs on this guy for a Night Creeper and then paint the torso details to match. I’ve thought about doing that, but then my Night Creeper Leader would lose some of his distinguishing features, and I think he needs them.

His accessories include the Night Creeper’s Crossbow, two ‘91 Snake Eyes swords, a Hydro Viper knife, Road Pig’s crossbow and shield, and lastly, the launcher from the ‘93 HEAT Viper, as well as it’s missile and a stand. What’s odd about this part runner, is that these parts were basically never reused, only reappearing for the ‘94 repaint as far as I can remember. I don’t really like the Road Pig parts very much, but it’s cool you can give them to Sonic Fighters Road Pig and they match perfectly. I also think it’s neat they brought back the Night Creeper crossbow, once again, for continuity, and they also gave him some nice swords you didn’t see to much (Not used in Ninja Force!). Interestingly, his crossbow has been retooled to feature a smaller grip.

The 1993 Night Creeper Leader is far from a rare or expensive figure, but like many 90‘s items, a tad bit of a pain to get complete. A 100% complete figure seems to go for about $20, and carded figures only fetch $25. Figures missing a part or two drop down to around $12. It’s a fun figure and even the current market’s failed to make him unaffordable, so I think these will be around for years to come.

1993 Night Creeper Leader Links:

1993 Gung-Ho (Mega Marines)

Posted on February 21, 2022 by mwnekoman

1993 Gung-Ho (Mega Marines)

The Mega Marines are a vexing subgoup within what was offered in the 90‘s GI Joe line. Given the fact they were dropped faster than both DEF and certainly Sonic Fighters, I’ll go ahead and assume they probably weren’t a hit, even when they were released. Still, taken for what they are, they’re a cool little group of figures, and I’d go as far as to say this is one of my favorite Gung-Ho figures.

It took me a long time to come around on the Mega Marines, and to be frank, probably too long. For most of my time collecting I’ve had a disdain for silly things and neon colors, both of which the Mega Marines are, heavily. Beyond that, it’s basically an un-licensed crossover with Aliens, and that too, didn’t really appeal to me. They come across as being somewhere in-between Star Brigade and Battle Corps in such a way that it doesn’t really feel like they have a strong niche or identity.

Despite that, this Gung-Ho looks pretty nice. There’s a lot of fluorescent yellow on his armor, but also features some nice dark greens and blacks on the base plastic underneath. If I’m not mistaken, I believe this was Hasbro’s first usage of marbled plastic, which gives the figures a somewhat interesting look. Does anyone know why there’s a sculpted number on every Mega Marine? Gung-Ho’s number 1, while Blast-Off, Clutch and Mirage are number 2, 3, and 4 respectively. It’s sort of distracting.

Oddly, this figure comes across to me as the most combat-ready looking Gung-Ho ever made. He’s packing body armor from head to toe and looks like he could take a few hits. At the same time, he doesn’t look very much like Gung-Ho, but I really don’t mind that, since I was never a big fan of Gung-Ho anyways. The futuristic look is a little hammy, though it fits nicely with the overall esthetic that was being built in ‘93 and ‘94.

The accessories for the Mega Marines are where things got a little more interesting. Included is the same shotgun, MP5K, laser rifle and machete runner seen with several other figures (Duke, Frostbite, Stalker, Ozone, ect) cast in black. Nice parts for filling your armory. He has a unique orange helmet; it’s sorta goofy looking. You also get the standard missile-launcher, missiles and a figure stand, in addition to another gimmick part: moldable bio-armor.

Moldable bio-armor was the core gimmick introduced with the Mega Marines. Included with each figure was a tub of play-doh, and a mold that fit around the figure’s chest and included missiles. While playing, you could tear and damage the figure’s armor, and when you’re done, tear it off and cast it again later. Part of me wants to say it seems kind of cool, but I also realize this really was just a lame and inexpensive way for Hasbro to bloat the price of this assortment. It’s slightly creative, but I won’t give it a pass on that alone. Also, good luck standing a figure up with a heavy-ass mound of play-doh on his chest: that’s too much even with a figure stand!

Dealers will sell complete figures, sometimes with the play-doh, for around $35. At auction though, figures will often go for around $20, though, it’s not so often you see these in a truly complete state. With that said, I think it’s safe to say the Mega Marines are least desirable figures to have complete. There’s really no point in buying the crunchy old play-doh tub, which like wise, renders the included mold useless too. Also, while his guns are nice, they’re also terribly generic. Meaning, the only thing you really need for this guy is his helmet. Pretty astounding, since not too many GI Joes come with parts that irrelevant to the figure.

1993 Gung-Ho (Mega Marines) Links: