Funskool Muskrat
Although not the case as much anymore, at one time a collector could acquire Funskool figures as a sort of “poor nerd’s” toys. Most collectors of the time preferred the superior Hasbro versions, so Funskool releases were seen the same vein as a knock-off. Still, for the economical and less picky collector, it was a fun way to often acquire interesting variants, or if nothing else, a cheap stand-in for an American figure. Sometimes, it was even a fun way to acquire a relatively common figure, such as with this Muskrat.
Amusingly, I had almost forgotten how I got this figure, until I remembered it was at the same time that I got a lot of Funskool Hydro Vipers from some guy who was likely dumping off large amounts of his collection. It’s a little depressing to think about, but buying ARAH figures in the early ‘10‘s was a good time. Everything was super cheap, and nothing was really too scarce either. Of course, the reason it’s sad is because I think a lot of it was from people selling their collections because of the economy, and also o-ring collectors exiting the hobby once it was apparent Hasbro had abandoned them.
1988 figures are kind of like cult classics when it comes to ARAH. They were produced in smaller numbers, the media tie-ins were sparse that year, and not a lot of people talk about half of them. Still, it was an incredibly strong year of figures, certainly an improvement over ‘87. Muskrat’s that kind of figure that’s very hard for anyone to outright hate: he has great colors, fun parts, and a creative specialty. It’s a good balance of being a reasonable looking soldier while still having a gimmick fun enough to make him unique.
Funskool Muskrat is in no particular way different from Hasbro’s Muskrat, besides being made with all the typical hallmarks of a Funskool figure. The figure’s a remarkably similar green color to the Hasbro one, and most of the other paint applications are more or less the same. He’s missing the red stripe that was painted onto his boogie board, but that’s no big deal depending on how you look at it.
For parts, you get the pump-action shotgun, machete, and boogie board from the original release. Besides the machete being silver and the missing stripe on the boogie board, there’s nothing new going on here. With that said, Muskrat was a figure who came with some simple, but really nice parts you saw frequently in the years after his release; both the shotgun and machete were common to 90‘s part trees, and were usually the kind of thing you didn’t mind getting a few extras of given their realistic and easy to use nature.
Comparatively, Muskrats aren’t that hard to get ahold of, still. A good supply of these coming out of Russia still float around the market, and they weren’t produced too long ago, either. Of course, buying from Russia is hard and costly, so that limits how easily you can get one. Overall, I’d say you can get a loose complete figure for less than $15 if you hunt, which is about the same as the Hasbro version right now.
