2004 Scrap Iron

Posted on July 2, 2018 by mwnekoman

2004 Scrap Iron

2000‘s era Joes were myriad in missed opportunities, but every now and then Hasbro produced an excellent figure that made great use of a vintage mold. For the most part, that’s true of the Scrap Iron from the 2004 Cobra Strike Team – Urban Division set.

The Scarp Iron mold was one that had been acquired by Funskool in the 90‘s but then returned to Hasbro in the 2000‘s upon demands by collectors. Hasbro used the mold to make two figures, this fantastic one, and a horrendous comic-pack figure. Most of the molds they reacquired from Funskool were never used much, or were only used for one or two crappy repaints, but that thankfully wasn’t the case with Scarp Iron here.

During the transition, some of the mold seems to have been lost. So the arms and legs have been swapped out for the same combination used on the 2004 Infantry Forces. It’s a good fit, and oddly enough I feel glad for the swap. Now he’s more similar to the contemporary Cobra Trooper of the era, and it provides some variety if you’ve collected a few versions of Scrap Iron already. I also feel like the Thunder arms are a bitter fit for this figure than the Infantry Forces.

Frankly, this may be the best color scheme Scarp Iron’s ever been sold in. The solid black with red ties him into the colors for most of Cobra’s classic armory, and especially pairs well with the SMS. The paint applications are further complimented with some brown for the boots and gloves, blue for the collar, and some grey to break up his helmet. There’s some really blase figures with far fewer paint applications from around this time, so one like this really stands out in my opinion.

The parts are a comical example of how lazy Hasbro got with accessories in the 2000’s. Scrap Iron is known for his trademark missile launcher, but now it’s no where to be seen. Instead, we have the Range Viper’s backpack in green, as well as his grenade launcher in black… sans the magazine! Lastly, he includes the twin barrel laser riffle from Sonic Fighters Major Bludd, because the other gun wasn’t just crappy and random enough.

At one time, this figure was common, and pretty cheap. Collector’s hoarded the Cobra Urban Division set for it’s high quality army builders and were left dumping the Scrap Iron and Storm Shadow on eBay at a pretty high rate. But, a lot can change in 14 years, and now this figure isn’t as common. I personally found two eBay listings for this guy in the past three months, which actually makes him more scarce than Funskool Tripwire for comparison. When you find him though, they look to be selling around $11, which is fair enough if you like Scrap Iron enough.

2004 Scrap Iron Links:

Yo Joe

Forgotten Figures

2003 Convention Falcon

Posted on June 25, 2018 by mwnekoman

2003 Convention Falcon

I think on this blog I’ve had a habit of being harsh on convention figures, including popular ones like the Iron Anvil and less popular like Buzzer. Falcon puts me in a weird spot, because I think this figure has some serious issues offset by some highly attractive elements as well.

The 2003 Convention set is not held in great regards by most collectors I encounter. I attribute this largely to the somewhat bizarre figure choices for the set, and also to the fact that a few of the figures were of questionable quality. Oddly enough though, this set’s one of my personal favorites. Compared to other items the club pumped out, everything here except for the Cobra Commander is fairly unique and original, which scores a lot of points with me.

Falcon is in uniform colors with the Lady Jaye and Major Storm in the set. This cohesion makes the figure a lot more fun and I enjoy the trio as a team. The deco looks really solid, and the paint applications also highlight all of the sculpted details present on Falcon.

The construction is where this figure is fatally flawed. Although the upper half is of V1 Falcon, the waist and legs are from V1 Grunt… This combination of parts looks extremely awkward. The difference in sculpting between the ‘82 figures and the ‘87 figures are like night and day, and the proportions look mildly off like this as well. It’s such a shame, as almost any other set of legs might have matched better, but instead they went for this.

I acquired this figure without his parts, but it doesn’t really matter to me as they’re a pretty generic set. He came with the M4 from V11 Duke, the M16 from V2 Ripper, V1 Shockwave’s pistol, and Red Star’s backpack and knife. In other words, a selection of generic parts ranging from mediocre to terrible.

As you might expect, a fifteen year old convention figures isn’t the easiest to find. But they show up, and don’t go for an awful lot when they do. The few I’ve seen of late have gone between $20 and $30, but I’d bet more often you could acquire this figure for $20. For that much, I think there’s a lot of other Falcon figures that are a bit nicer you could acquire. The figure certainly isn’t bad though, and personally I enjoy the camo and novelty he provides enough to overlook his flaws.

2003 Convention Falcon Links:

Yo Joe

Generalsjoes

Black Major Custom Python Troopers

Posted on June 18, 2018 by mwnekoman

Black Major Custom Python Troopers

The world of custom/bootleg GI Joes has been pretty amazing in the past couple of years. The Black Major, in particular, produced some amazing work and even brought back the classic Cobra Trooper mold for a few new designs. I was really impressed by all of the new Black Major Cobra Troopers, but as Python Patrol is my favorite Cobra sub-team, I chose these to look at first.

I’m a huge Python Patrol fan. Sure, a few of the vintage figures were a little on the strange side (The Python Guard), but making a new sub-team out of all of the classic Cobra army builders and giving them jungle themed colors was one of Hasbro’s better repaint ideas for the time. On their own, a few of them can be a tad gaudy, but they function well when teamed with each other. Cobras from different eras could sometimes look a little awkward together, but the uniform colors of these help them avoid that.

In terms of quality, these are probably some of the best and most solid feeling Black Major figures to date. The plastic feels really close to the vintage plastic, and the joints on all of mine are very solid too. Generally I’m not too picky when it comes to the quality on custom figures, but these are extremely well made feeling.

The color pattern used on these Black Major custom Python Troopers is familiar and unique all at the same time. Overall, they’re most similar to Python Copperhead, but they have a lot less black on them. There’s quite a focus here on the green shades of the figure, and it finds a nice blend between somewhat realistic jungle colors and the Python Patrol’s neon tones. I do notice the yellow seems a little dull on these, and while I’m not sure as to if that was or wasn’t intentional, it goes along well with giving them that vintage charm, minus a bit of the neon.

Another thing I like a lot about the most recent TBM Troopers is the accessories. While anyone who’s collected a few of these should have plenty of dragunovs by now, at some point he started including AK47‘s and Viper backpacks too, giving the trooper a more well rounded selection of accessories. I’m hugely appreciative to have a pile of the Cobra Officer’s AK47 lying around, as it’s a fantastic looking accessory that’s unfortunately hard to find.

The after market prices on these were somewhat interesting to see, now that the supply of them has mostly dried up. From what I can tell, they go for around $12 to $15 at the moment, like most other recent custom Cobras. The thing is, they don’t really show up for sale all that often, since these aren’t produced in great numbers as you might expect. I think the saturation of figures is keeping the prices lower for now, as there’s so much to chose from I think certain figures just get missed.

2003 Overkill

Posted on June 5, 2018 by mwnekoman

2003 Overkill

In the early 2000‘s, I was still a kid. So the online exclusive BAT 6-pack was an item I had absolutely no clue existed. Had I known about it then, I can guarantee you I’d have passed on it, as I really had no interest in characters and molds that weren’t from the Sunbow cartoon. In the late 2000‘s though, my interest in older figures had broadened and I eventually came across this set floating around for some odd amount of chump change and ordered one. Chief among the figures that appealed to me in the set was this Overkill, a character I’d never owned before.

The 2003 BAT 6-pack wasn’t a bad idea from Hasbro, as back then more than ever were collector’s demanding army builders. The execution however, was far from perfect. Taken in on their own, the two varieties of BATs are interesting, fun figures and the Overkill repaint is a fine reuse of that mold. All of these things together, however, aren’t overly compelling for an army builder set. No one wanted unique characters packed with army builders, and the Inferno BAT is far too odd and niche to illicit collectors to hoard large armies of them. So, the set flopped and the figures were easy to acquire for pennies on the dollar for years after it’s release.

In a way, that means this Overkill repaint owns a good amount of the blame for killing the BAT 6-pack. Though for me, it was a cool character to expand my Cobra roster with for basically nothing, so I was rather ecstatic to own him years ago.

In a lot of ways this figure is a serious upgrade over the ‘92 version. The colors maintain some brighter shades that make a character like this fun, but are far less gaudy than on the ’92 figure. Many of the details have been highlighted on this version with paint applications not present before, which also helps me appreciate the sculpt. I think one of the best examples of this is the figure’s head, where before it was just gold plastic with red eyes, now he has separate colors for the different sections of his head. It’s surprisingly detailed honestly.

The parts are also pretty cool. All of the original Overkill’s parts are here, just now in black. I think Overkill’s gun and arm attachment are pretty strange, but there’s a lot of detail on them that’s easier to digest in black compared to fluorescent red. Plus any ARAH figure that kept his original parts in the 2000’s was something to admire.

At one time, you could buy the entire BAT army builder 6-pack for as little as $6. That however, was at the height of this item’s saturation. Now, these are a bit harder to find, and you’ll see the full set or single figures sell for random, and usually very stupid prices on eBay. Of course, you can also grab a surplus figure from China for $6.50 shipped. I think this is a pretty underrated repaint, and although that’s a lot more than he used to cost, it’s still a high quality figure I think is worth that much.

2003 Overkill Links:

Forgotten Figures (Inferno BAT post, but still relevant)

Instagram

Yo Joe

1983 Snow Job

Posted on May 28, 2018 by mwnekoman

1983 Snow Job

Since a young age, cold climates and snow have always fascinated me. I don’t know if it has something to do with the fact that as a person from the deep south, I’ve never had much snow, or if it has to do with a memorable impression I got from watching both The Empire Strikes Back and The Thing as a kid. Either way, it’s led me to value arctic themed figures more than I probably should, most of all, Snow Job.

My first Snow Job figure was the ‘97 version, and as a kid he was probably among my top 3 GI Joe figures. The entire Arctic Mission Team got a lot of use, but Snow Job was the most interesting figure to me of them all. Now, I don’t feel like that figure is the best version of this character, but he in some form has always been a favorite of mine.

With that said, one thing the character has going for him that a lot of GI Joe characters don’t, is that the overall quality of Snow Job toys has been pretty good. While the ‘97 figure has issues with it’s quality, it was a fine stand-in in lieu of the V1 figure. The 25th figure was also pretty good given the standards of that time, followed by the 2009 “Past and Present” figure that may even be arguably better than the V1 figure. The POC version was also one of the best figures released in that line, so overall you have the character featured in a few different styles and yet there’s never really been a bad Snow Job.

Snow Job has a pretty simple aesthetic and sculpt, like a lot of the 1983 guys. One of the nice elements of the figures from this year is that they tended to have more basic, less busy designs similar to the ‘82 figures, but with far more variety in terms of sculpt and colors. Snow Job’s sculpt features a decent amount of detail, but never goes too far into looking busy like 1988 Blizzard, for example.

Snow Job’s parts are yet another one of the figure’s strong qualities. He included the iconic XMLR-3A laser riffle, a set of skis and ski poles, and a backpack that could hold all of his ski gear. The ski gear is a lot of fun even if sometimes I find it mildly cumbersome, and I think they add a lot to Snow Job’s character and play value. The laser riffle is a great part too, and if you’re into the Sunbow’s take on Joe, it’s the standard riffle for the entire team.

V1 Snow Job’s can vary a lot in terms of price. One reason for this is because he’s a white figure, and like all of those that means he’s prone to yellowing. So a dead-mint example that’s complete with his filecard can go for as much as $20 to $30. But this is a common figure and you often see similarly well conditioned figures go for around $10, so one definitely shouldn’t pay too much even for a stark white example.

1983 Snow Job Links:

Forgotten Figures

Yo Joe

3D Joes

1994 Space Shot

Posted on May 21, 2018 by mwnekoman

1994 Space Shot

Although when I think of the ‘94 Joes, I typically think of the various updates to 80‘s characters that came out that year. Despite this, there were a few interesting new characters that came out as well, such as Space Shot in the Star Brigade sub-line.

Space Shot’s a pretty weird figure like many of his ‘94 brethren. Personally, I’ve had this figure since my childhood and I really don’t have many strong memories of him. That’s not to say he’s bad, but compared with some of the other Star Brigade offerings he’s a tad on the bland side. The design aesthetic looks more like someone who’d be a crew member on a Star Trek-esque space opera and less like some sort of astronaut. He also lacks a clear visor unlike many of the other Star Brigade Joes, so that’s probably why he fell flat on me for so long.

As an adult, I think Space Shot could have a lot of uses in a collection. One lazier option would be to use him as a spare pilot, which I think his colors and helmet look well suited for. Though a more left field usage could also be to include him with the Battle Force 2000, who matches his aesthetic pretty well.

Interestingly, he also reuses more parts than the typical figure, but I think it’s pulled off pretty well. The waist and legs are from ‘92 Mutt, while the arms are from ‘88 Countdown. The chest and head are new, though at first glance his face really resembles Mutt. On his neck there’s a sculpted and painted portion of his suit’s collar, which I thought was a really nice detail to have present. Also, his chest is REALLY bulky. It doesn’t feel like it hampers his articulation bad compared to say the ‘91 Incinerator, but it’s definitely one of the bigger feeling chest sculpts in the line.

For parts, he includes a new helmet, backpack, and a black version of ‘90 Ambush’s grenade pistol. For a gimmick oriented piece, I find that the backpack is surprisingly fun. It has a grappling hook that allows him to hang from things, locks into position, and automatically recoils once unlocked. His helmet is pretty cool too, reassembling one of the Rebel Fleet troopers from Star Wars. A visor would’ve made it better in my eyes, but it’s not bad. Lastly, the Ambush gun feels like a pretty sci-fi looking weapon, so it’s inclusion here seems appropriate.

Space Shot is unfortunately one of those rare and costly ‘94 figures. More often, you find these from dealers who want $30 to $40 for a carded example. Lose figures may only fetch around $15, but finding an auction for a loose one isn’t too easy either. With patience, I think Space Shot is a fun figure to have for the lower price, but isn’t really interesting or exotic enough to warrant more than that. Collector’s bought up a ton of the excess 1994 stock as evidenced by the amount you find MOSC, so his scarcity shouldn’t be overstated.

1994 Space Shot Links:

Forgotten Figures

Yo Joe

3D Joes

Funskool Tripwire

Posted on May 14, 2018 by mwnekoman

Funskool Tripwire

Funskool GI Joes seem to be an nearly unending source of interest in the realm of collecting. You have figures that provide high quality repaints such as the Toxo Viper, or interesting alternatives to classics like V1 Flint. Then you have the downright bizarre figures, one such example being this Funskool Tripwire.

In recent years Funskool Tripwire has become a rather sought after figure, almost to the degree of Listen N Fun Tripwire. But in the late 2000‘s heading into the early 2010‘s, he was held in disregard and was a common figure. I still remember my first encounter with him being baffled at the design choices they made, and generally being disinterested in the figure in favor of the more well colored Funskool figures. Back then, I scoffed at the figure for a measly $3, but just a few years later I ended up feeling like I got a deal when I acquired one for $15. It’s a really stunning example of how these figures seem like they’ve just evaporated from the market.

Tripwire is in my opinion, one of the most interesting and odd Funskool figures. He’s decked out in purple, with red, gold, and bright orange details as well as a little flesh color for his face. The paint is rather detailed on this figure, and I have to say he’s more visually interesting than any of the Hasbro Tripwires. His chest also features some large text that says “BOMB SQUAD”, which is probably one of the most memorable details present here.

His accessories are also rather interesting. Although he comes with a backpack and mine detector just like Hasbro’s Tripwire, the parts are not the same. First, his backpack has been modified to feature a peg, so now it connects to his mine detector with a rubber hose. Likewise, the mine detector is totally new. It’s smaller, and it isn’t held the same way as the Hasbro mine detector, as it lacks the perpendicular grip. Interestingly, they painted a few details on it as well. It’s easy to say that this detector is inferior to Hasbro’s, but the fact that it’s a new sculpt makes the figure a whole lot more interesting.

Funskool Tripwire is stupidly expensive. Like I mentioned earlier, at one time you could acquire these with ease for $3. Now, one shows up on eBay maybe once a month or so, and is running $100 routinely. Given that Funskool was known for making extremely large production runs, I don’t think that price will remain forever. Though similarly, I also doubt it’ll ever come down that much. Either way, it’s testament to how interesting he is as a figure.

Funskool Tripwire Links:

Yo Joe

Forgotten Figures

1983 Major Bludd

Posted on May 7, 2018 by mwnekoman

1983 Major Bludd

Major Bludd isn’t the most iconic Cobra from the early line, and when compared with the likes of Destro, Firefly, Storm Shadow and Zartan, it’s fair to say he isn’t the most popular either. Personally however, I’ve always been a big fan of the character and I think he has a lot of strong qualities not seen in later Cobras.

When I got into collecting vintage figures in the late 2000‘s, Major Bludd was one I sought with priority. I did already have a few decent versions of the character by way of the Sonic Fighters and Battle Corps figures, but those designs are quite a lot different than the V1. It also helped that at the time, Major Bludd’s were not very costly compared to other similarly old figures, so he was easy to acquire on a modest budget.

Major Bludd was also the favorite character of my friend and GI Joe photography legend, Cradea2. He died of cancer around this time eight years ago, and it changed the way I look at Major Bludd after that. Suddenly there was a lot of sentimentality surrounding the character, and often times using him brought up feelings that made me melancholic at the very least. So despite that I’ve always liked Major Bludd quite a bit, I’ve ended up not using him as often because of that.

V1 Major Bludd is an early example of Hasbro experimenting with the construction on ARAH figures. His right arm has no articulation beyond the shoulder, and is that way to represent a protective sleeve he wears while using his rocket pistol. It’s interesting for sure, and makes him a tad more memorable too. It isn’t however, a good justification for his lack of articulation. If you dislike this enough, swapping his arm for V1 Thunder’s is a good alternative, as you can see in this photo from Scarrviper.

Major Bludd’s most charming aspect is his detailed sculpt. There’s a lot of the typical and good sci-fi aesthetics like his chest-pad and mechanical/armored arm, but they are just a few of the details that stand out so much on this figure. His necklace of dog tags is one of those darker details you saw a lot early in the line, similar to the Cobra Trooper’s piano wire. His left arm features a unique emblem, and a sculpted patch that adds to his overall interestingness.

For parts, he included a rocket pistol, and a backpack full of sculpted missiles. It’s his trademark to a certain extent, but it’s also where the figure falls a little flat in my opinion. Ultimately, besides his right arm’s lack of articulation, the figure has no interesting gimmicks, and these parts are very simple. They aren’t without their appeal, but for a mercenary who personally writes about using an Uzi, I prefer to arm him with a traditional gun much more.

Surprisingly, Major Bludd’s will sometimes cost a lot of money, but they aren’t actually worth too much. If you shop around, auctions will typically run around $11, though sometimes mint examples will go for less than that. Most of the figures that are this old will go for a little more, so for such a fine and memorable Cobra, I see no reason that a collection should be without one.

1983 Major Bludd Links:

Major Bludd diorama by Cradea2

1987 Cobra La Royal Guard

Posted on April 30, 2018 by mwnekoman

1987 Cobra La Royal Guard

The 1987 GI Joe movie was a controversial and polarizing piece of GI Joe media to the fandom. Maybe not to the same extent as the similar Transformers movie from ‘86, it still marks the portion of the brand where you hear many collector’s quit buying the toys as children. Personally, I really like GI Joe the movie and all of what it entails, including the unpopular villain of Cobra La, so of course I like the Royal Guard as well.

With that said, there’s going to be a lot of subjectivity surrounding this figure, and I totally understand why most people wouldn’t like the Royal Guard or Cobra La as a whole. The prevailing reason for said disdain is that Cobra La just doesn’t fit with the military identity GI Joe has and that most people strictly view it as. A primordial group of clandestine super humans is far from the terrorist concept of Cobra, and I think it’s fair to say the idea was a poor fit for the brand.

Like the Renegades from ‘87, the three Cobra La figures Hasbro made were sold in a set, and is the only Cobra La item to be released in ARAH. The Nullifier was planned to be a Cobra La vehicle driver, but was reworked into being an Iron Grenadier instead, which I think reflects how much of a flop this group was.

But with all this being said, the Royal Guard is a fun and eccentric figure. He’s covered in a bug-like armor with a nice amount of sculpted detail and texturing. The insect aesthetic is one of the elements that makes the figure appear so unique and different from most other Cobras. Of course, if Hasbro had gone down the path of making a bunch of figures all just like him, that uniqueness would have quickly diminished.

The Royal Guard has a pretty decent amount of paint on him too, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. Large areas on his thighs, arms, shoulders, feet and head are all mostly painted, which goes a good way towards making the figure look better. It can present a problem in finding a mint example however, as all of these areas are prone to a lot of wear. I also speculate that a lot of kids who bought these were emulating scenes from the movie, and may have been slightly more rough with them than other figures.

For parts, the Royal Guard included a pistol, removable antenna, and his melee weapon. I like the inclusion of the pistol which makes him a little more useful as a soldier, although other than that it’s a forgettable gun that doesn’t look too good. The antenna, is a unique and good looking part, but there was no need for it to be removable. The part is expensive and missing from most examples, and I still don’t own the piece. It would’ve been nice if Hasbro could’ve glued the part on, but alas that wasn’t the case. Lastly, his most memorable and iconic part is the scythe/melee weapon. It’s unorthodox looking, but I think it completes his look and has a great appearance when you pose him with it. It’s a fantasy oriented figure, so a weapon like this suits him better.

Mint complete Royal Guards go for $30 to $50, but aren’t really too hard to find. I’m fond of this figure, but that price is far beyond what he’s worth. One should exercise a lot of caution when buying a complete example, as there’s a lot of reproduction antennas out there that could be passed off as real to the untrained eye. If you sacrifice the antenna, the figure’s price drops to around $15. Which is still kind of a lot for this figure. I acquired most of mine through the occasional lot featuring one, which seems to be the best way to acquire them given most collector’s won’t have much interest in them in lots.

1987 Cobra La Royal Guard Links:

Slaughter’s Marauders Low-Light, 1989

Posted on April 23, 2018 by mwnekoman

Slaughter’s Marauders Low-Light

To keep relevant and popular characters on shelves through the late 80‘s, Hasbro began repainting older figures into new team based colors. While the results may have not always been great (such as with the Python Guard), collectors generally hold the Python Patrol and Tiger Force in somewhat high regard, though not nearly as much as the Night Force. The Slaughter’s Marauders on the other hand, have never been a popular group for a number of reasons, despite featuring some quality repaints like this Low-Light figure.

The main issue a lot of folks take with the group as a whole, is that the toys are quite a bit more brittle than other ARAH figures. This is because Hasbro had them produced in Brazil by Estrela, who’s known for making figures out of more brittle plastic. If you aren’t careful, a lot of their parts can easily break their thumbs similar to a Lanard figure. It’s some interesting trivia for sure, but also a bit of a shame that these repaints suffer in quality because of it.

V1 Low-light was an excellent figure with great colors, but at the same time his solid gray could sometimes be a bit drab. Naturally this makes him a really good choice for these more vibrant team colors of green, light green, brown and baby blue. The blue is a bit distracting, but otherwise the Slaughter’s Marauders palate looks a lot more realistic and less garish than what you often saw from Tiger Force and Python Patrol. It also allows for a really good amount of paint and colors on the figure, which is something else to appreciate.

The cheaper plastic used on the Slaughter’s Marauders is also evident in their accessories. When I was acquiring mine, I generally didn’t care about their completeness as I usually had the parts from their respective V1 figures. My Slaughter’s Marauders Low-light did include his backpack though, and you can tell the difference in the look and feel of the plastic. The Slaughter’s Marauders version is much duller than the original. A novelty worth noting, though also something I don’t regret skipping on most of my collection.

Finding a Slaughter’s Marauders Low-Light that’s complete and not broken is a somewhat difficult task. Often, you find a complete example with a broken thumb, or a mint example with only a part or two. Mint complete figures average around $20 to $30, but a mint partless figure may only go for around $6 if you search for a bit. Personally, I don’t think having cheaper versions of V1 Low-light’s parts really justifies paying four to five times as much for this figure, so it isn’t a bad option to go for a partless one.