2004 Viper (Python Patrol), Valor VS. Venom

Posted on July 11, 2023 by Nekoman

2004 Viper (Python Patrol), Valor VS. Venom

Filler week! I have some good memories of Valor vs. Venom, but not so many that it’s really worth talking about the VvV Viper sculpt again after I already wrote about the red one, and this guy’s pack-mate, the Tele-Viper (Python Patrol) on another occasion. Yet, here I am, because I ran out of time this week, and I have a couple of old photos of this guy anyways.

I completely ignored GI Joe in 2004. Spy Troops garnered my interest for a bit thanks to it’s fun designs and cool gimmicks, but this was lost with Valor vs. Venom. I had a lot of toys I wanted that year, between getting every last Gundam product I could find at retail and trying to save some out from Transformers Energon, GI Joe didn’t have much of a chance, especially for toys I considered a somewhat pitiful showing. The Valor vs. Venom story line of DNA altered Cobras, plus many of the goofy characters like Coil Crusher and Venomous Maximus, drove me away primarily, but the drab and often boring Joes did nothing to help.

Years later though, I was thirsty for anything GI Joe I could get, and most of the ‘03 through ‘06 figures started to look more appealing, especially once people started dumping off their collections for change. Many of the aforementioned elements of VvV still didn’t appeal to me, but browsing YoJoe! for some hours revealed a number of toys I felt would be more at home in my collection. It also helped that the then current 25th Anniversary Viper was a pretty lackluster figure, so this older sculpt gained a stronger appeal for having normal wrists, and the ability to sit properly.

This Viper is a fun toy, and a good representation of the sculpt. For a guy wearing a helmet, his head is a little small, but the proportions are much more solid overall than what you typically see on releases from this era. He can’t get super-authentic tacti-cool real-military poses, but the feel of the figure is pretty similar to a classic o-ring from ARAH. Right now, I’d love it if they could just go back to selling figures like this at retail, as while GI Joe has put out some great collectibles since ‘08 or so, the New-Sculpt construction was the last time GI Joe was a good toy.

Like many New-Sculpt figures, this guy seems to suffer badly from the cracking-chest phenomena. All of mine have a small crack at the neck now, which I know is common to figures from this era. So far though, a lot of my Comic-Pack guys are still perfectly fine, and many of my other new-sculpts are fine too, so if I had to guess I’d say these are a little worse than average. Between figures commonly yellowing and the neck-cracks showing up, it’s really not fun to collect these any more, which is sad.

For accessories, you get possibly the three most generic parts that were in-use between 2003 to ‘06, that being an AK-47 (with bayonet), a G36 rifle, and a knife. What’s funny about these parts is that they were used so much, I can barely guess which figure first included them, but honestly, with so many uses, they were probably never intended as someone’s special gun to begin with. Why does a Viper include two rifles? An SMG or an explosive-launcher of some type would have been nicer than two guns that fill the same role.

No one does auctions anymore, so finding a few of these guys at a price they’re worth isn’t too easy. Still, even the dealers that only list BiN’s rarely bother asking for more than $8 for one of these guys. You’ll find them in lots and with the Python Tele-Viper often enough for around $20, too. There’s a lot I miss about figures like this one, but sadly it’s really not something worth paying that much money for. Mainly, that’s because there’s a good chance this figure will continue to age poorly and degrade, which they’ve proven to be doing at a much faster rate than the 80‘s figures that are twice their age.

2004 Viper (Version 13) Links:

Half the Battle

GeneralsJoes

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2004, Python Patrol, Python Viper, Valor vs Venom, Viper | 1 Comment

1986 Beach Head

Posted on July 4, 2023 by Nekoman

1986 Beachhead

Masked commandos always make for some of the coolest characters. Of course, I’ve seen some people that very much think otherwise, but there’s no doubt that the cool look plays a role in Beachhead’s popularity. And Firefly’s. And Shockwave’s too. Before I knew too much about the character, I was mainly attracted to him just for the fact that he’s a reasonable looking commando with a balaclava.

Beachhead has a really fine sculpt and design. He’s detailed, his gear has an interesting look, and he even has extra clips on his chest that match his SMG. The only real wart is his head: it’s massive, which is unfortunately consistent with most of the ‘86 line. The massive noggins from that year stick out so much to me that I do suspect it was intentional, but I wonder what the thinking was. I feel like these sculpts tend to age more poorly than other vintage sculpts, just because the proportions are so odd by comparison.

He’s got some nice colors and paint work on him too. This dark cyan tone wasn’t seen so much in the vintage line, which does make Beachhead stand out a lot. There’s a nice little patch tampographed onto his left-shoulder, some gray paint for his clips, even a little splash of red for the beret (?) sculpted onto his shoulder. I never really knew what the red thing on his shoulder is, but I kind of think it’s a hat. Oddly, it’s not present on his card-art, so I guess it was a late addition to the design.

V1 Beachhead also has another problem I really hate: his crotch. This figure has one of the thinnest, daintiest waist pieces in the entire line, and you will find plenty of broken ones because of that. This is the main reason that I default to the Funskool figure anytime I need a Beachhead for something, as the softer plastic is much more resistant to breakage. Although the 2000‘s brought plenty of Beachhead repaints, it’s a shame we didn’t get this sculpt in comic colors or something close to the olive used on the 25th figure, as personally I still want a normal looking Beachhead that doesn’t scare me as much as the V1 figure.

The included accessories for Beachhead are his SMG in dark-gray plastic, a backpack in black, and a flexible black satchel. If he had just been another guy with a gun and a backpack like Leatherneck, it’d have been a bit boring, but the little ammo-pouch does a lot to make Beachhead seem like he comes with more. His SMG is a classic part, it’s a Demro XF-7 Wasp. He looks great holding it and it’s really easy for virtually any figure to use it, too. It is a very odd choice of weapon for a Joe, as the Wasp wasn’t ever adopted by any military or law-enforcement, but it looks really cool, and that’s probably why the designers chose it too.

I’d say a mint, complete Beachhead is worth about $25, but sometime $35, especially for one with the filecard. He’s a popular figure that’s prone to damage in a few ways, so often times you’ll see examples sell for way more than that, but he’s not really worth more then $35 at any point. With that said, finding a mint Beachhead really is more of a pain in the ass than it usually is for a common figure; you can scroll through a bunch of listings and find most will have some kind of egregious flaw. I think he’s worth it, but if you don’t care too much, the Funskool and Night-Force versions make good replacements.

1986 Beach Head Links:

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1986, ARAH, Beachhead | 4 Comments

1989 Tiger Sting

Posted on June 27, 2023 by Nekoman

1989 Tiger Sting

Tiger Force vehicles! The Tiger Force vehicle colors are cool and iconic, I love them. I think at one point this used to be a cool alternative opinion that made you different from the crowd, but now everyone loves everything that’s been lathered in bright colors and reminds them of the good times prior to the turn of the century… Which means I can’t be cool just for liking toy jeeps and aircraft in tiger colors anymore.

The Tiger Sting is a repaint of the VAMP Mark II, just in the colorful Tiger Force team colors. I find it interesting that it’s a repaint of the VAMP and not the Cobra Stinger, seeing as how Tiger Force and Python Patrol did a lot of faction swapping; the “Sting” in the name would also make more sense as a Stinger repaint. Maybe there was a miscommunication at the factory? Either way, it’s the requisite repaint of what is probably GI Joe’s most iconic and popular vehicle, so it does the job regardless of what the thinking was behind it.

Speaking of the parts it uses, the domestic release on the Tiger Sting uses a mixture of ‘82 VAMP and VAMP Mark II parts, namely, it uses the upper hull of the original VAMP that doesn’t feature a lot of sculpted details. Later in the UK and a few other European countries, it was released using the upper hull of the VAMP Mark II, with the little shovel and tarp on the hood. I assume the smooth body was used to help the tiger-face decals adhere, so the different parts might negatively impact that.

For me this one’s another childhood item that came from my brother’s collection, not something that I ever picked out for myself. Part of the reason I think GI Joe vehicles really went down in quality towards the end of the line, comes from the fact that most of the vehicles I liked as a kid were repaints of older 80‘s items like the Tiger Sting. The childhood armory featured mostly vehicles released between ‘90 and ‘94. For the most part, my focus was put on the Tiger Sting, the Lynx and the Sky Sharc, whereas I don’t remember ever having much fascination with the Badger, just as one example. A lot of the older vehicles seemed more compact and easy to play with, compared to monstrosities like the Attack Cruiser.

I don’t find the Tiger Force vehicle colors to be all that unrealistic, at least not by GI Joe’s standards of fluorescent grenades, android soldiers and whatever the HISS Driver is supposed to be. During the Korean War, there was a kinda famous M46 Patton painted up with a big goofy tiger face in the front, and at least half of the tank was bright yellow. I remember seeing the thing a long time ago, but now I can’t find anything decent documenting it, at least at a glance. Realism aside, I like the colors because they look nice. The Tiger Force color-scheme is distinct and stands out immediately. With the Tiger Sting here, I really love the way that it’s colors contrast so much against green tones you see around your yard or parks in the Summer, it’s really nice in photos.

Complete Tiger Stings can run around $80, but any small defect can bring that price down to around $50 to $40. Finding one with all of the missiles, the steering wheel, gas cans and no damage to the doors can be some work. I take the liberty of assuming they didn’t make as many of these as they did VAMPs and VAMP Mark II’s, so that probably also affects the pricing. Personally, I think this one’s worth the premium, as it does feel like one of the only Tiger Force vehicles you really need.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1989, ARAH, Tiger Force, Tiger Sting, VAMP, Vehicles | 1 Comment

1997 Destro

Posted on June 20, 2023 by Nekoman

1997 Destro

At one point in life, I had two Destro toys I found superior to most others: ‘92 Destro and ‘97 Destro. With these, I didn’t feel like I needed any other o-ring Destros, until I changed my mind and decided ‘83 was the best. For the most part, I still like the ‘83 figure more, but the V3 sculpt has it’s charms, and the ‘97 repaint is a great representation of it.

I often forget that this figure is the retail-release version of the infamous Pimp Daddy Destro. It’s funny really, that that figure gets so much press, either just for it’s sheer absurdity or for the fact that it’s rare, while this one remains an obscurity like virtually every other repaint from the ‘97 – ‘98 line. That’s a gimmicky part of collecting I’ve never seen the appeal of, but then again, I’m glad that not everyone likes everything as much as I do, or GI Joes would be more expensive than they already are.

Destro V3, which this figure is a repaint of, features a very bulky sculpt. At a glance it looks quite a lot like Destro’s original design, but it’s fairly different in a few ways. He’s picked up some shoulder-pads, some bulky shin-guards, some leggings more reminiscent of the Iron Grenadiers figure. Still, most of the important details like his little medallion remain the same (well, it’s a different necklace now, but it’s there), which is interesting given that not so many ARAH redesigns kept much from figure to figure.

I quit liking ‘92 Destro quite as much once I realized how poorly his proportions match up with anything. His tiny head in particular tends to bother me, though the massive muscle-guy-90‘s shoulders limit him a bit too. At one point this bothered me an awful lot, but I realize that most of these issues just seem more apparent because of the transition in sculpting styles. Next to ‘84 Cobra Commander, he looks silly and rather out of place; next to ‘94 Major Bludd, he looks pretty decent. It’s a very exaggerated looking figure, but he has a home among his contemporaries.

Of course, this post is about the ‘97 repaint. He came in the “Cobra Command Team” set with Baroness and a blue battle-armor Cobra Commander. As the story goes, originally him and Cobra Commander were going to be the V1 molds, but like with so many others from this point, the molds were gone. From what I can see of the prototype, the V1 Destro repaint they were planning was a lot more boring than this one, so I guess I’m glad it never happened in that way.

This is a nice set of colors for Destro and the V3 mold with it’s added details does really well with it. The heavy use of burgundy with black, red and silver for details is eye-catching, and also a fairly inventive new color-scheme that manages to look appropriate for the character while also seeming totally new. For an added bonus, they chromed his head, which I think makes him look a lot more interesting overall than if it were just silver paint.

Like ‘92 Destro, he comes with a big, bulky pistol, a disk-launcher (with three disks) and a stand. Some of those disk-launchers are black, some are pink. As a kid I really liked his pistol, just for the way it looked. As far as looks go, it is fairly decent, but it’s hard to ignore how badly scaled it is when considering the fact that it’s a handgun. Of course, I can’t place what kind of gun it is exactly, and while I think it’s probably an original design, some of those 90‘s Joe guns were based on some very obscure firearms, so maybe it’s better than I think. The disk launcher is alright for a missile launcher, it’s fairly fun since it’s a stationary item. Oddly there’s no spring in this one, I think that’s universal on this release, but I’ve never been sure since no one says much about it.

Most of the ‘97 Destro’s I see loose are missing the launcher, which I’d guess is because most of the adults that bought these probably tossed that aside while contemplating the real and present danger of the Y2K bug. Without it, you can get a nice example for around $7, which is nice. Carded Cobra Command Team sets seem like they’re coming down in price, so with a little waiting you might get one of those for around $35.

1997 Destro Links:

Forgotten Figures

Half the Battle

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1997, Cobra Command Team, Destro | 1 Comment

1993 Law

Posted on June 13, 2023 by Nekoman

1993 Law

As it turns out, government propaganda isn’t a popular thing. Doubling a toy’s price to include a missile launcher with a light was also not such a popular thing. Because of this, the DEF line wound up getting canceled, and all of it’s 1993 releases incorporated into the Battle Corps. I tend to find that all of these ‘93 DEF guys are odd, but most of them are good none the less, which is the case with Law.

Law is a figure I’ve not paid attention to for the longest time. When I started collecting, I did not have much tolerance for figures in the colors you often found from ‘93. The drastic redesign on this figure was off putting, and it was even more so when I had Sonic Fighters Law to compare him to. Even back then I had a lot of interest in the DEF and Headhunters, but Law was too much to ever really consider. At some point a few years ago though, neon became a fascination of mine, so this Law has some new life in my eyes. He’s especially helped by the fact that I ignored him for so long that now he feels kind of new.

The new design is a drastic change from his ‘87 look, but if you pay attention he actually looks really good. If he were in dark and drab colors this figure really wouldn’t be too far off from the geardo/dark and gritty esthetic that’s been popular since the 2010‘s. He’s wearing a mask with chemical filters on it, which I imagine protects him from both friendly usage of teargas and also exposure to drugs and other chemicals, since some might get aerosolized during a fight. It’s a really cool detail, although I have to admit the idea doesn’t really translate well onto the figure’s sculpt, compared to his card-art (similar to DEF Shockwave and his helmet). He’s fully decked out in body-armor too, which is unique looking and makes for a pretty cool figure, Law might be able to survive a few blasts from a Headhunter’s shotgun.

I think where this figure really falls flat is the coloring. Bright-blue, light-gray and neon-yellow make for a figure with colors that are both bright and not too compelling. If there was ever a year of figures that was neon, it was 1993; despite that, many of his contemporaries had color schemes I felt were a tad more interesting. The Night Creeper Leader with his tiger pants is a fine example. Roadblock, Gung-Ho and a few others also make really good use of colors that contrast better with the neon. Law here mostly features colors at a similarly bright shade, which just makes him look more boring than he should.

You may have noticed that Law’s dog, Order, is no longer present. This was a veiled commentary on America’s decent into becoming a police state, as now you have Law but no Order… Just kidding. Law includes ‘91 Sci-fi’s gun, ‘91 Grunt’s gun, ‘92 Roadblock’s knife, missiles, stand, and a shield for his missile launcher, all in bright yellow plastic. The shield that fits over his missile-launcher was a pretty cool little gimmick. His guns are pretty terrible choices and he doesn’t look swell with either of them. At the very least the Roadblock knife was a cool inclusion seeing as to how it’s a nice and also seldom seen sculpt.

V3 Law’s are still purty cheap, with complete figures weighing in at around $12 and carded figures only going up to $20. Finding carded figures is still pretty easy, since he’s from the point where speculators began hording figures knowing that one day random 90’s GI Joes would make them rich. He’s not a must-have figure for any reason, but if you have a fascination with imagining inner city America as a war-zone brimming with neon-clad commandos, which I do, then he’s pretty cool to have around.

1993 Law Links:

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1993, ARAH, Battle Corps, DEF, Law | 3 Comments

2005 Zarana

Posted on June 5, 2023 by Nekoman

2005 Zarana

I didn’t plan on writing about a Zarana figure again anytime soon, after all, I just wrote about ‘86 Zarana not all that long ago, and that post still reflects my feelings really well, both on the character and her sculpt. This Zarana however, is a comic-pack figure, and those are melting so fast, I wanted to take at least of few extra photos of mine while she still looks okay.

V1 Zarana has always been relatively cheap and common, and this figure’s updated head sculpt arguably looks worse than the original’s. Relative to your other options, I don’t mind it very much, but it doesn’t look great. In the 3-pack, the main appeal was Cobra Commander and Zartan, while Zarana was just kind of a toss-in. Still, this wasn’t a terrible comic-pack, in fact, it was a pretty good one overall. Besides the ugly head, Zarana’s main flaw is just that she wasn’t really as needed as a new Zartan and Battle Armor Cobra Commander. Despite that, this sculpt still seems a lot more fresh than most of what they put out with the comic-packs.

Overall, the colors are a lot more desaturated and toned-down compared to early comic-packs. Zarana’s pink shirt and bluejeans look really dull now, but that’s not horrible, just different. Bright colors seem more suited to Zarana since she’s really a terrorist punk, but not a commando, so dulling her down is mildly counterintuitive. The duller colors used on these Dreadnoks would’ve translated better onto some of the prior comic-pack releases such as the First 13 guys, but like with many lines of GI Joe toys, Hasbro learned about a year too late.

Fortunately for me my figure seems to be aging well, though I know for others she’s discoloring badly. I recently audited my comic-pack figures and found myself to be lucky that not so many of my figures are discoloring or developing torso-cracks. Of course, it’s probably just a matter of time before she turns; my Thrasher looked okay until maybe just a year or two ago, but now he’s quickly joined the ranks of Scrap Iron and the JvC Alley Vipers.

Something I do find to hate about this Zarana though, is her loose grip in her right hand. She’s packaged holding her cutter by it’s stock, so virtually every copy of this figure has a really loose grip on her right hand. I tried fixing it a little with hot water, but that’s fiddly and it didn’t improve much after my first attempt. I find myself endlessly irritated that the figure was negatively impacted by packaging I immediately threw away.

She comes with both of ‘86 Zarana’s parts, a backpack and her cutter, so that’s really nice. Both parts are also rendered in nice black plastic, which I like a lot. Not because black is the best color, but because Zarana has a fairly nice and seldom seen backpack. In red, it doesn’t look swell with too many other figures, but this black one could go well with quite a few. Also, it’s nice they brought her cutter back, but it still sucks and I never use it.

A mint complete ‘05 Zarana seems to run around $20. Sealed in her 3-pack, you can get one around $60. Back when the whole set barely ran $15, there really wasn’t a lot to lose, but for that much money these figures are a waste of time. Looking around, I don’t see too many Zarana’s discoloring badly, but they have the possibility of doing so at any time. She was okay as a pack-in, especially if you normally didn’t feel inclined to bother with a V1 Zarana and her crappy glued torso. For $20, there’s a lot of better figures you could get, especially ones that aren’t made of sus plastic.

2005 Zarana Links:

Forgotten Figures

Joe A Day

Half the Battle

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2005, Comic Packs, DTC, Zarana | 1 Comment

1989 Lynx

Posted on May 29, 2023 by Nekoman

1989 Lynx

The late-80‘s repaint lines followed some simple patterns, especially when it came to the vehicles. An old toy that had been out of production for a year or two was slapped in new colors and put back out on store shelves. The Slaughter’s Marauders vehicles are the odd exception to this, as they all featured new turrets, making them unique from any other vehicle in the line. Why Hasbro took a different approach with these vehicles, I do not know, but either way it lead to some more memorable items.

I’m very biased towards the Lynx, as this has been one of my favorite GI Joe vehicles since I was a small child. I never had any of my own vehicles until I was a teenager, but part of that was because my brother had a decent collection of late-line items to chose from. I think vehicles interest me a little more than most, but I still place a higher focus on the figures, just like most of you guys out there. Of course, my brother’s collection was mostly 90‘s items, so out of the vehicles he owned, this one was the most reasonable and tank-like.

A lot of fans seem to find artillery vehicles boring for not doing much or having reduced figure capacity. This is true, but sort of alien to me, both now and when I was a kid. I’ve always really liked artillery vehicles, mainly for the fact that it’s a vehicle with the potential to kill something in another zip-code. This also provides me with an easy plot for a battle, as Joes and Cobras would always have an interest in attacking each other’s artillery. It doesn’t have to do much to act as a kind of objective for attackers and defenders, so they always saw a lot of use in that way.

The Lynx is an fairly impressive looking vehicle for something that’s just a Wolverine repaint. The Wolverine’s missiles have been replaced by a new turret, which recycles the main gun from the Mauler. The turret looks really big on it, which I think makes the vehicle look a lot more powerful. For a little more visual interest, it’s covered in the signature camo that the Slaughter’s Marauders vehicles use. This is a really good woodland pattern, the greens are vibrant, and everything has a realistic hue to it. Because there’s no odd or clashing colors, putting any Joe from outside Slaughter’s Marauders you like in it doesn’t seem too odd or unnatural as well, which is what I do most of the time.

Because it reuses the lower hull of the Wolverine, it also inherits most of that vehicles gimmicks. The removable engine cover is a nice detail, though it’s always prompted me to imagine that it breaks down every other mile. The tow-rope also reappears; I wish I could say I loved this little part, but I don’t. The clips for it on the vehicle are comically fragile, and while intact examples give the vehicle a lot of flair, it doesn’t really seem to make up for how delicate it is. With a little work I could repair a broken one with some epoxy and a 3-D printed tow-rope, which I might do if I ever bother with a cheap Wolverine. For this vehicle, I’ve never really cared that it doesn’t have it on my copy. Another flaw in the Lynx’s design is in the turret. While it does look very cool and used to be a little tighter, there’s not very much you can do to keep the gun elevated. I’ve not found a good way to safely take this vehicle apart either, so if you get one with a floppy turret, it’s a hard problem to fix.

Typically, I look up the value of an item at the end of my blog post, though I usually can guess if something is expensive or not while I’m writing. The Lynx seems to have a pretty consistent value of about $50, which surprised me a fair amount. That’s not too much money, but it’s a lot more than I was expecting, especially for examples that often had missing or broken tow-ropes. I really like the Lynx, but as a vehicle, it really doesn’t do anything you can’t find in a much cheaper Slugger. Likewise, if you just want a centerpiece to display the Slughter’s Marauders on, the Equalizer is a much better choice.

1989 Lynx Links:

3D Joes

Joe A Day

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1989, ARAH, Lynx, Slaughter's Marauders, Vehicles | 4 Comments

1986 Hawk

Posted on May 22, 2023 by Nekoman

1986 Hawk

The “OG13” Joes are a set I like a lot, though most of them were greatly benefited by getting new toys over time. Hawk is one of those figures, as to me, this is the original Hawk, the one with Flash’s head never existed. He is entirely replaced by this figure and I have little desire for V1 Hawk because of that. It’s still not the perfect figure of Hawk, but whenever I need him, this is the one I go to by default.

That’s not to say I dislike the ‘82 lineup of characters, but half of them looking the same really made some need new toys more than others. The bearded guys (Clutch, Rock&Roll and Breaker) don’t bother me for them all looking the same, but Hawk, Zap and Grand Slam are the three who seem the hardest to tolerate. Unfortunately Grand Slam never got a decent do-over (ignoring the convention figure), but Hawk got a good one, and amazingly they didn’t give him any absurd gimmicks or weird sculpting to get in the way of that.

Hawk has a nice sculpt, it’s not great, but it’s very good. The sculpt is very well proportioned and he has a nicely sized head, an unusual feature given his release year. I think his face looks a little derpy compared to how I imagine Hawk should look, but it’s not terrible. His jacket is also really well detailed and is one of the most eye-catching aspects about the figure. Another small detail I really like about him, is the empty pistol-holster on his right leg, so he has a spot for the gun that he comes with. I don’t know why he has a second (gold) gun on his chest, but it’s nice to see come continuity between the sculpted details and the figure’s accessories.

To be honest, I actually dislike his parts a fair amount. He includes a green backpack and helmet, along with a black pistol. His helmet looks really big on his head, and the sculpt on it isn’t the sharpest among GI Joe helmets. The backpack’s pretty bulky too, I don’t mind it quite as much, but I don’t think it looks really great with him. His pistol is a cool part though, I’m not sure which one it is, but it isn’t a Walther PPK/9mm for sure. It’s shared with Keel-Haul from the prior year, just now in black, and looks like a nice and standard semi-automatic pistol. I’m a little more fond of Chuckles’ pistol, which you’ll often see my Hawk with in photos, but Hawk’s gun is good too.

Hawk was offered as a mail-in in ‘91, and they swapped his parts for a ‘91 Cobra Commander SMG. I don’t think the figure is any different other than that, though the gun is a definite downgrade. That SMG is a fine part, but only ever showed up in the weirdest places, usually in the weirdest colors. Hawk gets it in the same gold color as Cobra Commander, which is unfortunate as this gun would be a lot nicer in black. I don’t know if it’s based on a specific gun, as although it’s reminiscent of many 1940‘s SMG’s, it also looks a lot like the Smith & Wesson M76, which was a Vietnam-era gun.

Although there were a few attempts, I don’t feel like the perfect Hawk was ever really made. This figure is the best, but his head still isn’t what I think the character should look like. The sculpt was later recolored for the ‘97 release, which is nice, but doesn’t really fix any of his problems. His torso and waist were then recolored for the comic-pack release in ‘05, which featured a very ugly head and a bunch of parts from the ‘92 Talking Battle Commander figure, topped off with sparse paint-applications and clown-colors.

Much to my surprise, V2 Hawk’s remain relatively cheap figures. If you’re feeling lazy and impatient, you can easily get a mint complete figure for around $17, but good examples often go for $10 or less. There’s a lot of repo pistols floating around out there for him now, so if you mind that kind of thing, you’re probably better off chancing the cheaper ones and looking for examples that are likely from childhood collections.

1986 General Hawk Links:

Forgotten Figures

Forgotten Figures (Around the Web)

Half the Battle

3D Joes

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1986, ARAH, General Hawk | 2 Comments

2017 TBM Alley Viper (Reverse Colors)

Posted on May 15, 2023 by Nekoman

2017 TBM Alley Viper (Reverse Colors)

In terms of TBM figures, my favorite run was probably the 2017 Alley Vipers. They felt very new given the mold was never used before, and the original paint masks created for the second run of figures was very fresh and breathed a lot of life into the mold. Generally, I liked all of the recolors he did from this mold, but of them all the Dirty South exclusive one in reversed colors is tied for my favorite, with the Night Viper colored one.

A problem that the TBM Alley Vipers run into, is that the original Alley Viper was already an incredibly sharp and attractive figure. He’s bright, but orange and blue are colors that compliment each other really well. For people allergic to neon, the black variations immediately stand out and show what this mold could offer in darker colors. Still, it’s hard to actually make a figure that’s more attractive than the original when you put realism aside. The colors on this release are sharp, and maintain a lot of the original figure’s charm just by reversing the main color with the camouflage color, give or take a hue.

These colors are fun, and I find them easier to integrate into my Joe world. To me, these are apart of a special Detonator task force, who are both capable of operating the vehicle, and act as it’s security that protects it in the lead up to a missile launch. The tones on the figure aren’t a perfect match, but look close enough that I think they compliment the Detonator really well. Plus the idea of a vehicle being important enough to have it’s own, unique division to accompany it, was something I can’t un-think.

The quality was alright on these. I always have a little trouble judging this element of the “factory customs”, since there’s a lot of toys I see people call fragile or flimsy on the internet, that I personally have no problems with. Overall, I got very few Alley Vipers with significant flaws, and the new mold did a good job of recreating the sculpt without deforming it as far as I can tell. The Snow Serpents and Eels he did later were a bit better, but these were also a bit better than most of his older figures at the point they came out.

All of the original Alley Viper accessories were recreated for this release, which includes the mask, shield, backpack with grappling hook, and his distinct SMG. For a long time, I really couldn’t stand the way Alley Viper’s looked without their shield, so incomplete V1 Alley Vipers really drove me nuts for not having the parts. Since I acquired the TBM figures though, I got enough Alley Vipers at once that it made me curious about them with different kinds of gear. A flaw of the original is that these parts are very clunky, and truth be told, he can’t hold his shield very well, even if he looks incredibly bad-arse with it. To be honest though, it’s a fun figure to reaccessorize with less clunky gear, although the original shield and gun is still my favorite setup.

Although they were only sold at first at the 2017 Dirty South convention/meetup, they aren’t particularly more expensive or rare than most of the other ‘17 Alley Vipers. You don’t find them all the time, and they may run upwards of $40, but you might also get them a lot cheaper than that, as patience really helps when it comes to getting old bootlegs. I got mine at the original price, as a kind soul on Instagram hooked me up with an individual who bought too many and got in trouble with his wife. Personally though, I have a hard time paying a high premium for TBM figures, especially when there’s always the chance he’ll make new ones that are similar to what I want.

2017 TBM Alley Viper (Reverse Colors) Links:

The Dragon Fortress

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2017, Alley Viper, Black Major Customs, bootlegs, TBM | 1 Comment

2018 Manleh (Red Laser Customs)

Posted on May 8, 2023 by Nekoman

2018 Manleh (Red Laser Customs)

In 2018, Red Laser Customs, a very similar entity to the Black Major, made a massive set of 19(?) figures. Among a plethora of Spy Troops characters and original creations, there were remakes of the famous “Argen7” figures with swivel-arm sculpts. The downside was that this set was a logistics nightmare, and is the reason why Red Laser Customs is no longer a thing, as I understand it.

International Joes are a weird thing to me, as on one hand, seeing the curious and unique way our favorite toy line emerged all over the world adds a lot of interest to collecting. On the other hand though, most of what makes them interesting is limited to that one novel aspect, and in some ways it’s questionable why you’d even want them. The original Manleh from Argentina is a cool figure, but costing around $1000, you really can’t do much besides look at the thing on a shelf. It’s too precious to handle, and even then, most of the appeal is just in how exotic the figure is. Once that’s taken away, the figure just becomes an oddball recolor.

I realized this earlier with the underwhelming feeling I got from Joecon figures that were often times international homages. “Remaking” things like the Funskool Dreadnoks in ‘04 or even the 25th-era repaints like the TNT homage they made, doesn’t really have the same appeal as owning something old and esoteric from a foreign country. And although RLC’s Manleh is a much better recreation than those figures, my initial reaction to owning this toy was “I own a Manleh!” followed by “What the hell do I do with Manleh?”. Really, I enjoy owning this figure much more than I would the real thing, but the experience seems to highlight to me how overrated foreign figures are at a certain point.

These gripes aside, Manleh really has an incredibly eye-catching color scheme. Blue and yellow are colors that compliment each other really well. The tones make him look unlike much of anything you’d have seen Hasbro make in the 80‘s, though the camouflage ties him back in with classic figures well enough to overcome that. The tone of the colors is darker, which appears to be a faithful recreation of a darker Manleh variant I’ve seen floating around, which is in contrast to a noticeably lighter colored figure. That, or those dark ones are just discolored, and this toy’s colors were based those discolored examples.

The quality is good on this figure. A major problem with the way these figures were sold is that you had to buy them in a large set. This was a terrible mistake, but also one that made the entire package seem a lot worse to me than it really was. Most of the figures have really solid joints and good tolerances that make them easier to pose than other bootlegs I’ve handled, but for a while I didn’t really notice that since I got a handful of figures with duplicate limbs and similar problems. When you buy so many figures at once, that sort of thing is bound to happen, but it still lowers the overall experience. Worst thing I can say about Manleh is that his gun fits really loosely in his hand, but that itself is a lot better than having a grip too tight to hold anything.

For accessories, he just included the M-32 Pulverizer, the same gun from V1 Stalker. The original Manleh included a Snake Eyes Uzi and a parachute, but I’m not too bothered by that, since there’s plenty of Uzis to go around, and parachutes suck. I will say though, while it looks decent with a few classics, the Pulverizer is probably one of my least favorite guns from the swivel-neck era.

Despite the fact that this figure honestly offers more than the Argentina figure it’s based on, it’s current worth is really around $40 more or less. I say that without much to go on, as you don’t find these for sale very often any more. The other RLC Argen7 remakes only go for about that much though, sometimes a little less, so it’s fair to say Manleh’s not worth more than that. Because it’s a bootleg, there’s a much lower price-cap on it since it’s not a “real” GI Joe, and thus has no value to a completionist.

2018 Manleh (Red Laser Customs) Links:

Attica Gazette

Forgotten Figures: Rarities – Plastirama 2nd Series Figures

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2018, Argentina, bootlegs, Manleh, Plastirama, Red Laser Army | 2 Comments

The Viper Pit