1993 Law

Posted on June 13, 2023 by mwnekoman

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:

2005 Zarana

Posted on June 5, 2023 by mwnekoman

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

1989 Lynx

Posted on May 29, 2023 by mwnekoman

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

1986 Hawk

Posted on May 22, 2023 by mwnekoman

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

2017 TBM Alley Viper (Reverse Colors)

Posted on May 15, 2023 by mwnekoman

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

2018 Manleh (Red Laser Customs)

Posted on May 8, 2023 by mwnekoman

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

1985 Lady Jaye

Posted on May 1, 2023 by mwnekoman

1985 Lady Jaye

Until 1988, the GI Joe line had a requisite female figure every year. While all of them are popular, sometimes even fan-favorite characters, I really only like two of them myself, with one being the Baroness and the other Lady Jaye. So for the Joes, Lady Jaye is my favorite female figure, and probably character on top of that.

Going with my foggy and odd memories of GI Joe as a kid, Lady Jaye was present thanks to the then recent ‘97 release. Usually, female figures were relegated to being some variety of spy or martyr girlfriend, so Chun-Li and Scarlet usually died promptly during play. Lady Jaye was different though, partly because she looked like someone that could be in the military more so than a cosplayer. Her camera accessory was also an important part that often saved her life, as Lady Jaye was usually photographing things from the sidelines, and was much more competent at this than the other two I mentioned.

I’m a little less keen on her media character, incidentally. She was was usually a pretty cool character in both Sunbow and the comics, but the couple angle with Flint is irksome to me. Of course, as a kid I usually would make female figures someone’s gal pal, though I guess Lady Jaye was the exception to this since she was too competent on her own to be someone’s girlfriend. Plus I didn’t like Eco Warriors Flint or Battle Corps Flint back then.

Lady Jaye’s sculpt is incredibly solid. A major flaw with the early female figures, is that most of them are horribly ugly. Lady Jaye is sharply sculpted with features that are distinctly feminine yet don’t do anything so overt as to make that overbearing, besides maybe her cleavage-bearing jump suit. Her head is nicely scaled, and the glued-on hat looks like something she’s actually wearing, likely a benefit of it being a separate piece. She really doesn’t have too much going on, but that’s a strong part of the appeal here, like with many of the 1985 sculpts, which were detailed but not over-designed.

Lady Jaye’s accessories are absolutely classic. Included is a spear-launcher, a camera, and a green backpack. The spear-launcher is a little on the wacky end, but it looks good and is as passable as a military weapon as SEALs who fight with harpoon guns. The camera really steals the show though. As an accessory, there’s not much to say about it besides that it has a strap and looks recognizably like a camera, but the later fact is what makes it so appealing. Figures that came with little parts like this were not just unique, but grew the value of a collection overall, as even if you don’t like Lady Jaye, the camera could go on to have a life with someone else (too bad it wasn’t in any accessory packs). Her backpack deserves some comment too, it’s a nice and sharp sculpt that has a very reasonable size to it. By ‘85, backpacks were starting to get big like with Flint and Dusty, but this one fits well with Lady Jaye’s smaller size and doesn’t make the figure too top-heavy.

Lady Jaye’s go for pretty consistent pricing, with mint complete examples routinely hitting between $19 and $23. Like with everything, they used to be a lot cheaper, but these days I don’t think that’s too much to pay for a prominent character. It’s also worth mentioning that there really isn’t a better repaint of Lady Jaye either: the ‘97 one is second best, and doesn’t have paint nearly as sharp as this one. The other color variants, like the ’03 convention figure, the ’06 comic-pack repaint and the Funkool variations all look worse and cost more. So in that way, V1 Lady Jaye is a near-perfect figure that never had a better repaint, I think that makes her a must-have.

1985 Lady Jaye Links:

2009 Serpent Armor

Posted on April 24, 2023 by mwnekoman

2009 Serpent Armor

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, was a botched toy line in more than a few ways. It did however give Hasbro the opportunity to make some lovably odd toys, like the Serpent Armor. The original SNAKE which this toy is based on, is not the most compelling item from the early line, but getting a new one in black was more than welcome by me.

So, the Serpent Armor is technically a new mold, though as far as I can tell the sculpt is identical to the original SNAKE. The original tooling went to Funskool in the 90‘s, where I assume it was used until it broke, since they opted to make a new mold. Originally, the SNAKE was going to be featured in the 25th Anniversary line, but the last wave of vehicle sets were canceled. If memory serves, we never saw much of these besides a WalMart computer listing and possibly a test-shot from China. Either way, it serves to explain why Hasbro produced new tooling like this for a line of Target exclusives, which also featured some even more questionable releases like a new Jet Pack.

The Serpent Armor is a pretty simple toy, it has four interchangeable arms, and the torso and legs open up, which allows you to either insert a figure or place the included black stand. I never stick figures in this thing since that feels like a waste, so for me it just bounces around with the stand. The hands include a machine-gun, a missile, a claw, and laser-gun. The claw and laser look pretty lousy, so for me these almost only use the other two parts. Other than that, there’s not much you do with it, but it’s a decent little vehicle for it’s size.

As a toy, I get the sense that the BAT was essentially just a more refined version of the SNAKE armor, since they’re both robots and have similar gimmicks. As a concept, I think the SNAKE seems a little less absurd and therefore, a little cooler than the BAT, but the BAT wins for it’s practicality. Again, it’s not very fun to put a figure inside the SNAKE, and there’s really not much it does besides stand there. If the goal was just giving Cobra a robot weapon with swappable arms, the BAT’s superior. Also, the BAT has a place to put it’s spare arms, which the SNAKE does not, and that sucks.

The black colors on the Serpent Armor were really nice, and broke from the trend of most post-’08 vehicles being reissues to some degree of an 80‘s item. It’s also pretty nice that the toy features a handful of silver paint applications on it, which you don’t see on other versions of the mold. For me, my favorite part of this toy is that matches really well with a lot of my early Cobra items; black puts it perfectly in line with HISS Tanks, FANGs, STUNs and everything else from the period where black was the main color for Cobra vehicles.

Serpent Armors often hit $30, but can easily be had for $20, boxed or loose. This price lines up roughly with what a Black Major SNAKE will cost you, as well as a decent ’83 example, so it makes sense. These were fun to grab at retail with an included figure for $10, but $20 isn’t an appalling price to me. I can’t say the SNAKE armor is my favorite toy, but it’s fun enough the have around.

2009 Serpent Armor Links:

Photo by Scarrviper

2010 Plague (The Black Major)

Posted on April 17, 2023 by mwnekoman

2010 Plague (The Black Major)

It’s hard for me to think that it’s been thirteen years since The Black Major did his first run of Snake Eyes figures… Or so I say, but then again, everything with GI Joe collecting was so much better in ‘10 that it does feel like a totally different world now. Either way, TBM did his first run of Snake Eyes figures (Cobra Invasor) back then, and I noticed it seems as though information on them has virtually vanished, so here’s a blog post to help fill the void.

The TBM Invasor/Snake Eyes figures were a very odd, but good run. The casting came out relatively close to the original Snake Eyes sculpt, and the quality on them was serviceable. The bootleg guys later wore out the V1 Snake Eyes likeness, but at the time the sculpt seemed rather exotic in a color besides black. Here’s an old photo of the lot from The Black Major himself, where you can also see the name of each figure from his description.

I don’t know if my imagination has dimmed a bit over the years, but when I look at this figure in particular, all I see is Snake Eyes. I think that’s partly because the figure isn’t that many shades apart from the color used for tan Grunt and Clutch. Of course, the good part of that is that Plague blends in remarkably well with Hasbro figures, which is not always the case for these figures. The most unique part of the figure is his insignia on his chest, a unique Cobra symbol with a gradient effect and some modifications that make it more of a plague symbol. I believe TBM invented this one himself, as it isn’t featured in my 1992 Department of Destruction Handbook (Cobra needs an update of that, a lot’s changed in the world since then.).

I never really knew if Plague is an individual guy or an army-builder, but I only bought one, so I went with the unique operator route by default. Imaging what he could be in the GI Joe world, he was probably a disposable Cobra agent from around ‘84 or so, who fought with GI Joe several times until he was killed by some other Cobra, probably Cobra Commander or maybe even Serpentor. But then it turned out he wasn’t dead, and he’s actually a ninja, and he used to hang out with Scarlet’s uncle, before he was drafted for Vietnam… I probably throw too much shade at the parts of the Marvel comics I like less. Jokes aside, I do see him as a less skilled, more disposable version of Firefly that was KIA in the mid-80’s.

This figure and the other figures from his run have the hallmarks you might associate with a lot of modern bootlegs. The shoulders are a little floppy, and the tension in the waist and legs is a bit off, but other than that, I think they’re okay. Most the ones I have feature solid castings with no odd dips or warped parts, which usually bugs me more than anything else with these. His backpack hole is similar to Hasbro ones, which I think makes this one of the first TBM figures to feature the standard hole (his first Troopers, Crimson Guards and BATs can’t use normal backpacks).

TBM really upped his accessories over time, with this figure all you got was a V1 Scarlet crossbow. The original Cobra Invasor came with normal Snake Eyes weapons, but the crossbow was given in reference to the Cobra Mortal’s gear. I assume he started upping the amount of accessories to increase the perceived value once these started getting more expensive, but when things started out, one weapon was all you got. I don’t have many of these crossbows, so some extras are an okay thing to have around.

These are very hard to find now, which is probably what you should expect for a 13-year-old bootleg that existed in very low quantities. It seems like the price-cap for TBM customs is a lot lower than normal Joes though, probably because the super-duper serious Major League Consumer types have no interest in them. I haven’t seen Plague here pop up for sale recently enough to know what he’s worth, but if I were to give a subjective opinion on that, I’d say one’s not worth more than $50.

1988 Tiger Force Flint

Posted on April 10, 2023 by mwnekoman

1988 Tiger Force Flint

Certain figures I just associate with fun and good times, Tiger Force Flint is one of those figures. Well, I also associate a lot of Flint figures with good times, he’s a cool character and is easier to incorporate into adventures than Duke. As a young teen I was quick to add several versions of Flint into my collection, and that’s a move I definitely did not regret.

When I first got into collecting loose o-ring figures I was around 15 and had barely any money. Because of this, I chanced a really curious lot on eBay once, the photos were horrible, glary and of the figures in plastic bags. I could barely tell what was there, let alone what condition it was in, but is was something like $10 after shipping, so I took a chance and bought it, since I knew at least one of the figures would be in decent condition. When I finally received my figures, I realized I had actually done quite well, even at the time. Inside the box was Tiger Force Flint, a ‘97 Viper, ’97 Vypra, a decent Ripper, a Secto Viper (with helmet!), and a ‘93 Keel-haul, who even happened to be the logo variant that I didn’t already have. The figures were all relatively mint too, I miss the days when a broke teenager could get that much shit off eBay for $10…

I probably should have been the happiest with the Secto Viper, but really Tiger Force Flint was what I had the most fun with. I already had the Funskool version at that point, but the Tiger Force colors were more fun, and the paint-masks were much sharper on the Hasbro versions, so this figure really became my new default Flint. Despite that, I really didn’t take too many photos of him back then, especially without other Tiger Force figures. I’ve always been a little fussy about keeping sub-teams together, and he was my first Tiger Force figure, so that probably inhibited me from using him as much as I would’ve liked.

Flint has the best Tiger Force colors of the entire subset. I like the bright oranges and yellows on some of the figures (Roadblock, Tripwire), but Flint’s mixture of brown, green and olive looks fantastic. The original Flint colors are hard to beat, but these are a great alternative (and really, it’s the only decent Flint recolor, so that’s a big plus too). Despite the addition of the tiger pattern on his shirt, he still features some nice and fragile gold details, and a separate gray color for his boots and gloves. Objectively, there’s nothing that really makes the Tiger Force figure better or worse than the original, it’s just a matter of preference.

His parts were mostly the same as the Flint’s, just in a dark gray color. Flint’s backpack is a little bulky, but I think anything else looks like a poor substitute. His shotgun though, is his most fun part. Not really sure what model it is exactly, but currently I lean towards an Ithaca 37. It’s definitely a pump-action and it’s not too big, but shotguns all look kinda similar to me, so maybe it’s another one. This part is fun and easy for figures to hold, and the sculpt is sharp enough that it’s easy to tell what it is. For me, it’s hard to separate this gun from Flint, but some extras would probably make a nice side-arm for a variety of vehicle drivers. Hopefully someday someone will make some bootleg castings in black.

A mint complete Tiger Force Flint fetches a pretty steady $40. Ditch the parts and you can get one in nice condition for around $10, which frankly isn’t so bad an option when V1/Funskool Flint parts still match well with this figure. Tiger Force figures in general got really expensive between ‘17 and ‘21, but prices are cooling off a little, a trend I expect to continue as the economy melts. Even sitting that aside, we’ve probably passed peak value for a lot of GI Joe items, so I don’t think we will see too many more episodes where a bunch of weirdos pop online and suddenly inform everyone that previously common toys are rare and worth 2 to 3 times what you were paying a day ago.