1985 Rifle Range

Posted on June 26, 2024 by mwnekoman

1985 Rifle Range

A lost feature among modern action figures is the world building brought by small items like the Battle Field Accessories. These come across as being somewhere in between model accessories you might see Tamiya selling in 1/35, and similar accessory sets that were sold for the old 12-inchers. So, let’s try and hash out a few paragraphs about the the Cobra Rifle Range.

The Battle Field Accessories are pretty self explanatory, as is the case with the Rifle Range; it’s a small set with two targets, a sign, rifle rack, three guns, a barrier and two figure stands. The targets mount into some sandbags, and have a small gimmick where they can be flipped down. That’s about all there is to it, and while I don’t really feel like I have everything I need for a Cobra firing range (some ammo cans and a table might’ve helped), it’s still kind of amazing something like this ever existed now.

Of course, I see why the sub-line only lasted two years: truth be told, it’s a pretty boring item, especially for roughly the price of a figure. I wish stuff like this still existed, but you don’t really get all that much with the Rifle Range. The targets are flimsy and love falling down on their own, and the other accessories just seem somewhat bland. Even as a grown man who loves making little dioramas, I’ve hardly ever used these pieces just because they aren’t really all that much to toss around. The barrier doesn’t look that good, the sign doesn’t have much value, and while the gun-rack is pretty nice, you also only get one, which is pretty lame.

The guns kind of just seem like leftovers from an accessory pack. You get an Airborne rifle, Snow Job rifle and a Grunt M-16 in blue, which is pretty odd since both the boxart and packaging photo show an Officer’s AK-47 in place of the Airborne gun. A very similar gun can be found in Accessory Pack #2, so I guess if you wanted you could assemble your own “preproduction” version with that, though you wouldn’t have the tan figure stands.

It feels wrong for some reason to say this, but honestly I think half of what I have against this little set is just the fact that I like Power Team Elite (AKA: Click n’ Play) accessories a little more. There’s a cool and immersive feeling I get when I take photos of Joes only using their intended contemporary items, which is why my newer photos feature tons of bright, neon guns you used to never see. Using the Rifle Range however, really isn’t as easy as it should be. Part of that’s just because you don’t get enough with it, and another part of that is that is because I can’t disconnect from the notion that the guns would look like stand-ins for a poor person if I used them.

You can get a complete Cobra Rifle Range for $15, which isn’t bad for modern Joe pricing. In my experience, vying for a mint complete set more often feels somewhat impractical compared to just building a complete one out of a few lots and enjoying the extra accessories that come your way, but your mileage may vary. For what it is, I enjoy having it around, and I mildly feel like the Battlefield Accessories are required for the full 80‘s GI Joe experience, but it’s also not really the most dazzling of items.

cobra rifle range gi joe arah vintage hasbro poc cobra trooper

Trooper Lenny has difficulty aiming at one meter, but within 26-inches he becomes deadly.

1985 Cobra Rifle Range Links:

3D Joes

Joe A Day

1985 Bazooka

Posted on May 15, 2024 by mwnekoman

1985 Bazooka

Bazooka is a character I almost entirely associate with the cartoon, which I think is probably a common notion. For me, it’s partly because I’ve still not read the comic issues he would appear in, but I don’t think Hama did all that much with him anyways. The Sunbow cartoon doesn’t play a big part in my Joe world; I think it’s well made and I really liked it as a kid, but the comics are way better generally. That preference aside, there’s a lot of things I associate with Sunbow and keep with me, like Cobra La, and probably the Sunbow portrayal of Bazooka, too.

Going through my old photos, something that surprised me is just how much I’ve used V1 Bazooka; he’s in a ton of my photos either prominently or in the background. Partly, I think the reason for that is because he shows up well. While bright red figures draw the ire of realists, as a toy there’s some practicality to it. The V1 HISS tank and HISS Driver are great examples of this, where the entire toy is built around making the driver more visible, which enhances the play value. Bazooka’s similar to this, because the red shirt let’s him be seen basically anywhere, and contrasts really nicely with green, a staple color among GI Joe items. For a kid that’s fun, and for my photos I like adding bright colors like this into the background to make the depth a bit more interesting.

Plus, I do think the bright red jersey and baggy pants just look pretty cool. This figure really benefits from the simple design sense of the early line with just enough absurdity to make him a fun action figure. Maybe it’s my late-millennial tastes showing again, but Bazooka’s design seems like something you’d still see in a modern video-game or comic, in the way that it’s silly, but also doesn’t seem to date itself as hard as the more Village People look’n characters. Speaking of music, Bazooka looks like Freddy Mercury, and that guy’s pretty timeless too, so that’s another appeal. According to Ron Rudat, the #14 jersey is a nod to Steve Grogan of the New England Patriots, cool but I don’t know anything about physical movement games.

I love his accessories, which include his signature bazooka, backpack, and a helmet. He doesn’t come with a ton of crap, just the standard three accessories, but I feel the quality of these are particularly high. The bazooka itself has a handle, so that makes it way less cumbersome than Footloose’s. The sculpt on his helmet and backpack are also particularly good: the little fabric folds are nice and sharp, which makes them a tad more interesting than some of the gear from the same year. I’m also glad that between Bazooka and Footloose they added in some smaller, LAW-like bazookas into the line. I watched Death Wish 3 as a kid and always think of that movie’s final scene when I see a LAW like this.

People like swapping Bazooka’s bazooka with Footloose’s. For variety, I like swapping them every now and then too, especially after the strap broke on Bazooka’s proper weapon (it was cracked when I bought it). Though, for a long time I did it as a reference to a variant of Bazooka, that I can no longer find any evidence to ever having existed. Was this a thing? I thought some Bazooka’s legitimately included Footloose’s weapon, but this seems to be another case of the Mandela Effect. It sucks because I always thought this was cool to do, but I guess I should be glad my trivia got retconed in return for the world not ending: John Titor told us about some bad stuff that happened in the other time line, which I guess got subverted when all of those Bazooka’s disappeared from existence. Dang time travelers.

To my surprise, complete Bazooka’s go for a pretty fair amount, usually around or a little more than $20, with some examples surging way past that. There’s no real reason I can think of for this besides that he’s popular and from the best year, which I guess is reasonable. Still, it stings when I go back through my eBay feedback from years ago and see how little I paid for so much.

1985 Bazooka Links:

1991 Quick Kick

Posted on April 22, 2024 by mwnekoman

1991 Quick Kick

I’ve sometimes questioned the criteria fans use to determine what is a “new” figure and what counts as a “variant” of an existing figure. Quick Kick is an interesting example of that, where six years apart from his original release, he was sold as a mail-away figure. The mail-away figure however, has different colors, a new file-card, and is made in Brazil, compared to the ‘85 release that was made in China. It’s usually considered a variant, but by that logic it isnt’ much different than considering a ‘22 Retro Cobra Officer a variant of the ‘83 Cobra Officer, is it?

Quick Kick is a character (and figure) I don’t really think about a whole lot, which feels kind of unfair to him, as I don’t really hate him either. I think he just comes across as being a bit too silly for being a barefoot figure, and also lacking the extensive ninja-lore built around the Arashikage. Neither of those are really bad things though, as he’s a pretty good “silly” figure, and there’s enough of the Arashikage ninjas to make me sick. Other than that, I think the main reason he’s absent from my mind most of the time is just because he shares an original release year with Flint, Footloose and Dusty, and several other classics that mostly overshadow him.

‘91 Quick Kick amounts to being an Estrela figure, complete with having way more vibrant plastic colors as a trade-off for being slightly more brittle than the plastic Asian factories typically used. There’s a very fine, hair-line crack on one of the thumbs on my copy, which I purchased for the parts and mint paint. Got ‘em for nothing back in the early 10‘s, and thought I’d just swap the bad arm for one off another cheap, incomplete Quick Kick, only to quickly discover that the two figures were virtually incompatible. At the time, I didn’t know about the “variant”, and the figure I bought was just listed as 1985 Quick Kick, so I didn’t realize until later that the two were so different.

The flesh tone isn’t even just slightly different on this figure, the change is almost parallel to the difference between Falcon and Red Dog. The ‘85 figure was already a fairly odd skin-color for his time, which was probably intended to help make him appear Asian compared to his contemporaries. It’s a fairly ghoulish color, being so pale and kind of sick looking. The mail-in version is way more saturated and tan, an almost peachy color. His belts and pouches are also slightly brighter, though not nearly to the extent of the skin. Of course, something that probably helps exaggerate the difference once again comes back to the Brazilian plastic formula, which is less prone to discoloring than other Hasbro plastics.

For accessories, he comes with the same katana, nunchucks and backpack as before, just now with slightly flimsier plastic and other slight differences. Always thought the nunchucks on this figure especially (and to a lesser extent, V1 Storm Shadow) looked a little too small for me to take them seriously, but I suppose that’s the rare downside to the tiny-accessories era. His sword on the other hand is great; it’s nicely scaled and even stores in his backpack. It’s really too bad we never saw this part more at any point.

You can easily get one of these, often still sealed in his bag for $20 or less. To a certain extent I feel like this mail-away version is easier to find than the original figure, which might just be an effect of how much overstock went into the hands of collectors as opposed to spending their lives getting beat-up in the back of mom’s Chevette. It also probably doesn’t help that Quick Kick feels like the forgotten Fast Draw of what’s otherwise probably Joe’s most popular year, but either way I’m glad that a good version of a classic character remains cheap in current times.

1985 quick kick gi joe Off you go gi joe airtight-week_9377623557_o

1991 Quick Kick Links:

Forgotten Figures

Attica Gazette

3D Joes

1985 Tele-Viper

Posted on March 11, 2024 by mwnekoman

1985 Tele-Viper

The Tele-Viper is cool figure to me, both because the sculpt was familiar to my childhood and because he’s a classic Cobra from the best year. He goes with the Viper like peanut-butter and jelly, and in general works with a lot of different Cobras. Yet the figure’s not underrated, rather, he’s closer to being one of the worst figures from his release year. There’s some stiff competition in there that makes that a relative statement, though I think it’s fair to say the figure is flawed.

gi joe vintage o-ring tele-viper 1985 hasbro cobra

I really like the Tele-Viper, always have. My first experience with the mold was the Python Patrol version my brother had, and although he also had a Python Guard and Python Trooper, the Tele-Viper is the only one I really ever remember playing with. Someday I’ll get around to writing an incoherent diatribe about the Python Tele-Viper, but at the very least I’ve had an attraction to the sculpt since I was a kid, and I think that’s owed to the design being very good. For a dude lacking a proper weapon, Tele-Vipers tread that perfect blend of sci-fi fantasy mixed with a solid amount of military realism, mostly favoring the later.

In other ways though, the sculpt on this figure sucks. The sculpting is all over the place and feels to me like a “worst of both worlds” situation of problems that are stereotypical to both ’85 and ’86 figures. First, his head is ridiculous. It’s bigger than a Viper’s head despite having most of his face exposed! I always just sit there imagining he must look like Alfred E. Neuman when he takes his helmet off. This a problem I associate more with ‘86 figures, as that seemed to be the year where pumpkin-heads really took over the line.

The rest of the figure’s sculpt is much more typical of a 1985 figure, both in the way of featuring a more modest military fatigue but also for having somewhat janky proportions. I’ve made it no secret that I think ‘85 was the strongest year of figures overall, but something I feel goes somewhat overlooked is the proportional inconsistencies among the body sculpts. In the case of the Tele-Viper, he has a slightly more slender waist in contrast to somewhat bulkier shoulders. It’s a lot different from Footloose or Torch, who have waists so thick relative to their legs it almost looks like they’re wearing diapers. The issue is only apparent with ‘85 figures, as both the ‘84 and ‘86 lineups look far more consistent.

Probably the biggest appeal of this figure is how cohesive he is with a Cobra collection. To me, the Tele-Viper feels like he goes with anything, almost to an extent that I’ve not often felt the need for a huge army of them. I usually just use them to support larger squads of Vipers instead. I think he was clearly meant to look good alongside the Viper, though his simple outfit doesn’t look horrible alongside Troopers and Officers. The early use of Cobra purple lends itself well to later figures like the Techno-Viper once that color became more common, so in some ways he’s a versatile Cobra that looks good with almost anything.

For parts, you get a backpack, a camera gun, and a hose to connect ‘em. Very passive for a terrorist, you’d think he’d have some kind of small gun sculpted onto him somewhere, but no, the Tele-Viper comes with no lethal weapons, usable or otherwise. That said, the camera gun is a lot of fun, and any part that connects with a hose just seemed so much more aesthetically pleasing. He basically has one single thing he does, but it might not be a stretch to say he does it better than Breaker or other similar figures.

There’s not many repaints or variants of the Tele-Viper mold to track down. After the Python Patrol version, the mold went to Brazil and was released by Estrela in colors similar to the 1985 figure. The blue on this version appears really, really bright, and there’s an extra red paint application around the belt buckle. It’s not much, but enough to seem interesting on an underutilized sculpt.

Tele-Vipers still go for very sane prices, between $10 to $15 for a mint, complete figure. For a classic army-builder, I’m a little surprised by that, though I spent plenty of time roasting the figure just now, so maybe those feelings aren’t so unique. Like Tripwire and some others with painted faces, his nose is prone to chipping and revealing the dark plastic underneath, which is something to look out for.

gi joe vintage o-ring tele-viper 1985 hasbro cobra

1985 Tele-Viper Links

1985 Ripper

Posted on January 8, 2024 by mwnekoman

1985 Ripper

I’ve always been fine with Dreadnoks, but something that surprises me about my own interest in recent years, is how much the appeal of the Dreadnoks have grown on me. There’s a limit to that, and a few good reasons my interests have taken me there. Because of that, I’m sometimes prone to think that Ripper might (Might!) be my favorite figure from 1985, the same year with classics like the Snow Serpent, Flint and the Crimson Guard. He’s not perfect, but he’s also a lot of fun for reasons, so here’s my best attempt at articulating that.

One thing Joe blogging has really made apparent to me, is just how far and few between Cobras are in GI Joe. It’s a standard toy marketing kind of thing, because good-guys always sell a little better than bad-guys. Still, it means that if I spend every other week looking at a Joe, then a Cobra, I’ll run out of unique Cobras to write about way faster than Joes. Troop-builders and the umpteenth bootleg Latrine Viper in Tiger Force colors gets pretty repetitive to talk about too, so unique Cobras become even more valuable in my collection. So just by virtue of not being a faceless Cobra, this is the first thing that highlights the appeal of a figure like Ripper.

Another thing I like about Ripper, is that he’s a perfectly disposable thug. A lot of the Cobras like Firefly or Wild Weasel are just too cool and competent to have stumbling around and losing all the time, otherwise how could you take them seriously? Dreadnoks like Ripper are kind of like a Viper who just has a face. The human element of the character makes him more of a fun lens to explore Cobra through, and he’s not owned by the organization so much that he always has to follow orders like a good little robot. It gives him a life of his own, yet he’s very far from a Marry-Sue kind of character.

Ripper has a really good sculpt: simple and to the point like his contemporaries. His head is a little large and caricatured looking, but it’s still sharply detailed and expressive. Buzzer and Torch might have slightly better proportions, but the wrinkles in Ripper’s face and the texture on his hair make him seem more detailed than the other two. The paint applications also do a good job of making him more distinct and interesting. Bright blue and green aren’t a common color combo, and the added camouflage on his shirt makes the figure seem even more detailed. Then you have some of that wonderfully fragile Hasbro gold to highlight his necklace, armband, brass knuckles and knife.

For parts, you get a rifle, jaws of life, his backpack and a hose. The jaws are his distinctive Dreadnok weapon, and if it was his only weapon it’d certainly knock him down a peg, but the added bonus of a rifle is probably one of the best elements of the figure. Having a gun lets him fight in battles like a normal figure, which you can’t say for Buzzer or Torch. His rifle is a modified version of Snow Job’s, which also gives it the added benefit of being easy to hold and scaled quite nicely. The jaws of life is a mildly fun contraption too, mainly for the fact that it stores on his back when he’s not using it. When in use, it’s pretty unwieldy, but it’s possible for him to get a two-handed pose with it.

A big shame about V1 Ripper, is that we never got a cartoon accurate repaint despite the potential for that to be an unique and attractive figure. After Hasbro’s release, he went to Funskool where they made a normal one and the uber-rare purple-shirt version. Then there was a crappy Joecon repaint based on the purple-shirt one, and finally a comic-pack release, that was bland and uninteresting besides the nice black accessories it came with. Admittedly, there’s not much you could do with Ripper’s sculpt besides making different looking Rippers, but it’s always a little vexing to contemplate some cool recolors that will never be a thing now.

Ripper is still a really cheap figure, on a good day you can get one for around $13 complete with mint gold paint. I think I’m mostly alone in liking him a lot, as he’s always been a cheap acquisition and he’s only marginally more expensive now than he might’ve been ten years ago, despite my dollar only being worth half as much. In some ways, I think that’s somewhat of a testament to the fact that Dreadnok fans are relatively a vocal minority, as I still have to get into a knife fight for a broken V1 Dusty or Iron Grenadier to paint, but nice Ripper’s continue to run cheap despite being prominent in both the comics and cartoon, and a figure from Joe’s zenith year.

1985 Ripper Links:

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:

1985 Torch

Posted on April 11, 2022 by mwnekoman

1985 Torch

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

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

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

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

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

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

1985 Torch Links:

1985 Dusty

Posted on January 4, 2022 by mwnekoman

1985 Dusty

I think in all 12 years of ARAH, 1985 was probably the best year in the entire run. I think it represents the precipice of the 80‘s, building off what made ‘84 great, but just before the downward slide into goofy characters and iffy sculpting you saw in ‘86 and ‘87. In 1985, you had a wide-variety of specialist who were simple, yet distinct and highly detailed, well exemplified in Dusty.

I should have it out for Dusty, because I don’t tend to like desert troopers all that much. As an environment, I don’t tend to find deserts all that interesting, and I personally find them difficult to simulate for dioramas. But Dusty’s a fine figure like all of his contemporaries, so much so that he demands usage just to highlight the quality of his sculpt.

Dusty’s mold is great. It’s a simple looking outfit that’s brought to life by the details of his pouches, zippers and fabric folds. To top it off, Dusty is one of the rare GI Joe figures that utilized fabric for the back of his helmet. The only thing I tend to dislike about Dusty as a sculpt, is his goofy looking face. The camouflage does well to hide it, but his head is a little bulbous and his expression reminds me of some kind of Fisherprice Adventure People figure. The later 1991 Dusty really won out over this one for having a sharp head sculpt.

The colors are very nice on Dusty, too. The figure is cast solidly in khaki plastic, with brown camouflage adorning his entire outfit. His straps, goggles and boots are painted black, and he features a nicely detailed flag-patch above his right breast pocket. A very nice color scheme, though weirdly, there never really was another desert-camo figure that exactly matched with him. In some ways I like that he’s unique, but in others, I sort of with I had a Dusty that matched better with tan-Grunt and Mission Brazil Leatherneck.

Dusty’s parts are classic, though I myself have never owned his FAMAS. He came with the aforementioned rifle, a bipod, and a backpack. I think the FAMAS has become a lot more mainstream in recent years, but I’m not sure how common you saw it in media from the 80‘s, I think it’s an interesting choice that they went with. Dusty’s backpack saw a decent amount of early reuse, and came with Red Dog, as well as Dusty’s Tiger Force repaint, followed by several different colorations in the 2000‘s. That’s sort of neat, though this backpack is a little bulky and probably not my favorite sculpt from the period.

V1 Dusty’s aren’t pricing very consistently at the moment. Complete figures can be had for around $30, and ones missing the bipod are trending around $15. A random auction seems to shoot to the moon every now and then, but overall he prices similarly to a few other ‘85 and ‘86 figures. Despite the quality present here, I think he’s a figure that’s going for too much at the moment, especially for incomplete examples.

1985 Dusty Links:

1985 Lampreys

Posted on December 14, 2021 by mwnekoman

1985 Lampreys

For most people, I think the Lamprey is a very forgettable figure from the ever popular 1985 line-up. I can understand why, since he really doesn’t show up in the cartoon or the comics, and the figure doesn’t lend itself to too many roles. In my collection though, the Lamprey is a really important figure, and one that stimulates my imagination on some deeper level.

This figure was among the first four vintage acquisitions I made back in 2008, with the other three figures being ‘83 Major Bludd, ‘87 Techno Viper, and a mint Stinger Driver, all of which I acquired for less than $20 (boy do I miss those days…). At the time, I was only 14, so getting vintage figures with kid money was a little hard to do, and these first four figures I acquired were really special to me for that.

Photo from Forgotten Figures

The Lamprey was a particular figure I sought out, after becoming interested in him from a Forgotten Figures post I read earlier that year. Particularly, I saw this picture of an army of Lampreys, using the ARAHC repaint as an officer, as they receive some sort of briefing by Flying Scorpion with Major Bludd in tow. It made an impression on me, because I hadn’t seen diorama pictures of o-ring army-builders like this before. I’ve always wanted to recreate a similar scene, though I still lack the Flying Scorpion, and it appears that may remain the case until I make a custom of him, or find a Brazilian guy with a bunch of old toys and no clue what they’re worth.

The Lamprey does a nice job of portraying a simple, interesting design. The baggy suit looks nice without having too much going on, and comes across to me as a much more plausible design than something like the Sea Slug from just a few years later. The little blue lifejacket is another eye-catching detail, and somewhat cements them in my mind as the Cobra equivalent to Cutter. Interestingly, the figure is cast in a metallic, silver plastic, and I believe is the first figure to use a plastic color like this.

His only part is some kind of Sten Gun. I say “some kind” because there’s a million variants of the Sten, and I believe the Lamprey’s is based on one of the more obscure ones, possibly the Sten MK V. The Lamprey’s Sten is distinct, because it features both a pistol grip, and a foregrip, but lacks a stock. Supposedly, some British paratroopers were issued Sten MK V’s with a similar configuration, although the Lamprey’s gun has a barrel shroud similar to earlier versions of the Sten; leading me to believe it’s an amalgam.

I know I’ve said a lot more about Sten guns than I have about the toy part itself, but it’s a good example of how much attention to detail went into a few GI Joe guns. Putting that aside, the gun has a functioning strap which adds a lot more play value to an otherwise forgettable vehicle driver. The only real problem I have is that the grip’s a little thick on it, so it’s not always a joy to pose a figure with.

You can still get a mint, complete Lamprey for between $6 to $10. Many times, they go for more, but I expect prices to normalize on the lower end… Soon. Maybe. Or not. Either way, it’s a figure you get cheap sometimes, and it’s fun to collect an army of them for that much. The only thing that tends to wear on them is the silver paint on his helmet, which can be easily restored, if you don’t mind that sort of thing.

1985 Lampreys Links:

1985 Tomax & Xamot

Posted on June 29, 2021 by mwnekoman

1985 Tomax & Xamot

“They don’t fight with steel and claw, backed with muscle and honest sweat…The chase you with paper, wound you with your own laws and kill you with the money you loaned them.” In a lot of ways, there’s something interesting represented by the Crimson Guard Commanders, Tomax and Xamot. Mind you, I’m not overly fond of these two, mainly just for the fact that a: they’re a little corny and b: they’re fairly hard to use. Despite that, Tomax and Xamot are an interesting pair, both in execution, and in cannon.

I knew of Tomax and Xamot since I was kid because of their prevalence in the Sunbow cartoon. I thought they were neat, but they also didn’t interest me very much relative to other characters. When I had the chance to get the 25th figures back in ‘08, it excited me, but only so much before I lost interest in them. Then at some point around 2011, I got the original Crimson Twins, took one photo of them, and forgot about them just like with the 25th figures. For some reason, these guys just don’t stick in my mind the way other (and often, more obscure) Cobras do.

They are very cool characters however, it’s just that it’s part of what makes them hard to use. Re-reading their filecard, I find the references to the Algiers putsch and their involvement in the bush wars to make them a lot more interesting. Other than that though, they’re basically high-ranking corporate thugs. Which is interesting, but maybe not the most intense role for an action-figure terrorist.

The whole twin angle ranges from being reasonably fun to incredibly hokey depending upon what you watch or read. Probably part of why I found them to be corny in Sunbow, was the whole “feeling each other’s pain” thing. It was okay, but it also brings them a lot closer to the silly side of Cobra like with Raptor or Big Boa. Then again, they’re certainly a lot better than Zandar and Zarana, the twins from next year over.

The figures themselves look very nice, and display some very ornate sculpted details. There’s a lot of silver armor all over the figures, and while it’s prone to wear, it looks very nice in contrast to their Cobra-blue outfits. The only thing that really bugs me about them, is that they really aren’t identical. Xamot’s face is noticeably more chiseled than Tomax’s, especially when you look at his chin. I guess it’s the best they could do, but it’s always bugged me a bit.

The accessories are another area where the Crimson Twins are very weak. Included are two of the same gun (one each), and a hook they share. It’s okay that they’re light on accessories, but the gun included here was sadly one of the weakest sculpts in the entire line. Frankly, I really don’t know what it’s supposed to look like, and it just looks dumb with them (and worse with anyone it was later included with). It doesn’t hold the figures back too much, but compared to everything around them, these were some really bad parts.

Tomax and Xamot seem to be heavily affected by the current wave of anything-goes pricing. Some sets will sell for upwards of $60, others will barely muster $17, complete and in fine condition. At least it’s not as bad as the 25th figures, which are now routinely hitting $100… Back on topic, my Xamot’s actually pretty rough, so someday I might replace him since the prices on incomplete twins aren’t too bad, some of the time. But for now, he suits my needs for what he is.

1985 Tomax & Xamot Links:

Forgotten Figures

3D Joes

Joe a Day

Half the Battle: Tomax, Xamot

The Viper Pit

Tag Archives: 1985

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1985 Tomax & Xamot

1985 Tomax & Xamot

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