The Viper Pit

Joe A Day

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:

Custom by Scrapiron-Scavanger

Joe a Day

Half the Battle: Tomax, Xamot

1992 Parasite

Posted on June 15, 2021 by mwnekoman

1992 Parasite

90‘s GI Joe vehicles were often not on the same level of quality as 90‘s GI Joe figures, at least in my opinion. Certain vehicle options were quite poor, or questionably designed in a way you never saw from the vehicles we got in the 80‘s. One very underrated gem amidst all of this however, is the Cobra Parasite. It’s a simple vehicle, but it’s nicely sized and has a ton of play value, enough that’s hard to believe it shares a release year with the RAT, at the very least.

The Cobra Parasite is basically a Cobra APC, and it does a good job of being a go-to party wagon for your 90‘s Cobras. It fills a similar role to the HISS II, and in comparison to that vehicle, the Parasite feels far more basic and simple. However, it overall does the job a lot better, as while it lacks the fancy railing and more detailed construction, it makes up for it by featuring a more spacious troop bay, which can carry 6 figures as opposed to the HISS II’s 4.

One little gimmick that’s often ignored is the top-mounted catapult. I really hate this part of the vehicle, so I can see why it’s usually given no attention. It works in the same way as the Incinerator’s catapult, though oddly enough I don’t think they really share any tooling. The worst thing about it is that it looks completely tacked on, and just detracts from the vehicle’s overall shape, which is quite pleasing otherwise.

The Parasite has an interesting look that I feel is pretty well in line with a lot of Cobra vehicle designs. It has a very angular geometry that fits in nicely with any of the HISS tanks, or other boxy ground vehicles like the Maggot. One flaw that might irk a good number of folks is that the driver is totally exposed in the front turret. It’s a little goofy, but it’s also in line with most other prominent Cobra vehicles, which typically provide their pilots little in the way of protection.

Fun-fact, did you know the wheels on the Parasite are shared with at least two other vehicles? Both the Hammerhead and the Blockbuster use the same wheels as the Parasite. It’s probably another way Hasbro was cheaping out at the time, but it’s actually kind of interesting since I don’t think I’ve ever seen too many people notice this.

The worst thing about the Parasite is by far it’s colors. They’re not only bright, they’re an obnoxious mixture of orange and purple, which clashes with almost everything. It would look a lot better even if it were just solid purple, but the orange is really hard to take seriously whenever you see it. A lot of GI Joe fans have breathed life into this vehicle by giving it a quick coat of paint, which can really show how much potential this vehicle has (see the links below). Sadly, Hasbro never brought this vehicle back in any way, and a repaint in the 2000’s could’ve been pretty popular if they did it right.

The price that Parasites go for now shows almost no consistency, and seems like another indicator of the current collecting bubble. Every now and then, a Parasite will hit some absolutely stupid price, like $40. Most of the time, they go between $10 and $25, which is already a pretty wide price range. Before the era of the COVID collector, these routinely went for dirt, and it was easy to get a complete one for no more than $15. It’s a very common vehicle and I think it’ll return to the $15 price tag before too long.

1992 Parasite Links:

1983 Clutch

Posted on June 7, 2021 by mwnekoman

1983 Clutch

For most of my collecting years, I’ve typically ignored a lot of the ‘82/’83 First Thirteen Joes. I see the characters as being an integral part of the GI Joe universe, though at the same time, most of those toys leave something to be desired relative to the prices they maintain. 39 years ago, I think most of these were a lot more tolerable. For me though, it’s a little hard to justify ‘83 Hawk for example, when ‘86 Hawk is a nicer alternative, that’s a heck of a lot cheaper. Clutch, doesn’t fall into this dynamic quite as much.

Of the 1982 cast, certain figures had a little more individuality than others. Clutch happens to be one of those figures, as he has a unique torso, and only had to share his head with Breaker and Rock&Roll. It doesn’t put him in quite the same position as Stalker, or maybe even Snake Eyes, but he is a lot stronger than Short-Fuze, or Grand Slam. Even the reused head seems more forgivable, as beards tend to obscure your facial shape, which kind of makes people in real-life with full beards look more generic.

Of course, I think what makes Clutch for virtually everyone is his appearance in the Marvel comics. I didn’t particularly care for the character until I read the first Marvel issues sometime around ‘08. He stood out to me as one of the more fun and vibrant characters in those early issues, and it solidified my interest in his figures a lot more. Prior to that, I knew GI Joe through Sunbow reruns and the ’87 movie, where most of the ’82 cast plays almost no role.

Of course, most of the Clutch toys out there are relatively blase. Not a lot of bad ones, just not a lot of good ones, either. Besides this toy and it’s ‘84 recolor, there’s a Mega Marines figure who looks nothing like Clutch, a very mediocre Spy Troops figure, a comic-pack figure with anemic skin and a pea-head, a better looking and more expensive convention figure, and then a few post-25th releases of the character. Compared to the other attempts, the 25th and POC figures aren’t so bad really, but they’ll never look right with an o-ring collection, leaving this figure and the ‘84 release as the only decent representations of Clutch.

V1 Clutch is a fairly good looking figure. The unique torso is nice and leaves a strong impression at time when half of the figures on shelves had Grunt’s torso. The head is a fine sculpt as well, and didn’t age as poorly compared to later figures in the same way that Hawk and Grunt’s ugly mugs did. For a guy who’s just meant to sit in a jeep all day, there’s a surprising amount of care that was put into him.

His only accessory is a helmet, which isn’t of much detriment to him. It’s the same generic piece used on him and almost every other ‘82 Joe, but the toy was designed for the helmet and it looks good on him. I have always sort of wished there were some more pistols from this point in the line, as the Joes were fairly lacking in sidearm options in these first few years. The best you can give him is Snake Eye’s uzi or Mutt’s MAC-10, but there’s not a really good M1911 or anything like that.

Getting a good Clutch is surprisingly not too hard. At the current market’s prices, you can get a complete Clutch with a passable VAMP for $40 if you look around. A lot of Clutches sell for around $30, but he should really be worth less than that, especially when you consider that ones with the VAMP don’t go for much more. Also worth noting, that I’ve seen at least a couple of Clutches show up with swivel-arms, and fat crotches, implying that some people are passing off poorly pieced together frakenstiens of the ‘82 and ‘83 figure, as a legit example of either one.

1983 Clutch Links:

1987 Cobra Commander (Battle Armor)

Posted on April 12, 2021 by mwnekoman

1987 Cobra Commander

In some ways, Cobra Commander is the main character of GI Joe, as a story line. The GI Joe team, which consists of a revolving cast of individuals, was created to counter Cobra, and capture Cobra Commander. Thus, without Cobra Commander, GI Joe has no plot. Of course, this is a somewhat limiting view on the brand, but little to say it underscores the importance of the character.

Of course, that’s also probably why attempts to replace Cobra Commander are so often poorly received. In short order, you had Serpentor and Golobulus who both effectively replaced the character. Then, in 1987, you had this new Cobra Commander, who was actually Fred VII in the comics, or in other words, another replacement for Cobra Commander. How many leaders did Cobra need? If nothing else, it was a little too much, too fast.

This figure looks really good, and I think that’s partly because the sci-fi themes of the armor fit with Cobra Commander’s megalomaniac character. The armor looks elite, while at the same time showing a more combat oriented look. The angry expression sculpted onto his eyes is also a really nice touch on the sculpt, it makes him look far more hostile than the soft eyes on the ‘84 figure.

The colors are really nice on this figure, and I really like that they kept all of V1 Cobra Commander’s colors. The excessive amount of silver really makes the figure look more regal and sci-fi at the same time. The only downside is that he’s sort of fragile, given that most of the figure is made from notoriously delicate silver paint, while the rest is still made of sky-blue plastic, that’s very prone to discoloration.

Included for accessories are his backpack, pistol and unique hose for his helmet. The backpack and gun are pretty neat, though nothing particularly special. His backpack is really only useful to this one figure and doesn’t have much life outside of that, but the scoped pistol looks pretty good with a wider variety of figures. The hose, however, is something that really draws some ire out of me. What purpose does it serve to make this a separate piece? It’s one of those pieces that’s like it’s only there to get lost, and he looks wrong without it.

There were some okay repaints of this figure. After the first release, it went to Brazil and then India, where the figure was released in colors similar to Hasbro’s. In ‘97 we got a blue and gold repaint of the mold, which was interesting, at the very least. The mold came back in similar colors to it’s first usage, but far more drab in ‘02. Then it was used for the Imperial Guard from the Imperial Procession set in ‘05. Lastly, it showed up again in ‘05 as a part of a comic-pack, retooled with a new Fred head and removable helmet. My dream repaint of this figure would be one in green armor as Serpentor, or some bodyguards for him, but that’s just my taste.

Mint, complete ‘87 Cobra Commanders are not hard to get, and if you look around, you can easily acquire one for $12 to $15. Every now and then, you’ll see eBay idiots push the price up towards $30, but the figure is still easy enough to acquire for half of that. Keep an eye out on his gun when looking for one though, as a lot of listings swap the original gun for the silver Accessory Pack version, and the 2002 Snow Serpent’s gun as well (which is a perfect match for the plastic used on the backpack).

1987 Cobra Commander Links:

1986 Zarana

Posted on March 23, 2021 by mwnekoman

1986 Zarana

As a sub-group, the Dreadnoks started off very hot in ‘84 with Zartan, and subsequently in ‘85 with Buzzer, Ripper and Torch. After that, however, the Dreadnoks quickly became decidedly more mediocre, with ‘86 introducing Monkey Wrench, Thrasher, and Zartan’s twin siblings, Zandar and Zarana.

For the purpose they serve, I like the Dreadnoks. They’re fun figures that are unique and individualistic. Even the more generic or uninspired members add something to the line, in the way that they’re somewhere between being an army-builder and an actual character, kinda like Cantina goons in Star Wars. It gives Cobra some individual characters that are unique, but also unimportant enough to be disposable and believably subdued with relative ease.

Unlike the more generic Dreadnoks, however, Zarana has a much more defined character, and I have’t always liked it. In Sunbow, they gave her a really cringey romantic plot with Mainframe, which always irritated me a bit. A lot of the times in the cartoons, and also a bit in the comics, I felt she wound up just being an expy for the Baroness. In general, I felt as though the character’s portrayal was always either irritating or just phoned-in.

The figure itself is kind of fun. Having a female to hang around with the Dreadnoks is a tad interesting. The sculpt is overall very detailed and has enough paint to highlight most of that as well, which makes her a fairly fun figure. Like her siblings, Zarana also has a color changing gimmick, though eventually I don’t think there will be any more of these that work. For awhile, you could restore the gimmick by boiling the figure, but this only works some of the time.

gi joe zarana zartan dreadnoks v1 1986 hasbro action figure

Fresh after being boiled. I’m pretty sure it quit working again after this though.

Of course, there’ also the well-known big-head and earrings variant of Zarana. As I recall, early Zarana figures had the earrings head, while the later ones have the smaller head. Some people think the earring variant looks better, and I do think the detail is slightly better, but the derpy expression and gigantic size kills it for me.

I hate Zarana’s parts. She includes a red backpack and a saw-gun-thing. The backpack is rather forgettable, but her cutter weapon seems strange and a little contrived. A normal gun or pistol like Zartan’s would’ve been a lot nicer. I never bothered getting V1 Zarana’s parts, as the similar ones from the comic-pack figure were enough for me.

Zarana’s seem like they’re getting hit pretty hard by the newbie collectors. Pricing at the moment is very inconsistent on them and the earring-variant is going for around $50, while the other version (pictured here) is going for around $15. It’s funny to see people shelling out so much for the “rare” variant, when there’s clearly an ample supply of them being traded around. I like Zarana, but I’d probably not own one if I had to pay these prices.

1986 Zarana Links:

1986 Sci-Fi

Posted on March 16, 2021 by mwnekoman

1986 Sci-Fi

Although it’s probably the last ubiquitously popular year of ARAH, 1986 has it’s fair share of mostly unpopular figures. To name a few, there’s Cross Country, Zandar, and arguably Serpentor (a lot of people love him, but a lot of people also really hate him). Sci-Fi is another character you rarely see that much love for. Largely, I suspect this is because he’s a neon-green replacement for Flash, though you could also say it’s because he’s a little ho-hum, overall.

V1 Sci-Fi was a figure I mostly acquired on a whim, at a point when I had most of the other ‘86 figures and thought that finishing the year seemed like an interesting prospect (unfortunately, I never made good on that goal). At the time, I really didn’t feel like I needed this figure since I had the ‘91 version, and felt it was good enough. It’s a weird juxtaposition, when you have an 80‘s figure that’s colored in stereotypical 90‘s neon, and a 90‘s figure that’s colored more plainly with some bright-yellow for added flare, Regardless, I was surprised in a few ways when I got him how much I liked this one.

The overall design is pretty nice on this version. It’s very over-the-top looking, but it’s also pretty detailed and interesting. His chest armor and helmet really stand out to me, he kind of looks like Robo-cop, which is cool and makes me want to pose him more often with a pistol. I think the worst part of the figure is his metallic boots, which don’t look very detailed and just come across as too fantastic looking. Still, it’s a nice design and I think he has more going on than Flash, although I like that figure too.

I don’t think too many people really care to hate on neon colors anymore. Some people prefer realism, but that’s a moot point on a figure that represents a futuristic laser-trooper. Still, V1 Sci-fi is probably one of the saddest molds to not get a repaint. Even imagining this figure in one of Hasbro’s hokey 2000‘s color-schemes, like the TRU Nightforce colors, makes me imagine something that could’ve really brought out the potential in the sculpt here.

A problem that’s fairly common to ‘86 figures you can see here, is his relatively large head-sculpt. Since he has a sculpted-on helmet and visor, it goes a long way to disguise it, but his head is kind of bulbous still. I really don’t know why Hasbro went from proportions that were so good on ‘85 figures to this trend of gigantic heads, but it’s something that makes ‘86 guys kind of alienate themselves in my collection. Thankfully it’s not very bad on Sci-fi though.

The parts are really enjoyable, and I’d go as far as to say they’re an upgrade over Flash’s weapon. Sci-fi comes with a bulky black laser rifle, a backpack, and a hose for connecting them. It’s a simple kit, but the usage of rubber hoses provides Sci-fi with a weapon that’s far less cumbersome than Flash’s gun. It’s also pretty neat that it can be stored on his backpack, though I don’t tend to find that it fits all that well, at least on mine.

Sci-fi’s are cheap and easy to get, and with that being the case right now, probably means you can expect it to stay that way forever. Complete figures seem to fetch about $6, which is about as cheap as 80’s figures get. Sci-fi embodies a lot of what early GI Joe fans hated about the line, and he doesn’t have the novelty/nostalgia value that 90‘s figures have acquired, so I suppose there just aren’t too many people who see anything interesting in him.

1986 Sci-Fi Links:

1994 Shipwreck

Posted on January 19, 2021 by mwnekoman

1994 Shipwreck

Shipwreck is probably among the most memorable and iconic GI Joe characters in the franchise. Especially for people who came in on Sunbow, Shipwreck was kind of the cartoon’s alternative to Clutch, as a similar kind of personality who was easier to identify with than characters like Flint, Duke or Snake Eyes. Despite his popularity, he really never received all that many toys, only being represented by his original in ‘85 and this Battle Corps version nine years later.

So this version of Shipwreck is a diver, which is hard to say whether this makes Shipwreck more usable or less usable. Although it’s the most recognizable element of the character, Shipwreck seems a little more cohesive outside of his sailor duds. It weakens his identity a bit, but also makes me imagine a lot of different scenarios where you might find Shippy in diving gear. Since I was a kid I’ve always imagined this Shipwreck going on a lot of sabotage missions, rendering him somewhat of a Joe equivalent to Firefly.

Like many ‘93 and ‘94 figures, Shipwreck is recycles the waist and legs from older sculpts, in this case ‘86 Wet Suit. In a few cases this mold recycling was a little more arbitrary, like with ‘94 Major Bludd, but here I feel like it somewhat benefits the figure for tying him back to Wet Suit, and adds a little continuity to their designs. They’re both GI Joe divers, it sort of makes sense to me that they’d share similar equipment/outfits.

For parts, you get a diving mask, two flippers, a Shockwave pistol, Bullhorn’s Steyr AUG, and a Hit&Run riffle and knife all in black, in addition to a silver missile launcher (and it’s missiles). I always appreciate old figures that came with decent looking black guns, even if it might’ve been nicer for him to have some kind of diver-specific part like a spear gun. The rubber mask is really one of the most fun parts that comes with this figure, as it also makes him one of the only diver figures that has a fully removable mask and air-intake.

This mold got a couple of repaints, most of which weren’t really better than this release, but not really worse either. He showed up in ‘98 as a part of the Navy Assault Unit set, colored black with bright green highlights. He then showed up another time in 2001 as apart of the ARAHC line, looking just like this figure with the addition of paint-wipes. This figure already had fine colors, so I’m not sure there’s much else you’d do with it, though a brighter repaint might’ve been kind of neat.

‘94 Shipwrecks go for about $15 to $20 complete, though for much less incomplete. I notice this with more Battle Corps figures these days, where there’s huge discrepancies between what a complete and incomplete figure will go for. It strikes me as odd, given that with most of these figures like Shipwreck, the parts are totally generic and not even unique to the figure. His exact same tree of parts was included with both Cross-Country and the two versions of Battle Corps Roadblock, so between the three of them, there’s a lot of these parts out there. Either way, he’s a nice figure, and worth getting in some fashion.

: This photo is kinda bad, but I took it 12 years ago, which makes me nostalgic now.

1994 Shipwreck Links:

JoeaDay

1988 Repeater

Posted on January 12, 2021 by mwnekoman

1988 Repeater

Repeater is one of those figures who was never a collecting goal for me, and whom I’ve rarely had much interest in using. He’s a fairly popular figure and I’ve personally held that the toy is for the most part somewhat overrated, however, there’s some objectively good things about him. In fact, he’s probably among the upper tier of late-eighties Joes, it’s just that he doesn’t appeal to me that much personally.

Right away, one of my biggest issues I’ve always had with this figure is his head. His head looks super ugly to me, to the point it almost feels hard to take him seriously. The rest of the sculpt comes across as being nice, but somewhat average, with the best part probably being his chest. The chest sculpt featured a really nice vest with some sharp details on it. It could have looked great mixed in with some other parts on repaints later on, but that wasn’t to be. I may rectify that in my collection with some customs at some point, but GI Joe customs tend to be a drag to make.

His colors are really nice though. The figure is mostly a khaki color, with brown camo and green and black accents. The camo patterns on these late-eighties figures were very nice and distinct, very similar to digital camouflage though I don’t think that was being used at the time. Most of the guys from ‘88 are fairly colorful and bright, so Repeater with his grounded colors stands out as a nice change of pace.

The accessories are one of the most distinct elements of the figure. Specializing as a “Steadi-Cam Machine Gunner”, he indeed includes a steadi-cam machine gun… which isn’t real, but looks pretty neat. His full kit is a green backpack, the machine gun, and hip-mount stabilizer for it. The gun isn’t too unrealistic, as there’s been a few real-life attempts at making a gun with similar ergonomics, but kind of like with this toy, they’ve never been very practical. Repeater can’t really pose or hold his gun very much while mounted to the stabilizer, which renders the set-up useless to me. If you want to get a two-handed pose with it, the best you can do is balance the gun on the stabilizer. While mounted, there’s barely even room for his thumb to hold the gun’s receiver. Putting that aside, the gun and backpack do look very nice though.

Besides the Night Force repaint, this guy got released in Brazil twice, once as Retaguarda and again as Urzor. I’ve always wanted Urzor, namely because he includes a BEAR, but not enough to pay the absurd prices those figures go for. Heck, even the Night Force repaint commends a price far more than he’s worth, which really leaves us with this figure being the only version of the sculpt that’s decently accessible. Given, I think it’s also fair to say that the ‘88 release is the best version too, seeing as how the Night Force repaint has no camo and fewer painted details.

Repeaters are thankfully still cheap on a regular basis. Typically a complete Repeater will run around $8, which isn’t much to pay for a figure that’s relatively so nice. My main gripe is that his head’s ugly and his gun is cumbersome, but everything else about the figure is well done. In an age where collectors are willing to pay $100+ for obtuse, common items, I’m always a little stunned when a decent figure like this one doesn’t go for much.

1988 Repeater Links: