1992 Barbecue
Eco-Warriors are a fun subset. Extremely corny, but as a concept they work perfectly in the world of GI Joe, as chemical warfare is a real and scary thing. Of course, the comics and what not usually put the focus on pollution, because that’s a little bit more of a gentle thing than having GI Joe entering an urban wasteland after Cobra attacks with sarin gas or white phosphorous. It was also a great way for Hasbro to bring back older characters like Barbecue, who logically fit somewhat on the team given his prior role as a firefighter (though oddly, Airtight was nowhere to be found).
I like this mold a lot better when it was reused three different ways in Star Brigade as Payload, though that doesn’t mean the original release as Barbecue was bad at all. Him and all of his color variations were prominent in my childhood as various different things, which I think speaks to the strength of the sculpt. Part of what makes this figure fun is that he’s almost creepy in that hazmat suit, especially with the way his face is obscured by the clear plastic visor. Often times as a kid I’d use him and the Payloads as cyborg Cobras akin to BATs, though other times he was just a lonely astronaut who’d typically die some painful death.
Compared to V1 Barbecue, this release seems much less distinct, though I think he’s a little bit cooler overall. Naturally, he loses some of that distinctness from the repaints that came later, though Deep Six also looks a lot like this figure in some ways. Still, Barbecue as an Eco-Warrior seems a little more applicable to a few different situations than the more standard firefighter he was originally. Oddly, it’s a pretty even trade off, as most of what makes this version cool also makes him just another Eco-Warrior, whereas most of what made ‘85 Barbecue cool, also made him very niche.
The red and yellow colors are somewhat pleasing to look at. I do often think of ketchup and mustard when I see him, but that’s tasty, so I don’t mind. The red is a nice shade and isn’t too bright, so he looks pretty reasonable for the role he serves. With that said, imagining this mold in the original’s orange and grey makes me think that was a bit of a missed opportunity for a repaint, but I’m also sure that not too many others would’ve wanted that.
Barbecue’s parts straight up suck. That’s partly because the only parts you get are his squirt gun and a figure stand. While the 1991 Eco-Warriors came with some traditional accessories, Barbecue and the Toxo-Zombie from 1992 only come with the squirt guns. You can find any number of generic black or yellow guns from the same time-period to equip Barbecue with and he’ll look fine, but it does diminish the figure’s appeal a lot when he doesn’t even come with one unique part of his own.
Astoundingly, this has become a fairly expensive figure ranging from $20 to $25 for a decent example. Part of that is probably owed to the fact that his clear visor falls out on some examples, making it a tad rarer and to the fact that the ‘92 Eco-Warriors were produced in smaller numbers. But seriously, complete ‘92 Barbecues now often outprice complete ‘85 Barbecues, and both represent a C-tier character. I hope I live to see the day when 90‘s Joes are worthless again.
The Viper Pit 