1994 Viper

Posted on May 30, 2022 by mwnekoman

1994 Viper

Although I’ve actually talked about the Battle Corps Viper on here before, that post was from a different time, years ago, when I hadn’t really figured out what was doing with this blog. That’s important to note, because rehashing old topics isn’t really something I feel like doing, yet I have a lot I want to say about this figure, so he’s kind of an exception to that.

Without a doubt, the Battle Corps Viper is one of the coolest Battle Corps toys, and honestly one of the best Vipers ever made. I don’t think he’s better than the original Viper’s design, just because I can’t really see this one filling the same role that that figure does. This version of the Viper looks less utilitarian, and more like an intimidating soldier of the future, with state-of-the-art gear that can take a few hits. He’s been various things to me at various points, though what I’ve settled on is an elite soldier in top-class combat gear. He can move quickly, but also take repeated gun shots without stopping. Perhaps this figure’s only flaw is that he looks like something more than just a basic Viper.

There’s so much detail going on with this sculpt to comment on. The look of his helmet is both unique among GI Joe designs, but also reminiscent of something a little pulpy and old. Personally it kind of reminds me of something you’d have seen out of Japan from decades prior, like the Cyborg Men from Cyborg 009, or maybe a little like Hakaider (though, it’s probably the pointy shoulders that remind me more of Hakaider). It cements them in my mind as intimidating foes; though it’s also an interesting direction they took with the Viper’s design. Making this connection and then thinking about the live-action GI Joe advertisement from the time, I’m left wondering if Tokusatsu was an inspiration behind this look. Probably a stretch, but nerds have always liked Japan, so maybe not too unrealistic.

This figure’s always been a favorite of mine, though my opinions have come and gone on his colors. Back in my teenage years I used to stare at this figure, and contemplate what he could’ve been with better colors. Of course, there was the drool worthy Iron Anvil figure floating around, which for a while I wanted much more than this one. Then at some point, my opinions flipped, and I’ve been stuck ever since feeling like the Iron Anvil was shallow and largely a missed opportunity for something else, while this figure became the more interesting usage of the mold in my mind. I think part of that’s because both visually and in terms of story, the Iron Anvil doesn’t really have anything new going on, where as this guy seems more like an interesting and unique Cobra, that doesn’t look just like every other figure in his faction.

This mold still could’ve been so much. With how expensive and tedious factory customs have become, someone like TBM bringing back this sculpt could really reel me back in from my recent wave of disinterest. Coil colors, Red Shadows, Arctic, Jungle, Cobra CAT… Heck, put out a Cobra La color-scheme reminiscent of the Royal Guard. It’s really just a shame that such a solid sculpt was only reused once, and in none other than the Iron Grenadier “magic-sauce” colors.

For parts, you get Monkeywrench’s speargun, a ’91 Toxo Viper pistol, ’92 Spirit’s pistol, the Hydro Viper’s knife, and a figure stand all in bright red, with a requisite missile launcher and missiles (‘93 Alley Viper’s). From when I was a kid until now, I really loved how that Toxo Viper pistol looked with him. In my mind, this was an experimental and highly dangerous weapon, like a railgun, that could even penetrate tank armor. Some of his gear takes a little imagination to rationalize, but I like it more than I really should. Plus, if you use the logic of an FPS game, that trident-launcher is probably the most deadly weapon after a riot-shield.

A ‘94 Viper will now run you around $15 for a complete example, but you can get partless figures for army-building for around $8. Unfortunately though, this figure has gotten a lot harder to find. Most of that probably has to do with eBay’s seller policies being so crappy now, compared to years ago, but regardless you won’t find figures like this as often as you used to. When you can find them though, he’s relatively cheap for a ‘94 figure, which is still a nice thing to see.

1994 Viper Links:

Forgotten Figures

Half the Battle

3D Joes

1993 Night Creeper Leader

Posted on March 14, 2022 by mwnekoman

1993 Night Creeper Leader

I’ve been on a late-90‘s kick lately, which I think is supported by the fact that there’s simply so many figures from ‘93 and ‘94 to talk about. These are far from the best figures in the vintage line, but for me, they’re both nostalgic and interesting to take photos of, since even to this day, most of the figures are fairly underexposed. This Night Creeper Leader for example, has very few dio-photos.

When it comes to ninjas, I’m pretty picky. I tend to find that it’s easy for ninja plot lines in GI Joe to get out of hand, and when GI Joe gets away from being a military fantasy, that tends to kill my interest. For example, I got pretty bored with the comic issues that featured Jinx and Billy a lot, or issue 91, which stood out to me as being less interesting during a recent reading of the later Marvel issues.

Night Creepers however, really manage to blend things together and capture the cool and fantastic side of the GI Joe franchise. They’re ninjas, but they’re also modern looking assassins who are believably dangerous. It feels like to me they tie ninjas into the military fantasy of GI Joe somewhat better, rather than feeling so much like a martial arts fantasy spinoff of the brand, which is more of what you see with so many Arashikage ninjas.

The Night Creeper Leader reuses the lower half of the ‘90 Night Creeper, and has a new chest, head and arms. This tactic was pretty cheap of Hasbro, as at the point to where half of the toy was recycled as well as all of it’s parts, you weren’t getting very much that was new. At the same time, the designers did a good job with this limitation, and by reusing Night Creeper parts, the Night Creeper Leader has some nice and obvious continuity with his troops. The new parts of his sculpt look super muscular, and he has a pretty solid look for a ninja.

This figure came in orange with black details and tiger stripes, whereas the recolor from the next year used purple, yellow and gold. I’m usually surprised that the purple color scheme seems to be the more popular one, as this orange look is far more pleasing to my eyes. Of course, if you really hate 90‘s colors and want something fun to do, you can just swap the legs on this guy for a Night Creeper and then paint the torso details to match. I’ve thought about doing that, but then my Night Creeper Leader would lose some of his distinguishing features, and I think he needs them.

His accessories include the Night Creeper’s Crossbow, two ‘91 Snake Eyes swords, a Hydro Viper knife, Road Pig’s crossbow and shield, and lastly, the launcher from the ‘93 HEAT Viper, as well as it’s missile and a stand. What’s odd about this part runner, is that these parts were basically never reused, only reappearing for the ‘94 repaint as far as I can remember. I don’t really like the Road Pig parts very much, but it’s cool you can give them to Sonic Fighters Road Pig and they match perfectly. I also think it’s neat they brought back the Night Creeper crossbow, once again, for continuity, and they also gave him some nice swords you didn’t see to much (Not used in Ninja Force!). Interestingly, his crossbow has been retooled to feature a smaller grip.

The 1993 Night Creeper Leader is far from a rare or expensive figure, but like many 90‘s items, a tad bit of a pain to get complete. A 100% complete figure seems to go for about $20, and carded figures only fetch $25. Figures missing a part or two drop down to around $12. It’s a fun figure and even the current market’s failed to make him unaffordable, so I think these will be around for years to come.

1993 Night Creeper Leader Links:

Joe A Day

3D Joes

Half the Battle

1993 Dr Mindbender

Posted on February 15, 2022 by mwnekoman

1993 Dr Mindbender

Dr Mindbender amounts to Cobra’s resident mad scientist, and is one of the original crazy Cobra’s before 1987 came along and saturated the line with rejected Spider-man villains. For most of my life, I’ve preferred villains who were drab, boring and mostly devoid of personality, like Scrap Iron, but Mindbender’s different. I’ve always loved the character, and he’s been a central figure among my Cobras almost as much as Destro and Cobra Commander.

For a long time, this was my only Dr Mindbender. I say “mine” but it was another figure that was really my brother’s, I was just allowed to look at it any time I wanted, since as a kid and an adult, I never break stuff. A nice thing about Mindbender, is that he’s a distinct looking character who fills a somewhat obvious role, so even without access to his file card, it was easy to know who he was and what he did. I think there was a big focus on him too, since Cobra robots and Cobra’s monster Blanka, were a major focus of my childhood battles.

As was the trend in 1993, half of Mindbender is reused from an older figure, in this case, the ‘86 Viper. They released this mold in Brazil a few years later, where it was lost, hence why you never again got a whole Viper repaint. Putting that bit of trivia aside, it blends in alright, and the upper half of the figure’s sculpting looks fantastic. One thing I’ve never liked about V1 Dr Mindbender, is that the figure has one of those stereotypical oversized heads from his year, compared to this one, which is cool, tightly sculpted, and proportionate. Besides being slathered in nonsense-tech crap, it’s also nice that the figure looks pretty normal, and doesn’t have grenades popping out of every orifice of his body.

His colors are hideously bright, though I’ve never really minded that, even if I’ve been sensitive to it at times. In fact, I’d go as far to say these colors look pretty good, mixing that dark purple with a vibrant yellow. A few details are black, which balances things out, and the recycled Viper legs do well to tie him back to an existing Cobra uniform. The only thing that’s almost too ugly is the excessive use of yellow on his chest. You lose a lot of the sculpt’s detail in all of that.

His parts! His parts are so awful and wonderful at the same time. It’s an odd runner that as far as I know, was only shared with Lobotomaxx. Included is Dee-Jay’s gun, Voltar’s gun, ‘91 Sci-fi’s gun, ‘89 Snake Eye’s gun, an Iron Grenadier pistol, and the Hydro Viper’s knife, besides the obligatory launcher, missile and figure-stand that this blog usually doesn’t acknowledge. Six normal weapons is actually a bit extra compared to most figures from the time. Obviously, these parts aren’t very good, but I find them to be a guilty pleasure. As a kid, I generally equipped most figures with Voltar guns, though generally, most of these parts wound up getting used by a wide variety of figures. The knife especially became Armor Tech Destro’s trademark weapon, the lightning knife, which he could charge with high-voltage electricity from his fist. Also, I just like giving him Dee-Jay’s awful gun because I’m low-key tasteless.

1993 Dr Mindbender’s are very cheap, running around $9 for a fully complete figure with file card. It’s not too surprising when 1986 Mindbender’s are pretty cheap as well, though it’s still odd given the popularity of the character. If you like 90‘s neon, this is a fun version with a good sculpt. He has most of the problem’s you’ll find with any ‘93 or ‘94 figure, but he’s also the only alternative Mindbender figure, and he’s nice for that reason alone.

1993 Dr Mindbender Links:

1993 Mace

Posted on November 30, 2021 by mwnekoman

1993 Mace

The 1993 Joe line really isn’t for everyone. In fact, this is probably the point where overall, the line was going down in quality and cheaping out on things where possible (generic weapons, repaint figures). Still, there’s an esoteric appeal to many of the figures from this year, Mace is a pretty good example of that.

Because he’s such a seldom seen character, I tend to forget his specialty is as an undercover operative. Technically, that means he should be hanging out with Headhunters and Cobras most of the time, though I don’t think I’ve ever seen him used that way. My general tendency is to give him a gun and pose him standing near a cardboard building, but if I had paid more attention, I might have done some cooler things with him sooner. Too bad I’ll probably forget about him again as soon as I’m done writing this.

Mace is a pretty decent looking figure. He’s got a unique looking head and his design is overall, fairly subdued for a figure from ‘93. The most egregious thing about him is the size of his torso, which is huge. I’d go as far as to say he’s comparable in size to Road Pig, which sort of makes him look out of place, even among his contemporaries. Other than that, he’s a little boring for not having a lot going on, but there’s enough detail there to make him an okay background guy.

His parts are pretty terrible. Included is an EM-2 rifle from Ambush, a pistol from Updraft, an SMG from ‘92 Shockwave, and ‘91 Low-Light’s knife, along with the helmet and launcher combo from Muskrat, also released in 1993. The first thing that catches my attention here is that launcher… It’s a missile launcher he wears on his head! It’s silly enough to be humorous, but it’s still terrible. All of his weapons are cast in yellow plastic, which renders an okay selection of parts somewhat useless. It’s a pretty good match for BAT yellow though, so if you wanted, one or two of these guns might look okay with an ‘86 BAT.

: Image from an Etsy listing

: Image from an Etsy listing

It’s worth mentioning that Mace was originally to be a part of the DEF line, and there are rare carded examples to prove this. The figure was not changed at any point to my knowledge, just the packaging when Hasbro canned the DEF line. I had always guessed they’d have had different parts or something, but to my surprise, the figures were released as intended: just the packaging was changed.

A complete Mace runs around $15, which seems like a little much for him, but it is what it is. People are more willing in general to pay a premium now for complete 90‘s figures, and because he does come with several parts, complete figures will go for a little more in general. Of course, if you hate the yellow parts or just want one for a custom, individual figures can be had for around $5.

1993 Mace Links:

1993 Mudbuster

Posted on August 10, 2021 by mwnekoman

1993 Mudbuster

90‘s GI Joe figures are awesome; 90‘s GI Joe vehicles however, more often suck. I have some I really like, but it seems like in most cases, the good 90‘s vehicles are only “mostly okay”, while the bad vehicles are really bad, at least compared to the quality of the 80‘s line. The Mudbuster is one of the former, and is an overall, mostly okay party wagon.

The Mudbuster is essentially a pickup truck with a turret in the back, which I have to admit, feels pretty unimpressive for the world’s most daring anti-terror task force. Sometimes I rationalize GI Joe having more primitive equipment like this, by ignoring the code name and imagining a scenario where vehicles like the Mudbuster are pieced together on the job, from civilian vehicles found in third-world countries where a mission is taking place. At the very least, the Mudbuster gives my imagination something more to work with than the Battle Wagon, which is a similar thing but way worse.

As a basic truck-type toy, the Mudbuster is a lot of fun and a nice contemporary vehicle to a collection of 90‘s Joe items. As a kid, this was a go-to vehicle for me from my brother’s collection, with the only vehicles I really liked more being the Tiger Sting, the Lynx, and the Brawler. The Mudbuster is small, easy to play with, and can fit a generous number of Joes for what it is.

Overall, the Mudbuster feels pretty solid, at least when compared to something terrible like the Rat. However, 90‘s cheapness is apparent here, which is part of why I consider this vehicle less when compared to a similar 80‘s item. I very much dislike the emptiness of it’s interior, which does not feature a steering wheel like the VAMP. Despite this, the driver’s area is still somewhat cramped, especially for the beefy 90‘s sculpts that would be intended to sit in it.

The gimmicks feel pretty basic, there’s a battering-ram on the front bumper that works using a rubber-band and a button in the truck-bed. Personally I think it’s pretty lame, and the band won’t last too well either. Getting a figure to pose with the turret is a pain; it’s doable, but it also feels like a really good way to break a thumb or heel at this point. The launcher had some weird grappling-hook type thing that you could tie to the vehicle, and to be honest, I also think this is rather dumb looking, and a weak point to the vehicle overall. It looks better with the spare missiles that come with it, which is kind of neat: it includes three unique missiles that can all be stored in the back.

The Mudbuster’s colors are decent. Overall, the turquoise and blue is a good look and the vehicle isn’t as obnoxiously colored as something like the Badger. The only bad thing is that it’s still pretty incohesive, and the turquoise really breaks the feeling of this thing being a piece of military equipment. Then again, going back to my earlier narrative, it’s a little more believable if you contemplate it as a retrofitted civilian vehicle.

Mudbuster’s are super common, you can usually get a complete one for around $15 or less. I don’t have a particular obsession with trucks, but a lot of people, especially rural people, really love trucks in any capacity, and I imagine that translated into a strong-selling vehicle in ‘93. These days, the Mudbuster probably isn’t a must-have vehicle, but it’s a nice piece for display with it’s contemporary toys. If you compare it to the VAMP, it’s a much weaker toy, but without that comparison, the Mudbuster is good enough on it’s own.

1993 Mudbuster Links:

Forgotten Figures

3D Joes

Joe A Day

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:

Forgotten Figures

3D Joes

JoeaDay

1994 Major Bludd

Posted on April 1, 2019 by mwnekoman

1994 Major Bludd

1994 is full of great and often overlooked GI Joe figures, like Star Brigade Roadbloack, or Battle Corps Shipwreck. To be frank, I think ’94 might be the best year of the 90’s besides 1990. With that said, of the onslaught of figures released that year, a few came out rather questionable, like Major Bludd.

When it comes to Major Bludd figures, Chinese Major Bludd is best by far. Historically, almost every domestic Bludd has had some kind of problem in my eyes. V1 has the stupid arm, V2 has too many grenades, and every Bludd after this was made out of some combination of the tooling used for these first three. So with that said, this figure isn’t alone for having problems.

The design of this figure is just downright strange. Part of that comes from his reusage of the ’92 Toxo-Viper waist and legs, but even the new tooling has a weird aesthetic. The look of his folded robe simply does too much to invite Flash Gordon jokes, and has a very pulp sci-fi look to it. Given, there’s some very nice details here with the painted red trim and medals on his chest, and a bandolier too.

His head’s been given a pretty strong redesign. The helmet is similar to the V2, but he’s been given the addition of some silver painted horns along the top and a single-eye visor. A little over the top, but it’s still a different look that compliments the character. Details like this make me sad we didn’t see these continued into a ’95 line.

I almost forgot about this figure’s gimmick too: a hidden arm blade! Or elbow spike as the file card calls it. I’ve had mixed feelings on it since I was kid, with it perpetually sticking out of the back of his arm when you don’t want it, but it’s still a nice touch that harkens back to the cybernetic arm of the original. It’s one of those sorts of details that makes the figure feel like just a little special effort went into the design.

All things considered though, this figure won’t ever be my go-to Major Bludd. There’s a lot here I could like, and the purple robe isn’t a bad look either. At the same time though, the outfit looks a lot more formal than I’d expect for the seasoned mercenary that Bludd is. With a few other version at hand, it’s hard to justify using this one too much.

Major bludd 90's 1994 GI Joe battle corps hasbro arah vintage action figure crimson guard imp metal head

I want to say his parts included here are typical for the era, but honestly, they might be below average. Everything is cast in bright red plastic, and you get the dreaded Rock-Viper riffle, Destro pistol and combat knife. Over time I’ve almost grown fond of the neon weapons included during this period for their unique appearance, but it’s just too tiresome when every figure comes with the same, gigantic sniper riffle.

Getting a mint, complete example of this figure around $5 is still relatively easy, and carded figures are plentiful for not a lot more. These days, a price like that could be seen as somewhat of a dismissal by the collecting community, but I have to say this figure could provide a fair amount of value for that much.

1994 Major Bludd Links:

1993 Heat Viper (Version 2)

Posted on January 14, 2019 by mwnekoman

1993 Heat Viper (Version 2)

When I was collecting in my teenage years, my early vintage acquisitions were some odd ones, mainly flavored by both odd tastes and conditions. The condition being, that for a while early on I did not buy loose toys. Back then I was really bothered about not knowing where my toys had been, but with time I came to desire more vintage items then I did new ones, so the only practical solution was to forget this phobia. Still, it meant my early purchases tilted more towards what was practical to buy MOSC, such as the Battle Corps Heat Viper.

It was pretty fun buying a vintage figure for the sake of opening. I know some of you might find that sentence a bit sadistic, but on a cheap (and honestly crappy) figure like this Heat Viper, it’s an experience with enough novelty value I found it worth a small premium. The truth is, I don’t remember opening many ARAH GI Joes. Most of the oldest toys I had as a kid were ones I was borrowing from my brother, though I had my own collection of figures from ‘93 and ‘94 acquired on clearance years later. So there was a lot about the feel of the packaging I didn’t remember.

“This new generation of Cobra anti-tank specialists are equipped with the latest in hyper-kinetic, high-speed, armor-piercing technology. When they spot a G.I. Joe vehicle (especially a nice Battle Wagon, Patriot, or Mudbuster) they sit perfectly still, lining up the tracker sights on target to guide their projectile. Then they try to squeeze off one of their hand-held rockets knowing they’ve only got one shot because if they miss, there isn’t a G.I. Joe worth his salt who’ll let that poor fool try for seconds!”

Interestingly, his secondary specialty is listed as being the Earthquake Driver. They did this a lot in the line’s twilight years, where instead of including a vehicle driver with the vehicle, a random single-card figure was just named it’s driver. I really can’t see why a Heat Viper would also be driving what amounts to a weaponized construction vehicle, but oh well.

The Heat Viper himself is a boring, maybe even terrible figure. The original Heat Viper had it’s fair share of problems, so it’s amazing they created what is almost surely a downgrade from that. The figure is almost totally devoid of either sculpted or painted details. He’s just a guy in green tights, and he looks as much like an anti-tank trooper as he does a ninja. Besides that, he’s all of three colors, and he wears his underwear on the outside. So he doesn’t have much going for him visually.

Gi joe arah vintage cobra heat viper hasbro 1993 dr mindbender parts

Nothing gets better with his accessories. The generic combo of the PSG1 (Rock Viper riffle), the Annihilator’s SMG, and Iron Grenadier’s pistol all in fluorescent green makes him feel almost like a parody of a 90‘s figure. I normally skip commenting on missile launchers, but in the case of this Heat Viper, it’s one of his more interesting accessories. It shares a lot of details with the V1 Heat Viper’s bazooka, even having the distinctive “Fang” logo on the launcher. So for once, it’s character appropriate, and although it’s a very cumbersome part, it’s one of the only launchers I’d ever contemplate displaying a figure with, so there’s that.

In proper correspondence with the figure’s quality, the V2 Heat Viper is nearly worthless. A MOSC figure will still sell for about $12, which is maybe only a dollar or two more than what I paid for a carded one almost a decade ago. Save for the missiles, you can typically find these nearly complete for around $6. Through lots, you’ll get a good number of them for even less, which is what I’ve done over the years. There’s not much good to say about him, but it’s a cheap acquisition to pad out a 90‘s collection if you seek that.

Gi joe arah vintage cobra heat viper hasbro 1993 dr mindbender

Gi joe arah vintage cobra heat viper hasbro 1993 dr mindbender cardback

Gi joe arah vintage cobra heat viper hasbro 1993 dr mindbender cardfront

1993 Heat Viper (Version 2) Links:

1993 Alley Viper

Posted on December 3, 2018 by mwnekoman

1993 Alley Viper

Before the superb Black Major custom Alley Vipers and the plethora of well colored Alley Viper repaints in the 2000‘s, you had one alternative for an Alley Viper who wasn’t orange. That alternative, was the Battle Corps Alley Viper.

Compared to other Battle Corps reimaginings, this Alley Viper has gone through a few spats of collector popularity. It seems strange since you’d imagine the neon yellow would be a buzzkill for most normie collectors, but with the original Alley Viper donning orange and baby blue, it does make sense. In particular, I remember when collectors were going mad to get every figure updated in the modern/25th anniversary style, a lot of folks actually wanted this design over the 1989 version.

And for a figure that does lazily reuse the lower half of the V1 Alley Viper, it’s a pretty solid redesign. Personally I tend to prefer the 2000‘s repaints not only for their colors, but also for the swap to V1 Duke legs, as I feel that balances their proportions a little more and makes the sculpt more unique, but there’s nothing wrong with the legs used here. A lot of the V1 Alley Viper’s design and gear are retained on this version, such as how they both feature a knife and grenade on their vests. In some ways it makes the two figures almost cohesive, which could lend itself to using them as a single unit (especially the V1 and the 1994 repaint of this figure.)

When I was a kid I had access to this figure, the 1994 repaint and the V1 version. Of them, the ‘94 repaint was my favorite, with this guy in a close second. I reasoned that the armored look made him a strong adversary of the Ninja Force. So typically the shield and face mask were for countering ninjas.

One of the popular features of this sculpt is the shield and face mask. The face mask has a feline, beast like aesthetic which is very cool. Personally I prefer the look of the V1 mask, but this one has a lot more personality. Meanwhile his shield is a large Cobra symbol, which depending upon how you look at it is either very cool or somewhat overbearing. The original shield was far more practical and interesting looking to me, but in truth I’ve always had a hard time getting that figure to hold it well. Meanwhile the V2 Alley Viper here has a shield that just clips on his wrist, and as a toy this just functions better.

Other than the mask and shield, he included V1 Dial-Tone’s SMG, a modified version of the V1 Alley Viper’s gun and backpack, and a yellow missile launcher. This is a pretty good assortment of parts, and best yet they’re all in black. For some reason though, they changed the foregrip on the Alley Viper gun to be a solid block that the figure can’t hold. Why? Sure, most of the time I want to pose the figure with his shield and can’t use the grip anyway, but it just doesn’t serve any purpose to change it. For that, I tend to prefer posing him with the Dial-Tone SMG.

Complete V2 Alley Vipers run around $20 now. Carded ones show up more than you might expect and actually run about the same price, which I suppose we can thank vintage scalpers for. I like this figure a lot, but for that much money there’s better and way cheaper alternatives, where this figure strikes me as having more of a novelty appeal.

1993 Alley Viper Links:

Yo Joe

3D Joes

1993 Keel Haul

Posted on July 16, 2018 by mwnekoman

1993 Keel Haul

If you own a V1 Keel Haul, I think it’s fair to say you might be lucky. You might have a lot of money now, or you might’ve lucked out and acquired one from Hasbro Direct in the 90‘s. If you were extremely lucky, you had rich parents who bought you the USS Flagg as a kid. But in the case you never acquired one in one of those scenarios, there’s this Battle Corps Keel Haul from ‘93, the one for us poor kids.

This figure is another one I had frequent access to as a kid. He was always there, always in the Joe tub, and yet I have hardly any memories of him. When I was young, the only figures I especially went for were robots and ninjas. Occasionally, a few other interesting looking soldiers would get thrown into the mix, but Keel Haul was far too mundane to really fall into that criteria. At most, I think I used him a few times as a drunk boat captain who was haplessly murdered by the Frag Viper and Vapor, but that’s about it.

It’s sort of odd, because Hasbro didn’t resurrect too many early 80‘s molds for single card releases at this point. We got things like the Steel Brigade and Ninja Viper as mail away items, or a few repaints from as far back as ‘88 with the Astro Viper, but nothing as old as an ‘85 mold.

Thankfully, there’s not a real loss of quality here. The figure’s colors are mainly blue, dark green and some brown. Not quite as nice as the original, but perfectly fine in its own right. I could imagine a lot of ways that a 90‘s repaint of this figure could’ve gone wrong, with unwanted fluorescent colors tainting the sculpt, but everything’s kept surprisingly reasonable looking here.

There’s a cool little variant of this figure regarding the logo on his back. Normally, the logo is large and takes up most of his back, but on certain figures it’s small and is placed just below his neck. I’ve acquired both figures by chance, but at the moment I forgot what I did with the tiny-logo variant (hence, no picture yet). According to Yo Joe the smaller logo is rarer, but I don’t know by how much. It’s a cool thing to look out for if you’re into variant collecting though.

The weapons he includes are okay overall. Cloudburt’s MP5SD is a nice gun, and I never mind it’s inclusion. The knife and Eco Warriors Flint’s gun are forgettable at best, though at the very least the knife seems like it’d be somewhat useful. It’s a very generic lot of parts, but he doesn’t lose much from the original, and isn’t a character in great need of an arsenal anyway.

Keel Hauls carded or loose, seem to go for around $10. Carded examples are quite common, but don’t go for much more than a loose figure. I really enjoy having Keel Haul in my GI Joe roster, but he’s not a character I have much investment in, so this figure is perfect for my needs. Someday when I’m really bored, and have a lot more money and space, I’ll bother getting the V1 and USS Flagg. Until then, this version fills the void nicely.

1993 Keel Haul Links:

Yo Joe

3D Joes

The Viper Pit

Tag Archives: Battle Corps

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