1990 Sonic Fighters Tunnel Rat

Tunnel Rat’s a good figure who’s also been the recipient of a number of good repaints. After the figure debuted in ‘87, it went on to get a repaint for the Night Force, Sonic Fighters, a Funskool release, another Night Force release, Desert Patrol, and finally a comic pack figure. Each of these repaints are pretty decent, though the Sonic Fighters one is one I’ve had since my childhood, so I felt like looking at it recently.

A few of the Sonic Fighters repaints are some really solid releases that are arguably better than their original counterparts. Falcon and Law, for example, are very high quality repaints. Tunnel Rat on the other hand, isn’t particularly interesting or special. You swap his green shirt for a maroon one, and his black pants for drab khakis, It’s not actually a terrible color-scheme per say, just not really useful or interesting like some of the others.

The problem with Sonic Fighters Tunnel Rat, is that he’s simply not the best at anything. If you want a realistic looking figure, the original is by far the best. If you want a bright and interesting looking toy, the Funskool version is better for that. Which leaves us with this version, which doesn’t have much of a niche. In it’s own right, this is an alright looking figure, but would I recommend it over one of his other repaints? Probably not.

Some decent parts were included in this release, though nothing earth shattering. While the oversized Sonic Fighters backpacks are generally maligned items, I think Tunnel Rat’s is kind of cool- it features a sculpted on ammo box with more feeds for his LMG, so at least the details match up nicely. You also get his classic LMG, an ’87 Cobra Commander gun, a Knockdown gun, and a mortar from the ‘85 Snow Serpent. I have a hard time associating this mortar with anything besides a Snow Serpent, though it’s a nice bonus either way.

The noobie filled Joe market has this guy going for about $20 complete. Like a lot of 90‘s figures, he does have a lot of parts to look out for, and I’m not sure the production numbers on these Sonic Fighters were all that high (probably in the ballpark of Python Patrol and Tiger Force, thought that’s just a guess). I expect once the economy improves, a lot of nostalgia hipsters will outgrow toys again and go off to go buy cars and fishing equipment. For now however, this guy goes for more than he’s worth.

gi joe sonic fighters 1990 vintage hasbro cobra ARAH

2004 TRU Night Force Tunnel Rat

I’ve never been a fan of the 2004 Night Force set. It’s really not bad in retrospect, but the figures are a poor match for the superior vintage Night Force colors. The 2003 Python Patrol set was a far better update to the vintage Python colors compared to this, but there are a few interesting figures in this set. Today I’ll have a look at Tunnel Rat, who I feel is neither the best or worst figure included.

This set passed me by at retail without my knowledge (or caring), and when I got into collecting older item’s a few years later, this set was still at the bottom of my priorities. In fact, I’ve only acquired two thirds of the set to date, mainly through lots and the like. My disinterest in the figures spurns from a simple reason: they’re bland. The colors and details are pretty good across the set, but at a glance all I see is black.

Such is the case with Tunnel Rat. The vintage Night Force Tunnel Rat had a strong palette of colors without being boring to look at. The 2004 figure on the other hand, has an excessively dark color scheme. There’s a lot of colors and details in this deco, and really it’s a well decorated figure. It’s just that the colors are so dark you can hardly appreciate that, which is a massive shame.

Speaking of details, one thing that drives me nuts about 2000‘s Joes moreso than pinheads, terrible parts and poor mold choices is the usage of the full GI Joe logo. For some reason this became of visual trope of figures from this era, and Tunnel Rat features it on his leg like all the other figures in the set. It’s especially jarring on this figure where dark, realistic colors are part of the appeal, and then you just have a massive toy brand logo running down his leg. I really hate that.

For accessories, he included Red Star’s AK47, and V1 Firefly’s backpack and walkie-talkie. It’s a pretty weird situation when a figure comes with good parts, but still doesn’t really have a good loadout. I pretty much always enjoy getting a spare Firefly walkie, but the backpack without his tool tray is pretty off-putting. All in all, these parts are good things to have in a parts bin, but for Tunnel Rat, they don’t suit the character.

So, overall this Tunnel Rat is an okay figure. There’s a few worse versions of Tunnel Rat, such as the Sonic Fighters repaint, but that doesn’t make this figure’s problems any better. Nowadays completionists will pay a lot for the sparse appearance of this figure “complete”, but as the parts are totally generic, I don’t recommend bothering with them. Partsless, you can get this guy for about $6 or $7, and depending upon how you view the colors, that isn’t a terrible price. Most of these 2000‘s TRU exclusives have become a lot harder find and a lot more expensive, but the Night Force set hasn’t appreciated in value quite as much.