1990 figures in 2009

Hard to believe this picture was taken in 2009.     It doesn't seem like it was all that long ago, but at the same time it seems like another lifetime ago.   
These would be all of the G.I.Joe main figures from 1990, I think?   Excluding Sky Patrol.   I suppose Rapid Fire could be taken out of this lineup as a more of a "deluxe" figure with the VHS tape included.

This is a very tight lineup and a very original lineup as I see it.    Not one new version of a previous character here.   I very rarely saw any of the cartoon that may have featured any of these characters.   These are all fairly fresh characters to me even now as I think about it.   Compare Shipwreck with the raspy cartoon voice ingrained into my brain, here we have Topside.   It's all imagination applied to this figure for me, a blank slate.

Let's look at this left to right.    Instead of code names, what's this look like with just specialties?
_______________________

Jungle Assault Specialist
Fast Attack Expert
Medical Specialist
Navy Assault Seaman
Avalanche Driver
Winter Operations Specialist
Retaliator Pilot
Anti-Armor Trooper
Intervention Specialist
Concealment Specialist
General Commander
Shoreline Defender
Hand to Hand Combat Specialist
Paratrooper
_______________________

More "specialists" this year?
Also, no "helicopter pilot," but assigned Retaliator Pilot, same with the other vehicle drivers.



In the above picture I bought Rapid Fire, Rampart, Pathfinder, Topside, and Bullhorn  all new off the pegs.

Salvo came from an online trade with SalvoInACan, I believe his user code name was.  
Sub Zero came from my best bud from back in the day when I lived in the old small town.

The other seven figures I think all came from BBTS when they had their vintage department.

I traded online to complete Freefall and to obtain General Storms helmet.  I never completed Ambush or Stretchers accessory complement, however.


Today, the only figures that remain in my possession are Rampart and Updraft.  

Battle Corps Major Bludd

I was back in the old big city to attend a High School reunion this past weekend.   Since it was an even number and double digit, I thought I would make this one count (missed others due to "junior Joes," jobs, or other priorities.).   I didn't have any expectations, considering having almost zero contact with anyone back in that big city since we all graduated.   For the few hours I was there, it was fun...., and could have been more fun, but like always, real life has priorities.

A rather huge highlight for me on this trip back to the big city and probably just as strong of a reminiscing of the old days was a trip to what was sort of the local comic book store.   Today, the store exists with a new mix of things such as Magic, sports cards, comics, and such.    I went there with the intent of letting the "Junior Joe" look at stuff, but I found a few things, too.

This is the way I used to find G.I.Joes back in the day that were older.  Usually on the random,  I might have found a figure bagged loose, and forget most accessories.   At this former comic book shop haunt, there was a Skystorm on a small shelf up in a corner, too.   Ambush was seated inside it, but the yellowing, heavily super-glued front cannon, '92 HQ missiles hanging on the back, etc., was a bit much for $30.   But I got see a Skystorm for the first time in person.

There were more G.I.Joe comics on hand than I would have thought, but still only about 25 issues spread out between all series, European Missions, and DDP, included.
Now, I couldn't remember which exactly I needed, since I haven't looked at my G.I.Joes much since this last winter broke, but I chose these two issues.   And when I got home, yeah, I had one already. 

There were about a dozen A.R.A.H. figures in a cardboard flat, too.  Most had significant play-wear with no accessories.    Even a B.A.A.T. was in the mix, and if the paint wasn't in such a poor condition, that one would have fit in with my H.Q.'s collection.

The only figure that really looked in decent shape was Battle Corps Major Bludd. I have my favorite Major Bludd already, and in my little collection, Major Bludd 2000 has taken on the imaginative role of an independent mercenary.   This imaginative role is where my mind stuck the character of Bludd when I was trimming my collection years back.   Bludd, as a character, seemed like one that wasn't trustworthy enough to be part of Cobra Commanders team, but not completely traitorous...., more just a complete scoundrel who works for the highest dollar.

Let's open up this bagged figure.   Just this method of opening an old figure brings back a lot of memories of High School years.  I remember seeing this figure on the pegs, but I never did snag it.    I can't recall why I chose others over this one at that time.  Maybe this figure sold out before I had the opportunity?  

Maybe this very figure is actually one I saw on the shelf way back in the day?  (How wild would that be?!)

I like the coloring, nothing too outlandish, really.   The legs, especially the lower parts, boots in specific, really stood out to me after I held them as the legs of the 1991 Toxo Viper.   All of the Eco Warriors are gone now, but these were fun in their own way, and I actually wanted to army build the 1991 Toxo Viper.
On Major Bludd, though, I really don't like that padded waist piece.  Padded or painted waist pieces on many figures have started to seem more like superhero underwear costume to me as I get older.   On the Toxo Viper I think it works, it's an environment protection piece (likely the only part of that Vipers gear), but on Bludd, I would have rather had more regular pants.

So, after decades of playing with G.I.Joe figures, staring at figures in inserts, backs of packages, catalogs, on the internet, in collector books and guides, I never noticed this elbow detail!

Any time I discover something new, on a decades old toy, I'm like....well..., cool.   Did you know this figure had this type of elbow joint?    Perfect detail for a slimy mercenary.   I wonder how many of these figures have this piece broken off during play, or how much frustration this detail caused with putting this guy in vehicles?

And actually, this figure to me represents some in toy form progression of the Bludd Character.   Many people have taken the '83 Bludd figure arm to be that of robotic or prosthetic.  Me, I think armored sleeve for a character 12-inch rockets.    And here, years later, the character of Bludd looks a little more close quarters combat ready.

A pretty cool battle helmet but not much more detail throughout the rest of the torso.  The coloring and overall bulk of the torso really reminded me of Dice. Not exact, but was it a originally a ninja design for '95?   (No dog tags?)   I also had the Python Patrol version of Bludd that used this head, the only figure that I've had with this head, and while I really loved Zaps body use on that figure (Zap was trimmed out here, I regret that choice a bit), I chose the 2000 figure since it wasn't a pythonized uniform (the brown giving a sense of independence and non-alliance, much like the sense I get from the 1983 figure).

 Of the Bludd figures I trimmed out of my collection, the Skull Squad figure was one.   When I had this Bludd, I also had Long Range that mentally stood out to me as I had been heavily focused on building a vehicle team at a point.   Unique characters and costume that were rather randomly repainted or used because the mold was on hand is a method that really started to disinterest me around  2006.  Even then, for me it got to a point where, wow, I was paying over $20 for a nicely repainted frankenfigure.   Skull Squad Bludd was fine, but the red detail made no sense, and Long Range was just too visible to me here, and I really like Long Range's sculpt.

 (Avalanche's body made his troops look pudgy.)

So, what to do with this Bludd now that the purchase was made for that trip down memory lane?


Where does Major Bludd fit in your Cobra organization?  Or maybe Bludd is on his own terms your collection?

G.I.Joe Locust

 One of the last vehicles I acquired at my old HQ was the 1990 Locust, the one that was originally included with a General.    Everything was getting hyper sorted just before that move in late 2012 and I only looked at it for a short time likely before I packed it away just after I packed up the Retaliator.    (Currently, my Retaliator is still packed up with my classic Tomahawk....)    The Locust ended up joining the rest of my small motor pool in one Rubbermaid container which contained all my small/ mid-size G.I.Joe teams vehicles and equipment.   It's been easy to get to, but only just coming out to get any attention.   The great thing about blogging is getting random thoughts out, and it's fun to see I still agree with myself on my opinion and potential of not keeping the Locust 3 and 1/2 years later.    Every G.I.Joe vehicle has some fun aspect and something cool about it that I do like, but with a  current collection goal (more or less) that focuses more on small size...., well, I haven't decided if the Locust has the most bang for the buck in its package.   If something is just going to sit there or would be a rarely used item...., I would rather send it on to someone who would enjoy it more.


The Locust has some neat features, and it really shines as a G.I.Joe vehicle.  It's not a traditional looking combat helicopter that is a straight design copy from some current military craft, although it has design elements that definitely make it look military.   Not unlike where a Dragonfly has some styling similarities with an AH-1 but then bumps its design into next generation awesome and uniqueness with the NOTAR design.  The Locust still comes through as a little special operations chopper that can be used on fun imaginative missions.

When it comes to vehicles, I like loose vehicles, but they have to be in good condition for me to really like them, or want to keep them.    In this case, the Locust has some limp side guns and a very floppy tail rotor.    I don't know if this is how all Locust helicopters are or if I just happened to get one with the usual play wear conditions?    But here, I like the above picture without the side guns, because below they just droop.    A pair of solid side-mounted twin blasting guns with an ammo feed belt hanging from the rear would really make this picture below a little more serious looking.

Then again, maybe all Locusts have limp side guns, as they are meant to be utilized by the skid-riding G.I.Joe assault team members?   The guns do have a pair of handles, after all.    With the figures VERY securely and easily placed on the skids foot pegs, three figures really bring this little helicopter to life!

This is fun play feature for me, it's like, "lets, go!"  

I also wonder if the guns were meant to have some hoses going from the fuselage to the handles at some point?  Or maybe a second figure hand-hold point?  Maybe even a figure weapon storage point?

 

With all three figures loaded up on the Locust, this helicopter really balances out, in actual balance on skids and visually.    I think this is where the Locust really is a fun toy and really showcases its role as a "light scout and ground-support helicopter with limited stealth capability."

 

These side guns, though, if they were not flopping around when a figure isn't holding them in place, I would really enjoy having this helicopter more.    The guns feel like they could fit on other vehicles, in a way.   Like the more modern DTC or PoC, or whatever interchangeable weapon system popped in there.  The Locust side guns remind me a lot of the Hammers guns as well as the Arctic Blasts figure guns.   The posts where they attach into the Locust showed some stress of being pulled off prior to me getting this, obviously leading to more floppy gun stance.   I can't recall, but do other vehicles have this type of post for mounting guns?   I can't think of seeing any of this style?

The canopy can hold this "open" position, but, and this may just be this particular Locust, it doesn't take much to bump it out of position.

Wild Bills hat is too tall for a full canopy enclosure.   I thought the seat clips were a neat idea for keeping figures in their seats during some active play, but inside an enclosed cockpit...., maybe not really needed?   It's a large cockpit for a smaller vehicle, much more figure friendly than a (I would compare it to) 1984 Skyhawk.   The seat clip, still a fine thing, though, and there really is nothing else for a figure to hold on to in there anyway.

The lower clear portion of the fuselage is really nice, too.   At most it adds some detail to a relatively small craft when it really wasn't necessary..., but back in those days, design went a little farther.

A series of mission variable pylons would have really made this little copter stand out.   Maybe a rescue litter, maybe spring fired rocket pods.    A real utilitarian ground support copter potential.

With the guns off, two rockets, that look just like the two bombs.   I feel like I have seen the twisted wire detail on those rockets on other vehicles.  
I have to admit, for a bare bones little helicopter, the engine detail is really, really nice.   The overall design, I think it is strong enough where it might actually be a thing someone could attempt to do in real life.
One spot that would have knocked the Locust up a notch would have been placement of the rotor directly over this detailed motor area....., or maybe just a little more detail on the top where a more believable mechanical connection/ rotor plate might be.

Are all Locust tail rotors as loose as the one I have here?

I like the option of play movement, but it takes no effort to swing this from side to side and I like the look of it in the straight position.   There is a knob that enables the user to spin this tail rotor fan, too.  Once again, another detail worked into such as small vehicle.  Compare this to modern times where, as much as I seem to be complaining about the tail rotor part here, the modern vehicle would never have this range of parts or play built into it.   A modern Locust off the assembly line today would have it all built as one solid brick of plastic....with metal screw holes on one side holding the two sides together.
  

The main rotor blades are pretty cool.   There is some detail in there that equals that of the F.A.N.G., in my view.    In fact, I have to take this point to ask if the Locust was perhaps a F.A.N.G. II design originally?   Just the way the two rotor blades attach to the shaft hub reminds me of a Cobra F.A.N.G., not to mention the similar hub shape between the two.

Whether this is intentional or not, the Locust almost seems to have a nice hand hold area built into it.  Unlike, say the N.A.C.'s rear tail handle, it's not an obvious handle.  I like built in features, whether this is actually one or not here.

What makes me think it was an intentional design, is the location and activation of the bomb door.   It feels very natural to hold the Locust with the one hand and pull the bomb door open here.

 

BOOM!

The bottom shot, with bomb bay detail.

Loaded.

Funky rotor blades, like the N.A.C., are kind of pushing it for me.  I like the rotor blade tips, they seem like safety tips built into the toy, unlike perhaps the Dragonfly tips...., but then again, a person can really get the Dragonfly rotor spinning with some serious velocity in comparison....

"1989."    I guess questions that maybe the Declassified guys or someone with more information in the background designs on G.I.Joe can elaborate on are what I have about this.   The Locust, both versions, were 1990, perhaps there were both late 1989 or early 1990 series toys, but how often are the date stamps located away from the main body of a vehicle like this?

Also of question, if the General, released in 1990 series, was designed before the Rolling Thunder (1988), was the Locust also designed at that time and designed originally to be included with the General?  Or was the Locust added in to the General package later?

And is this the only vehicle, albeit with different colors, to be sold individually and with a larger vehicle?

I really like the foot peg pads.

Not a very large footprint of a vehicle at all, that's something I like about the Locust, and it really does pack in some high play value within that footprint,

 The Locust can fit in a C130 Hercules with a Desert Fox and a Hammer.  Compare the Desert Fox turret gun handles with those on the Locust guns.

One on one, I would put money on the Fang II.    Do you think these were potentially competing Fang II designs, both winning out in the end?  Both date stamped 1989, on with a seat clip, one without a seat clip or seat belt (the one that really could use one!)

Cobra Sea Ray

I had a Cobra Sea Ray way back in the day.   I thought I would try one out again 26 or some odd years later, only adding this one into my collection this very last week.

I am really trying to remember many details about my Sea Ray from back in the day.    Being a 1987 vehicle, and at the time, me being in the middle of nowhere in Upper Michigan, and us moving by '91, I would guess I got my original Sea Ray for Christmas in 1987, or a birthday in 1988, or Christmas 1988.   And it was discarded by me at least sometime before winter of 1990-91.   In all, one of the rare things that broke and I didn't like playing with anymore.  

I always thought it would be great to have the Sea Ray take on the S.H.A.R.C., two flying submarines against each other!   Back in the day with my original Sea Ray, the only S.H.A.R.C. was the one my best bud at the time had.   I can't remember if we did this or not, though.   We did have some "big battles" in that old U.P. basement.   I think I ended up with this S.H.A.R.C., but I am not sure what I did with that, however, I do know I had his Deep Six.  And I did have a mail-in S.H.A.R.C. after we moved from the U.P., and somewhere along the lines I discovered that mail-in version had no styrofoam, while my best buds (an original retail) did have styrofoam.   Bugs me that I can't remember what I did with that S.H.A.R.C. if I did have it now....  anyhoo....

What ultimately happened with my Sea Ray was that a tab that held the two parts of the vehicle together broke resulting in a toy that just wasn't as fun for me.   The canopy hinge as well as the tab broke, as well.   I think I put it under the back stairs at our old house outside, and that's where it was last seen.   I did save all the rockets, I think I figured I could use these on other vehicles.    These rockets were around for awhile until finally traded away.




The Sea Ray is really interesting, I think it takes on that organic sea creature form rather well.   It fits in with 1987 vehicles and their ability to have as many play functions built in, namely the multiple vehicles in one angle.   Consider the Maggot and Mamba.

They are headlights on the box, but the two tabs really take on the look of eyes and the smooth flaring form with almost a hanging whiskers look, really says "sea ray" to me.   A vehicle that sits on the bottom until ready to strike?

The overall form is very front heavy and tapers back into a very thin tail.

Three thrusters propel this craft, but does just the top one work until the glider is launched?   I guess I have had that imagination that kind of wanted answers on how things worked; how it was believable.

This is the canopy hinge that snapped on my original Sea Ray.   The canopy has no "snap-in" or open position that it can hold.  It flops down as soon as one lets go of it.

That little tab also broke on my original Sea Ray.   Not having a canopy that was solid made my old one not as much fun.

After not having a Sea Ray in my hand for 26 years, I wasn't surprised at the sparse interior of the Sea Ray cockpit.   I didn't remember it this sparse, though, either.    Maybe that's why my memory didn't remember much of it?

Well, since the canopy came loose during the above shot, below, the hinge does have some bow to it.   Is this common, or is this Sea Ray just a showing play wear?

The Sea Ray does have a pair of big guns.   Do they fire underwater?   Are they more powerful than a Cobra H.I.S.S. cannon?     I sort of remember having this craft sitting on the bottom of an imaginary lake, shooting upward at the over passing W.H.A.L.E. or Tiger Shark.

Now, I had a Conquest and a Night Raven in my classic young days collection, both sleek, fast craft.   I think that the Sea Ray's less than slippery fighter jet looking form led me to not use it as much in aerial combat.   

I suppose in 1988, or about this time that I got this vehicle, I was a little older.   I do remember questioning in my head how this craft operated, even as I do at this very moment.

No landing gear, not even really skids.   No visible VTOL jets (like a Sky Hawk, or Flight Pod).

My imaginations solution:  the two square shapes were where there were lifting thrusters to get it off the ground were.

While we're down here, lets take a look at the glider portion of the Sea Ray.

Sea Slug and other figures really fit fine, and I really like that the backpack peg holds the figures on well and that there are well placed figure hand hold posts.

Can't forget to showcase the other backpack peg hole holder on the forward "sub" section of the Sea Ray.   I never had any Cobra Eels until closer to 1993, and I while I always wanted some cobra divers...., what would an '85 Eel have done with this backpack on the sub section?   Also no figure hand holds up front.     Either way, I still had fun putting these figures on this craft today, it adds some weight and..., I don't know... some fun.

That bottom wide tab that slides on to connect the two parts of the Sea Ray together.   I only separated this Sea Ray once, and I am not sure how many times it was separated prior to me buying it, but coming apart it made a distinct snap sound.  I don't see anything broken, but I didn't expect that sound.  It went back together with a snap that wasn't anywhere near as obvious.  
I think I have some fear of this one breaking like my original one did.

Very machine like detail, but also some very organic styling throughout.

The three connection tabs.   

The Sea Ray has an engine cover, I always liked this, one of my favorite features on vehicles.   This engine compartment is especially deep.   On my original Sea Ray I used it as a weapon storage compartment.

The Sub section is kind of neat.  I may have had this as a space ship back in the day, when play was not strictly limited to realistic military battles.
 And it floats?    Well, I do remember floating my old one, and I may have to float this one.   

As a powered glider, even back in my younger days, this just looks heavy for a figure.  Perhaps this is why Sea Slug is such a muscular character?   As I think about it now, Sea Slug has a nice glider uniform design.  the helmet and eye protection make sense here.  Less so as an underwater submarine operator, where, for an example, the Secto-Viper would look more in place.
Of course, Sea Slug is another layer of elite on top of Eels, perhaps on par or more trained than Snow Serpents.

This big open front area on the glider never said sleek to me, and some things never change.

This is just the tail of the Sea Ray.   I may have gotten more play out of this part when it came to my original Sea Ray.    This was just a little space ship that was zooming around back in the day.  I had a multi-vehicle diaclone robot, plastic model aircraft carrier jets, and other things that got in on these battles, too.

Sea Slug was a bruiser of a character, one of the main bad guy's in my early collection, often Serpentors right hand tough guy.   Check out my old HQ's weapons tray to see how my early collection was armed.

I was never a big fan of pistols, and Sea Slugs was no exception.   It's funky its own way, but I never liked using it.

I think having other vehicles for size comparison is important.     

I was fortunate to get a box with this Sea Ray, which was part of the appeal to me.     I really like to read the mission statements and other things on the boxes that are not often as easy to see on pictures of boxes.   I think little things like that add more to the imagination behind the design.    Being my original Sea Ray was an early vehicle in my original collection, saving paperwork or boxes were not even thought of then.

Now, how is that glider being propelled?