****** GI JOE 3 3/4" NEWSLETTER ****** Issue #12 October 17, 1998 http://www.yojoe.com/cs/newsletter Editor: Corey Stinson Contents ============================================================== 1. News Bits 2. GI Joe 1998 3. Target Gets A GI Joe Exclusive? 4. Get Your Battle Stands 5. Bronze Bombers In The GI Joe Universe? 6. Unifighters - The Least-Known Knock-Off 7. Wal-Mart Exclusive Filecards 8. Other 3 3/4" Action Figures 9. Subscription Information ========================================================================== NEWS BITS 1998 Joes are already available in Canada and are soon to be released in the U.S. Check out the enclosed article for all of the details. Joes from the 1997 assortment are experiencing deficiencies in their rubber band O-rings. Reports are coming in from all over that the 1997 Joes are having a tendency to seperate at the waist, ack! Luckily this is a repairable problem. Diamond Comic Distribution, who bought the remainder of the Majic Promotions "Early Bird Kit" exclusive sets, _did_ eventually distribute these to some or all of the comic book/hobby stores they service. The sets were probably available for around $20 each. Check your local comic shop - they might still have some in stock! Hasbro has an email address to which collectors may send comments about the GI Joe 12" and 3 3/4" toy lines. It's . Beware if you purchase any items from the 1997 or 1998 GI Joe assortments only to discover that they are missing pieces. Hasbro is not willing or not able (or both) to provide the missing pieces. I received the following from Hasbro when requesting some parts that I found missing in an A-10 Thunderbolt that I bought: "Thank you for contacting us. We are sorry to inform you that the part you have requested is not available separately, as this product was produced exclusively for Toys R Us. We strongly suggest you exchange the product at the store." There you have it: take it back immediately if any item you purchased is missing pieces. The GI Joe 3 3/4" newsgroup is still out there, although severely underpopulated. I have heard that it is now available to AOL subscribers. USENET newsgroups are still an excellent resource for discussion forums so check 'em out folks! Cotswold's Collectibles, previously one of the largest 3 3/4" GI Joe mail-order dealers, officially closed out the 3 3/4" segment of their business this last summer. ========================================================================== GI JOE 1998 -by Corey Stinson The big news for this issue is the 1998 GI Joe assortment. The assortment is still a Toys R Us exclusive. It is unknown just what countries the assortment will end up being available in but it is probably safe to assume that availability will be like last year - U.S. and Canada only. So, collectors around the world, you might want to start checking with your U.S. and Canadian contacts. :) The exciting news is that the four 1998 3-figure packs are now available in Canada! Pictures of what has turned up in Canada thus far are available at Reports from Canada indicate that the new figures are much improved in quality over the 1997 assortment. Vehicles have not shown up anywhere yet, and nothing is available in the U.S. as of this writing however U.S. TRU's may have some or all of the assortment by the time you read this. Start pounding the aisles at your local TRU! This is what is being released in the 1998 assortment: - Oktober Guard 3-figure pack (carded) featuring Lt. Gorky, Colonel Brekhov, and Volga. Lt. Gorky is a Big Bear repaint, Colonel Brekhov a Red Star repaint, and Volga a Lady-Jaye repaint with an all-new head sculpt. - Navy Seal 3-figure pack (carded) featuring Shipwreck, Wet-Suit, and Torpedo. Shipwreck is a repaint of the Battle Corps '94 version, Wet-Suit a repaint of of the '86 Wet-Suit, and Torpedo a repaint of the '92 Battle Corps Wet-Suit. - Cobra Polar Mission 3-figure pack (carded) featuring Firefly, Snow-Serpent, and Night Creeper. Firefly is a repaint of the classic '84 Firefly, Snow-Serpent a repaint of the '91 version, and Night Creeper a repaint of the '90 version. - Cobra Infantry 3-figure pack (carded) featuring all Cobra soldiers which are Cobra Viper ('86) repaints. The officer figure in the pack has a different repaint than the other two trooper figures. - Cobra Rattler w/ Vypra figure (boxed) featuring a Cobra Stinger 4WD repaint with a repainted Jinx figure as a new female villian. - Conquest X-30 w/ Ace (boxed) featuring repaints of the Conquest X-30 jet and Ace ('83). - MOBAT tank w/ Thunderwing and Heavy Duty (boxed). Although detailed prototypes of this item have yet to be shown it appears from a small picture of the item that it is to include a repaint of Thunder ('84) and Heavy Duty ('91). It is not yet known whether the final MOBAT will be a desert camo or green camo paint scheme. Attendees of the summer San Antonio, TX GI Joe convention were told that this MOBAT would be motorized like the original. It was also stated at the San Antonio GI Joe show that the 1998 assortment would include a desert-camo repaint of the original 1982 GI Joe headquarters with figures Rock n' Roll, Dial-Tone, and Pathfinder. However, rumors have begun to filter out of Hasbro indicating that this item has been cancelled, at least for 1998. Although we should hope this is false, Hasbro's failure to even mention the item on their 1998 GI Joe assortment page lends credence to the rumor. ========================================================================== TARGET GETS A GI JOE EXCLUSIVE? -by Corey Stinson Target stores have something new that should be of interest to GI Joe collectors. They're currently stocking a GI Joe 3 3/4" keychain assortment. You might be saying to yourself "I just got back from a Target, and I never saw those!" To find these guys you have to look very carefully. They aren't in the action figure aisle but are instead on an endcap with a bunch of other miscellaneous keychain items. They're hard to spot, but they're there! The assortment includes four figures which are remakes of the individually packaged 30th Anniversary figures (soldier, sailor, pilot and marine) that were released in 1994. The figures are _fully articulated_ but don't come with any accessories with the exception of the pilot figure who has his helmet and mask. The figures do have a keychain attachment. The keychain portion is attached to a small round plastic plug which has been inserted into the "backpack hole" of the figure and glued in place. The keychain can be easily detached from the plug and the plug could probably be drilled out should one want to disassemble the figure. The figures are of reasonably good quality, probably somewhat akin to the 1997 GI Joe assortment. Each comes in a small, attractive "Classic Collection" style carton. The figure can be removed and replaced without damaging the packaging. The figures are priced at a moderate $2.99 each. Although these are labeled as limited editions I have observed my local Target stores restocking these from empty pegs 5 or 6 times in as many weeks. Apparently these are exclusive to Target stores right now, as I haven't seen them anywhere else. They are produced under license by Fun 4 All Corporation . I attempted to contact a representative of Fun 4 All that could tell me a little more about their GI Joe product but no one has been available for comment. ========================================================================== GET YOUR BATTLE STANDS -by Corey Stinson Ever since the battle stand was originally introduced in some of the early 80s accessory packs GI Joe collectors have been hard-pressed to find enough of these to use for all of their figures. If you have a large collection of Joes you quite possibly have never been able to aquire enough battle stands for all of your collection. Even if you did, you probably had to suffer with a lot of the neon-colored stands that were released with the last few series of Joes. Several years ago Cotswold's Collectibles had battle stands available in bulk. They were rather expensive so I never bought any and don't know how they were quality-wise. A new option is now available to collectors. A collector by the name of Dan Amar is now manufacturing his own battle stands that he has designed exclusively for 3 3/4" GI Joe figures. The stands are manufactured in a consistent black plastic. I had the pleasure of testing a few of the stands with my figure collection and I can categorically state that both the quality and fit of the stands is excellent! The stands were tested and found to work wonderfully with a random sampling of all of these figures lines: · GI Joe 3 3/4" - 1982-1997 · Lanard's Corps! (all assortments) · Bronze Bombers (1997 series) · Various Remco-produced figures (1980s) · American Defense/Adventure Man/M-P.A.C.T. · National Defense/Desert Storm · Street Fighter II · Mortal Kombat In my opinion the durability and fit of these stands is equivalent if not better than the stands produced by Hasbro. Like Hasbro's stands, these will not work well (or at all) with Kenner's POTF2 Star Wars figures. Pictures of the stands along with current pricing information is available at Dan's web page or by contacting him via email at . Those without Internet access should call (514) 945-6533. Quantity discounts are available. P.S. As of this article's writing (10/17/98) Dan is travelling abroad and may not be available to immediately answer phone/email. ========================================================================== BRONZE BOMBERS IN THE GI JOE UNIVERSE? -bios by Thomas Wheeler Thinking of a way to integrate the Bronze Bombers 3 3/4" military action figures into your GI Joe universe? Check out Thomas' excellent bio-cards based on the Cobra figure repaints that appeared in the Bronze Bombers window-boxed set. ENFORCERS DARKLON'S ELITE TROOPERS In conjunction with Destro's IRON GRENADIERS, his cousin Darklon has also organized a cadre of troopers designated ENFORCERS. Allowing for a considerable ego on Darklon's part, all of the Enforcers wear uniforms identical in design, if not coloration, to Darklon himself. However, Darklon has always regarded his version of the "family mask" to be the most terrifying, despite comparison's on some people's part that it could convict Darklon of impersonating a household appliance. But there's nothing funny about the Enforcers. They're mean, nasty, and worst of all, highly trained and strictly disciplined. Rumor has it that a number of them are former Cobra Alley-Vipers that got kicked out for being too unpleasant even for Cobra. >From General Hawk's Files: "Where do people like this come from? What sort of lives have they led to turn out like this? Is it a reflection of the world we live in that there seems to be no shortage of them, these merciless vermin whose only loyalty is to the money they are paid by their commanders?" RADAR-VIPERS COBRA LONG-RANGE SPOTTERS Somebody got the bright idea that you could take the heavily padded headgear of the old Motor-Vipers, hollow it out, and load it up with the latest in electronic detection devices. RADAR-VIPERS are little more than video-game addicts living in a virtual reality world. But don't be fooled. Video gamers can have some of the fastest eyesight, quickest reflexes, and least amount of concern about blowing away a target as anyone on the face of the planet. They don't tend to see as much action as they'd like, though. Their real job is more or less behind the lines, keeping watch on the horizon for approaching targets. This is not to keep the Radar-Vipers from harm. Those virtual-reality helmets they wear cost a bundle, and Cobra Commander doesn't want to have to replace any more of them than he has to. >From General Hawk's Files: "Thank you so much, Sega and Nintendo. Thanks to your high-speed shoot-em-up games, we've got an all-new threat to deal with, the likes of which wouldn't've have even existed five years ago. Leave it to Cobra to put a generation of Beavis and Butt-Head video slackers to work." AQUA-VIPERS COBRA ELITE UNDERWATER TROOPERS The wonders of genetic engineering are responsible for these new undersea horrors. After the decidedly extreme case of the Bio-Vipers a few years ago, and the moderately successful Hydro-Vipers prior to that, Dr. Mindbender refined his techniques that much more to create the Aqua-Vipers. These troopers are NOT amphibious. They are totally water-dedicated. They wear their helmets OUT of the water because they cannot breathe in the open air. Under the water, they are easily five times stronger, faster, and more at home than the best Navy SEAL or deep sea diver. And ten times meaner for not being able to emerge from the water and enjoy a day in the sun without a suit that would make an astronaut's outfit look like a t-shirt and cut-offs by comparison. >From General Hawk's Files: "Remember that comic-book character, Namor the Sub-Mariner. This guy who was really strong and fast underwater, but had an evil temper? Imagine facing an entire troop division of guys like that. Fortunately, unlike Namor, they're pretty helpless on land. But that's small consolation when you consider that 75% of the planet is covered with water. Let's hope the genetic processes involved in turning out these guys are too expensive for Cobra to make very many of them, or the oceans are going to get very nasty." CRIMSON GUARD SUPREME COBRA ULTIMATE ELITE TROOPERS First there were the Crimson Guards, then the Crimson Guard Immortals, then the Crimson Guard Commander divisions. Now there are the Crimson Guard Supremes. The Crimson Guards have always been regarded as the best of the best. Highly trained, both for battlefield and various infiltration work. They can shoot up a combat zone, or blend into a friendly community to corrupt it for Cobra. The Crimson Guard Supremes are no exception to this procedure. They're trained to go unnoticed, until called upon by Cobra to perform their assigned function. A Crimson Guard Supreme could be the nicest guy on your block. Until Cobra needs him. Then out comes that red uniform and the assault rifle. >From General Hawk's Files: "These guys are really nasty. If they don't get you on the battlefield, they'll get you with legal paperwork. We had one of these characters actually try to sue us for shooting at him during a firefight!" [More information about the Bronze Bombers figures can be found in Issue #11 of the GI Joe 3 3/4" Newsletter - ed.] ========================================================================== UNIFIGHTERS - THE LEAST-KNOWN KNOCK-OFF -by Corey Stinson There have been a variety of imitators to the GI Joe 3 3/4" throne throughout the 80s and 90s. The most notable are those that most GI Joe collectors have probably heard of before: The Corps!, Remco's US Forces: Defenders Of Peace, etc. I doubt, however, that the major of our readers have heard of the Unifighters! The Unifighters were a line of 3 3/4" figures and accessories produced by Galoob in 1989/1990. Like the other knock-off action figures discussed in this newsletter, the Unifighters are designed and articulated exactly like GI Joe 3 3/4" figures. The series includes a grand total of 15 figures. The figures were seperated into groups which were Air Force Combat Jet Squadron, Navy Combat Hocvercraft Squadron, Marine Combat Chopper Squadron, and Army Battle Tank Squadron. Each figure came with a helmet, a couple of guns, and a piece of an overall larger vehicle. For example, the Air Force Combat Jet Squadron include three figures. Each figure came with a section of the overall larger jet aircraft. Individually, the pieces are designed to fit on or be ridden by a figure. The vehicle pieces then fit together to form a larger military vehicle. This idea was most likely borrowed from the Transformers' individual-robots-merge-to-form-larger-robot concept. So, Galoob borrowed some formats and concepts from what was probably still the two most popular toy lines at the time: Hasbro's GI Joe and Transformers. Unfortunately the end result must have flopped in the toy stores because the Unifighters were being clearanced a year later. The line probably failed for two significant reasons. First, the vehicles looked fairly nifty once assembled but as individual pieces used with the figures they looked very hokey. Second, the figure assortment was ultimately made up of just five different body pieces - that is to say 5 different heads, 5 different arm sets, 5 different chests, etc. Then, the pieces were mixed and matched and repainted to ultimately derive a 15 figure assortment. The repetitive nature of the figures does not go unnoticed. Even given the aforementioned problems the figures in this line are probably some of the highest quality GI Joe imitations ever released, surpassing the Corps! and all the rest in construction/plastic quality and sculpting. The figure accessories (excluding the vehicle components) were also very good- especially the helmets, which were highly detailed and even had clear plastic visors in some cases. The Unifighters were released in an individually carded configuration as well as boxed sets which featured all the figures and vehicle components for a particular group. Because they are so difficult to find, and because most dealers appear to have never heard of the line, one wonders if they ever saw widespread release in the U.S. Conclusion: the Unifighters will defintely be of interest to GI Joe 3 3/4" collectors that like knock-off lines as well. These figures will also give you something almost intangible to hunt for at those flea markets and toy shows! You may have an unidentified Unifighter figure and not even know it. Look for the following on the bottom of the figures' boot: L.G.T.I. 1990. (L.G.T.I.=Lewis Galoob Toys Inc.) I put up a crude web page about a year ago to draw some attention to this toy line, it can be found at . For the record, the Unifighters toy line consisted of: Air Force Combat Jet Squadron which formed Giant Jet Fighter: 1. Col. Jetplane Johnson w/ Attack Jet 2. Sgt. Bomber O'Neill w/ Bomber Jet 3. Sgt. Bullseye Foley w/ Fighter Jet Navy Combat Hovercraft Squadron which formed Giant Combat Hovercraft: 1. Cmdr. Hammer Smith w/ Gun Hovercraft 2. Capt. Shark Rogers w/ Missle Hovercraft 3. Sgt. Rammer Wilson w/ Attack Hovercraft 4. Sgt. Jumper McCoy w/ Battle Hovercraft Marine Combat Chopper Squadron which formed Giant Combat Chopper: 1. Major Rip Powers w/ Machine Gun Chopper 2. Lt. Slammer Preston w/ Mini-Chopper 3. Sgt. Storm Stevens w/ Missile Chopper Army Battle Tank Squadron which formed Giant Combat Tank: 1. Col. Kicker Kelso w/ Artillery Tank 2. Sgt. Animal Anders w/ Targeting Tank 3. Pfc. Gunner Jones w/ Machine-Gun Tank 4. Pfc. Raider Nelson w/ Crane Tank 5. Sgt. Jammer Jackson w/ Missile Tank I'll close this article by thanking Ed Mundy for turning me on to the Unifighters, and also to let everyone on the list know if you have some of these figures and want to get rid of them either by selling or trading please contact . Thanks! ========================================================================== WAL-MART EXCLUSIVE FILECARDS -by Corey Stinson Store exclusive items were actually few and far between in the overall scope of what was released for GI Joe 3 3/4" between 1982 and 1994. If you were like me, and didn't live anywhere near a Toys R Us when growing up, you too might have been amazed and surprised to discover that TRU exclusives like Night Force and Brazil Missions existed. Even though I _did_ live near a Sears I was equally surprised to discover almost 8 years later the GI Joe exclusive vehicles they carried "back in the day." Store exclusives that were available to the general buying public were one thing, but a store exclusive _not_ available to the general buying public are quite another matter! Enter the Wal-Mart exclusive GI Joe promotional filecards. This is a series of six authentic Hasbro produced filecards made just for Wal-Mart, not for Wal-Mart customers, but for Wal-Mart store management! The cards were made in 1990 and as the story goes one or two sets of cards were sent to the management teams at each Wal-Mart store for promotional purposes. The cards were then posted on employee-notice bulletin boards, out in the store as a promotional display, or perhaps just kept by members of management. There are approximately 2391 Wal-Mart stores in existence today, certainly less in 1990, which gives one an approximate idea of the number of these filecard sets that were released. Most of the sets were probably either discarded or have found their way to into private collections. The Wal-Mart filecard set consisted of the following "characters" all modelled after Wal-Mart top-level corporate management: "Stonewall Sam" - Sam Walton "Mountain Man" - David Glass "Alligator Dondee" - Donald Soderquist "Honcho" - Al Miles "Iceman" - Dean Sanders "Shotgun Bill" - Bill Fields Each of the filecards is in the traditional filecard format complete with "Clip & save for your GI Joe command files" and, amusingly, the statement "The name [insert name here] does identify a known, living person." Each filecard received original character artwork in the GI Joe style. Presumably the faces of the characters are authentic to the people represented. The uniform illustrations are new but appear to be loosely based on existing GI Joe figures. It is not believed that any actual figures were produced for these characters as such would have been a major expense for Hasbro as compared to producing this filecard set - probably too large of an expense just for a store promotion, but you never know! Pictures of all six of these promotional filecards should be available in the Yo! Joe filecard gallery by Monday, October 19th, 1998. Visit this URL to see them . ========================================================================== OTHER 3 3/4" ACTION FIGURES -by Corey Stinson Lanard Toys continues to push forward with their excellent products, carrying the flag for the 3 3/4" articulated action figure format. K-Mart has dedicated an entire section of the toy aisle to Lanard's products now - carrying large-vehicle sets of the S.T.A.R. Force APC, Corps! Attack Boat, Corps! Attack Tank, and Corps! A.P.C. They're also carrying the Corps! Hummer, S.T.A.R. Force Shuttle, and S.T.A.R. Force moon rover medium-sized vehicles. The large sets are $19.99 each and include several figures w/ motorcycles. The medium-sized sets are $13.99 each and include one to two figures. Large and small packs of S.T.A.R. Force and Corps! are still available as well. If you aren't finding Corps! at your local K-Mart speak to someone in management about availability. The S.T.A.R. Force assortment of figures has received a snazzy color scheme upgrade. The upgrade adds silver and gold highlights to the figures along with code numbers and some additional uniform details. The old figures are still available if you look around. Wal-Mart is still carrying Corps! and S.T.A.R. Force 3-packs. They are also carrying some 10-figure Corps! sets with the Hummer vehicle. Other vehicles might be available? Toys R Us still has a 10-figure S.T.A.R. Force set with moon rover vehicle. Lanard also has some new items in the works. A new vehicle is available, the utility jeep - a six-wheeled all-terrain vehicle. I haven't seen it in any stores yet but I do have a picture which is available upon request - email . A new sound-producing space capsule is also in the works for S.T.A.R. Force. This item may already be available in Australia. Anyone care to confirm? I've also heard scant information about exploding-bunker sets with "new" figures. Items such as the Mounted Patrol, S.T.A.R. Force Space Cowboys, and Animal Patrol are still available in various locations worldwide but not in the U.S (to my knowlege). In non-Lanard news, I've come across some rather interesting 3 1/4" - 3 3/4" action figures at a "dollar store" called the Dollar Tree. The figures are called Soldier Force - Snake Squad Speed Troopers. Sounds kind of bizzare but the figures are actually rather interesting. There are five different figures and the set of five comes in an olive-green military color scheme and a black/silver/bronze color scheme for a total of 10 different figures available. I don't know what it is about these guys but they give off this distinctive air of GI Joe 3 3/4" influence. I think the reason for this is that the figures just _look_ interesting. Each figures looks like a "character" and has this imagination-stimulating quality about them. The manufacturing, paint scheme, size, and articulation quality of these figures reminds me a lot of the Godzilla movie figures - but more interesting in my humble opinion. Of course, these figures don't come with the shooting accessories, etc. (they have one gun each) but what do you expect for a measely one buck per figure! These figures are defintely an excellent buy for the money especially if you don't mind the lack of articulation. I have no idea if these figures can be found in other $1-type stores. The packaging is labelled "Dollar Tree Distribution" and so may only be available in the Dollar Tree store chain. I intend to have pictures of these figures available soon and requests for pictures can be sent to . ========================================================================== SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Currently all subscriptions, unsubscriptions, and e-mail address changes are being handled manually. If you require one of the above simply send a message to the editor at requesting such. Did you miss an issue or did your issue get trashed? Just let the editor know and we'll correct the situation immediately! Don't forget - all back issues are archived on the Newsletter web page .