#1088 STARGATE – COL. O’NEIL (1994)

This Hasbro toy line is based on the 1994 movie Stargate, which was a moderate success at the time. The film tells the story of an interdimensional gate discovered during an archaeological excavation in Egypt. A team of U.S. soldiers and an archaeologist cross the gate and are transported from the 20th century to a distant planet that closely resembles ancient Egypt.

The movie was full of action and special effects, so it was expected to be popular among kids and teenagers. However, the success was smaller than anticipated. By then, teenagers were losing interest in action figures, so the toy line was short-lived.

Figures in the Toy Line

The collection included eight figures:

• Ra

• Anubis

• Horus (Palace Guard)

• Horus (Attack Pilot)

• Skaara, leader of the Shepherd Boys of Abydos

• Daniel Jackson, the archaeologist

• Colonel O’Neil

• Lt. Kawalsky

Vehicles and Creatures

Hasbro also released three other items:

• All-Terrain Cruiser (a military light ATV)

• Mastadge (a beast of burden with a sleigh)

• Winged Glider (an alien fighter jet)

Style and Features

All figures were made in the Kenner style, with 5 points of articulation and several accessories. They had no action features but usually included missile launchers.

For collectors today, the most interesting detail is that many accessories and vehicle parts were reused from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toy line. Hasbro had absorbed Kenner that same year, which explains the construction style of these figures.

This figure is missing a grey missile launcher and two dark grey missiles.

Character Details

• Ra – The main god of ancient Egypt. The figure came with a pharaoh hood, skirt, staff, missile launcher, and two missiles (from G.I. Joe). The artifact included was a small pyramid.

• Anubis – Came with a hood, skirt, staff, missile launcher with a unique design, two G.I. Joe missiles, and the Winged Glider artifact.

• Horus (Attack Pilot) – Included a hood, skirt, staff, missile launcher with two G.I. Joe missiles, plus the Chariot artifact.

• Horus (Palace Guard) – Came with a hood, skirt, staff, a futuristic missile launcher (not G.I. Joe), two G.I. Joe missiles, and the Sarcophagus artifact.

• Colonel O’Neil – The main character of the movie, played by Kurt Russell. The figure included a black beret, missile launcher with two missiles (reused from G.I. Joe), and a small Stargate artifact.

• Lt. Kawalsky – Another soldier. He came with a helmet, large machine gun, backpack, missile launcher with two G.I. Joe missiles, and the All-Terrain Cruiser artifact.

• Daniel Jackson – The archaeologist. His figure included a baseball cap, machine gun (same mold as Annihilator, 1989), backpack, missile launcher with two missiles, and a small black pyramid artifact.

• Skaara – The shepherd boy. He came with a rocket-firing launcher and two missiles (identical to those used by G.I. Joe in the 1990s), a head strap, and the trident-style machine gun originally used by Monkeywrench (in a darker gray than the 1987 version). His blister pack also included a small Mastadge artifact.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: COL. O’NEIL
• Toy Line: Stargate
• Year: 1994
• Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: Around 3’ or 7.5 cm

#1073 G.I. JOE – COBRA TROOPER and COBRA VIPER (1982 and 1986)

When I deal with the most popular toylines of the major toy companies, my blog receive almost no visits. Of course, everything I could say here about G.I. Joe has already been said somewhere else, or, if you are looking for some information, you have yojoe.com or many other sites to read for hours.

Still, I love to write about lines such as G.I. Joe and taking my figures out for a photo session, so this time I´d like to talk about the main characters of Cobra´s armies: the Cobra Trooper and the Cobra Viper. They are the infantry soldiers of the terrorist organisation, and where always present in the comics and the TV series. First the Cobra Trooper, who was one of the figures in the very first wave in 1982, then updated in 1986 to look less human and more like a sci-fi character. There is a second version of Viper from 1994, but this one is much rarer and I still don´t have it. In any case, the really remarkable ones are these two.

The Cobra Trooper was released, as I just said, in 1982 with straight arms, but then “updated” the following year with swivel arms, which is the version in the pictures. It came with a black machine gun only. It is not to be mistaken by the Cobra Officer, which is a very similar figure, whose more remarkable difference is a silver emblem in the chest. Since we are going today for the “cannon fodder” only, I'll reserve the Cobra Officer for some other day.

 

The Cobra Viper looks much more menacing with its silver visor or helmet and has a much more detailed body sculpt. It seems to be wearing a special jacket (maybe bullet-proof), protective gloves and googles. This other figure came with a grey rifle and a black backpack. The dark blue is the same, as it is the corporate colour of Cobra and suits well for night actions or city guerrilla.

 

Both figures are highly interesting for collectors, as you cannot have only one, you need a bunch of them! In the community in which I used to participate many years ago, there were many advanced collectors who had 10, 50, 100 of each of these two for armybuilding. Crazy! Fortunately, they are not so scarce that they are impossible to find, with some effort (also economical effort), you can find one complete and in good shape. And if, not, they has been cloned and can be bought new, almost indistinguishable of the original ones.

Here is the Spanish fullcard of Viper (Víboras)

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: COBRA TROOPER and VIPER
• Toy Line: G.I. Joe
• Year: 1983 and 1986
• Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 10 cm approx.

#1047 G.I. JOE – S.L.A.M. (1987)

The black catalogue used in Europe for the G.I. Joes corresponding to the year 1987 in the US (which arrived in Spain around one year later), was a trauma for many children like me, as it depicted many references that were not available in Spain (or in Italy or in both). We could see the pictures, we could read a short description of the vehicle, and at the end of this text, we could read "this item is not available in Spain/Italy". Why didn´t they change the catalogue layout, as they did the next year, is something I never understood.

One of the vehicles that was not available for me was the S.L.A.M. a small tank with capacity for two figures. The tank had some legs to fix itself to the ground and convert into an artillery base. Too much firepower for a small tank! The platform rotates 360 degrees and has four cannons on one side and a lot of red missiles that do not fit very well in their places and usually fall down (the slot is too small). One of the figures look ahead, the other back, so all flanks are covered.

The vehicle itself is not a great thing (there are others which I like better in this same size), but I learnt to love it more, since I had seen it hundreds of times in that catalogue sheet. I also have the original box in great condition, with a very fine artwork.

As I usually do with G.I.Joe vehicles, I will display now some diorama pictures of this vehicle.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: S.L.A.M. (Strategic Long-Range Artillery Machine)
• Toy Line: G.I. Joe (Wave 6)
• Year: 1987
• Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size: Around 20 cm long

#1032 TRANSFORMERS – POWERMASTER DREADWIND with HI-TEST (1988)

It took me around 15 years to complete this toy. I found the plane/figure first so many years ago, then the two guns around 5 years ago, and finally, last year, I got the Powermaster figure in a lot where it was not depicted! It was a “gift” from the seller. I had actually bought other Transformers stuff, but not this part.

This model is one of my favorite transformers in my collection (I do not have too many), not just for the difficulty of completing it, but also because both the plane and the robot look great, it is easy to transform and has nice accessories. The colours are also interesting, with grey and light blue for a plane plus deception-purple. 

The Powermaster Hi-Test is also a nice cute little robot that transforms into a simulated motor that fits into the upper part of the plane, and, due to its size, is very difficult to find. It has a chromed part on the back, and it is only roughly articulated. Its arms move and its legs fold up to fit in the slot.

Dreadwind couples with Darkwing (a very similar jet, but made in darker shades of grey) to form Dreadwing. Also their weapons combine.

DREADWIND

    Faction: Decepticons
    Subgroup: Powermasters
    Function: Air Defense
    Motto: "Fear is a friend whose presence is felt long after he's left."
    Bio: As ominous as a storm cloud and as chilling as a winter breeze. Grim and gloomy -- always acts as if his best friend just became permanently inoperative. Binary-bonded to the Nebulan, Hi-Test, a thrill-seeking, over-achieving perfectionist, constantly striving to keep Dreadwind's morose mind on his evil work. Equipped with two thermal melters and two air-to-air missiles. Combines with Darkwing to form Dreadwing.

    Tech Specs for Dreadwind

        Strength: 6
        Intelligence: 8
        Speed: 7
        Endurance: 8
        Rank: 6
        Courage: 7
        Firepower: 7
        Skill: 8

FACTS and FIGURES:

    Name: POWERMASTERS DREADWIND with HI-TEST
    Toy Line: Transformers (G1)
    Year: 1988
    Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
    Size of the toy: Around 20 cm in Jet mode

#1027 HASBRO'S WWF – MARTY JANNETTY, GIANT GONZALEZ, FATU, SAMU, BUTCH, LUKE, RAZON RAMON and SHAWN MICHAELS (1994)

I was missing the entry (or entries) for the 10th wave of Hasbro´s Official WWF. There are 11 waves in total (as we have numbered them), and I have covered 1-9 and 11 already. Let´s close this now (although we would come back to talk about the mail-aways and other rare stuff).

There were 8 or 10 figures included in this group, all sold in individual blisters although there were two tag teams. 8 or 10 because 2 figures (Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels) were released in two different versions, either the re-release of the figures in wave 7 or two new alternate versions of them, which are currently very rare. Since I already showed the standard versions, in this entry I will only show the two new ones.

The blister color was blue and most models were available until recently to be bought online, but that batch has already been sold and the prices are again very high.

As usual, I will put the pictures of the figures now. One picture “in action”, plus pictures of the figure itself.

 Marty Jannetty:

I find this figure a bit boring, the action move was used many times before and it has almost no distinctive features. Nice coloured trunks, but nothing else.

      

Giant Gonzalez:

This is my favorite figure here, it has a cool action move and also represents a very peculiar fighter. The figure looks great, even better than the actual wrestler.

Samu & Fatu of the Headshrinkers:

 

This interesting Tag Team have the most similar figures ever, because they perform the same action move and they are almost identical. Only some details or colours are mirrored from one figure to the other.

       

      

Butch and Luke of the Bushwackers:

       

Interestingly The second version of the famous tag team of wave 2 have exchanged bodies and came with two plastic caps, which are very difficult to find.

       

Razor Ramon (only new re-decoration):

In this case, instead of red, a dark purple is use, what makes the figure a bit more menacing.

   

Shawn Michaels (only new re-decoration):

This version changes white to black and silver. At the time Shawn Michaels was not a “good” character anymore, but had changed its profile to a darker character.

   

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: MARTY JANNETTY, GIANT GONZALEZ, FATU, SAMU, BUTCH, LUKE, RAZON RAMON and SHAWN MICHAELS
• Toy Line: Official WWF (Wave 10)
• Year: 1994
• Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 12 cm