1985 GI Joe Product Catalog – Part 2
Continuing on with 1985’s GI Joe product catalog, it’s the bevy of battlefield stations, accessories, weapons and vehicles. Hasbro really had a hit with these small price point items. For me, the battle stations and accessories have been a reminder of the days of Marx toy soldiers and playsets. The accessories allowed a kid to build a battlefield on a budget, and opened up a world of play patterns. The battlefield accessories in particular remind me of those extra pieces often included in many of the larger sets from the twelve inch era.
The new additions of the Checkpoint and Cobra Bunker battle stations provided new dimensions to the already impressive diorama friendly offerings of previous years. Again, the product is shot from a wide angle, set in an apparently arid and craggy environment. Those red skies are still quite ominous for a toy catalog, and the offset red/blue rivulets of lava would seem more at home in a Visionaries insert. As inappropriate for GI Joe as they seem, this catalog’s backdrops are I think the most impressive of the era. The angled layout design and contrast of red and blue make for an extremely appealing visual. It’s a far cry from 1982’s world of rock and burlap.
The next page features the year’s small vehicles. As iconic as the Trubble Bubble is thanks to the Sunbow cartoon, my faves of the year are the repainted SNAKE armor and Night Landing. Of course, the raft is manned by Firefly. Who else could, after that wonderful package art set the precedent? Again, the smaller price point allowed me to amass quite a few vehicles outside of the usual present-buying times of year (birthday and Christmas).
Come back tomorrow to check out the small and medium size vehicles (combat and battle series), and watch the hues of the desert/lava toy world’s sky change.
So much goodness here, still love that flight pod and CLAW. I ended up with several of the battlefield accessory sets, I’m sure because they were cheap.
Of these new ’85 items, I only had the Checkpoint and Air Defense as a kid. The Battle Stations and Battlefield Accessories were excellent compliments to larger playsets such as the ’83 Headquarters Command Center if you were fortunate enough to own one. Vehicles such as the Weapons Transport and Bomb Disposal looked right at home on the Flagg as well.
The Night Landing ruled and it remains a favorite of Hasbro’s, going by its various reissues.
The only battlefield accessory I had was the Checkpoint. I’m kicking myself for not getting more. I think if Hasbro rereleased these sets without figures, they’d probably fly off the pegs quickly- more so if they did include figures of say a Cobra Trooper or Viper with Cobra sets and a Greenshirt and Steel Brigade in Joe sets. Kids and collectors could “build a battlefield on a budget” and army build at the same time.
These sets were ideal and were what made the brand so great. You can tell, Hasbro took a hint from Kenner with the success they had with their minirigs. Small vehicles/playsets are a good idea as not everyone can afford a Rattler or Hydrofoil.
Its also good to see the photogrophers using backgrounds in the way they did. Though Snowjob does look out of place, using a mortar in what appears to be a desert
“Of course, the raft is manned by Firefly. Who else could, after that wonderful package art set the precedent?”
Well… if only the Rap Viper had been introduced then, perhaps he could. The proof is in the picture: http://f0.bcbits.com/img/a4223816340_10.jpg
I had the Checkpoint, Air Defence & Bunker from the UK 87 lineup.
Trouble Bubble came from the 25th line up and the escape armour, which I’d coveted ever since I saw the red Red Shadow version in 1984, came from ROC which IIRC had a couple of the US86 small bases as exclusives.
To date I don’t have a night landing but thanks to BBTS that’s about to change đ I could easily own a couple of those and pack them with a GI Joe assault team đ
The Weapos Transport & Night Landing were offered as a mail away in the UK but I never bought them. Offer sheet can be seen at http://www.bloodforthebaron.com/toys/004/promos/005/index.html
Hmmmm. Of the items there only the Checkpoint, Air Defence & Bunker were offered in the UK in 87, the year the 85 stuff came out. Trouble bubble, rifle range, ammo dump and rifle range followed in 88 with the CLAW and original Escape Armour in the previous 85 line.
Great years!
Love the battlefield sets! I think Hasbro could make some money doing pieces like that now, and avoid the large playset issue (Flagg, Terror Drome, etc). Kids are inventive, but the figures need something to do. By the way, Blowtorch or Tripwire were always stuck in the Bomb Disposal, am I right?
One thing I always liked about this one was the way the descriptions flowed from one item to another. Nice little bit of worldbuilding while suggesting that kids needed more than one item. đ
They say playsets don’t sell enough to bother making, at least they currently say that about Star Wars.
The checkpoint was best of all. The Air Defense was a useful add on to the HQ, but in terms of figure interaction was not fun. The Cobra Bunker was a disappointment, too cramped inside, but fun to destroy. Rifle range was an odd thing to assign to Cobra. “Terrorst training camp!” Imagine that going over today. The forward observe had a better mortar than the mortar defense. The ammo dump was a great box…but still it was a box. The wolverine missiles and fang missile were sadly not useable with their original vehicles, one being too hard to fit in the missile launcher and the other lacking slots.
I want to like to the flight pod, but it’s a fragile mess. The night landing was okay. The weapons transport lacked a standard tow hitch, but the bomb disposal had one. What up dat? (Also, why was Flash on the bomb disposal’s box artwork, and not Tripwire?) Both were limited use items because neither were really combat items. In terms of utilitarian vehicles, it’s a shame they never did, say, an ambulance.
@Bravo
I have it on good authoirity [Formbx 257] that the rifle range was inteded to be a joe item but was turned into a cobra item as the cobra boys only had one.
That would explain the rifle rack of recolored GI JOE weapons. Not that Cobra wouldn’t use M-16’s, but I remember thinking that was odd.
They could’ve done more training sets. Remco’s knock-off military line made this fun set with a barbed wire obstacle for guys to crawl under and a net wall for them to climb.
Firefly better not remember to get out in the blue paint lake or else the Joes will be able to track everywhere he went.
The funny thing about the blue SNAKE Armor’s packaging is on the back, in the cutaway, it shows Storm Shadow inside (the original had a Cobra Soldier). LOL, like a ninja needs a giant robotic suit of armor.
Yeah, the battlefield accessories (mini playsets basically) were a cool idea. I wonder if they didn’t sell very well, or didn’t sell well enough that Hasbro decided to explore other avenues, like the motorized backpacks or accessories from 1987-88.