1985 GI Joe Product Catalog – Part 4
It’s time for the Special Missions and Contenders! The next page of the ’85 catalog showcases the meat and potatoes of GI Joe vehicles. From jets to helicopters boats to battle platforms, they’re all here. The vertical design of the section makes for a dynamic showcase. The new rides get the most attention with inserts that call out detail and special features. The Moray is the star, according to page real estate, and well it should be. The boat is a classic toy in every sense. Striking design, fun features and an impressive size make it a star of the Cobra arsenal. I’m a little surprised that the battle platform doesn’t get quite as much space as the bridgelayer, but I suppose the latter makes for more exciting photos.
But it’s not all about the rides today. A few figures had their own featured section on the back of the catalog. The Dreadnoks and Zartan have a nice little callout. Tomax and Xamot get the most real estate, and also the most famous prototype figure shots. As a kid, I was confused as to why the toys had different heads. Who knew about the ins and outs of toy production back in 1985? Most of us probably thought, “Hey, they got the heads wrong!”
Tomorrow is the usual Field Report day, so check in for the next page (it’s a big one, with two Gs) on Saturday.
I’m a little surprised that the battle platform doesn’t get quite as much space as the bridgelayer, but I suppose the latter makes for more exciting photos.
I imagine that they wanted to show off the bridge-laying mechanism that the vehicle is built around, whereas you can get a good sense of the TTBP from just the one photo.
LOL. Are they trying to redshirt Footloose there, riding on the landing skids?
Did the Lamprey only get named later? They use the generic Cobra pilot label for them.
Tomax/Xamot might have gotten so much page estate because they seemed to fill the position of the ‘Cobra chariot figure’ for 1985. 1984, 1986-1990 all had Cobra/Destro faction figures boxed with a personal chariot, being the cheapest vehicles that came with a driver (e.g. Zartan, Serpentor, Zanzibar, Destro, Darklon, Overlord). Instead of a small chariot, there was a 2nd figure. From what I’ve seen from the compiled Yo Joe data on demand and possession, those drivers were far more abundant than other drivers from their same years. So many of them were cool in their own right- Zartan (the name says it all), Serpentor, gold mask Destro, a pirate on a personal hovercraft complete with hair, a hammer & spear, Overlord (what happens when Wolverine meets Col. Klink meets I forget who had a gold helmet like that). Tomax & Xamot were quite abundant too.
With the SHARC & Moccasin on the last page and the WHALE here, I wonder who won the Battle for the Lake of Lime Jello?
I recall wondering, as a child, what “floating bogies” were, and whether my second-hand Mauler (presented to me sans cannon by my garage sale-trawling maternal grandmother) was missing them. I was similarly baffled by the mention of a “skyhook” (my only prior encounter with the term being a set of Chip and Dale vs. Donald Duck Viewmaster discs which put the word to quite literal use). I never did figure out where the Moray’s blast-shields were situated, either.
I like the Tomax/Xamot prototypes shown; it makes them look more like Yupies.
I wonder why the hydrofoil was never photographed, “attacking” the battle platform in the picture. It would have looked more impressive.
Actually look closely at Tomax and Xamot- I remember when I first saw that picture I thought Bobby Ewing from Dallas (Patrick Duffy) had lent his likeness to GIJoe. LoL
I still look at them and see Bobby Ewing!
So many REALLY good vehicles. They were really knocking it out the park this year.
Everything on that page, bar the Bridge Layer, got released in the UK in 87 or 88.
I always thought that the Twins looked like they shared Rip Cord heads with different haircuts.
Between the previous two years and this one, the large vehicle category grew by leaps and bounds. I never owned any of the ones introduced here but I played with a schoolmate’s Hydrofoil and Transportable Tactical Battle Platform. He also had the Headquarters Command Center and some other stuff I could only dream about. Needless to say, it was fun to be invited over to his place.
The Hydrofoil is one of the coolest sea vehicles in the whole line. The Bridgelayer is vastly underrated. The TTBP was too awesome a playset to be around for only two years and should have been reissued somewhere down the line. (It now looks more like an oil rig to me sans the drill. Maybe Hasbro wanted to introduce kids to the petroleum industry which gave us the plastic for making these toys?) As for the Mauler, it nicely updated the MOBAT and then some, but nonetheless shared a short shelf life with the TTBP as well.
The best.
It took me a long time to track all of these down but it was worth it!
Had the vintage ARAH toy line lasted just one more year (1995), the TTBP would’ve been recolored as part of an Arctic sub-team, and would have included repaints of Snow Serpent V2 and Big Ben. The box art/mock up for it exists. You may know that already.
@Bravo
I’ve seen images of it at Yojoe. Its such a pity as the ’95 line was going back to basics.