A Classic JAD Post
Sorry for the missed posts over the last few days, but I’ve had some sick kiddos at the HQ. I am working on more content when I can. In the meantime, please feel free to peruse the site’s past entries for, well just about anything Joe related. If you’d rather have a little direction from me, why not check out Dee Jay at the link below. It’s one of my faves. See you tomorrow for a new entry.
http://ecbiz226.inmotionhosting.com/~joeada5/dee-jay-1988/
DeeJay looks like he’s from some awful, B grade sci fi movie. “Graphics by Kenner”
More like Z grade. While he did fit in with the usually retro sci-fi theme other figures had (Avalanche, Maverick) (Dodger had the Aliens space marine style), he looked ridiculous. He looks like he was made to be over the top, as some 1993 figures were.
If they were going to make new BF2000 figs and vehicles this wasn’t the way to go.
If not for the blue pants, Dee Jay would be a solid figure. But, his appearance on the highly popular Brazilian Cobras has pretty much left me viewing the head as definitively Cobra rather than Joe. Still, he’s a figure whose design isn’t as bad as his reputation.
Hope the kids feel better.
The only problem that I see with this figure, is that there is way too many different colors on it. They should have either gone with the blue, or that military looking green color, and match it with the white color. But instead, this is the mess that they did. As if the design of the figure’s uniform wasn’t weird already. And that red thing on the front the helmet, looks so out of place. And can’t forget the colors of the accessories, especially the rifle. Its almost like they really wanted this figure to be weird in purpose. And I don’t want to get racial, but the fact that this was the only black guy in the Battle Force 2000, that came out two, or three years later, it just doesn’t look right. It makes this character look kind of a token, especially since he was the only member of that group that came out that year. Couldn’t he have been released with his fellow team mates back in 87? And actually, Recoil could have been released as a member of the group that same year. Even his uniform looks like a Battle Force 2000 uniform. I can see him fitting in with those other figures. In my opinion, it would have looked so much better if two Battle Force 2000 figures had been released that year, instead of one token black guy that had a very awful looking uniform. Visually, it just doesn’t look right. Now that you mentioned the Brazilian figures, I recently found out that there was not one, but two white guys that the Estrela toys company did from this figure. One was a bad guy from their own Eco Force(Eco Warriors) set. And the other one was supposed to be some Sky Patrol Cobra character. It turns out that Estrela actually made quite a few exclusives that I didn’t even know existed. And I’m interested in all of them. Especially the Tiger Force.
Not really 2 or 3 years later, while the singe cards came around in late 1987, many places didn’t get BF 2000’s first figures in abundance as two-packs until 1988 (i for one didn’t even know the single carded BF 2000 figures existed until reading some early 1990’s price guides), and Dee-Jay’s “wave” was around spring 1989 (back then, new figures were in at least two assortments, not just all at once like people think). So maybe a year and half at most.
But yeah, it was odd they added one more character and one more vehicle to Battle Force 2000. The Pulverizer showed up well before Dee-Jay, too.
Thank you very much for that information. Strange that the Pulverizer was the first, and only Battle Force 2000 vehicle, that did not split into two vehicles. And also another strange thing, is that on the cover of the box, they show Recoil, who was not a member of the Battle Force 2000, driving the vehicle, instead of Dee-Jay. Poor Dee-Jay. He was never given any respect. That reminds me of Rodney Dangerfield.
Thank you very much for that information. It totally makes a whole lot of sense. It was always about the money with the Hasbro folks. They really didn’t care about continuity, and consistency. The information that you provided, is obviously a proof of that. I suspected that the very first time that I got the Tiger Force Frostbite figure back in 88, and saw the red beard, and red hair. You know, they could have done something with the Dee-Jay mold, and mixed it with other figure’s molds, and created a new character. But what do I know, I wasn’t one of the people that was making those bad business decisions back then. But killing in the comics those characters that had been made into action figures, was a very bad idea. That should have never been allowed to happen.
My second comment was meant for Forgotten Figures. Sorry about that.
I remember buying this figure around late 1990, I think. I actually did liked it. It was my second time getting into collecting G.I. Joe stuff, after seen the 1990 cartoons, on the USA Cartoon Express every weekday morning around 6:00, or 6:30 AM, Eastern time, before the school bus picked me up. I’m not one hundred percent sure about the time, but I do know that I was very lucky to have been able to see those cartoons before the bus came. Perfect timing, or just good luck, I don’t know. Anyway, I was going crazy around that time trying to collect as many of those figures that I could possibly get my hands on. Especially the 1989 figures. I wanted the 89 Snake Eyes so bad, but I never found it in any local store down here around late 1990. The 1991 version was the one that I ended up getting. That was my very first ever Snake Eyes figure. The worst one ever made at that time. The first non black uniform Snake Eyes. I was not really happy with that figure, but when I saw the Ninja Force version, a year or so later, it actually changed my feelings towards it, and I ended up appreciating it more. I keep reading in all of the G.I. Joe websites, that Dee-Jay got killed in the Marvel comics. But I have never read anywhere any information about how he ended up having a repaint of it released in 1993, as part of the Arctic Commandos set. Did he really died, or what? Did Dr. Mindbender brought him back to life? Was it a mistake from Hasbro? What really happened? Does anybody know the story about this guy? Or the 1993 figure? I would appreciate any information about that. Also there is this Street Fighter character called Dee Jay, that supposedly was in the 1994 movie, but the Hasbro folks didn’t make a figure of it, as far as I know. That really sucks.
The Hasbro vintage figure line didn’t adhere strictly to the comic continuity. So, the 1993 Dee Jay was simply a matter of needing a figure and having a cheap version available from Brazil. But, you do bring up an interesting point. I believe that Dee Jay was the only character killed in the vintage comic who had a vintage figure made after his comic “death”.