Alpine (1985)
Right off–a few words of “shame on me”. First, this figure is not complete. I can’t seem to find his grapple rifle, which bums me out because it’s such a great accessory. Second, I’ve been missing posts here and there. Yeah, life is busy, and toy blogs come in lower on the priority list. I’m still here though, so–yay! Third, it’s taken me five years to get to the classic ’85 Alpine figure. I’ve covered the modern version, Kre-O, and even two–yes two new sculpt releases from 2004. I’m an Alpine fan, I just lost track of the original. I initially thought that I would spread out the figures from the 80s sweet spot so that I wouldn’t run out of them within the first few months. Who knew I would still be at this five years later? Anyway, Alpine–his look is interesting, his accessories unique and his portrayal in the Sunbow toon–iconic. He and Joe-bro Bazooka were a memorable pair.
I find it difficult to know where to begin to talk about what draws me to this figure. I suppose I should just go back to what made him a favorite all those years ago. When I was a kid, Alpine’s figure was a perfect combination of specialty, accessories and uniform. If ’83 and ’84 built floors upon the foundation laid for the RAH era in its first year, ’85 turned it into a conceptual skyscraper. Specialties were refreshed, while new concepts like Alpine came along to add even more variation to the team. I was excited to not only get a mountain trooper, but also a toy that featured real grappling hooks and line. With a backpack that could also store his gear, I had the perfect action figure. I even had my own method of wrapping the line around the backpack peg to keep everything together.
On the weaponry front, Alpine brandished a unique sub-machine gun that was unlike anything his teammates carried. My favorite accessory however was his GRB-88 grappling launch line (as called out on the packaging). I never noticed this as a kid, but the mold looks to be a modified version of the XMLR-3A, more widely known as the Sunbow laser rifle. Just how you turn a laser rifle into a grapple gun is beyond me, but this was the 80s, so just go with it.
Mr. Pine has had his share of figures over the years, and he’s even had a couple of recent releases, but nothing for me stands out like the original in terms of overall coolness. I’d still rather get this figure out and have him conquer the mountainous regions of the living room couch or the upstairs banister.
Just a great figure. While the Plastirama and Estrela versions are somewhat different, it’s a shame we never got a real repaint of this mold. I had great fun playing with this guy in my front yard back in ’85. He and Eels battled it out time and time again.
The Mountain Climber specialty was supposed to be released in 1984. The proposed head looks like Alpine. But, the body was released anyways: as Scrap Iron. If you check Scrap Iron’s legs, he still had the mountain climbing pitons that denoted his specialty. Not sure why he was changed to Scrap Iron and Alpine was re-envisioned. But, I’m glad they did as this is a better look for the character.
Don’t feel bad about showing figures without accessories, Rob. About 90% of my collection is missing guns, rifles, helmets, backpacks and even the odd pink boomerang.
I find it odd that Alpine only received one version in the original line. The guy was pretty popular.
I’m kinda surprised they didn’t come out with a Battle Corps version.
Wow, can’t believe I hadn’t noticed the similarity to the Sunbow/Snow Job rifle before!
Yeah, the fact that his grappling gun is based on the XMLR-3A is news to me, too! Pretty cool.
Alpine is an awesome figure.
Check out the 1985 Ripper’s rifle, and the 1990 Night Creeper’s crossbow rifle thing.
Check out the 1985 Ripper’s rifle, and the 1990 Night Creeper’s crossbow rifle thing.
Excellent 1985 Joe.”
Alpine was always one of my favorites to climb above Cobra and drop down on them. Never went with the Bazooka team up; Al was kindofa one-man-badass. The grapple gun is neat, but the important parts are the hooks, string & pick! And that SMG is a Beretta PM12 – kinda old for ’85, but it’s Italian, so maybe there’s a mountain climber connection there somewhere.
Alpine was the figure I wanted most from 1985 but was almost as scarce as Snake Eyes. I only found him something like 2 times and neither time my parent was in a buying mood. From my own experience, the hardest to find 1985 figures: Snake Eyes > Alpine > or equal Snow Serpent > Eel. Storm Shadow & Firefly were scarce in 1985 (and 1986 for Storm Shadow). I’m not sure what drew me to him either. He was mellow, seemingly a bit older than most of the Joes and fully equipped for climbing. I’m guessing the ability to get vertical action out of him was part of the appeal. When I got Hit & Run, it wasn’t really the same. Rock Vipers were a bit better on that front though.
The figure has a nice level of detail, from the face and moustache to the belt (even if it’s not as cool as the buckled glory of 1987 or so) and helmet.
Per above: Interesting note about Scrap-Iron. When I was compiling case assortments for each figure, Scrap-Iron was a rather bizarre case: he shipped in 2 different case assortments in 1984. Pretty much everyone else from 1984 on (when there were 2-3 case assortments for regular figures per year) shipped in 1 case per year and then the next year, new assortments were made, and they shipped in lower amounts in that new case. I wondered if it was a case of the odd man out by numbers and Hasbro deciding to put him in 2 cases to have a total number shipped like the other figures. I still wonder about 1986 Roadblock and how much case space that tripod took up.
I always thought of Alpine, Bazooka, and Quick-Kick as the Joe’s three musketeers. And I always liked how Alpine sounded like “Superstar” Billy Graham on the cartoon.
The Beretta mp 12 is still in use in a lot of police forces around Europe.
No offense guys but noticed that in 1985 and I was 9.
I’ve wanted Alpine since 1985. After years of not searching online for some missing Joes, I decided recently to pick that back up. After time and time again of being out bid on ebay or it being more expensive than I wanted to spend, I can finally say that as of one month ago, Alpine is finally in my collection! Yeah, I dropped $12 for him, but he is 100% complete and the figure looks the same if I had bought him in 85! Yo Joe!
$12 is a great price for an Alpine, especially a vintage complete one. Some arse wants £19.99 for a 50th Rock Viper, I even offered him £12 and he still wanted more….the terms f and off sprang to mind….I do wish the boxset and 50th new sculpt version I have had the same equipment as the 85 version, especially the pack in tan, rather than common black….and his hands need better sculpting, apart from that, great figure.
Has anyone got a link to the 1984 prototype Alpine using the Scrap Iron body that Forgotten Figures mentions?