Battle Commanders Ad
I don’t even recall where I picked up this image in my GI Joe internet image crawlings. I have no idea from whence it sprang; if it is from a dealer catalog, or a pack-in advert from the toys themselves? If the scan originated from anyone in particular, I apologize, and will certainly give credit where it’s due. On the other hand, it is a scan from a Hasbro publication, so can any of us be too upset that its floating about? Anyway, where was I?
This thing caught my eye more than other items in my image collection simply due to the figures in the photo. They’re all different from the final toys, which isn’t unusual for these things, as they’re often prototypes, or early sculpts and the like. What is unusual is that they’re all mock-ups made using existing GI Joe figures. It’s like some kind of alternate universe customized version of the Talking Battle Commanders. It’s all very odd and dreamlike.
I could go into my thoughts on which parts make up the figures, but I thought why not have a little fun and involve the readers? Some of them are very obvious, but others are more of a mystery. Poor Cobra Commander and Overkill (excuse me, BAT Leader) aren’t even facing camera. Was Hasbro trying to hide their Frankensteining? Anyway, I know some of you are quite expert at picking out the recipes of reused figure parts. So have at it, folks. Let’s hear your guesses.
Two quick guesses and I’m off to bed:
Overkill is rocking Deejay’s boots (which look crazy blinged out in gold)
Hawk has borrowed Recoil’s helmet (and face! :-0)
Love seeing prototypes!
The first appearance of Cobra Commander’s bare hands!
They were changed to the standard black gloves by the time the figure was produced.
http://www.3djoes.com/cobra-commander-v5.html
Cobra commander is trying to lob a missile at his foes whilst Overkill is armed with the submachine gun cobra commander came with.
The missiles cobra commander came with actually fit onto that black do-da he’s holding
1. Hawk has Recoil’s head atop the body of Flint V1.
2. Stalker has a head I can’t make out atop the body of Dial-Tone V1.
3. Cobra Commander is the ’84 hooded head, arms, waist and legs with a V1 Crimson Guard torso.
4. Overkill is a Range-Viper head atop the body of Dee-Jay.
Isn’t Stalker all Dial Tone v1?
It’s the Earth-Two Talking Battle Commanders!
This is more likely from a dealer catalog like the ones given out at Toy Fair. The caption at the bottom left is geared towards buyers and has the little “TV” symbol which meant extensive advertisement opportunities for prospective vendors to sell Hasbro’s wares.
I’d never seen this before and it is quite the oddity. Reminds me of the mini-catalog prototypes we never actually saw in final production form. Recoil’s shades make his head stand in okay for Hawk but the helmet is more like Tollbooth’s. Stalker is missing his grin and the beret looks different. CC has a more rounded head which resembles the mail-in hooded version from earlier years. That’s all I could see at first glance but Acer and the others have nailed the parts list to a tee. Excellent work, fellas. 🙂
I’ve bought a few of these mint on card and I’ve had to take out the batteries due to the batteries were corroding.I’ve gone to Radio Shack to replace a few but now I don’t bother.
Acer pretty much nailed the recipes; and that Dee Jay/Range Viper one cracks me up the most. I’m sure that’s why he’s facing backwards; even Hasbro knew it was too much of a stretch. The paint work is amazingly clean, though; check the band on “Stalker’s” beret. The actual figures were sculpted quite well (and repeatedly repainted), but they always suffered from the flat backs.
The image appeared in a European catalog/insert. This is the fist time I’ve seen a big up close scan of it.
That’s not Crimson Guard’s torso on Cobra Commander, it’s the same 1983-84 torso, you can see where he laser gun holder protrudes.
Thanks for identifying the source! Now I know…
Not sure exactly but I know I did get this insert paper out of a vehicle in late 91′. It was either the Battle Wagon which I got from Hills Dept. Store for my birthday or in the Ice Sabre which I got for Christmas in 91′. Whichever it was I was 7 so these figures at the time on this paper were so intriguing. Of course I was a child of the late 80s and 90s but this gimmicky junk just amazed me when I was little. It was pretty awesome that you posted this Rob cause as soon as I saw it I was taken back to the catalog and insert and being just obsessed with getting these guys who would talk. Although after I bought all of them they didn’t quite fit the bill. Eat lead Cobra!!!! or LETS PARTY!!! Haha that was amazingly greatly awful. What is great is even at 7 I noticed the Recoil head and the shotgun suspenders of Flint, being that I used Recoil and his weapons a lot and Flint was and is my all time favorite. Great, and thanks for the blast from the past and laugh.
Also forgot can’t say how great the cow skin camo pants Stalker had in this set were. He should have said “Reach for the Sky!!!” haha
Stalker has a terrific camo!
The one series they couldn’t shoe-horn Snake-Eyes into 🙂
@ Rob
And knowing is half the battle!
@BenBeachJr34
This Stalker must shop at the same place Avalanche did. Avalanche had perfect camouflage for hiding in fields of dairy cows. No Snow Serpent ever found him.
Little Boa that was classic awesome reply, haha When I was a kid I remember having avalanche and playing with a bunch of joes on the woods and the cows would come through there and thinking he looked like he was disguised as a red Holstein cow! That is awesome great post!
@Doc
What would snake eyes have said anyway? Maybe he would have just made some “Ratatat” sounds and a sword clanging sound?
@Skymate: button one: nothing
button two: nothing
button three: a choked and strangled “Scarlett…” (but only once)
button three: four full minutes of machine gun and katana sounds.
@Captainswift
Dont forget the stabbed Scarlett
Also. Was that a cryptic shoutout to me at the end of your last episode?
@Skymate:
Sort of. I had intended to use the name of one of the Sky Patrol (because I wanted to start with people who were sort of like Ripcord then get further away with each subsequent guess), but typed Skymate into my script. Then I thought, eh, Skymate might get a kick out of it, so I left it in.
@Captainswift.
Thought it was funny anyway
my favorite Joe catalog image ever
I like these repainted parts versions of the TBCs almost as much as the official figures, maybe even moreso. I want theses prototypes in my collection.
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