Vehicles in 1987 Dealer Catalog
The hits just kept on coming in 1987. If the figures that year veered further into pulpy and weird directions (particularly on the Cobra side) the vehicles followed suit. That’s not to say they weren’t fun toys. On the contrary, the rides on this dealer catalog page are some of my faves from the post-86 era. You don’t get much nuttier (and toyetic) than the Pogo and Dreadnok cycle. On the Joe front, the SLAM appears functional at a glance, but one look at those rockets has me worried for Law and Crazylegs’ safety.
Despite the real-world issues they present, these vehicles definitely fire the imagination, and seeing them here in their pre-production format is also a treat.
It’s funny to me to see Crystal Ball almost presented as a Dreadnok in this ad. As a kid, I only had two Dreadnoks, so to fill out the ranks, I put characters into Dreadnok roles who otherwise wouldn’t be in the group. Crystal Ball was one of them. Also, the Pogo was a flimsy piece of crap.
You know, that’s funny, because I would have Crystal Ball, Raptor, Big Boa, and Crock Master, hanging out with the few Dreadnoks that I had back then, which were, Zartan, Zandar, Thrasher, Zanzibar, Road Pig, and Gnawgahyde. I always thought that I was the only one that did that. I did that because, number one, I had missed most of the early Dreadnoks when I started collecting G.I. Joe in 1987. And number two, to me those four Cobra guys from 1987, had some type of Dreadnok look to me. I didn’t have the Pogo, but I had the Invader. And that one was alright.
Live the adventure of G.I. Joe, in 1987. Yeah! That was the year that I started collecting G.I. Joe. I had gotten mostly figures that year, but I did ended up getting a few vehicles also, including the only Battle Force 2000 item that I ever got back then, the Vector Jet. And I loved that little plane. I found it to be somehow awesome. Science fiction was always part of G.I. Joe, way before the 1980’s. And you can see a lot of weird stuff, including giant robots, in both, the first mini series, and even in the comics. Anyway, something looks different about that Pogo. Speaking of the Pogo, there is a guy on Youtube called marktsheppard, who left a comment on a video called, G.I. Joe Slam/ Cobra POGO TV Ad, Commercial by someone called Underground Raw, where he explains that the Pogo is based on a training device that was used by U.S. astronauts during the space race. And that would explain the frog legs on the Pogo. And that also explains why the Pogo was repainted, and sold as the Cobra Invader in 1993, so the Cobras were able to use it to go into space. But they should had kept the name Pogo, or at least called it the Cobra Space Pogo. What is really weird though, is that in Brazil, the Pogo was released as an Iron Grenadier vehicle called the S.A.P.O. with Overlord, who they called Ciclon(which was also sold as an Iron Grenadier), driving, or piloting it, on the cover of the box. But they still left the Cobra logo drawn on the front of the S.A.P.O. on the cover of the box. And you can also see it on the photo on the back of the box. What the heck? Why sell it as an Iron Grenadier vehicle, if it is still the same Cobra Pogo? Were the Hasbro folks o.k. with all of that? All of that information can be checked out at Yojoe.com. Anyway, the Pogo would have been much better, maybe, if the legs on it had been designed to move when is pushed down to make it look like it is going to hop. Maybe, they were just trying to save money. Now, when it comes to the S.L.A.M., I never understood what are the actual wheels on it supposed to be. Are the vehicle’s wheels the ones that are on the outside of it, which do not move on the actual toy, or are the actual wheels the bright red ones that are under the vehicle/toy? Or are those bright red wheels supposed to be imaginary, like the ones on the H.A.V.O.C.? And if the actual wheels on the S.L.A.M. are supposed to be the ones that are on the outside of it, then why didn’t the folks that were designing this thing just make those into the actual moving wheels, instead of those bright red ones? Also, I have always wondered if the S.L.A.M. can go on train tracks, just because of how the outside wheels look like on the cover of the box. And notice how there isn’t at least a machine gun on the back side of the vehicle for the Joe sitting on that side to use it. And you’re right, there is nothing to protect the riders of this vehicle from the blast of those rockets. They could have designed something that attaches to the side of it behind the rockets, to be like a wall that shields the blasts. Maybe, they were just trying to save money.
The Iron Grenadiers (technically Forca Destro) weren’t a separate group in Brazil from what I gather, but a subteam within Cobra The ATILA ( Dominator) has a Cobra logo on it as well as the IG one.
In Europe they weren’t even that, no purple backgrounds. Seems filecard info was similar to US, though. Voltar was still “Destro’s general” though.
Thank you very much for that information. I appreciate you taking the time to let me know that.
”You could not get better, than the 1982-1986 Hasbro G.I.Joe line.Anything after 1986, just looked like typical futuristic/undesirable junk.”
Proto POGO is a lot more detailed and roomy inside. I’ve thought a remake with actual spring loaded legs could be interesting. I never hated the thing like some people, my only great beef was its canopy latch was too fragile.
SLAM seems underdeveloped like people say, It’s self propelled but feels like it should be a towed weapon. It’s wheels are odd. Those little rockets are a pain to put on. Where’s the ammo for 4 large barrels? It looks more close support than “strategic long-range”. At lest the released version didn’t have orange stabilizers.
The Dreadnok cycle there doesn’t look as oversized as the actual toy. I liked the toy anyway. My brother and I argued over what the gun was supposed to be. He said machine gun, but I correctly remembered the blue prints called it a recoilless rifle.
While it might not make the Pogo any sturdier, real spring-supported legs would bring that toy from the bane of collectors to a heralded one. The gimmick of the design was it’s jumping, erratic movement, but the toy just sat there or fell apart. Interesting that the dashboard looks detailed in this catalog image.
Fast Draw always had to man my childhood slam since his blast suit would protect him form the rockets. I couldn’t stand that it was self propelled and always wanted it towed. I used the Road Toad to connect it to the Havoc and that made it more useful to me. I also put inside a plastic dump truck bed and had it be a surprise for any Cobras who thought the truck was the weak link in a convoy.
These were all the last vehicles of my childhood. So, I used them extensively and forgave many of the more glaring absurdities that accompanied them.