Barbecue (1992)
The second year of Eco Warriors figures took things into an interesting direction with its Joe team figures. From a squad of three specifically environmentally themed operatives, year two brought the comparatively plain specialties of firefighter and deep water specialist. Both however functioned well within the concept.
As much as I liked Barbecue back in 1985, his specialty seemed a bit out of place in a military unit. As a kid, I wondered if he was just there to put out the fires that Blowtorch started. Hey, it’s a natural thought, right? You just can’t leave large swaths of battlefield in flames after the fighting is over. The firefighter job seems a great fit for the eco themed sub-team, considering that there would be ample opportunities to put out fires (of the notably toxic and dangerous sort). It’s an even better fit for a water squirting toy. Hopefully, the more literal tykes of the day didn’t take to setting miniature oil fires for their Barbecue figure to put out. Maybe the package should have come with a warning, “Don’t start any real fires, kids!”
The mold is probably most famous for being a stand-in for the unavailable Payload mold during the Star Brigade run. It was during that sub-team’s two years of existence that Barbecue’s figure was recolored three times as an astronaut. Then again, his Eco Warriors buddy Ozone got the same treatment. I dig the bright colors on the figure, but the gloppy paint on his chest apparatus has always bugged me.
If you want a less bulky rig, you can give this figure the Funskool Barbecue accessories–even the backpack’s colors match.
He’s the best eco warrior
He prevents more than anything, from barracks safety, field camp safety, vehicle safety.
I think Barbecue makes a great “rescue” trooper, too, along the lines of paramedic, jaws of life, stuff like that.
Also fits in with combat engineering to a degree, in making thing burn and crumble more efficiently when needed, like Cobra bunkers.
That firefighter role with Eco-Warriors made a ton of sense to me; dangerous chemicals, toxic materials, exposure, hostile environment battles and extrication.
I like his colors!
It’s a great character idea and a pretty decent figure, but we were so close to having an unhelmeted Barbecue. They could’ve skipped the visor and given him a full helmet like the ’91 Eco Warriors.
The gloppy paint was the ‘battle damage’. Originally it was only supposed to appear when the figure was sprayed with either cold or warm water (I forget which), but those stains eventually emerged for all time after a certain point.
Barbecue & Deep Six did fit the best into the Eco-Warriors (Clean Sweep, Ozone as newcomers were fine), certainly better than Flint did. I’ve come around to the view that Eco-Warriors Deep Six is the best-looking Deep Six figure. Barbecue… I think the original is the best.
And Rob, speaking of Barbecue and his lack of offensive weaponry, look at Slaughter’s Marauders. They’re this behind enemy lines, on their own crack squad of commandos and they have 1 of their 6 members just armed with a foam spray gun and an axe? And even sillier, Sgt. Slaughter leads them with only a baton! Hasbro at least went back and gave Copperhead a rifle of his own for Python Patrol.
I kinda wondered if they were gunshy about showing Sgt. Slaughter with a gun on package art, since he was “real person”. Sure they packed him with armed vehicles, but I don’t know. They had him armed in the cartoon, though.
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