Bullet-Proof (1993)
I know I’m unusual in this, but I’ve got a thing for the 1993 series. I won’t say it began when I was buying the figures off the pegs back in the day, but it certainly started to take hold when I re-visited my collection as part of this blog. The year’s Battle Corps offerings are a combination of brightly-colored repaints, with several toned-down entries and excellent new molds. Bullet-Proof’s new duds are quite loud–in fact, when I was taking photos of the back of the figure, I got the image of bright colored pajamas in my head.
Bullet-Proof is one of the DEF holdovers, which makes sense considering he was the ranking officer of the group. He’s one of the Battle Corps figures not packed with a weapons tree, which I imagine is due to the fact he was previously released. The same thing happened with other 1993 repaints like Wild Bill. The most positive thing I can say about his accessories is that they are all present, from the unique helmet and rifle to the big honkin’ missile launcher (this time sans flashing light). As the pic shows, there’s no possible way to pose the man holding this slab of plastic without him falling over. But that’s what battle stands are for. I am still enamored of the figure’s removable helmet, and his amazingly cool rifle. It can be effectively tucked under his arm, making for some cool posing opportunities.
On the mythos front, Bullet-Proof has been moved from the DEF leader (since it didn’t continue for a second series) to a Battle Corps leader. The card front calls him out as the Urban Commander, but his primary specialty is simply listed as Battle Corps Leader. So which is it? He’s not the only high-ranking officer in the series, with Colonel Courage also present that year. It’s good to see the diversity of two African-American officers in a single assortment of GI Joes. Bullet-Proof was featured in several issues of the Marvel comic, as well as a few episodes of the DIC animated series, most prominently in the DEF-centered “The Greatest Evil” two-parter that also featured a strung-out Falcon. If you’re into 90s nostalgia, I highly recommend it. The ending shot is particularly great.
One more thing: maybe there’s a chance, with all the combining of Hasbro properties going on, that he could be rebooted as a relative of future Bulletproof AKA B.P. Vess of COPS fame. Anything’s possible in comics, right?
Over Christmas break in 1992, I went to Toys R Us for the first time in years and bought Joes. I got Destro because it was Destro. But, I got the ’92 Bulletproof because of his helmet and his gun. It was just too awesome for words for someone who pretty much quit the line in ’88.
Decent character. His figure looked too young to be a major. His mold was scrawny for the time, too.
Several Battle corpse and DEF characters share names with C.O.P.S characters but none of them are the same characters. However, the C.O.P.S MP Checkpoint is Beachheads son
The color scheme’s probably better on the original figure, but this is the one that I had and I liked it.
I also prefer the original release over this one. Would’ve been fun if he’d been in a different color scheme, maybe something grey or a shade of blue. Probably would’ve ended up bright yellow with green details, though.
Your comment about a blue or grey color scheme got me thinking that Bullet-Proof would look good in the ’88 Shockwave’s colors. But, instead of blue on blue like Shockwave, maybe grey camo on blue or even blue camo on a mostly grey outfit. But, the molded details like the grenades and knife would look good in black.
I think Bullet-proof is a great mold that fits with all classic A.R.A.H. years figures and vehicles. Nothing was too overly large on this guy and nothing too small. The entirety of the D.E.F. feel this way to me.
“the big honkin’ missile launcher (this time sans flashing light)”
—> I did not notice this, I tended to ignore spring-fire launchers.
The new yellow detail is why I did not choose this figure over others off the pegs back in the day. It wasn’t until much later than I finally got a ’92 version (gone now).
The camo pattern really does naturally fit in with a certain number of figures:
Bullet-proof, Repeater, Dodger, Storm Shadow, Shockwave, and Recoil.