From the land of the the cheapest and craziest of 80s Joe knock-offs comes Demon Ranger! My absolute favorite enemy-centered toyline ever, and a much more inventive series name than Remco’s The Bad Guys. However, the individual character names are where things fall apart. Instead of colorful code names, simply add a plain first name and rank. Voila! My favorite has to be Air Force Fred.
National Defense, a series of budget, me-too GI Joe clones, is an odd and confusing story, to say the least. The line, available at K-Mart, utilized molds that would also be used by Galoob in its Gen. Patch series. The line also saw release as American Defense, a name later…
Feast your eyes upon the gloriousness that is Enemy Leader, a part of also-ran American (and National) Defense's Demon Enemy line, and also released in the similarly packaged Commando Ranger (and Demon Ranger) line as "The Killer." Whatever moniker you choose, isn't this the most beautifully realized four inches of…
Uh, yeah. So as you can see, the 80s weren't the height of cultural sensitivity in terms of the toy aisle. If you thought Lanard's Bengala or Tracker Tom were bad in terms of stereotypes, check out the face sculpt on Enemy Weapons Officer. He hails from National/American Defense, the…
“General Len” Don’t call him Lenny. I remember these figures were so generic they could be anything and named anything because it didn’t matter.
And for the Demon Rangers, “The Masher”, either this guy is charge of making mashed potatoes or he is “a man who habitually makes aggressive, unwelcome sexual advances to women.”
Series 2 existed:
The Thug
The Offender
The Molester
Bad Egg
The Creep
The Troll
Might as well make Commando Ranger Series 2:
Corporal Carl
Officer Ozzie
Navy Ned
Commander Dandy
Ranger Randy
Scuba Steve (who will just look like a regular generic army guy)
Tanker Ted
Grenade Greg
Shovel Sherman
Rifle Rick
Bayonet Bart
Admiral Archie
“General Len” Don’t call him Lenny. I remember these figures were so generic they could be anything and named anything because it didn’t matter.
And for the Demon Rangers, “The Masher”, either this guy is charge of making mashed potatoes or he is “a man who habitually makes aggressive, unwelcome sexual advances to women.”
Series 2 existed:
The Thug
The Offender
The Molester
Bad Egg
The Creep
The Troll
Might as well make Commando Ranger Series 2:
Corporal Carl
Officer Ozzie
Navy Ned
Commander Dandy
Ranger Randy
Scuba Steve (who will just look like a regular generic army guy)
Tanker Ted
Grenade Greg
Shovel Sherman
Rifle Rick
Bayonet Bart
Admiral Archie
Where is….Bazooka Joe?
Why not “The” Mad Dog? – he must be the leader
This does make you appreciate Hasbro all the more…they went above what they ever had to do to sell toys for a buck. Thanks for these gems!