Predacon (1994)
If you weren’t paying attention to Joe in 1994 (and a lot of collectors weren’t) you might have missed the fact that a four armed alien bounty hunter with dreadlocks and a Transformer namesake was part of the GI Joe line. Yeah.
The Star Brigade concept was a bit outlandish for a military group like the Joes, but still made sense within the established mythos. After all, astronauts were part of Joe even back in the 60’s, and this new group of Joes fighting Cobra in space seemed like a natural outgrowth.
Things got a little weird during the second series, when aliens showed up, and the storyline took a hard right turn toward sci-fi fantasy land. Even the Joes got in on the sudden “hey folks, now there’s an alien empire and all out interstellar war” angle.
Like other ’94 figures, there’s a disappointing lack of paint apps. The torso and legs are just plainly molded in their plastic’s native color, which is a shame because of the detail to be found in the sculpting.
Each of the three 1994 aliens pushed not only the boundaries or believability, but also of design. A Joe scale figure with four arms is in itself crazy and ambitious. Add to it a hunched back and powerful crouched legs and you’ve got a figure that fits the existing style yet adds a different twist. If there’s something to recommend all three 3 3/4 inch aliens from the series, its the design and engineering.
He looks like an interstellar, Jamaican, alien rapper. Shaba!
Crazy, crazy! Was this a good “guy”, or bad “guy?”
there’s something about these Lunatrix Aliens that I am strangely drawn to. The only one I have is Lobotomax, but Carcass and Predacon are equally as intriguing to me. I may need to track them both down.
I’m guessing that 60’s Joe collectors would have loved these guys. The sci-fi craze surrounding shows like Lost in Space might have helped sales. The biggest hurdle being faced in 1994 was that nobody cared much about the RAH line in general. If the actual figures hadn’t gotten such shoddy paint treatment, the outcome could have looked better.
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My little brother always wanted this guy.
Speaking as someone who was eight years old in 1994, i have fond memories of Star brigade, battle corps, ninja force and the short lived D.E.F.
Whereas as most of the people i was in the second grade with either worshipped Jason David Frank or Amy Joe Johnston, I thoughoughly enjoyed toy soldiers-regardless of how blatantly silly they were becoming.
When it comes to the Star brigade stuff, I know a lot of it is silly. I prefer the figures who look like actual astronauts though [such as Spaceshot and the white varietns of Payload and Roadblock].
I get the feeling that though things had become very silly, Hasbro was still trying to appeal to kids. The Lunatrix aliens might not be very good G.I.Joe action figures but they do display an element of creativity and i hope to have them some day.
The stupid brother of Predator!
😉