Rapid-Fire (1990)
I normally try to be positive about these things, but a gentle word of warning–I’m having a real hard time with this one. Rapid Fire is the ultimate Joe copy-and-paste job, and an all around odd figure. First off, he was a total repaint of Super Trooper, the ridiculous 1988 mail-in. He was also the only figure to include a free VHS video tape of a cartoon episode. Since it was the DIC Revenge of the Pharaohs episode, it’s a good thing it was free. Coincidentally (most likely not) Rapid-Fire himself was named after one of the DIC producers as well.
I imagine that when the Joes’ Super Trooper didn’t pan out in 1988, they needed to come up with another guy to be super awesome. In stepped Rapid-Fire, the fast attack expert. Once they found him, came the job of outfitting Captain Rapid (he is a captain, by the way). There must have been some leftover Super Trooper armor sitting in a corner, so they painted it neon green and off he went, to attack things fast.
Normally I go on and on about how much effort was put into the file cards, and how it really helped to create a universe and separate the Joe line from others of the time, but I gotta call bull-hockey on this one. The file card takes Super Trooper’s bio (itself a ridiculous mess) and replaces a word here and there. They even made this guy a Medal of Honor recipient. Holy cow! On second thought, instead of Rapid-Fire he should have been called Really Super Trooper or Super Duper Trooper.
As an added bonus, here’s a bit of info deleted from his file card due to space concerns: From the files of Gen. Hawk–“I was skeptical at first about his neon green armor and helmet, and orange kneepads but he’s fast–expertly so, in fact– that no one notices . He’s just a blur, man!”
Way to keep it real, JoeADay! If tellin’ the truth is wrong, don’t try to be right!
Clearly, Hawk was no visionary when it came to neon. Hasbro should have just have thrown in Super Trooper proper along with the VHS tape. It’s not as if RF actually appears in it or anything. At least ST had shiny chrome paint going for him ala Silverhawks and Captain Power. (Huge fan of chrome here!) Even weirder is how Claymore and Rumbler are basically Footloose re-hashes and they both go for major bucks among collectors. Go figure…
Poor crappy guy, but I love him, since he stay in my collection!
Believe it or not, I hope there’s a revamp of this guy (that is, if Hasbro makes an updated version of the Super Trooper). Just not so neon and rewrite the file card (as well as tone it down).
Rapid fire was a waste of plastic. The figure mold itself I don’t hate, but the colors on this were far worse than any ’90’s era Joe that followed. I certainly hope that neon green chest armor can stop a bullet, because he’s an easy target
(continuing my quest to get through all the classic ARAH reviews…)
Are you sure the VHS tape was ‘free’? I thought Rapid-Fire/Revenge of the Pharaohs had a much higher price (like the highest price for anything GI Joe put on cardback). VHS tapes with stuff on them were so absurdly overpriced then. I don’t think stores ordered very many. I think it came out around Fall 1990, later in the year (of course, that may have been the only time the cartoon episode was ready).
I can envision only 2 situations where Rapid Fire had appropriate attire- Cobra attacking a glowstick factory or Cobra turning vast swaths of the arctic into giant fields of mint ice cream. That would be a DIC kind of plot…
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