Spearhead and Max (1988)
Spearhead and Max are a weird, inexplicable pair. First, there’s the weird, inexplicable colors. Spearhead wears the orangiest of camo patterns. I don’t know what alien planet’s vegetation he’s meant to blend into, but he’s certainly not bland. Even his backpack is orange. Was somebody colorblind at Hasbro?
The fit of accessories was an important feature in the small Joe line. Helmets, weapons and the like usually conformed to the packaging’s claims of “snap on, stay on” but a few here and there didn’t quite measure up. Spearhead’s helmet stays on, but boy does it look strange. It has to be one of the most strangely fitting helmets of the era, sitting high up on his head, and being quite tall. Again, weird.
Even his hands are odd. Most of the Real American Hero figures have the same basic shape of hand, particularly for a non-gloved hand. Spearhead’s hands are longer and wider than most, and don’t taper naturally at the wrist. They appear to he swollen, compared to others. Maybe he got into some poison sumac and had a bad reaction. Most definitely weird.
If you’re a collector of the new sculpt era, you’ll recognize the rifle. It was used many times throughout the 2000’s, both as a regular weapon, and adapted to the Sound Attack gimmick. Even without a protruding tab, the weapon is very large and imposing. His machete, which looks like something that might come out of Mordor, is equally large and deadly.
The later Night Force repaint looked moderately better, but the mold issues still remained. Spearhead is just a weird looking GI Joe overall. Finally, the most weird and inexplicable element is Max, the bobcat. Max doesn’t get much mention in the file card, except to say that he inspires those who follow Spearhead into battle, and that he’s described as a mad cat. So, is Max a mascot, or a combatant? Weird.
Spearhead looks like he forgot to wash off the mud from the spa before hopping in the Tomahawk and joining the Joe team.
Meanwhile Max resembles a chewed up buffalo wing.
Strange indeed.
We agree completely on this one. For 1988, this one was way ahead of his time… in terms of gaudy colors and odd molds. Did we ever see these two in action in the comic?
Spearhead and Max were in an issue of the Special Missions comic, the one where they, Airtight, Charbroil, and Tunnel Rat travel through the New York sewer system.
Maybe if they did brown instead of orange, there’d be less complaints.
Also, I don’t see Max’s inclusion as an issue–everyone knows Honey West had an Ocelot named Bruce, right?
This is one of my favorite Special Missions issues, mostly due to the unusual quartet Larry Hama chose for his story. It was Spearhead’s only chance at the spotlight, one of Charbroil’s few appearances, and a rare prominent role for Airtight after the Sunbow cartoon had run its course.
This was one of the few figures I ever gave my older brother crap about. I just never understood what was with all the orange. Maybe he’s an elite construction site flagman…that’s the only reason I can think of for that much orange on a guy.
You gotta love his filecard: The only Joe to join the army out of guilt for being a successful insurance salesman.
I briefly went back to collecting Joes thanks to the 1988 roster and Spearhead is among my favorites. Helmet aside, he’s easily one of the taller, if not the tallest of the Joes. I’d say right about ’83 Destro’s height. This might explain his hands. In fact, his weapons, helmet, and backpack are all extremely BIG. I didn’t mind the orange camo at all but expected more paint app love for such a highly detailed torso.
Being point-man, I think his big size fits as he is going to be the first to discover and be discovered by anyone who is out there.
I think his big gun makes total sense, as he is going to hold his own until everyone else can come up behind him.
I think the file card makes him seem like a natural, likeable leader.
Despite the low rank, do you think Spearhead could have been a replacement for Duke?
Yeah, the torso’s lack of painting is kind of a shocker considering he’s from the Class of 88.
Without the orange he’d be near perfect.
His base color is peach, so even painting the orange differently doesn’t help. I do, however, like the figure design. Seems tall for a point man, though. And is there a real-world precedent for a selective fire bullet-grenade/slug machine gun? Why the two magazines??
Sword reminded me of an acient Roman gladius.
They need to do a modern version that captures the original card art, with chin strap and tough as nails look on Spearhead’s face.
love Spearhead’s Gun (in my opinion is one of the best of all times, mold wise) and knife. The colors are hard to get through but when you do, i really enjoy this figure is some strange way…i think it’s setting the line up for all those strange color joes of the later era
Awesome review!
Cougar sidekicks have been lacking in recent G.I. Joe.
It’s a bobcat.
I remember Max being a nice surprise since the card back artwork didn’t mention or show him. You only found out about the pack-in once you’d spotted the actual figure on the shelves.
You read my mind on this guy. The art was great and made me anticipate a great figure. But what a disappointment!
My old Spearhead’s hand still has the indentation where I bit him as a kid to slightly close his knife holding hand!