The Forgotten Vehicles

[toonces]

i recently picked up the mark bellomo guide to gi joe and was blown away by some of the post 1987 vehicles. i was only into joes at it's height (1984-1987), so i always assumed that i had seen the best there was to offer, especially after seeing all the silly neon colored figs. anyway, i just wondered if some of these huge and complicated vehicles are rare or hard to find. i never see any of them on ebay, and i never see anyone here ever talk about them or see them customized either. here are a few examples of some larger ones that i think are cool, but there a bunch of medium size vehicles that rival anything from the first 5 years. are they just less popular because they generally rely less on real-world designs?

 

 

Phantom X-19

 

Rolling Thunder

 

Thunderclap

 

General

[cobrasaboteur]

Rolling thunder complete can fetch $80+...it has a lot of parts and pieces. The general is the same way. The phantom actually doesnt have that many pieces and can be had fairly cheap. There are some cool later vehicles for sure!

 

-saboteur

[pesatyel]

Yeah, some of those 90s molds were pretty nice, especially if you dumped the neon.

 

The Shark 9000, for example.

[toonces]

Yeah, some of those 90s molds were pretty nice, especially if you dumped the neon.

 

The Shark 9000, for example.

 

 

but are these hard to find, and do collectors like them? i can't seem to find out any info on them other than that they exist.

[Prime2099]

I had the Phantom when i was younger and it was pretty sweet. I really don't remember much about it though, and actually don't see it on ebay alot though which is kinda surprising.

[pesatyel]

Yeah, some of those 90s molds were pretty nice, especially if you dumped the neon.

 

The Shark 9000, for example.

 

 

but are these hard to find, and do collectors like them? i can't seem to find out any info on them other than that they exist.

 

The 90s vehicles are not terribly hard to find. The only acception I've found so far is the Sonic Apache (I've only ever seen TWO).

 

The Hammerhead and Hurricane can go for a LOT usually. Most of the smaller vehicles like the Ice Snake and Badger tend to top out at $15.

[hamsterboy]

Phantom X-19 was okay but I always had issues closing the canopy. Never owned the Rolling Thunder. Friend of mine did and I was jealous of it. Thunder Clap is easily one of the more underrated of the vehicles. How can you not like the fact it can eject giant artillery shells? The General is underrated as well. All of those sounds it makes,the headlights on it,all of the cool weapons,it's another vehicle that shoots shells.And throw in the fact you get a bonus Locust vehicle,what's not to love?

[CLAM]

two of my favorite vehicles are the Desert Fox and the Warthog... the Desert Fox especially usually goes without much attention.

 

as for some cool vehicles from the later years.

 

General - I have it and its amazing. very massive.

Rolling Thunder - my favorite when I got it, but the huge missles kinda of take too much of it up.

 

 

the Hurricane, Hammerhead, and Bug can get quite expensive. I love them all. The Bug could be one of the besvehicles ever, if they just ditched the neon.

[toonces]

two of my favorite vehicles are the Desert Fox and the Warthog... the Desert Fox especially usually goes without much attention.

 

as for some cool vehicles from the later years.

 

General - I have it and its amazing. very massive.

Rolling Thunder - my favorite when I got it, but the huge missles kinda of take too much of it up.

 

 

the Hurricane, Hammerhead, and Bug can get quite expensive. I love them all. The Bug could be one of the besvehicles ever, if they just ditched the neon.

 

i just about put the bugg as one of my examples, but i didn't know it was expensive. nobody has said yet if the vehicles from 88-90 are harder to find (i.e. were released in lesser quantities) than the earlier stuff. i suspect so, but i just don't know.

[pesatyel]

two of my favorite vehicles are the Desert Fox and the Warthog... the Desert Fox especially usually goes without much attention.

 

as for some cool vehicles from the later years.

 

General - I have it and its amazing. very massive.

Rolling Thunder - my favorite when I got it, but the huge missles kinda of take too much of it up.

 

 

the Hurricane, Hammerhead, and Bug can get quite expensive. I love them all. The Bug could be one of the besvehicles ever, if they just ditched the neon.

 

i just about put the bugg as one of my examples, but i didn't know it was expensive. nobody has said yet if the vehicles from 88-90 are harder to find (i.e. were released in lesser quantities) than the earlier stuff. i suspect so, but i just don't know.

 

 

The 88-90 stuff is fairly common, I think.

 

Cobra vehicles tend to be on the expensive side, especially ones like the Bugg, Hurricane, and Hammerhead.

Large joe vehicles can be pricy too, especially the General, Rolling Thunder, Thundercllap (overrated), and Crusader.

Vehicles with drivers sometimes fluctuate (ie. WITH the driver you pay more). The H.I.S.S. II and Phantom do that.

Smaller vehicles rarely go past $15.

 

Basically, except for a few rarites (I've only ever seen TWO of the Sonic Apaches and Night Force stuff can get hella-expensive) none of the late 80s/90s stuff is all that hard to find.

 

Best thing to remember is that, with patience, EVERYTHING will show up (again).

[MUNDO]

I'm a big fan of the Cobra jet pack #joecool#

[boff123]

cobra owns the water vehicles! the bugg is freaking sweet! great vehicle! the hammerhead is nice too, seems like an updated bugg.

 

cobra rage is one of my favorites as well, for a small vehicle you can hook up 8 guys on the thing.

[Viper Hunter]

I always thought the Detonator (from the later years) was a cool Cobra vehicle. Like ALWAYS in that era, they crapped'em out with ridiculous color schemes, but it was fairly decent in it's design and playability. I've got both the original and the Funskool version.

 

 

The '92 EARTHQUAKE (the Cobra bulldozer) I thought was an ingenious idea for a vehicle and looked wicked as hell, and I imagined scenarios of Cobra's or Dreadnoks plowing thru the Joes in that thing, like some scene from the movie Soylent Green. It was crap'inated by the typical color scheme though, but what a hunk of FUN plastic vehicle.

 

'93 had the Detonator of course, and it also carried the SHARK 9000, MUDBUSTER, ICE SNAKE and the much loved MONSTER BLASTER APC!! Actually a DAMN good year for vehicles, and only the color schemes were questionable on any of them, but overall...I liked all those and have about 3 of those MUDBUSTERS (no..I'm not using it for BIG BRAWLERS ride @smilepunch@ ).

 

'94 only had the BLOCKBUSTER snow vehicle and that helicopter on a string RAZOR BLADE which I thought was cool and FUN!

 

I get my stuff out of my sisters storage, and I'm going to have to get'em out, dust'em off, and do some ACTION shots of'em!

[ARROW]

The '92 EARTHQUAKE (the Cobra bulldozer) I thought was an ingenious idea for a vehicle and looked wicked as hell, and I imagined scenarios of Cobra's or Dreadnoks plowing thru the Joes in that thing, like some scene from the movie Soylent Green. It was crap'inated by the typical color scheme though, but what a hunk of FUN plastic vehicle.

 

And therein could have been a theme for Dreadnok vehicles; instead of just motorcycles--they could roll around in retreaded/refitted construction vehicles! Imagine dump trucks, steam rollers, cranes and other stuff with machine gun ports and missile launchers--all armored up in the Dreadnoks style. Maybe could have made it a sub-line for Dreadnoks called CITY-SMASHERS or something like that.

 

 

 

You could have a JUMP truck--a dump truck with a catapulting aircraft in its flat bed.

The SCREAM-ROLLER, with a giant spiked rolling wheel.

The FLAK-Hoe--back-end shoveller with anti-aircraft guns mounted on the arm.

The DEGRADER--a grader with chopping blades.

The SMACK-HAMMERS-one-man walkers with jack-hammering spikes for feet.

The SPY-CRANE--a Dreadnoks command post with extendible crane, topped with sensors, RADAR and weapons.

 

But back to the existing vehicles......I loved designs like the Phantom X-19 and the General. Also dug stuff like the Desert Fox--which was a reasonably designed "jeep". I liked the Retaliator too, even if it didn't make a whole lot of sense--it just looked cool.

I liked Destro's Dominator too--again, it made no sense ( like the STUN and about 90% of the rest of the COBRA inventory...), but it looked really neat with the Despoiler and Destro on top. Come to think of it, the new 25th Ann. Destro would probably look pretty neat in the Despoiler.

[Rama Sha]

I always wanted, and still want the X-19. I just love the look of that thing. It looked like the Joe counterpart to the Night Raven.

[Viper Hunter]

The '92 EARTHQUAKE (the Cobra bulldozer) I thought was an ingenious idea for a vehicle and looked wicked as hell, and I imagined scenarios of Cobra's or Dreadnoks plowing thru the Joes in that thing, like some scene from the movie Soylent Green. It was crap'inated by the typical color scheme though, but what a hunk of FUN plastic vehicle.

 

And therein could have been a theme for Dreadnok vehicles; instead of just motorcycles--they could roll around in retreaded/refitted construction vehicles! Imagine dump trucks, steam rollers, cranes and other stuff with machine gun ports and missile launchers--all armored up in the Dreadnoks style. Maybe could have made it a sub-line for Dreadnoks called CITY-SMASHERS or something like that.

 

 

 

You could have a JUMP truck--a dump truck with a catapulting aircraft in its flat bed.

The SCREAM-ROLLER, with a giant spiked rolling wheel.

The FLAK-Hoe--back-end shoveller with anti-aircraft guns mounted on the arm.

The DEGRADER--a grader with chopping blades.

The SMACK-HAMMERS-one-man walkers with jack-hammering spikes for feet.

The SPY-CRANE--a Dreadnoks command post with extendible crane, topped with sensors, RADAR and weapons.

 

 

@lol@ Sounds good to me!

 

 

Another rarely mentioned vehicle i thought was fun, although a little bulky maybe, but had some cool features to it, was the Battle Wagon...

 

 

 

I ended up painting all the blue on mine Chrome, and it looks much better. Still works as good as the day I bought it. I NEVER leave batteries in these things, so they dont corrode.

[tunnelrat88]

I've been a fan of the ninties vehicles. The Rage works as a cool urban tank (wish I had more of them). I'm also a big fan of the Parasite (I have 3 of them). If you recolor it it works amazingly well as a troop carrier, despite the single stamp and open turret.

[pesatyel]

I've been a fan of the ninties vehicles. The Rage works as a cool urban tank (wish I had more of them). I'm also a big fan of the Parasite (I have 3 of them). If you recolor it it works amazingly well as a troop carrier, despite the single stamp and open turret.

 

The Parasite (which is a troop carrier) doesn't work as a troop carrier if not recolored? @smilepunch@

[hamsterboy]

Yeah the Rage was a sweet little vehicle. A nice replacement to the Stun. At least I thought so. Now that I think of it,the Mobile Battle Bunker and the Barracuda weren't that bad either.

[toonces]

I always thought the Detonator (from the later years) was a cool Cobra vehicle. Like ALWAYS in that era, they crapped'em out with ridiculous color schemes, but it was fairly decent in it's design and playability. I've got both the original and the Funskool version.

 

 

The '92 EARTHQUAKE (the Cobra bulldozer) I thought was an ingenious idea for a vehicle and looked wicked as hell, and I imagined scenarios of Cobra's or Dreadnoks plowing thru the Joes in that thing, like some scene from the movie Soylent Green. It was crap'inated by the typical color scheme though, but what a hunk of FUN plastic vehicle.

 

'93 had the Detonator of course, and it also carried the SHARK 9000, MUDBUSTER, ICE SNAKE and the much loved MONSTER BLASTER APC!! Actually a DAMN good year for vehicles, and only the color schemes were questionable on any of them, but overall...I liked all those and have about 3 of those MUDBUSTERS (no..I'm not using it for BIG BRAWLERS ride @smilepunch@ ).

 

'94 only had the BLOCKBUSTER snow vehicle and that helicopter on a string RAZOR BLADE which I thought was cool and FUN!

 

I get my stuff out of my sisters storage, and I'm going to have to get'em out, dust'em off, and do some ACTION shots of'em!

 

i'd really like to see those action shots.

[Ren]

I picked up a complete General at a flea market last year, so they are out there. The rolling thunder and Phantom x-19 were some of the last Joe vehicles I got when I was a kid and I loved them, can't believe all the joe stuff I lost over the years.

[GIJoeKing65]

I'd like to pick up the Phantom if I can find it in the dealers room at a decent price. I really like the paint schemes (camo pattern) on the Thunderbolt (A-10) and Conquest X-30 from 97 and 98 ( i think that si the years...) but I can't get myself to spend the cash they go for on ebay.

[la eternidad dura un momento]

The Patriot

 

 

 

is very awfu

[Bar]

I always wanted, and still want the X-19. I just love the look of that thing. It looked like the Joe counterpart to the Night Raven.

 

It's a sweet craft for sure.

I managed to snag a couple of incomplete copies fairly cheaply on Ebay a while back, and slowy accumulated the ancillary parts to get them back into shape.

I plan to customise at least one into a modern-day Navy paintscheme(After filling in all the panel gaps and re-scribing them).

There's one on Ebay right now with no bids(Although it has a while to go...).

Bar.

[Glaken]

I went through an ebay spree a few years ago buying vehicles I stumbled on to that I'd never seen before on ebay. I got the Thunderbolt with Hawk & Ace, that's probably my favorite "forgotten" one. I also got 2 X-19, neither one 100% complete. Actually got them pretty cheap. Got a night raven, a couple of partial sky strikers. I got an X-30 Conquest and an Apache (that's one crappy ship).

 

Anyway, there's a lot of cool stuff out there and I think there's also a lot of cool stuff coming out now from other folks. Chap-Mei's putting out some neat stuff now and I plan on getting the A-10 they put out and hopefully some other stuff. I'm wondering if Hasbro will put out some new vehicles as part of the 25th line. I'd love to see them do a Vamp and a sky Striker or something.