impel trading cards – Page 2

The Right of Might, the Left of Rockets?

We have another Rocket Man for you today. Yes, that’s right, a man, suck it Mr. Sitterson. Impel Trading Card # 67 features Salvo.

In the Marvel Comics, he first appeared in issue #114. He is part of a large scale operation against Cobra forces in the Benzheen. To say that the guy is a bit buffed would be an understatement. I guess you’ll need a lot of muscle to carry around a 4-stage TOW rocket launcher.

As a Joe of the 90’s, he is however mostly remembered from the DIC cartoon series. He plays a significant part in at least 5 episodes. He gets brainwashed by Cobra, gets to attack Destro’s vulcano base and he helps to stop Cobra’s sun-cream and poison gas from Earth. Gotta love that nineties creativity. Though DIC may have tried to do it cheap, they always replenished Salvo’s rockets between shots 🙂

There have been 3 official figure releases of Salvo over the years, originally from 1990, later in 2005 and then the v3 in 2017 as part of the Club’s FSS 5.0. Most notably on the figures is his bald head (v2 gave him hair!) and the shirt with “The Right of Might” printed on it. I got the original figure as a kid. I know the 90’s Joes get some flack from the community, but you have to admit that they did come with a lot of accessories. Salvo came with a removable helmet, a briefcase, rocket launcher/backpack, 5 missiles, a mine launching type of gun and 5 mines. I’d really like to see toys being this complete nowadays in the stores.

Next time around you might want to put on some thermal underwear, not to get into the guy’s codename, but it sounds painful.

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Is the typewriter mightier than the missile launcher?

I guess the time of pen and sword are behind us, although I still use a fountain pen for my daily work notes. Still, we keep on using the pen and sword metaphor. This week, we have arrived at Impel Trading Card #66, the man who can type faster than his shadow, Fast Draw.

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I guess this guy is the Joe equivalent for Cobra’s Mr. Bang Bang (well technically, he’s an Iron Grenadier, so Destro’s private army, but he was employed by CC, so I’m counting him as a Cobra). The difference between these 2 rocket men, is that Fast Draw has hand controls for his missiles, where Metal Head (a.k.a. Number One – yes, that’s a Star Trek reference) is shouting like a complete idiot.

Enough about that, the figure (yes, just the one release again, although the club recently announced they are releasing an updated version in the FSS 8.0) was released in 1987. I honestly couldn’t tell you if I have the figure in my collection. I’m guessing I do, but since all of my Joes are still boxed up, there’s no way to be sure… I guess my entire collection is a bit like Schrodinger’s cat at the moment. I have something or I don’t, there’s really no certainty these days 🙂

The first appearance of Fast Draw in the comic books (Marvel run), is in #60 I believe, where he is part of the group of Law & Order, Lt. Falcon & Chuckles, who kidnap General Hawk whilst believing they are actually members of G.I. Joe. A bit of a filler issue, after that, the whole Borovia story starts to unfold, oh and – SPOILER ALERT – CC gets shot (issue #61, amazing cover art).

I don’t think Fast Draw gets any (explicit) action in the cartoons, he may be in the background somewhere, but I don’t recollect him at all.

A bit of a shorter post this time, but there just isn’t a lot I can say about this guy. If he were here, he probably would be able to talk some more about his clerk typing specialities, but I won’t go into that right now.

Next time, we’ll have another man (or is it woman nowadays?) with a lot of firepower on his/her back.

Until then, YoJoe and Happy Collecting!

Oh and Happy Mother’s Day to all our fantastic mothers who bought us our first Joes to play with!

Darling, it’s better down where it’s wetter…

Yeah, that title is straight out of a Disney movie title song. I swear. Google it!

It is kind of appropriate for the #61 Impel Trading Card we will take a look at today. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Wet-Suit.

Although I was born and raised in a small seaside town, I’m not a huge fan of swimming and diving. So aquatic themed Joes/Cobras and their vehicles don’t rock my boat (pardon the pun). The only exceptions are probably the Cobra BUGG and Hammerhead. How cool are those? Totally non-functional, but boy do they look good.

Back to today’s Joe though, Wet-Suit is a Navy Seal. Best of the best, toughest of the toughest. Obviously, this guy would be a member of the G.I. Joe team. One of my all-time favorite stories is the one told in Special Missions #1. Wet-Suit is part of the team that is sent undercover into the Baltic Sea to extract a Russian defector. The story really pulls you in and the twist at the end is just sublime.

In the cartoons, the most remarkable feature of Wet-Suit is his constant rivalry with Leatherneck, portraying that of Navy vs Marines. I do believe that Wet-Suit entered an Ultimate Fighter kinda tournament, but it was a Cobra scheme. Details are a little foggy, I need to rewatch the Sunbow series again pretty soon.

As far as the figures go, I only have the v4 from 1993 out of the 12 figures made. The bright orange and black design does look quite good. As for the other figures, well, like I said, the nautical thing doesn’t really do it for me, so I’m not actively looking to add more divers to my Joe collection, but that doesn’t mean, I’ll let them sink 🙂 Maybe when I get my very own USS Flagg, I’ll add more water Joes to my collection. That’s right, it says ‘when’, not ‘if’. Positive thinking people!

Before I leave you remembering someone that looked better in a wetsuit than Wet-Suit. Don’t get too enthusiastic or overzealous for the next post…

Now, as promised, Miss Lara Croft sporting a wetsuit.

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Let there be light!

Our whole universe was in a hot, dense state
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started, wait
The earth began to cool, the autotrophs began to drool
Neanderthals developed tools
We built a wall (we built the pyramids)
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries
That all started with the big bang!

Our Cobra specialist featured on the Impel Trading Card #38 is a huge fan of big bangs. I present to you, Firefly, Cobra saboteur.

No one knows Firefly’s true identity, his name or what he looks like. He started working with Cobra since the very beginning of the organization. Firefly was first contacted by Cobra Commander to assassinate Snake-Eyes, who CC blamed for the death of his brother. Firefly soon realized he was no match for Snake-Eyes. Zartan was brought into the fold to deal with it, but because the Hard Master was impersonating Snake-Eyes, the arrow that was meant for him struck the Hard Master instead. Storm Shadow was blamed and thus began the whole Arashikage story arc from ARAH.

Firefly was again involved with the death of another Arashikage Master, the Soft Master. Firefly and Scrap-Iron chased the Soft Master when he arrived in Springfield trying to find the killer of his brother. They launched two missiles at the Soft Master, killing him, Candy, some random (drunk) dude and wounding Billy (CC’s son).

After the real CC returned, he locked most of his insubordinate crew into a landlocked freighter which got buried under the volcano. Firefly escaped by letting B.A.T.’s dig a tunnel. He brainwashed the Red Ninjas – which used to be Arashikage members. Snake-Eyes eventually liberated them and they chased after Firefly looking for vengeance. Firefly was assumed to be death. Firefly does reappear in the Devil’s Due continuity and both the America’s Elite and Reloaded series.

My first memories of the character are from the Special Missions comic #1 in which he aids the Baroness in finding the supposed sunken sub in the Baltic Sea. I had this comic book as a kid, the Dutch translation in TPB, and it was my only Joe comic book back then. Needless to say, I read it a gazillion times.

In the cartoons, Firefly is a side character. This changes in the Sigma Six run, where he actually joins the Joes. Throughout the first half of the second season, it’s hinted that there is a spy with the Joes. Eventually, the spy is revealed to be Firefly, who traps the team and turns them over to Cobra. Lt. Stone attempts to convince him it is not too late to side with the Joes, but Firefly is insulted by the offer. He shaves his head as a sign of his loyalty to Cobra, and after a climatic battle with Lt. Stone, leaves with Cobra Commander.Firefly has another small role in the Resolute movie and is featured in one of the Renegades’ episodes, portrayed as a pyromaniacal arsonist that wears a mask to hide burn scars on his face. He is hired by Cobra to burn down the town of Green Ridge but is thwarted by the Renegade Joes. At the end, his helicopter is seen crashing into a cliff, leaving the viewers wondering whether he actually died or not…

In the live action movie Retaliation, Ray Stevenson portrays Firefly. Stevenson revealed in an interview that Firefly is an ex-Joe. His codename in this version stems from his trademark weapon system, insectoid robot drones which he uses to surreptitiously deliver explosive charges. The character was not supposed to wear his mask, but the actor, who researched the character and became a fan of the original Firefly, lobbied to be shown wearing it in some scenes. While trying to activate a satellite for Cobra Commander he is attacked by Roadblock who causes the drones to explode on Firefly.

There have been 28 renditions of the Firefly character made into action figures. Starting in 1984 with the original gray camouflaged version. Later versions changed his colors to green, light gray, red, purple, blue, black only to return back to the dark gray for the 50th-anniversary edition in 2015, the figure being released with Bazooka and Dusty.

That’s it for now. Next time we go back to the beginning. Something in the lines of the painting below, The Last Suffer by NYC Artist Paul Hecker, but then with good guys 🙂

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Open wide!

Hold on to your dentures and prepare to have your minds bent like never before. This post will showcase our beloved orthodontist, evil genius (ahem), proficient in genetics, cloning, engineering and all things science, you name it, he can do it! The Impel Trading Card # 37, presents Dr. Mindbender.

Dr. Mindbender was brought into the Cobra fold to replace the departed Dr. Venom. He introduced us to the B.A.T.s and his 6-pack in Marvel comic # 44. Personally I can’t begin to think what Larry Hama was thinking when he created this figure with a pornstache, monocle, no shirt, suspenders and a purple cape. Would be funny if he based it on his personal dentist. Funny and a bit creepy maybe. During his time with Cobra, he switches side more than once, serving Cobra Commander, Serpentor and even Fred VII. He dies of botulism when he is buried with several other traitors when Cobra Commander (the real deal) rises back to power. Eventually Dr. Mindbender was cloned and served Cobra Commander again.

After Dr. Venom’s demise, a gap within Cobra needed to be filled and I must admit that Dr. Mindbender sure did just that. As Cobras chief scientist, he was crucial to all kinds of wacky schemes Cobra Commander released in the world. He made several additions to the Brainwave Scanner and created the B.A.T.s. His greatest achievement however is the creation of Serpentor, based on the DNA of several of the world’s greatest warriors and a little bit of Storm Shadow baked in him. Together with Destro, he searched and raided the tombs of men like Napoleon, Genghis Khan, Julius Ceasar, count Dracula and some others. I’m sure that it wouldn’t be considered politically correct to have mentioned Hitler, but face it, Dr. Mindbender would have put some of that madman into Serpentor.

The same story is used in the animated series, where Mindbender creates Serpentor because he feels Cobra desperately needs a leader that inspires courage in its troops. Safe to say, Cobra “Retreat” Commander is lacking a bit here.

In Spy Troops, he created new and improved B.A.T.’s and has begun research on the Venom Troopers. When the Cobra base gets destroyed, he loses his research. Said research is rebuilt and in Valor vs Venom, Mindbender turns General Hawk into Venomous Maximus, a creature so powerful he quickly seizes power of Cobra with the help of Overkill. (Rehashing a story I believe this is called…). Venomous Maximus received his own Trading Card in the 2004 Wizards set G.I. Joe vs Cobra (actually he was packed with the DVD/VHS – remember that kids? – and was not sold seperately).

See what I did here, another Trading Card. This series will eventually make it to the blog when I have been able to complete the set. If you can help me get the final missing cards, check out my needs list! Eternal gratitude will be upon thee.

In the Riso of Cobra movie, we get to see Dr. Mindbender with a full set of glasses and a shirt on. He locks himself up in his lab, together with the man who would become Cobra Commander, when the lab is getting bombed. He passes his knowledge to Rex (the brother of the Baroness) and so the whole nano-mites story and Cobra begins. The actor portraying Dr. Mindbender is the same one that played Beni Gabor in The Mummy (the 1999 movie, aka the good one). His character is described as a lying, cheating, obsequious, arrogant, greedy, cunning, cowardly, deceptive, avaricious, sycophantic, manipulative, subservient, and thoroughly unpleasant little man. Perfect for Cobra 🙂

As far as the action figures go, Dr. Mindbender has seen 7 incarnations. The first one from 1986, is the iconic look from the comics. Bare chested with a cape showing the Cobra sigil and monocle. In 1993 (the crazy 90’s), Mindbender got bright yellow pants and a shirt. The 3rd and 4th version from 2002 and 2003 show him with an open shirt and some very serious cleavage. V5 of 2004 teleports the doc into the 21st century, giving him sharp spectacles and a lab coat. Version 6 of 2009 was released as part of the Defense of Cobra Island set and brought the old look of the cape wearing, bare-chested maniac back. And finally, in 2015, the Collector’s Club released an Arctic version of the Doctor, sporting a purple coat with white fur lining.

I was a bit surprised when I noticed that I actually have most of these figures in my collection. I’m only missing the 93 and 09 version. The doc doesn’t come to mind when I think of my favorite characters, but the more I think about it, the more I like the guy. The fact that he is still a character in the comics is great (although technically he is a clone) and he’s still Cobra’s main science guy. Not too shabby for an orthodontist turned crazy.

That’s all for now, join me next time when we take on a classic American space western drama television show… wait that’s not right. Damn you Google! Anyway, until next time!

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!