The Power of Packaging: Cobra Jet Pack
In the world of collecting, there’s a term I find very interesting: focus. Considering that my GI Joe collection spans the breadth of the 70s through the modern day, I’ve not paid much attention to honing in on one particular area. I’ve had thoughts of starting a 1991 Snake Eyes focus, but have yet to follow through on it.
Looking at package art tonight, I was hit with the idea that if I collected packaged items, my focus could be in incongruous pairings of characters and vehicles. Case in point: Crystal Ball and the Cobra Jet Pack. Why are these two together? Because both were released in ’87? Most likely. In the end, it’s an interesting partnership. Now I’m off to catalog who appeared with what from 1982 to 1994.
1987 madness!
Even though he’s not on the packaging for it, the commercials made it clear the Buzz Boar was Crystal Ball’s ride. And who’s gonna turn down a free Fridge figure? I know I didn’t. Thank God.
That’s funny. Because I have always associated the Buzz Boar, and the Pogo Ballistic Battle Ball, with the 87 Cobra Commander. Or was that supposed to be Fred VII? And the Fridge figure, should have come with a helmet molded in the same blue color of the figure’s shirt. They could have either made a helmet that looked like a football helmet, or repaint the helmet from the 1985 Crankcase figure, which actually fits on the Fridge’s head o.k. And if the Hasbro folks would have just reused Crankcase’s helmet instead of making a new one for the Fridge, they would have saved some money on that. And the Fridge’s weapon, should have been made like the way that it looked in the animated commercial. Those two things would have made the figure better, I think.
I’m sure Crystal Ball uses supernatural powers to deflect bugs from splatting in his face. Man, that Jet Pack is intense! GIJoe got away with a light pack in the JUMP, but Cobra goes all out by strapping two turbines and FOUR 20mm cannons to a guy!
Yeah, I remember my 1991 Snake Eyes figure. My first Snake Eyes figure ever, and the only one that I had back then when I was young. At least, design wise, it wasn’t as ugly as the one that came after it. But it was the colors that seemed wrong on it. The almost Cobra blue color, and those neon pink glasses. The first ever colorful Snake Eyes, and I got stuck with it, somehow. I really wanted the 89 version, but I could not find it around late 1990, when I got back into collecting G.I. Joe for the second time in my life. And by 1991, I was still trying to find it, but, it didn’t happen. Anyway, this Cobra Jet Pack looks weird to me. Especially, because of those very short looking wings. It also looks bulky, or too big for a figure to be posed with it on it’s back while standing up. And the color on it is so 1987. Maybe if this jet pack had been made with longer wings, and in a different color, like maybe in white, it would have looked better. And it probably would have been then a good replacement for the first cobra jet pack, the Cobra C.L.A.W. Does anybody know the reason why this jet pack, and so many other vehicles from 1987, did not appeared in G.I. Joe The Movie? They could have at least used the Cobra Wolf, which would have been the perfect snow vehicle for Cobra in that movie. At it would have made a lot of sense appearing in that movie.
Most of the stuff [especially on the cobra front] didn’t appear in the movie as production begin well before the Transformers movie. Even the characters from 1987 don’t get to do much [the ‘recruits’ are barely characterised]. I’ll have to talk to Buzz Dixon about it on Facebook, though he’s probably sick of hearing about it after 29 years.
Sorry for taking too long, but I just wanted to thank you for the information. I wish that I could ask Buzz Dixon those questions myself, but I don’t have Facebook, or anything else like that. Anyway, there is a photo of him on the internet, in which he looks just like Sgt. Slaughter, with a mustache, and wearing glasses.
I think the movie was produced ahead of many/most designs of 1987 vehicles & figures, so that’s why not too much of the new stuff was in there.
Thank you for the information.
“Now Iām off to catalog who appeared with what from 1982 to 1994.”
There’s a thin line between focus and obsession. š
The Jet Pack wasn’t as memorable as many of 1987’s other vehicles, obviously the big Cobra ones (Sea Ray, Wolf, Mamba, Maggot), but also the smaller ones (Buzz Boar, Pogo Ballistic Battle Ball). It notches higher than the connector piece Road Toad or the army green portapotty Coastal Defender though. It wasn’t as cool in look as the CLAW.
I presume Crystal Ball was on it because they wanted to use him for something and it didn’t make sense for Raptor to be flying with a jet pack.
”Crystal Ball/Cobra Jet Pack.A combination in terror for the mind.”
They left him on the artwork for the European release, even though Crystal Ball wasn’t sold in Europe.
They didn’t change a lot of the early artwork for Hasbro’s Action Force, but they did replace Recondo, Gung-Ho and Roadblock with Shipwreck, Flint and Beach-Head for the WHALE box, but left Tripwire and the Grunts in the windows.
South America changed some, like for the red water moccasin and Rage.