Barbecue (1989)
The Slaughter’s Marauders figures are some of the strangest repaints in all the 82-94 series. While the large swaths of color, along with bright blue accents, made the figures stand out against other figures, the patterns themselves seemed rather pointless.
Of all the Marauders however, Barbecue’s color scheme seems to lend itself well to the mold. Maybe it’s just the blue helmet and shoulders, and the blue leg straps, but the large camo stripes just seem to work better here. The bold colors on Barbecue seem to be more suited to a training outfit than combat gear. So if you don’t want to use the figure as Barbecue, he could be used as a new firefighter trainee within the Joe ranks.
I’ve actually started to come around to finding something to like about the Marauder paint schemes. Granted, some of the figures, like Footloose and the Sarge himself are lacking in a few paint details, but my taste for the odd is starting to trump the distaste I used to have for the look. I think some of my opinion is colored by the team’s presence in the Operation: Dragonfire mini-series. Their design was changed up a bit, and I even made a few customs based on them.
The original Barbecue figure was one of my favorites of 1985, but had I still been buying GI Joes in 1989, I think I would have passed on this version. It wasn’t until I was bitten by the completist bug as an adult collector geek that I even picked up any figures from the Marauders sub-team. I’m glad I did, since the figures also gave me the impetus to give the Marauder vehicles a look. The Marauders’ rides are some very impressive toys. Look for more of them in the future.
Slaughter’s Marauders were the weakest of the repainted sub-teams from the classic run. The colors themselves looked good together but every Joe look like they were asleep as the paint rollers just passed over them. I agree that Barbecue is one of the best-looking of the bunch. Mutt doesn’t look that bad. Spirit & Footloose got the worst of it. Low-Light… the blue goggles & cap look sharp against the dark brown coat, but the more you look down the figure, the worse it gets. Barbecue seemed a smart choice for a mold for a repaint.
Open question. Look through 1982-1987. What figures look like their mold would have looked great with these colors or accomodated the paint roller stripes look of the Marauders?
Sad story with my marauders Footloose. He’s one of the few a.r.a.h figures i found complete on the aftermarket but his thumbs are broken. He has an m-16 and a rocket launcher but nothing to hold them with 🙁
I think Footloose looks ok in his colour scheme. If you ask me, he would have looked better if they kept his shirt brown and his pants dark green [though that might make him look too much like the original]
I think the worst figure in the original run was Slaughter himself as his blue top looked too much like a tv wrestlers costume [my bad joke for the day]
Last year on a trip to Sydney i picked up the Marauders BBTS set and that was quite a nice set. If you can look past the flaws such as tiny feet and bad hands.
I hope to get this version of Barbecue at some point, since he’s my favorite Joe team member.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Rob: Your customs are far superior to Hasbro’s Marauders and far more faithful to the designs used for Operation: Dragonfire.
I can’t say I’ve ever cared much for Barbecue as a figure. His overall look and lack of a removable helmet made him the weakest offering from that year, at least to me. This later repaint sure didn’t help make him more endearing. Same goes for the Eco-Warrior version.
But having a firefighter on the team is a great idea and Barbecue was very likeable as the Irish Bostonian Gabe Kelly in the Sunbow cartoon. I’m still expecting a nicer figure to match, however. I thought the 25th Anniversary would deliver, but no such luck. Maybe around the 40th…
The Slaughter’s Marauders figures are a bit gimmicky, but if you don’t mind a broken thumb or two, you can generally get them for cheap. I never would’ve chased this Barbecue down, but someone I was already buying stuff from had one for a couple of bucks. His thumbs are broken, but since I hardly ever use the guy, it was a decent pick-up.
Crappy platic, bad colors, but we love them!
😉
I think Barbecue got the best paint job of the Marauders. Could be better, though.
The plastic is weaker because they were made in Brazil, so Marauders often have broken thumbs. That’s my main complaint about them. I didn’t hate the color patterns, but I didn’t like them that much, either.
I’ll always admit that of the Marauders my brother and I had, I think Barbecue looked the best…followed closely in my mind by Low Light since he was actually mine. I still don’t understand why they did the colors that way but it was a great way to add some of the classic figures that hadn’t been on the shelves in a while. I was too young for Joes when the original Mutt and Low Light came out, but through the Marauders, I was at least able to add them to my collection (even if they are now both thumbless–I never knew why that happened until I started hanging around the online Joe community).