Incredible Shrinking Joes!

Decades before Kre-O was a thing, the Real American Hero era Joes were shrunk down and available as micro figures, packed along with their “normal” sized brethren. Turns out, there was also a mail-in offer for a set in 1989. The pamphlet told the story of the Joes actually being shrunk by Cobra. Set up with some beautiful lab equipment, here’s the pic from the catalog. Poor Beachhead is stuck in dry ice. Maybe someone finally had enough of his negligent hygiene habits.

14 comments

  • I get the funny feeling that Rock N’ Roll was originally intended to be Repeater. Look at the coloring, plus the fact that he’s carrying a steadi-cam machine gun.

  • I am working on a G.I Joe themed Imperial guard army. So far it consists of about 25 guardsmen all modified to resemble Joe characters. I have the platoons broken up into year assortments. Platoon 91 is a bit thin at the moment. So far it consists of only Redstar and my namesake.

  • I used to have a few of these guys; Rock ‘n’ Roll, Roadblock, Grunt, Flint… Now, only Flint remains…

    Acer:

    True, but he also has a sculpted beard and V2 Rock’s distinctive, ammo-belted patrol cap, bizarrely enough.

    Skymate:

    Something like this?

    http://actionforcevsredshadows.blogspot.ca/search/label/z%20force

  • Dreadnok: Spirit

    This is one of my favorite displays from those Hasbro Direct offers. Thank God I was able to get a Cobra Commander.

  • @Jester
    Very much. Except the colours arnt quite that unified.

    Oh i forgot to mention i also have a seven man platoon made up of different versions of Snake eyes

  • Absurd yet kind of cool concept. I don’t have any of them. It would be cool if Hasbro released an entire line of them again as a miniatures game like they did DnD and Star Wars 10 years ago.

  • Some interesting character choices, like why Buzzer of all the Dreadnoks, but no Zartan? The concept was an oddity, they were all characters from ARAH’s prime years (Rock’n Roll’s uniform being the oddity), but released as bonus items in 1989, then as a mail-in set later. The minis served as a reminder of GI JOE’s glory days gone by.

  • A nice little bonus for the kiddies (and teenagers, such as I) at the time. I still have Roadblock, Quick Kick, and Duke with his bent rifle. Ah, to see stuff like this with the modern Joe figures (and we kinda do with Retaliation Ultimate Firefly coming with a mini H.I.S.S. drone).

  • I never saw them back then, but I like ’em now. They’re like the Marx army men of GIJoe. The molds aren’t bad, but the paint is often sloppy. Still need a few to round out the set.

  • @ Acer
    It’s possible, though Rock N Roll was more popular/iconic. Repeater (whose file card & role make him seem like a cross of Duke & Roadblock) wasn’t really a well-known character, just one of the new guys. 85 & 86 look represented heavily. I think it might just be the figure was made at a time Rock N Roll’s design was being hammered down. With that being his 1989 look, it’s possible. Snake Eyes has his 1985 look, not his 1989 look.

    @ Anon-Viper
    Yeah, this was definately part of the high point of the Joe line, though I was too young to adequately remember what Triple Win was like.

    I think Buzzer might’ve been because he offered a better attack pose and colors (tan, light blue & blonde with a chainsaw. Zartan shares the same color palette as Major Bludd).

    Hmmm, imagine if lottery tickets had different Joes & Cobras printed on them.

  • I have bazooka as a microfigure They should release a joe and cobra set as the old plastic soldiers I know there is a Marvel univer set set like this.

  • I don’t think I ever had any of those, but I would have loved them.

    The proof?

    I’m basically remaking them as my hobby:

    http://mini-ventures.blogspot.com/

    🙂

    -c

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