Nullifier (1988)
How many times have we heard about Cobra pilots and the extreme punishment their bodies are put through? It seems if they’re not genetically modified, they’re subjected to some horribly gruelling training regimen. The Nullifiers are no different, as their file cards posit.
The color scheme, or lack thereof, is in contrast to the incredible detail of the mold. Strange looking symbols are etched into the body armor that covers the figure. Years ago, before I had the figure in hand, I thought that the outfit was a cobbled together collection of sports equipment, along the same Mad Max lines as Thrasher. Not so, and the character has quite a unique look.
Being that the AGP is an Iron Grenadiers vehicle, it’s surprising that there’s no hint of the usual red, black or gold common to Destro’s private army. Others have put forth that this figure may have been slated to be part of Cobra La, and re-purposed at a later date. The oddness of the sculpt would seem to support that idea. Who knows? Has this ever been confirmed?
Oh yeah, I’ve got his visor on upside down. Oops.
Yeah, I would definitely say that Nullifier qualifies more as an axed Cobra La character repurposed for the IGs.
The contrast between sculpting and paint detail in figures from ’88 and ’89 boggles the mind. The line must have reached its peak in the mid-80’s for such huge cost-cutting measures to go into effect. I could see this happening with the various repaints during the Battle Corps era once Joe had been beaten at retail by stuff such as the Turtles, X-Men, and Power Rangers, but the lack of paint apps on these intricately crafted late 80’s figures comes across as a positively Scrooge-ish move on the part of Hasbro’s bean counters.
My guess is that this guy was a scrapped Cobra-la figure but Hasbro needed a new pilot for a vehicle and this guy was pulled from the unproduced surplus [or something like that]
I agree: Cobra La trooper, but why not in the movie?
From yojoe.com, Nullifier was made as a driver for a Cobra-La vehicle, the Insecticycle. Would’ve been a later release planned after the movie, hence why no “Nullifier” in the movie.
http://www.yojoe.com/archive/unproduced/insecticycle.shtml
….and kinda looks like some of the concept of the Insecticycle might’ve become Darklon’s Evader.
Thank God you posted this….its good to know other Joeheads know their shit….it pisses me off when I read constant postulated hypothesises on figures / items when the actual info IS on the interweb….its nice to know someone else bothers to read things and put two and two together. *fistbump*.
Rob, I’m sure you actually have the visor on the right way….
OOP! No, my bad, yes, you’re right Rob, you did put the visor on the wrong way around…!
The details on Nullifier made him intriguing to me, even with the hot pink visor (neither up nor down really looks “correct”). He’s probably the only reason I played with the AGP; though it usually was shot down, and Nullifier went mano-a-mano with front line Joes. The helmet is weird, but this is a pretty solid sci-fi, Iron Grenadier figure.
Great sculpt that could really benefit from some painted details. I look at Nullifier and think “this guy is nowhere near the Iron Grenadier style of sleek, high-tech soldier” but then I look at Darklon and I think “ahhh, close enough.”
Not so weird when you put him next to a V2 Night Creeper, either. Those two could be teammates.
He’s an odd duck. There’s weirdness there to suggest he was Cobra-La but there’s enough human-tech elements (boots, buckles) that make you wonder…wonder what direction they would’ve taken Cobra-La in 1988. I saw concept art for Hasbro’s Pythona and she not only differs greatly from the toon version, but also doesn’t have that much of the Cobra-La bio-tech look to her.
I’m glad Stan added something. It would have pissed me off if he didn’t call out everybody that isn’t a shit-knowing Joehead.
Stan, you da man, now fist bump yourself.
Funny stuff. I think I had his mask on upside down the first time I scanned him for 3DJoes!
Question for the Joe know-it-alls: Did those markings appear elsewhere in the Cobra La stuff? (pre-production or otherwise)