Red Dog (1987)
No, it’s not the Miller offshoot beer from the 90s, it’s the former American football placekicker cum Slaughter’s Renegade member. As a kid, I admit that I didn’t really get the Renegades. They just seemed to me like some oddly attired group that didn’t really fit into the existing Joe group. I suppose that was the point, as the crew were the kind of outsiders that even the non-traditional GI Joe unit would look at sideways. I also gained a better appreciation for the surly crew once I actually saw GI Joe: the Movie.
Red Dog is quite unique among the Joes, not only for his background, but also for his national origin. I can’t offhand recall another Samoan team member. There have been other Joes with sports backgrounds, especially football (I’m looking at you, Fridge) but none sounded quite as dangerous as Mr. Taputapu. Unfortunately, the vintage o-ring buck doesn’t allow for the figure to be portrayed in the massive proportions that the modern style affords. Nevertheless, he remains one of the more colorful figures in the 1980s line.
If you’re not careful, you may overlook the Renegades as being just as interestingly and intricately designed as other, more well-known figures of their time. There are so many unique costume details that have been added into the sculpt. Red Dog’s golden wrist, belt and necklace accessories are particularly eye-catching. He certainly has no shortage of personality as a figure. This kind of individuality is part of what’s drawn me to the small scale GI Joes since the line branched out beyond green fatigues back in 1983.
I managed to get Red Dog, along with Mercer, a little while after I got Taurus. Both were part of my very first flea market haul. The only trick was getting his pistol.
I never noticed the necklace. Looks like some kind of fang. Doesn’t look like a niho palaoa (whale tooth necklace). I know I’ve seen it before but can’t place it. And yeah, another great belt buckle. And Samoa probably seemed like some exotic hard to imagine place by 1987 standards, looked up by kids if they had those children’s almanacs or a globe.
There are a lot of detailed figures from 1987. The year has a lot of creativity in it, which is often the very reason the year gets so much scorn, but the strength-side of it gets overlooked. A lot of figures with eye-catching details (some of those belt buckles, WORMS’ medals, Sea Slug’s Sea World of the future uniform come to mind), some of the roles (Croc Master as Cobra’s MP, only instead of Law & Order, it’s Croc and Ali Gator, a falconer, etc). With the 3-packs, they came up with some distinctive roles, the bizarre, outlandish Cobra-La (of which Nemesis Enforcer is a yin-yang, the closest to ‘normal’ looking yet the one with the most outlandish background and role while the others look weirder but have more coherent roles) and the off-the-books Renegades who handle the unethical missions the Joes can’t do without court-martials (IIRC, Transformers in 1987 had a character like this, Repugnus IIRC). They look conventional, like they would fit in if they were individually carded. Red Dog obviously invokes Bazooka the closest in the numbered jersey. Of course, what they are is simply explained on their cardbacks- they’re renegades by the very definition of the word, though in a different sense, they’re like the Dreadnoks for the Joes, a bunch of unsavory characters who are paid through their handler (Zartan/ Sgt Slaughter).
Hmm, Rob, do you recall if the 1987 three-packs hit the shelves before the GI Joe movie came out on video (its release)?
I don’t know the exact timeline, but I remember seeing the toys well before I ever caught the movie. The first time I saw the movie was as a special on television, much like the first two mini-series. I also remember reading about it in the letters page of the Marvel comic. My memory could be faulty, but I thought this was before the theatrical release was nixed.
Ok. The movie was released direct-to-video in April 1987 (as a result of the bad box office performance of Transformers and other tv cartoon movies. Thundercats did the same in 1987 with their movie). Presumably, it would have been shown on tv around Sept-Nov 1987, as a mini-series. Of course, with the movie coming out in April, it’s possible the 3-packs arrived around the time the “Coming Soon” figures of the 1987 carded figures came out. I recall getting armored Cobra Commander I would guess in February 1987 (I do recall it was cold) and him being the first of the new 1987 figures I saw. If the figures started arriving in late Feb/early March, the 3-packs arriving in May sometime (just to make up a ‘close to the movie’ arrival time) wouldn’t be too noticeable (as opposed to the various reports of Battle Force 2000 and larger vehicles arriving much later in the year). I can’t remember when vehicles arrived (other than the Bugg box I had having a date like 8/18/88 stamped on one of the inside flaps, suggesting a manufacturing/assembly of the package date), but wasn’t it kind of a rolling release (unlike figures): really small stuff early on, coming out with the figures, then slightly larger boxed stuff later in spring, then the big, largest boxed vehicles mid-late summer or early fall?
Question. Does anyone remember when any of these figures came out (time of year): Zartan, Serpentor, Zanzibar, Destro (gold mask), Darklon, Overlord? They were among the smallest vehicles (this side of battlefield accessories) so should have come out on the earlier end.
@LittleBoa
Repungus is indeed a Transformers Monsterbot from 1987. He was a yellow and burgandy cicada monster.
I didnt see the movie until 2004. I thought for a long time afterwards that the Maruaders seemed to be a bit of an odd idea. It wasnt until i got Mark Bellomo’s book did i start to see them as the Joe’s equivelant to the Dreadnoks.
Yeah, here’s his tech spec/profile:
http://www.unicron.com/tfitem/itemimage_view.php?mode=package&itemID=771
Does have some similarities to the Renegades.
I like Red Dog and Mercer, but can’t stand Taurus. As a kid, I really tried to make the Renegades work. Had a second beat-up HQ that they hung out in, and when the Joes wanted something really nasty done (kill-em-all missions), the Renegades went out. Would’ve been cool if they’d had their own vehicle – something like the Mudbuster would fit.
Great face!