1985 Continues Its Dominance Over My Imagination with the Vehicles and Playsets!
By Destro Designs – Viper Den Studios
The G.I.Joe figures of 1985 are often regarded as the best—or second best behind 1986—in my opinion. And the same goes for the vehicles and playsets.
First off, we’ll address the elephant in the room: the aircraft carrier. It’s the biggest, most insane playset ever made for any toy—ever. It’s so large that most people I knew didn’t have it. Hell, I didn’t know anyone who had it until a few years later.
That said, those who do have it often regard it as an underused coffee table that’s not as fun as one might think. Sure, it’s enormous, but the play surface is basically just a runway. The control tower only offers so much, and it can feel sort of boring. Still, I’m glad it exists—it just adds fuel to the fire that no other line can mess with G.I. Joe. It adds to the undeniability of it all.
Not to be outdone is a smaller but more playable piece: the Tactical Battle Platform. This thing was unreal. I didn’t get it until I was a little older, but once I did, it became a full-on base of operations.
Many of us had this as the main attraction, since it seemed like only rich kids—or kids of divorce, for obvious reasons—had the aircraft carrier. But the TBP was an all-timer, and I think it would make a killer third-party builder set today. All the extras and moving parts made it incredible. I even put it in a kiddie pool to play with, and forget it—it was game-over levels of awesome.
What I had that year, between chore money, my birthday, and Christmas, was the Armadillo, Bomb Disposal Unit, Bridge Layer, Ferret, Trouble Bubble, Night Landing, Snowcat, and the Sears-exclusive S.M.S. I also had a bunch of playsets, like the Forward Observer Unit, which I mainly used for the tent—combined with sandbags and walls from other sets to make a makeshift Joe base.
And lastly—and arguably one of my all-time favorite sets—was the Cobra Battle Bunker.
I loved that little thing. It was so simple, but piling dirt around it and using it as the entrance to “Cobra Mountain Base” was just awesome. It paired perfectly with the Surveillance Port the following year, and together they were unbeatable. It became the center of Cobra activity in every play session, and I never got enough of it.
Another small item that got a ton of use was the Bomb Disposal Unit. It was like a mini tank, used to plow through and bust up the Cobra bunker. So awesome.
My grandfather LOVED Sears and got me all the exclusives—minus those Dreadnoks atrocities, which were basically a war crime. But the S.M.S. is still, to this day, incredibly cool. It was special because I remember so many people going bananas the first time they came to my house and saw it. So many didn’t even know it existed, and I got to share that moment of them losing their minds. I still love that feeling today—sharing news about upcoming releases.
The Ferret, Trouble Bubble, and Night Landing are all straight-up iconic vehicles and true pillars of the Cobra aesthetic. Firefly used the Night Landing to get everywhere, sabotaging his way to the Joe base, and it was often his well-timed explosives that paved the way for the S.M.S. to crash through defenses unscathed.
The Snowcat was—and still is—an all-timer. I can’t wait for the HasLab version because I LOVED this vehicle. The cockpit, with its amazing glass and wiper, just looked so cool. It reminded me of the single-driver cockpit of the HISS. Frostbite was a killer figure, though his weapon immediately got reassigned to random Joes doing overwatch from a perch—sorry, Frostbite.
But the missile setup, the troop capacity, and the overall look still make it a favorite. It transcended its “winter vehicle” status and got used constantly. Whether the Joes were using it or Cobra had commandeered it, this thing saw action every single day. Absolutely amazing.
Lastly—and arguably a top-three favorite Joe vehicle or playset—the Bridge Layer. I know a lot of people respect this vehicle, but I thought it was otherworldly incredible. It was used on EVERY mission—and often was the mission. It was sought after and fought over like the M.A.S.S. Device.
In my mind, Destro and Cobra Commander believed they could go anywhere, do anything, and win any mission just by owning it. Tollbooth was captured and forced to operate it, with the Dreadnoks threatening his family (I watched way too many ’80s action movies at that age). But it was just so awesome.
It was one of those things that actually existed in real life—and that gave legitimacy to all the crazier elements in the line. For instance, I convinced myself the Trouble Bubble was real because the Bridge Layer was so real.
And therein was the key that unlocked so much imagination and passion for the line. At that point, no other toys existed in my house. I traded everything away for G.I. Joe, and I even had my mom return anything that wasn’t Cobra blue or Joe green.
Once again, to me, 1985 was the foundation—the launching pad that readied me for 1986. This was the catapult that launched 1986 into greatness. It’s the yin to ’86’s yang. The Felix to ’86’s Oscar.
The key that unlocked the door to 1986.
I feel like since 1983, I was Dr. Manhattan—forming piece by piece—and by now, people could see me floating there in that cafeteria, ready for the full reveal of 1986.
