1986: The Figures, Part 1

By Destro Designs – Viper Den Studios

As my deep dive into all things G.I.Joe 1986 continues, I am going to rap about the figures first, and then the playsets and vehicles.

As for the figures, I am going to sort of sidewind all over, but I will leave my favorites for last.

One of the more important, but simple, figures is General Hawk. With his release, I was able to saddle him into the base that was comprised of the Bivouac, Machine Gun Nest, and various dio pieces I would steal from my dad’s garage. It was like in the cartoon: Hawk stayed close to base and called the shots, while Duke, Flint, and Beach Head took the fight to Cobra out in the field. That is largely how I broke down my setups for battle.

Duke would lead a few guys, sort of staying back and watching, as Flint and Lady Jaye would take a full-on frontal assault to the Cobra outposts. Meanwhile, Beach Head, Low-Light, and the boys would be the sneaking squad, flanking Cobra and always coming through like Doakes from Dexter with the, “Surprise, motherfucker!”

But it all started with Hawk. It was a huge part of my headcanon. I hated leaving Duke at the base to do the shot-calling because, in the cartoon, Duke was in the field causing ruckus with the rest of the team. With Hawk, I now had my shot-caller. Done deal.

Also, Hawk was a cool-ass figure. The jacket and the helmet were not a standard look for the Joes, but it worked for me. I loved that figure.

Some other awesome additions were the specialists. I have always had a soft spot for dudes who were vitally important, but weren’t exactly gun-focused. Instead, they offered other skills. Dial-Tone, Lifeline, Mainframe, and Wet-Suit fill up this category.

Lifeline was the new Doc, and he looked awesome. He was always shown around the Tomahawk, and that was just cool as hell to me. His red uniform and gear were great to play with, and since my Doc was worse for wear, Lifeline became my in-the-field medic. Doc stayed at base.

Also, Lifeline got a decent amount of run, including two or three episodes where he was prominently featured, especially in the banger “Million Dollar Medic,” which showed us all about sugar mommas.

Next in line with the specialists was Dial-Tone. Until now, it was just Breaker. Dial-Tone, with his new and completely amazing backpack and rifle, stepped in as the linchpin to stealing information from Cobra. His job was to plug into the Cobra computers once a team had taken down a base. His uniform was cool as hell, and again, that backpack was unlike any other. Truly unique. He got run based solely on that sometimes. Great figure and character.

And then there is my all-time favorite IT Joe: Mainframe. A lot of people think his uniform and accessories are boring as all hell. Most people don’t have him in their top 20 Joes, and this dude is in my top five sometimes.

I loved his uniform. It looked different, but also cool as hell. He was a Marine, so the “computer geek” moniker didn’t exactly fit. He was a badass who chose to lead with the keyboard first and guns second. He was the absolute linchpin in the Joes’ field communications to the base and to each other. His backpack and computer could help Dial-Tone with jacking information off a computer, or he could simply provide the essential communications between the Joes in the field and the base.

Remember, in 1986, computers were magic, and this dude was a wizard. I always thought he rocked the house. I still believe that today. Also, Dial-Tone, M.A.S.S. Breaker, and Mainframe are all total 10/10 Classified figures. They nailed them so good.

And then there is the rounding out of the Dreadnoks crew with the additions of Monkeywrench, arguably my favorite and a stellar 10/10 Classified figure, along with the crazy cool idea of the twin sister/brother combo who are the siblings of Zartan: Zarana and Zandar.

I wasn’t long for either of these two, but it is the perfect example of figures I never got, yet was super glad they were made, as I felt they brought the line as a whole to a better, more rounded state. Same with their vehicles from this year. I didn’t want them, but they were there.

Here is my first drop on the figures of 1986. Next up, we get into the icons of the year and the line altogether.

I appreciate everyone who reads, enjoys, likes, and shares these, as I love doing them so much.

Cheers.