G.I. Joe A.R.A.H. - Raptor
Raptor Is my most recent acquisition .A figure I'm glad I got because It helped me put into perspective exactly what years I full blown collected. 1987 -88 was a busy time for me .Busy asking people to take me to K-Mart.Busy asking people to take me to Fays drug store.Busy asking people to take me to Toys R Us and busy playing with my G.I. Joe figures.I was heavy into Joes these two years.I had older figures from previous waves but most of those were hand me downs or figures I had just found outside while playing.I thought,time to strike while the iron is hot and start picking up these figures now so by the time they make It into the cartoon,I'll already have them!I managed to collect most of series 6 (1987) single carded figures ,and Raptor here was one of them.To my dismay,Raptor never made the cut and failed to make a cartoon appearance.The good thing about that was that I could create a custom personality for him.
And speaking of Marvel.I wonder how much they had a hand In the design aspect of the 1987 and 1988 line of Joe figures.Raptor,Big Boa,Croc Master and Cobra La,all of them could have fit right into an Avengers or even X-Men comic book storyline.Raptor would have made a great arch villain to Falcon. I think that may be why I gravitated towards the '87 and '88 waves.Also, even though some of the characters were out there,their color schemes remained realistic. Lots of greens and browns with the occasional off color,but nothing that was ever exaggerated. That wouldn't come until later.
Raptor had some nice detailing built right into the sculpt.
But I think what everybody loved best was the head sculpt,for obvious reasons.
This Raptor came with everything except for the talons for his pet falcon.
I wanted him so badly. Saw him in issue 69 I think. But for some reason I never got my mitts on him. Did Hasbro redo him for the 25th line?
ReplyDeleteI always wondered how he came across in the comics.Was he a lackey,a bad ass or a push over?
DeleteI want the modern version of him but he isnt real high on my list.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a bunch of different customization's and even one supposed official contemporary Raptor.The customs look alot better imo.
DeleteRaptor was a favorite of mine as a kid, I mean like you said look at that head sculpt, and I was (and still am) a huge fan of the figures with pets!
ReplyDeleteYeah that head sculpt was insane.I mean ,we hadn't seen anything like that In our Joe line since Serpentor and his snake head.In fact they may be the only two ever to sport an animal headdress In the Joe universe.
DeleteNow that I think about it, your right. Even the 200x era Serpentor dropped the headdress. The headdresses were mostly a vintage thing for some reason and for only thoise two. Might be why they are 2 of my very many fav joe villians ( The Cobra La gang, Python PAtrol recolors, B.a.t.s., the twins, Baroness, Zaranna, and Battle Armor Cobra Commander are the others) Ironically on the Joe side, my favs are only Barbecue, Shockwave, Alpine, Slaughter, and my all time fav Falcon.
DeleteBarbecue I'll always remember as being maybe the first Joe I ever had.I found him somewhere ,can't remember where,but I know that's how I acquired him.He's also a favorite of mine .
DeleteI had that guy when I was a kid. Everytime we played with him we tried to rip off that crazy bird hat of his. It never came off! These were well built toys :)
ReplyDeleteLOL!That would have been cool,though,had It been removable.
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