Not sure if this belongs in the Variants/Toys/or Buy-Sell-Trade Questions forum...

Several questions here. Hopefully some power-collectors can shed some light:

I am familiar with the series 1/2 explosion backs. One will show up for sale on ebay every month or two. But what's the story with the series 5/6 explosion backs?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2467&item=5924595934&rd=1

I also remember seeing an explosion-back Falcon for sale a while back. Does anyone know how many figures are available on this card? Is it everyone who's pictured on back (explosions excluded)? (Cause despite several series 2 figures being pictured on the series 1/2 exp-backs, it was my impression that only series one figures and cobra commander were ever released on this card. Correct?)

Are there any other explosion backs out there? Series 4/5? 2/3? etc?

I can verify the following were available in series 6 on Explosion back cards:

Cobra Commander Battle Armor
Psyche-Out
Falcon
Law & Order

I have a carded Falcon Explosion back
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2467&item=5924783233&tc=photo

I have hundreds of full cardbacks and out of them only the figures above I have with the explosion back. I too am curious if there are more.

I truly believe explosion backs can be considered rare

Can anyone tell me if there is any new information about the 1987 Explosion backs? TYPE*S*TOYS (or anybody for that matter), I was wondering if any more figures had turned up from the 1987 line other than the ones you mentioned previously. Also, could you tell me which characters were marked with the "Coming Soon" starbursts on these figures?

I remember seeing one not too long ago show up on EBAY that I was not aware of. It was an Accessory Pack that had explosion / coming soon spots on for some figures. I am trying to find it but have had no luck.

I have a Crazy Legs (in addition to a Cobra Commander Battle Armor and Law & Order) that has the explosion back.

I also have an extra Crazy Legs if anyone is interested.

I'm interested in all of them!

TYPE*S*TOYS, did you get my PM to you from yesterday evening? I was holding off my extended list until you got back in touch with me. Also, any new info on the 1987 figures?

Thanks.

You can also add Crystal Ball to the list of explosion backs.

Crystal Ball, Falcon, Psyche Out, Law & Order, Cobra Commander Battle Armor, and Crazy Legs. But how many and which characters are the ones eclipsed by the "Coming Soon" starbursts on the backs of these cards? Do you have a good closeup pic of the back of one of these?

ok here is the list of coming soon characters as noted on the back of my 1987 Falcon>

Big Boa
Tunnel Rat
Sneak Peak
Fast Draw
Raptor
Techno-Viper
Croc Master
Gung-Ho

It's nice to see my post revived after months of languishing. It seems we're making headway on the series 5/6 questions I had, but I'll again pose the others.

1. Are there any other explosion back cards besides series 1/2 and 5/6?
2. Which of the series 1/2 characters are available on explosion back? - because I've only seen the original 9 Joes and Cobra Commander on the 20-back explosion cards. I assume that the Cobra Soldier and Cobra Officer came on explosion cards, but I've never seen them. But besides Cobra Commander, were any of the other series 2 figures ever released on explosion back cards? Snow Job, Gung Ho, Airborne, and Doc are also pictured, but I've never seen an example of them.

Let me get home and dig out my stuff and I can answer your questions.

The only Explosion backs I know of are the two series lines you mentioned, the set from 1983 and the set from 1987.

I have found ZERO information or pictures in the Archives on these, but every time I try to send my own photos or information on the ones I have, they never get back to me. Time constraints I guess, but it is very valuable information to collectors such as myself, and even dealers. Any moderator out there have any suggestions on how I should contact whoever is in charge? Please?

You can read all I know about the 1987 ones in the previous posts.

The 1983 Explosion backs are sort of my Holy Grails. The few I have are the centerpieces of my entire collection. The original eleven 1982 figures plus Cobra Commander all came out on these variant backed cards. Lee's Toy Guide has never included the original eleven Joes and Cobras as being released like this--they're wrong. The card fronts had slightly different captions to the bottom left (if you're facing the figure) of the card (like the 20-backs). The backs had the starbursts with the "Coming Soon" captions on them for Major Bludd, Destro, Tripwire, and Torpedo. Snow Job, Gung-Ho, Doc, and Airborne were not released on Explosion backs despite false information printed in Lee's Toy Guide--their premier pieces were on the 20-back cards from 1983. You will find at least one hundred of the carded 1983 32-backs or 20-backs for every one Explosion back to be found in existence--depending on the rarity of the individual figure you're talking about to begin with. The ratio on some of the rarer ones (like Snake-Eyes or Scarlett) are arguably very much higher. To put it in further perspective, you will find about three 1982 carded figures for every one 1983 figure! Needless to say, they are ultra rare.

Hope I helped you out and spare you some of the trouble and years it took me to figure out all of this. Did I get all your questions, bro?

Daniel Thielemann

I'm kinda curious about the Snake Eyes explosion back. Was there ever one carded on ebay? I'm thinking that would go for a very high amount. Even the full filecard would be impressive just as well. Was the f/c ever on ebay?

For 1983, the following have been CONFIRMED to be on 20-back "Coming Soon" backs:

Grunt
Stalker
Snake Eyes
Short-Fuze
Breaker
Rock 'N Roll
Zap
Scarlett
Cobra
Cobra Commander

Apart from the 1983 and 1987 series, I have never seen any other series with the explosion cardback.

Steven

Daniel,

You say that the caption on the bottom left of the card is different on the explosion backs than on the regular 20 backs? I didn't think there was a way you could tell them apart from the front....

20back:
http://www.dansjoes.com/html/cobra_officer1.html

Explosionback:
http://www.dansjoes.com/html/snake-eyes.html

I bought a shortfuze on ebay once that was only photographed from the front. It was advertised as a 20back and turned out to be an explosion back. If there's a way to tell them apart just from the front, I'd like to know, so I can repeat this dumbluck.

PS. Thanks for the info, guys. The archives really need some of this. I'd pieced most of this together observationally on ebay, but it's nice to have it confirmed.

John,

I misstyped. I meant to say that both the Explosion backs and 20-backs had the same front--and that these are different than the 32-back card fronts of the other figures released in 1983. The 32-back fronts did not have the word NEW in red on the yellow balloon caption in the bottom left corner of the card. The 20-backs and Explosion backs did. Explosion backs can be formally known as 20-backs to some collectors because there are actually 20 captions on the card back--just with four captions filled with starbursts. So there are really sixteen characters depicted. The four starburst captions eclipse the characters I mentioned earlier. When AFA graded my Explosion backs, they called them 20-backs/Explosion back variation.

The Snake-Eyes pictured actually looks tampered with and resealed--the uzi is not appropriately placed and the bubble looks like it has a slight crush to it. All and all though still a very pretty figure. I'd take it!

I've got some gorgeous pictures of a 1983 Snake-Eyes Explosion back from my own collection that graded out at AFA 85. The pictures are from before grading. I'll try to keep contacting the webmasters to get them posted and everyone can see them on the Archives then.

Daniel

To all interested. I have some pictures posted of an Explosion back Cobra Commander and Snake-Eyes if you guys want to see what we are talking about. They are listed under http://photos.yojoe.com under my screen name danielmd06. Hope these get more of you guys fired up about the vintage line. Enjoy!

Dan

Thanks for the link to your explosion back figures! They look awesome. A Snake Eyes Explosion back graded AFA 85...very, very nice. And here I thought I was the only person with an explosion back Cobra Commander. Did you send in the Cobra Commander to AFA as well?

Webmasters, I strongly feel that Dan's pics should be more out in the open and easy to find. This website doesn't even have a mention about 'coming soon' backs on vintage cards (at least what I haven't found).

The Cobra Commander graded out to an AFA 90 (subs 90,90,90). :D

Okay so back to some of the questions about the 1987 Explosion backs. Anybody got any additional information? Other characters to confirm?

Okay so back to some of the questions about the 1987 Explosion backs. Anybody got any additional information? Other characters to confirm?

Here is the link to another Explosion back card that was sold on Ebay that I had never seen before

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2467&item=5946366547

Here is the link to another Explosion back card that was sold on Ebay that I had never seen before

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=2467&item=5946366547
Type*S*Toys you beat me to it! I checked my carded figures and accessory packs and I have that same accessory pack with the explosion back. It is accesory pack #5 from 1986 and the "coming soon" explosions are for Big Boa, Tunnel Rat, Sneak Peak, Fast Draw, Raptor, Techno-Viper, Croc Master, and Gung-Ho. The link to the ebay auction has the picture sideways so I scanned mine and here is a pic:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dmooretoys/detail?.dir=3701&.dnm=a973.jpg&.src=ph

I am starting to collect cardbacks and as I acquire more I will let everyone know. Also, I am going to talk with MacDowin and see about the possibilities of a cardback section in the archives. I will keep everyone posted about this as well. Keep posting--this is an interesting thread!

Dan

Thanks for the great scan and the clarification of origin!

This may be too obvious to point out, but I just noticed that the 1987 explosion-back figures correspond roughly with their item numbers:

carded as explosion backs:
6474 Cobra Commander
6475 Crazylegs
6476 Falcon
6477 Psyche-Out
6478 Law & Order
6479 Crystal Ball

only carded normally and always appearing on back:
6480 Jinx
6482 Chuckles
6483 Outback

listed as "coming soon":
6481 Tunnel Rat [the oddball; possibly a late redesign?]
6484 Big Boa
6485 Raptor
6486 Gung Ho
6487 Croc Master
6488 Fast Draw
6490 Techno-Viper
6491 Sneak Peek

Also, no one is #6489 (cancelled figure?)

This may be too obvious to point out, but I just noticed that the 1987 explosion-back figures correspond roughly with their item numbers:

carded as explosion backs:
6474 Cobra Commander
6475 Crazylegs
6476 Falcon
6477 Psyche-Out
6478 Law & Order
6479 Crystal Ball

only carded normally and always appearing on back:
6480 Jinx
6482 Chuckles
6483 Outback

listed as "coming soon":
6481 Tunnel Rat [the oddball; possibly a late redesign?]
6484 Big Boa
6485 Raptor
6486 Gung Ho
6487 Croc Master
6488 Fast Draw
6490 Techno-Viper
6491 Sneak Peek

Also, no one is #6489 (cancelled figure?)

Nice catch. I never noticed this.

For 1983, the following have been CONFIRMED to be on 20-back "Coming Soon" backs:

Grunt
Stalker
Snake Eyes
Short-Fuze
Breaker
Rock 'N Roll
Zap
Scarlett
Cobra
Cobra Commander

Apart from the 1983 and 1987 series, I have never seen any other series with the explosion cardback.

Steven


For those of you keeping track of this particular subject, I have just spoken with a very prominent collector who has verified that surviving Explosion back carded samples exist for the Cobra Officer. This leaves only Flash unaccounted for out of the original 12.

It is only fair to add that I have heard from others claiming to have seen a Flash Explosion back, but none so far that I can verify. I'll keep everyone posted if I hear anything, and would ask that you guys keep me updated as well. Thanks all.

Believe me, Daniel, I'm looking for all of these as well. I want to get all of them in the cardback archive. I have already personally contacted 10-15 ebay sellers asking them about explosion backs but so far I haven't had any luck. Well, other than picking up three or four of the 1987 ex backs I haven't had any luck.

As soon as I find them you will see them in the archives. By the way, thanks for the heads up on the Stalker Explosion Back--I added it to the cardback archive.

Dan

In update to my last post:

I have now been able to confirm an eyewitness account of an existing carded Flash Explosion back. This means that not just cardbacks, but full carded examples exist for all twelve of the characters previously mentioned.

The twelve characters include the original straight-arm figures: Grunt, Short-Fuse, Breaker, Rock n' Roll, Stalker, Scarlett, Snake-Eyes, Zap, Flash, Cobra Officer, Cobra Soldier, and Cobra Commander.