I was looking through about the first 50 issues of G.I. Joe and I realized something. Grand Slam makes a few appearances, and is mentioned a few times, but you never really see much of him. Plus he just disappears until the more recent DDP series.

I wanted a good shot of him for the comic pack custom figure I plan on making. He was called with the team to oppose the Oktober Guard in issue 6, but once the team landed, it was Flash who was there. In the 30's when Hawk gave all of the original Joes desk positions, he called 8 people, who Scarlett said were all of the original team members. Ok, so the Vamp II had given Clutch New Life. Snake-Eyes V.2 had given that character more to do, Hawk was the one calling everyone, and Steeler was a tank jockey, but what happened to Grand Slam?

You're right. Major disrespect in issue #6, as his name was shown on the computer screen, but Flash went on the mission instead

He didn't even have a single line of dialogue in the cartoon and made only one appearance. The fewest by far of any actual Joe who was portrayed in the cartoon. Even the Joe's animals were shown more

Perhaps it was his profile on his filecard that made writing for his character difficult.?.?

He has always been one of my favorites, Red or Silver Pads, and I was really hoping with the advent of the comic packs we would see him in his silver pads and see flash in his red pads (especially since the Astronaut Falsh is, IMO, fairly useless)... wonder if the big H still has that mold?

Perhaps it was his profile on his filecard that made writing for his character difficult.?.?

He has always been one of my favorites, Red or Silver Pads, and I was really hoping with the advent of the comic packs we would see him in his silver pads and see flash in his red pads (especially since the Astronaut Falsh is, IMO, fairly useless)... wonder if the big H still has that mold?

I bet they don't. Otherwise in '97 we might have seen a Flash in the Stars and Stripes set, or the parts might have made some kind of an appearance in one of the remolds somewhere along the way. I think that writing for Grand Slam was difficult because he looked just like Flash, and other than filling space in the issues when they needed another gropo, they had little use for a Laser Artillery specialist. And Stalker was the one they always showed with the JUMP pack.

At least DDP is making use of the character. at least for the next 4 issues.

I think the mold is gone/broken whatever. It they had it, we would have seen it in the 1997 Stars & Stripes set on Flash (instead we got Breaker)

I think the mold is gone/broken whatever. It they had it, we would have seen it in the 1997 Stars & Stripes set on Flash (instead we got Breaker)
yes... and what a weak Breaker it was. If I remember right, there was a Flash in the picture on the back of the Stars 'n' Stripes box.

I wonder how expensive it is to take a mint original figure and 'recreate' the mold? This would be great for Flash and Grand Slam.

I also remember seeing a post last year (might have been on a different board) where the hasbro guys stated at the convention that they had 'found' the original BAT mold (which makes you wonder why we have not seen these re-released - my memory may be faulty here, and I cannot remember who wrote it, so I am by no means trying to start any rumors - this may be entirely untrue, as far as I know)... but, it make me wonder how ofter the Hasbro guys 'run across' or 'find' an old mold? - I wonder this, b/c there are so many figures, Flash and Grand Slam included, of which I'd like to see re-releases.

yes... and what a weak Breaker it was. If I remember right, there was a Flash in the picture on the back of the Stars 'n' Stripes box.

I wonder how expensive it is to take a mint original figure and 'recreate' the mold? This would be great for Flash and Grand Slam.

I also remember seeing a post last year (might have been on a different board) where the hasbro guys stated at the convention that they had 'found' the original BAT mold (which makes you wonder why we have not seen these re-released - my memory may be faulty here, and I cannot remember who wrote it, so I am by no means trying to start any rumors - this may be entirely untrue, as far as I know)... but, it make me wonder how ofter the Hasbro guys 'run across' or 'find' an old mold? - I wonder this, b/c there are so many figures, Flash and Grand Slam included, of which I'd like to see re-releases.

Well, they lost several molds recently, including Swivel arm scarlett. So who knows where these things are. I always wondered why there was only one mold for an entire production run of one figure.

I would assume it would be not very difficult to reverse engineer their own figures. Bootleggers have been known to do it in the past.

The Crimson Guard mold was lost and they rebuilt it for the Agent Faces giveaway.

Here's what the Hasbro guys told us at the convention:

The figure molds are housed at companies that Hasbro uses (mostly in the orient, now). When a mold is lost it can mean a couple of different things.
1. the factory that had the mold or molds has been shut down by its' government and no one can use the mold even though they have not physically lost the mold.
2. they shipped the mold to South America in the 80s and that company either moved it or went out of business, in which case you would have to do some foriegn detective work to find the mold physically.
3. somewhere along the line the mold was misnamed, so Hasbro says "we want Overlord's mold", but they get Star Brigade Heavy Duty instead. This is probably where you here about molds suddenly being found. Someone needs to verify that the mold available is the mold they are looking for.
and 4. the molds actually go down in a ship. Anyone hear of any cargo ships sinking recently??? :D

it would be awsome to see the WHOLE original joe team in the comic book three pack style, and redo flash as, ya know, not an astronaut

After the re-dedication of G.I. Joe headquarters, aka "The Pit", Grand Slam and many of the other original Joes were taken off active duty. Even so, Grand Slam continued to occasionally participate in missions with the team, and he began to be involved in research and development for the Joe team's high-tech weapons and vehicles. After one such weapons testing missions in the desert, the group of Joes being led by Hawk were attacked by Cobra agents. Later, the Joe team was on the losing side of the Cobra Island civil war. A group of corrupt generals in the Pentagon denied having any knowledge of the debacle. When many members of the team were unrightfully taken into custody, several other Joes, including Grand Slam went underground. He and the other Joes who had escaped arrest organized a mission to rescue Hawk and General Hollingsworth when they were arrested for acting without orders and entering the civil war. During the rescue, Hawk and Hollingsworth were cleared of all charges and the corrupt generals responsible were exposed.
Grand Slam was seriously wounded. Grand Slam recovered soon afterward. Later on, Grand Slam was assigned to the security for the Pit III, the G.I. Joe headquarters in Utah. He was one of the Joes who defended the Pit from Cobra Commander's invasion attempt. Grand Slam's subsequent missions for the team mostly included training and research & development, but he stayed with G.I. Joe until it was disbanded in 1994. Grand Slam was later called back to join the reinstated Joe team in its battle against the forces of a revived Serpentor on Cobra Island, and has remained with the team in the wake of that battle.

http://www.myuselessknowledge.com/joe/gs2.gif in silver pads

http://www.myuselessknowledge.com/joe/gs1.gif in instructer uniform

check the GI Joe Encyclopedia http://www.myuselessknowledge.com/joe/joeenc.html