Still Discovering

[PJDonnell]

You'd think that after 15+ years of having this website, we'd have uncovered all the little secrets these toys have to offer. I mean, there are some things we'll never truly know - who sculpted this figure, who painted that artwork - but for the toys that were released, you'd think we'd know the ins and outs of them by now. And yet, we keep finding new things. Don't believe me? Then take a look at these scans from Zandar's filecard:



The hair's different! Not only that, but the facepaint is actually slightly altered as well. This was first brought to our attention through a post on our Facebook page. (By the way, like our page! We're very insecure and need to know people like us. ) It's a strange variation to see - not only was the card art altered for no reason, but it was only the art on the filecard! According to the person who made that post, the card art on the front stayed exactly the same. What's the point in this change? When did it occur? Imagine my surprise when I unintentionally bought a second Zandar filecard a few weeks ago. (I forgot I already had one!) Turns out, I bought the variation. As near as I can tell, this picture with the longer hair came first - the other side of the filecard only had the "Swivel Arm Battle Grip" in the corner, while the shorter hair filecard had the Fridge mail-in offer there.

But why change it at all? The figure itself is probably more accurately depicted with the long hair artwork, and that's what's used in the front of the card. It's hard to imagine the hair length and extra facepaint would cause any sort of public outcry, even in the 1980s. Yet here we have it. Was it some sort of error? Why would they bother reconstituting the card layout to do that? We may never know.

[pluv]

Any idea yet which one is the more common of the two?

[Tolan]

Any idea yet which one is the more common of the two?

The hair over the headband is.

[PJDonnell]

I have no idea!

[Kronz]

Mine has the curl over the headband, and swivel-arm text visible on the card front.

[Grunt]

Mine has the curl over the headband, and swivel-arm text visible on the card front.

Mine too. Its one of only about 10 full cardbacks I have.

[turner]

On that subject, I have learned some things in the past weeks as I've been working on a big custom project using 25th parts. There are parts that look basically identical in the 25th line that are different on the inside. The torso used for breaker looks to be the same as steeler, snake eyes, rock n roll, stalker, etc. But when that torso is used for snake eyes and stalker, the internal part leaves less room for the internal arm swivel. Breaker's arms don't fit in the snake eyes or stalker or comic pack green shirt duke's torso even though they look the same (you have to shave the swivel thinner to work).

Also, Breaker's upper legs look to be red star's upper legs, but red star's has the connector pins closer to the inside and overall are a bit shorter (if you have one breaker upper and one red star upper you have a figure with different length legs). Breaker's upper legs seem to be the same as tiger force duke and chuckles though (I haven't checked this out completely but the connector pins are on the outside like breaker). The roc storm shadow feet that seem to be reused with about three of his versions are different too, there are at least two different (maybe 3) sizes of feet, one has much bigger joint/ankle parts, if you mix match them, again, lopsided figure (and unless they are hidden in the lower legs pants, they look weird too).

[Plastica]

Will you likely add Zandars file card variation to his page in the archive

[PJDonnell]

Absolutely

[smarchitelli]

All 1986 releases (36 Back with Swivel, Sgt. Slaughter offer, and Body Transfer offer) had the long hair artwork on the filecard.

All 1987 releases (34 back with Swivel, Battle Ribbon offer, and Fridge offer) had the short hair artwork on the filecard.