 Hello GI Joe fans, we are in Des Moines, Iowa for codename Iowa's Assembly Required. It's a regional GI Joe show and I've never been, I'm really looking forward to it. And while I'm here, I'm gonna review Rapid Deployment Force, the mail away set from 1993. Maybe while I'm in there, I'll see a few people that we know and maybe get some opinions on that set. Before we get started though, I wanna remind everyone that Timmer's Charity Drive is going on right now. We are trying to raise $1,500 this year for children's charities. All you have to do to participate is donate to a children's charity and send proof of that donation to the email address you see on your screen right now. And you can be entered in a drawing to win some stuff. So go ahead and check that out and now let's go inside. Hello everybody hooded Cobra Commander 788 here, it's time for another vintage GI Joe toy review and we're doing things a little differently. We are at Assembly Required in Des Moines, Iowa. And so I'm gonna be shooting the review from here. This week we are reviewing Rapid Deployment Force, a mail away set from 1993 that included just three re-released figures, two from Knight Force and then one random guy and a black version of the pocket patrol pack. 1993 was a pretty crazy year for GI Joe, the 1993 lineup was massive. The retail releases were just overwhelming. It's one of the most difficult years of the vintage line to complete. But the mail away sets in contrast look backwards. They got a lot of re-releases, some figures that were repainted from earlier action figures, but then the Rapid Deployment Force wasn't repainted at all. They just straight re-released the same figures with some different accessories. So inside the convention here we have a few friends and I'm going to ask them what they think of Rapid Deployment Force. So without further ado, let's check it out, HCC 788 presents Rapid Deployment Force. This is the 1993 Rapid Deployment Force mail away set. This set was introduced in 1993 and most resources listed as only being available in 1993. However, I have opened and assembled some 1994 vehicles and some of those vehicles included the 1993 catalogs. So this set should also have been available at least partly in 1994. The set was offered through catalogs like this one. This is a 1993 catalog, but I pulled this out of a box for a 1994 vehicle. And if you open up this catalog to the middle page, there is the set. It was 1495 plus three flag points. If you turn the page to the order form, you can see this offer expired September 30, 1994. So this set should have been available through September of 1994. This set is made up almost entirely of reused product. Only two things are new, the pocket patrol pack and the file card. The pocket patrol pack is only new in the sense that it's a black version of the previously released pocket patrol pack. The set includes 1989 repeater version two with his night force color scheme, 1989 shock wave version two with his night force color scheme and 1987 fast draw. It has a black version of the pocket patrol pack, three weapons, six figure stands, a file card, and an instruction sheet for the pocket patrol pack. Night force was a set of figures and vehicles exclusive to Toys R Us in 1988 and 1989. It consisted entirely of reissued figures and vehicles with new night operations colors. They tend to be rare and expensive on the aftermarket. With the inclusion of night force repeater and night force shock wave and the black pocket patrol pack, you could almost think of the rapid deployment force set as a night force mail away set. But it includes fast draw, which almost seems like a random selection. 1993 is an intimidating year to collect. There was a massive amount of product that year. There are dozens of carded figures, numerous sub teams, and multiple mail away sets. 1993 had almost double the product of a standard year in the vintage GI Joe era. 1993 also represents the year GI Joe went heavily into brightly colored figures and vehicles. There was more science fiction. There were more ninjas. There were even street fighter figures, if you consider them to be part of GI Joe. Which I do not. If you are a fan of old school GI Joe, the toys on the pegs may not have appealed to you. The mail away sets offered an alternative. The mail away offers in 1993 were a mixed bag. There was very little new. Even a new character like create a cobra was made of reused parts. There were three sets of mail away figures offered in 1993, which, though they were reissues of older figures, took a different approach. Those sets were international action force, Arctic commandos, and rapid deployment force. These sets are different because they include a group of action figures, not just one or two, and each set has a single file card. That's one file card for the set, not individual file cards for each figure. The first two sets, international action force and Arctic commandos included old action figures with new color schemes. For rapid deployment force, though, they didn't bother to change the color schemes. It was also the only set to include the bonus pocket patrol pack. Rapid deployment force is a real military term, referring to a contingent of the armed forces equipped and trained for rapid deployment around the world. It is exactly what it sounds like, a rapid deployment force. The US armed forces has Ranger and Airborne units designated for this purpose. Real world rapid deployment force does not involve carrying soldiers in a pouch on somebody's belt. Let's look at the accessories that came with rapid deployment force, and to explain the accessories, I have to explain how the set was packaged. The whole set was in a large polybag, like this one, and the individual figures were in smaller polybags within the big one, like this fast draw here, and each of the figures in the bag included a single black figure stand, and that's all. I have these three figures standing on their individual black figure stands. Inside the large polybag, there was another smaller sealed bag, and that included three additional figure stands and three weapons. There is nothing new here, all of these accessories are just reissued older accessories, and there's no indication of which weapon goes with which figure. None of these accessories came with the original retail release, they are all different, and you have twice as many figure stands as you have figures. This seems like a bag of extras, there's no rhyme nor reason why these specific accessories came with this set. Let's look at the weapons, and let's start with this black sniper rifle. This sniper rifle originally came with 1986 low light, in exactly the same color, this is just a reissue of low light sniper rifle, but it does not include the removable bipod that low light had. Next is this gold submachine gun. This looks like a variation of the Heckler and Koch MP5. This accessory was included with several action figures in 1993 and 1994, such as DJ version 2, Robojo, and Roadblock. Beware of gold plastic syndrome though, this may be very brittle plastic now, I will not put this in the figure's hand because of that reason. Finally we have another black submachine gun. This looks like a Colt 9mm SMG. This weapon originally came with 1988 hit and run, and it looks like an identical weapon, the mold at least is identical. On hit and run submachine gun though, it has more of a matte finish, where the rapid deployment force version is glossy. Then of course we have all these figure stands, and they appear to be just standard black Hasbro figure stands with a 1988 copyright stamp on them. These were reissued by Hasbro many many times over the years, and these are quite standard, and that's great I guess if you need figure stands. The accessories for this set are a huge let down. All three of these figures originally had amazing accessories. They are all missing here. This is especially a problem for Fast Draw, the 1987 carded figure included a visor on his helmet. That visor is not included with this set, but the figure's head still has the pegs for the visor. It's really obvious that something is missing. Let's look at the pocket patrol pack that came with rapid deployment force. The pocket patrol pack was originally issued on a card in 1983. It is a green carrying case that could be opened up and could carry three action figures. It also had a loop on the back, you could thread a belt through that and wear it on a belt. The pocket patrol pack was available for a long time. You could get it through the mail. It was even included with later versions of Starduster. There are a few variations of it, but this is the only version in black. You should note a couple differences other than the color from the original retail release. The earliest versions of the pocket patrol pack had a window with an angled side for the GI Joe sticker. Later versions had a rectangular window with an updated sticker. Another variation has a rectangular window, but it is wider and thinner and has an updated sticker. The rapid deployment force version of the pocket patrol pack has the longer, narrower rectangular window and it has a unique sticker. It says rapid deployment force, it does not say GI Joe. The set also included an instruction sheet for the pocket patrol pack. This looks like it's just photocopied and cut out. To my eye, this looks almost exactly the same as the instruction sheet that came with the mail away pocket patrol pack, except on the mail away pocket patrol pack it has these digits in the corner, this .00A and on the one that came with the rapid deployment force set it has just a .00. All of these guys had the standard articulation for GI Joe well before 1993. I'm not going to demonstrate the articulation on these figures because their joints are quite tight and I'm concerned about cracking them if I move them around too much. I have already reviewed the first versions of all of these figures so if you want to see how they are articulated I would refer you to those videos but their articulation is standard. Let's look at the sculpt design and color of these rapid deployment force figures starting with repeater and repeater is using his 1989 night force colors from the version 2 figure. The version 1 repeater figure from 1988 had a desert color scheme and digital camouflage. In this night force color scheme we lose several paint applications including the digital camouflage. There may be some slight color variations from the carted night force repeater figure but it is substantially the same. He has a green non-removable cap, he has a Caucasian skin tone, kind of a big chin, he has black hair. On his chest he has a green vest and that color of green is very close to the version 1 color but maybe a shade lighter. His undershirt is not painted in on the top but it is painted black on the bottom part of the chest and back so they partially painted the undershirt on the torso. He has black rolled up sleeves and a glove on his left hand. On his waist piece he has a green belt with lots of detail including a pouch and a grenade. Then over here on his right hip he has some extra detail and this extension here with a hole. This loop here is designed for the Steadycam machine gun mount that came with the version 1 figure. This rapid deployment force version of the figure does not have the machine gun but it still has the place where you're supposed to mount it. His legs feature brown trousers and more of that green detail on his right leg. This is all supposed to be part of his Steadycam machine gun mount which doesn't do any good when he doesn't come with the Steadycam machine gun. He has a couple of pockets on his thighs and he has some pretty good looking black boots. Let's move on and look at Shockwave. This is the version 2 night force color scheme for Shockwave. The one of Shockwave was predominantly blue and he also had this blocky camouflage pattern that is not present in the night force color scheme. As far as I can tell this rapid deployment force release of night force shockwave is identical to the carded release. I have not spotted any color variations. These two guys look the same. It looks like they just took some unsold night force shockwave figures and tossed them into this set. Shockwave has a gray cap over a black balaclava. He has a green chest that's a vest that is unpainted. It has some straps and a knife but it doesn't have any paint applications on the torso at all. This is something I thought was missing on the first version of the figure and I kind of think it's missing here. It really could benefit from some additional paint applications there. He has gray sleeves on his arms. He has black gloves. On his waist piece he has a black belt, not especially detailed. Has what looks like ammunition pouches on the left side. On his legs he has gray trousers. He has black pistol holsters on each thigh. Two pistols. He has black straps that go around his thighs. He has a pocket on the outside of his right leg and he has an unpainted knife on the inside of his left leg. And then we finish up with some pretty good looking black boots. Finally we get to Fast Draw the odd ball of the group. This guy stands out like a sore thumb. He doesn't look like either of the other two guys. This is basically just version one of Fast Draw. As mentioned before, Fast Draw does not include any of his original accessories and those accessories are important to his specialty. He had a big missile launcher system on his backpack and he had this visor which the Rapid Deployment Force version does not have but of course it still has the pegs. So big loss there for Fast Draw. For Fast Draw I do see a minor color variation from the original retail release. It's in the red paint. It's especially noticeable on these red knee pads. The red paint applications appear to be a bit darker than the red on the original retail version. That's a very minor variation that may not be interesting to all collectors. There is another difference. The country of origin stamp on the original retail release says made in Hong Kong whereas the Rapid Deployment Force version says made in China. Fast Draw has a red helmet with a couple pegs, a Caucasian skin tone. He has a brown chin strap on that helmet. He's wearing a green jumpsuit with a blue harness and some gray protective padding. He has protruding green shoulder pads. He has some blue straps on his chest and his back. And he has this gray protective vest under those blue straps. And that vest has a texture pattern, kind of a bumpy texture pattern on it. His arms feature long green sleeves and red gloves. His waist piece has a blue belt, not much detail there. He has gray protective padding on the front and we see that green jumpsuit on the back. Likewise his legs are green on the back and gray on the front and has that bumpy texture pattern on those gray pads. He has a gray pistol holster and a black pistol on his right thigh. He's got straps that go around the back of his thighs for those gray pads. He has some red knee pads and his lower legs have more of that gray padding and gray boots. Let's look at the file card that came with Rapid Deployment Force. This file card was an insert in the poly bag. It has a plain white backing. That's a little unusual. These mail way file cards usually had a red back. The card features no artwork. It just has a photograph of the three figures in the pocket patrol pack. And the pocket patrol pack is on somebody's belt. I wonder who the model was for that? Somebody at Hasbro maybe? Could this be Kirk Boziggian's belt? Below the photograph it has the names of the three figures, fast draw, repeater and shockwave. And then in bold letters above the photograph it says Rapid Deployment Force. The copyright information in the country of origin is on a sticker that is placed on the file card. I assume they had to cover up some erroneous information. And so they just slapped a sticker over it. The text of the file card is this very long paragraph. It says, Cobra intelligence orders issued over a cellular communications transmitter have recently been intercepted by GI Joe surveillance operatives. A team of Austrian physicists is being held captive in a fortress and forced to develop Cobra's latest nuclear threat, a bomb referred to only by its top secret codename X-Terminate. GI Joe has engaged RDF in parentheses, Rapid Deployment Force, commandos to get to the fortress and stop the bomb's completion before it's too late. Three RDF members have been chosen for the risky mission. Fast draw, a mobile missile specialist will launch a surprise missile attack and blast an entry hole into the fortress. He does not include his missile system. Repeater, the Steady Cam Machine Gunner will provide initial cover fire to take on any Cobra resistance. He does not include his Steady Cam Machine Gun. And shockwaves, the SWAT, in parentheses, special weapons and tactics specialist will penetrate the fortress, destroy the bomb and bring the scientists to safety. Time is of the essence. Can RDF pull it off? Probably not because they don't have any of the weapons. They would need to do it. Looking at how these characters were used in GI Joe Media, Repeater and Fast Draw were only animated for commercials. They didn't make any appearances in the animated series episodes. Shockwave was animated for a couple episodes of the Deke animated series, but not in this uniform. He was in his version three uniform from Drug Elimination Force. All three of these characters were in the comic book series published by Marvel Comics, but none were major characters. Shockwave probably had the most exposure. There was never a comic book or animated story that followed the mission described on the file card. I'm still enjoying assembly required. I asked some friends here what they thought of Rapid Deployment Force and the 1993 retail lineup for the GI Joe line. OK, we have Chris McLeod, a diagnostic from the full force podcast. So and I just mentioned a moment ago that we're reviewing Rapid Deployment Force from 1993. So Rapid Deployment Force was always an interesting one for me. That kind of random selection of Joe's thrown in a box and there you go. But the fact that it's got a couple of night force figures in there, I mean, you tend to cover that a little bit more, you know, when there's a cheeky little kind of extra special figure in there. I kind of feel like we were the night force for the night force. Any kind of subteams, if you get subteam in a lot of figures, even if it's a Sonic Fighter or something like that, it's like a little bit like quirky and different. So with the Rapid Deployment Force, I was kind of, you know, that was really cool. It wasn't one of those things that I really knew about until much later on in life. So this was definitely like an adult collector kind of phase. I mean, finding out about it and then, you know, trying to procure on which I did successfully. Only the one thing. So this is Patrick Stewart, not Picard. And as I mentioned a moment ago, I'm reviewing Rapid Deployment Force. So what thoughts do you have on the 1993 Rapid Deployment Force set? I really like it. I have chased variations for a long time. And those ones, I think have some great ones. I think that the red that's on fast draws a little bit different. And the added bonus is that making those figures available again, maybe make some not quite as expensive as they would be because those Night Force figures are really good, especially in Shockwave. Nice Night Force Shockwave is probably one of the most popular ones in the set. So the fact that he was in there and is still in such high demand, I think we're really fortunate that we were able to get that figure again. Thank you. Thank you. This is Jason and we are at Assembly Required here. And I've asked Jason for his thoughts about the 1993 set and the Rapid Deployment Force. So go Jason. The Rapid Deployment Force was definitely a callback to the older Joe's. Since since they didn't repaint them, they just put them with a with a pocket patrol pack. I love the pocket patrol pack. Collect it. I have 10 or 12 of them, but that's the one that is different. It's black, which yeah, not a big difference from green. Still, it's beautiful. And but contrasting it with the 93 stuff, like setting it next to Cyber Viper, it's insane setting it next to, you know, any of any of the the Street Fighter stuff, all that stuff, it just comes across as a different year. And then I put it with the 94 CUDA and then I have I have a 90s callback to the 80s and it just feels out of touch or out of sync. But I couldn't love it any more than I do. And and I play with it with the 93 stuff, even though it's out of sync. This is fun. Looking at rapid deployment force overall, this set, I guess, lands in the middle tier, even though it has two top tier figures with it. I would consider both night force repeater and night force shockwave to be top tier figures. Fast draw, I'm not quite as fond of. Two thirds of the figures are top tier figures. What keeps rapid deployment force from being a top tier set is the fact that it is almost straight reissues. The only really new thing that comes with it is the black version of the pocket patrol pack, and that is pretty cool. And it has the file card and the file card even is kind of a half effort thing at one file card for three guys. Despite that, it's been more fun for me to collect the 1993 mail away sets than it has been to collect the 1993 retail releases, even though the mail away sets are kind of lazy and just mainly reissues of older toys. They do reflect back on an earlier period of G.I. Joe, when, in my opinion, the figures were a bit better. For that reason, it's been fun to get rapid deployment force and the other mail away sets like Arctic Commandos and International Action Force. But no matter how nice the figures, it's going to be hard for a set that just reissues things to make it to the top tier. That was my review of rapid deployment force. Thanks to everyone who helped out with this review. And it was fun going to codename Iowa's assembly required in Des Moines, Iowa. Don't forget about Temris Charity Drive. If you like this video, don't forget to give it a thumbs up on YouTube, subscribe to the YouTube channel, hit the notification bell and share this video with your friends. You can find me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and I have a website, HCC788.com. Thanks as always to my patrons. If you like these videos and you'd like to help me make more of these videos, please check out my Patreon. You can get some special perks there and even find out how to decode the secret messages you see in these videos. That's all for now. I'll be back next week with another vintage GI Joe toy review. I'll see you then. And until then, always remember only GI Joe is GI Joe.