 Hey everybody this week we are not gonna talk about any of the weird parts of GI Joe We're not gonna talk about space ships or villains with gold helmets this week We are going in the opposite direction We're gonna look at a part of GI Joe that you might consider mundane We're gonna look at a guy who didn't come with any guns. He didn't drive a vehicle He was in charge of something far more important Computers that's right GI Joe had a computer tech in 1986 Yeah, that's really all he did despite the lack of action in this action figure He's still one of my favorite characters this week. We're gonna look at mainframe Here's time for another vintage GI Joe toy review and before we get started I want to thank Chris Pierce for drawing the title card for this episode Chris has been a friend of the show for some time now and he has his own show Comic tropes right here on YouTube so be sure to check him out The last few weeks on this show have been downright funkadelic We've looked at a guy with a fuchsia uniform. We've looked at a spaceship It's about time we get back to the earlier years of GI Joe the more grounded years 80s GI Joe fans often consider 1982 through about 1985 to be the best years But there were some good toys released in 1986 too. We had a marine. We had a navy seal We had an army ranger, but there were also a lot of weird elements that year too But there was one guy who flew under the radar in 1986 did he come with a camouflage uniform and a realistic weapon? No, he did not but he was one of the most down-to-earth characters that year by 1986 We were several years into the micro computer revolution in the 1984 Super Bowl Apple ran its famous commercial for the Macintosh computer the foundations of the internet were laid when Arpanet adopted Transfer control protocol and internet protocol in 1983 We were still a few years away from computers being ubiquitous in middle-class homes But we were starting to realize the possibilities of what computers could bring to our lives Computers represented the power of free and easy transfer of information Computers were the future GI Joe needed a computer expert. They got more than that They got a veteran of two branches of service HCC 788 presents mainframe This is mainframe GI Joe's computer specialist from 1986. This figure was first available in 1986 and was also available in 1987 it was discontinued for the year 1988 there was a second version of mainframe Also released in 1986 as part of the special mission Brazil set that special mission Brazil set included recolored versions of five 1986 figures plus one new figure that was made of reused parts It also included an audio tape other than that there were no other versions of mainframe in the vintage line That's surprising because GI Joe went into more of a science fiction direction in the later years Mainframe would have fit pretty well in that era did mainframe have a replacement after the figure was discontinued That's difficult to say GI Joe had a ton of characters that were experts in technology But I can't find a computer specialist later in the line There were later versions of sci-fi and dial tone But I can't really call them Replacements for mainframe since the characters were introduced to the same year as mainframe. They were also not Specifically computer experts the closest I can get is Gears from 1994 He was an invention technician in the star brigade subset And he was the driver of the power fighter, but he still wasn't exactly a computer specialist I find this surprising as computers became more common in American homes GI Joe Deemphasized their computer specialist. I would have thought having a computer specialist on the team Would have been a good way to keep up with the times as much as I disliked star brigade Mainframe could have been easily adapted for it before mainframe Breaker was depicted as GI Joe's resident computer expert Breaker was a communication specialist But the comic book made a point of showing him working on computers The Cobra counterpart for mainframe at the time he was first released would be the televiper the televiper was a 1985 figure, but it still was on the pegs in 1986 The televiper's weren't exactly computer experts. They were communication specialists like breaker, but they worked on computers, too In 1987 Cobra got the techno viper The techno viper was more of a direct counterpart to mainframe mainframe represents one of my favorite character Archetypes the old soldier will get into his character later in this video Let's take a look at mainframe's accessories starting with what the card contents call a portable combat ready Computer system. This is a big clunky 80s computer with a carrying handle in gray plastic It has small feet on the bottom so it can sit flat on the ground the artwork on mainframe's card shows the computer sitting on Extended legs, but the toy does not have that maybe it was intended to there are little holes on those feet So maybe there was an accessory that they cut for cost It is hollow underneath on the computer. We have a small monitor screen lots of tiny keys on the keyboard We have two slots for five and a quarter inch floppy disks It looks like there is a disc in one of those slots This is similar to real portable computers from that era check out this IBM portable PC 5155 from 1984 it doesn't seem very portable since the thing weighed 30 pounds But this is the technology mainframe would have been working with the next accessory is mainframe's backpack Which the card contents call a BP? 75 e field a transmitter slash receiver unit with walkie-talkie It is in that same gray plastic as the computer this backpack has an antenna that is often broken off It also has a peg for the connector to the walkie-talkie. We'll look at that in a moment This backpack pegs mainframe as a computer specialist to though his file card doesn't mention it I would say the transmitter backpack was used in conjunction with the computer to transmit data But the backpack doesn't connect to the computer and wireless technology was pretty primitive at the time The backpack also includes a walkie-talkie with a black hose connector So it seems like it really is intended as a traditional communications backpack This is a little redundant since dial tone had his own much more robust communications backpack in 1986 I'll just pretend this is a transmitter for the computer finally. We have the walkie-talkie It's very small and it has a black rubbery hose connector that connects to the backpack There's a peg on the walkie-talkie and there is a peg on The backpack itself so that's how it connects one into the other that walkie-talkie is very tiny. It's made of black plastic It's a frequently missing accessory as you can imagine it has an antenna and a peg It has a little speaker on it and a couple buttons It's easier to fit the black connector hose in mainframes hand than the walkie-talkie itself The accessory is a little too thick to fit in a figure's hand without stressing the thumb The accessories fit well with mainframe even the transmitter pack evokes a high-tech feel the dark gray color Provides a subtle contrast with the light gray of mainframes uniform. He comes with no weapons, but that's fine He isn't a frontline combat troop. He's a technician that operates in a supporting role Let's take a look at the articulation on mainframe He had the articulation that was standard for GI Joe figures from 1986 So he could turn his head from left to right and look up and down He could swing his arm up at the shoulder and swivel at the shoulder all the way around He had a hinge at the elbow so he could bend at the elbow about 90 degrees He had a swivel at the bicep so he could swivel his arm all the way around The figure was held together with a rubber o-ring that looped around the inside so he could move at the torso a bit He could move his legs apart about so far He could bend his leg at the hip about 90 degrees and bend at the knee about 90 degrees Let's take a look at the sculpt design and color of mainframe starting with his head and on his head He has a non-removable helmet. It is black. It has a silver Marine Corps emblem on it Mainframe has some deeper lines sculpted on his face around his mouth That's because mainframe is older than most of his GI Joe teammates That's one of the things I like about this character. As usual, I would prefer this helmet to be removable It would have been really nice as a separate accessory If we could remove the helmet we could see mainframe's hair which I imagine as mostly black with a little gray It's a catch-22 though if the helmet had been removable We probably wouldn't have had a painted detail on it being non-removable They were able to give us a nice silver Marine Corps emblem The helmet designates mainframe as a marine But he didn't start his military career as a marine his file card tells that story on his chest He has a light gray shirt possibly a jumpsuit, but maybe not his collar has two Silver square tabs, and he has a sculpted zipper right down the center I'm zoomed in so I can try to point out all the details on this chest There's a lot going on here. There are silver epaulets on the shoulders on the right side of his chest He has a couple black patches. There's not a lot of detail on them But the upper patch looks like it might be jump wings This would be from the early part of his military career as US Army Airborne The lower patch may be a combat infantryman badge since it's mentioned on the file card He has an unpainted pocket on his right side He has a black strap that runs from his left shoulder down under his right arm And that black strap does continue around the back on that black strap He has numerous silver details He has a pistol on his left side a black pistol holster with black straps and very tiny Silver clasps in that holster He has a silver handled pistol that is positioned to be drawn with his right hand This pistol is one of only two weapons mainframe has and both of them are sculpted on the figure So he can't use them on his lower back He has a couple black bands that connect to that pistol holster on his arms He has gray rolled up sleeves. He has black gloves and on those gloves He has small circle details on his wrists. Those don't look like watches He also has three sculpted lines on the back of his hands His left glove looks like it's longer and pushed down. Take a look at the skin on his arms They sculpted extra lines on his skin And I think this is another way they tried to make him look older But he should be maybe just a little older not 80 on his left shoulder He has a sculpted on patched that's sculpted on not just painted on it's a down pointed Triangle that's cut off partially by the rolled up sleeves That's surrounded by silver and in the center. There's a silver three pointed star It looks like a Mercedes Benz, but it's actually modified from the sleeve insignia of the US Army Three core also known as the phantom core during the Cold War the three core had a training and testing role This is another holdover from mainframes experience in the army on his waist piece He has a silver belt buckle with another marine core emblem on it seems like he's very proud to be a marine Looks like he has a couple belt loops in the front here with some buttons on them a couple belt loops in the back He has pouches on the belt on the right side He has a small silver pouch and on the left side He has a large silver pouch then on the right side He has a couple straps that connect to the knife on his right leg on his legs He has that same light gray uniform color on his right leg He has a black strap and a black sheath for a silver handled knife on his right leg He has a couple straps that go around his thigh black straps He has a couple silver buckles on those straps on the inside of his thigh on the outside of his left leg He has some technological device here There's a black base or holster with some silver technical detail He has a couple black boots that look like standard combat boots at first But if you look closer instead of regular laces He has a couple bands that go around the top and he has ridges on the top of his feet as a marine The mainframe joins a distinguished lineup of Marines in GI Joe including gung-ho Leatherneck and sergeant slaughter the light gray coloring may seem kind of dull and it is there isn't much color to liven it up But I think it is appropriate for mainframe. He is a technician. He'll spend most of his time at the base He has a uniform that is made for crawling into narrow spaces to access cables and computer panels IBM theater presents the mainframe adventures You'll be on the edge of your seat as he repairs network outages Thrill as mainframe resets passwords for the third time this month really bazooka mainframe adventures Another interesting thing about mainframe's color scheme is the similarity to one of his 1986 classmates lowlight Lowlights uniform is gray with a black cap and black and silver details Lowlights gray is darker though that fits his specialty as a night spotter and sniper It's a good thing other 1986 figures had different colors. If you just look at these guys You would think 1986 was a very gray year. I did use mainframe in my play time Often I didn't have much use for these support troops as I've stated before I didn't use my medics very much I also didn't use chuckles to the spy very much as an adult I can think of a lot of fun play scenarios for those guys But as a kid I didn't focus on them mainframe though did get some attention. I had the 1983 headquarters command center. It was still mostly intact by 1986 mainframe was perfect for it. It had a big computer terminal with two seats I like to have breaker at the computer when he wasn't riding the ram motorcycle the introduction of mainframe Gave me a guy for that second chair and of course back then computers were basically magic boxes We had no idea how computers work. So we imagined they could do about anything Unfortunately, mainframe didn't get a lot of adventures outside the base Let's take a look at mainframe's file card his file card had his factionist GI Joe and a portrait of mainframe here His codename was mainframe and he was the computer specialist. His file name was Blaine L. Parker His primary military specialty was computer technology secondary military specialty is infantry His birthplace is Phoenix, Arizona and his grade is E5 This top paragraph says mainframe enlisted in the army airborne at the age of 17 and made it over to Southeast Asia For the last year of hostilities just in time to get his combat infantryman's badge Mainframe was in the army before he was a Marine although the file card doesn't mention Vietnam That's what they mean by Southeast Asia. He had a little combat experience, but not very much He left the army to get his degree from MIT on the GI Bill and did a stent toiling in the Antiseptic corridors of Silicon Valley making big bucks and fighting off boredom with a stick Luckily the Marines were looking for a few good men with just his qualifications The proper papers were signed and mainframe was back in uniform The GI Bill was signed into law by FDR in 1944 The official name of the law was the servicemen's readjustment act of 1944 The law allowed U.S. service veterans to collect immediate benefits after their service Among other things the GI Bill provided tuition for college and vocational school MIT is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology a prestigious research university in Cambridge, Mass Also this line where it says the Marines were looking for a few good men That's an allusion to the slogan on a u.s. Marine Corps recruitment advertisement There was also a movie called a few good men, but that didn't come out till 1992 So that's not a reference to the movie unsatisfied with a lucrative but unfulfilling computer job Mainframe returned to military service, but not the army. He joined the Marines He's one of the few joes to serve in more than one branch of service It doesn't say how long he was in the Marines before he joined GI Joe But I assume it was several years this bottom paragraph has a quote It says too much of the modern battlefield is computer coordinated not to have a computer specialist right out there in the field with you Problem is most hackers don't exactly fit the combat profile Mainframe is the exception. He was 10 years older than the next oldest trainee at Paris Island And he's still finished at the top of his class. He's got brains, but he's hard I imagine mainframe being about 10 years older than he really is I picture him being kind of in his mid to late 40s But in reality, he would have been in his early 30s by 1986 1975 was the last year of the Vietnam war and that's when mainframe got there He joined the army airborne at 17, but he probably would have arrived in Vietnam Maybe in his early 20s that would put him in his 30s when he joined GI Joe in 1986 I just feel like he ought to be older than that I think his face sculpt makes him look older and his character as depicted in the comic book made him seem older Mainframe is an old soldier The old soldier is one of my favorite character archetypes The old soldier becomes the mentor of the younger generation Another similar character was cup in the 1986 transformers movie Characters like cup and mainframe can come across as curmudgeonly at first But it's only because they care about the younger generation and they want to teach them And they don't want the younger people's recklessness to bring them to harm Mainframe has been around. He knows the ropes. He understands why things are done a certain way Mainframe is also well beyond the phase of his life where he seeks accolades He just does his job. He doesn't need to act like a hero. He doesn't need praise So long as he accomplishes his mission and survives, he wins Let's take a look at how mainframe was used in GI Joe media This time I'm going to talk about the comic book first Since the comic book characterization is how I think of mainframe He first appeared in issue number 57, but only as a background character He got the spotlight in issue number 58 In that issue mainframe and dusty are in an undisclosed country in the middle east They aid a rebel group in setting up an ambush In return for their aid, the rebels give them a motorcycle and a guide The guide is a child soldier named Rashid At first Rashid admires Dusty's fighting skill and has nothing but disdain for mainframe Dusty encourages Rashid to give mainframe a chance The technology used in that issue seems ancient now Mainframe uses a huge clunky external modem with a telephone handset To send secret data from a cobra terror drone to GI Joe headquarters Mainframe's experience and intelligence enable them to complete the mission and escape There are a lot of hints at mainframe's age in that issue Dusty calls him an old vet and an old campaigner He's an old campaigner and he doesn't need to prove himself to anyone He just gets the job done and to blazes what anyone else thinks Because a soldier only wins by surviving That sums up how I see mainframe and why I love the character Mainframe must have left an impression because Rashid reappears in the comic book series in issue number 118 He has left war behind and has become a computer expert He works with Destro though So I don't know if I would quite call that turning over a new leaf In that issue Rashid points out the absurdity of GI Joe a supposedly secret military team Putting its name on all their equipment Someone had to say it. Thank you Rashid after that mainframe didn't really have very much to do in the comic book He had several cameos Usually handling technology in some way mainframe was introduced in the animated series in arise serpentor arise part one He had the most screen time in the episode computer complications in that episode Zirana disguises herself as an army computer expert and infiltrates gi joe headquarters She works with mainframe and by the end of the episode They seem to have developed romantic feelings for each other before that though zirana tries to kill mainframe several times She tries to pull down giant crates on him being him with a wrench Stab him with a screwdriver at one point. She tases him and zartan leaves a bomb on his chest But hey what relationship doesn't have a few rough patches right in the cartoon He wasn't so much the old soldier like he was in the comic book But his romance with an enemy character does make him a little more interesting looking at mainframe overall I admit this figure isn't very exciting. He's the it guy The light gray coloring seems intended to be dull and uninspiring. It's a middle tier figure at best But I love mainframe his appearance in issue number 58 left an impression on me Of course, he could fight if he needed to but he learned to use his brain over his brawn He found a way to use his skills for something other than killing people and blowing things up That's important and I think it's overlooked when people talk about gi joe We had a lot of fun adventures with our toy soldiers But gi joe gave us action figures that did something other than fighting that adds depth to the line That would easily be overlooked by lesser brands. The file card is superb. It's my favorite type of file card It's filled with references that are not explained A child reading this was expected to understand them or look them up or ask a parent They were like little teaching tools as a kid reading these file cards. I felt grown up. I felt respected Someone thought I was smart enough to understand these things or at least learn about them mainframe is a veteran He's a mentor to the younger guys. He doesn't strap on a machine gun and dive into the fray But everyone knows he could he's been there and he's done that So maybe he was a little harder to fit into your play battles than a figure like leatherneck So maybe he did spend most of his time at the base But that's okay when the computers needed to work mainframe made sure they did And if someone needed to hack into cobra's computer systems Mainframe could do that and if he didn't win any medals that wouldn't bother mainframe He just gets the job done and to blazes what anyone else thinks because a soldier only wins By surviving that was my review of mainframe. I hope you enjoyed it Thanks again to chris pierce for the title card image next week I have an important duty to perform as some of you who follow me on social media know A slaughter's marauders armadillo was sent to me by a viewer and then it was destroyed by my dog I feel terrible about that when people trust me with their toys. I can't let them come to harm I take responsibility for it and I think it's about time. I start to make amends in the meantime You can catch me on facebook twitter and patreon I have a website hcc788.com where all my videos are sorted by year Thanks for watching I'll be back next week with a special gi joe toy review and until then remember only gi joe is gi joe