 Welcome to G.I. Joe, a rip-off American hero. Part one. A new series. I'm not really making that a series, that's not a thing. For the first Patreon vote of 2022, Patrons decided we needed a review of an action figure that, we'll say, took a lot of inspiration from another toy made by another toy company. Hello everybody, Hood and Cobra Commander 788 here. This is the show where we review every vintage G.I. Joe toy from 1982 to 1994. In 1987, Mattel produced one of the most innovative toys ever made. It was a toy, a game, and a TV show all rolled into one. Television episodes and VHS cassettes provided targets that you could really shoot at with the toy vehicles. Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future didn't last long, perhaps because it was ahead of its time, but it left an indelible impression on 80's children's entertainment. This video is a review and a game. It is also ahead of its time. It will also leave an indelible impression on...no, that's overstating things. In 1992, G.I. Joe added Barricade, an action figure that took a lot of design inspiration from Captain Power, so much that it's impossible to overlook the similarities. If you have a Captain Power powerjet, you can have some extra fun with this video. I've placed targets throughout this video, like this one, that you can shoot with your powerjet. I have no way to test that to see if it works. I hope it works. It should work. Let me know if it works. Let's look at G.I. Joe's Soldier of the Future. HCC 788 presents Barricade. This is Barricade, G.I. Joe's Bunker Buster. We have two versions of Barricade. Version 1 was available in 1992 and Version 2 was available in 1993. According to Yojo.com, Version 1 was only available in 1992, but there are some examples of the 1992 figure on the 1993 Battlecore card. Version 2 of Barricade was only available in 1993 and was discontinued for 1994. There were no other versions of Barricade in the vintage era. There were a couple post-vintage versions. Bunker Buster is a munition that is designed to destroy heavily fortified or underground targets. Merriam-Webster gives 1985 as the first usage of the term. It was a term that entered the popular lexicon during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 when this figure was being designed. According to pre-production material, Barricade was originally going to be the second version of Downtown, the Mortar Man from 1989. That's surprising since I think Downtown should have been the second version of G.I. Joe's first Mortar soldier short fuse. As we will see, Barricade's role doesn't fit a Bunker Buster or a Mortar soldier. If you grew up in the 1980s, you may recognize Barricade, but you may know him by a different name, Captain Power. Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future was a toy line produced by Mattel in 1987. It had an accompanying television show made by Landmark Entertainment and Ventura Pictures. It was an innovative interactive show that provided a game for the toys. The show included targets that could be seen by the electronic eye in the toys. By shooting the TV screen with the Powerjet X-T7, you could register hits. There's one of the bad guys trying to get away! Shoot him! Shoot him! Shoot! Shoot him! Shoot! Shoot him! It was a really cool idea. The toy and the TV show didn't last long, but it is one of the most creative forms of children's entertainment in the 80s. But the creators of G.I. Joe wouldn't copy a toy from another toy line, would they? I mean, they copied from Aliens, Captain Planet, Ninja Turtles, Star Wars, but not Captain Power. Captain Power was canceled years before Barricade was released, but it's the same guy. That's not to say that Hasbro was trying to latch on to the popularity of a show that was long gone before Barricade was designed. Maybe it was Hommage, maybe it was a sign of respect, I don't know. Version 2 is identical to version 1, except the blue parts are changed to orange. Even the accessories are the same. This skirts the line of demarcation between a variant and a version. That is a discussion detailed in my review of Firefly versions 2 and 3. Version 2 is part of the Battlecore series, which was the main line of G.I. Joe toys in 1993. I have the full cards for both versions. We can see how these figures were marketed in 1992 and 1993. Version 1 first appeared on the 1992 card. It was also on the Battlecore 1993 card. Then, sometime in 1993, they changed the color of the figure, producing version 2. And all version 2 figures were produced on the 1993 card. The artwork was not updated to reflect the new colors. If only the colors were changed and nothing else was the updated figure really intended to be a new version or just a variant. The 1992 card has the G.I. Joe logo. It has some pretty good card art. It says battering ram launcher shoots battle stand included. There are some instructions on how to use the spring loaded missile launcher. Barricade was number 9 in the 1992 series. And this figure was $2.99 at Toys R Us. On the back of the card, we have the cross cell. We have an advertisement for drug elimination force, eco warriors and ninja force. This figure was worth one flag point. And we have the file card, which we will look at later. The 1993 card has the Battlecore logo. Barricade was number 17 in the Battlecore series. It has the same artwork as the 1992 card, but it now has the blue laser striped background. It still has instructions on how to use the spring loaded missile launcher and the battle stand. The back of the card has the cross cell and an advertisement for DEF and ninja force. The flag point has been removed on my example. Then of course we have the file card. Let's look at the accessories for Barricade. Both version one and version two had the same accessories, so we only have to look at them once. Let's start by looking at Barricade's helmet. The file card calls this helmet. Titanium reinforced concussion proof headgear. The helmet is gold with a red paint application. It is made of a soft flexible plastic. I like the flexible plastic accessories from the 90s. There's less chance of breakage. It looks a bit similar to Captain Powers helmet. The biggest difference is Captain Powers helmet has blue instead of red. However, the card art for Barricade has blue on the helmet. Next, let's look at Barricade's submachine gun. The card calls this a sophisticated Z99 battlefield sidearm. It is in blue plastic. It is not based on a real-world weapon to my knowledge, but it still looks good. This gun was issued in black for Cutter version 3 in 1993. The next accessory is the backpack. It is in blue plastic. I am using the one that came with my version 2 figure. You can see that it has a slot. On that slot, you can fit the spring-loaded missile launcher. Mine is a very tight fit, and because it is such a tight fit, I will not put it on this backpack. I did put it on once, but it was such a tight fit that I almost did not get it off. The backpack that came with my version 1 figure isn't quite such a tight fit, so you can pull the thing off. This is a spring-loaded missile launcher. These were an innovation for 90s GI Joes. It is in blue plastic. It has a yellow trigger in the back. This missile launcher was reissued in 1993 with kernel courage. In gold plastic, it did not include the backpack. According to the artwork on the card, the grip is supposed to be on the top of the launcher. This does not fit on my action figure's hand, and I'm not going to force it. Above the missile launcher barrel, it looks like it has a multi-barrel machine gun. The card calls this an 8-barreled multi-shot, never-miss machine gun. Barricade included one yellow missile with a battering ram tip. The card called this a high-powered wall smasher battering ram. This oddly-shaped yellow missile was reissued in 1993 with kernel courage just as the launcher was, and this time in green plastic. To operate the missile launcher, just place the missile in the barrel notch side up, press until it clicks. To test this missile launcher, let's bring in our old friend, Dr. Meinbender. To fire the missile, just take aim and press down on the trigger in the back to fire. Barricade included one other accessory. It is a figure stand in black plastic. This was a great thing about 90s figures. They mostly came with figure stands, and 80s figures did not. Let's look at the articulation on Barricade. Both version 1 and version 2 had the same articulation, and it was the articulation that was standard for G.I. Joe figures well before 1992. 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 that allowed him to bend his arm at the elbow about 90 degrees. He had a swivel at the bicep that allowed him to swivel his arm all the way around. This was an O-ring figure, meaning it was held together with a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside, not allowed him to 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 look at the sculpt design and color of Barricade. I was going to warn about gold plastic syndrome for this figure. Gold plastic produced in the 80s and 90s tends to become very brittle over time. For Barricade, though, it doesn't look like most of his parts are made of gold plastic. He is mostly a base blue plastic color with gold paint. Looking at Barricade's head, he has black hair. He has a subtle sneer. This face was probably based on a real person as many 90s G.I. Joe figures were, but I haven't been able to find a source for who this may be. On his chest, he has a blue uniform with gold armor on his chest and back. On his back, he has a protruding pack that is similar to the pack on the Captain Power figure. On the Captain Power figure, that looks like it's supposed to be a jet pack. Not so on Barricade, but it still looks similar. On his arms, he has long blue sleeves. He has gold armor on his shoulders. And he has gold Iron Man style gloves. The waist piece is all gold with no paint applications. It is just solid gold armor. On his legs, he has a blue uniform with gold pads on his thighs and straps that go around his upper legs. He has gold knee pads and tall gold boots. These legs are very similar to Captain Power, whose legs had a blue uniform with gold thigh pads and straps around the upper legs, gold knee pads, and tall gold boots. These legs were used on two figures in 1994, gears, and Cobra Blackstar. The color scheme is not suitable for most combat environments, but if Barricade works in an urban setting rather than a traditional battlefield, it may not matter that much. Version 2 of Barricade from 1995 is exactly the same as version 1. The only difference is the blue parts have been changed to orange. The paint applications are exactly the same. The articulation, the accessories all exactly the same. Even the copyright stamp and the country of origin stamp on the figures are the same. Let's look at Barricade's file card. The 1992 file card has a portrait of Barricade and a full body picture of Barricade that is taken from the artwork on the front of the card. It has a numbered list of features, and I have used this list to describe some of the accessories and features on the figure. His codename is Barricade. He is the Bunker Buster. His filename is Philip M. Hulsinger. His primary military specialty is Bunker Buster. Secondary military specialty is Badger Driver. The Badger was a 1991 GI Joe vehicle that was discontinued for 1992, so it was not on the shelves at the same time as Barricade. His birthplace is Pittsburgh, Kansas, and his grade is E-5. There is a quote here, presumably from Barricade himself. It says, The figure does not include a satchel charge. This paragraph says, Outfitted with a suit of flexible composite laminate armor and a helmet with built-in infrared heat source sensors, Barricade can take on any Cobra agent in an urban environment and knock his block off with relative ease. Knock his block off. So are we borrowing from Rockham Sockham robots now? There are some minor changes on the 1993 card. They did away with the registered trademark symbol next to GI Joe, and he's now the urban assault specialist instead of the armored assault specialist. This is the kind of change you saw in DEF characters that were re-released in 1993, like bulletproof. But Barricade was not in DEF. They did not need to make this change. What this card is describing is an urban assault trooper, not a guy who blows up underground bases. His role is more like a SWAT specialist, like Shockwave. In fact, Barricade looks a little like Shockwave version 3. So Barricade could have been Downtown, or Short Fuse, or Shockwave, or Captain Power. The GI Joe collector's book published by Hasbro in 1993 has two entries for Barricade. The 1992 entry has his specialty as Bunker Buster Specialist. The 1993 entry has his specialty as Urban Assault Trooper in parentheses New Colors. This specialty didn't make it to the 1993 file card. Based on the file card, this seems to be what he was always meant to be. He's not a Bunker Buster in the conventional sense, unless you mean busting into bunkers through the door. Looking at how Barricade was used in GI Joe media, that won't take long. He had no appearances in the animated series, and no appearances in the GI Joe comic book series published by Marvel Comics. Looking at Barricade overall, this is one of the better looking figures from 1992. The gold makes it look like a deluxe figure, and the gold is balanced by the blue. What a great design this was in 1987 from a different toy line. The version 2 Barricade is so similar to version 1, the differences are hardly worth mentioning. The blue is turned to orange. There's a slightly updated card, but version 1 was also on that card, so that's not really unique to 1993. If you look at the main 1992 GI Joe lineup, Barricade just doesn't fit. He has all this gold and futuristic gear. He may have fit better in the Super Sonic Fighters, which had some more science fiction uniforms, like Psych Out and Zap. But even there, he would have looked out of place next to Falcon and Rock and Roll. As far as his specialty, you can call him a Bunker Buster all day long, but his role would have fit better with DEF as an urban fighter. Barricade wasn't in Super Sonic Fighters or DEF, he was just a regular Joe where he doesn't really fit. That may be why he didn't make it to any GI Joe media at the time. Why is he called a Bunker Buster? I think it was chosen because it was a cool sounding term from the first Gulf War, but it can only loosely be applied to his real specialty. Does he bust bunkers? Only in the sense that he busts into fortified buildings with his battering ram. With no media appearances, this character is mostly forgotten. He didn't bust any bunkers. He didn't even knock down any doors with DEF. Who remembers him? Fans of GI Joe from the early 90s remember him. He's like the Boba Fett of 90s GI Joe. He looked cool, but he did very little. Fans imagined more, but at the time they didn't get it. That was my review of Barricade. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what your high score was. If that gimmick worked, I have no idea. Please subscribe to the YouTube channel for more GI Joe toy reviews. I have a huge back catalog, so make sure you check out those. You can find me on social media, on Facebook and Twitter, and I have a website, hcc788.com. As you may have heard, I'm currently supporting myself with the income from this channel, so if you'd like to help me continue doing these videos, please consider supporting the channel on Patreon. Every little bit helps, and I greatly appreciate it. Just as I greatly appreciate all the people whose names are scrolling on the screen right now. Your name could be there. Thank you for watching. I'll see you next time, and until then, remember, only GI Joe is GI Joe.