 Hello everybody hooded Cobra Commander 788 here and I've got another vintage GI Joe toy review for you and this time we are looking at the 1982 and 1983 GI Joe Ranger codename stalker. The codename stalker is perhaps a little unfortunate. The word stalker has a very negative connotation now. Back in 1982 when this character was created, the word stalker didn't mean exactly what it means today. Stalker was first released in 1982 as part of the first series of GI Joe action figures when the line was re-released in 1982 and he was in this straight arm version. In 1983 he was re-released as a swivel arm action figure with a new point of articulation at the bicep. He was also sold in 1984 and 1985. In 1986 he was replaced by the new GI Joe Ranger, Beat Head. Since stalker was part of series 1 of GI Joe, he was one of the original green 13. So called because those original green figures were mostly in some shade of army green. In 1989 we got a second version of stalker and stalker was recast as an arctic trooper you can see his uniform definitely has an arctic theme to it. A stalker in an arctic environment is not unprecedented. I could make some comments about this second version of stalker but I'm not reviewing this figure right now I'm reviewing version 1 1.5 and here's where I have to admit some personal bias. Stalker is my favorite character and I know I've mentioned that other GI Joe figures and vehicles are in my favorites category but stalker tops the list. He is my number one favorite GI Joe character of all time. I'm going to take a closer look at the differences between the 1982 version and the 1983 version of stalker a little bit later but I'm going to set aside the 1982 version for now and we're going to mostly look at this 1983 version of stalker. Stalker was a single carded action figure in 1982 and 1983 he did not come with a vehicle but in the cartoon and the comic book he was heavily associated with the jump jet pack. The jump jet pack in 1982 did not come with an action figure so it was nicely paired with stalker. However in 1983 the jump jet pack was released with an action figure it wasn't stalker it was version 2 of Grand Slam. Let's take a look at stalker's accessory and he came with only one his submachine gun. He did not come with a backpack or anything like that. This is the only accessory that he had. The contents of the card call this an M32 pulverizer submachine gun and what this actually is is a modified version of the heckler and coke mp5 differences between this and the mp5 this has an elongated barrel that the mp5 did not have and it has this very unique curved stock which I think is really cool looking that's kind of a nice touch this is a very nicely detailed accessory you can see on both side there's plenty of sculpted detail on that looks really good getting this original stalker accessory it can be a little bit difficult and there are some things to watch out for in 1983 Hasbro released a battlefield accessory packs which were essentially these same 1982 figures weapons remolded in different colors they are not the original but they can look very similar let me show you the accessory pack version of stalker's submachine gun as you can see it is slightly lighter gray stalker's gun is not a true black it's really a very dark gray and the accessory pack version is just a lighter gray version of the original if you want the original you do have to watch out for that to complicate matters even further this same weapon was remolded in green and given to Duke you can see it's a green version of the same weapon and version two of Duke which was the Tiger Force Duke also came with this same accessory but it was black it was more of a true black than this dark gray version so that's another thing you have to watch out for let's take a look at the articulation on stalker starting with the 1983 version and as with all 1983 GI Joe action figures he could turn his head from left to right like that he had a swivel at the shoulder he could swivel his arm all the way around and he could move it up about so far he had a hinge at the elbow so he could move at the elbow about 90 degrees and he had a swivel at the bicep he could swivel his arm all the way around the figure was held together with the rubber o-ring that looped around the inside so he could move at the torso a little bit he could move his legs apart about so far he could bend at the hip about 90 degrees and he could bend at the knee about 90 degrees the articulation on the 1982 version of stalker was different in one way he did not have this swivel at the bicep he only had the hinge at the elbow so he could move at the elbow about so far but that's the only articulation that he had on that part of the arm let's take a look at the sculpt design and color of stalker and the first thing you notice is this camouflage pattern which is all over all around the back and the sides and this looks fantastic this is the first GI Joe action figure to do this camouflage like this and they did a pretty good job right out of the gate I mean this is kind of a deluxe figure he has a couple features that none of the other figures in GI Joe had at the time and this camouflage was one of them the other unique feature was stalker's head which was not shared by any other action figures at the time he had this green beret he had a mustache with a paint app on it and that was really nice black hair like that looks like a little bit of the paint is scraped off of mine but he was pretty unique he even in the first line of GI Joe action figures when most of them were army guys wearing green stalker still stood out this is a good time to talk about the differences between the 1982 and 1983 version obviously there was a new point of articulation at the bicep you can see that's lacking here in the 1982 version but that's not the only difference you can see the pocket that was on the arm of the 1982 version instead of being on the side is now on the front of the arm in the 1983 version you can see the difference between the waist pieces in the 1982 and the 1983 version the 1982 version had this thicker waist piece sometimes referred to as diaper crotch it had this h-shaped belt buckle the 1983 version had a slimmer waist a more detailed belt buckle I think this belt buckle is a subtle brand stamp from Hasbro H for Hasbro and this new belt buckle looks like kind of like a house and that would be Hasbro's logo final difference the holes in the back of the action figure where the backpacks would go were slightly different between 1982 and 1983 such that the 1983 backpacks themselves are slightly different of course stalker didn't come with the backpack so it's not too important for him although stalker has this dark green paint app for camouflage the base color of his plastic is this light green and this light green plastic is rather notorious for being extremely brittle another figure that was molded in light green plastic zap is well known for being very easy to break for instance on mine I've got hands thumbs broken off heels broken off and as you can see on my 1982 stalker both of his thumbs are gone this light green plastic is exceptionally fragile that's why I'm not using figure stands for this review the peg on the figure stands could crack off the heel on the foot of the action figure I've seen that happen before and so I'm just never going to use a figure stand with stalker even though stalker was unique in a lot of ways his body parts were mostly not unique except for his head he entirely shared bodies with hawk and grunt you can see on these 1982 versions even though the colors are different all the parts are the same let's look at stalker from head to toe and as I said before he has this unique head he was the only African-American character in that 1982 line he has a green beret that's really nice he has black straps that go down to his waist across his chest and that continues in the back in this sort of why pattern he has a grenade and a knife couple pouches he has pouches on his arms he has long sleeves and of course he has this belt it's a pretty plain belt it's got a pocket in the back but not much detailing on the waist piece he has a pouch on either side of his legs and he has some standard boots let's take a look at stalker's file card and the file card was printed on the back of the card on which the action figure was packaged you can see part of the front of the card here mostly it's torn away on mine you can tell this was not a 1982 card because it has this advertisement on here for swivel arm battle grip and that of course was the 1983 version it has a portrait of stalker here and in the art his beret is also camouflaged it's not solid green has his faction as GI Joe he's a ranger and his codename is stalker since he is a ranger that means he's a graduate of the US Army ranger school which is a very tough training program it focuses on combat leadership and small unit tactics which is perfect for a field leader in GI Joe his file name is Lonzo R. Wilkinson his primary military specialty is infantry secondary military specialty is medic and interpreter and that's interesting because GI Joe did not have a dedicated medic when stalker was introduced so he was GI Joe's first medic his birthplace is Detroit, Michigan and his grade is E5 it just mentions here that he was in an urban street gang without explaining any more of that and we don't get any more of that background from stalker in the comic books or the cartoon my impression is this is a life that he just left behind when he joined the army and that just isn't a part of him anymore also notable is the fact that he speaks four languages in addition to English and in the GI Joe universe language skill is often used as kind of a proxy for intelligence Duke is another character that speaks multiple languages and he was a field commander of GI Joe much in the way that stalker was portrayed in the comic books this bottom section has a quote it says functions well under high stress situations intelligent perceptive moves like some sort of jungle cat silent fast strong and at that I think is the origin of his code name stalker the GI Joe comic book published by Marvel Comics and written by Larry Hammer gave us a little bit more of the background of stalker especially his service in Vietnam where he was on a long-range recon patrol with snake eyes another member of the GI Joe team and the man who would later become the Cobra ninja storm shadow stalker was sadly underutilized in the GI Joe animated series but in the comic book he was one of the most well-developed characters of the whole series we got to know stalker really well in the GI Joe comic book stalker was an early field commander for the GI Joe team and even though he was just a sergeant he was placed in command of officers who outranked him now that role was later kind of taken over by Duke but in the comic book stalker led just as many missions as Duke did let's be frank stalker is the token black guy of that 1982 GI Joe run and that was not too unique among toy lines of the 80s I mean you usually got your one black guy maybe one Hispanic guy and of course the blonde Caucasian who also happened to be the leader but it seems like when Larry Hammer got a hold of this character and wrote him for the comic book he was determined to make stalker more than that he was going to be more than just the token black guy he was going to be important he was going to be well written now he was going to be a character that we really wanted to know and that we can see leading this team I love stalker in the comic books he of course was the consummate soldier he's someone who just fit the military life perfectly he just understood combat at a level that most professional soldiers couldn't attain and he understood why they fight there was a scene in one of the GI Joe comic books when he has to address ripcord and he explains why it is they go in on a mission and risk their lives to save somebody that they don't particularly like and doesn't necessarily want to be saved because stalker gets it he is highly intelligent and perceptive and I just genuinely like the character just a personal note of course when I was a kid I got stalker because he looked awesome with the camouflage and I loved playing with the figure for that reason in fact my brother and I kind of fought over this action figure from time to time because I wanted to play stalker but the fact that he was a black character an African American character was significant because for me a mostly Caucasian and partly Native American kid growing up in a working-class white neighborhood this was about the only African-American person that I saw for you know several years growing up and in the later years when I saw adults treating African-Americans differently throwing around racial comments and things like that my mind always went back to stalker in my adolescent fantasy world stalker was my friend he was the leader of my team he was the guy I wanted on every mission he was the guy that I read in the comic books who not only was a better soldier than most of his teammates he was just a genuinely good human being and it was smarter than most of them as well and that's why the character of stalker is important to me on a personal level that impression stuck with me throughout the years and when I got back into collecting GI Joe stalker was a high priority on my list of characters to get unfortunately I didn't get him as quickly as I wanted to because stalker action figures can be a little bit pricey especially if they're unbroken but I was overjoyed when I actually got one and he's one of the prize pieces in my collection that was my review of the 1982 and 1983 stalker I hope you enjoyed it and if you're thinking of picking up a stalker that can be taken two ways if you're thinking of getting a stalker action figure I hope you found this video informative if you liked it give it a thumbs up on YouTube and I 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