 This channel supports The Finest, a GI Joe costume club in their charity campaign benefiting canines for warriors. They have an Indiegogo page for it that is active right now. You can get some perks like a calendar, a t-shirt, and more. You can also have the satisfaction of helping veterans and rescue dogs. Let's help them reach their goal. If you can make a charitable donation, go to the link in the description of this video and contribute. Hello everybody, HoodedCobraCommander788 here. It's time for another vintage GI Joe Toy review. I need to give a code name to a patron. Eric Amon has added his support on Patreon. You may not know this, but I have a brother named Eric. This guy. Look at that, yes. Whenever I hear the name Eric, I think of my bro. So Eric, your code name is EbroHeman. Thank you for your support. You have the power. Drug Elimination Force is a peculiar subset of GI Joe. The concept is kind of crazy and a bit of a departure from GI Joe's primary mission. They didn't fight Cobra. They fought against evil drug dealers. It was an attempt to tackle a real world problem. Now that's not a bad thing. I'm sure Nancy Reagan would have approved. But it is a relic of the 90s. The message doesn't resonate the same way with modern audiences. DEF had some good figures though. This week we're going to look at one and we're going straight to the top. Last time we looked at DEF, we looked at the head bad guy. This time we're going to look at the DEF leader. I'm reviewing two versions of Bulletproof 1992 and 1993. In 1993 Hasbro reissued the same Bulletproof figure with very slight differences. Since they are so similar, I wanted to look at both of them in one video. Let's say no to drugs and yes to a figure that brought the power of GI Joe against the evil forces of Headman. HCC788 presents Bulletproof. This is Bulletproof. We have two versions of Bulletproof here. Version 1 from 1992 was part of the Drug Elimination Force subset and he was the DEF leader. Version 2 from 1993 was in the Battlecore series and he was the Urban Commander. Version 2 was intended to be part of the second wave of DEF for 1993, but Hasbro decided to discontinue DEF and roll the figures into the Battlecore series instead. Or was the main line of GI Joe figures that year. These two versions of Bulletproof were the only versions in the vintage era. The Drug Elimination Force was Hasbro's attempt to add a social consciousness to the GI Joe line. I don't have a problem with that in principle. I don't even have a problem with the execution part of the time. We got some good figures out of DEF. The public discourse about drugs and the law enforcement issues surrounding them has changed since 1992. That's the biggest problem with DEF, not that they tried to tackle a real social problem, but that it now seems very dated and antiquated. DEF consisted of four Joes and two bad guys. The Joes didn't fight Cobra, instead they fought against Headman and his headhunters. Bulletproof is the only original character on the Joes side. The other Joes were new versions of older characters, Mut, Cutter and Shockwave. We've already looked at Headman in a full review. I have not done a full review on the headhunters yet. As the leader of the evil drug dealers, Headman is DEF's equivalent to Cobra Commander. Headman is a little comical, but his minions, the headhunters, are awesome figures. Even though DEF did not continue as a team to 1993, Gristle from 1993 would have been a new DEF villain and there was a new version of Headhunters. Contrasting the drug elimination force with the Ecowarriors, the subset that debuted in 1991, I much prefer DEF. Even though the environmental message of the Ecowarriors appeals to me more, I dislike most of the toys. DEF still has its absurd elements, but I like the toys more than Ecowarriors. Bulletproof apparently takes his name from a character from the toy line, Cops. That was another Hasbro toy line that ran from 1988 to 1989. There was an animated series by the same name. Cops and G.I. Joe shared a lot of code names. It's not surprising since Larry Hama wrote the Cops ID cards. Baldwin Bulletproof Vess looks a lot like G.I. Joe's Bulletproof with a similar hairstyle but with a curl in the front. The Cops version of Bulletproof wore sunglasses and had a robotic torso. Other than the code name and superficially similar appearance, there is no other relation between the characters. It seems Hasbro was just borrowing a code name to use in a different toy line, which they did all the time. G.I. Joe characters share names with Transformers, for example. In a previous video, I made the case that the 1992 and 1993 Fireflies should be considered variants, not different versions. For Bulletproof, the case for them being new versions is a little stronger. The differences between the figures are minimal, which would normally suggest they are variants, but they were released on separate cards. Their file cards had different specialties. They had different numbers in the series. The 1993 figure was originally intended to be in the second wave of DEF. If it had been released that way, would I still think they were separate versions? Maybe, but I can't judge a figure based on what the manufacturer didn't do. They didn't release the 1993 figure on the same 1992 DEF card, and they did change the colors, accessories, and file card. In the G.I. Joe Collector's book published by Hasbro in 1993, the 1992 Bulletproof is listed as Federal Marshall, and the 1993 Bulletproof is listed as DEF Commander in parentheses New Colors. This works against the conclusion that he is a new version. Just like they were just reissuing the same figure in different colors. It's a close call, but I'm still going to call these versions not just variations. Let's take a look at our card backs. I have the 1992 DEF card back with the big DEF badge on it. Looks like this was sold at Walmart for $4.97. That's more than the average figure. We have the G.I. Joe logo up here. We have some purple laser lines in the background. Then we have our card art, and this is acceptable. It's pretty typical 1990s card art. Codename is Bulletproof with a hyphen. He is the DEF leader, and in the DEF series, he is number one, as he should be. In the section behind where the figure was packaged, we have some instructions on how to use the battle stand and the missile launcher. Electronic battle flash missile launcher. We will check that out later in this video. Flipping the card around, we have a lot. There's just a ton on the back of this card here. We have the other figures in the DEF series up here. Then we have some more G.I. Joe figures that were available at the time in the cross-sell. This does note G.I. Joe is a member of the partnership for a drug-free America. Watch the new adventures of G.I. Joe on TV. That would be the Deke animated series. This is one flag point, and then we have our file card with two segments there. I don't want to dive into it too much. We will take a closer look at the file card later in this video. Now we have the 1993 card, and we are no longer in DEF. Now we are in Battle Core, which was just the main line of G.I. Joe figures starting in 1993. His codename is the same, but now he is the urban commander, and he is number 34 in the Battle Core series. Looks like this was sold at Toys R Us for $3.29, much more reasonable price. We have the same instructions in this area behind where the figure was packaged. This block here is normally where this small parts warning would go. I'm not sure exactly why this is printed down here instead of this spot that's made for it. The card art is exactly the same. Even though the colors on the figure were updated, the colors on the card art were not. Bullet gun shoots. Is that what they're calling the missile launcher now? A bullet gun? Flip this card around to the back, and we have a much more reasonable card back with a cross-sell that included a lot of the other Battle Core figures that were available at the time. An advertisement for a couple of the sub teams here. One flag point, and no more partnership for a drug-free America. So now America, if you want your drugs, have at it. And then of course the file card, and we will take a look at that later. Both of these file cards have lists of the features on the figure and some of the accessories with numbered arrows that point to the features. I don't usually read through those, but I will refer to these lists when I talk about the accessories. Let's talk about those accessories. The accessories between 1992 and 1993 are mostly the same, but there are some differences. And let's start with one thing that I'm missing, which explains why my 1992 figure is not wearing his hat. The first accessory to look at is the helmet. The helmet is green. It kind of looks like a baseball batter's helmet. It is made of soft, flexible plastic, which I think is great. It's easier to fit the helmet on the figure's heads this way. There's a hole on one side of the helmet, and that's because there should be a microphone there. I did have the microphone, but it kind of disappeared on me. It is very tiny and green, and it's very easy to lose. The 1993 figure came with exactly the same helmet and exactly the same microphone. So that shows you exactly what the microphone would have looked like. The difference between these two is that the microphone on the 1993 helmet is glued in. That I think is a fantastic idea. I think they should have glued in all of these microphones. This one cannot fall out and get lost. The next accessory is what the file card refers to as a fully automatic GP-88 field rifle. Both the 1992 and 1993 figure come with exactly the same rifle in exactly the same color. The holds of the 1992 and 1993 submachine guns appear to be the same color at first glance. There might be a slight difference. This is the 1993 submachine gun, and this is the one from 1992. And held together there is maybe a very subtle color difference. I'm not even sure that's coming out well on camera. This looks a lot like a Sterling submachine gun, but the Sterling had the magazine on the side. This is a good accessory. I like it. You might find a real world reference to a GP-88 field rifle. There is a Type 88 rifle, but it is totally different. The next accessory is also exactly the same on the 1992 and 1993 figure, and that is the backpack. The backpack is green, the same color green as the rifle and the helmet. The file card calls this a combat ready backpack with chemical warfare mask. This is a small backpack, maybe too small, but it has some great details. It has what looks like a fire extinguisher here and a gas mask as well as a canteen and a pouch. It's nice to have some details on a GI Joe backpack other than grenades. Again, both the 1992 and 1993 figure have exactly the same backpack. The next accessory shared by both the 1992 and 1993 figure is the figure stand. They both came with a black figure stand, and this is one of the great innovations of the 90s. I will always praise these figure stands. We didn't get nearly enough of them in the 80s. The final accessory is the missile launcher and the missile. Both the 1992 and 93 figure came with a missile launcher and a missile, but they were different, and they were not only different in the color and the type of plastic used. The 1992 missile launcher had a feature the 93 missile launcher did not. It would light up when fired. You don't even need to fire a missile out of it. If you just press down on this trigger, this top barrel will light up. Both the 1992 and 1993 missile launchers share exactly the same mold. They have all the same details. It looks like they are supposed to be held this way with the grip side up and with this arm guard directly behind the grip. I have a hard time getting that to work. I feel if I force it, I will break the action figure's thumbs, so I'm just not going to try it. The 1992 missile launcher is made of this green translucent plastic that so you can see the light up feature. The 1993 missile launcher is made of green opaque plastic and it does not have the light up feature. The electronics are not in there. Both versions came with a single green missile and there seems to be a very slight color difference between 1992 and 1993. This is the 1992 missile and this is the 1993 missile and the 93 missile seems to be very slightly darker. Let's demonstrate firing the missile launcher using the 1992 launcher. They both fire the same way. Press the missile into the lower barrel with the notch side up. Keep pressing until it clicks. Let's test the missile launcher by aiming at our favorite target, Dr. Mindbender. I will test my aim by attempting to hit Dr. Mindbender without hitting bulletproof. The trigger is in the back. You just press down on this black knob. So let's take aim and fire. We did it. Dr. Mindbender is down, but bulletproof is still standing. Let's take a look at the articulation on bulletproof both the 92 and 93 figures have exactly the same articulation. It was standard well before 1992. He could turn his head from left to right and look up and down, 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, so he had a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside. That allowed him to move it 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 bulletproof. Both the 92 and 93 figures use exactly the same mold. The 1993 figure even still has the 1992 date stamp. There's only one difference I can identify. The 1993 figure uses yellow paint for all of the paint applications on the body. The 1992 figure uses light brown or this might be light enough to call tan. The paint masks on the two figures are the same. They literally just put a different color paint in the sprayer. They are otherwise the same figure. Looking at bulletproof's head, he is an African-American character with black hair and a flat top. It's a good head sculpt, actually like it a lot. That hair is for serious though. Duke and Hawke are sometimes depicted as having flat top hair, but bulletproof really has a tall flat top. It's not quite kid and play tall, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't think there was an influence there. Maybe he's in competition with Grunt for the flattest flat top. Hang on, hang on, oh maybe, maybe, maybe, now it doesn't work but I still had to try. On his chest he has a green uniform with a tan color bandolier that runs over his right shoulder and under his left arm that continues around to the back. On the bandolier he has a pouch and two pineapple grenades. He also has a tan belt that goes around his midsection on his front and lower back. It has minimal detail. Usually belts are sculpted on the waist piece, but I think this looks fine. The file card calls this belt an official Air Force Officer's uniform belt. So is he in the Air Force? Or did he steal it from an Air Force Officer? He also has a digital breakup camouflage pattern all over the chest and back in that same tan color. I'm always happy to see camouflage on a G.I. Joe action figure. His arms feature long green sleeves that same green color is on the chest and that same digital camouflage pattern in that same tan color. And then he has tan gloves with a little extra sculpt detail on them look really great. The waist piece is a little plain in comparison because it doesn't have the belt, but it does have part of the shirt sculpted on with a couple pockets in front and that camouflage pattern in tan. The legs feature that same green uniform color and that same tan camouflage pattern were pretty consistent top to bottom on this figure. He has a tan pocket on the right leg. On the left leg he has a weapon and a holster and there's a strap that goes around his left leg. The file card calls this a 9mm sidearm with tear proof holster. That's pretty hefty for a 9mm. The legs have some fine detail in the sculpting of the seams on the trousers. It's just exceptional attention to detail and we finish with some pretty realistic looking tan boots. This figure looks great. Hasbro definitely cuts some corners and cuts some costs with it. It's mostly made of one color plastic and his accessories are mostly the same color. It only has one paint color on the body, not counting the head. It's quite simple in comparison to 80s figures, but they made the most of their color choices. They made those paint applications count. They chose colors that worked well and made sense. Then there was the 1993 version. All the tan paint is now bright yellow. Why? Even with the yellow it doesn't look terrible, I mean I've seen worse. But it doesn't look as good as the 1992 figure. Let's look at the file cards going in order and starting with the 1992 file card. And this 1992 file card is in two segments. We have a traditional file card here and then we have this lower section. It looks like it's supposed to be cut out separately and this is dedicated to DEF. They are both printed on a purple background, which is the color they chose to distinguish DEF. It's not great, but again I've seen worse. This DEF section has an anti-drug message, real Americans don't do drugs and so on. I don't think most kids kept this section and I don't think most collectors consider it to be part of the file card. Getting to the actual file card we have a copy of the card art from the front with a list of the features. We have a closer portrait of bulletproof here. His codename is bulletproof with a hyphen. He is the DEF leader. His codename is Earl S. Morris. Primary military specialty is DEF leader, okay. Secondary military specialty is federal marshal, so he is a law enforcement officer. Birthplace is Chicago, Illinois. Grade is 04. Vehicle specialty GI Joe AH-74 Desert Apache Pilot. Okay, this is weird. The Desert Apache was released in 1992, the same year as this figure, but it wasn't a DEF vehicle. It wasn't even a mainline GI Joe vehicle. It was part of the Sonic Fighters series. Why was this chosen as his vehicle specialty? There's not even an indication he's a helicopter pilot. This just seems random. We have a quote here presumably from bulletproof himself. It says, I don't believe in any magic charms, I'm just really careful and I practice shooting every day. This paragraph says, bulletproof served in Central America, the Golden Triangle, and the Caribbean as a field officer of the Drug Enforcement Agency before drawing the assignment to head GI Joe's DEF attachment. The Golden Triangle refers to an area where the borders of three Southeast Asian countries converge, Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar. His codename wasn't picked out of a hat. It was given to him by the very people he tracked down, the world's drug dealers and their private armies of Uzi-wielding thugs. In countless raids and all-out firefights, they saw him leading his men into the thick of the action and he never took a single hit. They said, he must be bulletproof, or they might have said he must be crazy, but crazy doesn't make us good at codenames. The 1993 card is mostly the same as the 92 card, but it has some interesting differences. The list of features is slightly different. We no longer have the official Air Force Officer's uniform belt. His codename is still the same, but now he is the Urban Commander. File name is the same, secondary military specialty is the same, birthplace and grade all the same, but now his primary military specialty is Battlecore Leader. The leader of all of Battlecore? They removed his vehicle specialty and that is fine, that was just weird. The quote is the same, the paragraph is mostly the same, but slightly different. His first sentence is worded slightly differently, where the old file card said, bulletproof served in Central America and so on as a field officer. On this file card it says, bulletproof served as a field officer in Central America and those other places. Where on the first file card it says, before drawing the assignment to head GI Joe's DEF attachment, here it says, before drawing the assignment to head GI Joe's Urban Battle Core Detachment. So he doesn't lead all of Battlecore, just the Urban Detachment. Also he is no longer fighting the world's drug dealers and their private armies. He is now fighting Cobra criminals and private armies. They used to say he must be bulletproof. Now in amazement they said he must be bulletproof. Obviously the second file card had to change to remove the references to DEF and drug dealers because he had a new role in Battlecore, but the file card also changed in ways that were utterly meaningless. Looking at how bulletproof was used in GI Joe media, he made a few animated appearances in the Deke animated series. His biggest spotlight was in the two-parter, The Greatest Evil Parts 1 and 2. Those episodes focused on DEF, sort of. When was the villain of those episodes? He was selling a drug called Spark to which Falcon and the sister of a Crimson Guard Immortal became addicted. GI Joe and Cobra joined forces to fight the drug dealers. Despite those episodes focusing on DEF and bulletproof being the DEF leader, he was not the main focus of those episodes. His most important moment was convincing Falcon he needed help for his drug addiction. He was a voice of reason when Duke lost his mind over his half-brother's drug habit. In the GI Joe comic book series published by Marvel Comics, he made only three appearances in issues number 124, 125, and 127. In those issues, DEF fights drug dealers in the Cobra-occupied New Jersey town of Broca Beach. Bulletproof was a prominent part of that storyline, but the DEF story was interweaved in a confusing way with separate eco-warriors and ninja force stories. Despite the card claiming bulletproof doesn't get hit, he does get hit with bullets in the comic book, but he's wearing a bulletproof vest. Looking at bulletproof overall, I like the first version of the figure. I like it a lot. It's a mostly realistic military-looking figure from the 1990s, and we didn't get enough of those. The concept of DEF doesn't resonate like it did in 1992, but I can separate the figure from the sub-team and enjoy it for what it is. I like the figure, despite the fact that they cut a lot of corners to make it cheaper. The paint colors are minimal. They used one color of paint on the entire body, and that's it. No color variety at all. I have to knock the figure for lack of effort. It is below the standard of even an average figure in the 80s. I can give the designers credit for how they used the minimal paint sprays that were in the budget. Yes, they used only one color, but they chose a color that would work for all the details that needed to be painted. The accessories are fine, though I can live without the missile launcher. I like the backpack and the helmet is okay and the submachine gun is great. But again, they cut costs by making everything mostly the same color plastic. A different colored weapon would have added some color interest to the whole figure. Even though the helmet is okay, I usually leave it off because I like the head sculpt and I don't want to cover it up. For these reasons, the 1992 Bulletproof will squeeze into the top tier, just barely. With more effort, more paint colors, more detail, it could have been great. Instead, it's just really good. The 1993 figure is a different story. Everything is the same, except he has yellow paint instead of tan. Why? How does that make sense? They took away the light up feature on the missile launcher, but since I don't care about the missile launcher anyway, that doesn't matter to me. The 1993 figure stays in the middle tier on the strength of the sculpting and most of the accessories, but the color change is disappointing. That was my review of Bulletproof. I hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to help out the finest in their charity campaign benefiting canines for warriors. Link is in the description of this video. Check it out. Thanks again to Ebro He-Man for your support. I am on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and I have a website, hcc788.com. Thanks as always to my patrons. These videos would not be possible without their help. If you like these videos and you like G.I. Joe, and you'd like to help me make more of these videos, please consider checking out my Patreon. You can get some special perks, you can find out how to decode the secret messages you see in these videos, and you might even get a special codename, like Ebro He-Man. What have we got next week? We are staying in the 90s, but it's not as nice as this week's figure. I'll see you then and always remember, only G.I. Joe is G.I. Joe.