 Hello everybody, HoodedCoverCommander788 here, and it's time for another vintage GI Joe toy review, and based on my last two videos, the viewers don't seem to be quite as interested in looking at these 1982 GI Joes, so naturally I'm going to do another one. We've already looked at Scarlet and Rock and Roll, so this time we're going to look at the 1982 and 1983 Breaker. Now I have already reviewed this figure, but that video was the first video I ever did on this channel, and that video wasn't very good. It kinda sucked, so this updated review of that figure should not suck quite as much. This figure is kind of special to me personally, so rather than sitting around talking about it, let's look at the toy. This is Breaker, GI Joe's first communications officer from 1982. He was first available in 1982 in this so-called straight arm version. He was called straight arm because he had a hinge here at the elbow, but he could not swivel his arms. The following year, in 1983, he was reissued with swivel arm battle grip, which added a swivel here just above the elbow. This 1982 straight arm version was only available for that year. The swivel arm version was available in 1983 and 1984. It was discontinued for the year 1985, and he didn't really have a replacement in 1985. However, in 1986 there was a new GI Joe communications specialist, Dial Tone. On a personal note, Breaker was the first GI Joe figure I ever got as a child. I got the straight arm version back in 1982. Let's take a look at Breaker's accessories, starting with his communications headset, which pegs into the holes on the sides of his helmet, like that, and it has this long wire, which pegs into the hole in his backpack. This communications headset does look like big 80's headphones. It has a microphone that comes down, it has some detail, has some buttons here on the top, and of course this long thin wire is just made of the same kind of hard plastic, so that can break off. Those early GI Joe's did tend to use these long wires coming off the accessories to connect to the backpacks. As did the 1982 flash, he had this long wire from his laser rifle that connected to his backpack. Later GI Joe's replaced these long thin wires, these breakable wires, with removable black rubber tubing that would serve that purpose, that worked a lot better and was much less likely to break. One unfortunate thing about Breaker's headset is when it's plugged into the backpack, it does restrict the head movement a little bit, it naturally wants to pull the head to the left. In 1983, Hasbro came out with battle gear accessory packs, which were replacement accessories usually made in a different color plastic than the original, and there was an accessory pack communication set, and as you can see, it's just a slightly lighter gray than the original. The original is a dark gray, almost black, and the accessory pack version is a lighter gray. So that is something you would want to watch out for if you want an original Breaker communication headset. Breaker's next accessory is his helmet, and this is a standard helmet. This is the same helmet that was issued with most of the 1982 GI Joe action figures. Has holes in the side there, that's where his communications headset pegs in. A lot of other GI Joe figures from that year had this helmet, light grunt, pretty much identical, and as you can see, the color of the helmet should pretty closely match the color of Breaker's uniform. The last or perhaps the most important accessory is what the contents of the card on which Breaker was packaged call, a TV radio backpack. And as you can see, it is kind of lacking in detail. This is supposed to be a very modern, high tech device, but does not have a lot of detail there. I guess this is supposed to be the TV screen on the TV radio backpack. There's the hole in which the communications headset plugs in. And that's about it, really kind of minimal. Comparing this communications backpack to the one that came with the 1986 dial tone, you can see dial tone's backpack is loaded with details, lots of high tech wiring and things like that. Looks very futuristic, very high tech, and by comparison Breaker's communications backpack looks kind of primitive. There's a difference in the pegs on the backpacks that came with the 1982 figures and the ones that came with the 1983 swivel arm figures. The 1982 backpacks had kind of a shorter stubbier peg here and the 1983 backpacks had a slightly longer peg with a more rounded end. And the holes on the back of the action figures are also slightly different, such that the 1982 backpack fits very loosely on the 1983 swivel arm figure. After looking at all these accessories that come with Breaker, do you notice anything missing? That's right. Breaker comes with no weapon whatsoever, and that I think is one reason why Breaker was never a fan favorite. He only comes with his helmet and communications set, no weapons, no guns at all, and I think most kids would want their new army action figure to come with some kind of firearm. But Breaker didn't, and so it kind of looks like he is intended for more of a support role rather than a combat role. If you have an extra M16, perhaps from an accessory pack, or you could take it from Grunt since Grunt gets no respect, give that to Breaker and that looks pretty good. I think that looks appropriate. There is another alternative for the weaponless Breaker that I'll discuss a little bit later in this video. Let's take a look at the articulation on Breaker. The 1982 Breaker had the typical articulation for GI Joe figures of that year, meaning he could turn his head from left to right like that. He could lift his arm up at the shoulder about so far, and he could swivel his arm at the shoulder all the way around. He had that hinge at the elbow so he could move at the elbow a little bit. The figure was held together with a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside. That allowed the figure to move at the torso a little bit. He could move his legs apart about so far. He could move his leg at the hip about 90 degrees, and he could bend at the knee about 90 degrees. The 1983 Breaker had the same articulation except it added a new point of articulation at the bicep. He could now swivel his arm at the bicep all the way around on both arms. That was supposed to allow the figures to hold their weapons with a two-handed grip, but Breaker did not come with any weapons. Let's take a look at the sculpt design and color of Breaker starting with his head. His head as you can see has brown hair and he has a brown beard. Looks a little bit like Jesus. The Breaker action figure shared a head with clutch and rock and roll from that same year. This is pretty typical. A lot of those 1982 G.I. Joe action figures have shared a lot of parts among them. As you can see they have different hair colors and that's really the only way to distinguish the heads of these different figures. Allegedly, the Breaker action figure was not intended to have a beard. Instead of sharing a head with other action figures, he was supposed to have a unique head sculpt and supposedly collectors have found a pre-production packaged version of Breaker with his unique head sculpt. Breaker's chest features black straps with an unpainted knife here and what is supposed to be an unpainted hand grenade on this side, but it looks like a previous owner has taken some silver paint and kind of washed over that hand grenade, but that is supposed to be unpainted like the hand grenade on this swivel arm version. Those straps continue to the back in this Y pattern. The chest and back piece that have the straps that come all the way down were shared by other figures from 1982, including grunt, hawk and snake eyes. There's a difference between the 1982 waist piece on Breaker and the one on the 1983 Breaker. The 1982 waist piece was thicker like this and the 1983 waist piece was slimmer. Also the belts were different and these belt buckles look like they're both intended to be brand stamps for Hasbro. Breaker's arms feature rolled up sleeves and those are parts that he also shared with clutch and rock and roll. You can see the difference in the 1982 and 1983 arms. The swivel on the 1983 arms was added right at that cut where the sleeve ends. These legs are pretty standard. They are shared by many of the 1982 GI Joe figures. It has some pouches on the sides and these are painted in silver and then of course it has some pretty standard black boots. Let's take a look at the file card. This file card was printed on the back of the card on which the action figure was packaged. You can see some of the artwork from the front of the card there. You were encouraged to cut these out and keep them. It shows his faction as GI Joe and it has a portrait of Breaker there and do note that the beard on the portrait of Breaker is very faint there. This looks like a shadow and it may have been that this was added later. Breaker may not have originally been intended to have a beard. This says he's the communications officer and his code name is Breaker and Breaker is a slang used by CB radio operators and it's just a signal to indicate that the operator is ready to send a message. His file name is Alvin R. Kibbe. His primary military specialty is infantry. He has no secondary military specialty which is kind of odd because he is a communications expert. His birthplace is Gatlingburg, Tennessee and his grade is E4. This section says Breaker is familiar with all NATO and Warsaw packed communications gear as well as most world export devices, specialized education, signal school, covert electronics and project gamma. The signal core handles all communications and information systems of the combined armed forces so that would be appropriate for Breaker as a communications officer. Project Gamma is a special forces detachment from 1966 to 1970 that ran covert intelligence operations in Cambodia. This means by extension that Breaker served in the Vietnam conflict and if he served in Project Gamma no later than 1970 then Breaker must be older than he looks. Grade expert M16, M1911A1, MAC-10 Ingram, none of which the action figure comes with. In parentheses classified, don't tell anyone, but he speaks seven languages, nine if you include Pig Latin and Klingon. This bottom section has a quote. It says he's efficient and self-assured and has an uncanny ability to turn adverse situations to his favor. What does this file card tell you about the character of Breaker other than just his job? Nothing really. This bottom quote down here reads like one of those motivational posters that hangs in your supervisor's office. Taking a look at Breaker overall, the first complaint is pretty obvious. This is a very generic figure. He's really made up of parts from other action figures. He has no unique parts all on his own and he doesn't even come with a weapon even though I've let him borrow one for the purposes of this video. He did not come with any firearms. So he really didn't work very well as an action soldier in that first line of GI Joe figures where other figures had big machine guns and submachine guns and vehicles. Breaker had none of that. Comparing Breaker with his replacement dial tone, the dial tone figure really just goes all out with paint color applications and detail and accessories and the Breaker action figure just doesn't. That's why it's really hard for fans to be very excited about this Breaker action figure. The Breaker action figure is generic. That cannot be denied. But some collectors have complained that these 1982 GI Joe figures are boring. But I disagree. These 82 figures are wearing essentially modified uniforms of American soldiers. And people wearing uniforms very much like those were present at some of the most important events in all of human history. So generic? Yes. But boring? I don't think so. They may lack the flashy colors and details of GI Joe figures that we would get later. But as soldiers they represent the core of what GI Joe is supposed to be. And the very reason that the line was called GI Joe in the first place. Breaker appeared in both the GI Joe comic book and the cartoon and in both of those media he was more than just a radio man. He was also a technology nerd and a computer whiz. That gave him a little bit more to do. The Breaker action figure as you can see has a beard. But in the GI Joe comic book Breaker did not have a beard. He was clean shaven and he was known for chewing bubble gum all the time and blowing bubbles. In the cartoon Breaker did have a beard. And I think I actually prefer Breaker with the beard because in the comic book depending on who the artist was in any given issue if Breaker wasn't blowing his bubble gum then he was almost indistinguishable from grunt. So his beard makes him a little bit more distinguishable from the other very generic characters from that year. Breaker had a lot of appearances in the first year of GI Joe comic books but in the later years he kind of took a backseat as new GI Joe characters were introduced so you definitely didn't see him as often. However he did meet a very tragic end as in issue number 109 he was killed along with some other GI Joe's. Breaker appeared in the live action movie GI Joe Rise of Cobra but his nationality was changed to Moroccan. In the GI Joe animated series Breaker's role was partially taken over by a character called Sparks. Sparks was a character invented specifically for the cartoon series. He did not have an action figure in the vintage line. I much would have preferred to see Breaker more in the cartoon rather than have a character invented that sort of pushed him aside. Breaker was the first GI Joe figure I got as a child way back in 1982 and I got the straight arm version. Now why would Breaker be the first GI Joe that I would select to buy and own for myself? I've been thinking about that and I think there are a couple reasons. First even though there was one GI Joe commercial that came before it the first GI Joe TV commercial that I remember seeing was the one with Breaker on the Ram motorcycle so that was my first exposure to GI Joe. Secondly I think I got this action figure with my dad and my dad not knowing anything about 80s GI Joe may have associated the bearded Breaker with the 1970s flocked bearded action team GI Joe and so Breaker may have seemed like the main character and naturally the first one to get. Once I got the figure though my mind was blown. Before that like a lot of other kids I collected Star Wars and the Star Wars action figures they were fine I didn't really have a problem with them but then GI Joe comes out with movable elbows and movable knees and it was just a whole new world and after that I'd still get Star Wars action figures every once in a while but I was a GI Joe kid. As a reviewer I have to be honest with you about this action figure's shortcomings and it has many but on a personal level this figure is very special to me it has a lot of sentimental value this was my entry point into GI Joe if not for this Breaker action figure there might never have been a hooded Cobra Commander 7AA channel you probably wouldn't be watching this video the course of human events may have been altered irreparably maybe the communist would have won the Cold War ever think about that and I think it's saying something when the most generic GI Joe figure that was released that year still blew away any Star Wars figure that had been released before then it just took one GI Joe to displace Star Wars the other solution to the weaponless Breaker that I mentioned earlier is to put Breaker on the RAM motorcycle that came out that same year even though the GI Joe comic book often features rock and roll writing the motorcycle I think it's much more appropriate with Breaker he can still wear all of his communications gear and while he's on the motorcycle he has this huge Gatling gun that he can use to fight Cobra and if he's not on the RAM I have to admit I just put him at the computer console in the 1983 GI Joe headquarters command center because I don't know what else to do with them that was my review of the 1982 and 1983 releases of Breaker I hope you enjoyed it and if you're thinking of getting a Breaker action figure I hope you found it informative if you like it don't forget to give it a big ol thumbs up on YouTube and don't forget to subscribe I've got a lot of great new GI Joe toy reviews coming your way you don't want to miss them and don't forget to like me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter you get a lot of updates there you don't get anywhere else thanks for watching I'll see you next week with another vintage GI Joe toy review I'm picking up a Cobra plane on radar that we've captured the GI Joe anti-aircraft gun Cobra bombers can take out their command center flash to Breaker flash to Breaker Cobra has taken the flack we need some help over here