 For this video, I have to give special thanks to Mastachinique. He sent me a pronunciation guide for his name. I hope I'm saying it right. He's done title cards for recent videos. He did the title card for Frag Viper and Spearhead and the title card for this very video. His work is beautiful, so thank you Mastachinique. He had a special request for a figure review, and it's something I've been wanting to get to for a while. So this week we wade into the swamps. If we get eaten by gators, blame Mastachinique. It's time for another vintage GI Joe toy review. 1988 was the final year I collected GI Joe as a youngster. I was getting a little too old to play with them. My friends and I had turned to customizing. At some point that year I saw the 1987 GI Joe animated movie, and that was the last straw. That's when I walked away. Oh, yeah, I promised to review that movie this year, didn't I? I'm waiting. I haven't forgotten. I just need to fit it on the schedule. 1988 was a rough year. If you liked Samurai and Cobra astronauts, it was fine. Version 2 of Snake Eyes was released that year. That was not bad. Iron Grenadiers, beautiful figures. But for military realism, which is what I was interested in, we had Repeater, we had Hit and Run, and the figure that we're going to review this week, Muskrat. Muskrat is the rare GI Joe swamp fighter. Odd that GI Joe was equipped for every other environment. Desert, arctic, jungle, even urban warfare. But until 1988, they left the swamps to the dread knocks. When GI Joe finally decided to retake the marshes, what kind of man did they send for the job? Let's find out. HCC 788 presents Muskrat. This is the 1988 GI Joe swamp fighter codename Muskrat. This figure was first available in 1988 and was also available in 1989. It was discontinued for 1990. In 1988, he was also available in a target exclusive two pack with Voltar, Destro's general. The two pack was called Ultimate Enemies. Why it was called that? I don't know. These two characters seem to have nothing to do with each other. Random. There were two other versions of Muskrat in the vintage era, the night force version in 1989 and the battle core version in 1993. I don't have them to show you, but I can tell you one is really good and the other one is really bad. I'll let you guess which is which. Muskrat gets his name from a small semi-aquatic rodent native to North American wetlands. I guess it kind of makes sense to call a swamp fighter Muskrat, but you would expect him to be named after a predatory animal. The noble Muskrat was also the subject of a hit song by Captain Antony called Muskrat Love. And it's called Muskrat Love and every time I sing this song, I think of Henry Kissinger. We performed this song at the White House. Nope. Stop. I don't want to know. Muskrat was G.I. Joe's first swamp fighter. Cobra focused more on the swamps in the early 80s. They had a swamp boat, the water moccasin in 1984. The driver Copperhead was a swamp fighter. We look at the second version of Copperhead last month. Copperhead, of course, took his name from a much more fearsome animal than Muskrat. Cobra worked with more swamp fighters. Zartan, the master of disguise, was packaged with the chameleon swamp skier. Zartan was the leader of the Dreadnox, a biker gang that operated in the swamps. The Dreadnox had a lot of vehicle types. They weren't all swamp vehicles. When they were introduced in the animated series, they were all riding chameleon swamp skiers. In 1986, they got the swamp fire, a boat that converted into a helicopter. G.I. Joe didn't get a dedicated swamp vehicle until 1988, the swamp masher. I guess 1988 was the year G.I. Joe finally decided they needed to do something about the Dreadnox. Muskrat was not included with the swamp masher. He was featured on the box art, and he's the perfect driver for it. Muskrat's colors don't exactly match the swamp masher, but they don't clash with it either. The swamp masher has light green, which is balanced by Muskrat's dark green. It also has some purple, which makes it look like a Dreadnox vehicle. G.I. Joe did have the killer whale in 1984, which would work fine as a swamp vehicle. It wasn't specifically designated for that purpose, though. Even though the Dreadnox owned the swamps, Muskrat's counterpart on Cobra is more likely the 1987 Crockmaster. Crockmaster is official Cobra, not an independent operator. If Muskrat were stalking a Cobra base in the swamps, Crockmaster is the guy they would most likely send after him. His ultimate enemy is definitely not Voltar. That's just weird. Let's take a look at Muskrat's accessories, starting with his weapon. He has what the card contents call a Super 90 Shotgun. This is probably based on the Benelli M1 Super 90 Shotgun, a semi-automatic shotgun manufactured in Italy. It is black, it has a pistol grip, it should not be confused with the shotgun that came with the 1987 Falcon. They are similar, but they are not the same. This shotgun was reissued many times in several different colors. It was even reissued in black, as with the 1993 Megamarine's Gung Ho and the 1993 Duke Version 4. The reissues are slightly glossier than the original. Also, to tell them apart, look for the sprue marks on the barrel and the stock where they were attached to the plastic tree. Bobo Joe has a gold version of this shotgun. Rock and Roll has either a purple version or a yellow version, depending on what accessories variant you have. There were other colors too. It was a very popular accessory. Next we have what the card contents call a Swamp Skimmer. This looks like a bodyboard. That's a board for riding ocean waves. I don't think that would be much use in the Swamp unless Musgrat is being pulled behind a boat. It has a red painted stripe right down the center. It even covers the back peg. It was uncommon to get paint on accessories. Why that honor was reserved for this accessory, I can't say. It can be attached to the figure in two ways. It has a foot peg, so Musgrat can peg onto it and he can ride over the water somehow. It also has a back peg, so it can attach to his back. I think usually it goes better with the flat side up so the foot peg doesn't interfere with pegging it on his back like that. I'm glad they gave him a way to stow it on his back when he's not riding it, but since he doesn't have a traditional backpack, he can't carry a lot of supplies with him. The best thing about the Swamp Skimmer board is that it works as a figure stand. It's an easy way to display Musgrat. Finally, we have Musgrat's Machete, which for some reason the card contents call a machete. I believe a machete is a female machete. I'm not sure. I'll have to check Google on that. It is light blue and that's the strangest color choice. It doesn't go with the figure or any of the other accessories. This machete, like the shotgun, was reissued many times. Some of the reissues had better colors than the original. When I reviewed the Mean Dog and Wild Card, I gave Wild Card's gray machete to Musgrat and it looked pretty good. I wish they had gone with this color for the machete that was issued with Musgrat. That light blue is just shockingly out of place. Let's take a look at the articulation for Musgrat. He had the articulation that was standard for GI Joe figures by 1988, meaning 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 move 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. The figure was held together with a rubber O-ring that looped around the inside. That 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 take a look at the sculpt design and color of Musgrat starting with his head and on his head he has a Kelly Green Boonie hat with a black painted band around it. He has brown hair, kind of a plain face. Musgrat's eyes and eyebrows are painted the same color as his hair. Since his hair is brown, they can get away with it. That only becomes a problem when the figure is given red or blonde eyes. That's creepy. GI Joe didn't get a lot of figures with Boonie hats. 1990 Pathfinder and 1993 Bazooka Version 3 come to mind. The Boonie hat was well known in the GI Joe universe though. It was worn by snake eyes in Vietnam. Even before his disfigurement, snake eyes' face wasn't fully shown. His eyes were hidden behind the brim of his Boonie hat. On his chest he has a Kelly Green vest, the same color as the hat. It has clasps down the center. On the right side of his chest he has a black knife and a sculpted detail that looks like it might be shotgun shells or bullets. He has a black pistol and a black pistol holster on the left side of his chest, positioned for our right-handed draw. He also has a black pouch on the left side of his chest. On both the right and left shoulders there are what look like electronic devices sculpted on. They are not painted. I have no clue what they're supposed to be. They even have cords that run to the back, but the cords just end as if they go inside of his vest. This could be a communication system, I'm not sure. His arms are bare and slightly muscular. He has black bands around his wrists and each band has a couple circular details. Not sure what those are supposed to be, but it looks like he's wearing four watches. On his waist he has two black belts. The lower one hangs at an angle toward his right hip. And on that hip there is a raised detail that looks like it should be painted, but it's not. Looks like it goes down to his right leg. On his legs he has Kelly Green trousers. His uniform's all the same color, which is fine. On his right leg he has a black sheath for his machete, but the size doesn't quite match up. They were trying to coordinate the accessory with the sculpting on the figure. Doesn't quite match up, but nice try anyway. He has a black band that goes around his right thigh. On his left thigh he has some kind of canister. What exactly is this? It kind of looks like an oxygen tank. He has a couple black bands that run around his left thigh. He's wearing jungle boots with the canvas the same color as the legs, which is okay. Might have been better in a different color. The laces and the leather are brown. The color on this figure is maybe a little brighter than you would expect from a military uniform, but other swamp-themed toys in the G.I. Joe line also had kind of odd green colors. Why the designers thought this was appropriate for swamp camouflage, I do not know. Maybe a more traditional military color would have been better, but I've always accepted this color for Musgrat. He still has a military feel to him, but he also stands out among his teammates. Let's take a look at Musgrat's file card. There is a variant of this file card with a yellow-orange background. That's from the two-pack with Voltar. It's very rare and I don't have one to show you. It has his faction as G.I. Joe. It has a portrait of Musgrat here, a pretty good portrait. His codename is Musgrat. He's the swamp fighter. His final name is Ross A. Williams. Primary military specialty is infantry. Secondary military specialty is social services. Social services, it would be nice if they elaborated. His birthplace is Tibido, Louisiana, and as great as E4. Being from Louisiana, he shares a birth state with Gung Ho. Gung Ho. This top paragraph says, Musgrat spent his formative years up to his knees in one swamp or another, hunting raccoon, possum, and wild pig. He was able to hold his own against poachers, gator skinners, moonshiners, escapees from chain gangs, and smugglers. Ranger school and JWTC seemed like summer camp to him. As far as he was concerned, they weren't teaching him anything exotic at all. We have a footnote here. It says JWTC stands for Jungle Warfare Training Center. This is the Marine Corps Jungle Warfare Training Center at Camp Consolvis in Japan. Musgrat is not a Marine, so he may have got an extra training there as a Joe. According to the card, Musgrat is a Ranger. That puts him in the same class as Stalker, Beachhead, and Repeater. This bottom paragraph has a quote. It doesn't say who it's quoting. It says, If I had to go chase down Musgrat in the swamp, I'd give up before I started. He'd be sprinkling cayenne pepper in his tracks to throw the dogs off, laying false trails into water moccasin layers, rigging deadfalls, setting snares, and having himself a good old time, never even working up a sweat. I'd just as soon go home and watch TV. Well, yeah, but it depends on what's on TV. It's another born-to-do-his-job type of file card. It's a trope that pops up in a lot of these G.I. Joe file cards. Looking at how Musgrat was used in G.I. Joe media, he was only animated for commercials, so no animated TV episode appearances to show you. In the comic book series published by Marvel Comics, he first appeared in issue number 80. In that issue, the Joes fought over a new island that formed near Cobra Island. That issue introduced a lot of 1988 characters. He appeared again in issue number 86, and in that issue, he met the original G.I. Joe. His hair was miscolored blonde. In issue number 92, he mans the Warthog and helps captured Joes and October Guard escape Sierra Gordo. In issue number 100, he was at an outpost near the G.I. Joe headquarters with Dusty and Wildcard when they encountered Python Patrol. He had a few other appearances in the main comic book series, nothing terribly significant. He had a pretty good appearance in the special missions series in issue number 17. It was a hostage rescue mission that turned out to be a cover up for corruption. It was a night mission, so they could have used night force. Musgrat was used fairly well in the comic book series. He was never a main character. Oddly, they didn't have him operate in the swamps. They had him in the jungle. They had him in the desert. They had him in the city, but they didn't send their swamp fighter to the swamps. Looking at Musgrat overall, I'd say this is a middle tier figure close to the top tier. I like this figure a lot. It's not perfect, but it's got a lot going for it. In 1988, there were precious few military figures. I was snatching up as many as I could find. 1988 was a year of samurai warriors and bright yellow bomb disposal guys and baseball themed grenadiers. It's also the year I finally got out of G.I. Joe. It's too bad I didn't stick around. There were better figures just around the corner. This figure has some minor flaws. The green is maybe a bit too bold. A more subdued color would have been better. It's not bad though. There are some spots that look like they should be painted, but they're not. The skimmer board doesn't seem to have much practical use and the blue machete is inexplicable. I'm happy to have Musgrat though. He's still one of the best figures of 1988. He hearkened back to G.I. Joe's military roots and as you know, that's what I love. So I do have that Musgrat love. That was my review of Musgrat I hope you enjoyed it and thanks again to Mastachiny for the beautiful artwork. And thank you to everyone who has donated artwork to this channel. It has really classed up the joint. I am not kidding. I am very grateful and I appreciate all your work. Just a reminder, Joe Khan is coming up soon and all the guys from the G.I. Joeberg podcast have a crowdfunding campaign to try to get to Joe Khan all the way from South Africa. The link will be in the description of this video. I'd really like to meet these guys in person, so please donate to the campaign if you can. Another reminder at Joe Khan, I will be giving out secret code books to everyone who comes up to me and says hi. You will be able to decode secret messages in the video. And I will give you an index card sketch if you're wearing an HCC 788 t-shirt. Don't forget to find me on Facebook and Twitter. I have special perks on Patreon, so check that out. You can also visit my website, HCC788.com. This week's review perfectly segues into next week's review, so please join me then. Until next week, remember, only G.I. Joe is G.I. Joe. G.I. Joe