Unproduced Characters and Vehicles

[Bravo]

Earlier design for HEADMAN from an auction that most fans didn't notice. He's a got skull and crossbones chest.


Bullet-Proof presentation art



Shockwave


SEAWOLF...what would've been a 1995 recolor of the WHALE.

[Felix]

I think Headman was supposed to be Buzzer vs 2.

Seawolf looks badass.

[Bravo]

I heard about the Seawolf thing years ago, but never saw the artwork until today. The Seawolf's turret gunner on the left is some bearded new Joe that as far as I know has never been identified (the other gunner in the boonie hat is the unmade Footloose, well, that's who they always said it was gonna be). Or maybe I'm out of the loop. Bearded guy also appears on the box art for the unmade Tactical Battle Platform recolor.

[Felix]

Bearded guy is news to me. My guess is it would just be another version of Frostbite....but could be any guy with a beard really. I can't make him out too well, have to hunt that actical Battle Platform Artwork out.

[Bravo]

I had to resize the image, it was huge. Here's the crew, IIRC, it was to include DUKE but they Duke in the art looks like the 1993 Battle Corps Duke.

[Felix]

What an odd team on that vehicle. The diver is Shipwreck, so it's not him. Looks like Bearded Guy is Keel Haul or Frostbite to me. The art doesn't look like either of the Battle Corps version of those figures though. However, the concept art could have been revised. This would explain why either of those figures were released on a single card and not as the vehicle driver. I don't buy that Duke was supposed to be the driver. Bearded Guy is the dude that matches the vehicle.

I'm going to call him Frost Haul or Keel Bite.

Also, the guy who is supposed to be Footloose seems more like Leather neck to me (who was released in the Battle Corps line), and further extends my theory that the neon and bright color style was something that got pushed more and more into the Joe line for looking too realistic.

[Bravo]

The Seawolf was intended for 1995, from what I understand. It was said that a new Flint and Footloose were to be "Battle Corps Rangers", and that the Rangers was a move back toward more realistic stuff...somewhat. (They were still make Star Brigade, too). The Flint wears a cap www.yojoe.com/archive/unproduced/rangers.shtml
www.yojoe.com/archive/unproduced/unnamed.shtml
But Mike T speculated that the source of that artwork and prototype being "Flint" comes from an old toy magazine and might not be accurate, even yojoe calls the test shots "unnamed figure". Mike T's reasoning is that Flint appears alongside the 1994 Flint on the unmade battle platform repaint box art.
Unproduced 1995 Battle Corps Rangers Tactical Battle Platform Box
The unknown bearded guy appears there, as does Navy SEAL Shipwreck.

[Felix]

I think the dude with the hat is not Flint. The guy has a Navy feel to me, which suggests Wet-Suit or Deep Six. I vote Wet-Suit because I think the other dude in green with the mustache is Leatherneck. Both characters fit the Battle Rangers role well.

Whitebeard could pass as Shipwreck in the Battle Platform art...that theory contradicts the Battle Platform art, and that's one of my reasons for thinking the other hat guy is not Flint. I don't like Whitebeard anyway, so bleh :-) The Seawolf is still cool.

[Bravo]

We are out of the loop.

The Seawolf gunner was indeed a new Frostbite, not only that, he was originally designed for the Mega-Marines, along with a crazy new Duke in all black armor that looks like a bad super hero (or villain). They both got to prototype stage at least, Frostbite would've used TARGAT's waist and legs (not a great choice). Duke's head was used for the 2004 Star Brigade version. Lots of unused Mega Monster designs, too.

Here's a link to declassified pdf newsletter (only a few pages downloaded for me...and took hours )
www.joedeclassified.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Declassified_4_2015_FINAL_2.pdf

Duke was the Sea Wolf (Navy SEAL Hovercraft) pilot, a green camo repaint of 1993 Duke. Even had a file card with the silly rationale of why an army ranger was commanding a navy vehicle.

[Bravo]

That link I posted doesn't work.

Battle Rangers Flint was originally planned for 1994 as a new guy, SURE SHOT, in orange vest and blue pants (Hardball's legs). Then it might have been used later for Flint or something.

That Footloose started out as a new Shipwreck, and may or may not have been used for both him and Footloose if the toy line had continued(it's hard to say). Would've reused Scoop legs and either Dusty V3 or Heavy Duty arms.
Battle Corps Rangers Shipwreck

[Felix]

Navy Seals do take other service members in, so Duke can pilot the Sea Wolf.

So....Footloose and Frostbite were supposed to be Shipwreck?, lol.

Ugh, I see why Hasbro threw in the towel, this is madness. Characters resemble other popular characters, even after design, because.....there's just too many characters.

[Bravo]

No, Frostbite was Mega Marines Frostbite, then got cancelled and was to be Battle Corps Rangers Frostbite..which also got cancelled, and his accessories were given to Sgt Savage's IRON ARCTIC STORMTROOPER. In fact, all of wave 2 of Sgt Savage had accessories originally intended for Battle Corps Rangers. The prototype had a removable hat and with it off, he really looked more like Snow-Job would look. His hair and beard were rusty red/brown. (unlike on the Seawolf artwork).

Still never got past page 14 of that pdf file. Took nearly a day to get that much.

[Felix]

I checked the pdf out, Frostbite does look like Snow Job. I don't think the Shipwreck idea was to be a straight repaint from so-called Footloose. He would have at least used Frostbites head, I mean the guy is wearing a Navy hat. The Sea Wolf also makes more sense if Shipwreck was going to be made. There's plenty of room to speculate on a cancelled line in the design stage on something more than twenty years old. What if it was supposed to be Mega-Marines Shipwreck with the Whale? And plan B was Sea Wolf with Frostbite? Nobody knows.

Seriously, can anyone explain the Navy hat? It makes sense why they are painfully trying to pass the sculpt off as Frostbite being a Snow Job wannabe, and paint the Whale white. I'll just accept that the article is right and I am wrong and Hasbro made stupid design decisions and that's why the line got cancelled.

The main thing about that article is the influence from other popular lines at the time such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so Cobra was going to have Vipers that were tested on and became more like monster men.

Dr. Mindbender and Baroness we're also planned. I remember reading an article way back when that the concept for Sigma6 was a nod to Battle Rangers (or Mega Marines) Duke...because he had the "6" on him for his designated vehicle.

[Bravo]

The line got the axe because Hasbro bought rival Tonka, who had bought Kenner years before, and Hasbro decided to shut down its own crew and give the boys toys division to Kenner's people. Yeah, that makes sense. Transformers and GI JOE outdid any of Kenner's post Star Wars stuff, so give GI JOE to those people...EXTREMELY dumb.

All those subsets were Hasbro's Kirk Bozigan's idea to have GI JOE counter whatever toys were on the market...it was sort of clever, but also sort of throwing in the towel...admitting GI JOE wouldn't be what's new and fresh but a reaction to whatever else was trending.

That hat on Frostbite is odd. But I look at the Mega Marines and...that cancelled Duke's look is absurd. The bio-vipers were whack-ass even compared to the two monsters that were made.

Not sure why they ditched Shipwreck's bead, if that was gonna be Shippy. There were about 30 guys with mustaches like that already.

[Johnny Turk]

I was talking to Dr. Henry E. Miller the other day and he told me he was once told 1995 was gonna be all "sorts of ocean shit" and that if you "look at that Flint, it makes sense", which made me realize that torso was a goddamn life vest. Good to hear "SURE SHOT" would've had an Orange vest.

That PDF didn't even load for me!