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07-05-2013, 05:15 PM | #18911 |
EQ-Viper
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 4,343
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Here's something that I don't think was ever discussed in this thread (which is really saying something).
Hama's prototype dossier/filecard for Armadillo (the driver that came with the 1988 Rolling Thunder vehicle) listed "Rumbler" as one of the suggested code-names for the character (other candidate code-names: Armadillo, Gila, Sand-Turtle). Hama had to use the character in GI Joe #80 (part of Marvel's licensing deal with Hasbro was they had to regularly spotlight new characters/vehicles in the comics) and he ended up using the name "Rumbler" for the character in the comic. Hama had either forgotten that Hasbro had already used "Rumbler" for the 1987 R/C Crossfire driver or he had assumed that the 1987 R/C Crossfire driver was named "Scrambler" as that was the name the figure was tagged with late into production. There's also the possibility that Armadillo's name change to Rumbler in the comics might have been at the prompting of Hasbro (to avoid confusion with the 1985 Armadillo mini-tank and the upcoming 1989 Sgt. Slaughter's Marauders Armadillo vehicle). In any event, most readers probably didn't even know at the time that a previous Rumbler had already existed: The R/C Crossfire and its driver were only made and shipped in limited quantities, they were the only ARAH toys that never appeared in any of the ARAH-period Hasbro GI Joe catalogs, and were only sold at retail in a brief timeframe—the toys were already discontinued by the time GI Joe #80 hit the stands in late summer of 1988. Anyway, this is basically a long-winded explanation as to why the character Armadillo is called Rumbler in GI Joe #80 (one of my favorite stand-alone issues in the main ARAH comic, BTW). Last edited by zuludelta; 07-05-2013 at 05:46 PM.. |
07-05-2013, 11:33 PM | #18912 |
#voteblackjack
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Northwood, NH
Posts: 35,747
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I didn't know about the Crossfire when reading the comics, so yeah, wouldn't have known about the names.
Honestly, when reading that issue (a great one btw), I never even noticed the names being different.
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07-06-2013, 12:52 AM | #18913 |
EQ-Viper
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 4,343
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The thing to keep in mind, too, is, in all of the character's three appearances in the Marvel ARAH comics where he was referred to by name (issues #80, 81, 92), he was always called "Rumbler." I mean, the first time, it could have been a mistake*, but the next two appearances should have had him being called Armadillo if the licensing people had a problem with it. Which leads me to think that maybe the name-change was pushed/cleared by Hasbro to prevent confusion between the character and the vehicle that already bores the Armadillo name at the time and would be re-used in 1989 for a Sgt. Slaughter's Marauders vehicle. (Is that some sort of record for ARAH? Is "Armadillo" the only name to be used simultaneously for three decidedly different ARAH products?)
* sort of like how Grand Slam was transmuted to Flash about a quarter of the way into GI Joe #6... an understandable, error on Hama and/or artist/co-plotter Herb Trimpe's part too, since they're practically the same figure and the team was cranking out the issue under a tighter-than-usual-even-for-GI Joe schedule—Trimpe had to redraw whole pages of the issue to change the Pravda Patrol (characters that he and Tom DeFalco owned) to the Oktober Guard. Last edited by zuludelta; 07-06-2013 at 01:02 AM.. |
07-06-2013, 01:25 AM | #18914 |
G.I.Joe medic
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Litchfield, ME
Posts: 3,171
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I loved #80 as well, it was a great issue. The only other case I can think of that's similar to Rumbler/Armadillo's is Avalanche the BF 2K Joe and the Avalanche snow tank. It's interesting since the figure came out in late 1987/early 1988 and the vehicle debuts in 1990, but the character didn't die until 1991. I know that Hasbro green lit killing off characters, but I don't believe they said specifically which ones had to be killed, just who was fair game and who wasn't.
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07-06-2013, 08:31 AM | #18915 |
W.O.R.M.S. Commander
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Back in the US of A! (NoVA)
Posts: 10,649
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I wish I had issue 80 in front of me. Is that the one invasion of Cobra Island during the Civil War? I swore I remember the Rolling Thunder being there. Psyche Out was the team leader which I remember stuck out with me because he was an Officer. And Croc Master waving them on since he was on Serpentor 's side. But I might be confusing them now.
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07-06-2013, 09:09 AM | #18916 |
Commando
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Britain
Posts: 3,827
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Issue 80 is the one where there's a volcanic eruption and a small island is thrown up near Cobra Island and a Joe team including the Rolling Thunder, Hit&Run and Hardball try to capture it before Cobra forces, led by Mindbender, can.
you're thinking of somewhere around #74 or #76 where the Joes armoured assault group is sent in on a landing craft to back up the main Joes in the CICW and there's the HAVOC, the Bridge Layer, the Slugger and a couple of others and they ignore Croc Master's trail and get stuck in quick-sand and then use the Brideg Layer to cross it. |
07-06-2013, 09:07 PM | #18917 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Grand Junction,Colorado
Posts: 201
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The Crossfire vehicle or vehicles were used in Issue 131 at the bottom of page 14.
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07-07-2013, 02:15 AM | #18918 |
EQ-Viper
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 4,343
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Quote:
The only other case I can think of that's similar to Rumbler/Armadillo's is Avalanche the BF 2K Joe and the Avalanche snow tank. It's interesting since the figure came out in late 1987/early 1988 and the vehicle debuts in 1990, but the character didn't die until 1991.
* - I'm fairly certain Skystriker's was an "in-house" filecard and not a Hama filecard... all the hallmarks are there: his file name is based on the name of a Hasbro employee (Alex Russo was a staff writer at Hasbro from 1986 to 1991), the character's birthplace is in Rhode Island, the "tone" of the filecard doesn't quite match that of the earlier ones, it was a "sub-team" character like like the other prominent pre-1990 character who got a non-Hama filecard (that would be Claymore), the figure was introduced near the time when Hasbro started taking over the filecard writing, etc. If it is a Hama filecard, it was probably extensively re-written by Hasbro. Last edited by zuludelta; 07-07-2013 at 02:23 AM.. |
07-07-2013, 02:36 AM | #18919 |
Commando
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Britain
Posts: 3,827
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Skystriker's filecard also makes him out as a Conquest X-30 pilot for several missions over Cobra Island before he flew the Tiger Rat, which strikes me as odd - like the references to growing wanting to be a Joe...
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07-07-2013, 04:08 AM | #18920 |
EQ-Viper
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 4,343
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Skystriker's filecard isn't even the worst offender among the Tiger Force filecards. That distinction has to belong to Tiger Force Recondo (who came packaged with the Tiger Fly helicopter, a repaint of 1983's Dragonfly): Not only does it not make any mention of his background as the Joe team's resident jungle warfare expert, it basically rewrites his history as being an Army helicopter pilot (and an enlisted one with a pay-grade of E-4 at that!) from the beginning, like he never existed before in the Joe continuity in any other form, even though the character reuses the figure, file name, and birth place of the 1984 Recondo. Definitely another one of those "in-house" filecards. I also wouldn't be surprised if the decision to package him as the Tiger Fly's pilot was motivated by the fact that both he and Wild Bill have wide-brimmed hats. I can imagine some Hasbro exec going, "they both have hats, kids won't be able to tell the difference."
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