In 1976, Hasbro decided to change the game for it's G.I. Joe line, hoping to improve sales. So not only did Joe get a Superheroic sidekick in Bulletman but he also got his first bonafied enemy. Before then, Joe always seemed to fight a faceless foe or an angry animal. I guess you could count the Soliders of the World but I'm not.
So after 13 years, what did Hasbro make as G.I. Joe's new foe? A caveman from outer space of course!
The intruders are a race of muscle bound savages,who have come to earth in a meteor and plan to kick a little ass. Not exactly a grand scale invasion, did I mention they're unarmed?
The figure itself was a good deal shorter than Joe and far stockier, his articulation was limited and the button on his back allowed you to bear hug things.Overall, it's a very strange toy and really wouldn't a mad scientist have been a better foe for our heroes? What does it say about you when your arch enemy doesn't have shoes?
As you probably know, 1976 saw the demise of the adventure team and the 12" joe. The intruders were not well recieved and actually languished a bit on store shelves. Finding one MOC isn't easy now however and i gotta admit, years later, I've grown fond of the character despite his short comings. My main reason for liking the Intruder are the two good things that came as a result.
1) The Capture Copter
This was my sixth birthday present, to me this is the single coolest G.I. Joe vehicle,
2) Big Trapper
While I never had this vehicle as a kid, I own one now and it looks like it popped out of "Damnation Alley" or "Ark 2". I love this stuff, so I guess the Intruder isn't all bad.
My mom bought me an Intruder at a Goodwill around 1980 or so. At the time I had no idea who he was. I just thought it was a caveman.
ReplyDeleteI remember these, but this must have been about the time I got out of G.I. Joe. If it's the non-12", then I certainly didn't have anything to do with it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I was opposite. I never even heard of the 12 inch G.I. Joe when I was a kid. If they were in the stores, I must have ignored them then. I went from the Fisher Price action figures to Star Wars to the smaller G.I. Joe action figures. I got in on the ground floor when those came out. I couldn't get enough of them. "Flash" was my first one.
ReplyDeleteFrom the looks of the Intruder, Hasbro was simply thinking: Quick! Let's crank something out. Those kids won't know it's cheap in concept and execution!
ReplyDeleteThe problem with trying to turn Joe into a superheo team, IMHO, is that you alady had some pretty cool superhero teams already out there. I mean, why play with Bulletman when you can play with Mego's Superman. Or Atomic Man versus the "real" bionic man? You get my point.
ReplyDeleteWow, Action Man's really rockin' that 'fro.
ReplyDeleteTotally remember having an Intruder. Man, his eyes creeped me out.
ReplyDeleteThere's something genuinely creepy about the ad close up you have at the top of this post. The Intruders may have been shoeless and unarmed, but they were a little on the scary side (especially their high cut short shorts).
ReplyDeleteI love the expository lyrics to the Big Trapper jingle: "Big Trapper's got a cage so you can trap the intruder!" Everybody sing along!
ReplyDeleteOh, and that Action Man commercial may be the greatest commercial ever filmed. It had everything.
I really miss my Big Trapper, Capture Copter, and Intruder. I still have some Joes and my Bulletman somewhere.
I didn't know there was a Caveman G.I Joe... Why does it have any weapon? A club would be nice.
ReplyDeleteAs I remembered, they didn't come to conquer the earth,they came to kick the ass of the person who said: "So easy that a caveman can do it!"
ReplyDeleteI had bullet man and my brother had the intruder. he was jealous of my present. can't remember the year though.
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