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Humanoid Figure, 2" tall, red/silver (Hasbro Air Raiders style)


Best Answer replicant01 , 30 August 2017 - 04:07 PM

Breakthrough!  Found this awesome page of a planned series 2 of Air Raiders (1988), looks like the figure I have would have been a new squad leader.  Man, now I want to see the rest of these figures!

 

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#1 replicant01

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Posted 16 June 2017 - 06:55 PM

'87 Hasbro marking on small of back of 1 of the 2 figures.  Other figure has no identification marking.

 

Recently picked this lot of figures up on Ebay.  Very familiar with the Air Raiders line, never seen this particular guy before.  Very similar in style, except for the molded gun in hand.  Spoke to the seller afterwards & he stated his uncle was a Hasbro employee & would regularly bring toys home.  Was looking for any possible info regarding this figure, if it's from another line, etc.  Can post additional pics if necessary (listing pics attached). Thanks in advance.

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#2 benkobiman

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Posted 17 June 2017 - 07:20 PM

does it have the characteristic little heel-slot that other air raider figures have?
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#3 replicant01

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Posted 18 June 2017 - 08:33 AM

Thanks for the reply - yes it does;  I've attached additional better quality pics, including group shots, copyright stamp (on 1 & missing on the other), & comparison copyright stamps.  If you have a set of the AR figures, you'll notice the stamp is placed in various locations along the figures backside, depending on where there was an appropriate flat area.  So in short, not all figures stamp was on the small of the back, & they are not all the same size either.  I've also verified that none of the unidentified figure's parts were shared with any of the released AR figures.

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#4 benkobiman

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Posted 18 June 2017 - 01:04 PM

very neat! i couldnt find it anywhere either, so i can only speculate. maybe an unreleased figure? the scale and heel slot are air raider, but some aesthetics are slightly off, the gun (most are unarmed) and the hips are very "square" compared to the others which are slightly v shaped. not the actual joint, just the molding around it (to my eyes anyway).

it is strange to have one stamped and one not though. maybe it was destined to be a mailaway figure for the good guys?

Edited by benkobiman, 18 June 2017 - 01:07 PM.

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#5 replicant01

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Posted 18 June 2017 - 03:06 PM

Yeah I'd be happy to find out more regardless of the outcome.  If from another line, cool, which one so I can track down more :)   If a rejected or unused figure for the AR line, awesome to have a unique addition to a line I've held dear since I was 7 years old.  Sadly I think nothing short of getting ahold of somebody that worked on the line back then to chime in will get us any definite answers.  Makes me wonder where's the lucky SOB that's holding onto the unreleased Air Refinery prototype...

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#6 benkobiman

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Posted 02 August 2017 - 11:46 AM

I emailed hasbro customer service, lol.  I wonder if I'll get a response.   :)


Edited by benkobiman, 02 August 2017 - 11:46 AM.

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#7 Bratwurst

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Posted 02 August 2017 - 06:08 PM

I'd love to know more about this line myself because I swear a cousin of mine had one purple and one orange example of these guys when we were kiddos.


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#8 benkobiman

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Posted 03 August 2017 - 07:13 AM

Ahh, no luck from Hasbro customer service - a pleasant reply indicated that due to the age of the discontinued line they didn't have any information on it anymore.  


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#9 replicant01

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Posted 18 August 2017 - 05:11 PM

Sorry for the late reply, & thanks for your continued efforts.  Thought about asking one of the 80s Hasbro guys still around on Facebook, though I know them mostly from the GI Joe team.  But maybe they'd know someone else who worked on the project.  I also have an 87 Hasbro toy catalog somewhere I need to dig up to see if there were some more obscure toy lines in this format at that time.


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#10 benkobiman

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Posted 19 August 2017 - 03:05 AM

i already scoped out this cool online dealer catalog but didn't see anything promising.

https://issuu.com/or...ocs/hasbro_1987

pretty neat catalog though, good pic of the air refinery.
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#11 replicant01

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Posted 20 August 2017 - 08:45 AM

Yep, that's the one, thanks for saving me the trouble :)


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#12 replicant01

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Posted 30 August 2017 - 04:07 PM   Best Answer

Breakthrough!  Found this awesome page of a planned series 2 of Air Raiders (1988), looks like the figure I have would have been a new squad leader.  Man, now I want to see the rest of these figures!

 

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#13 replicant01

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Posted 30 August 2017 - 04:29 PM

https://www.facebook...072059032848156

 

The entire catalog posted here, a couple more pages of planned Air Raiders vehicles

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#14 benkobiman

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Posted 01 September 2017 - 01:00 PM

awesome! so was the line was cancelled before this guy hit the shelves?
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#15 replicant01

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Posted 01 September 2017 - 05:26 PM

Yeah, the only toys to come out were in '87, this would have been the '88 line.  The pics are from a '88 Pre-Toyfair catalog, so I guess the decision was made to cancel the line afterwards.


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#16 replicant01

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Posted 01 September 2017 - 05:45 PM

Better quality pics of the 3 pages

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  • Attached File  1.jpg   310.8K   36 downloads
  • Attached File  2.jpg   278.59K   43 downloads
  • Attached File  3.jpg   322.09K   25 downloads

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#17 jack.aubrey

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Posted 06 October 2017 - 07:06 AM

Wow, thanks for this. I'm a big air raiders fan and I never knew of the planned series before now. Great find!


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#18 replicant01

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Posted 06 October 2017 - 05:01 PM

You're welcome, was just as floored to find it myself. Kind of sad we didn't see these become reality.
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#19 Balok2

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Posted 07 October 2017 - 11:59 AM

Great post replicant01! Clearly from unfinished business with Hasbro Air Raiders, having not only the sculpts that fit perfectly into the 'good guys' part of the line (sculpted by 80's uber-sculptor Bill Merklein, here's a link to his interview: http://monster-zer0....lptor-bill.html ) and also the catalog shots you provided that make me wish the line had continued. One cool evolution added to your two (incredibly rare) figures is the hand held gun/weapon added to the sculpt. For interest sake, here's some pics of articulated resin figure mock ups used for toy show displays (not prototypes just a pre-production quick fix to show the line to buyers):

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#20 replicant01

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Posted 08 October 2017 - 09:25 AM

Hey, thanks Balok!  I love the pre-production pieces you have here & on your blog, to show the transition from concept to actual product.  Not to mention all the little cool details & variations in paint apps.  Congrats on having them in your collection, I'd love to hear how you obtained them!

 

Regarding series 2, I assume the line did so poorly they chose to drop it altogether; but I personally would have loved just to get all the new figures shown without the new vehicles, & I wish that would have been the limited focus of a series 2 (though I would not have turned down that Air Refinery either).  Good chance of you're like me, you love the assortment of the series 1 figures.  But looking at series 2 added to series 1 would have taken it to a whole other level.  I wish we had better pics to see the level of detail in these new figures.  If the two I obtained are any indication, they did not cut any corners on detail!

 

TBH, I wasn't sure what to make of these 2 figures when I saw them on Ebay.  I thought they were either cheap vending machine knock-offs or half metal / half plastic figures from an obscure toyline.  The gun molded into the hand threw me off as well as AR didn't have that in series 1 (except maybe Baron Jolt), & I think that also threw off most other potential buyers.  Also the apparent obscurity of the Pre-Toyfair series 2 catalog pics.  Took the shot & bid with a few days left & thought nothing more of it should I be outbid.  I've attached a pic of the ended auction listing, I'd say I got it for a bargain ;)  The only other bidder was bidding in increments up to the end, & I was .11 cents shy of being outbid, so his next bid would have likely won it.  Strange but awesome how this all played out, as I would've never researched beyond that had I not won.  Once I had them in hand though, other than the molded gun in hand, everything else said Air Raiders figure.  As a fan for 30 years now, uncovering something "new" like this was a dream come true.  But I still feel bummed at the lost potential with the rest of the series.

 

BTW, no luck finding anything further from the seller, but feel free to give it a shot if you'd like.

 

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#21 Balok2

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Posted 09 October 2017 - 12:04 PM

Well done replicant01, sharp eyes & good intuition; I would not have known what those were and likely passed if I saw the auction. I acquired the resin guys on eBay too, back in 1999. All were separate auctions with the resin along with the production counterpart (so that's where my first Emperor and Baron came from. Placed a bid of $80.00 on each but won them all at the opening bid (I forget but it was cheap) as nobody seemed to be watching.
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#22 Balok2

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Posted 09 October 2017 - 12:07 PM

Quick pic of the Air Raider base, great playset.

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#23 jack.aubrey

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Posted 10 October 2017 - 08:39 AM

Yeah, I'm super sad that this line didn't become a reality either. Even if these was more on the rare side like the Manowar and Emperor; just to have a chance to own them would be fantastic. I've contemplated seeing if some sort of 3D printing could be done based off the photos but haven't had the time to research it.

 

And I remember that ebay listing! I didn't bid because I didn't want yet another Thunderclaw. Congrats!

I shudder to think how many cool things the seller (or his parents) threw away over the years.

 

Balok, cool stuff, thank you for sharing. Quick question: I have the base but it never had a the gun mount on the left (I think). Am I just forgetting something or did you add that yourself?


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#24 jack.aubrey

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Posted 10 October 2017 - 08:55 AM

Just to keep sharing; I stumbled across an old auction from 2010 that had some neat stuff (No, I didn't win this). Some characters they obviously never got around to making and some variant designs of the Manowar and Dragonwind. The link also has some scripts and notes from the Sunbow cartoon.

 

https://comics.ha.co...sAuction-120115

 

 

 

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#25 Balok2

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Posted 10 October 2017 - 11:56 AM

 
Balok, cool stuff, thank you for sharing. Quick question: I have the base but it never had a the gun mount on the left (I think). Am I just forgetting something or did you add that yourself?


Sharp eyes jack.aubrey, correct my Air Raiders base is missing stickers, original guns and 'avalanche' play feature. The extra gun turret/platform you see in the pic is borrowed from Tonka Legions of Power.
Hey thanks for sharing the AR concept art you found from that auction; always cool to see new AR content.
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