1982 Assortment Weights

My last few blog posts were about toy conventions, and my next four(!) will be too, so it’s time to return to the old bread and butter of A Real American Book!, which is toy development paperwork.

No exciting drawings of characters this time, but for Joe archaeologists, maybe something better. I’d long figured Scarlett was shortpacked in 1982. I wasn’t buying Joe figures just yet, so I wouldn’t have known first hand. But when Mark TalkingJoe and I interviewed Kirk Bozigian on Talking Joe a year and a half back, he confirmed that. And I realized, in looking over my book research, that I had, from Bozigian’s own notebook, some evidence of that. Now, this isn’t shipping paperwork or a missive to the factory, and surely those exist, too, but it is a primary source. Click to slightly enlarge.

Joe experts will immediately recognize the specialties above for the characters that inhabit them, but in case you’re newer to Joe or don’t memorize the card backs, “Ranger” is Stalker, “Mortar” is Short-Fuze, “Communications” is Breaker, “Commando” is Snake-Eyes, “Infantryman” is Grunt, “Bazooka” is Zap, “Machinegunner” is Rock ‘N Roll, “Laser Rifle” is Flash, and, importantly for this blog post, “Counter Intelligence” is Scarlett. Indeed, Scarlett was shortpacked. For every 14 Flash, 14 Rock ‘N Roll, and 14 Zap figures in a case for 1982, there were a mere four Scarlett figures.

Why? As Bozigian has explained, female action figures didn’t sell as well. In case you’re thinking this is a chicken and egg scenario, that collectors couldn’t find Scarlett, and if only there were more, no, Scarlett figures didn’t sell as well, even weighed less.

Also fun, in a follow-up assortment, the Cobra Soldier and Cobra Officer were also shortpacked. I’m going to make the assumption here that conventional wisdom suggested that kids wanted the heroes more than the villains. At this time, I owned a Kenner Luke Skywalker before a Darth Vader, so I can relate. And two years later, my first Joe was a Joe and my second was a Cobra.

For the record, my brother did own ’83 Scarlett (and I still have it, it’s in the next room over), and I did have Princess Leia as the bounty hunter Boushh.