TBT – Rare 1984 G.I.Joe Zap, Short Fuze and Breaker with Alternate Heads

Recently, an auction appeared on eBay that turned quite a few heads, namely for a handful of figures that appeared to be prototypes – Namely Breaker, Short Fuze and Zap with different/alternate heads, alongside a pair of Cobras – One Officer, One Trooper that have the same “Mickey” logo as Cobra Commander from the Missile Command set.

There were many across the community that saw the listing and were either unfamiliar with the rarities, or were indeed familiar and understood the gems that were up for grabs in the lot.

Well friends, the good news is, there are a few of us that cataloged these items – Dan Klingensmith Jr. (Creating G.I.Joe) and Carson Mataxis (3DJoes, Collecting the art of G.I.Joe, Operation: Recall) and myself, to name a few.

Although I don’t have further details on the Mickey Troopers, below are the details from two articles I shared way back in 2018 that catalog Breaker, Short Fuze and Zap. The original owner of these items was kind enough to reach out back then and share further details that are included below as well, so without further adieu, here’s the scoop –

Although the link is no longer active, this 1984 G.I.Joe Zap with rare alternate head sculpt auction is what lead to the world of conversation that these figures have led to. Let’s check out that aforementioned Zap figure, namely the images and details from the original listing –

Here is an ultra rare 1984 GI Joe Bazooka Soldier ZAP MOC. This figure has an alternate head sculpt variation which I’m told Hasbro thought about doing for several of its original figures but was never mass marketed. Based on comments I’ve gotten about the figure it is really rare. The figure is sealed on its original card which is a 32-back and has not been tampered with in any way. The bubble does not have any dents in it. The card does show some wear. It does not lie perfectly flat. There is some light soiling at the GI Joe name on the top of the card. The card is unpunched. A rare chance to get this desirable variation for your collection. It makes an excellent display piece. Please look at the pictures above. I will be putting up many more early MOC figures and some sealed vehicles over the coming days. I can combine shipping on multiple purchases. Buyer pays shipping and the shipping quote includes insurance.

To give you a bit of background, Many notable sources from throughout the G.I.Joe community chimed in with insightful commentary on the piece, with final confirmation coming from Mr. Dan Klingensmith Jr. via a discussion in the G.I.Joe Rec Room group. Yes, this figure is indeed the real deal!

It’s said that about a case or so of figures sporting new head sculpts – Breaker, Zap and short Fuze, were made. Sadly, these offerings never found their way to retail. As such, you can just guess how rare these pieces are.

During the discussion in the G.I.Joe Rec Room, a Mr. Juan De Gregorio shared images of the other two figures in the assortment, Short Fuze and Breaker! Now, for clarity’s sake, please note that these images and/or pieces did/do not belong to Mr. De Gregorio, so proper credit was still due to the rightful owner of the images/figures at the time.

In January of 2019, that credit was finally given, as the first picture below (same of two Breakers), is/was from the collection of to Mr. Johnanthan R.! He’s been the proud owner of this amazing piece since 2014. Color me jealous! Hey, at least we get to live vicariously through his eyes! Many thanks to Jonathan for sharing images of this piece of Joe history with our community!

Now, back to those images I mentioned that Juan shared during the discussion – The first image shared gives us a look at both versions of Breaker (above). As you can see, the specimen on the left has no facial hair. The second image gives us a closer look.

Next up, a close up look at Short Fuze. You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference if it weren’t for that swooped hair in front. How cool is that?!

Finally, a shot with all 3 figures, giving us a look at the unique head sculpts was shared!

I’m always amazed by the rich history of G.I.Joe, as made evident by the awesome pieces of history that have found their way out back out on to the Front Lines. Around the same timeframe in 2018-2019, we also saw unreleased Star Brigade Items and now these.  I can only imagine what’ll be next!