lets talk about the tiger force

[Jadesfire133336b]

i know some people (and by some i mean retro blasting) hate the tiger force but i love these guys as well as the python patrol.
oddly my mind has played tricks on me i thought i had a lot of tiger force when i was little but it was mostly vehicles.
i had all of them except the planes and helicopter i had the fish, sting, paw and shark and cat.
figures i only had flint tripwire and frostbite.
ah flint. this story has been told a few times but for those that dont know
my original flint (received for my birthday with bazooka, airtight, gungho, and ship wreck)
went missing at some point and w as never found. for two years (felt way longer than that)
i had no flint until one magical day in 1987 i went into a local heb grocery store and saw a huge tiger force display of vehicles in the aisle and figures on the rack nearby.
i saw flint screamed like a maniac and ran to find my mom and tell her the good news lol.
i ended up getting tripwire either at the same time or on a return trip later.
what do you like about the tiger force? share your memories here!

 

[Nibcrom]

I have a few of the 25th Anniversary Tiger Force and Python Patrol figures. I had the Tiger Force and Python Patrol planes but I ended up selling them because GI Joe aircraft take up so much display room.

I thought for sure my cousin had the Tiger Rat when we were growing up. He insists he never owned it. Either way, one of us had a bad memory haha.

 

[Jadesfire133336b]

i remember seeing the tiger rat once or maybe it was the fly, and i want to say it was like 60 to 80$ back then i just know it was well out of my budget range.
now days i have the tiger sting and roadblock with no acessories. i have the 25th duke but i want a vintage one. i dont have any issues with duke but other mdern figures suck ones like viper and storm shadow cant hold anything or others where th back packs are so heavy they fall over with the stands. im going to try to keep to vintage now.
my original tiger sting got thrown away and destroyed but iwa able to find a new one, those planes do take up a crap ton of room.

 

[solid_strider]

I loved Tiger Force as a kid. I wasn't old enough to have Joes from the earlier years, so I was pretty happy to have another chance at the likes of Duke, Bazooka and Lifeline in '88. I got the Tiger Rat for Christmas that year; it's a bit beat up, but I still have most of it. A buddy gave me a complete Tiger Paw as a present once, and I have a mostly complete Tiger Sting and Fish as well. Also ended up with the 25th re-release of the Tiger Rat, single-carded Duke and Flint, and Joecon 2015 Wreckage. Should've picked up Skystriker from that Joecon too to go with my original one, but I waffled on it because of the cop-out head they used and now he's going for crazy prices.

 

[Jadesfire133336b]

nice! i had better success with the python patrol i had all three vehicles and most of the figures only copperhead and the officer eluded me.
i was the same way strider. i didnt have the earlier joes and the first duke i ever had was from later in the tan and red with the infamous crotch rocket card back.
i thnk i skipped out on tiger bazooka because i had the original one and i played with him until he was so worn out i ended up getting the fisherman hat bazooka from the battle corp later. same with gung ho but im getting off track.

 

[solid_strider]

I remember wanting to use TF Lifeline's mask on Skystriker to get a better pilot look for him. Doing that probably lost me his visor and antenna set, lol. I still have the fig and helmet though. I was starting to move onto TMNT by '89 when vintage Python Patrol came out, but I did manage to get all of the 25th ones, the Conquest, a Joecon 2011 trooper, Tele-Viper, Trigger and Lightning, and the 50th Croc Master PP repaint. Trigger/Gatilho is probably my favourite 25th Cobra that I own.

I wanted to get that Battle Corps Bazooka, Gung Ho (the one with the flag, right?) and Roadblock as well when I started buying vintage Joes again, but I ended up passing on all three.

 

[Jadesfire133336b]

yeah i really liked that flag acessory
battle corp roadblock was my very last gi joe from the original childhood arah run.i managed to have the major toy lines like tmnt and gi joe all coexist with jurasic park , batman the animated series and other stuff i had back then. once star brigade came out i was like "ok ill just walk quickly past this stuff and not look at it" lol i recall being n a mall i nthe late 90s (there hunting rare x men i couldnt find like storm,beast, rogue and iceman) and seeing ahuge display that led into a corner aile agaisnt the wall with a ton of star brigade stuff. i might have walked down it just to glance at it but i was like this sh** dumb.
and honestly i had no interest in sky patrol (i bought one figure and the sky sharc and sky hawk) and the ninja force i dont thnk i bought any of those. though i might have had one or two.
also all the characters i might want (scarlett snake eyes zartan) where no where to be found. in fact only snake eyes i ever owned was (and is again) the 1990 version.

 

[Jadesfire133336b]

update i have managed to get a lot of tiger force figures in the last few years. i now have all the single release figures except for lifeline and bazooka. i even found dusty with ain intact crotch for like 20$ tha twas the most insanely good deal ever. his gun(no bipod of course) and back pack are dirt cheap so that was no issue. had to buy repro shotguns for both flints though. those things are nearly star wars levels of high prices.

 

[Hyperdrive]

I was in my last phase of high school when tiger force hit the shelves. I had a younger cousin who loved tiger force and I got to play with him at holidays. Honestly Ioved the line, I thought it was a great idea and the color combinations were awesome. As a vintage Joe collector I've picked up a few, not allow them but a few. One of my favorite recent restoration projects is a python patrol jet. Very cool and you. Can't talk about tiger force without mentioning tiger force. I'll be selective with any classified python or tiger force offerings.

 

[VideoViper]

Star Wars taught me to ignore realism so when Tiger Force came out I was just happy to get the chance at things I missed out on. Love the rattler & I got a “replacement” Roadblock & Duke which I used as new characters.

Original RB lost a leg in battle so I was happy to get a new one.

 

[Jadesfire133336b]

i know right? tiger force flint replaced the one i lost (i still wonder what i did with him) so its great the re released things. i never had any form of the vamp (i thought that the tiger sting was a redo of the night stinger cobra stinger or whatever) i couldnt find any guys like dusty or roadblock or duke. i wanted those characters but all i remember seeing was flint bazooka and tripwire. if i had bought bazooka then i think i wouldnt have needed fisherman bazooka later but since i went to the store so rarely i didnt buy same characters again in favor of someone new. unless they just had nothing i wanted then i might buy a variant.
i think thats why i had so few tiger force guys. i had all of the vehicles except the tiger fly and tiger rat. i remember flint used the tiger sting and tripwire often got the tiger paw not sure why they didnt just ride together. counting frost bite(why not call him tiger bite?) i had 3 tiger force guys so my other joes used the vehicles mostly. gi joe had some weird out there sh** so realism was never on my mind with them.
i never had the ferret or stinger devilfish or water moccasin rattler or dragon fly so it was a chance to get new versions. i even recognized them as a kid.
and legend has it that there was supposed to be a tiger force wild bill and recondo was to be a standard carded figure but for soem reason they couldnt get bill ready in time so they just stuck recondo with the vehicle instead.
i know that flint gungho bazooka airtight and shipwreck often to the tiger boats out on water missions while cobra used the battle barge and pirhanna. those were happier times man.

 

[Dafydd Tegan]

I was just sorting and getting my Tiger Force (and all Joes) set up in new storage containers this past week. None of these have been displayed in about 10 years and are sadly starting to be affected by age and storage. The Roadblock and Sneak peek have broken o-rings, a few others nearly there. Many have joint issues, a few have totally seized up shoulder joints. The gun straps on Shipwrecks weapons cracked as did the dufflebag strap for Hit & Run. I feel the storage area I had these in suffered from extreme changes in hot and cold and could be the culprit. Its a bit sad to see because Tiger Force is such a favorite of mine.

 

[Jadesfire133336b]

thats sad man. i wish i had tiger versions of shipwreck and airtight to go with flint. i know they made bazooka. are these more modern ones?
gungho seems to eb the only one of my 5 guys i like that hasnt been in tiger force yet. i thnk i could mod the battle corps one though. maybe if i ever ge settled soemwhere long enough to unpack i can try to custom one.

 

[Nerfherder]

I was old enough to realize that this was simply a way to repack existing figures and vehicles, and generally hated the look. I think I only picked up a couple figures I didnt already have in Bazooka and Dusty. Python Patrol was slightly more interesting to me because they built a good story around it in the comics and I could pull off having different Cobra troops in my collection.

 

[Jadesfire133336b]

i liked python more too i had all but 2 figures copperhead and officer were nowhere to be found when i was a kid. probably army builders bought them lol. they were one o cobras top units they saw a ton of action i wish i had kept them. because nowdays they are hard AF to find for a decent price in good condition.

 

[Jadesfire133336b]

also thats how i could have more vipers i never had the original viper but had python and sonic versions.

 

[Dafydd Tegan]

are these more modern ones?

So all these are the TF figures released using the original ARAH toys/molds. I used to have the new sculpt TF figures from the early 2000s and the 25th/ME versions from the last 12 years but sold them all off about 3 years back. I also sold off all my extras and International TF MIB vehicles. Just needed to get back to basics.

Anyhow, here's the breakdown of the figures and their releases.

 

[VideoViper]

Hated these repaints (unrealistic) however I was out by the time Night Force came around which I would have liked more.

Funny story it wasn’t until 2009 when I was at a NJCC that I finally saw the Dino riders, which I honestly thought was made up.

 

[Jadesfire133336b]

yeah that night force stuff is cool until you se the price. i saw a night sharc or whatever recently and nearly bought it because it was missing a few parts but i was afraid i couldnt find or afford the parts so i didnt. i probably should have went for it because that stuff is almost never anywhere near my budget. and why does brazil always get the cool stuff lol. i forgot ive seen that stalker i thought about getting him nd swapping out the ugly blue parts with the talking figure to make a really cool tiger force stalker.

 

[Faker]

When I was a kid, I didn't see Tiger Force as lazy repaints. I saw it is a 2nd chance to get some core characters that I had previously missed out on.

I had always wanted Duke when I was a kid and never got him. I never saw him even once in the stores. But when Tiger Force came out, I was finally able to add Duke to my ranks. That made such an impression on me that Tiger Force Duke is my absolute favorite GI*JOE figure I had as a kid.

Just last year, I finally obtained my GI*JOE holy grail: a Tiger Force Duke with perfect green and uncracked elbows. Virtually all TF Dukes you will find have elbows that have browned with age and are cracked. This TF Duke must have been part of a random run that used a different type of green plastic for the elbows. I also gave him the head from the early 90's Chinese release of Duke so that he could have blonde hair. Version 1 Duke's head will not fit properly on TF Duke's body, but the Chinese Duke's head fits perfectly.

 

[Jadesfire133336b]

awesome dude! i have this duke as my only duke right now. i never could find duke as a kid and all i remember seeing at the tore as akid was flint tripwire and bazooka. i remember when i found flint (i told this story before im sure) i ran to my mom to show her because a oft mentioned my 85 flint went mia not long after i got him. she told me i could get another one too so i ran back and dug through them looking for duke or road block but ended up buying tripwire. i wonder if i got the tiger fish the same trip or later because i remember going back to that grocery store whenever i could to pick up toger force vehicles and they always had the same stuff so i mostly bought vehicles (i got them all but the rattler and tiger fly but only had the 3( frost bite was the third) tiger force guys. i went all in on python patrol though i had almost all of the group officer and copperhead i could never find. these days i havent even started on python i have all of the tiger force single guys except for bazooka and lifeline. i have a tiger sting but no other vehicles.

 

[Jadesfire133336b]

as kid the only duke i ever had was the infamous cortch rocket one from 90. i saw that art when i opened him and i was like wtf even then at 10 i was like "thats wrong."

 

[sith_rising]

I never had any of the sub-teams as a kid, but I've had my eye on the Collector's Club Tiger Force Jinx for a while. Someday I'll drop 100 for one on Ebay.

 

[Jadesfire133336b]

ive managed to track down most of the single tiger guys. i need lifeline and bazooka.
as a kid i had most of the vehicles i needed (and still need) the tiger fly and tiger rat.
i recently picked up a 83 wild bill. ive only got the tiger sting for my current collection.
i want to get pyton patrol back (as a kid i had everything but copperhead and the officer)
but ive spent most of my time rebuilding the iron grenadiers. i need 3 vehicles (i thnk) plus destro and metal head. i have the drivers for the razor back and demon but not the vehicles yet.

 

[VideoViper]

Target will have a 6” scale TF Duke with Ram cycle.

 

[Neal]

Target will have a 6” scale TF Duke with Ram cycle.

It's already up for preorder:

G.I. Joe Classified Series Tiger Force Duke & RAM Action Figure and Vehicle (Target Exclusive)​

 

[Vorax]

I just used Tiger Force and Python Patrol for jungle battles.

 

[Dafydd Tegan]

i have the drivers for the razor back and demon but not the vehicles yet.

I absolutely loved the D.E.M.O.N. as a kid. The fact that you could attach Destro's Despoiler to it was amazing.

 

[Jadesfire133336b]

i dont have duke yet in 6 inch so will pickup that one one day.

 

[Jadesfire133336b]

ive also heard that were getting recondo and bazooka in tiger force too.

 

[jedicrippler]

Yep. They were revealed last month during one of the weekly reveals.

 

[gerrit]

Like others have mentioned I saw them as a way to pick up figures I had missed in the past. The dutch 1990/1991 catalogs had those awesome dioramas placing the tigerforce toys in a realistic looking jungle environment and I was sold from the moment I saw those pictures. Some of the figures look a bit goofy in their bright colours but for other figures like psyche-out it was a huge improvement over the original. When my brother and myself got back into collecting Joes and figured out how expensive those European exclusive figures had gotten we sacrificed our Outback, Hit and run and blizzard to fund the missing assecoires of the rest of our collection. You could say that was the second time Tigerforce allowed us to complete our gijoe collection from earlier years. Out of all the GI Joe figures I have ever had tf Tunnelrat is the only one that I ever damaged. I remember picking up the magnifying glass thinking it would never work like in the cartoons and Instant regret when I saw Tunnelrats nose bubble up and melt. I'm still looking for a spare loose head for him to cover up my childhood sin.

 

[DarkArtist]

i loved the Tiger Force / Python Patrol sub line. I remember having the majority of the Tiger Force figures and a few of the vehicles and a couple from Python Patrol figures (sadly no vehicles though).