The 1980s line of Hasbro G.I. Joe action figures were the ultimate toys of their time. Not only was each figure unique, with its own appearance, backstory, and personality, but they also came with specialised accessories. While most of them featured guns and backpacks, some came with custom accessories. For instance, the Cobra B.A.T. featured a backpack loaded with exchangeable arm attachments like a machine gun, a flamethrower, and a claw. And, I haven’t even got started on all the amazing vehicles and playsets.
With so many characters, accessories, vehicles, and playsets, G.I. Joes gave us near endless possibilities when it came to play time. You could turn your entire house into an active warzone thanks to the sheer variety of products Hasbro put out at the time, and the only limitation was your imagination. However, if you weren’t the imaginative type, Hasbro also released a special product that not only gave you the toys to play with, but the narrative to go along with it as well.
The G.I. Joe Special Mission: Brazil box set was a Toys “R” Us exclusive, featuring five Joes and a cassette tape (yes, it’s that vintage). A specialized team of Wet-Suit, Leatherneck, Mainframe, and Dial-Tone, led by the newly introduced covert operations officer, Claymore, were assigned to retrieve a downed satellite from the Brazilian forest before Cobra got its hands on it. Of course, the most interesting thing about this set was the tape, which featured a narrator describing the mission, as well as voice-acting by all five Joes, Cobra Commander, Destro, and Baroness.
You can listen to the recording here, but it was akin to a short radio play. It really was a unique idea back in 1986, as was one of the first times that we were given a mission briefing and didn’t have to solely rely on our imaginations or copy the animated series. However, it didn’t take away from your imagination by any means. The B-side of the tape (yeah, they had those) was left blank so that we could record our own mission briefings and voice acting. I can just imagine my childhood buddy and myself putting on gruff voices for Leatherneck and Claymore.
As for why it’s so rare, besides being a Toys “R” Us exclusive, Hasbro didn’t really make many more of these box sets. The ‘Special Mission’ line later evolved into the G.I. Joe comic books, and was later used for some of Hasbro’s recent G.I. Joe Classified Series figures, but didn’t include a tape or recording of any sort. It’s truly a one-of-a-kind set that vintage G.I. Joe fans would love to add to their collection. Although, you might have some trouble getting the tape to work.
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