1979 Palitoy Commander Power Catalog (Super Joe)
In 1976, Hasbro Toys had abandoned the G.I. Joe action figure , the following year Joe returned 4 inches shorter and now in the future as “Super Joe” which lasted two brief years.
Hasbro’s UK distributor Palitoy (Who was still busy selling 12″ Joes as Action Man) decided to release Super Joe into the United Kingdom. Like a lot of their product lines, Palitoy did a massive rebranding of the concept. Joe became Commander Power and he was only joined by two other characters at the time, Gor King of the Terrons and the Shield. Judging by how hard it is to find the toys from this line, it’s fair to summize that it wasn’t terribly successful. However, it is quite nice to look at:
Check out the Palitoy Commander Power Catalog here.
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I've read that these were really cheap toys for a reason.Supposedly, the price of plastics skyrocketed due to oil embargo and shortages in the 70's. The 12 inch figures were too expensive to make so they made shorter figures.and apparently the new plastic itself was really low quality.Also the rubber bands holding them together were cheap.I got The Shield for my birthday in '78 and I remember it didn't last long before breaking,while my mego superheroes from a few years prior outlasted it(In fact I still have them 40 years later).I found a Gor a few years ago without a working light and a few weeks ago I bought a Rocket Command Center in good shape,but finding other figures in one piece is rare.
Sadly, as Hauntedheadful has pointed out:
the maybe-stretchy plastic bands that were the Super Joe's skeletons/internal supports were of a weak plastic, + broke after a few months…or, at least that's what a lot of SJ owners have said. A number of 1970s GI Joe's internal plastic bands also didn't last long- I think that's why, when I look on ebay, [a lot of vintage 1970s GI Joe figures, + a lot of super joes, are 1] still in the box, but 2] are now a pile of unattached, toy body parts. ^^;
[You could make custom- SJ outfits, + 1970s GIJ outfits], for 1990s + after- gi joes, + 1960s, gi joes], however.
I used to have an S. Joe commander, + a figure of his un-bearded assistant. I think my cousin might have "borrowed them without asking", on me. 😀
It's too bad about the Super Joe figures falling apart. I still have the Super Joe figure I got for Christmas almost 40 years ago, and he is not in the best shape. I remember gluing his broken parts back together years ago, but could never find his hands, so I replaced them with Mego hands. A couple of years ago I found a Gor figure on Ebay for a good price. The light doesn't work, but the figure is otherwise in great shape.