Re-Assigning The Team: TIGER FORCE

    Re-Assigning the Team...  In it's thirteen year run, there have been many sub-group in the G.I. Joe Line.  The style and format of these groups vary from team to team.  Here we are going to dig in a bit and try to understand what was going on with these groups and maybe suggest a few changes that could have benefited them!

    First and foremost, Tiger Force was a sub-group released in 1988 that was comprised of all repainted figures and vehicles.  Hasbro gave us a small handful of teams like this.  I have heard it said before, that Hasbro often just grabbed random figures and vehicles for these groups with no real thought process behind it.  This is a possibility and Tiger Force unfortunately gets that reputation.  

    The color of the figures varied between yellows, greens, browns and white, but they all had a "tiger stripe" pattern somewhere on their uniforms.  The vehicles were different in that they all had the same yellow and black stripe pattern with red highlights.  They also featured “tiger” eyes and mouth details as well.

    The question that perplexed me as a kid was... Why do we need this team?  What are they doing?  Tiger Force’s mission is not completely clear.  The first hint obviously comes from the packaging which read: “Tiger Force uses captured Cobra vehicles and re-outfitted G.I. Joe weapons to battle the forces of evil!  Each vehicle is specifically modified and camouflaged for perilous assaults behind enemy lines!”

    I think the concept of the team is interesting!  I really like the idea of re-outfitting older Joe vehicles and using captured Cobra ones, but I am still curious as to why they are doing this or where they are operating.  The best clues as to what Tiger Force is, comes from Frostbite’s file card which states that he is now “barreling over sand dunes in the Sahara Desert” and also mentions “battling Cobra Toxo-Vipers in temperatures over 113 degrees”.

    So basically the back story is that Tiger Force was assembled to counter some trouble stirred up by some Toxo-Vipers in the Sahara Desert.  Duke was put in charge and was given 9 other Joes and 6 vehicles.  The complete team is as follows:

-FIGURES
Duke - First Sergeant/Squad Leader
Flint - Warrant Officer/Special Forces
Dusty - Desert Trooper

Lifeline - Medic
Tripwire - Mine Detector
Roadblock - Heavy Machine Gunner

Bazooka - Missile Specialist 
Frostbite - Tiger Cat Driver 
Recondo - Tiger Fly Pilot 
Skystriker - Tiger Rat Pilot 
-VEHICLES
Tiger Sting (VAMP II)

Tiger Paw (Cobra Ferret)
Tiger Rat (Cobra Rattler)
Tiger Fly (Dragonfly)
Tiger Fish (Devilfish)
Tiger Shark (Cobra Water Moccasin)
Tiger Cat (Snow Cat)

    I really liked Tiger Force!  First and foremost, it was a great opportunity to pick up figures you might have missed or to replace ones that were worn out from excessive play.  Most of the figure’s new colors were pretty good, and the vehicles looked fantastic - very eye-catching!

    I had all the Tiger Force figures when I was younger and I had several of the vehicles too!  In my mind, they re-purposed vehicles that were on-hand, which happened to include some from Cobra.  So this is all they had.  The G.I. Joe motor pool may have several AWE Strikers... but only one Tiger Cat or Tiger Paw.

    There could be an in-house reason for why Tiger Force was built the way it was, but I always felt there were a few flaws with the team.  The group selection does come off as a bit random with two leader-type characters in the team (Duke and Flint) in addition to having a desert trooper, a jungle trooper and an arctic trooper (Dusty, Recondo and Frostbite) all on the same team.  Also, for some reason, the jungle trooper was the helicopter pilot and the missile specialist was also the swamp boat driver...??  Strange.

    So if we did some re-assigning on this team... who stays, who goes and who do we bring in?  First off, I think the team would be better constructed if it was Flint that was the pilot of the Tiger Fly.  His original file card stated that he is a helicopter pilot (oddly this info is missing from his Tiger Force file card).  This will also solve the problem of having two leaders in the team.  Duke will lead and Flint will slide over to a support role that suits one of his specialties.

    I would take Recondo, Frostbite and Bazooka out of the team.  Recondo and Frostbite can continue on with missions in their normal environments.  Bazooka would be fine for the team, but I have other plans for him down the road.

    To fill the empty slots on the team - first, if they are battling Toxo-Vipers, I think Airtight would be a good choice.  Also, Cover Girl would be a good one to take over the Tiger Cat.  Finally, the Sahara Desert has mountains, so I think it would be a good idea to include Alpine.  We never did get a second version of any of these three...

    The vehicles are good for the most part, but we do not need the boats in the desert.  I think it would be cool to see the Sky Hawk (you could call it the Tiger Hawk) decked out in Tiger Force colors.  This would be a good vehicle for Duke as he flew it in the comics.  Maybe the other vehicle slot could be filled with a weapon… like the Whirlwind...  It could be manned by Roadblock and you could tow it with the land vehicles.

    Another idea, would be to swap out the VAMP II repaint for the Cobra Stinger.  That way we can add in one more "captured Cobra vehicle".  Also the name "Tiger Sting" would make a little more sense.

    All in all, I loved Tiger Force back in the day!  While I didn’t understand what they were supposed to be doing at first, they definitely looked great!  As far as my changes went - I really liked the actual line-up we got!  In fact, even though I suggest changing him out, Tiger Force Recondo was my favorite of the group.  

    These changes are just my simple opinion.  What are your thoughts?  Did you agree or disagree with my ideas for changes?  Are there some better picks?  Someone I’m overlooking?  Does anyone have any pics of some cool Tiger Force customs?