Recent months have seen a huge surge in the number of online G.I. Joe fans. The new comic, new toys, and a general interest in more 80's nostalgia has fueled the greatest influx of new fans that the online collecting community has ever seen. As these new fans start to see all that the online Joe collecting world has to offer, they inevitably come across the series of G.I. Joe figures manufactured by the Funskool toy company in India. These figures are classic Joe molds often offered in unique color schemes and are available from several online retailers who are based in the U.S. and sell the figures for very attractive prices. While this is a very good thing, there do exist in the collecting world many old misconceptions about Funskool product. This has lead to a rash of questions in many different online Joe forums about the Funskool figures, their quality, and their overall ability to fit into a typical American Joe collection.

1. What are Funskool figures?

Funskool is a toy company based in India. They are a joint venture between the Madras Rubber Factory (MRF) and Hasbro. The produce Hasbro toys, under license, for children in the Indian market. (They do export some of their products to other countries as well. Just not the U.S.) They are one of the largest toy companies in India and count G.I. Joe as one of their best selling products. They have produced G.I. Joe figures under license from Hasbro (these are not bootlegs in any way) since at least 1988.

2. Are the Funskool figures of similar quality to vintage American figures?

The short answer to this question is, no. However, while Funskool produced figures are not quite up to par with vintage American releases, they are still of very high quality and mesh well with collections of G.I. Joe figures from any country in the world. As such, some additional explanation on the figure quality is merited.

- Card Stock

The first thing you will notice when you acquire a Funskool figure is the flimsy card stock. The cards are paper thin and are not nearly as robust as to which you might be accustomed. This makes finding mint cards a near impossibilty. However, while the cardstock itself is flimsy and prone to warping (especially in humid climates), the character art on them is very bright and vibrant. Funskool uses the old American card art for many figures, but also produces its own. Some of them are very interesting, though obviously based on the old, more familiar art. Whether the art is unique or a rehash, though, it is similar in aesthetics to American figures. If put into a protective case, a Funskool carded figure will display as well as any American figure produced in the vintage line.

When you finally decide to open a figure, you will notice some other peculiarities that are unique to the Funskool line. First off, the plastic is not the same grade as the vintage American figures.

- Plastic

That being said, though, the Funskool plastic is probably higher quality than that used to create the first round of American Joe repaints in 1997. It is a bit more pliable than that of vintage American Joes. As such, you will find that the Funskool figures can hold a variety of weapons without the worry of breaking thumbs. The hands will, in some cases, stretch out and have to be pushed back into place in order for a figure to hold his weapon, but the softer plastic alleviates much of the threat of breakage.

One of the problems of the softer plastic, though, is that some joints tend to be frozen. (This is especially common on figures that have been in the package for more than a year after their manufacture date. Funskool stamps the back of each figure card with the date it was manufactured. The older the date, the greater the probability that a figure's joints will be frozen.) Usually, the swivel joints on the arms or the knee joints on the legs are the problem areas. On older figures, you can break off part of the leg mold surrounding the knee if you do not exercise caution when moving the knee for the first time. Attempting to move the swivel joint sans care can cause the figure's arm joints to separate at the arm rivet. Once this happens, there is little to do to repair the figure. If you spend a little time working the joint with just slight pressure, though, you can unfreeze it. While the joint will most likely remain tight, it will be workable and allow you to enjoy the figure.

- Paint Masking

Beyond the issues that can arise with the plastic, the other major area of concern for those who are contemplating the additon of Funskool figures to their collection is the paint masking. While both Estrela and Hasbro produced figures are notable for the tight paint masking that allows for sharp details, many Funskool figures are not as sharp. Often, you will find some small overspray around heavily painted areas. This is especially common on hair. Often, plain faces will be splotched with overspray from the hair paint. You will also find many areas where the paint appears thin and you can see the base plastic color behind it.

The nice thing about this is that only certain figures seem to be heavily affected by poor paint masking. Also, the newer figure releases have also been much, much better in this area as well. It is also possible to just get a bad figure. One example of a figure may be poorly painted while others are well done. Figures with open faces and visible eyes seem to have most problems while figures that have covered heads tend to be well painted with few problems. Overall, the paint quality will not be up to Hasbro produced standards but is not so bad as to ruin the figure.

- Accessories

The accessories that are included with Funskool figures are well done. They are slightly lower quality than vintage American accessories, but it takes an experienced eye to spot Funskool weapons interspersed with American versions. The guns can be slightly more brittle and small parts (straps, etc.) can be broken right out of the package. They work well with the figures, but some backpacks may not fit on even the figure with which they are included.

3. What's up with the wacky colors?

One thing to remember is that Funskool figures are made with the Indian children's market in mind. As such, the figures are designed to be popular with them. The wants and desires of a vocal group of American collectors carries very little weight with a company that can not sell their products in the U.S. Their focus is on the tens of millions of Indian children and capturing their attention. Apparently, they do it quite well as the G.I. Joe has been one of their best sellers over recent years. While some of the color choices may make non-Indian collectors cringe, these are toys that are not marketed with anyone outside of India in mind.

4. I've heard that Funskool figures have lead based paint in them. Is that true?

This rumour has been around for many years and has never been substantiated. Funskool firmly states that all of their products meet or exceed international toy safety guidelines.

5. What molds does Funskool have?

This is a question that probably can not be answered by anyone outside of the Funskool toy company. It appears they have a large stock of molds as there are currently over 40 figures in production with more being added every year. It is known that some of the molds that were given to Funskool (Firefly, Baroness) were reacquired by Hasbro for the repaint series of figures that were released in the late '90's and early '00's. In fact, the Firefly figure that was released with the Cobra Polar Assault Team in 1998 is missing the copyright information that was originally on the American mold as it was removed when the mold was produced by another company in another country.

It seems that many of the figure molds that were first given to Estrela toys in Brazil for production there have made their way into Funskool's hands. Looking at the figures Estrela produced will probably give you a good indication of many of the molds that Funskool may have. However, without any definitive information, it is impossible to determine, exactly, what molds Funskool has available to them. It is a good bet, though, that any figure mold used in the U.S. repaint series from 1997-2002 is not currently available to Funskool for production.

If you have any further questions, comments, other tips or inside info about Funskool figures, or just want to know anything further, please email me and I will attempt to answer your questions.

Originally Posted 5/8/02

This document is © 2002 by Michael R. Taber and may not be reproduced in any form or capacity without the consent of the author. The author is not affiliated with Hasbro, Inc., Funskool Toys, or MRF, Inc. in any capacity. This document is provided for informational purposes only. Deep linking to this document from another web site, message board, newsgroup posting, or other means is permitted and all excerpts or quotes from this document must be accompanied by a link to the original source.