HCC788 - 1985 Sailor SHIPWRECK - vintage G. I. Joe toy review! HD S02E49 

Shipwreck was always one of my favorite Joe figures. He's grown on me more now that I'm an adult and Navy vet. I appreciate the realistic style of his uniform, despite is rate insignia being incorrect. Sailors were also allowed to have full beards until sometime in the 80s. They changed the reg, citing facial hair interferes with protective fire fighting gear, but we all know it was because the other branches were jealous.

The tat ( if I'm correct ) also indicates him being a " shell back " meaning he crossed the equator. Most sailors got a tat signifying that, as per tradition.

Shipwreck is a great G.I. Joe character! Shipwreck and Polly are funny as hell in the Sunbow G.I. Joe cartoons! I had this figure back in the day & enjoyed playing with it! The 25th Anniversary five pack Shipwreck is perfect; he looks like he stepped right out of the Sunbow G.I. Joe cartoon! 50th Anniversary Shipwreck is a great figure too!

As a kid, I loved Ship Wreck for a few reasons. I love pirates, he wasn't as formal as the other Joes, and he has Polly. They had a love hate relationship. Polly saved him and the Joes a few times.

Arguably the best Joe ever.

That part with Doc was hilarious. I especially like how Doc was screaming along with Shipwreck.

All right! My favorite Joe Shipwreck!

I remember my cousin getting this figure brand new for his birthday in 1985. I always thought Shipwreck was a great character in the cartoon.

That's the funniest way to describe Shipwreck. I have met such sailors and soldiers like that.

My favorite character and one of my first joes. I joined the navy and invisioned myself as a real life Shipwreck. I was trained in Great Lakes and my first duty station was Yokosuka Japan. Top tier figure all the way!

Definitely one of my favorites, partly due to his simplicity. Blue and black color patterns appealed to me more with Joe's like Snake Eyes, Low light, and Shockwave. Shipwreck and Snake Eyes had the best mini-series story arcs in the cartoon.

My favorite GI Joe 👍😎

I always imagined that Shipwreck was working undercover on a top secret mission, when Flint and Mutt first met him in the cartoon. Sure he was in his uniform, but this was a 1980s kids' cartoon, so branding would be more important than realism in this case.

Thanks for reviewing one of my favorite Joes! Love my sailor man!

This was a great figure with well chosen details... and lots of accessories! Most of my favorite figures were selected because they had a ton of stuff. Pretty sure that hook on his hip was broken off immediately, possibly intentionally.

I grew up around those same shipyards. I really gravitated to this figure. I loved my battle platform also. Great part of my childhood. Also in the cartoon he was in a copter and he told the pilot something. The guy didn't listen to him. So shipwreck pops him in the back of the head. No.wonder I grew up.so crazy.

Shipwreck was and is one of my favorites.

And all the Sailors use to say when we saw him in GIJOE. One of us one of us!!!

I've been around the block a few times with Shipwreck. When we first met him in the Revenge of Cobra miniseries, I really liked him. The whole Flint and Mutt meeting him in a sleazy bar, and hiring him to help them escape really gave him a Han Solo quality (probably by intention) that I loved. But by the time of The Pyramid of Darkness miniseries and into the series itself, I found myself out off by his increased use as comic relief. He went from being a charming rogue, always ready for action, to a goofball who was repeatedly played as lazy and incompetent. Seriously, Polly was usually played as a better Joe then he often was. But I was also getting into my teens, and wanted GI Joe to be dark and serious, and had little patience for the sillier side of the franchise. When his Battle Corps figure came out and reintroduced him as now being a Navy SEAL, I scoffed at it. But by the late 90s, I'd had a change of heart. I'd realized that you needed humor now and then to break up dramatic tension, and that just because a character could be funny didn't make them stupid. In fact, it often gave them a great deal more personality then the characters who were dark and serious. I embraced Shipwreck as his Battle Corps figure was reissued and his his New Sculpt figure came out. I was a fan, and was happy that Devil's Due made him a main member of the stripped down team in America's Elite. Then, to make him dark and serious, they reduced his personality to constantly bitching about how much he hated and mistrusted Storm Shadow, one of my very favorite Joes, whom Shipwreck had never really had any interactions with whatsoever in any media, to have such an opinion. Ugh. And just like that, I'm back to not liking him. Sigh.

ShipWreck was my dude back in the proverbial day!

Love this figure always though he had a great classic sailor look to him. He was one of my favorite characters in the sunbow cartoon and one of the few G.I. Joe toys I remember having as a kid. Great video Bryan especially pointing out that Shipwreck was prone to finding ladies of the night were he was stationed at.

I never thought of the last paragraph of his filecard this way... lol

Awesome figure which I'm proud to own.

Shipwreck was awesome!

Awesome. I'm going to an 80s TV show costume party tomorrow night and I'm dressing as SHIPWRECK.. I even have the parrot. Subscribed

From the animated series, Ship Wreck joined GI Joe, as a loner-rogue type. I got the impression that he was no longer in the Navy, and more of a Merc. Yes the pirate idea works well for him. That also explains the percussion cap, pistol he carries.

Shipwreck is my favorite Joe; he was fleshed out more than any other character in the cartoon series.

My guess is that the unnamed Middle Eastern operations are a reference the covert Persian Gulf operations against Iran after their revolution in the early 80's.

great voice acting in the og show, parrot too!

Rock them bells Shipwreck!!!!

All time favorite joe

I'm glad you addressed his uniform / rank inconsistency. They should have just made him a first class and everything would be fine. I never noticed, but his tattoo is almost identical to my own Navy tat. One of my favorites as a kid.

Shipwreck is a great figure and character for G.I. Joe, Perfect timing on the review for me as I just ordered him Yesterday!! Great sense of humor to, that joke with Doc was great LOL:D

When you had your navy line up, you missed Topside. I'd like to see a review about him.

i think GI Joe was a military recruitment campaign. I wanted to be like a Shipwreck so i ended up joining the Navy for 10 years!

When I was a kid I only liked Shipwreck because it came with Polly.😆

I don't like how they changed his personality in the second season of the cartoon. In my head-cannon it was due to getting PTSD at the climax of the two-parter where Cobra made him think 10 years had passed and he had a wife and child. They turned out to be synthoids and melted before his eyes. His extra-goofiness was just his way of coping.

I always loved the figure I disregarded the grappling hook and used the peg to hold the flintlock that I though look like a shotgun pistol great secondary weapon for a seaman as it could fire flairs as well as 12ga shells

I always liked Shipwreck. Although he could be annoying from time to time. I especially liked the Sunbow depiction of him (along w' the interaction w' Polly). Looking forward to more videos in 2016.

Thank you soooo much! I loved Shipwreck as a kid, I STILL DO! Heck, 30 years later AND IM STILL TRYING TO GROW A BEARD. - I loved that he was depicted as being Hispanic/Latino. You didn't see much of that without being a stereotype. Plus, Hector! What a great name!!! Even though you made fun my favorite Joe of ALL TIME, I still "LOL"ed. Great review, I learned more of this guy, thanks.

Always loved Shipwreck. The colours made him stand out from the line, but contravening military authenticity.

People often mention how Shipwreck's name is Hispanic, but according to the cartoon series, he was adopted so it doesn't matter. Yes, "Gitmo" may have been somewhat obscure reference in the mid-'80s, but the great thing about the file cards was that they did not assume kids were idiots. Kids could then look this stuff up, and become knowledgeable and fascinated or more fascinated with military stuff. Regarding the "carrier-initiated operations in the Middle East" reference, it is a sensible vague one as there was a lot happening in the Middle East in the early '80s with the Navy constantly present.

"YOUR HIP!!!" I WAS LAUGHING SO HARD

The reason I think shipwreck is awesome is because I was born in Chula Vista and my son joined the Navy🇺🇸. So that's way i think he is awesome.P.S he is Mexican American too.

I had this guy. Never really used him much unless he was riding around in the hovercraft or hanging around the battle platform. Always hated the bell bottoms he wore.

actually the modern version is not too badly done in my opinion he has more of a navy seal look now

If you look closely at the artwork for his grappling hook it's more of like a Chinese start that splits and then wraps around objects of course they could not do that with an action figure for kids. At least not back in 85 when this came out. Shipwreck was one of my favorites though.

I believe what the character card is referring to with the statement, "he was present at certain carrier-initiated operations in the Middle East," is the aborted attempt at rescuing the hostages in Iran on April, 24, 1980. This attempt, formally known as Operation Eagle Claw, ended in disaster, when, after taking off from a U.S. aircraft carrier, helicopters carrying Delta Force commandos crashed in the desert. As a reference to one of the greatest 80's movies ever, the recovery of U.S. personnel from the crash is depicted in the opening scene of the Delta Force moving starring Chuck Norris.

I think the Jack Nicholson being a sailor inspiration is true There was a 1973 film called THE LAST DETAIL starring Jack Nicholson as a sailor seeing the poster I can imagine him portraying Shipwreck.

rumor has it, Shipwreck, is Billy Bad Ass Badusky the alter ego 😃

At 13:57 you can see his fingers moving Shipwreck, so you can tell that the figures aren't moving by themselves.

loved the figure ,lost all the items ,polly lost his feet, that hip thing broke off also :) ... would have liked it more if he had a modern sidearm (some weapon you got if on guard duty or such ) and perhaps a grapplinghook instead of the "ninja" rope thing :) and yeah he owns that platform .

great review, I like the cartoon character, I always thought shipwreck was the one character that you cold always find on the Flagg or in the whale at the gun turret. This is one of my top five characters of gijoe

Shipwreck (one of the 1985 Joes) possibly replaced 1983's Torpedo.

Actually, Welker often alternated with Neil Ross as Polly.

2nd favorite JOE next to Lady Jaye!

Might the Middle East reference be to the so-called "Tanker Wars" in the Strait of Hormuz?

another cool figure behind my time - i'd have had him on the FLAGG (assuming I would have had the FLAGG)

yo ho ho where's my bottle of rum ..LOL..WHAT no video ??oh man I'm gonna be suffering from hooded cobra commander withdrawal!!! NOOOOOO!!....hahahahahaaa!!..anyways I had this guy and I always felt he had a pirate look with bellbottoms... but still I thought he was cool especially in the cartoon I kind of like his character ..nice work man I wish you a happy new years

Why is this guy so much more expensive than other comparable figures?

Shipwreck causing so much trouble in some episodes

Or Shipwreck lives in Poland ... That explain his firearm ... :) Some people buy ancient weapon for self defense just because regulations for self defense are strange ... But there is gate to unlock ... You can use ancient arms as troff ...

I recall a sailor code name: Top Side?

What do You think of the New SHIPWRECK ??? He got cross train !!! He is now a SEAL !!!

13:42 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Why is Ship Wreck so expensive on the after market?

I like him. He was kind of a slacker in the cartoon.

Was it ever said what kind of Latino Shipwreck is? He is from a Chula Vista, CA, right? So I’m gonna guess he is supposed to be Mexican although he does look like me ex gfs dad, and he is Chilean.

So that’s why Neil Ross emulated Jack Nicholson’s voice for the character.🤔

I never really cared for Shipwreck. I remember seeing him in the cartoon. I never read the comics. I felt Shipwreck was AWAL. He is a bar in the middle of the desert, wearing his navy uniform and with a boat that had rockets on it so he can drive the boat on sand. The another thought was we was a smuggler. Shipwreck was in the Navy go out and turned to a life of crime by smuggling how knows what in a foreign country making money. He happens to run into the two Joes. He helps them and then he because part of the team. Based on the cartoon, I would like to think the Joes did a background check on him. Shipwreck might sell vehicle parts or something lol He seemed shady to me.

Never cared for him ... Until I saw this review! Now I want one, or at least a 25th anniversary version of him!

Wait shipwreck has a variant I have a variant the beard different under the lip and his belt buckle

Hilarious!!!

Love Shipwreck! Such a bad As$

Shipwreck is the Jar Jar of G I Joe.

I never understood Shipwreck's pay grade. If he made Chief, he would have a rating. He would be HTC, or, MMC, NOT simply "CPO".

The Tanker War in 1980s

you know I didn't love our hate him. he was just kinda there for me. but lots of great parts for customizing

Although not a terrible figure, I do put Shipwreck in that category of figures that simply tested one's resolve to collect the entire line for that year. I should have just bought another Crimson Guard.

Shipwreck was alright, good figure that filled the naval requirement but his weapon is pointless. I mean, it's a one shot weapon in an era of high powered guns, in a fire fight he most likely wouldn't hit an enemy and then he'd be SOL unless he grabbed a proper gun.

I feel the flagg coming....

Hes Italian hes from Sanfransisco he was adopted

Why would you want a gun like that around water when you don’t have to

HooDIE CO co 788 here an shit like dat dog

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA

A pirate pistol

Doesn't Shipwreck look like George Harrison?

Stinky Diver

Shipwreck is probably the Joe I hate the most, even as a kid I hated him in the cartoon, I hate the toy, there is nothing about this character to like. I would rather deal with Sci Fi and all his absurdness than to deal with Shipwreck.

The cartoon ruined Shipwreck for me sadly.

count me in that minority or peeps that ABSOLUTELY HATED this guy. i couldn't disagree with you more on his tier level!...top of the bottom tier for sure, but bottom tier all they way! his accessories just SUCKED, and to be truthful..the joes had little real need for actual "sailors" other than to be the crew for the US Flag. In alot of ways, shipwreck feels like a carry over from an older generation of gi joe toys, and does not fit this particular re-brandishing. To me personally, he would only have worked as a toy if he was a rouge mercenary...using his navy servicemen skills as a modern pirate..keeping his uniform as proof to his employers of his past training. Once captured, have the joes convert him to a new "specialized" unit...one that hunted down modern day civilian or para-military pirates and with a payload to deal for those unique scenarios. Instead what we got was a mess of a toy and a character.....the cartoons DID him no favors. Polly the parrot is the best thing about him.

Shipwreck’s mos is gunner’s mate. That implies he works on a ship. The Flag is the only real ship in the Joe fleet. So how useful is this clown? Bottom tier at best!