1983 Major Bludd: Mercenary (mail order and carded)
Includes: rocket launcher, missile backpack
A note on Major Bludd v1 releases:
Major Bludd v1 was made available through a mail-in postcard offer from January 25–February 28, 1983 (seen below). This mail order Major Bludd was the first swivel-arm figure and shipped in a sealed bag with a red back file card. Later in 1983, Major Bludd would be released as a carded figure as part of series 2 (seen further below). There are no known differences between the earlier mail order figure and the later carded series 2 figure.
Parents and kids alike wrote in wondering why they had to mail in faces instead of the Flag Points they had been saving for such offers. Hasbro responded with the letter below.
Action figure image gallery:
Roll over the images below to find out more, or click the images to enlarge them. Photos courtesy of Phillip Donnelly.
Packaging image gallery:
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There are two versions of the poem on Major Bludd's file card. Above: later version. Below: earlier version, courtesy of Ryan Ihnken.
Creator Commentary
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Kirk Bozigian (G.I. Joe Product Manager) and Ron Rudat (R&D Figure Designer) discuss Major Bludd's mechanical arm.
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Kirk posits a diabolical theory for why Bob Prupis made kids cut the faces off of the Joes to redeem them for Major Bludd.
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