Today we’re looking at a GI Joe figure that’s both iconic to many people around my age and despised by many people who grew up with the earlier years of A Real American Hero. It’s a divisive figure.

You’ll probably guess which camp I’m in, though. You already know what kind of website this is.

So let’s take a look at a figure that represents Dr. Mindbender’s transformation from orthodontist-turned-muscle-Super-Scientist into cyborg-LA-Lakers-fanatic-Mad-Doctor.

This should be a fun one, so let’s get started.

1993 GI Joe Dr. Mindbender: A Mad Scientist for the 90s

I knew who Dr. Mindbender was before this figure came out in 1993, but he always kind of puzzled me. He was featured prominently in the old Sunbow cartoon and in 1987’s GI Joe: The Movie, both of which I really liked as a kid. I always enjoyed the mad scientist villain trope, as I think most fans of action and science fiction media do. But Dr. Mindbender was anything but a standard cartoon mad scientist.

He was a dude wearing suspenders, a cape, and no shirt. He was buff as hell. He had a mustache, shaved head, and a monocle. He had a vaguely Eastern European accent. I always expected mad scientists to at least wear a shirt, if not a full lab coat and rubber gloves ensemble.

I had no idea why Cobra’s mad scientist was a shirtless bodybuilder. I never expected a scientist to have such raw physicality. And, what made it even more confusing for me as a child, was that Mindbender never used his muscular physique for anything. It was just window dressing. He seemed like a randomly assembled collection of “bad guy traits” where one aspect (mad scientist) emerged victorious and the others were basically just ignored. No one in the cartoon ever bothered to ask about Mindbender’s lab safety record or how much he could bench press.

Now, as an adult, I have a little bit more insight into how the Dr. Mindbender character came to be and how things changed along the way. I own the 1986 figure and have come to really appreciate it. But, as a kid, I really just couldn’t wrap my head around it.

The 1993 GI Joe Dr. Mindbender figure, on the other hand, was something I could easily wrap my mind around.

My friend across the street, who I’ve written about before, got the Battle Corps Mindbender figure in 1993. We both agreed that this is what Dr. Mindbender should have always looked like. With his cybernetic implants, high tech embellishments, and ownership of an actual shirt, he seemed like the ideal Cobra mad scientist for the 1990s.

We were all about the science fiction aspects of GI Joe. And that makes sense because both the figures of the 90s and the leftover 80s media we consumed told us that GI Joe was sci-fi first, military second. We made up plenty of our own stuff and told our own stories, but we were definitely influenced by how GI Joe was presented to us.

In our stories, Dr. Mindbender created the BATs (1991), BAATs, Destro’s power armor, and many of Cobra’s most powerful weapons. He was responsible for creating Serpentor (I had the 90s mail away version) just as he was in the cartoon and comics. He created the Mega Monsters and, once we saw Jurassic Park, he was responsible for bringing dinosaurs back to life. Those dinosaurs were represented by Jurassic Park toys, of course.

Mindbender spent most of his time back at Cobra HQ, designing weapons and technology to use against GI Joe. We didn’t really incorporate the Brainwave Scanner or his status as “the master of mind control” into anything we did, as I’m not sure we knew much about those aspects of the character. The file card only mentions “mind control” as his military specialty. The biggest thing we took away from the file card is that he was formerly a kind orthodontist that was changed into an evil terrorist by his own machinery. We found that both compelling and tragic.

I never owned the 1993 GI Joe Dr. Mindbender as a kid, but my friend’s got plenty of use for us. When I got really back into ARAH GI Joe (a little before I started this website), Battle Corps Mindbender was one of the first figures I knew I had to track down. I just had such fond memories of playing with the toy and he fills such a vital role in the Cobra organization that he was an absolute must.

So here are my thoughts on the figure itself, 30+ years after I first played with it over at my childhood friend’s house.

1993 GI Joe Dr. Mindbender Review

Dr. Mindbender version 2 was released in the 1993 Battle Corps assortment of GI Joe, which was the “main” Joe toy line at the time. He was a basic, normally-priced figure (somewhere around $3-$3.50 at most stores) and followed the same pattern as most Battle Corps releases. He was brightly colored, came with a “weapons tree” consisting of reused weapons on a sprue, included a spring loaded missile launcher, and was made with both new and preexisting body parts.

1993 GI Joe Dr. Mindbender’s head, torso, and arms were brand new. He used the waist and legs from the 1986 Viper figure. You’ll see a comparison photo later on.

Here’s the figure:

Every single thing about 93 Mindbender is striking. You may not enjoy it, but you can’t deny that it catches your eye. The color combination of bright, saturated yellow and rich purple is captivating. Combined with a little bit of black and flesh tone, it’s a color scheme that works really well, even if it’s extremely loud.

Dr. Mindbender features his iconic shaved head and mustache but, instead of wearing a monocle on his right eye, he has intricate cyborg parts wrapping around his head. The cybernetic eye (eye socket, brain-linked thought processor according to the packaging) is a great replacement for his old corrective lens, and the headset means he has some built-in communication gear. The way the cyberware wraps around his head also recalls Lobot from Star Wars, which is fun. All of this works very well for a 90s cyborg super scientist.

The file card calls this a “BIC (Brain Integrated Computer),” and that’s a cool concept for a character like Mindbender.

His chest also has some cool cybernetic details. It’s well sculpted and full of cool little details. The file card says part of it is a “shoulder computer” that regulates his heart endurance. The part on his lower chest is supposed to be a high tech pacemaker, which is a funny callout for a kids’ toy. Though the file card does mention his ordeal in the buried tanker at Cobra Commander’s hand, necessitating that he enhanced himself with all of these mechanical parts. I guess you might need a pacemaker after all of that.

There are some cool details on the right side of the figure, too– especially on his wrist. The file card calls this a “mini-personal computer/video module” which is probably how he watches pirated X-Files episodes and checks his AOL mail. The Bad Doctor having built-in audio, video, communication, and research equipment is a neat idea though, and it proves that some thought was still going into Joe file cards in 1993.

His pants are bright yellow. Making fun of “banana pants” is still a cherished hobby in the GI Joe fandom, but I think they look great, especially with the purple stripe going down each side. Purple is my favorite color and I’ve always liked yellow toys, so this is a combo that really works for me.

The cool-looking doodad on his left wrist is an “analytic computer linked with the Cobra Mainframe,” which is another little bit of detail I find compelling. I also appreciate how a pouch on each leg and each side of the belt interrupts the purple stripe on his pants. It’s just a nicely done bit of extra color and detail.

He has big, tall combat boots with heavy kneepads. These are reused from the 86 Viper, but I find they work pretty well for Mindbender, too. He has to go into the field sometimes, after all, and these are more practical than penny loafers or Air Jordans.

There’s not much to say about the back of the figure. I like that all of the necessary details are painted, and we can see where they connect from the front. His Lobot headwrap, in particular, has some really cool sculpting. There is an oddly flat patch around his screw access hole, so I wonder if this figure was planned to include a backpack at some point. Since it seems to be a hub for the many wires and cables on his chest, it could also represent a powerpack that provides energy for his various cyberware.

Here’s a comparison with the 1986 Dr. Mindbender figure. It’s wild to me that there were only two versions of Mindbender released in the vintage line (though a 1995 version was planned and canceled) and no versions of Mindbender were released in the entire o-ring repaint era. He’s such an important character that you’d think Hasbro might want to repaint him. I think this Battle Corps figure would have been very popular if he was repainted in mainly black and purple with silver highlights.

There were some aspects of 86 Mindbender that carried over to the 93 version. The mustache and bald head are there, even though Battle Corps Mindbender’s facial hair is much more restrained. They’re both big, muscular dudes. The monocle and cyber eye line up with each other nicely. And even though it’s not the same shade of purple, Dr. Mindbender’s trademark color is still present. You can kind of tell they’re supposed to be the same guy, but the differences are pretty drastic.

Even though Hasbro never did another ARAH-style Dr. Mindbender after this one, there were a few o-ring versions released in the “new sculpt” era. The one pictured is version 4 from 2003, who I bought just so I could use his cape with various Cobra Commander figures. It’s not a bad figure overall, though, and it definitely evokes the 86 version better than the Battle Corps version does.

There was also a pretty nice Mindbender with a proper labcoat released in 2005 (along with a fast food toy version of that design), proving that it took him nearly 20 years to take lab safety completely seriously. He also had a couple modern era figures and a Classified release. So, that’s not really too many versions of our favorite mad scientist compared to other important Cobra Characters.

Here’s the 1993 GI Joe Dr. Mindbender next to a 1986 Cobra Viper, so you can see where his legs and waist came from. I think the parts work just fine for Mindbender, but Hasbro must have lost the mold or had a traumatic experience, because they sure weren’t using these parts for Vipers in the post-ARAH repaint era.

Now, let’s move onto Mindbender v2’s accessories.

Pictured above, you have both the accessory spread from YoJoe and the accessories I actually own. I don’t actually have Mindbender’s knife, but for some reason I have at least two or three copies of each of his other weapons. I probably have the figure stand somewhere, but I didn’t bother digging it out for this review. A thousand apologies.

1993 GI Joe Dr. Mindbender includes a purple spring loaded missile launcher, a yellow missile, a yellow knife, a yellow pistol, a yellow rifle, a yellow scoped laser weapon, a large yellow submachine gun, a smaller yellow SMG, and a yellow figure stand.

That’s obviously more stuff than he can hold at any given time, but here’s the figure All Geared Up:

So, yeah. 93 Mindbender has a lot of gear. Most Battle Corps and Star Brigade figures have about four weapons, a launcher, and a couple of missiles. Mindbender has SIX weapons plus his launcher and we’re going to go through all of them, one by one.

Let’s start with the missile launcher. This is the same launcher that was included with both the 93 and 94 versions of the Alley Viper. It has a suitably high tech look, but it’s not something I ever see Mindbender ever using, despite the fact that the file card calls it a “mind scrambling driller gun.” It may be a lot of things, but it’s certainly not that. Mindbender also only includes one missile for his launcher, whereas most figures from the era included two. I guess the weapons tree was already full!

The launcher features a “clip” on the side so you can attach it to a figure that way. Well, some figures anyway, but not Mindbender– he’s too beefy for the clip to fit around his arm. The card art shows him using the launcher this way, but it won’t work in the position in the illustration, either.

This is how it might look if he could use the launcher that way:

It’s a thing you can do and it’s kind of fun. It won’t work with Mindbender himself, but you can find other figures to awkwardly wield the launcher that way if you want to.

Next, we come to the large submachine gun. This is a yellow version of 1988 Voltar’s SMG. I’ve always thought this weapon was pretty cool and it looks good with some figures. It’s not something I picture Mindbender ever using, though. It’s too bulky and low-tech for him.

The smaller SMG is a yellow version of 1989 Snake Eyes’ weapon. I’ve talked before about how the hook at the back is somewhat puzzling, and it really just sticks out in a weird way with this Mindbender figure. I think this release was the first time I ever saw this weapon and I found the hook very off-putting as a kid.

This also isn’t really Mindbender-coded, but I could see him maybe keeping a simple submachine gun like this under his desk for emergencies.

Next we come to the scoped laser weapon, which is a yellow version of 1991 Sci-Fi’s main weapon. I’m going to sound like a broken record, but I have a hard time with most anyone but Sci-Fi himself using this laser rifle. I could see Destro or Mindbender stealing one and reverse-engineering it, I guess, so it kind of works. So it’s not the worst weapon for Mindbender, but it’s not one I’d ever use with him.

Next, we come to a weapon I’m actually likely to use with the 1993 Mindbender figure. This weapon is a yellow version of 1989 Dee-Jay’s oddball rifle. I know most collectors don’t like this weapon at all, but I’ve always loved it. It has a real pulp science fiction, Buck Rogers type of look about it. I love its angular design and its two barrels. It’s indisputably strange, but it just works for me. I think I stole the idea from Toys and Tomfoolery, but I can see it shooting out arced electricity, sort of as a replacement for Mindbender v1’s cattle prod. I can also see it just being a powerful laser rifle. I like it either way and it’s probably my favorite of the figure’s accessories.

There’s also a yellow version of Hydro Viper’s knife. It’s a cool weapon, but I don’t have it.

So the last weapon we’re going to look at is a yellow version of the 1988 Iron Grenadier’s laser pistol. After the rifle, this is the weapon I’m most likely to use with Mindbender. It seems like something Destro made to be almost Standard Cobra Issue in the 1990s. It looks like it’s an effective, simple laser weapon that most anyone can use with ease. It has a bit of a fantastical look to it, but I like that about it. This is something I picture Mindbender carrying around as his personal sidearm. He doesn’t often enter into direct combat but, when he does, this laser gun is there for him and it gets the job done.

Plus, Mindbender always needs a pistol, right? The 1986 version had a pretty standard handgun for combat situations and I see this weapon as an upgrade to what he used in the 80s.

This figure has a pretty standard array of Battle Corps accessories, but what’s there works well enough. He’s also brightly colored and a drastic departure from his 1986 predecessor. He doesn’t match any of them perfectly, but I find that he works very well with Techno Vipers, Cyber Vipers, Mega Vipers, and most Eco Warriors and Battle Corps figures. He makes an excellent enemy for the Mega Marines in general, and could almost fit perfectly into that sub-line as its main antagonist.

I personally love the colors and the look and design of the figure, though, and generally find this to be my Dr. Mindbender of choice. The original figure has a lot going for it, but this one is deeply tied into nostalgia and just seems to make more sense for Cobra’s mad scientist to me.

That being said, I understand where and why the original 86 look originated. As legend has it, Dr. Mindbender wasn’t originally supposed to be Cobra’s mad scientist and Master of Mind Control. He was supposed to be a brutal interrogator. The big, beefy mustache guy in strange S&M gear who’s equipped with a cattle prod (billed on the actual file card as a “mind control device”) and a pistol makes way more sense if you look at him in that light. That was deemed inappropriate even for 80s kids, though, so he was changed to a Mind Control Guy and then eventually evolved into Cobra’s Mad Science Guy since no one else was around to fill that role.

So, you still kind of have to reconcile how the original Dr. Mindbender looks with the job he actually does. I see it like this: he was a kind Eastern European orthodontist (named Brian) who wanted to reduce pain for his patients, so he built an electronic brainwave stimulation machine. Not wanting to hurt anyone else in case the machine wasn’t sound, he tested it on himself. It went horribly awry and basically reversed his personality into someone sadistic and self-serving.

He wanted to abandon his former life and his wimpy look, so he started working out. He eventually started dressing like a circus strongman in bondage gear, relishing how much his new look and attitude scared people and made them feel ill at ease. When he joined Cobra, he took over for Dr. Venom, doing amazing (and reprehensible) work with the Brainwave Scanner. Being a smart guy, Dr. Mindbender also learned about robotics and genetics.

He created Serpentor and sided with the new Cobra emperor against Cobra Commander. When Cobra Commander emerged victorious, he decided Mindbender had gone too far and sentenced him to death in a tanker ship buried in an active volcano.

Mindbender survived and escaped, but his body was broken. Using his knowledge of brainwaves, robotics, and the human body, he put himself back together with advanced cybernetics and once again joined Cobra.

This works with my vision of Mindbender as a brilliant but cowardly man. He’s an amazing scientist, researcher, and inventor, but he’s also a sadist and an opportunist. He wants to be on whichever side is going to come out ahead. This creates some fun drama within Cobra Command itself, especially because very few people still see Mindbender as anything but an untrustworthy conman. He’s good at his job, but you never want to turn your back towards him. His incredible mind makes him valuable to Cobra, but no one will ever fully trust him.

I still see Dr. Mindbender as someone that mostly hangs back at Cobra HQ, working on various robots, monsters, weapons, and torture devices. He’s at his most fun when he’s cooking up something in his lab, palling around with Techno and Cyber Vipers, arguing with his coworkers, or scheming to betray a fellow member of Cobra Command.

Dr. Mindbender is a character I really like and he’s absolutely essential to my vision of what Cobra, as a sci-fi/fantasy terrorist organization, is. To me, this version of Dr. Mindbender perfectly represents the character I picture in my head. For that reason (and because of his awesome color scheme, of course), Dr. Mindbender v2 is one of my favorite Cobra figures of the 1990s.

Overall: I really, really like this figure. Even if you don’t love the color scheme, I think you’ll find he’s a worthy update to the Dr. Mindbender character. At the very least, he’s finally wearing a shirt while he’s experimenting in his lab. I think the sculpt and design on this figure are top notch, and he’s everything a mad scientist working for an outlandish organization like Cobra should be. He’s Highly Recommended.

Additional Resources:

• 1993 Dr. Mindbender at Forgotten Figures
• 1993 Dr. Mindbender at 3DJoes
• 1993 Dr. Mindbender by HCC788
• 1993 Dr. Mindbender at The Viper Pit
• 1993 Dr. Mindbender at YoJoe

Closing Thoughts on 1993 GI Joe Dr. Mindbender

I took more photos than usual for this review. That’s because this figure just gave me so many fun ideas. It really inspired me. At some point, I had to cut myself off in order to get the review finished. It’s nice to be back to posting regularly (though still not as consistently as I’d like) on this silly little website. I want to thank all of you that have stuck with me the whole time and all of my new readers, as well.

For my next GI Joe review, I was planning on looking at the 1992 version of Deep Six. But, since my next review will be on an underwater focused toy, I thought that might be overkill. I’m not afraid of Flooding the Zone with undersea action figures, I can just see myself running out of photo ideas.

So, here are a few toys I might take a look at for the next Joe post:

• 1992 Roadblock
• 1993 Night Creeper
• 1993 Zartan
• 1991 Heavy Duty
• 1994 Carcass

Do you have a strong preference for which one you might like to see from me? Also, what are your thoughts on Dr. Mindbender? Let me know in the comments!