I’m back with another GI Joe review, but I’m still in a heavy science fiction mood. I’m not sure how soon that mood will pass, but it seems to be sticking around for a while. So I’m going to roll with it. I love all things science fiction, though– robots, aliens, spaceships, laser guns, laser swords, giant robots, robot dogs, etc. I love almost all of it. Except for sci-fi prestige dramas, which you can miss me with. Not nearly enough lasers or spaceships, usually.

1994’s Carcass, from GI Joe’s Star Brigade sub-line, fits my current mood perfectly. It’s not a toy I had any experience with before writing this review, but that made this whole thing kind of a novel experience. I always appreciate novel experiences.

Shout out to my good friend Cody, who requested this review when I did a little informal poll on my last GI Joe post. You can always feel free to make review suggestions, especially when I ask for that kind of feedback.

Anyway, let’s shift into hyperdrive and take a look at 1994 Carcass, who Cody refers to as “the silly alien man.”

Science Fiction, Star Brigade, and 1994 GI Joe Carcass

I don’t think I ever saw any of the GI Joe Lunartix aliens in stores as a kid. It’s possible that I saw them advertised in cross-sells on the cardbacks of other figures or in catalogs, but I don’t have any vivid memories of it. I don’t think I really learned about them until my family first got internet access and I found YoJoe.com in the late 1990s.

That’s really a shame, because the Lunartix aliens would have completely changed Star Brigade for me back then.

I love Star Brigade now but, as a kid, I found it kind of underwhelming. At the time, I desperately wanted GI Joe figures that could go into space. But, back then, Star Brigade just didn’t live up to my expectations.

Science fiction adventure media has always been a huge thing for me, and my obsession started at a young age. Back then, you couldn’t just stream sci-fi shows and movies any time you wanted. You’d have to rent Star Wars on VHS, or go over to a friend’s house whose family had taped it off of TBS. You could sometimes catch Star Trek reruns after school, or you’d sometimes find a cool book at the library or a fun comic book at the grocery store. Sci-fi media wasn’t as ubiquitous or easily accessible as it is now, so I had to use my imagination and come up with my own stories. And most of those stories were created through playing with toys.

I spent my childhood playing out space adventures with Transformers, Lego, MANTA Force, and little plastic space men (think green army men, but cast in red or white plastic). GI Joe, however, usually had to remain planetside in their struggle against Cobra. That was a bummer because I usually found GI Joe one of the most fun and satisfying toy lines to play with. Despite having Countdown and a Crusader shuttle my mom found on clearance, I yearned for more when it came to GI Joe’s adventures beyond our blue planet.

So, I was very excited when I first heard about Star Brigade in 1993. My GI Joe space dreams could finally come true. And then I saw the figures. I already had Ozone, Countdown, Sci-Fi, Barbecue (who became Payload), and General Hawk (who mostly became Roadblock). I was less familiar with the Cobra side of things, but I’d soon learn the truth about them, too. This was my first time really noticing GI Joe repaints as a kid and I felt a little bit disappointed. Plus, they were using the same traditional military weapons that came with all of the Battle Corps figures. I wanted laser guns and laser swords, dammit.

Sometime that year, I received Star Brigade Ozone and Countdown. I liked both of them, as my original figures had lost their helmets by then. My friend across the street got Payload, Roadblock (who was my favorite of the bunch, since I’d always wanted a version of the character), TARGAT, and a couple of the Armor Tech figures. We both got the Armor Bot with General Hawk for Christmas.

These toys were fun and they paired nicely with my Crusader. Eventually, I got the Invader and Starfighter, too. We had a good time with them, but we both wanted more out of Star Brigade. These toys’ souls were weighed down by gravity– they weren’t quite science fiction enough for us. We both loved the sci-fi aspects of GI Joe, as that was a hallmark of the brand for us in the early to mid 90s. Star Brigade just didn’t go far enough.

In 1994, I started getting heavy into Playmates’ Star Trek toy line. I did buy a few Joes and Mortal Kombat figures, but it was falling by the wayside. Star Trek allowed me to create fun space adventures in the exact way I wanted, especially when Galoob’s Micro Machines got thrown into the mix.

And then, in 1995, Kenner launched Star Wars: Power of the Force and I didn’t even think about Joe for several years. Finally I had access to Star Wars figures and vehicles. And I had a blast with them. Lego and Transformers were still chugging along, too, so I had no shortage of spacefaring toys to choose from. GI Joe didn’t need to be in the mix anymore– it wasn’t even a contender.

But, if I’d paid more attention to the 1994 Star Brigade releases, things might have been different. The 94 Star Brigade assortment was full of new molds and cool ideas. If I’d known there were three crazy-looking aliens and new spacemen to fight them, I would have been all in. But either I wasn’t paying attention or I never saw them around. The only 94 Star Brigade toy I ended up with back then was Gears (who I knew was a Barricade repaint) with his Power Fighter. Though that toy doesn’t hold a candle to anything in the Exosquad line, I still had a great time with it. If I ever win the lottery, I’ll buy that toy again.

1994 Carcass is one of those three crazy-ass aliens. And he’s the only one I own. I’ve had him carded for a few years now, and just opened him up for this review. I would have had a blast with this toy as a kid, and he would have made any of my space-based GI Joe adventures 100x more interesting.

Now, as an adult, I’m much more forgiving of Star Brigade. I lean much more towards space or ninja-based action these days, as horrific real-world wars make the straight-up military aspects of GI Joe much less appealing to me.

To me, GI Joe is just as much sci-fi as it is military fiction. And honestly, I prefer the sci-fi aspects. Carcass, the bendy orange Lunartix alien, represents the furthest the GI Joe brand ever reached into the depths of science fiction.

1994 GI Joe Carcass (Star Brigade) Review

Carcass was released in 1994 as part of GI Joe’s Star Brigade sub-line, and features all new body parts. No one else in the line has anything at all in common with this nasty little freak, so parts reuse was out of the question. From the waist down, Carcass features traditional o-ring construction. From the waist up, it’s an entirely different kind of party. Bring a poncho and a gas mask and prepare to chip in $20 for the keg.

As I said earlier, I took this figure off of the card for this review. But I did photograph the packaging beforehand, so here it is:

And here’s the back side. Note the absolutely unhinged word salad of a file card:

I like the 1994 Star Brigade packaging well enough. Unlike the 1993 cards, each figure at least got its own artwork. It’s not the most aesthetically pleasing thing the Joe package design team ever did, but it’s still pretty good.

Okay, take a deep breath. It’s time for the big reveal. Here’s the figure:

Get a load of this guy! Even at a glance, it’s easy to tell that 1994 GI Joe Carcass is way, way different than anything else that came before or after him in the entire history of the brand.

What we have here is a strange, bright orange alien lifeform with big, bendy arms, a head shape that I can only describe as “fully insane,” and a see-through torso. This is total sicko shit and, at least on a surface level, I’m absolutely here for it.

You can see right through his head in the area between his mouth and eyes. This is clearly not your average “guy wearing some makeup with some forehead ridges” type of alien. This is an Alien alien. It looks nothing at all like a human, and is strange and grotesque in ways that the earthbound mind has a hard time understanding. In that sense, the designers hit the ball right out of the park.

When you look at the toy from the side, you can actually see his beady little eyes. Since his eyes are on the side of his head, does that mean he’s a prey species? Probably not, since I don’t think any part of Carcass’ anatomy plays by Earth rules. The shape of his head is totally bonkers and his big, sharp teeth look even more terrifying from the side.

His ribcage sticks out far beyond his chest, which is also a cool detail. You can also see the little holes in his rubber bendy arms, which allow the wires inside to function. Well, sort of function at least. We’ll get to that in a little while.

His legs are also full of cool details, with ridges, spines, and little scales. I’m not sure if Carcass is supposed to look chitinous or reptillian, but he certainly does look otherworldly. Even though those bendy arms are big and bulky, his weird alien feet do a pretty good job of keeping him standing up.

From the back, you can see the texture of his inner arms, which is different from the outer texture. Even though he’s basically just a big block of orange plastic, the varied textures keep him from just looking like a lump of solid plastic. His back also has sort of a segmented or quilted pattern, like he was drawn on graph paper. It’s unclear to me if these are supposed to be big scales or armor plates, but they definitely look tough– like something that conventional weapons would have a hard time penetrating.

The coolest detail to me is the figure’s chest. Beyond the ribcage, there’s a clear plastic sheet with some red and yellow plastic underneath. This gives the impression that you can see through Carcass’ carapace and view his internal organs. It’s a gross, fun detail that I’m sure delighted all sorts of kids back in 1994. It’s a really well-done, cool effect that helps make up for a lot of the figure’s shortcomings. We’ll be discussing those shortcomings very soon.

There was technically one other version of Carcass released, but only in Mexico. It’s a cool looking repaint and the internal organs really stand out due to the figure’s black color scheme. I don’t have that one to do a comparison, but here’s Carcass next to a regular and not-so-regular GI Joe figure so you can see how he stacks up against the rest of the line.

Now, let’s move onto accessories. The shortcomings will start coming at us hard and fast from this moment onward. All of Carcass’ gear is cast in green plastic and is attached to a plastic runner, known among GI Joe fans as a “weapons tree.” He includes a knife, pistol, grenade launcher, two rifles, and a figure stand.

This was the same weapons tree that was released with Battle Corps Leatherneck in 1993, but cast in green instead of black. This is one of the better, more interesting weapons trees of the mid 90s, in my opinion. I wish we saw it a few more times. The trouble is that it doesn’t work very well with 1994 GI Joe Carcass himself for a variety of reasons.

Here’s the figure, all geared up. What a clown show.

Carcass does not look natural holding any of these weapons, even the ones he can hold. His hands have two little holes instead of having an open grip like most GI Joe figures. And, to make matters worse, the holes are oriented on the side of his arms. If his fists were turned upright, it would look much better. YoJoe’s photos make it look like you can twist his bendy monster arms (which consist of a wire contained inside of a rubber material, like many other ‘monster’ toys of the 80s and 90s) so that his fists face upright, but I did not want to try that with my figure. “Wire inside of a bendy appendage” toys are notorious for breaking down, so I didn’t want to push it.

So, as it is, Carcass is stuck holding his weapons out to the side. The ones he can hold, anyway.

It’s obvious that something broke down within the communication process when it came to this figure and its weapons. The grenade launcher (which comes from 1991 Mercer) has enclosed handles that cannot slide through the figure’s hands. He can kind of hold it by the rear stock, I guess, but I didn’t bother to photograph it.

The knife, originally available with 1988’s Hit & Run, has a grip that’s a bit too big for the hands. Both YoJoe and 3DJoes forced it into the figure’s hands for their photos, but I wasn’t willing to damage a 30 year old figure I just opened.

Things fare just slightly better with the other weapons.

The package art depicts Carcass holding this rifle, which originally came with 1991 Low-Light. Interestingly, the version of the rifle on 93 Leatherneck’s weapons tree had the gun’s stock fully filled in with plastic. This 1994 green version removes the excess plastic again, making it closer to Low-Light’s original weapon.

It does fit in his hand, but he looks very awkward holding it out to the side. Also… what is an alien bounty hunter doing with mundane Earth weapons? None of these items make any sense for him. He’s some super fearsome space monster but he has to use leftover US Army guns? I can suspend my disbelief about a lot of things, but this accessory assortment just strikes me as “lazier than usual,” even as far as 93-94 GI Joe ARAH goes.

There was no thought put into pairing the figure with its weapons.

Next up, we have the pistol, which originally came with 1990 Skydive. I really like this weapon and the figure can actually hold it, but it doesn’t make any sense for him. And, again, he just looks silly holding it.

His final weapon comes from 1990 Airwave. This is an intense looking gun, and another one I’ve always liked. It’s almost fanciful and science fiction-coded enough for Carcass, but still misses the mark. I think it is probably the best fit for him out of everything he comes with, though.

On their own, I actually really like these accessories. I like the green color and I like all of the weapons. They just don’t work, either functionally or aesthetically, with Carcass himself. But I’ll find a use for them. I just got a nicer version of 1991 Skymate (my childhood figure is pretty trashed) without his bow or boomerang, so I’m thinking that these weapons might work nicely with him in photos.

So, what can you give Carcass for accessories? I tried a number of things. As it turns out, the holes in his fists are about 3mm. That means he can easily hold some Lego weapons, as well as stuff from Battle Tribes and Warlords of Wor, which is mostly what I ended up doing. That gives Carcass access to a variety of guns, knives, axes, spears, and swords that he has no trouble holding onto. Many Transformers weapons also use 3mm pegs, and some Mega Construx/Bloks figures come with stuff that should work nicely, too.

I also found that the missile launcher that comes with 93 Dr. Mindbender and the 90s Alley Vipers can work. You can use the little clip on the side of the launcher to attach it to Carcass’ arm, and it looks somewhat natural. It’s not much, but it is something. It fits.

Now, onto the real shortcoming of the figure– the bendy arms themselves. In theory, it’s a fun play feature. But the arms just don’t get much movement from their wire-and-rubber construction. You can get some rudimentary poses out of them, but pushing them too far might result in an exposed wire sticking out of pierced orange rubber. To make matters worse, the arms are connected inside of the torso. So, if you raise or lower one arm, the other arm follows it. This greatly reduces the figure’s overall poseability.

All three of the Lunartix Aliens got some totally unique features, all having to do with their anatomy. Carcass got bendy arms. Lobotomaxx got four legs, but also a bendy neck and tail made from the same construction method as Carcass’ arms, so he’s already doing better. Predacon got four fully articulated arms, all of which can realistically hold a weapon. Carcass really got the short end of the stick when it came to alien monster action features.

Carcass is the weakest of the three Star Brigade Lunartix Alien figures and doesn’t do well at being a traditional GI Joe toy. The bendy arms don’t work very well, the figure’s accessories don’t work well for him, and he doesn’t even look good holding them. Those are some very big flaws when it comes to an ARAH-style action figure.

What Carcass DOES do well, though, is function as a cool alien figure. I love the design and the bright colors. This toy just makes me very happy to look at and play with. He’s far enough removed from a traditional GI Joe that you could easily use him with almost any 3 ¾” sci-fi action figure line. Star Wars, Mego Star Trek TMP, Micronauts, Adventure People, Lanard’s Star Force, Captain Power, Fortnite, or anything else you can think of.

Carcass isn’t a great GI Joe figure, but he is a great toy. He’s totally unique and is a total weirdo from the unfathomable depths of a hostile cosmos. He can’t really compete with a Crimson Guard or a BAT, but I don’t need him to. He’s doing his own thing. And that’s good enough for me, even if there’s some room for improvement here.

I haven’t quite settled on how I see Carcass as a character just yet. The file card says that he razes and slaughters alien villages. He’s a hostile alien mercenary. In the scope of how I see Star Brigade, that might be enough. He’s an alien menace that our covert ops astronauts sometimes encounter.

But, he could also be a deeper, more interesting character than that. I just haven’t figured out what that might look like yet.

Carcass could also just represent a member of his alien species and wouldn’t have to be hostile. Not every Klingon, Rodian, or Narn is a bad person. They’re just like humans, with capacity for both good and evil. So maybe Carcass could actually end up being a good guy, or just some weirdo our heroes meet at a shady space bar.

No matter what I come up with for the character, it’s been fun to think about. Figures like Carcass really help me imagine a version of GI Joe where the team is fighting (and living) in outer space, which is much more interesting to me than traditional military conflicts. Despite 1994 Carcass’ shortcomings, he injects some much needed variety and uniqueness into the GI Joe toy line.

Thank you, Silly Alien Man.

Overall: 1994 GI Joe Carcass is an odd toy, to say the least. If you don’t like the idea of aliens or monsters encountering GI Joe, then this figure won’t change your mind. If the bendy arms and reduced articulation kill your interest in this toy, I completely understand. The accessories won’t help, either. But, if you can just look past that and see this as a fun, weird alien action figure, then there’s a lot to like here. The strange design and see-through chest are excellent. The figure looks great all around, even if it can’t convincingly hold a rifle to save its life. So, if you’re open to bizarre, unique alien figures that just happen to be compatible with GI Joe, then Carcass is Mildly Recommended.

Additional Resources:

• Carcass (Mexican Version) at Forgotten Figures
• Carcass by HCC788
• Carcass at 3DJoes
• Carcass at YoJoe.com

Closing Thoughts on 1994 GI Joe Carcass (Star Brigade)

Thank you for joining me. This was a fun one. I took about 60 photos for my last Exosquad review, so this one seemed like a walk in the park, even if some of these photos took some hard work to set up.

My next review will be a real doozy, and I’m sure it will interest about eight or nine of my readers. But it’s something I really want to write about, so I’m just going to follow my own hyperfixations and see where they take me. But, don’t worry– we’ll be back to GI Joe soon enough.

What do you think of the Lunartix Alien figures? Are aliens and monsters compatible with your vision of GI Joe? Let me know in the comments!