I'm working on my Every Joe Project, categorizing figures by the year of the first toy release (plus Marvel, Sunbow, DIC, Devil's Due). With Buzzer artwork ready to put in the can, but I'm not sure what year is correct.

Yojoe.com lists Buzzer, Ripper, and Torch as 1985 figures.

I would swear that those figures were in stores at the tail end of 1984. I don't think this is just because they had the swivel-only necks. The Buzzer figure is date-stamped 1984.

But I could be entirely wrong about the date. Does anyone remember if the figures were out in late 1984, or am I misremembering?

Thanks!!

I have a horrible memory for behind the scenes stuff and dates, but I feel like they were designed for 84 but were held over for some reason... I know this is super vague, but them being released in 85 despite appearing to be 84 figures sounds familiar to me.

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Yojoe is organized by series/year. It was already becoming common by then to get a few items out early in time for the holiday. So the 3 Dreadnoks and Tollbooth were all available late in 1984, but they are a part of the 1985 series of figures. By the time the line ended in 94, figures were being released in waves throughout the year as they are now.

There were actually assortments back in the 1980's, not exactly waves but if you've seen old Hasbro toy fair catalogs, the new and rereleases were organized into assortments.

Date stamps aren't release dates, of course.
It's curious Dreadnoks are 1985 series, but Battle Force 2000 is 1987, despite the fact only the scarce single cards appeared in late 1987 (I never knew they existed until the late 1990s) and the vehicles didn't really appear until 1988.
Likewise the Sonic Fighters are considered 1990, appearing in late fall of that year but showing 1991 releases on their cardbacks.

Some guides considered mail-away Sgt Slaughter a 1985 release, and while offers for him may have appeared in fall of that year (can anyone remember?) probably no one got their Sarge figure until 1986.

I got my BF3K figures as 2-packs that Christmas. Not sure if it was 87 or 88 though.

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Thanks for the information, guys.

I can safely slide the Dreadnoks into either category and feel right!

Based on my memories, I always wondered if they actual did release in waves back in the day.

It was around Christmas that I saw my first card back showing Mutt and Junkyard. I remember, for months, checking every store we went to for that figure but didn’t come across him until around my birthday (May). Always wondered if that was because of being released in waves or just took that long to get lucky and find it.

In some years there were a few assortments, early years there were like 2.
But some figures showed up early and others not until spring, but then I did not have regular access to stores to get a good feel. I recall this first with 1987, I didn't find armored Cobra Commander the first time I saw 1987 release, but who knew what sold out first back then?

It's know that the Cobra figures in 1982 showed up later, and the second wave of 1991 figures showed up later and weren't even on wave 1 cardbacks or IIRC in that years mini catalog.