Ooh boy! I was screaming like a 12 year old school girl when I got the following items in the mail last week! I’ve been seriously collecting boxed and carded vintage G.I. Joe items since mid 2009 or so I guess and as I have often mentioned before on this site I specifically try to collect the first three waves of G.I. Joes that were released in the Netherlands in all-Dutch packaging in 1987 and 1988. Although it’s pretty hard to find boxed items in Dutch packaging, finding vintage G.I. Joe action figures that are still sealed (MOSC, mint-on-sealed-card) in all-Dutch packaging is virtually impossible as most veteran vintage international G.I. Joe collectors will agree with me.

Only a couple of months ago I finally scored my first sealed Dutch vintage G.I. Joe action figure, Chung-Ho, from the third wave. Just last week I couldn’t believe my luck when I came across no less than the four MOSC vintage G.I. Joe action figures in Dutch packaging from wave 2 that you can see above! These particular items were found as part of the inventory of a Dutch toy store that went bust a couple of years ago, so they’re in sublime shape with near perfect backer cards and bubbles!! Let’s have a more detailed look!

“Zarana & Zandar”

First off, we have Zartan’s sister and brother Zarana and Zandar! Just like their brother Zandar, these two action figures had a very cool gimmick. They were made of UV reactive plastic that turned blue when exposed to sun light! Sort of like a crude chameleon effect.

“Baco and Waterrat”

The next two are Baco and Waterrat. Baco is part of the Dreadnoks sub group and US readers will probably recognize him as Monkeywrench. The Dreadnoks were called “Waaghalzen” (plural) in the Dutch line, so that’s why you see “Waaghals” (singular) printed on the card. Waaghals, by the way, translates literally into “daredevil”, because there’s no real fitting translation for the word “dreadnok” in Dutch, I guess.

Waterrat is known in the US as Wet-Suit. Waterrat means just what you would expect in Dutch. It means water rat. I guess that sounds more acceptable as an action figure name in Dutch than it does in English.

“Klaas van der Meulen”

One of the many aspects that makes me appreciate the effort that Hasbro put into the promotion of their G.I. Joe line in Europe, is the fact that a lot of the action figure file cards featured Dutch names and Dutch birthplaces. For example, did you know that Waterrat was born in Pieterburen, Friesland, the Netherlands? And that his real name is Klaas van der Meulen? No? Well, now you know:

Waterrat's Dutch file card

I understand how some patriotic US G.I. Joe fans find it is a blasphemy that G.I. Joe was changed from a real American Hero to an international fighting force in Europe, but quite frankly, (as a European myself) I have to commend Hasbro for going that extra mile. I know that the toy line appealed to me that much more back then, due to these translations and attention to detail.

"De Internationale Helden"

"The International Heroes"

The seller I got these four vintage Dutch G.I. Joe’s from was a really nice guy. He sold them to me way below their market value. He could easily have asked double the amount that I ended up paying, so I was really lucky there. I guess feverishly checking classified ads each and every day (like I do) tends to pay off once in a while. LOL!

“Dutch G.I. Joe’s – wave 1 (1987)”

I wonder if I’m going to score one of those elusive first wave Dutch G.I. Joe’s any time soon. At first I was very pessimistic about the prospect of ever finding these, but my recent hauls have given me some hope! For reference, below are all the action figures that were part of the first wave.

Dutch G.I. Joe action figures - wave 1 (1987)

If you have any of these above in Dutch packaging and want to sell. Get in touch with me!! :-) If you want to see what else got released as part of the first wave, check out the scans of the first wave Dutch G.I. Joe pack-in catalog that I made here.