The Story of the Unreleased Roadblock

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 0 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #12,141 in DIY, #383,225 overall

The Quest for GI Joe Halloween Costumes

I've been searching for a store bought version of this costume since 1999. In all that time I've NEVER found a full production Roadblock Halloween costume. While the 1993 Duke costume is very easy to find, I've never seen a photo of one.
I've never even found another collector that has one.
Then one day I found it on eBay. Not just a simple boxed store bought costume though. Oh no, this was a complete pre-production approval sample Roadblock costume. It had a hand painted mask, the costume itself was silk rather than the vinyl full production costumes commonly used at the time. And most important of all, it came with the approval paperwork.

Collegeville Costumes 

My Grail

Pictured:
USA sample, Taiwan sample, & Approval sample.

I had finally found my grail.
That find led to others. Turned out that it had been purchased from the Collegeville Costumes warehouse liquidation sale some time in the mid 1990's after the company closed it's doors. And it certainly wasn't the only thing bought at the event.

Different Countries, Different Colors 

Pictured:
Retail China & USA, on top of their respective approval samples to show the differences.

I was able to track down a few more contacts, all of whom had gone to the factory liquidation sale. Among them was a seller that had several more masks. I bought everything she had, which wasn't much.

She had 4 different masks total, 2 Roadblock's, and 2 Duke's. Some of the Roadblock's where marked Taiwan, and some USA. Both versions where in colors that differed greatly from the original approval sample. The Duke masks were marked USA, and China, both of which did indeed make it to retail, but the colors on both where different. The USA mask was just slightly off from it's retail counterpart, while the Chinese mask had considerably paler skin. Considering the differences in the Duke masks, and the fact that I can find no proof that the Roadblock masks were ever released, I can only conclude that these are all pre-production factory samples.

The GI Joe Costumes 

Now lets turn our attention to the costumes themselves. To date I've been able to add 2 complete approval sample costumes to my collection. Both are silk, and both have approval paperwork stapled to them. The Roadblock costume is dated 3-5-92, while the virtually identical Duke costume is dated 9-14-92. So sometime in the intervening 6 months, the powers that be decided that Duke was more marketable than Roadblock.

There are several key differences between the 2 costumes. Most notably the "Duke" name tag, and the complete lack of one on the earlier Roadblock costume. Roadblock also has a red collar for no apparent reason. In general the colors are more vibrant on Duke. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Roadblock sports a plain orange "American Flag" on his belt buckle, while Duke has one in full red, white, and blue

So let me know what you think....... 

I hope you have enjoyed this quick look at a very unexplored corner of the G.I. Joe universe. There is a lot more to uncover.

One last thing, if you have any additional information to add to my story, or by chance actually have a store bought Roadblock costume, or any other unreleased G.I. Joe costume, then by all means, please don't hesitate to contact me.

submit
Show All

Visit my online store for great GI Joe items and more 

Captain Cosmos Collectibles
Captain Cosmos Collectibles has GI Joes, action figures, comics and more.
About Me
Click on the ME icon and see my about me page. It lists most of my collecting interests. Do you have trades?

Great Stuff on eBay 

Loading Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
eBay

by captcosmoscoll

I'm an avid collector of GI Joe. I'm in pursuit of any of the GI Joe costumes. (more)

Explore related pages

Masquerade Party Masks
Going incognito to a Masquerade Ball? Masquerade Ball Party Masks for that anony...
Make your own Handmade Parade with giant puppets
I just attended the first of two workshops in making your own giant puppets for...
Easy Halloween Yarn Crafts Patterns
This Halloween crafts and gifts lens will help you to find many fun and creative...
Plus Size Costumes
Just because you are a big girl or boy doesn't mean that you don't want...
Halloween Crafts for Family Fun
Halloween Crafts for Trick or Treat and Fright Night Family Style Fun. There'...
A Hilarious Burger King Halloween Costume You Need To Check Out
Want to win a Halloween contest? This Burger King Halloween Costume will sure tu...

Related Topics

Create a Lens!