While Estrela produced around 150 total figures in their exclusive Comandos Em Acao line, they had intended for there to be more. In the 1990’s, Estrela showcased 5 figures in various forms that ended up never getting released. These figures not only appeared as cross sells on various cardbacks, but even appeared in catalogs used to sell the products. The 5 figures were all 1991 releases from Hasbro. The figures were: Grunt, Crimson Guard Immortal, Mercer, Tracker and Cobra Commander.
Hasbro’s 1991 figures were one of the rare years that didn’t see a second year of release. This was due to Hasbro trying to reboot the line in 1992 with familiar characters. So, 1991 molds became common sights in later repaint lines and international releases. You’ll note that all of the figures that appear in the Estrela promotional material shown below are Hasbro made figures and not the Estrela figures. So, this marketing propaganda was made prior to Estrela having their own wares to photograph.
You’ll often find international guides that list these figures as being available in Brazil. But, many of these were from the early days of collecting before it was determined that these figures never saw production. One early guide even features a few Hasbro figures in the placeholders for these names. And, one thing that’s constant in the Joe line is that mistakes and errors from the early collecting years are often repeated and rarely corrected.
Below are two promo photos. One features just the 5 cancelled figures. The other shows them interspersed with some other figures that were released in Brazil. Seeing them all in one shot suggests to me that they were planned as a new wave at one point. But, the entire wave was halted. Maybe Hasbro didn’t send the molds for whatever reason. Or, it could have just been that Estrela determined they didn’t want another wave. These figures would have appeared closer to the end of the Comandos Em Acao line. And, this was the time when Estrela was starting to move away from the standard carded figures that had defined their line and towards the themed subsets of figures that featured bigger cards and more gimmicks.
It’s interesting to note that all 5 of these unproduced figures from Estrela did, later, appear as exclusive Funskool releases. So, Hasbro did recoup more of their cost as they moved the molds around the world. And, the molds weren’t in an unusable state for Esrela. But, the reasons for these figures being cancelled in Brazil remain lost.
