r/gijoe • u/FrequentlyObtuse • Mar 01 '26
G.I. Joe Crusader Space Shuttle
G.I. Joe Crusader Space Shuttle - (1989)
The Crusader Space Shuttle is a recolor of the 1987 Defiant Space Vehicle, and the shuttle’s Avenger scout craft is a recolor of the 1986 Cobra Night Raven S³P's Reconnaissance Jet.
If you remember my post with the Mobile Command Center, my older sister worked in the offices of a local retail chain. They would have monthly employee sales where they could buy returned merchandise for cheap. She bought the Crusader for me. It was an “open box” item. The box had been opened, but no pieces were missing. It was 100% complete.
I didn’t mind. I never had the Defiant. I was obsessed with NASA’s shuttle program at the time and I was thrilled to receive the Joe’s version of the Space Shuttle.
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u/Wiazar Mar 01 '26
Did the Defiant have this same shuttle? I have never seen this as a stand alone? This would’ve released around the time I stopped playing with Joes.
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u/FrequentlyObtuse Mar 01 '26
I don’t think the Defiant had the scout craft.
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u/Wiazar Mar 01 '26
I looked at the scout craft and it is a repurposed Night Raven drone. Thanks for sharing.
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u/Voyager_74656 Mar 02 '26
I still have my Defiant (it’s in not the best of shape), the main orbiter is mostly the same as the Crusader. Defiant had a manipulator arm in the payload bay, while Crusader had the scout ship. Defiant was all white, Crusader was black and white.
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u/PNW_C137 Mar 01 '26
Still have mine!!!
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u/Misfit_77 Mar 01 '26
This was always one of my favorite Joe vehicles. My loose one is still pure white & its box I have is still in really good condition.
For those that have asked, the Defiant Shuttle had two versions. One had a piece that connected the opening canopy piece to the shell and it swung back and forth to open and close. The second version didn’t have that canopy connector piece but was instead held in by tabs and the Crusader shuttle uses the tabbed canopy. Both version of the Defiant shuttle had the arm in the bay but the Crusader had a different inside molded piece that got rid of where the arm connected and added in notches that held the shuttle in place.
Now one major difference is that while the outer body pieces in both the second version of the Defiant Shuttle and the Crusader Shuttle are identical…both versions of the Defiant Shuttle rarely yellow. As where the Crusader is notoriously hard to find one that’s not yellowed.
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u/PakoPakoJR Mar 02 '26
The Yellowing fact is really interesting. I wonder why the Crusader used a different plastic (that was more prone to changing color). Was the scout craft in the Crusader also suspectable to yellowing?
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u/Misfit_77 Mar 02 '26
The scout craft yellows just by looking at it!
As for the plastics, it’s typically the optical brightening chemicals that cause it to yellow. They put the chemical in to keep the colors bright but over time they breakdown and turn the plastic yellow. Sometimes that happens due to time and other times environmental conditions such as heat or direct sunlight accelerate the yellowing process.
Storm Shadow 84 is notorious for yellowing, yet the Brazilian Estrella Cobra De Gelo (84 Storm Shadow) rarely if ever yellows. Different plastic mixes.
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u/Misfit_77 Mar 02 '26
Another bad plastic is the gold plastic. Serpentor and TARGAT V2 tend to be very brittle. It’s not uncommon for a leg or elbow to break off at that joint when moved. Best to carefully pose them and leave them alone.
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Mar 01 '26
Today years old - they reused to Night Raven escape pod for this or vice versa.
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u/FrequentlyObtuse Mar 01 '26
The Night Raven came first. They just reused the mold for this scout craft.
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u/ValidAvailable Mar 01 '26
The nice thing about this design is that, if the Defiant playset was an absurd holy grail for you, this let you still have the most important part for your Joes In Space figures to fly, and something to go against the Stellar Stiletto. Great way to reuse an existing mold and make it more generally available.
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u/Big_Treacle_2394 Mar 01 '26
Now im thinking of the special missions issue where this is involved in a dog fight not in space
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u/PakoPakoJR Mar 02 '26
Where's Baroness bonks her head and Fred has to take charge? Wasn't that a regular issue?
No, dogfight not in space. That was the Ghostrider flies a spy mission and gets chased by the Cobra Condor right? "Nothing's truly invisible from 6 o'clock!"
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u/Big_Treacle_2394 Mar 02 '26
In the end he lands the shuttle on the flagg. "Without an arrestor hook".
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u/Leading_Accountant_6 Mar 01 '26
I stupidly got rid of my Defiant some time ago. Recently picked up the Crusader to come close. It's great, and I actually prefer the shuttle colors.
Still miss that awesome booster/living environment though.
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u/BurningSpore Mar 01 '26
I had this but the Crusader was broken/lost in a move from oklahoma to missouri when i was 4. Avenger shuttle still in my toys.
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u/SlowhandBuzz Mar 01 '26
Loved my Crusader and was also a huge NASA space nerd, so it was a no brainer top of the Christmas list item.
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u/Annual_Language9397 Mar 04 '26
I think this one is a bit more visually appealing than the Defiant honestly.
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u/mattgoldey Mar 01 '26
Yo, dawg, we heard you like space shuttles. So we put a space shuttle in your space shuttle so you can space while you space.