Posted this over on Hiss Tank which some of you probably saw, but no one knew. Anybody have any idea how many of these were sold? I've always wondered since they were serialized. The highest serial number I've seen was in the 70s or 90s.

I thought just the boxes were serialized. Not the vehicle itself. That is going to make it difficult to track down a number since the later mail away APC was the same as the CUDA. As an early con exclusive it wouldn't surprise me if it was under a 100, but that just makes the box more valuable.

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You're right, it was just the boxes.

100 is WAY off. 10,000 of the Mail in APC were probably produced...I wouldn't be surprised to hear that 1000 or more were made into CUDAs...

If you really want to know, your best bet would be to track down Mike Hertz...pretty sure he's the guy who put on the shows then...I talked to him briefly at the Con, and he was talking a little about how much overstock stuff there was.

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Back at the Florida Joe convention, when these were given away at the Saturday night dinner, there was 1 on EVERY seat at the dinner tables. Although the registration for the dinner was full, it still appeared that only half of the dining hall was used. But the folks that put out the cudas appeared to not coordinate the number of Cudas put out with the number of people attending the dinner, so even tables that were not being used (or even had Joe themed "center pieces")..had a "cuda" placed on each chair of the table. After the dinner, the only thing that limited the number of "cudas" you got where the amount you could carry (there were LOTS of them). Also, except for the black & white photo copy label taped to the brown mailer box and the silver foil "sticker" number label it is just the mail away APC.

Just my $.02

MJ

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wow, Joe cons used to be awesome.

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John is 100% correct on this. These are simply just 1991 Mail Order exclusives with a piece of paper glued to the front. The production numbers were astronomical.

Also, most won't remember this, but Hasbro Canada / Hasbro direct finding a HUGE supply of leftover mail order exclusives and letting anyone mail them a check and order as much of the stuff as they had until they sold out.

I clearly remember v1 HISS Tanks, exclusive Firebats and the rarest Brazil manufactured light-green Sky Hawks. Along with countless bagged figures. Ah...the good 'ol days.

Yup, Yojoe had it plastered on their main page forever. Too bad I was a broke middle schooler at the time.

That really kick started me back into collecting Joes. It was right after college so I had some income.

So where is all of this stuff now? It doesn't seem like it is been spread out through the community. I don't see a lot of Cudas for sale. and firebats are still treated like they're rare. Heck I haven't seen a brazil skyhawk posted up in years.

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It's been 13 years...this stuff has been absorbed into the community. I know I opened, displayed and sold my bright red Firebats years ago, for a pittance of what they sell for lately.

I still have a pair of CUDAs, they weren't rare in the late 90s and averaged around $45-$80 each. Now? I have no clue. The toy inside is over 20 years old, based on a 29 year old, nearly identical toy.

As RedClaw said, I know a bunch of people who had big collections from say 95-05 who were big army builders but have gotten out of the line since the end of ARAH, or they moved on, but their collection is just sitting in storage until they decide what to do with it, if anything.

We obviously think they are quality toys, either for playing with or collecting, or else we wouldn't be here.

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