One tends to get the impression that in the later years of the original run of the Real American Hero, Hasbro might have had a little trouble coming up with new character specialties. The G.I.Joe Team already had a commando, an infantry specialist, a machine gunner -- so somewhere along the way they came up with someone whose name might indicate that his specialty was to yell at the enemy,

Not that a loud and forceful voice is without value. Ever watch "COPS"? I don't mean the cartoon, I mean the live-action series that follows actual police officers around on their duties. They pull over some idiot who was racing down the freeway at 100 mph with a trunkload of cocaine, and the first thing they do is yell at him at the top of their lungs to get out of the car and get flat on the ground. That's not just anger -- it's training. It's meant to be intimidating.

And so, in 1990, we saw a character named BULLHORN join the team. His official specialty was listed rather cryptically as "Intervention Specialist". According to his file card, this means that he is primarily a negotiator, and apparently a highly skilled one. He is described as a notably calm individual, with an open and compassionate personality, readily able to deal with some of the wackos and nutjobs that the G.I.Joes have to face every so often. Of course, he's not all talk. The second paragraph on Bullhorn's file card, while calling him a "good listener" with "more finesse than the slickest diplomat" and able to convince almost any adversary that he actually cares about them, also comments that he's a former hand-to-hand combat instructor from Quantico and a contender for the national practical pistol title.

Despite the reputation of the later years of the original run having an excess of neon, there is none of that on Bullhorn. While I suspect the designers of the figure might have been at something of a loss as to precisely what an Intervention Specialist should look like, the end result is a capable figure with no really intense colors on him to make him appear less than military. Bullhorn is dressed in a greyish-tan shirt, that looks thick enough to be a jacket, really; medium brown trousers, tan boot tops with dark brown camouflage on them (this sort of thing seemed to be trendy, as Rampart, also released in 1990, had camouflage boot-tops); with dark grey gloves, shoes, belt, harness, and equipment pouches. A string of very small black grenades across the harness (there's some intervention for you!) and a grey holster on the right leg completed the outfit.

Not surprisingly, his accessories included -- a bullhorn.

Bullhorn's headsculpt was nicely done, and rather distinctive. The figure had rather thick eyebrows, backswept black hair that seemed slightly longer than average, and tan facepaint in a pattern that mirrored that on his boot tops. Add a narrow headband, and he almost looks like he should be Native American, but his file card states his real name as "Stephen A. Ferriera" from Providence, Rhode Island, so that seems a little unlikely.

Bullhorn was actually fairly prominently featured in one episode of the DIC-produced animated series. This series was generally regarded as inferior in most respects to its Marvel/Sunbow produced predecessor, and not without reason. Bullhorn ended up in one of the more bizarre episodes, entitled "Revenge of the Pharaohs", in which Night Creeper Leader comes across some ancient Egyptian artifacts and ends up believing himself to be an actual Egyptian king. As if that wasn't annoying enough, he kidnaps Lady Jaye to make her his queen. Flint apparently was on leave or something, so it's left to Bullhorn to take an active role in this episode that -- yeah, was pretty much as silly as it sounds. The episode was also released on video-cassette in a special package with the Rapid-Fire figure.

While Bullhorn's feelings on this remain unknown, it wouldn't be surprising to me to learn that he wanted to carry out some pistol practice on those videos...

Bullhorn, like many of the new characters developed in the later years of the original run of the line, has never turned up again, and has remained relatively obscure. But I think he's an interesting character and a pretty cool figure. And I hope you have enjoyed this look at him. YO JOE!