As mentioned in today's review, the original Crystal Ball figure's filecard was not written by Larry Hama. Here's what fans read in 1987:
Born of a Romalian [sic] father (who supposedly had "second sight") and an American mother from Bangor, Maine, Crystal Ball actually was the seventh son of a seventh son... and such men, the gypsies of old believed, were possessed of supernatural powers. That may or may not be true, but Crystal Ball can sometimes read minds, making him a unique addition to the Cobra forces, especially as an interrogator of captured Joes. Cobra doesn't use torture to interrogate their prisoners; when Crystal Ball is having one of his good days, they simply don't need to.
Okay, good enough. But here's what Larry originally submitted to Hasbro:
CODENAME: Trance-Master
(alt. names: Prof. Id, Mesmeron, The Gazer).A one-time theatrical hypnotist and encyclopedia salesman, Trance-Master had traveled to India to find new inspiration to spice up his act. In a remote mountain village, he was taken in by an evil band of occult priests who taught him ancient and terrible forms of hypnosis and mind control! Returning to the West, he used his new powers to subvert and take over corporations until his activities conflicted with similar Cobra operations. Realizing that Cobra was too big for him to tackle alone, Trance-Master decided to join them rather than fight them.
If you saw a photograph of Trance-Master, you would think he was a mousy little unimposing wimp. If he meet him face-to-face, you'd walk away impressed by his dynamic personality and dashing good looks. You might also find that you had purchased an encyclopedia for some unknown reason!
Interestingly, despite never appearing in the cartoon or even really in the comics, there is one obscure piece of media that not only featured Crystal Ball - with original comic art! - but also gave him at least a little bit of biographical information never shared elsewhere:
According to ancient Gypsy beliefs, the seventh son of a seventh son would be possessed of special talents. Crystal Ball was such a person. He could occasionally read minds, which made him an excellent interrogator. He returned to Cobra-La to investigate rumors of a revolution and was there when a massive earthquake sealed off the passage to the hidden city. It is unclear whether or not the inhabitants of Cobra-La perished in the quake.
That's from the 1991 Impel GI Joe trading card set, which otherwise follows the comicbook continuity for all the characters it presents. So although Cobra-La didn't warrant even a mention in the books, we can say it did unequivocally exist, and Crystal Ball was from there? Weird!
