Where do Joes get their code names? Is it a meticulous process presided over by members of command, looking at a soldier’s personality back ground and accomplishments, and sometimes throwing in a pun here and there, or is it done on a peer basis, with the other Joes informally coming up with a nickname that just seems to stick? Sometimes
Read moreSo you’re an ’82-86 fan. You’ve heard the conventional wisdom that post-’86 figures just got too colorful and lost too much of Joe’s military look. Now you’re looking for a post-86 Joe to debunk the idea. Well, look no further than the Toys R Us exclusive Night Force sub-set of ’88-89. According to the packaging: “NIGHT FORCE is a covert
Read moreI’ll say this about the classic style comic packs. I loved ’em, warts and all. For someone who grew up following the comic, they were a dream come true. Seeing figures representing characters from the pages of the comic was something my ten year old self always wanted to see. My favorites of the bunch were the Cobra troopers. Red
Read moreYou wouldn’t know this was an Iron Grenadier trooper from his looks. Black and gold are usually the colors one thinks of in regards to Destro’s forces. But I’m all for a splash of color and flash from time to time. So is Destro, apparently. Some of the Iron Grenadier bling is on display here, from the gold braids on
Read moreLate series distribution problems seem to be a theme in the collecting community, whether you’re talking about the toy collecting boom of the 90’s or today. Collect a line long enough and at some point, it’s going to raise its ugly head. Collectors get nervous when word circulates that a particular assortment is getting short shrift in terms of availability.
Read moreInsufferable. That’s the one word that describes for me the GI Joe animated movie’s portrayal of Falcon. Here’s a guy who’s a lieutenant, right? He should have been an all-business type, yes? No. He was Don freaking Johnson, and he was a slacker/hotshot who later helped save the day. Ugh. Oh, and he was also Duke’s younger half-brother. Talk about
Read moreSome Joe fans seem to have a fascination with seeing the original thirteen Joe team figures done in the style of the day. I count myself as one of them. As crazy as it sounds, I must admit I would loved to have seen a 1993 interpretation of Grand Slam. Sadly, it was not to be. As the vintage line
Read moreStep into the kinda-wayback machine with me to the era of Spy Troops. So much has happened in the Joe brand since 2003 that this fairly recent era seems almost a distant memory. Imagine a time in this not too long ago past when Joe product was readily available at retail. And in two packs at that. Neo Viper Commander
Read moreLong Range’s file card states that he’s earned the nickname “the Knock-Out Man” due to his incredibly effective abilities as an artillery man. “The Blink and You’ll Miss Him Man” would be a more apropos nickname for his media appearances. The poor guy only made a few small comic appearances and a brief cameo in DIC’s Operation Dragonfire series. He’s
Read moreYears ago, when I first got back into Joe collecting and saw this guy listed on the back of a 1991 cardback, I was both intrigued and confused. The idea of a football themed Joe seemed ridiculous, but the card art, even at the size of a postage stamp on the back of another figure’s package, sure did make him
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