In 1983, Airborne was one of my favorite figures. The sculpt, accessories and colors worked together to create a figure that was so different from my previous team which consisted of Flash, Grunt and Snake-Eyes. When I got Scrap-Iron in ’84, I noticed that certain parts of him looked–familiar. I knew that the first series of Joes looked alike, but
Read more“The COBRA PYTHON PATROL is an elite unit of troopers that have been handpicked from various COBRA VIPER units. They are specially trained and equipped for stealth and infiltration missions. They wear camouflage uniforms to mask their presence, which confuses GI JOE radar detection systems.” Made up of old figure and vehicle molds, it’s easy to be cynical and say
Read moreSo here’s yet another version of the Joe team’s top sergeant. Duke garners mixed feelings amongst collectors, whether they consider themselves fans of the comic, the cartoon or even just the figures. Some can’t stand him and consider him a usurper of Hawk in the comics. I’ve never really had a big problem with Duke, and I don’t necessarily see his presence
Read more1991, the year I got back into Joe collecting, was also sort of the birth of my adult geekdom. It began for me with the release of Heir to the Empire, the Star Wars novel that appeared to be the sequel story we had never gotten. The sudden appearance of a new Star Wars book was exciting. Did it mean
Read moreYeah, I know these Bronze Bombers based on Joe molds go for a pretty penny, but the blue Track Viper body plus new head equals one crazy looking figure. The head sculpt is damn goofy, and the paint apps are short. Seriously, I got nothin’ today, folks.
Read moreEven though 1987 was the last year that I collected Joes as a kid, I still find myself looking back to that year with as many fond memories of the year’s figures as anything from ’82 to ’86. One of my all-time faves (Battle Armor Cobra Commander) was released that year. He was one of the two Joe figures that
Read moreEver happen to pass a wreck on the highway and notice that most everyone going by it has to slow down and gawk out of morbid curiosity? That’s what happened to me when I came across this figure a while back. Absolutely nothing about it works, yet I couldn’t seem to bring myself to pass it up as a subject
Read moreIn the world of toy collecting, there are many expressions and terms that the normal world hasn’t heard in our geeky context. Loose, complete and carded are a few common ones used to describe a toy’s condition, and they make sense once you’ve been indoctrinated into the culture. I won’t even go into the many acronyms that litter the collector
Read moreWhat can I say about Firefly that hasn’t been said before? He’s the ultimate mystery man of Cobra, a saboteur garbed in grey camouflage, his face forever hidden behind his trademark mask. His figure origin dates back to the watershed year of 1984, when all-time Joe classics like Storm Shadow, Baroness and Thunder were unleashed for the first time. Okay
Read moreThe 1990 version of Overlord is a mystery. Appearing as a driver figure and an apparent new foe for the GI Joe team, he seemed poised to be a replacement for Cobra Commander. However nothing much came of his figure in the toyline or comic. It wasn’t until the 2000’s Devil’s Due comic series that anything of substance was done with
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