In the 90’s, the Half Price Store, a discount department store chain, was a treasure trove for recent Joe releases. There were always a couple of bins that had the last series of Joes for $3 each. I kick myself for not buying more than I did, especially Sonic Fighters Viper — I could’ve had an army! During one of
Read moreMutt was my favorite Joe in 1984. Yes, even more than the ubiquitous Storm Shadow. ’84 was a year in which the Joe line went in exciting new directions with accessories. Mutt was impressive for not only having an animal sidekick, but also a cool MAC 10, nightstick, muzzle (for himself!) and new helmet. He had a cool military police
Read moreWhat’s the most ambitious, well loved and famous of all Joe playsets? The USS Flagg of course. What’s that got to do with the Toxo-Lab? Absolutely nothing. Well, truthfully it does to me. In my whacked out Joe sensibilities, I like to root for the underdog. I value things like fun and toyetic concepts as much as cool characterizations and
Read moreZombies. These days you can’t look left or right without hearing about ’em in some form of media. Have they become passe yet? I think when Ace Hardware has zombie survival tips on its website, the cool factor is pretty much gone. This is the Toxo-Zombie from 1992’s Eco Force sub-line, a time before the current fast-moving super strong zombie
Read moreOne of my favorite aspects of the 2009 movie line was the Toys R Us exclusive figure series. It gave us some straight repaints, a few new combinations of 25th anniversary parts, and also one brand new character. Barbecue falls into the straight repaint category. The 25th anniversary mold has been done up in a more movie reminiscent style. I
Read moreThe international figures are a source of fascination for many Joe collectors. The mysterious and sometimes weird repaints take something familiar to us American collectors and make it refreshingly new. I didn’t know much about them until I saw them in a publication (a magazine I believe it was called) in the dark days before the internet. Back then, those
Read moreThe first Joe vehicle I bought was the Falcon glider. I had received $10 from my grandmother for my birthday and so on the way home, I bade my parents to take me to Montgomery Wards so I could spend the tenner that was burning a hole in my little pocket. After hemming and hawing far longer than any nine
Read moreWhat happens when plans to bring the Rocky Balboa character into the Joe line falls through? You get the inexplicable Cobra trainer who looks like a boxer. I don’t know if that’s truly the case, but what else would explain Hasbro giving Cobra a character that looks like a boxer if they weren’t going to make a Joe of the
Read moreThis version of Steeler serves for me as a reminder of the disappointment that was the 2007 convention exclusives. The set, titled Tanks for the Memories had members of the original Joe team as its focus along with–guess what–tanks. The Collectors Club intended the centerpieces of the set to be a set of Joe and Cobra–guess what–tanks. Unfortunately, the vintage
Read moreBet you didn’t think you’d see another snow ninja after Bushido, New York’s own snow ninja. Well, here we have the Night Creepers snow ninja, a sub group of a specialty trooper. Apparently in the late 90’s, Cobra was so hard up for troopers that they were letting their ninjas sub-contract. This figure was part of the Cobra Polar Assault
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