Determining just who’s who among the helmetless Bronze Bombers of 1997 is tricky business. The small head shots on the file cards don’t always help with this, either. I’ve found that identifying the hair style and facial hair may be the best route to avoid confusing a Shortburst with a Suppressor X. Justice’s specialty according to his card is Weapons
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Repaints. They can be the bane of a toy collector’s existence. Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but at some point as an adult buyer of children’s toys, you just get a little frustrated with the necessities of the marketplace. It’s easier to just accept the fact that Batman, Spider-Man et al are going to be be repainted at some
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I have fond memories of bygone days of VHS randomness at Mom & Pop video stores and Blockbuster, when you could find both the latest releases as well as archaic giant clamshell boxes. Seems like GI Joe was everpresent, particularly the early Sunbow releases. The DIC show wasn’t as plentiful, and it was only in the 2000s that I spotted
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I’ve said this before: I’m a big fan of the 1994 assortments of GI Joe. To me, there’s a little something to appeal to different tastes within its offerings. If you enjoyed the vibrant color schemes, action-featured accessories and sci-fi leanings, there’s plenty to be excited about. If you were more interested in the series’ early 80s origins of near-future
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In the 90s, Lanard Toys (makers of the GI Joe inspired series The CORPS!) produced an assortment of figures based around a futuristic athletic theme. To say it was high concept is an understatement. The best I can describe it is as Mad Max meets Rollerball. And I mean the original versions of both films, but especially Rollerball. James Caan
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No, it’s not a fight between two Mortal Kombat ninja–although in 1994, it could have totally been possible. It’s our final Toy Fair Flashback for the year, and I think this one is a doozy. Well, I am partial to catalog diorama shots. The shot impresses not only for the dramatic posing of the many figures featured, but also for
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Today’s Toy Fair catalog page comes from Hasbro’s 1994 catalog. The new items for the final year of RAH Joe included the Power Fighters, a pair of Joe and Cobra mechs. I find this interesting because mechs later became something of a focus in the 2000s and modern years. These two are chunky and limited in mobility, but both came
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Hey, it’s the Big Game today here in the US–not that I really care, since my hometown team, in typical fashion, whizzed it down their leg in their first playoff game. Anyway, I came across the following comic when perusing auctions a while back and was amazed to see a familiar name in the issue of NFL Super Pro. And
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By Past Nastification Based on the real world Saab Draken, the Cobra Liquidator is also close in design to the Cobra jet flown by Major Bludd in the opening scene of Sunbow’s The MASS Device. It was probably a coincidence that Hasbro chose to source the Draken as a Cobra Jet, as Sunbow had nothing to do with the GI
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Say what you will about the direction the Joe line took in the 90s, the box art continued to impress. The only element I’ve not cared for is the large white outline around the subjects. The Monster Blaster box art does its job well in terms of giving us a portrait of the vehicle, its cross-sell figures, and features. The
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