It’s rare that I feature a figure from my collection who’s incomplete. Sad to say, since I started the blog, my disposable income has diminished, and there are some figures and vehicles I probably won’t be able to complete. Such is the case with Cloudburst, one of the fantastically colored and interestingly accessorized Air Commandos. So right off the bat,
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By KansasBrawler When Hasbro created the Crimson Shadow Guard set during the end of the Valor Vs. Venom era, I was pretty unimpressed. It was just six Crimson Guards decked out in black and carrying ninja weapons for reasons that were never adequately explained in the filecard. I wasn’t really clamoring to see this concept revisited (though I did eventually
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By KansasBrawler When I was a kid, I never had that strong of a tie to the hooded Cobra Commander look. I grew up on the cartoon and I remember seeing the battle helmet a lot more. Plus, my first Cobra Commander was the awesome 1987 battle armor version, so the hooded look just really didn’t interest me all that
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By KansasBrawler I’ve always liked the Crimson Guard. The concept of elite Cobra operatives who are not only dangerous on the battlefield but dangerous inside the American home front as well is really cool. However, to me, the figure has always relegated him to the status of Cobra Commander’s bodyguard. That’s neat enough, but I’ve always thought the Crimson Guards
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By KansasBrawler Joe Con 2009 was a fairly exciting time for me. I was very happy to learn that the GIJCC was using modern style figures. I hadn’t totally committed to them yet, but most of what was on my display at my place in Manhattan, Kansas was modern stuff, so it was nice that the set I was getting
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I wasn’t exposed much to the Condor until I began collecting again in the 90s. I recall seeing it fleetingly in Toys R Us ads at its time of release (yes, I was peeking at the Sunday paper toy adverts in my teens). Later, I discovered the Operation Dragonfire miniseries and found the Condor in a prominent scene featuring Serpentor
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I must confess that as a thirty-something grown-ass man, I woke up early one Saturday morning in 2006 to catch the premiere of the Sigma 6 cartoon on 4KidsTV. To say that it wasn’t aimed at me is a vast understatement. Heck, I felt out of place just turning the channel to 4Kids. At the time, I felt I could
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My most vivid memory of the Stinger goes back to a friend’s birthday party back in the summer of 1984. At the time, I had amassed a few early figures and some of the first and second series vehicles, including the original VAMP. My friend made out like a bandit for this birthday; the VAMP Mark II and Stinger were
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By KansasBrawler In my opinion, it’s hard to find a Joe vehicle more iconic than the original VAMP. While there may have been larger Joe vehicles, the VAMP started it all back in 1982. I wasn’t familiar with the original VAMP, but I knew the design pretty well thanks to my brother’s Tiger Sting. Including the VAMP in the first
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When I started this blog nearly five years ago, much of the motivation for doing it centered on reconnecting with my collection. As I dove into the myriad figures I had available in my collection, I began to find a quickly rekindled interest in the toys from the years dubbed “new sculpt” by collectors. Produced with the same o-ring construction
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