Ace (1983)

In a way you could say that GI Joe is a descendant of the little green army men from days of yore. One of my favorite memories of playing with the little green guys were the paratroopers. A simple plastic parachute and string turned the regular troopers into death defying airborne attackers. At the time of its release, the Skystriker

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Updraft (1990)

Updraft is the pilot of the Retaliator, one of the weirdest craft in the GI Joe arsenal. Advertised as a “Bomb Dropping Rescue Copter!”, the Retaliator was a helicopter with a working winch and a rotating tail with grabbing claw that pivoted out of the tail section. An odd-looking  copter with impossibly short blades, it resembled a dragonfly more than

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Major Storm (1990)

The General is one unwieldy vehicle. I’m not just talking about the fictional sense of how the heck it moves around, let alone manages to make turns, but in the size of the toy itself. Yes, the USS Flagg is monstrous, and the Defiant is a giant unfolding behemoth of a playset, but the General is an absolute beast of

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Dogfight (1989)

One of the things I’ve always loved about the GI Joe line has been its ability to incorporate military designs and styles from different recent eras and somehow make them work. Dogfight’s look is influenced by a bygone era or fighter jocks in the mid 20th century. He doesn’t so much resemble a straight World War II pilot as he

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Long Range (1989)

Long 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

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Shipwreck (2003)

Spy Troops was a series that held promise with a great concept, but was ultimately wildly uneven in execution. The idea of clip on accessories to transform Joes and Cobras into the opposing force was novel and fun. I enjoy added play value, especially when the feature isn’t molded into the character in such a way that it restricts movement

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