The Valor vs. Venom line of the 2000’s produced its fair share of types of packouts, or ways in which figures were offered. There were two packs of hero vs villain and army builder, comic book three packs and five and six pack themed sets. But the days of single packed figures did return for a few series of somewhat
Read moreAccording to his bio, Slash is inhumanly evil. This mercenary ninja is an apprentice to Storm Shadow, who has a grudging respect for him, only for his skill. This begs the question why a basically honorable character like Storm Shadow would associate with such a cruel and heartless individual. Slash was part of a two pack which also included the
Read moreThe Joe team has had a SWAT specialist since the 1988 release of Shockwave. The team has also had a K-9 specialist since the release of Mutt & Junkyard in 1984. Wide Scope combines the two, which I think distinguishes him from both. A well written bio on his file card brings more interest for me as a character. He’s
Read moreSome Joe fans have a love-hate relationship with the team’s First Sergeant. In the cartoon, he was the de-facto leader until Hawk came around in the second season. In the comic, Hawk was the Joe honcho from the beginning, and Duke was a Johnny Come Lately second in command two years into the series run. Since his first figure appearance
Read moreOh Lemon Yellow Neo-Viper, how I love your Day-Glo goodness. It’s like you stepped right out of 1993. What can I possibly say that this picture doesn’t? Doesn’t it take you back to your first lemonade stand back in the day? Or maybe it reminds you of the hard hat you wore on your old construction job. You know, I’m
Read moreDirect To Consumer or DTC, Hasbro’s experiment with selling online directly to the collector market was an ambitious and hopeful idea. From a collector point of view it was great. No more putting up with hunting down product in store after store or ordering from a middleman online. No sir, Hasbro was going to make available an entire line of
Read moreDid you know that Hasbro tried out a Lego-like building system with its properties years before the Kre-O line? Both GI Joe and the Transformers received the treatment with the Built to Rule line from 2003 to 2005. Each set could be built into two or more different vehicles, and included a driver. The Joe line seems a natural for
Read moreIntimidation. That’s the feeling I get from this version of Cobra Commander. The 2002 relaunch of 3 3/4″ Joes with the GI Joe vs. Cobra line was met with collector disdain, mainly due to the absence of the beloved O-ring articulation. Another love/hate element was the cartoonish sculpting style. Most of the figures were bulky, stylized and almost superheroic in
Read moreKamakura the Lemon Head Ninja. How quickly you were forgotten. Your Action Attack and yellow-headed tackiness was the bane of GI Joe collectors’ existence for all of three minutes back in the mid-aughts. I have to say, as much as we bitch about Hasbro’s attempts to invigorate the line with gimmicks and such, they do seem to respond to failures
Read moreFrom the original file card: “The Iron Grenadiers, acting as agents, provocateurs, saboteurs or outright terrorists, impel an unsuspecting country towards chaos and turmoil, thereby creating new markets for Destro’s weapons where none existed before. Their pay is a percentage of of gross sales.” The Iron Grenadiers’ specialties include terrorism, sales and marketing development. That Destro, always the shrewd businessman.
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