You have to hand it to Hasbro for including a variety of characters in its first assortment of the relaunched GI Joe. They could have gone the easy route and populated the series with a cookie cutter set of guys in one shade of green with nondescript weapons and little to no character. As we’ve already seen, the Joes were
Read more
GI Joe wouldn’t be nearly as long-lived and remembered if it weren’t for the depth and breadth of toys available to spark kids’ imaginations. From the 1960s line’s plethora of gear and weaponry to the Adventure Team’s motor pool of fantastical vehicles and accessories, the brand had gained a firm foothold with a variety of product in the boys toys
Read more
Imagine if you will catching the commercial for the original assortment of the 1982 GI Joes on morning television. You’re outfitted in your favorite PJs (Empire Strikes Back, or course), enjoying a bowl of Cap’n Crunch while taking in the latest episode of The Great Space Coaster before getting ready to head off to school. What should catch your bright
Read more
Yesterday we covered Grunt, the Everyman figure of the initial 1980s series. Today we start to venture into the more specialized individuals. Versatility is the keyword for the mix of characters produced in the first year of the Real American Hero series. With just a few different body parts and key paint app choices, Hasbro was able to introduce enough
Read more
It’s been a while since I covered a Red Lasers Army custom, so here’s one of my favorites from last year’s run, in terms of both design and its place in the Joe mythos. Vipers are always a good bet for an interesting repaint, and I’ve been a fan of this trooper’s variants since the late 90s Toys R Us
Read more
Here’s a blast from the past, a custom (and the photo itself) from almost 15 years ago! At the time, I was customizing figures in the Toy Biz style. I also made some Joes now and then, and this Snake Eyes was fairly easy to create. The body is Stealth Guile from the Street Fighter movie series. The head is
Read more
By Past Nastification It’s got those great New Sculpt proportions! It’s a head-to-toe repaint! It’s Shadow Strike!! But, waitaminute! I like this lazy, stupid figure! How can that be? Because it was a character that desperately needed to be made. By 2005, Storm Shadow would have been a bit over 50 years old (if you’re sticking to Marvel continuity with
Read more
By KansasBrawler I don’t know why, but I’ve never really had much of an affinity for Spirit. I always thought his original figure looked a bit like they grabbed as many Native American stereotypes as they could and made a figure out of them. The filecard made him seem more like a real person, but the figure looked pretty stereotypical.
Read more
By KansasBrawler I know many Joe fans consider 1989 the best year for Joes, but as someone who was born just a little later, I have a lot stronger memories of the 1990 assortment. Yes, there were a lot of rehashed specialties but as someone who wasn’t old enough to be with the Joe line since 1982, Freefall was my
Read more
Python Patrol presents an interesting problem in terms of character selection. Just how many named Cobras should be part of the group? The concept lends itself well to army builders, but what about the main line Cobra operatives? Should there be a PP Cobra Commander? The initial assortment only presented Cooperhead, not exactly the highest ranking of snakes. The 2003
Read more