By KansasBrawler I don’t have any childhood memories of Night Vulture. Truthfully, I don’t recall seeing any of the Air Commandos figures on the pegs when I was a kid. However, I definitely remember a scene out of a diostory that I can’t find online anymore (if anyone else remembers the sequence I’m about to describe, please let me know
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As you probably know, I'm as big a fan of GI Joe and other toys' marketing campaigns as much as the products themselves. I also dig catalogs and toy ads. That's why I'm totally jazzed about a new book project on Kickstarter. Philip Reed has produced similar books covering general action figures, Star Wars, Transformers and even carrying cases over
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Any pop culture phenom worth its salt gives rise to all manner of ancillary product. From toys to bedsheets and board games, there’s no end to the ways in which a property can capitalize on success. Sometimes cross promotion of tchotchkes merges with the fads of the day to produce something unique. The 90s saw trading cards come to the
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Tripwire isn’t the most exciting of GI Joe characters, but I found his figure useful in my battles. He functioned not only as a mine detector/bomb disposal specialist, but he also laid mines. Why else would they have included a mine-toting backpack? The card art was confusing to me as a kid. I thought his left arm position made it
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For over a year, I’ve been on a kick of buying knock-off minifigures via the direct-from-China website Aliexpress. There you can find all manner of not-quite-Lego minifigures for less than a dollar each. It’s crazy. While there are plenty of copyright infringing products to be found, there are also unique designs that the famous brick maker hasn’t, or most likely
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For the past several years, I’ve been choosing the club’s 12 inch yearly incentive figure. My interest was piqued first by the henchman figure that made its debut as a convention exclusive. Then the Man of Evil was released, and after the expected 50th anniversary figure, was later followed by weirdos like Dr. Isotope and Mike Power. This year, The
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GI Joe’s reliance on new editions of the big names like Duke and Snake Eyes can get a little tiresome. While Duke can be given any number of outfits, Snakes is more limited to black and well, black. At times, his limited wardrobe changes from media are mined for subject matter. This one hails from issue 2 of the Marvel
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I will confess that I haven’t always been kind to the 25th anniversary figures here at the blog. Like most collectors, I was excited to hear about a new super-articulated series of GI Joes. The early efforts however didn’t exite mean in terms of the toys’ playability. That’s the main gripe I’ve had about them over the years. Whether it
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The first Storm Shadow of the 25th anniversary line was a bit of an interesting departure from the original 1984 figure design. I think that it really showcased this series’ attempt to take the highly recognizable character designs of the Real American Hero era into a new super-detailed direction. I don’t know what constitutes a historically accurate ninja garb, but
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As a toy collector, I’m not the biggest fan of the concept of “chase” items, especially when they’re planned and advertised as such. For me, there’s no thrill of the hunt when it comes to spending disposable income on toys. I don’t want to go through a bunch of hoops to collect them all. If others do, that’s cool. It’s
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