The Air Commandos just didn’t get enough play during their time on the pegs. Joe’s mid-80s heyday of cartoon tie-ins had fizzled into the DIC series, and many of the sub-groups didn’t get a lot of coverage in the Marvel comic. It fell to the Impel trading card set to play up the figures in these teams, and you couldn’t
Read more
I am not ashamed to say that I love the Dino Hunters. I’m not taking about an ironic or hipster love, but a straightforward nerdy adult who collects toys love. And there’s not much of a nostalgia angle to it either, since my childhood Joe years were 1982-1987. No, the Dino Hunters set came around when I was in full
Read more
General Hawk returned to the pegs in 1991, and his look was one of the most significant departures from established lore. After all, he was first an artillery colonel, then a field equipped general. Neither too out of the ordinary. ’91 saw him adopt a full-on Rocketman-like flightsuit and jet pack. Yikes! Never one to ride a desk, Hawk was
Read more
The original Storm Shadow figure for me is the perfect example of what I love about the 1980s GI Joe thing. Ninjas were and always are cool, masked bad guys in white are unique, and ninjas are cool. Could the figure be improved? That’s doubtful, with the exception of possibly adding a ball-jointed neck. 2005’s comic pack edition I don’t
Read more
By KansasBrawler As I said in my review of the BAT Squad Leader, I’ve always loved the 1991 version of the Cobra BAT. When the BAT Squad Leader was first revealed, I was excited because I thought that it was meant to reference the 1991 BAT I had growing up even if it didn’t have the color scheme I was
Read more
This is kind of an awkward figure for me to review. I legitimately do like the design for the BAT Squad Leader. However, since it’s also the same design as the BAT v1.8, it leaves me just a little cold because I think this figure could have been so much more. I’ll be talking about this design at length when
Read more
By KansasBrawler Zap is another figure I have a weirdly complicated relationship with. I wasn’t old enough for the original Zap figure to have been on my radar. The first time I met Zap was in 1991 when he joined the Super Sonic Fighters. The filecard mentioned that he was one of the original Joes and while I didn’t know
Read more
If you’re into the twelve inch scale, and have an interest in unusual figures and accessories, the 90s Action Man range may be worth a look. I’ve been picking up examples every now and then, and I find quite a few outfit sets speak to my affinity for bright colors and unique concepts that separate themselves from the usual Joe
Read more
Heavy Duty has been saddled with the label of Replacement Roadblock for some time. I’ve never thought of him in that way. My initial introduction to the character came from the original 1991 figure, which was still available when I came back to Joes as a collector. I simply saw him as his specialty described, rather than another Roadblock Sure,
Read more
By KansasBrawler Growing up, I always loved the Cobra B.A.T. and though I missed out on the original version, the 1991 version quickly became one of my most used Cobra troopers. I’m sure part of that was the cartoon’s influence, but I just thought robots were cool and the interchangeable hand weapons really spoke to my kid brain. While I
Read more