The Cobra Strike Team Urban Division was one of the more problematic of the Toys R Us multipacks. The illustrations of the characters on the front of the package did not match the contents, at least in terms of their uniform’s coloring. All were colorful and resembled some previous version of their figures. Alley Viper looked to be based on
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By KansasBrawler Sometimes, a Joe figure really catches fire in the collecting community. I got to witness this first hand at Joe Con in 2009 with Pursuit of Cobra Zartan. Everyone (myself included) was very interested in this new direction for the brand, building off the good parts of the movie, but leaving the bad parts behind. However, the figure
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Your humble host is still recovering (and playing catch-up in real life) due to a recent illness. Never fear, I am on the mend, but still need a bit of down time. In the meantime, here’s a re-run from way back when. KB is on deck with a Field Report tomorrow, then prayerfully we’ll be back this weekend with more
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By KansasBrawler Joe Con 2009 was a fairly exciting time for me. I was very happy to learn that the GIJCC was using modern style figures. I hadn’t totally committed to them yet, but most of what was on my display at my place in Manhattan, Kansas was modern stuff, so it was nice that the set I was getting
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By KansasBrawler If you’re going to make a subgroup called the Crimson Strike Team, tapping Tomax and Xamot for inclusion in the team is a no-brainer. The GIJCC did that with their first iteration of the Crimson Strike Team and it makes perfect sense for them to do it with the modern versions. The Crimson Twins are always working their
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Who would have guessed that Destro would finally be unmasked as an action figure in the twelve inch format? I was all-in for the Hall of Fame series at its time of release. One the small-scale Joes left retail, I continued to collect older twelve inch Joes as well as the new Classic Collection (with much improved articulation, by the
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By KansasBrawler I’ve mentioned a couple of times already that 2009 was the first time I was able to go to Joe Con. Before that, I’d always admired their impressive figure sets from afar. However, the 2009 set was controversial for a couple of reason. First of all, it was the first time the GIJCC went with the modern style
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Palitoy’s Action Force packaging is interesting in its straightforward design. There’s no explosion, character art or extraneous copy, just bold color and text. It’s basic and effective. When the line began to incorporate the US Joe concepts like Cobra and o-ring figure designs, small additions were made to the cards. The Commander’s card features a unique Cobra logo design, as
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What would an excursion in the horror angles of the GI Joe brand be without checking out a mad scientist/doctor? The 1980s had its share in the form of Drs. Venom and Mindbender. Both were iconic, each for his own different reasons. The Rise of Cobra film gave us its take on the evil genius bit with the blah-tastic “Doctor.”
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Serpentor is one of the few GI Joe characters whose origin to me recalls horror elements. He’s certainly of the Frankenstein monster’s ilk, albeit created from a soup of DNA and synthetic flesh rather than reclaimed corpses. His origin story, at least in the trappings of its imagery and some locations, recalled classic horror elements. When I first spotted the
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