What can I say about a card like this that isn’t apparent just by looking at it. If I could narrow my list of favorite GI Joe package art down to a single piece (which would be incredibly difficult) Destro would vie for a top spot. There’s just so much going on here that makes this a perfect example of
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Oh you gotta love the 25th Anniversary San Diego Comicon variant figures. Yesterday I recounted a tale of the joys of toy collecting in the 90s, when figures appeared in dump bins like manna from heaven, plentiful and inexpensive. Today, witness the horrors of snagging online exclusives. The Lord giveth, and Hasbrotoyshop pisseth off. This is the last SDCC GI
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Cobra Commander was the first GI Joe figure I got way way back in 1983. I traded a Return of the Jedi Weequay for him, one of the most impressive feats of bartering in my younger years. My acquisition of this Chinese Cobra Commander isn’t as memorable a story. I picked him up back in the 90s at the Half
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By Past Nastification GI Joe in 1:18th scale has had several eras. They are ARAH, New Sculpt, 25A/Modern. The 25A/Modern Era is currently in vogue, and the ARAH will always have its place in toy history. The NS era, though, was full of mistakes and missed opportunities. It never quite landed. It’s widely disliked by collectors. As someone who liked
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I’m man enough to admit that I loved—loved everything about Serpentor in 1986. From the idea that Cobra would have an emperor, to the conceit that he was created from the DNA of history’s great leaders, to the super villain costume design, I was all-in for the character. The packaging art is suitably accurate to the figure and vehicle inside,
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By Past Nastification There are figures that aren’t good. There are many figures I dislike. Generally speaking, these two categories overlap. But there are bad figures that I really like. 2001’s Zartan is one of them. It’s a lazy figure. Exceptionally lazy. A Zartan head thrown on top of a SAW Viper body. Continuing the laziness, Hasbro just tossed in
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By KansasBrawler Hasbro did an excellent job making most of the Cobra hierarchy in the 50th Anniversary. The first year we got Destro and Baroness. The next year, we got Cobra Commander and Zartan. While I think Cobra Commander was kind of unnecessary, I really find myself drawn to Zartan. I didn’t think it would happen, but Hasbro finally made
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The Tele-Viper figure wasn’t one of my faves as a kid, but I sure liked the card art. It’s definitely one of the coolest looking Cobra cards. The figure to package coolness ratio however tilts toward the latter. The figure may not be at Zartan level on the awesome meter, but then again this is one of the most pure
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The relaunch era vehicles for the most part don’t get much attention or respect. Only a few garner the kind of good will associated with the 80s and 90s toys. Much of the output doesn’t appeal to a collector’s sensibilities, and aspects like scale, realism and fit/finish skew toward a younger demographic than we’re accustomed to. Early 2000s vehicles like
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A Crimson Cobra Commander. Why not? After all, every good totalitarian madman needs to match not only his legions of jackbooted thugs, but also his elite, more stylishly dressed personal guard. The forces of evil, though they’re always wrong and ultimately vanquished by the forces of good, are nevertheless style mavens of the highest order. Cobra Commander, even from the
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