The comic packs were a great way for Hasbro to release figures that may not have been well known or popular enough to warrant a single carded release. As such, many heavily fan requested comic characters finally made appearances in the toy line. Along with those demanded figures were a share of what might best be described as fill-ins. The
Read moreAnybody interested in a holographic Cobra Commander? At first, I thought maybe Hasbro had confused their GI Joe line with Star Wars, since back in the 2000s, you couldn’t swing a dead Jawa without hitting a hologram based figure. Alas, it was not a mix-up, but a legitimate variant based on a few panels of Marvel GI Joe issue #9.
Read moreCobra Commander with a cape? Fabulous, absolutely fabulous. Only the truly motivated world conquering megalomaniacs among us would dress up to this level of snickerdoodlery. The man was flashy enough with his double breasted fascist business suit with matching hood, but to add a cape, not to mention one festooned with gold cobra finery, just shows a new level of
Read morePoor 1984 Roadblock. Stuck with a weird shaped head, comparatively scrawny arms and a barrel chest. As a figure, he was hardly a match for his tough looking card art intepretation, but I suppose for a 1984 Joe, he didn’t fare too badly. After all, even the hulking Gung Ho was decidedly less bulky in 1983 than his media tie-in
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Many of the o-ring style comic packs had head issues. The Joes in particular seemed to get the short end of the cranium stick. I’ve wondered if the smaller heads were a design choice, or the result of a manufacturing issue. After all, the newly designed figures of the era had more delicate sculpting and generally smaller heads. I hate
Read moreOf all the versions of Scarlett to produce, they made her in a karate outfit that appeared in the opening pages of Marvel Comics issue #2. I was hoping for an arctic outfit along the lines of the Snake Eyes contained in the same comic pack. Given the limited parts reused for each of the packs, it’s not surprising that
Read moreA few days ago, I covered Rock ‘N Roll, who though he had a couple of issues, was one of my favorite comic pack versions of the ’82-83 Joes. Steeler on the other hand is, uh, well, look for yourself. I know the comic pack figures’ heads tended toward the small side, but poor Ralph Pulaski looks like he’s been
Read moreWhat is not to like about the original Stalker figure? I’ve covered it before, and I still hold it up as one of my favorite GI Joe figures, even among later offerings of the 80s and 90s. I think that, of all the original thirteen 1982-83 Joes, his figure stands out as truly unique. It also is the most iconic
Read moreThe Baroness is one of the Cobra mainstays, and has been showing up in GI Joe comics and animation since day one. In those early days, before suffering burns over most if her body in a fateful HISS tank battle, she wore a simpler blue jumpsuit, like most other Cobra agents. With all the Baroness figures over the years, I’m
Read moreSometimes, Hasbro gets points just for having the chutzpah to get a figure out to market, even if it doesn’t live up to expectations. In the case of Kwinn, could any figure made mostly of existing parts live up to fan wishes? I can remember wanting a toy version of the infamous mercenary ever since reading Marvel issue number two
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