Many of the 90s re-imaginings of older Joe characters don’t get a whole lot of love. Some folks aren’t fond of the bright colors, others don’t care for the gimmick-laden accessories, and still others hate both of the above. Being a toy optimist, I like to look for the positive in anything I pick up. In the case of Mutt’s
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The Dreadnoks always seemed to me like they had a Road Warrior vibe, although the first three members also hit some American biker gang notes as well. When Thrasher hit the scene, his look was 100% post-apocalyptic madman. After all, who else fashion-wise chooses to wear football pads on the outside of their clothing? Big thanks to crazy old Wez
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Black Dragon has been a name to crop up somewhat regularly in the GI Joe mythos within the last 20 years. First, there was the original EXTREME! figure that carried the moniker in in the late 90s. Then the floodgates opened in 2003, with the introduction of a new, evil Black Dragon character within that year’s collectors club convention set.
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Pulling out a lesser known character, who was also the driver of a pricey vehicle was one of the good ideas within the 2003 convention set. Major Storm was a figure I didn’t have in my collection until I began trying to complete a 1982-94 run in the early 2000s. This repaint came along at just the right time for
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I’ve always been a sucker for Cobra Commander variants. I think the fascination goes back to his hooded mail-in version as well as his battle armored suit. Both were favorites of mine as a kid. As a later adult collector, I picked up the Talking Battle Commanders release, immediately removing the huge backpack, and also quickly snapped up the Battle
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How do you explain away the fact that you made a figure that uses 90% of an existing (and very recognizable) character’s parts? Make up a story that hints at the new guy killing off the old one. That’s pretty cold blooded, even for a Dreadnok. I suppose you can’t blame the club for trying to pull this one off,
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From the ridiculous to the sublime. Yesterday’s convention exclusive was an odd concept with a crazed color palette. Tonight, it’s a prime example of the effective repainting of an originally disappointing figure. To me, the first version of Gristle holds a certain distinction for being an example of the end of the first generation Real American Hero years. 1993 and
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I find that I like the 2004 convention set’s character choice, color scheme and mold selection much more than its 2003 predecessor. With a set of new and old Dreadnoks, a group of identical “army builder” miscreants, and a few Joe Tiger Force members, it appealed to my love of unusual and colorful toys. Dreadhead Cletus was one of six
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Looking through a present day lens, the early small scale Joe convention exclusives have a sense of being a bit of an afterthought in comparison to their later counterparts. While the set was intriguing in terms of bringing along new factions and reusing interesting troop molds, the storyline around them doesn’t grab one’s attention. In fact, this set is probably
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By KansasBrawler This figure is a rather unusual addition to my collection. I’ve never been that big on international variants or really much of what the Collectors’ Club does beyond the con set until recently. Both of these categories of figures have, in my mind, things that are cool, but usually just too expensive for me to track down on
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