Hasbro mail-aways were kind of a funny thing. Neither my brother nor I had the Night Raven, yet thanks to Hasbro’s mail-in offers, I have fond memories of the Strato-Viper from my brother’s collection. He saw a lot of use in my brother’s Cobra air force, manning the second seat of the Hurricane just about every time it was used.
Read moreHow many times have we heard about Cobra pilots and the extreme punishment their bodies are put through? It seems if they’re not genetically modified, they’re subjected to some horribly gruelling training regimen. The Nullifiers are no different, as their file cards posit. The color scheme, or lack thereof, is in contrast to the incredible detail of the mold. Strange
Read moreThe pilot of the Wave Crusher, a repainted SHARC released as part of the Real American Hero Collection, the Sub Viper is itself a redeco. Though his vehicle is something of a lackluster repaint of a craft that’s been done to death, the Sub Viper himself is welcome reuse of a cool 90s mold. The Sludge Viper figure on which
Read moreOne of the most undercooked GI Joe uniform designs gave rise to an impressive belt buckle. It’s the sort of thing you’d expect to see on a cowboy type, with a longhorn skull emblazoned across it. The fancy buckle actually works within the confines of the design of the figure’s lower extremities. Up top, he’s fairly plain, including his decidedly
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Straight arm or swivel? Seems an odd question to ask, since the 1983 figures are regarded as improvements to the first year offerings. Not only did the later figures offer the added poseability option of the swiveling arms, but the waists were also slimmed down. The new arms themselves also seem just a bit beefier. Even the rivets looked less
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A recent post on Hisstank featuring a set of custom original thirteen Joes in tan a la Grunt and Clutch got me to thinking about those two guys, and how much I like the tan repaints. I’ve covered ’84 Clutch once before, so why not share a few more thoughts? Tan Clutch is one of my most fondly remembered Joes.
Read moreSpirit got his due in the 90s with a newly designed figure, and a command as well. The leader of the Air Commandos, a group of figures who piloted gliders, the long time Joe team member shows up in an interesting 90s uniform. The original Spirit is one of the more iconic figures for those of us who grew up
Read moreIt’s too bad the greatest small scale GI Joe astronaut figure was released at a time when I had stopped buying the large sets. The Defiant looked like a cool vehicle, and I loved the look of Payload, but I just couldn’t bring myself to seek out such a huge toy at the time. 1987 was the last year that
Read moreA while back, I covered Steam-Roller, the driver of the Mobile Command Center, and a gem of a figure that I hadn’t really appreciated before taking a look at him for the blog. I’d like to say the same applies to Armadillo, but for the most part, I still find him uninspiring. He has a few vestiges of personality as
Read moreKnockdown was the last GI Joe figure I purchased as a young kid collector. Should a kid be called a collector, by the way? I mean, I was buying these things to play with them in the dirt, not to keep them in their package, seal them in bulletproof Lucite and admire the finer points of their sculpts and designs.
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