Cobra Commander. Is there a more iconic 80s bad guy? Okay, Skeletor and Megatron are without a doubt equals in the pantheon of action figure villains. Those two guys however can’t hold a candle to the Commander’s sense of style. After all, could Skelly or Megs have rocked two different styles of headgear equally well, or dared to wear two
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Cobra wouldn’t be where it is today without the legions of nameless and faceless troopers that make up the backbone of its ranks. In the early 80s, these voluminous villains were perfect fodder and foil for the Joe team. Before the myriad Vipers and all of their specialization that would come, we were happy to collect hordes of blueshirts to
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Bring on the bad guys! Now here’s the beginning of what really separates the relaunched GI Joe from his forebears, and many of his imitators. You’ve heard it before: a hero is only as good as his villains. Whether it’s myth, literature, film, comics, or any other form of storytelling, the rogues gallery is often as interesting as the protagonist.
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You have to hand it to Hasbro for including a variety of characters in its first assortment of the relaunched GI Joe. They could have gone the easy route and populated the series with a cookie cutter set of guys in one shade of green with nondescript weapons and little to no character. As we’ve already seen, the Joes were
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By Past Nastification The original Cobra Mortal figure was a repainted Snake-Eyes figure for Argentinian kids back in the early 80’s. In 2006, the GI Joe Collectors’ Club made this version. Aside from the arms (which are the ’83 swivel-arm battle grip version upgrades for the American figures using that style of arm) and the waist (an ’86 Roadblock one),
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By KansasBrawler Not every figure in a multipack can be a winner. In the Extreme Conditions: Arctic set, the weak figure is the Viper listed as a heavy weapons specialist. The figure itself is decent, however, some of the decisions Hasbro made with it mean it doesn’t work well as an arctic figure. If this were a regular heavy weapons
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What’s Zap got going for him that’s not inherently cool? He’s different from the other team members and carries the most devastating weapon in the group. Who else can take out a tank all by his lonesome (aside from Sunbow Storm Shadow)? He also almost got his own unique head mold, complete with what would have been the Joes’ earliest
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Personalities were as big a part of the 80s GI Joe reintroduction as the toys themselves. Thanks to the three (and often divergent) tie-in media available as file cards, comics and cartoon, kids were treated to characters that had some definition beyond the plastic. Don’t get me wrong, the development wasn’t equal, as the older guys and gals were often
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Simplicity of design is one of the great strengths of the 1980s Joe line’s first year. We’ve seen already that even with an economy of parts, Hasbro was able to create a varied group of characters. Despite the fact that several figures shared head molds, the toys still read as individuals. Simple changes in uniform color, hair color, and accessories
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If you had asked me who was my favorite Joe figure back in 1983, I would have said Flash. He’s still high on my list, but you can understand why things would change considering the constant release of amazing characters throughout the 1980s. Coming from the world of Star Wars, I imagine the mere concept of a guy with a
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