Starduster (1987)

<Munch munch> Oh, hi again! Sorry, you just caught me finishing up my last box of GI Joe Action Stars cereal. It was pretty dry, but I think all that added sugar must act as a preservative. Anyway, I just slathered it in plenty of milk and it wasn’t too bad. Now I can get on with sending away for my free

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Scarlett (1982)

The cynical may consider female Joes “tokens”, or out of place in a boys’ toy line, but it’s refreshing to consider that despite the conventional wisdom of “boys don’t want to play with an icky toy girl”, Hasbro still thought it important to include a female character amongst the Joes from day one. Though there haven’t been a large number

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Storm Shadow (1992 Ninja Force)

In 1992, the sub-group mania begun the previous year continued, as two new groups appeared on toy shelves, the Drug Elimination Force and Ninja Force. Like the other groups, each one featured both packaging and action features different from the main line releases. The Ninja Force burst on the GI Joe scene with shockingly bright hot pink packaging, “real ninja action” and soft

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Scrap-Iron (1984)

In 1983, Airborne was one of my favorite figures. The sculpt, accessories and colors worked together to create a figure that was so different from my previous team which consisted of Flash, Grunt and Snake-Eyes. When I got Scrap-Iron in ’84, I noticed that certain parts of him looked–familiar. I knew that the first series of Joes looked alike, but

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Python Copperhead (1989)

“The COBRA PYTHON PATROL is an elite unit of troopers that have been handpicked from various COBRA VIPER units. They are specially trained and equipped for stealth and infiltration missions. They wear camouflage uniforms to mask their presence, which confuses GI JOE radar detection systems.” Made up of old figure and vehicle molds, it’s easy to be cynical and say

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Duke (1993)

So here’s yet another version of the Joe team’s top sergeant. Duke garners mixed feelings amongst collectors, whether they consider themselves fans of the comic, the cartoon or even just the figures. Some can’t stand him and consider him a usurper of Hawk in the comics. I’ve never really had a big problem with Duke, and I don’t necessarily see his presence

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Tracker (1991)

1991, the year I got back into Joe collecting, was also sort of the birth of my adult geekdom. It began for me with the release of Heir to the Empire, the Star Wars novel that appeared to be the sequel story we had never gotten. The sudden appearance of a new Star Wars book was exciting. Did it mean

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