Imagine making the Steel Brigade cool. I wouldn’t have thought the old create your own Joe figure to be high on Hasbro’s make list, but obviously someone had a soft spot for the old mail-in. The figure has been done in a way that pays homage to the original while putting a bit of a new spin on it. That’s
Read moreToday I got a message from Dave of the Flag Points podcast. He said, “You should review a Joe micro figure!” Well, believe it or not, I don’t have any on hand. So he sent a pic. Seeing the tiny little guy in front of the original figure made me think of the old Marx toy soldiers (the progenitors of the
Read moreI can’t lie, I think this is Airman John, the pilot character in Remco’s GI Joe wannabe, American Defense, but I can’t be sure. The mold was repurposed many times for the line and its offshoots. Just off the top of my head, Remco also produced US Forces, American Force and US Military using the same group of molds. There
Read moreThe battlefield accessory concept was another brilliant piece of marketing for the Real American Hero line. For a small price point you could provide your troops with an added element of play. While the cannon, machine gun and missile unit sets were cool additions to my arsenal, I particularly enjoyed the small base type emplacements. The Cobra bunker is somewhat
Read moreThis is my first post as part of Cool and Collected’s League of Extraordinary Bloggers project. This week’s assignment was “Take a trip to anywhere in pop culturedom. What fictional town, time, or world would you want to visit?” Naturally, I chose a GI Joe related locale. Because the property had separate continuities in the forms of a cartoon and a
Read moreThe Renegades cartoon really grew on me. At first, I thought the designs were odd, but that opinion was based on a few drawings posted online. Once I saw the animation itself, I found myself liking the new style. It was something different. The same goes for the storyline and characters. It wasn’t a rehash of what had come before,
Read moreTalk about frustrating. How can a toyline go from presenting a pack of great, seldom seen army builder remakes (with all their accessories present to boot) to an abominable set like the Heavy Assault Squad? Whatever the excuse was: limited molds, rushed schedule, etc., I would have rather seen some of the Python Patrol set peppered into later offerings. The
Read moreFirst there was sailor Shipwreck, then diver Shipwreck, then deck hand Shipwreck. With this Toys R Us exclusive “movie” figure came Deadliest Catch Shipwreck. I don’t know whether he’s on a mission, or just on leave fishing for Alaskan king crab. He’s decked out in arctic gear, but I just can’t help but see old Shippy on a deck somewhere. His weapons
Read moreI’ve become fascinated with the period following the end of the Real American Hero line. I can remember when the announcement was made that the old line was ending, but a new one was coming. While Sgt. Savage may not have been the ideal replacement for twelve years of small Joes, I gave it a chance. Though scale, articulation and
Read moreWho would have figured that Metal-Head would get the remake treatment at the tail end of the Real American Hero line? I suppose it was to be somewhat expected, considering his prominence in the DIC cartoon. Speaking of which, although he was quite the goof in that series, I found him to be a bright spot in what was an
Read more