By KansasBrawler When we were kids, Blaster was KansasBrother’s one Battle Force 2000 figure. From what he can remember, Blaster was a gift from one of the cousins who knew he liked Joes. I never really knew all that much about Blaster as a kid and I don’t think I ever knew his origin until I asked KansasBrother about Blaster
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By KansasBrawler Like I’ve said before, Battle Force 2000 wasn’t really on my radar much as a kid. KansasBrother had Blaster when we were kids and I eventually got Dee-Jay in 1989, but beyond that, I really didn’t know much about the team until I was in high school and started exploring the online Joe collecting community. As such, interesting
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By KansasBrawler As I said in my review of the BAT Squad Leader, I’ve always loved the 1991 version of the Cobra BAT. When the BAT Squad Leader was first revealed, I was excited because I thought that it was meant to reference the 1991 BAT I had growing up even if it didn’t have the color scheme I was
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The constants in GI Joe since the 80s are I think a large part of what keeps collectors coming back to new iterations of the line. The well-known characters are like a well worn ballcap, or a favorite couch. They just feel really comfortable, and we (at least guys like me) can be averse to throwing them away when they’ve
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This is kind of an awkward figure for me to review. I legitimately do like the design for the BAT Squad Leader. However, since it’s also the same design as the BAT v1.8, it leaves me just a little cold because I think this figure could have been so much more. I’ll be talking about this design at length when
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1980s GI Joe often gets the brunt of jokes about wacky uniforms. If I had a nickel for every time a (usually online) media outlet writer made an overly precious observation comparing the toy/cartoon cast to the Village People, I’d have a pretty hefty piggy bank. Yes—haha—the GI Joe team had several colorful characters within the ranks, and 1985 was
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By KansasBrawler Growing up, I always loved the Cobra B.A.T. and though I missed out on the original version, the 1991 version quickly became one of my most used Cobra troopers. I’m sure part of that was the cartoon’s influence, but I just thought robots were cool and the interchangeable hand weapons really spoke to my kid brain. While I
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By Past Nastification The modern era has given us new versions of Blowtorch. The first, from 2009, is a modern interpretation of the classic 1984 design. It’s packed with detail and sculpting. Plus extra gear that would indicate Blowtorch has some cross-training as a firefighter, which makes sense. Like many modern era figures, the added articulation doesn’t mean that the
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By Past Nastification Continuing from the 80s original, Blowtorch got a second figure almost 20 years later. I was delighted to see the new color set was a light brown uniform with gold armor and black accouterments. The gold is a little much, but I can live with it. This is a new sculpt era figure with some sculpting issues.
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By Past Nastification Based on his specialty, Blowtorch could have been one of the most fear-inducing characters of the GI Joe team. If you’ve ever seen any footage of their use in WWII, you know that flamethrowers are effective-but-vile business. Blowtorch has several versions over the last 30 years. But there are enough differences between some of them to provide
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