Wolverine Driver (Code Name: Cover Girl)

Cover Girl’s figure doesn’t quite live up to her code name or to the reputation put forth in her file card as a stunning beauty. However, consider this is a figure produced in 1983, when female action figures weren’t all that prevalent, and the production techniques of the time didn’t lend themselves to the kind of detail and realism that

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VAMP Driver (Code Name: Clutch)

When you think of a GI Joe “driver” figure, your mind probably goes immediately to Clutch, the famous man behind the wheel of the VAMP, the first series Real American Hero’s general purpose ground vehicle. The concept of a vehicle with an included action figure was a brilliant piece of marketing, and something that have Hasbro a leg up against

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Cobra (Code Name: The Enemy)

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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Cobra Officer (Code Name: The Enemy)

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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Ultimate Battle Pack Cobra Commander and Trubble Bubble

By KansasBrawler Hasbro made some pretty great exclusives during the 25th Anniversary line. While I thought it was a bit overpriced considering how much of it was stuff I already had, the Ultimate Battle Pack from Target was pretty impressive. You got six figures, two large vehicles, one small vehicle and a JUMP pack. I couldn’t afford it at its

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Countdown (1994)

I thought Star Brigade was a neat concept–combat astronauts. Joe has had a long history with the US space program, and the Real American Hero era had its share of space adventuring before things went all-out sci-fi in 1993. Though the figures were a mix of spacesuit-adjacent molds, at least Countdown made it into the mix. Countdown was one of

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Cobra Officer Prototype

I grabbed this image way back in the 2000s from an eBay auction. If you were into collecting back then, you probably remember the plethora of auctions originating from China. Among these were pre-release offerings of figures that made it to retail, but more interesting were the toys we never saw on shelves. This Cobra Officer image was labeled as

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