The ’86 Viper mold. A fan favorite design that continues to resonate to this day. It’s also a mold that’s been repainted more times than my uncle’s 1974 Monte Carlo. Speaking of the 70’s, what’s more representative of the horrid decor of that decade than brown and gold? I think Cobra Commander was pining for his days as a young
Read moreThe Sky Patrol figures’ packaging touted the “Working Silver Parachute” as a big selling point. Don’t get me wrong, attaching parachutes to toys and throwing them up in the air is fun as all get out. But for me, Sky Patrol is memorable for the figures themselves. Creative repaints, new interesting weapons and cool helmets come together to create what
Read moreThe 90’s began impressively for GI Joe with a lot of new characters and a plethora of accessories for many of the figures. Bullhorn is no exception. Just the mask and sniper rifle would have been good enough. But we got an actual bullhorn and a modular rifle, a first for the Joe line. Cool accessories all around. The character
Read moreEffects is one of those figures you dig out of your bin and say, “Oh yeah, this guy came out.” And that’s about all you can say about him. No cartoon or comic appearances, he’s just kind of—there. I have to wonder if this mold was even intended as a Star Brigade character initially. He looks more like an Eco
Read moreOne of the things I’ve always loved about the GI Joe line has been its ability to incorporate military designs and styles from different recent eras and somehow make them work. Dogfight’s look is influenced by a bygone era or fighter jocks in the mid 20th century. He doesn’t so much resemble a straight World War II pilot as he
Read moreLeave it to Battle Force 2000 to give us the absolute doofiest Joe ever, bar none. I don’t care how long the Joe line lasts, nothing will top this guy on the doofus scale. Now let me be clear about this, there’s a difference between bad and doofy. Stars and Stripes Breaker–bad. Dee Jay–doofy. It takes a special kind of
Read moreLet’s get the name out of the way first. According to his file card, Ice Cream Soldier’s code name is meant to be ironic, given that he’s a flamethrower commando. So you may ask yourself, “how did Hasbro think up such a stupid name? That’s just pure laziness calling him Ice Cream Soldier.” Well, suppress your nerd rage for a
Read moreThe end of the RAH Joe line produced its fair share of hits, misses and oddities. For me, the mail-in international force mail in set from 1993 was an odd, yet fun and eclectic mix of both characters and colors. As a concept, it’s a great idea, particularly after the foreign Joes released in ’91 and ’92. The four figures
Read moreWow, looks like someone spent a little to much time in the Dreadnoks’ tanning bed. I haven’t seen such an inhuman pallor since the talking General Hawk or Jersey Shore. Now that I think of it, Hawk was from the same sub-line as Road Pig here. What was going on in the Hasbro factory? Was the color mixer asleep at
Read moreWhere do Joes get their code names? Is it a meticulous process presided over by members of command, looking at a soldier’s personality back ground and accomplishments, and sometimes throwing in a pun here and there, or is it done on a peer basis, with the other Joes informally coming up with a nickname that just seems to stick? Sometimes
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