When you think of GI Joe, you usually think of epic batttles, bullets (or lasers if you’re watching the cartoon) flying and heroic daring-do. There’s also a part of every military organization (or any organization) that does its job day-in day-out outside of the spotlight and glory. I’m talking about support personnel. For every person in the field, there’s ten
Read moreGreg Scott was a brilliant scientist who designed robotic suits. His lab was attacked by Destro, his technology stolen and he was left for dead. And you thought you’ve had bad days at work. So the Joe team finds him and uses his own tech to “rebuild” him. Now he’s a cyborg. I wonder if when they turned him on
Read moreHave you ever seen a snow ninja? How about a snow ninja who wears a samurai helmet? How about a snow ninja who hails from Hollis, Queens, NY? How about a snow ninja from Hollis, Queens, NY who also wears high top sneakers? Well, you’ve seen it now. This is Bushido, the Ninja Force’s snow ninja. Why does the Joe
Read moreThe last year of the Joe line was a strange affair. Hasbro tried changing a few thing up a bit, like the card design, but it was ultimately too late. The toy world at that point had moved beyond the small Joes. Hasbro just couldn’t catch lightning in a bottle again, no matter how many concepts and tweaks they tried
Read moreI bought my first GI Joe vehicle back in 1983, the Falcon glider with Grunt. It was basically a foam glider that was counterweighted by attaching the figure to the harness. Naturally it was fragile and quickly broke, but it did fly well, and it was a fun toy while it lasted. Fast forward to 1991 and Hasbro’s release of
Read moreThe Ice Viper, driver of the Cobra WOLF is an interesting figure for the time, considering the accessories included: a helmet and two sais, extra acessories that set him apart from the usually weaponless drivers. I never really understood why he came with tradtionally martial arts weapons. Maybe he uses them as ice picks. The WOLF was a fast attack
Read moreHow is it that in 1991 the UK and Europe got a cool repaint like this and we in the US got a neon skinned Road Pig? Spirit is still one of my favorite vintage Joe molds, and this repaint is endlessly intriguing to me. I’ve never seen an explanation as to the origins of this figure. Other countries did
Read moreToday it’s not one, but two figures and a vehicle AND the most pathetic looking T-Rex in toy history. It’s no stretch to say that kids have always loved and will always love dinosaurs. Hasbro, in the midst of a decline in Joe’s popularity, was trying anything and everything to boost sales. It seems as if every hot topic and
Read more1987–the year presented more whacked out Cobra characters per capita than any previous year. While the 3 3/4″ Joe line started out mostly as a military line, the weird Cobra characters started coming in 1983 and got progressively weirder through the next few years. Cases in point: Destro, Zartan, Tomax/Xamot and Serpentor. I can handle an arms dealer with a
Read moreThe character of Zap, a bazooka soldier, was one of the Joe team’s original members. The first group of Joes released in 1982, usually referred to as the “original 13,” were made up of simple molds, many of whose parts were shared among the figures. Simple paint schemes set this first group apart from later releases; most were simply a
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