I’m man enough to admit that I loved—loved everything about Serpentor in 1986. From the idea that Cobra would have an emperor, to the conceit that he was created from the DNA of history’s great leaders, to the super villain costume design, I was all-in for the character. The packaging art is suitably accurate to the figure and vehicle inside,
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My first exposure to this set came in the pages of Lee’s Action Figure News and Toy Review magazine. I still have that particular issue, the first toy magazine I had seen on a newsstand–well, a comic shop stand to be exact. So is this the first example of the GI Joe line packaging a vehicle and “driver” figure together?
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Wet-Suit was one of my favorite figures from the 1986 series. Some of the reason goes back to the toy itself and its great accessories, some to the character in the Marvel comic, and some from the package art. Torpedo was one of the first Joes I bought in 1983, and the fact that an underwater Joe looked cool on
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There were cardbacks that I used to stare at over and over again as a kid collector. If there was one subject to which my eyeballs were often affixed, it was the Cobra Officer. I preferred the figure itself to the Cobra Trooper, and its more ornate details piqued my interest. Not to be too simplistic, but the Officer just
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I like almost everything about the short-lived and mostly forgotten Adventures of GI Joe 2010 line. The packaging did a fine job of trying to create a world for these toys. The only problem–no bad guys to fight. This particular set seems inspired by the modern take on the Mission: Impossible franchise.
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Yesterday’s post got me thinking again about 1987, and what a unique year it was for GI Joe figures. Some say that the Cobra strangeness represents a slide, but I find the year most intriguing in terms of the breadth of specialties and new designs covered. Psyche-Out was no doubt an odd figure to see back then, due to the
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It’s time for the last of our coverage of the 2015 50th Anniversary GI Joe product, and to start things off, we’re looking at the packaging for the Toys R Us exclusive Silent Strike set. I’ve not covered the packaging for the regular store releases, so I thought this final set might be a good chance to take a look
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Kicking off another 2015 exclusive, it’s the San Diego Comic Con Hasbrotoyshop Crimson Strike set. For the first time, I was able to pick up one of the large sets via Hasbro’s own online store. Amazing, huh? I guess either the demand wasn’t what it was in years past, or simply more product was produced. Whatever the case, it’s nice
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Now this is what the Power of Packaging feature is all about. The San Diego Comic Con exclusive GI Joe Kre-O set came as a surprise this year, considering that the Hasbro building block system seems to be on hiatus, at least in the US. The subject matter (Sgt. Slaughter) was also unexpected, considering what you often hear about the
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A apology is in order from this GI Joe collector. I’ve been remiss in covering new releases since the Retaliation figures left shelves. I don’t hit much of the recent Collectors’ Club offerings as I simply don’t have the scratch to buy them any longer. I haven’t picked up the Joe SDCC offerings from many of the past few years
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