I was going through each year and setting up every figure, as well as pulling out other versions from other years for about an hour or more at a time. For 1988 here, I'm shifting gears and just taking a picture of the figures that may not make the cut to remain in my collection (if the need so arises...).
As always, reference the 1988 GIJOE Archive at YoJoe.com. And right away, I already forgot a figure in the picture above, and that's Charbroil, the flamethrower.For some reason, I wanted all the flamethrowers for awhile, I'm not sure why. Where imagination meets reality, though, I don't know if I need flamethrowers as an exclusive specialty. One could make a small "sub-team" with the few flame-weapon specialists that are available, but I found them very useful in a hazardous-material team role. In that Haz-mat role, the flamethrowers could be self contained and be some of the guys that could remain in a hostile environment. Airtight can't do it all himself, can he?
But ultimately, the bulk of future imaginary adventures will most likely not involve this scenario, so Charbroil might be out only a small percentage of the time compared to many other figures.
The normal, regular use of a figure is why I have Lightfoot up in my possible trade-outs. This figure actually came from my best bud back in the day, and overall is a neat figure. An explosives expert is always very handy, and very realistic to have on my future force. But, like Charbroil, how many adventures can I see this figure partaking in? In thinking back over the years I've had this very figure, Lightfoot has been in my hands for 20-some years now, and the most notable use I made of him (that I recall now) is that of a member of my demolitions specialists on my Security team. If you look at that picture, Lightfoot is driving. (barely noticeable). Cool as the figure is and sentiment aside, he's on the list of potential outs....
1988 Storm Shadow was my very first Storm Shadow, and that's my original one up in the photo. A figure that's been in my collection since, well, almost forever it seems. Of course, with this figure now, Storm Shadow is a "good guy." That file card confused me some back in the day, and since it essentially had the man as a friend of Snake eyes now, that is how Storm Shadow played out in my GIJOE collections imaginary adventures. Best buds essentially, a lot like the Marvel comic book in most ways.
However, I think the end of the Marvel run left me out in the cold with no resolution other than that Storm Shadow was brain-washed back to how Cobra was back in 1984. I suppose that is one solution to resetting a lot of things that happened over 10 years of stories..., brainwash them! I haven't gotten the newest comic continuation of this story, I'm waiting for a graphic novel so I can have them all at once.
Devils Due didn't help me feel Storm Shadow out much, either. He was bad, then good, then something, then good. And then even "online" interaction where (and it's all good) some people have Stormy stuck in '84, and others more like me have him "good," well, that bouncing alignment of factions pretty much influenced me a lot. I've put Storm Shadow into a rogue role which THIS figure pretty much summarizes. A not-so-clean-white ninja, and then I scraped off his Cobra logo, and now Storm Shadow has pretty much been out on his own.
So, if Storm Shadow is not a team player, I most likely won't try to incorporate him onto my team with this 1988 figure. However, I would really like to see a "commando" version of Stormy someday.
Spearhead is a nice figure I got in trade in about 2004 or so. I haven't used the guy much, but he's got some things going for him. Most notably, I used him in my Desert Patrol. The orange doesn't bug me. I think he would look good with the Desert Fox, too.
I'm just not sure if I will use this figure much in the future. He might get recalled back into the "keeps," but this is one guy I'm on the fence with.I'm considering making up a "bull" number of figures I can allow myself to keep, too. If I can only have, let's say 50 figures, Spearhead might not make the cut, simply since there may be other figures I would rather keep. If I make a rule like this up, it could be an actual collecting goal, which I've never had.
Budo is a guy that's been in my collection just as long as 1988 Storm Shadow. He's one of what I call my original team members. He's a heck of a cool Samurai, and his Haiku is one that I memorized early on. But, really, do I need a Samurai?
When I was departmentalizing my entire GIJOE team, putting figures that fit together with others into patrols and whatnot, Budo pretty much got stuck in the tank bay with Quick Kick as a trainer.
That's it. So, sentiment and cool aside, he's actually a little easier to put on the trade-out list.
Windmill.
Well, I have tried to like the guy. When I had a larger motor pool, in particular when I had more helicopters, I simply needed more people! In my planning just a few year ago, though, I didn't figure in the fact that I was just one person... setting up an entire squadron of vehicles for battle began to take on a job of its own.
This mass of movement and set up figures into why I kind of wanted less of a motor pool, and now I'm finding I don't need ALL the people to get my smaller force into action. Windmill, well, he's probably one of the easiest to kick out of my collection.