Back in the day, and this is in the early to late '80's, there were a lot of different toys one could get. Action figures were pretty big in my world, so it wasn't simply JUST GIJOE, even though GIJOE has become top dog for me by miles.
I had Masters of the Universe, Captain Power, Super Powers, M.A.S.K., Go-Bots, and Transformers. And it was really just a handful of each, but at the same time that handful was plenty enough to get many play adventures started. Oh, and Lego. And for the most part, I still have those. Plus various "other" toys, like a mix of Hotwheels and what not.
How did GIJOE win out over everything else?
Well, even with the cartoon advertising power behind many of these properties, and as much as I wanted (and still kind of do) them all. It was the price.
And it didn't help being located in a small, small, small town.
But price was, and really will always be, a big decision maker. I can remember looking at many items at one particular True Value store. The True Value was THE place for just about anything other than food or postal services. But as I was in there, looking at the prices, especially when looking at Transformers, GIJOE was really the more economical option for me.
For $3 or less, I could get a figure. Even then, cash would still pretty tight.
But also, selection was key. There were GIJOE figures there. I don't remember figures ever NOT being there. Heck, even going 15 miles away to the closest "bigger" town, the grocery store even had them. I remember a bunch of Tiger Force stuff on one particular visit there. Or the Sears catalog outlet store in the "bigger" town would have older stuff that didn't get picked up or something.
So really, while I had plenty of other toys and stuff, GIJOE edged them out in the availability and price areas.
Plus, they all worked in scale with what I had, too.
About HQ icebreaker
- icebreaker
- This is a very random bunch of thoughts based from my collecting of GIJOE: A real American hero figures and vehicles. Contained here are memories, experiences, recent thoughts, completely random thoughts, and other random things on top of that. While one company has made, and makes, our shared interests, we all add into that interest with our own creativity. You, the reader, will find many, many, excellent sites among the links to see what other GIJoe fans are doing, hit them up! For GIJOE stuff that is more random in topic, you'll find it here.