The limits of an older imagination

My personal challenge of choosing a 28 member team is a challenge. It's not easy. I already swapped out several figures for figures that were pretty much the final picks.

It's been a mix of sentiment, realism, accessories, specialties, "cool," "need," versatility, potential versatility, taking into account the "bad" guys they might face, rank, and all sorts of other little made up criteria.

I've even got a thing in my head where I don't want to break up some "friends" on the team. Yeah, that's how odd I am these days :p . (Skidmark and Wild card from there comic appearances, or Sci-fi and Lowlight from my own early days of playing with GIJOE, for a couple examples.)

And then there's a question as to the role of GIJOE that I ask myself. Where, to any generation and many different ages, GIJOE is something that is really different for each. Is it special forces, Delta? Is it just "army guys?" Secret agents? Is it a big massive force or small elite force?


And then after all this, as I think about all the little angles and missions I want my potential 28 member team to cover, I wonder if I painted myself into a corner with what I picked out? Or by what I limited myself to?


I base my reasoning for choices through things that "are." Things that were in comics, or cartoons, or ideas bought out online, or even just the file cards.

Is my imaginary GIJOE team too limited by my own non-creative imagination?

Am I allowing what is portrayed in a popular (media, cartoon, comic) setting to direct my imagination?

How much of my own totally "made-up" stuff is going to stand up in the long-run to my very own imagination? I've never been one that really just makes up something out of nowhere without some sort of basis to do so.



One thing that I feel pretty good about on my challenge of trimming back to 28 team members is that it has been a lot easier to move 28 figures around and set them up.

With 28 figures, I did a little sub-divide for roles lately. 5 groups of five, essentially.

One group is the super-commando infiltration and assault group, kinda called the "gray" team.

Another is the "green" team, which is mostly "army guys," in many ways. The infantry, more or less.

Another is the "heavy weapons" team. I didn't give them a color, maybe brown? The big guns, essentially.

And then there is my security forces division, which I guess could be the "blue" team, essentially the SWAT/ M.P. intelligence/ investigation area of things.

And then my vehicle-based team. If I use a color to describe this 5-man team, what should it be? Red? Essentially a mix of armor and wheeled vehicle drivers that are just as effective on the ground as in the vehicles themselves.

The other 3 are essentially the pilots that help move these guys around, as well as General Hawk, himself.


Back in the day, Hawk was gunning alongside Low Light, Sci-Fi, and (TF) Frostbite. As per the file card, I'm bringing Hawk back down to the basics from where he came in my collection. Instead of commanding from some room or playing with Defense Department "chiefs," Hawk is the man with the plan, and he leads from the front. And wherever in the the front he wants.