About HQ icebreaker

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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.

9.24.2012

Side adventures, Captain Power

Back in the day, we had Captain Power toys make it into the house.  While I'm pretty close to all 'Joe here at the HQ, I've mentioned some of the other toys that I've had previously.   And if things were different in real life, everything and anything would be getting collected probably.  (probably good things are not too different :O .)

Through Grandparents from the big cities, us small town kids eventually got possession of the VHS training tapes, two XT-7 jets, a Phantom Striker, a Power On Energizer, and an Interlocker.   We also had Captain Power, Lord Dread, Hawk, and two Blastaars for figures.  These figures and vehicles were a good scale for GIJoe.

Even at the height of my GIJoe collection (just prior to my draw-down), I was working Lord Dread (AKA: Dr. Taggart) into my HUGE JoeVerse of the time.  Dr. Taggart was to be good evil-scientist buddies with my VvV Overkill (who was going to be a lead B.A.T. builder, who was injured and near death, but "saved" by Dr. Taggart).        

Talk about the potential for a "robot rebellion" angle in my JoeVerse.  The Blastaar ground Bio Dreads would have been fighting alongside B.A.T.s of all kinds.  What GIJOE members would you have combat this threat?

Ah, but, like the real world robot rebellion, mine was cancelled, too.   It would have resulted in me trying to bring in more figures and vehicles for all sides for that.


Back in the day, Captain Power crossed over into the Joe realm more frequently.   Sometimes it was just to supplement Joe or Cobra, sometimes it was for one-off adventures.  Slipstream got to pilot the XT-7 Power Jet.  The Phantom Striker was sometimes an (almost) unstoppable super Cobra craft.

One thing is that we were often not home until the very tail end of the Captain Power T.V. show on Sunday mornings.  Grrrrr.   Plus, what our Grandparents brought us from the big cities is all we really had access to as we lived in such a small area.  (I can't recall anyone other kids having these.)


I still have the Captain Power stuff, it's not a lot, so it fit into its own Rubbermaid container.  One handle battery cover on an XT-7 has been long since lost, and the landing gear on both have slight stress marks.   The Dread vehicles have really held up well.

I'm not sure if I should keep these around, but it looks like they are very low on the selling market price side these days.  I might just have more fun with these around.

9.22.2012

Supplemental Arms

2005 at the GIJoe convention, Marauder, Inc. brought their first series of accessories to show and sell.   At that time, as I mentioned to Marauder on the show floor,  I had bought more of the new sculpt figures just so I could get a bunch of (to me at the time) cool rifles. 

I bought a couple of Marauder, Inc. weapons, though, to try them out.
That late Friday afternoon or evening during the convention weekend, I posed the Iron Grenadier much like this picture below in the hotel room:



 I was hooked.   I went back the next day and bought enough to arm all my convention set Iron Grenadiers and Iron Anvils.

Since then, over the years, I've acquired many of the offerings from Marauder, Inc.  I thought I would take a look at some of what I've got and share some thoughts on accessories and weapons that have become just about as much a part of my collection of GIJoe figures as the actual figures and original gear.

It all started with that pulse rifle in 2005 for me, really.  At the 2005 convention, Marauder, Inc. demonstrated their use of "secondary" weapons at the 2005 show, too.  The pump shotgun fit decently on the figures backpack, a concept of play I had not really considered myself. (however, I have not incorporated this style of play, still an interesting idea!)




One of the biggest selling points that won me over at the 2005 show was how the weapons were really designed to fit the classic GIJoe figures.  As I spent money buying "new sculpt" figures mostly for weapons back in '04/'05, many of the newer Hasbro weapons didn't slip into a classic figures hands the most..., well, comfortably.   I think the first wave of Marauder, Inc. really worked for fitting into good ergonomic design, more or less.

From the pickings that I got from the first series, I bought the 2nd series when that became available online.   And from here, my purchases were pick and choose.  As I share my gatherings with you, it will really be a mish mash of what I have today, encompassing what would be from the first five series of Marauder Inc. products (so, no "wave" or "series" ordering; a random showing is what you will see).  The best spot for a series by series, accessory by accessory review from here would most likely be GeneralsJoes.com  


In no particular order:

The M16 with grenade launcher.
A fairly basic rifle that really fits a classic figures hands well, this rifle has replaced the "leatherneck" rifle in my collection.  Recoil has pretty much been issued one of these on a regular basis, and Duke often had one when I had in my collection.





I believe the H&K (left) and MP5 (right) of some sort are below.  These weapons have very nice handles for figures with tighter hand grips, or hands you don't want to risk.  They also have nice stock lengths to more or less "wedge" the weapon into a "straight" shooting pose.   Big Boa ('87) often used the MP5 here.  The H&K has a very nice thin and small grip that enhances fun posing, too.


.

Here is a weapon that I thought was more suited to Sci-Fi for now, being somewhat realistic, but just a touch of, well, "sci-fi." 



While I haven't officially issued it to the Range Vipers, the 40mm grenade launcher is a really nice weapon.  I could almost call it one of my favorite offerings so far from Marauder, Inc.   This weapon has been getting passed around to many figures.  It has a great handle system, and after watching a real 40mm grenade launcher in action, a very realistic and effective flavor.



Back in the day, pistols were no where near my favorite.  Like Hawk's ('86) pistol, or even Low Light's ('86) uzi.   Unlike the rifles with a stock that could "straighten" out a figures shooting pose, pistols always looked odd since the hand curved and the elbow would bump out.   The uzi here has pretty much become part of my Snake Eyes official gear, mostly for that little short lower stock part at the rear.



I think this is an M4 with shotgun (before the Marauder, Inc. "modular" began).  It just feels like it fits Snake Eyes with the shotgun (close quarters combat), but also gives Snake Eyes more of a "long arm" for general combat.


The "Megatron" pistol was a must.  I bought two for Tomax and xamoT originally.  I removed the trigger guards for better playability.  Currently, Major Bludd has them both.   The extended arm stock really helps make this gun more playable.  Major Bludd looks good with them, I think.



Here is one of the first SAWs, which has been a general use weapon.  Sometimes I've had Sgt. Slaughter slinging a pair of these, sometimes issuing a Viper one.  Either way, no one figure has gotten issue of these.  It's 5.56mm by my estimation, and an upgrade of the M16.  A nice weapon, with removable ammo.


Of course, when I had my Oktober Guard, the natural armament was Soviet-style weaponry.  All of them are really neat and the design lineage really carries through visually.  The RPK was  small let down when the drum kept falling out, but glue is always an option.   I'm currently unsure if Cobra will get these, perhaps these will just be weapons randomly pulled out on a whim every so often.



A few other weapons that I like that haven't been officially given to any particular figures are the M60e3 (I think).  The M60e3 really feels beefy and fits figures pretty good, the stock is thick and really feels like an M60.   The pistols both have nice grips, the "socom" style pistol feels sort of espionage-like to me, it gets passed around.  The machete is simply excellent.   The 'machine pistol' is kinda out there, too, but it really fits figures hands well.  While I'm not a fan of the rearward ammo clip on most weapons, this 'machine pistol' is really usable.



The pump shotgun has mostly been owned by my handful of Headhunters, while Headman keeps classy gangster with a tommy-gun, drum included.  (ok, probably not my most "original" weapon issue.... ;) )



I was thinking of giving Headhunters the big assault shotguns, but the big shotguns work best with the modern figures I think.   I'm hoping the AA12 in the newest series works for my Headhunters, too, but I have yet to sample that one as of now.






Cobra got one of the nicest rifles, and definitely what I would consider one of my favorite Marauder, Inc. products.  The NVR:



This is a very cool rifle, and even with the "basic" modular model available, I think I prefer the original NVR the most. 



Of course, since the 2005 convention, the NCM rifle came out.  The "pulse rifle" has become a light weapon of sorts, and since Destro is at the forefront of battlefield technology, the NCM is now the standard long arm for my Iron Grenadiers.


Overall, great accessories for my GIJoe collection, and with the expansive offerings, Marauder, Inc. really becomes a collectible series by itself.

What you've seen me mention here is a bulk of weapons I've incorporated, and there's still a few others I didn't get a chance to dig out yet.   I hope to be getting some more things sorted soon so I can get some more weapons, too. 

9.12.2012

when old sites go down

I've been checking out GIJoe sites since sometime as early as 1996, but this became more and more as the years went on, and I think 2000 was probably when I really started reading forums.  And then 2001 and 2002, I joined some boards.

The old Devils Due boards were often a flurry of activity, especially as the new revamped adventures of GIJoe in comic form were starting at that time.  And then Sgt. Savage branched out.  And so on and so forth.

A lot of that is gone, a lot of the old discussions.  Little things, but it was fun.

I guess I was just thinking about this, as it seems like the forums have been very, very quiet lately.  Maybe everyone went to facebook, or maybe there's a new forum where all the activity is.

Maybe it is the lack of a movie, or new toys coming out that contributes to things being more quiet, too?

9.08.2012

The BAT II

Had a quick spike of back in the day flashback when I was looking at a picture of the BAT II.

Further back in the day, I had a BAT v1, I'm not sure if I have mentioned that figure in my old-school (more) childhood collection musings.   That figure ended up with a broken crotch along the way, and possibly one of those backpack pegs that held the arm attachments snapped at some point.

Alongside Serpentor, the BAT fought against Joe with Sea Slug, Strato Viper, and Motor Viper, to name a few.

Well, when I bought the BAT II off the shelf back in the day, that was like a super BAT to me.  I thought the gun attachment was great, very large bored and heavy feeling, and the hand attachment was very nice so I could use normal GIJoe accessories in both hands.

Now, in the realm of the action gimmicks that have come and gone, the BAT II has one of the better uses, I think.  The BAT II backpack/ rocket launcher was also a hand attachment weapon, which still held the other attachments while it was connected to the arm.

I still think that is cool.


But not only that, I thought the BAT II had a great design, it was much more slim feeling, a few more robotic looking panel features, but with a smaller hologram sticker and smaller faceplate and other features, it definitely seemed more upgraded and advanced from the 1986 BAT.

I thought the internet exclusive BAT pack was great, when the BAT II mold was repainted like the original 1986 BAT.  I just wish they had had the backpack, one of the few instances where I actually wanted an action gimmick.  Huh.

The inferno BAT did not blow me away, though.  I think the simple inclusion of a flame-thrower set of accessories with some fuel tanks would have been much more interesting for that concept.


Ultimately, in my slim-down of figures, the BATs were totally removed from the line up.  This decision came about due to my own concept of simplicity.   I felt like if I were to maintain a BAT arsenal, it would almost need a maintenance crew, and a delivery vehicle of some sort.  (Hotwire is an elusive character/ figure, etc.)

And then there was the decision on how advanced my BATs would have been.  Would they be fully automated like a Terminator?  Would they move fast, or are they slow heavy mechanisms?  Would they be unstoppable semi-armored metal monsters?   Or would they get easily tripped up and burst into flames with a bump?


(And how would the Overkills fit into it all?)


The answer all came to keeping it simple.

9.02.2012

Battle Stands pt.2

Sorting out my battle stands was easy when it came to the accessory pack stands from the 1980's, and the battle sets, as well as the more colorful stands from the "battle corps" line.

I was able to pull out the black stands with the "1992" date stamps from amid the rest of the black stands.  The red 2006 "Viper Pit" red stands were easily separated from the pile, too.


It pretty much came down to the black battle stands with the "1988" stamp this morning.  I had already separated the softer plastic black stands with a short drop test on my little table, the sound was easy to find those in the mix.  I suspect, and this is totally a guess, that these softer black battle stands are from the figures that I bought from the 1997-1998 series.   (The number of stands is fairly close to the figures I had, too.)


From here, it was all the hard black battle stands.   I suspect that all of these, with "1988" date stamps, were all from figures from 2000 through 2006, or so, that I had.

I never really took a close look at these over the years, but I think it is interesting since I don't know exactly which came with which, you know?  I've long considered a figure "complete" that is loose with accessories, but no battle stand, you know?  


So, what I found, are black battle stands that are hard plastic, have some cavity numbers on them that could help.  I can't find a discussion thread that may give me more clues.

I have a straight "1988" date stamp, with the "made in" on it.

Then, there is a mold cavity that has a "1."
as well as a cavity with a sideways "1," with just a few of these.

Then there is a mold cavity that has a "3."
as well as just two with a cavity that has the "3" sideways.

Then there is a cavity "4"
as well as a cavity with a sideways "4,"

Then there is a cavity "5."   (there are NO sideways 5's, though...)

Then it jumps to a cavity "8."
and as well, a sideways cavity "8."

So, there's 10 different black battle stands, mostly the same except for the print on the bottom that I can see.  

I'm guessing that stands with NO cavity number came from the 2000-2001 figures.

Anyone know if there is a certain pattern to stands from the GvC figures and on?

random thoughts

I decided to bring back two characters into my little JoeVerse, Cutter and Wild Bill.  I'm not really doing any "sea" battles, but that USCG background that Cutter brings really adds more overall service branch representation to my little Joe team.  Wild Bill is pretty much a pilot, but I figure since I'm kind of on the path to making my Joe team more mobile with helicopters, this makes sense as a need.   (Dogfight and Updraft could use some assistance, and we have 20+ guys to move around afterall.)  Of course, I don't have a helicopter for Wild Bill, yet.

I have a '90 (General) Locust that joined the Tomahawk.  It's an armed transport and mini-gunship duo, but I'm not 100% sure I really like the Locust.  It's a neat little helicopter, and it is kinda the GIJOE 'little bird' if one thinks about it, but mine has floppy side guns, and a floppy tail fan.  I like it over the Skyhawk and those variants, since fuel-consumption and simplicity are essential to my make believe nomadic self-supporting team (jet engines burn more fuel...).  

Should I think about a Mudfighter or a Skystorm?   I'm thinking three aircraft would be plenty overall, one transport, one ground attack, and one somewhere in between.  (I feel like I asked myself this question previously....)   This Joe blog has a nice picture of a trio of 'copters.  Maybe I should go this route?


With the addition of two figures, I am up to 30 GIJoe team members.  I was setting myself at 28, I do have one figure kind of on the chopping block, but should I up my team to 30?  Break my own little rules already?

I was hoping to get a Flint and/or Stalker on my team, they just didn't make it originally since I liked other figures, the actual design and all of other figures, more than the versions of Flint and Stalker that I did have.  So, until I identify versions of those two figures I like, they are on the back burner for bringing in for sure.

That's about random thinking today.