New joes, Jinx and Lady Jaye

New toys in the house.  That's a thing that's been on the rare side in these parts, well, for me, anyway.  I bought the "junior joe" his own Eaglehawk as I found that Toys R Us (online) had them marked down, and they finally had that yellow Jinx in stock.

It was interesting watching the "junior joe" build his Eaglehawk.   There wasn't much building to any of the other GIJoe vehicles that have made their way to his HQ previously.   No other toys really have this build up at our level, either, only Legos are the only things "built" here.     It didn't look easy on some parts, but that comes more from smaller hands.   Plus, there was never any "snap" in place sounds to let  us know that parts were together.   I did one forward engine cover to help out, the "junior joe" did the other side, but still wasn't able to finagle one of those two hinges on.   And I was a little concerned the canopy hinge might snap if it was forced in, but I ended up helping out on that one, too.
We'll see how this Eaglehawk holds up under "junior joes" battle conditions....


But finally, I got that Retaliation Jinx (yellow).    I kind of like the look of a few modern-ish figures and want to mix things up a little, but I could never find one of these locally (or any 'joes, for that matter) and only recently did I find that it was available for ordering online (I wasn't searching that hard online, but still never came across any in stocks until now).

I also bought  Retaliation Lady Jaye, as I liked the Renegades Scarlett, and wanted that character represented by a figure, well, it was one I was going to get before but was just waiting to find Jinx at the same time.

I like both figures well enough, and I am impressed by the amount of gear across the board with these two, mostly with Lady Jaye, though.   That figure is ready to rumble.  I really like the bazooka, I did not know it separates as well as the ammo being removable from the backpack.  Too cool.

Jinx looks pretty cool, being in yellow, it kind of adds some new life to an otherwise static looking group of figure characters.   A lot of familiar weaponry that says "Jinx" with the twin swords and staff, too.   I'm a little disappointed by the figures hands, however.  Things pose fine, but fall away under movement really easy.    (And I don't think I can make use of the zip cord.)


These two join the ranks along Scarlett and Agent Helix, as well as Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow for "my" modern GIJoe team.

25 versus 50

I understand the 25th anniversary ARAH line, 25 years the ARAH themed GIJoe.  I really liked the 15th anniversary Toys R Us product at the time more, but that's something else.  But that was in line with the 25th anniversary in ARAH years.    The 50th anniversary brings the original, truly vintage in my opinion, GIJoe, but I haven't seen much news on THAT 'Joe in ways of celebratory product.  There might be, I don't know.

Is it confusing to the average joe consumer, where the 25th was just, what, 7 some years ago, and now it's at 50th?     I thought one of the more memorable GIJoe anniversaries for me was the 25th anniversary issue of Marvel GIJoe 86.   I liked that, it added to an overall universe, and tied things together.   That was in the "whole" GIJoe brand, some is just "arah."

It kind of starts coming back to the "versus" in eras, styles, sizes, and everyone has their own favorites.  Mine is obvious, I'm old mold.  "Outdated" apparently, as I have gathered from reading in some online discussions.   

Overall though, there isn't much in the 50th anniversary product line up that draws me in.   The strong point for me is the vehicles offerings.   I like the look of those, mostly that new old VAMP and Night Landing Craft.   I would have liked some steering wheels, or a new chassis design on the old VAMP, but it is what it is.


However, does history repeat itself?

After the TRU "15th anniversary" line, there was a follow up in 1998.   In 2000, the collector series started up and soon another generation of "newsculpt" themes and sizes came out across the board.  

I don't know the background to the reasons for all this evolving and ending as it did, but, it kind of all led to a little off the shelf period for GIJoe again.

And then back with the 25th anniversary in a new format, with from 2007 through just a short time ago really led to another whole generation of GIJoe with many themes, and then it kind of got quiet, again, more at retail, which is my realm of toy exposure.

Do you think the new, fairly limited in scope release of the 50th Anniversary is the beginning of something new?  Will 2015 be the year that another direction for GIJoe takes shape? 


And of course, I totally glossed over everything that happened right before 1982 right there.  Does that show my age, or perhaps an inability to evolve into something new?   Since I didn't really evolve, and with pretty much 2 generations of product that I sort of stayed away from, am I extinct? 

Do I need new product to keep my small collection fresh and fun?





I guess I'm kind of just out there, a little lost, what's next for GIJoe here?