1967 GI Nurse and 1997 GI Jane

While scrolling through the social media groups, mainly the "little" Joes groups, every once in awhile someone brings up "vintage" G.I.Joe.  In the "modern" G.I.Joe era post-"25th anniversary" style and size of things it is still pretty common for fans and collectors to be just as likely to be talking about the A Real American Hero years.

The really original 12" G.I.Joe is not as often brought up.  Someone brought up the 1967 GI Nurse, basically, asking if anyone knows anything.   I don't know anything.  But I do still have some older collector publications and magazines from back in the day.  I was just contemplating whether or not I should just toss these, too.

Anyway, I thought I would do a quick flip through the stack as I remember coming across something about the GI Nurse back in the day.   That's all I remember, and there could be many articles in this stack that has more information.  I found one mention alongside the 1997 upcoming release of GI Jane in this quick run through the Toy Trader stack.

I thought I would do a quick scan, it wasn't exactly much of a GI Nurse figure examining article, but I thought it might be interesting just to bring more G.I.Joe information to the topic.  The article is from the perspective of the Barbie collecting realm, so staying in scale, and the article stating that GI Jane is only the 2nd G.I.Joe female figure, I can see with the internet collector culture where some person on the internet will have an exploding head and start laying out something like, "but like totally Scarlett and Lady Jaye and Jinx, etc....."   On top of that, the article, originally printed in Toy Trader, which was a publication printed alongside Antique Trader, the article, while short, does mention other aspects of the world, such as what was happening in the 1960's.  When people in the group are interestingly vocal about the weird sci fi gun with Classified Roadblock, they might just lose their minds at the mere mention of "feminist" in the article or even make comments about how the GI Jane photo in the article is totally not a Marvel Comic skin tight looking costumed sexy helicopter pilot.

Anyway, after reading through the previous social media responses, such as, "the figure was a flop," I decided to not bother adding it into the discussion.  The original topic poster seemed to me to almost be wanting to know how much money he can squeeze out of whatever 1967 GI Nurse item he had come upon.   That's fine, too. 

There's value, no doubt, but the internet makes it seem like no one really wants to get in on a hobby or is really interested in learning more about something, rather is more interested in seeing how much it is worth.  Like some sort of quick flip investment.  (as I entertain the idea of building my collection to a larger size, the eBay prices and item conditions I find a little out of whack.

1993 Beachhead and 1986 Beachhead

 And some random Snake Eyes photos of my old collection.

That's what this is.

What do you think about this swap of Beachhead figures?

What was I thinking about Beachhead before?

The 1993 o-ring is in there and it feels maybe just a little too tight.  With my main 1986 Beachhead having a broken crotch, and this is one of the third of three Beachheads (at least) to pass through my hands that had a broken crotch, it's a figure I have wanted to tighten up.  With new crotch.  But for the money, it would be almost better to buy a packaged figure to better ensure a figure ends up coming off the ebay in good shape.  

The 1986 Beachhead head does look a little large but larger looking heads seem to be a 1986 thing.  The 1993 head is really not too far of a departure in style, it is somewhat just the addition of a helmet and goggles.   The much more blue blue-green of the 1986 figure would contrast with this simple pants swap, though.

Maybe I should just put the 1986 green arms on the 1993 body?


Just some style notes, does one pair of pants bring more to Beachhead?   The magazine detail from 1986 was moved to the inside of the pants leg on one side.

Over on the other side, one knife will do as a second pistol holster  replaced the other knife.

This is my second loose 1993 Beachhead, the first had some discoloration.  The pants green on the 1993 just seems so close to the 1986 green I had to try the swap.
The green on the 1993 vest and the head almost seem like it was painted on top of the blue and it end up more blue-green because of this.

The 1993 vest style does not improve on Beachheads 1986 vest for me. 

While the 1993 Beachhead launcher has some nice details, the accessories have almost no appeal to me today, even though that Spearhead rifle is one of my favorite accessories. 

And a couple of Snake Eyes pictures.  The HoodedCobraCommander788 review on the 1991 Snake Eyes made me wonder if that wasn't even my Snake Eyes seen here that I sold years ago.  That's the original string on my photos.  

That's one of those accessories that just rarely even came out of whatever storage configuration I had.  I'm even somewhat wondering what I doing when I took the pictures as appears to be in my old HQ's kitchen on a tray that was sitting on top of the microwave. 

I thought I would mention this here and as the photobucket turned into a pain that makes it not easy to get photos off the site, and I am thinking I have the pictures elsewhere here but with the changes in media storage and a hard drive death, it's a project of proportion to sort through it all now.

G.I.Joe Ninja Force Scarlett 1993

Ninja Force figures were not big favorites from back in the day for me.  Ninja Force Zartan, Slice,  Dice, and Night Creeper were the figures I bought off the pegs, however.   I didn't have a Zartan until that figure came out.  I may have bought Dice first and then Slice, but it is worth mentioning the Marvel Comic was still running and with both of them in the story and the obvious team the pair made might have succeeded on leading me toward the purchases.    That's how my desire to have a Night Creeper (1990) may have swayed me into buy the Ninja Force Night Creeper, however THAT Night Creeper figure was nowhere near as cool as the Marvel Comic depiction of the figure.
The 1992 Firefly was also somewhat new to me at the time,  Despite the neon green that figure did get quite a lot of use.   Just thinking back to that point in life sort of brings back the vibe of my collection at that point right now.

I did buy the Shadow Ninja Bushido and Nunchuks but these purchases may have been more due to being on clearance around the end years of the Real American Hero line.  I don't think they got much use.

With the more recent purchase from a local shop of stuff, I picked up the Ninja Force Scarlett.  The ninja action gimmick is broken.  This gimmick along with the yellow weapons tree along with the more drastic departure from the Marvel Comic Scarlett's look made it easier for me to choose another figure for purchase at that time.   The "combat togs" did not seem very interesting to me or the less articulation waist and legs.

The 1982 Scarlett figure has not been more appealing to me either to purchase over the years, either.  Something about the Scarlett character in the Marvel Comic and the Sunbow cartoon somewhat really made that image something I wanted in the figure.  The "new-sculpt" years "version 6" was maybe my first Scarlett figure, my memory might correct me on this later, but a 2004 figure for a character that has been close to Snake Eyes status in exposure highlights the characters absence in my collection and "joe-verse" for quite a long time.

I think that 2004 figure left the building when I decided to trim out all the "new sculpt" figures when I was doing some major collection trimming.

The 2011 G.I.Joe Renegades figures were starting to really appeal to me and I bought the "version 14" Scarlett.  That's been my Scarlett since but the "modern" figures that are few in number have remained mostly separate from my main collection.   If the Renegades quality of design that I liked had continued I would have jumped on the figures more.  I somewhat wish I had bought more of them when I had the chance but this is also the same with the "Pursuit of Cobra" years where there are some really alright figures that advanced past the first 25th Anniversary style change of figures that I found in the long term to be kind of clunky.

Anyway, so now I have an actual A Real American Hero Scarlett figure for the first time.  I can see the design reasoning.   It has the unitard style not unlike the 1982 design and instead of the pad on the shoulder it has some floating armor pieces.   I thought these armor pieces made the figure less and they just seemed like things that were not very functional for a character that was likely going to be getting into some physical hand to hand combat.

The boots seem alright but the knee pads, and this goes for many of the Ninja Force I suppose, just a little too Ninja Turtles.

The overall figure colors are not crazy, the lime green has been seen here and there through the Real American Hero line.  The gold of the armor pieces might be what is the part I dislike the most, though.

And there are those felt straps, I kind of like.  A little extra on the figures even if they serve no real function.  If the fabric could have been worked around the torso it could have been like the "modern" web gear, maybe figure interchangeable, maybe even a small accessory holster of some sort slipped in the fabric for holding swords?

I like the head sculpt, though.  I am not doing a lot with my collection these days but it has that tough Marvel Comic Scarlett look with the red hair and pony tail that has become sort of the "it is" look for the character that has built up in my head.   Plus I have seen nice custom figures with this head, so it maybe destined for another figure body that has been in my possession for 26 years for almost this very custom purpose.   It's one that I hope is a simple swap but the Ninja Force Scarlett body will mostly destroyed to get to that point.   Then again, I can't recall seeing any pictures of the insides of a Ninja Force figure ever.

The yellow accessories that were with the figure have little appeal to me.  Checking out the full tree photos online I thought it was interesting seeing two "claw" parts on the tree.  Most of the accessories on that tree I like, just not the color.  That was a major purchase decision for me back in the day, the figure with the all black weapons trees were more appealing.

I have to wonder if these accessory tree molds still exist somewhere.

 
I am somewhat surprised that the Collectors Club created so many "modern" figures that stuck so close to the original designs, even down to the colors.  These are the colors from the years that were supposedly horrible and yet people online will jump on these "modern" brightly colored copies.  

If I had had the power I guess I would have taken what was good about the design and made it so it came out better.

Old G.I.Joe thoughts

The G.I.Joe Mudbuster was mentioned on the Forgotten Figures facebook page.   The Mudbuster was a vehicle that I wanted to like a lot, I mean it is just a pickup and kind of a jeep like addition, but the lack of steerable front wheels and spring fire rocket accessories left me wanting more.

A better weapon on the rear turret post would have been the way to go and the elimination of the holders on the tailgate.  The bumper ram feature replaced by static under the engine launchers could have done the same spring-fired gimmick while hiding the bulky spring mechanisms.  The Mudbuster sat up high enough where this would have worked.

How many vehicles share the same amount of parts across the G.I.Joe line?

Here's three, and the Ice Snake shares a lot of the exact same parts as the Mudbuster.

These are all gone now but I like the Ice Snake more than the Mudbuster looking back.  There is a lot more bulk to the Ice Snake than it seems, and it has more of bottom, as much as it has no bottom on part of it.   The Ice Snake would have more value for me now.


I have to wonder how the 1990 Hammer wheels were picked for the 1993 Ice Snake and Mudbuster, though?

New stuff and Robo J.O.E.

 

The local shop got some new G.I.Joe items, which are all old G.I.Joe items, but since I have not been there in some months I thought I would see if there was anything I could use.  And there really was not anything that I really had to have.   But, to support local I went with some smaller items that may fit into my little G.I.Joe (mostly inactive lately) universe.

Of course, a little overpaying for what it is, and not all complete.
I did not dig out my official "where I got it from" folder to add these so they will be sitting out for some time.  Even though my vacation is over this week at the H.Q., and the other half of the command team discontinued outside employment activities, this will give me a reason to work on the lower level of the H.Q. as we slide through fall and into winter.

I may or may not pick up the actual Headquarters (1983) that is at the local shop as I do miss having that little base for setting up.  I didn't look at the parts as the shop was busy and priced in the higher range with broken jail cell tabs, but it also sounded like the culmination of two sets that the shop had acquired.   Maybe, we'll seem, right?

What I picked up:





I'll get to the rest at a later time for what interested me in them, but with Halloween not too far behind us I though Robo J.O.E. would be a figure that would fun to look at here.  Forgotten figures Robo Joe mentions my original thoughts on the figure from back in the day, a higher-priced figure with limited articulation; the Armor Tech figures.  I bought Destro being that it was Destro back the day, and Duke.

 

The cybernetic side of possibilities on a relatively blank slate character draw my interest.  Other than that, Forgotten Figures really describes the figure well.  Even just putting the accessories in the the hands of this Armor Tech figure brought back memories of when I bought that Destro and Duke back in the day.  Big solid fists that turn in arms that are articulated less than the '82 straight arm figures.  Waists that do not turn and shorter stocky legs that two points of articulation don't help.

Then again, in some made up fiction, maybe this is the best technology available to fix up the scientific engineering genius at that time.  The unnamed G.I.Joe scientists are still unnamed.  The exact background the Greg Scott laboratory, aside from "robotic battle armor" needed to fight in space is really an open ended story to explore.  In some ways, does this not seem like some RoboCop style of origin..., maybe G.I.Joe has more going on in the background that hasn't been seen?

Either way, the MOS: Criminal Termination

and the SMOS: Outlaw

has to be one of the more non-standard skill sets added to the G.I.Joe roster over the years.

The Jet-Tech Operations Expert, or J.O.E., was built with the remaining part of the Greg Scott laboratory plans after the Destro attack, too.   What does that mean?   (what can I make up with an older imagination?)

 

 

G.I.Joe Classified Destro

As you may know, the HQ here is located in a relatively sparse retail toy land.   A tourist-y slogan adopted for the HQ's home city was the "Middle of Everywhere" for a relatively short time.   That didn't stick, it would seem.

With no Toys R Us, K.B. Toys, Kmart, Shopko, and the like of retail brick and mortar stores that my older self would have been stopping at many years ago to look for new G.I.Joe stuff or toys in general, a lot of things have evolved at the HQ.

And of course, there was really no G.I.Joe to look for many years even if the locations still existed.

There is still Walmart and it is usually a place I do not frequent.  On one of these infrequent trips I stopped in the toy aisle as I like to see what Transformers are there.  I like the look of the non-movie Transformers that are easily the most popular ones at this store.   All the "live"  movie-based Transformers are the last ones to be bought as I've noticed.   So does that mean old fans like me are digging the more 1980's-like designs and buying them or that the kids actually prefer the more 1980's-like Transformers?   Either way, the HQ is doing better than years back and things are feeling more confident on that side of things, and while a Transformers collection is very tempting, I have been passing on purchasing any.

So on a second to most recent trip to the toy aisle here, I noticed a Masters of the Universe Prince Adam and vehicle package.   That one box was instantly appealing to me but with the 1980's-like Transformers not that far away it felt like a trip to the old Suncoast store at a mall 25 years ago.  Or even like that trip to a Hallmark store 20 years ago.   The vibe was that marketed nostalgia, like at either the Suncoast or Hallmark, there were more deluxe-packaged movie figures or figurines.  The Star Trek classic Enterprise Christmas collectible ornaments that have Spock's voice when you press a button.

Of course, this was modern Walmart, and the much smaller nostalgia vibe coming off the retail shelves was still surrounded on either side by slim-picking on pegs of things I have little interest in.

Anyway, the infrequent  random stop produced the sighting of Classified Roadblock, Snake Eyes, and Destro.  Three figures.   I don't know what is shipping in a case of these so you can read into what sold out of what could have been there before I got there to see what is the more popular seller at this location.

Me?   I was holding all three figures in my hand at first but then I didn't know if I would like them.  I mean, we are not getting one of these in my A.W.E. Striker.   But I did like the Sigma Six 8-inch figures, I somewhat regret giving up the few I had of those.  Sure, they didn't fit my vehicles, but they were very solid figures with lots of accessories.

So to try out the new tall modern I chose Destro.   Everyone has Snake Eyes and Roadblock had what looked like one gun.   At least Destro had two guns and a case.   And I am a bit more of an Iron Grenadier and Destro fan.



So the box is solid and the back has a lot of the same nostalgia and sentimentality of the mid-1980's in what feels like that Devils Due Productions G.I.Joe comic cover from around the year 2000.  The Red Ninjas are what give that vibe to me.   The Alley Vipers seem a little out of place, but these are those "later run" guys of old that the "anything past 1985 sucks" guys like.  The same guys who hate the "neon-'90's" and were "out of G.I.Joe by then" but for some reason love the bright orange 1989 Alley Viper figures. 

Other than that, the back of this box could have been put out on any package in the last 20 years and fit right in with just about anything that was put out on the retail shelf for G.I.Joe.  It's cool but I feel like I've been here before, many, many, many times, right now.

The amount of vehicles flying around make me wonder besides us older G.I.Joe fans and collectors will recognize many of them.   The kids that were buying the "25th" anniversary style modern figures and vehicles will possibly be jumping into nostalgia territory themselves now and a good number of those vehicles show up here.

The Wolverine, Bridgelayer, H.A.V.O.C., a M.O.B.A.T., and the weirdly added 1986 Night Raven pod haven't been seen in general for awhile.   (That looks like the Rise of Cobra-era Night Raven to me so that is why that pod looks weird to me.)

This side bar is the most interesting part of the package to me.  The new Cobra logo?   The dollar sign with the briefcase seems more fitting for Lego but the top and lower angled Cobra insignia give me the most "I have something new" that I am buying vibe.

We didn't get universal choking hazard warnings like this back in the day, did we?  I don't think we had any choking hazard warnings in the 1980's.  Did we?

Worst case is I have a fancy classic Cobra backdrop to put behind any figures if I ever get anything out.

So this is the modern edge of toy design manufacturing in the larger detailed scale.   A thing I liked right away was the absence of the tiny clear rubber bands that were posing so many figures in the packages over the last 20 years.  One piece of tape over the gold gun. 

The thrill of the new didn't hit me at all as I was opening this.   I like that black pistol, new and familiar at the same time.  The gold pistol gives a 1988 Iron Grenadier Destro nostalgia vibe.  The gray ribbed details on the shoulder and upper chest area feel Devils Due Productions comic -era to me.    The briefcase screams cheap Rise of Cobra accessory.

Back in the day for the kids that might read this, we had to check the upper inner thigh for a date stamp.   I was looking for markings and the feet are where they are at today.  Are these individually numbered?  I wonder with the white number on the left foot, do I have figure #601?

The head is really nice.   The camera snapped right onto the face here like it was a real person, this has not happened with any other toy that I snapped a picture of, so that was something interesting.   Unlike most of the 2007-present "modern" format 25th-anniversary figures, I don't mind the way this head sits on the neck joint.

The forearm metal gauntlets, I guess we will call them, really remind me of the Wraith figure.  Generals Joes has more on Wraith here.
I have that same vibe of these gauntlets falling off here that I do on that figure even though they are solid on this 2020 Destro.   Weird, isn't it?

The larger holster and belt still feels clunky to me like most of these type of details that were on the 4" modern figures for years.  That's a negative experience I had toward those years.   I've found myself preferring the molded details that while may be visually disjointed by physical form to be much more usable in an action figure.  Sure, they are dolls, as they were dolls back in 1964.  I don't feel the need to have life-like hair nor do I really want flexible straps.   Although the gun does fit the holster nicely.

I really was not a fan of the "25th anniversary" style of torso.   For me it isn't just about the "o-ring" but the torso ends up feeling more generic any figure line super hero fits here with this style of articulation.  The belt rides high and the hip bones feel like they were pulled down with that gap.   More posing ability but with this it almost calls for fabric pants to make it feel less skeletal.   One step closer to the original 1964 dolls, which could be a fun angle that we didn't get in the 1980's or 1990's.  Interchangeable gear.  And pants.  Not since what, the mid-'90's Hall of Fame figures did we have that?

For some strange reason I had higher expectations but this briefcase leaves me feeling empty.

All-in-all, not a horrible thing.
I almost feel like I would have been happier buying one of the Transformers.

I had to try it out, though.  It's got the flavor of stuff I did not like from the 25th-annivsary/ modern years but unlike those, this larger size with thicker joints might stand up to light casual shelf posing with out breaking.  (Yep, I've had more "modern" figures not make it through not very rugged play compared to the classic old molds.)

What do I do with it now?  I don't know if I want to buy more figures.  Will I have more imaginary adventures if I get them all?  Land of the giants vs 3 3/4 inch G.I.Joe missions?

 

random stuff

Instead of digging through the old photos and files, some of which might be on disks I don't have a drive for currently, I though I would pull some off the photo bucket and just slide here.

Old receipts

So, Forgotten Figures  made mention of missing Alley Viper figures in the 1997 Rage packages and that made me think about how I ended up getting a second of these Rages at a discount.  Going off memory I think it was $6.90.    Was I right? 

Anyway, after a little digging, I found the receipts from purchases.  There's no telling when these are going to just fade away from age or if everything will get destroyed and lost in a tornado or something. 

I tossed these on the scanner.   I made notes on some of these receipts maybe at the time of purchase or maybe even later when I was sorting and organizing at a later date.

Another local side project or interest area that I've kind of spent more time on is based largely on history.   I considered myself "okay" on local history and current local issues but the more I started to learn, well, I really didn't know a lot.   So, I started asking, and what better way to get the best answer than to ask the people who were there.

That's when I got two relatively different answers from two different sources that lived 2 blocks away from each other during the same time.  I had to investigate and a lot of the information was already out there.   Even the "historical" marker with dates is very misleading on the local "lake."

Putting it all together in a timeline and setting against a larger contextual background (such as, what was popular in a certain decade, or what was available for resources) has led me to take on a completely different view of the little lake bay that is just down the road from the HQ.

The interesting part to me is knowing the lake portion of the history of this city and then meeting people in person or in online history groups who will swear up and down that a certain thing was the way they remember it and when they remember it happening.  And then I can produce dated material and photos that say otherwise.