The lost web

 
Kicking around the wayback machine looking at some local history things, the thought of websites that have come and gone made me think more about what's lost and maybe still out there on the G.I.Joe side of things.

Like this shot from 2002 above.  That's 20 years already.  And the HQ is still nowhere near where I thought it would be 10 years ago, and nowhere near what I thought it would be like 20 years ago.

On the local history side one of the websites featured a photo with a recently departed neighbor that I didn't know back then.  But that hit me in the feels, as they might say.


But, yeah, the "web ring." 

Lots of stuff that might be here and even though it is in that G.I.Joe Vs. Cobra era that is like "new" to me, I'm definitely feeling some nostalgia.  Like G.I.Joe:Refiled.   I get this nostalgia feel but it still seems like this stuff just came out.

There might be some fun links to search through.

JoeSightings

JoeSightings is rocking live right now and that was a really nice surprise.  


A real world thing happening at the HQ thing has had me trying to figure out when I made a thing and anyway, I was wondering if anything on JoeSightings might still be on the internet.   From the old slots where users, like me, could put collection pictures, or that sightings index of where G.I.Joe was showing up at the "brick and mortar" was something I was definitely using.

But at JoeSightings it is really plainly explained out.   20 years, awesome!

My original G.I.Joe team

This is a revisit to a revisit type of a note.

What's the point where we go from, more or less, kids getting stuff to "collectors" getting stuff?

This "original G.I.Joe team" here is about where I was at.  Minus the A.W.E. Strikers in the background, of course.  I can't re-snap this photo as most of the figures are long gone, trimmed away for a more simple "edited" A Real American Hero collection that remains today.

The actual year that I "became" more of a "collector" was in late 1990 and into 1991.  Tripwire is a substitute for the 1988 Tigerforce Tripwire in the photo as well as 1985 Frostbite sitting in for 1988 Tigerforce Frostbite.

You can see how 1988 (4) has a strong showing with 1986 (5), my "big year" of starting to get G.I.Joe when I was younger. 

Even in 1991, my newest figure was the 1989 Snake Eyes figure.  That is probably the year I bought the figure, or maybe it was in 1990, back when the HQ was in the middle of nowhere.

The old Badger custom quickly revisited

 

Old G.I.Joe photos

 

There's a lot to look back on in photos but at the same time I didn't take enough photos!  I do miss having a lot of everything.  I didn't have it all and have never, nor will.  But it was fun.  Sometimes I regret selling or trading away so much but at the same time when I ramble around into the HQ's corner Pit here I still have stuff that hasn't hardly been touched in years. 

I still haven't unboxed my 1986 Tomahawk, my one core end-all vehicle in my collection in the 10 years since got packed for moving into the current HQ. 

I scanned many photos years ago and hosted them on the photobucket for use on the old forums but that site switched up vibes long ago.  I'm glad I did not simply just toss all the prints and whatever else.

 

G.I.Joe Eco Warriors and Quickstrike

 I've looked at the Eco Warriors I've had here before.


Here I was looking at the 2004 Quickstrike and considering what to make of it all.  I liked this 6-wheel armored look that provided some crew protection in the front seats and I liked the turret gun despite the loose connection.

It wasn't too long after this that I found myself ripping the "action gimmick" of the raising one-shot missile to get some more space or something more out of that back end.

1990 Cobra Rage

 
This Cobra Rage in the photo is what I would consider my first vehicle purchase more as a collector than whatever you want to call what I was before that.

This Rage, I think I bought from a Kay Bee, and definitely bought in late 1991 shortly after moving to a new HQ at that time.  This HQ was located in a much larger city than the comparative middle of nowhere location that the HQ was before.

The strangest thing about this Cobra Rage purchase was the most Deja Vu moment of this fan's life.  While mostly situated in the new HQ in 1991, I had this Rage on the red carpet of the new room near the radiator and it is still a moment of life that was really strange.  I had seen this Rage in the room, on the red carpet but the radiator in a dream or something before.

This weird moment of life has always stood out in general.




This Cobra Rage is long gone.  Here it has the G.I.Joe versus Cobra Alley Vipers, the one that came with Big Ben(s).  That helps to date the photo, and unlike other film photos in 35mm I did at the time with the SLR, this one didn't turn out totally suck.

The "Duke legs" bugged me on these figures.  I didn't want to admit it to myself 20 years ago but was able to come to terms with that aspect of the figures 11 years ago as of this post.   I would have much preferred to have the 1993 Alley Viper as a squad, and actually still do.   I had one.  But then as the urban trooper would have been a good fit with an urban combat vehicle, the not-exactly-matching figure/vehicle color schemes sort of made me reconsider that route of attempting to build a dedicated Cobra urban fighting unit.

Cobra Parasite 1992

I'm going to scan some old photos of vehicles that I don't have any more. 

The 1992 Cobra Parasite is a vehicle I bought off the retail shelf on May 24, 1992 for $9.99 at Kmart. 


I have various pictures with the Parasite in it that will be on the old 35mm film or somewhere in old digital somewhere that I may dig out later.  Below is one from 35mm film taken about 2003 or 2004.  I can't remember for sure right now but I think I this one ended up being traded to fellow collectors at a small meet up a couple months after the 2005 G.I.Joe collection.

So I guess the Parasite was in my collection for at least 12 years.  This is a vehicle that could definitely get loaded up with figures.  In some ways the interior was almost luxurious compared to the 10 figures that rode the outer boards. 


Here is the Parasite next to the 1992 G.I.Joe Patriot.  I didn't see the receipt as I looked right now to see exactly when I bought this one, but the photo is from that 2002-2004 range as I can see my old cardboard box storage box covers that were slowly replaced by Rubbermaid containers.  The overall size is somewhat comparable to each other and these felt like "retail shelf" counterpart vehicles in a way to me. 

Around this 2002-2005 range I was somewhat getting the urge to get more realistic vehicles into my collection.  At the time I had fortune to get more vehicles like the Thunderclap and the Rolling Thunder, and these were more "real world" in design and overall colors compared to these two vehicles.  In an effort to get more of the Rolling Thunder-like vibe vehicles and also more figures, I started to trade more items from the 1990's to do so.




Today, I still have the old "custom" Parasite and thought I would pull it out to toss some of the details in photos onto the internet here.  This is a second "goodwill store" find from 1996 that was missing some parts and I had spare paint sitting one day.

I like the rear gun but always wondered who operated it.   Years back, my imagination had the crew inside the Parasite having more control over the vehicle, even one station inside the compartment was the "driver seat," freeing up the front gun turret figure to be fully focused as just a gunner.

The interior of the Parasite has some interesting detail.   The spacing between the seats almost feels like there should be some extra gear that would fit here.   The interior floor even has the tread detail.

The turret weapon is huge and not too outrageously detailed, the upper 4-barrel gun can elevate to an almost straight up position really giving it a great amount of range.

The suspension stands out much more with different color compared to the all orange body unpainted.

 

Eagle Force RIOT Commando ARMY!

 

Ok, not an "army" but a squad.

I found the Zica Toys Retro RIOT Commando figure to be just a fun figure.  Something just natural and new and fitting for me. 

Well, I had to get a squad of these guys since the "try-out" single figure was kind of lonely.  As a single figure the R.I.O.T. Commando could be a sort of lone mercenary or "boba fett" style character in the imagination.  But teamwork makes the dream work.  And you never know if a part is going to break in the future or anything so I have a back up at worst.  Right now I have a very cool 6-man R.I.O.T. commando team. 

I can't get excited over the Hasbro product in the "oring" category (or whatever "retro" poor quality thing they put out) and no way will I jump into an almost vehicle-less action figure line that is yet another scale change with some slight modifications from the original designs. 

The Hasbro Youtube stream feels a little like the 2005 G.I.Joe Convention when Hasbro Toy Shop was launching the "Direct to Consumer" figures and vehicles while simultaneously changing scales into Sigma Six.  

"Subtle changes."

However, the Megatron H.I.S.S. is surprising....

I want something new.  Something to keep the adventures of imagination somewhat new and fun.  The Megatron H.I.S.S. somewhat fits the bill. 

I jumped in on the Roboskull Mk2.  With the three G.I.Joe Convention sets I bought in the years past, this Roboskull Mk2 is easily in the top 5 "most expensive" toy purchase heights I have ever made.  As of now it is way out in the future on delivery but that is one very fun and unique looking toy.  I'm considering the Air Wolf, anyone get in on that yet?

The only "true" 1/18 scale non-G.I.Joe vehicle I have left that is a Kiowa helicopter.  Unlike the "modern" G.I.Joe figures that will not fit in "true" 1/18 scale stuff well these guys fit nicely.  The Kiowa was tight with later run G.I.Joe A Real American Hero figures and was best used with the swivel headed '82-84 figures that I found.  

I pulled the Kiowa out as I was thinking about what a bad guy commando squad might be using.  I don't have a deep vehicle pool to choose from anymore.  

R.I.O.T. Commando Eagle Force

Dabbling in non-G.I.Joe figures and vehicles is something I've done to a small extent over the decades.  Non-G.I.Joe vehicles had a slightly longer lasting appeal than many of the non-G.I.Joe figures that I've bought here and there.  In the long run, most all went out the door.  The realistic M2 Bradley bought in the mid-2000's quickly became too realistic and detailed quickly losing any appeal.  Some of those soldier figures that may have come with it were even less appealing, no character built into them.  

Something about this guy that's really fun, though.  This commando feels like he fits right in.  

This figure moves and handles like the old G.I.Joe figures I have, there's no extra fine-tuning some modern-like joint manipulation to twist this action figure around.  I tried out an Acid Rain figure awhile back.  That was a lot of really nice pose potential with that figure but sometimes the joints would just pop apart.  The gritty texture has its place but didn't really feel like a seamless fit in my G.I.Joe collection.

I'm not feeling an out of place vibe with this figure so far.  In fact, I'm loving the knees here.  All the "modern" G.I.Joe figures have that double joint hidden knee pad kinda thing going on.  The knee pose on those can take on different looking forms depending on how those pop into place.  Here, I bend the leg and it works.  It was a tighter fit on the foot peg so I didn't force more than this, though.

The extra wrist swivel was something I was not expecting to be this solid.  This is a nice joint that flows into the forearm.
The swivel-head to ball-joint head on the A Real American Hero figures transition is something that in hindsight was a nice forward evolutionary move that made later run figures more appealing.   Here, the ball joint gets an extra joint that moves the evolution further.

The hidden elbow joint is awesome.  It just flows with minimal gaps or space voids.  The shoulder pin is nice and flush and is a refreshing bump up in quality after years of some of those less than quality rivets used by the big H on some figures.

A pose like this necessitated elbows being move forward before.

 

I have one.  But man, this is maybe the most fun figure I've had in a while and I don't know anything about the R.I.O.T. commando or any of that whole story universe.  Maybe I need more?  The quality more than makes this a better deal than what's coming out in the G.I.Joe 3.75-4" arena for me.  I'll have to give this some more play....