During a recent attempt to look for a picture that might have been on that photo hosting site that I had used for sharing pictures on the old G.I.Joe forums, I couldn't find what I was looking for. With what the photo hosting site would allow be to retrieve, this is one of the older photos. Not what I was looking for, but this one brought back some memories.
Here is a mix of figures that I don't think a I have now at all. I might have Big Boa's head and arms but the rest...., I think it's been over a decade since I trimmed way down on my collection.
I like the arrangement of figures I had here. I generally disliked mixing the "anniversary" style with "a.r.a.h." figures. I generally disliked the "anniversary" style comparatively, I suppose. But when I did this set up I was going for individual characters. Sure, I could have used the 1984 Copperhead, for example, in the set up. But it was around this time in my HQ that I the "swivel-head" jointed figures started to feel a little less detailed and fun as a part of the whole. I ended up axing all the "swivel-head" jointed figures ultimately, just like all the G.I.Joe vs Cobra "t-crotch" and "new-sculpt" styles. Not that they were bad, I was just going for more a detailed feel overall and the 1985-1994 "a.r.a.h." figures really had that.
In this photo, looking back, I like this even more. It's too bad a '85-'94 style Scrap-Iron with the ball-joint neck didn't come around. I tried combinations of parts with the 2000-2005 "a.r.a.h." figures in the many multi-packs to try and make something better but what you see is as far as that got. Copperhead and Wild Weasel actually look really good to me here. A few tweaks to these and I might have kept them, but that neck joint and double joint knees were things I didn't agree with.
I should have kept the desert patrol parts for Big Boa and the Lt. Claymore. And heck, Croc Master is gone but looks awesome to me now.
The photo set up wasn't to capture a style of "the Plague," or that time in the comics that an elite crew of individual Cobra characters were "the answer" to G.I.Joe. More individual characters in Cobra could be good. It can only play out with nameless, faceless legions so many times.
Sadly, looking back at the blog, not much more has happened at the HQ (other than "real life") to where my desire to create a more permanent corner of toy fun in the sub-level just has not fired. There are some starts, a few different arrangements, added some shelving, bought some new things..... but while still things are not anywhere near numerous as once was, the "smaller team" concept has yet to prove a more convenient and fun interaction.