G.I.Joe Slugger 1997

This is an old drawing from 1999 I just rediscovered that I did.  This would have likely been done on a weekend during this summer as I was working at a summer camp that summer.  This was after my first full year of what we'll call 4-year design college.  I don't know why I chose the Slugger.  And I have to wonder if that's my dresser that it was sitting on as I was doing the "still life" thing here most likely.   

I'm in an temporary HQ shell these days after being removed from my "permanent" HQ shell by the occupying oppositional force.

What's that all mean?  Divorce sucks but it's also a very good thing for me.  For over 22 years, I have been slowly undermined, pretty much everything slowly taken away from me.

My collection has always been changing.  It really peaked in 2004 on the vehicle side of things.  In 2005 and 2006 I had been trimming back already.  And 2006, I had the "junior Joe," but I wasn't going to force my interests on this little one at all.  To get some things for the little one, I traded and sold for some toy money and did some ebay-ing.  Waking up at 2AM to see if I could get my sold items shipped out before anyone else up.

Coming into 2010 and 2011, I had continued to trim down my collection as another "junior Joe" was inbound.  Into 2012 I had been selling, trading, and even selling a large chunk of vehicles to BBTS just down the road.

By 2013 in January I landed in my "permanent" home.  Which becoming an owner was an adventure and it really became more the priority among other priorities.   My little "to be" a thing corner of the basement had some changes and what have you.... but in 10 years, I just didn't get a lot of what I thought I would have.

Anyway, I sold the non-G.I.Joe fun stuff I had been hanging on to forever and took a trip and upgraded some things. 

Then the person I had been nothing more than a supply source for decided to have me removed and 2 years later it's almost done.

But today, I was looking at the stack of unused paper pads I had left over from my college days.  There's not much here at my temporary HQ, but I've had these big pads sitting around since not being supported to finishing school by the ex.   So, 28 or so year old paper pads.

I was thinking of getting back into school eventually.  Or getting into some manufacturing or maybe even tech school, or maybe even exploring some freelance stuff.

It didn't happen.

But up above is a drawing that I had in one of the pads.  I had tossed a lot out a couple years back, and this I guess I forgot about.  

The 1997 Slugger.  I bought this  at the Toys R Us in Duluth, MN, likely walking up from the tech school there and maybe walking back with it, or riding the bus home.   

I didn't even open the Gung-ho figure.  It just had no appeal and I was so much more interested in the Battle Corps Gung-ho.  A much cooler figure.

I had the Slugger on some adventures.  It has the hatch and I liked that more "tank" like feature.   This next up image might be the "welcome" to the collection battle below.

I have some 2003 and 2004 pictures where the Slugger was on the shelf or in a "desert" battle.  I may have traded the Slugger at the 2005 G.I.Joe Convention in Minneapolis or possibly later in 2005 when I was in Madison, WI for the only "Wisconsin meet" that the YoJoe.com group had.   


I appreciate you reading through this or checking out some pictures.  I didn't realize how much was being slowly stolen away from me over the decades.  It was a lot.  The G.I.Joe stuff and the amount of cool fans online were a huge thing for me.  That really kept that little fire kindled that was slowly being snuffed.    And with that, thank you.
 

G.I.Joe Hovercraft W.H.A.L.E. 1984

 An older photo from 2011 here.  This is my original childhood hovercraft when it was on sale at the place I sold it to.  I had replaced the steering vanes through basic trading on the old forums.  I also had to acquire a recon bike that I can't remember when or how that got lost sometime back in the mid-to-late 1980's.

There are many hovercraft out there, no doubt.  I wonder where this ended up going?  The only unique identifying "mine" parts might be the stressed upper hatch plastic by the forward window.  This is a part that is likely easier to replace and has been already.  I think my inner recon sled launching mechanism may also have had a snapped or bent portion.  The stickers likely fell off by now, or just removed and replaced.

There was one time, back in the latter half of the 1980's I was bringing my hovercraft over to do battle with someone else who had a Cobra Moray.  I don't remember much of that battle.  I do remember using the wheel house's windscreen area as a hand hold while carrying my hovercraft.....  and it came apart.  On the street as I was walking.  The whole upper deck separating from the bottom.

This was a little harder and slower to happen of a trade/sell thing for me as it was one of the bigger gifts from Grandparents.  It might have just been a whatever pick out when my Grandparents picked it out from all the other things out there.  Then again, Grandpa's World War 2 Navy experience on an L.S.T. may have made an amphibious vehicle a more attractive purchase.   I will never know.

The hovercraft was often rolled around on the wood floor of my old room and slid under my bed.  I used this as a headquarters or base, too.  I did have the Headquarters play set but the set up time for play adventures seemed too long and involved to me in my younger days for some reason.  The 1986 L.A.W. was used as a "base" quite often, too.

Then again, at that time, my G.I.Joe team consisted of 1986's Hawk, Sci-fi,  Low Light, and Tiger Force Frostbite for the most part. Cutter, Tiger Force Tripwire, and Wet Suit were around, too.  Eventually Budo, 1988 Storm Shadow, 1989 Snake Eyes and Stalker, joined in.