Icebreaker's HQ

Shockwave

2012-02-14T12:26:00.004-06:00

Shockwave E-7
MOS: Special weapons and tactics SMOS: Choir

Here's a figure I got from a trade and not too long ago. I'm thinking 2008 into 2009 is about when I traded for this figure, really a still a fairly new-to-me item. I was using the v2 Sure Fire head on the v1 Sure Fire body as my Shockwave for many years. I still continued using my head-swapped-figure as Shockwave really up until it came down to me deciding which figures were going to be on my small GIJoe team. Since my usual Shockwave wasn't THE actual '92 DEF version (with dark hair), I went with the more unfamiliar-to-me, yet most original, 1988 figure.

Over the years, I had a little made-up sub-team in my collection that I thought of as my Security Force, which consisted of figures that were more law-enforcement in nature. Like Law and Mutt, very police-like with their animals. As I was going through my decision process, I wanted to keep the Security Force aspect of my collection, without it becoming overbearing.

I never really have had Shockwave on the beat, so to speak. But I think he's going to work the best for my team. At a rank of E-7, and I know that "rank" is very subjective for GIJOE, I think he's got that angle of squad leader going for him, too.

I would like to perhaps trade him in for the Night Force version, in order to blend more with the more olive-drab military colors that cover most of my other small teams figures, also the Night Force version will fit better in the wilds of an imaginary exotic battle zone somewhere around the world.

A little Joeverse background story that I might make up is a personal grudge that Shockwave has against the Headhunters. As a member of the DEF, and now the absence of these other figures in my collection, I wonder if I should make it where those DEF characters were killed in action? Only Shockwave remains?

Shockwave is seen with a Steel Brigade helmet on here, shooting from the back of the Humvee as part of my old Security Force.

My former class of 1988, 8 remain....

Heavy Duty

2012-02-14T04:50:00.005-06:00

Heavy Duty E-5
MOS: Laser Weapons Systems Operator
SMOS: Indirect Fire Infantryman

Here's another figure that I do not remember where exactly I acquired it. I'm guessing: possibly an online store, or ebay.

My first Heavy Duty figure, however, was the one that came with the GIJoe Vs. Cobra Brawler. That's the original "new sculpt" with the T-crotch formula style figure. I didn't care for that figure almost right off the bat (but I liked it much more than THIS Destro!!).

It seems like to me when the theme of GIJoe Vs. Cobra started up, that Heavy Duty essentially replaced Roadblock for the toy line up. It seems like up until GIJOE: Renegades that Heavy Duty replaced Roadblock, too, even taking a star spot in the GIJOE: Rise of Cobra movie. (and there's some place else that could tell you more about how the trademark of Roadblock, and how Double Blast even replaced Roadblock...., I don't know much about that!)

But, it's all good, but I must have brought in Heavy Duty into my collection around late 2004 to mid-2005. He's the heavy ordnance trooper to me, but he can hold a mini-gun just like the RoC Heavy Duty:And he can do it without layers of RoC armor, too.

Heavy Duty's "man portable weapon system" is one of the reasons that I chose this figure over many other heavy weapons specialists. That ordnance rig has the mini-gun, big dual cannons, and two rocket pods!!! (fun fact, those are the same rocket pods and rockets that were on the Sonic Fighter AH-74 Desert Apache!) Heavy Duty also beat out Salvo, Fast draw, Bazooka (B.C), and Zap ('91) to name a few. On top of coming with the heavy weapons rig, the figure is really light on the piled on armor and ammunition, and this helps this Heavy Duty figure have more potential versatility in my view.

I see this "heavy ordnance trooper" being able to pick up anything that I guess would be considered "heavy."
Salvo ('91) is a nice figure, but his legs are wrapped in ammo. Zap ('91) is, too, but he's got 4 big shells permanently attached to his chest. Heavy Duty on the other hand, has a ripped shirt, a very '90's style camo pant and very '90's "JOE" cap. As a figure, this guy could be tearing it up with his included accessories, or simply picking up a rifle and running in just about any battle situation.

Or jumping on the Whirlwind.

Another reason I chose to keep Heavy Duty was that he "was" a tank driver in 1998 (he came with the 1998 MOBAT, which also came with Thunderwing gave that one-man tank two guys...). I have been considering trying to swap out this '91 version for the '98 version. While I may change the vehicle line up, Heavy Duty can destroy tanks on foot, or from inside the turret of an Equalizer. Plus, he is officially licensed to operate the Mobile Battle Bunker, Hammer, and even the General!

I guess in summary, Heavy Duty is playing the anti-armor role with his heavy weapons expertise for my small team.

Funny...., grab RoC Heavy Duty before he sells out?

ord·nance (ôrdnns)

1. Military materiel, such as weapons, ammunition, combat vehicles, and equipment.

2. The branch of an armed force that procures, maintains, and issues weapons, ammunition, and combat vehicles.

3. Cannon; artillery.

The 2006 Viper Pit

2012-02-13T10:32:00.006-06:00

There were several multi-packs that were put out with classic '80's and '90's figures from as early as 2002's "sound attack 8-pack" all the way to 2006's Viper Pit. After missing out on the Cobra Infantry Forces pack, as well as missing out on the Operation: Crimson Sabotage set (wow, did I burn fuel and time trying to chase it down, too!), I was very excited and happy when I learned about the 2006 Viper Pit coming out.

I mean, Vipers..., in blue..., in one big pack! After not acquiring previous army-builder packs, I pre-ordered the Viper Pit set online. And to ensure a nice squad of a dozen, I ordered two! I thought this was perfect, I only had one original 1986 Viper at that time, and I really didn't want to spend $20 or more for a single figure to army build for Cobra.

Heck, back in the day, this was my "Viper:"
While not the actual Motor Viper figure, I used the Motor Viper I had with this very accessory pack weapon as my "Viper" trooper. The Motor Viper, alongside the Strato-viper, and soon accompanied by Sea Slug, rounded out my "troops" that were under the command of Serpentor at that time.

The 2006 Viper Pit was, well, perfect. Until the realization that the B.A.T. ('86) legs were only "fixed" at the upper leg. The B.A.T. waist and legs still remained. But, that wasn't the worst part for me. For starters, the "Ambush" rifles and other armaments just had to go, as well as the little sub-machine guns. The "S.A.W.'s" weren't too bad.

But the articulation, the way it all fit together, really brought what should have been a great set down to an "all right" set. The same problems that were present in the 2002 GIJOE versus Cobra "green" Viper were still there, even though the thigh was, as I remember reading, "specially re-tooled" for the set. So, I don't like to sound negative, but this set could have been stellar.

On the positive side, the gloves were painted black and some silver detail was added to the new Vipers, as well as the goggles getting some "transparent" paint applied. And you know, the blue is really nice, too. As you can see they are very close, but still distinct so originals really retain their distinctiveness.

As far as the articulation that I didn't care for, well, it's an easy fix. Another collector had posted a photo that illustrated spots to trim online, but I can't find it now. I kind of went figure-by-figure, and removed little-by-little as I went. I did go a little too far in material removal on some, resulting in looser-than-I-desired spots. But still, should "fixing" or having to modify a brand new product to make that product "good," or "better," be expected of GIJoe fans?

I also traded off the "gold" Vipers. I wasn't buying into a rank scheme where the high-ranked leader-viper got gold trim. (silver and gold, silver and gold...) I think the color differences worked on the 2005 Night Watch figures, though. (even though, as swivel head joint figures, they were removed from collection....)

Replacing the accessories was easy, mostly thanks to Marauder Gun Runners, inc., of course. Can you guess which is my favorite Marauder rifle for my Vipers? (Yes, I am original :P ) I just got some new "customized" rifles, too. I think the sniper and suppressive fire customs are my favorites.

All-in-all, this was really one of my most hoped-for multi-packs when it all comes down to it. The only thing better that would beat a straight pack of re-issued '86 Vipers for me was a pack of each specialty Viper over the years to be released in a standard Cobra blue coloration.

While the end-product disappointed me with the Viper Pit on many points, on the positive side, I have my squad of Vipers to tangle with the GIJoe team.

(My Vipers aren't used as cannon fodder, either.)

Hi, guys!

Hawk, GIJoe Commander

2012-02-13T05:58:00.005-06:00

Hawk O-7 (was O-8 for most of my JoeVerse time, but this figure (1986) has only "one star.")
MOS: Artillery SMOS: Radar

This is one of my very earliest figures that I ever had, and often used alongside Low-light (1986) and Sci-fi (1986). Below on the left is my original Hawk figure and on the right is my newer Hawk figure that will be the "commander" of my small GIJoe team.

Back in the day, since I had fewer figures and stuff in general, Hawk was often out simply being a regular GIJoe guy out battling Cobra. On the cartoon, Hawk was in charge.
As the years went on and I got more figures, Hawk still remained the head honcho of the GIJoe team for me, but the character (and whatever figure I was using) seemed to become more of a desk-jockey of sorts. And this happened with Cobra Commander as a character for me, too, where each of the top leaders were almost sitting on their command chairs, barking out orders.

Part of my reasoning for going to my "small team" collection was to get my imagination back in gear, and get Hawk back out in action again.

I always thought it would have been awesome if that pistol would fit in that holster. (Take that, B.A.T.-butt!)

Interesting how Duke was seemingly the commander of the cartoon team until this 1986 Hawk came out, and the character made his way into the cartoon at that time. But, really unknown to me until 1991/'92, Hawk was the field commander in the comics.

Back in the day, I had Hawk and Serpentor. My Best bud had Beachhead and eventually 1988 Destro as his commanders. (Neither of us ever had Duke.)

Over the years, I have had the 1991 Talking Battle commander, the "jet pack" Hawk, and the 1997 Hawk that came with the A-10 (the figure quality just isn't there on those 1997 figures, in my opinion). The 2000 "TomaHAWK" had that sandy blonde hair that really combined the cartoon and comic characters together, and this was THE Hawk that was usually barking out orders from the HQ. I also bought the GIJoe vs. Cobra version, but that was due to me wanting Headman. (and for some reason I ended up with 2 of these Headman's, and I'm not sure why.)

From here on out, though, it is Hawk (1986), leading from the front...

Ready for Action!

JMM's Comics home page has a great write up on Hawk here!

Rock & Roll

2012-02-09T08:57:00.004-06:00

Rock & Roll E6
MOS: Infantry SMOS: PT Instructor
(Specialized education: Covert Ops)

I bought this very Rock & Roll figure back in the day at the old Children's Palace in Duluth. I didn't get up to that store as often as I would have liked to, but this figure only cost me $2.79. That's right, with tax a figure like Rock & Roll, a standard single figure pack came to exactly $3.00.

It was probably late 1991 at the earliest that I bought this 1989 figure, but it could have even been halfway into 1992, as well. I tell ya, though, that Children's Palace store had a great selection of GIJOE figures from all years at that time. No matter exactly when I bought it, this is a figure that has been with me for awhile now. (I recall liking how his camo pattern on his pants was sort of similar to my 1986 Hawk's pattern, in a slight way.)

I've really enjoyed having this figure over the years. Often Rock & Roll was in the mix of figures, not exactly as a "gatling gunner," either. As a figure, it is pretty straight forward in design. And it is those fairly basic features that really make this figure stand out as one figure I could almost call a favorite simply because, for no real exact reason.

Some figures, like Fast Draw ('87), are dressed to operate their gear. Like Zap ('91), for instance, has the leg armor and chest shells as part of the figure mold. However, Rock & Roll comes with some fairly large gear, but it is all removable, leaving, well..., Rock & Roll. The big ammo and other elements that adorn some figures doesn't "stick out" on this figure.

That puts Rock & Roll into the "versatile" figure category for me, and this works well for my small team.

Rock & Roll is not only a 1989 figure here, but also an "original 13" character, so the figure represents in my collection that "origin" angle of the first characters, but also fills in the range of years present in my small collection. 1988 and 1991 had surprisingly high top picks for my small team, and in between '89 and '90 fill the gap of those years to sort of represent personal "best of" through the years presence. (if that at all makes sense?)

In taking a look at this figure now, and reading through his file cards, I see Rock & Roll became an E9 rank with his sonic fighter figure. I'm going to keep him at his E6 rank, but with that sonic fighter version, I'm wondering now if I should consider the weapon qualification of "sharpshooter" for my figure?

Consider taking a look at JMM's comic home page on Rock & Roll!

My former class of 1989, all that is left is four now...

Snake Eyes

2012-02-08T04:40:00.003-06:00

Not much has changed since the last time I shared some thoughts on Snake Eyes. Snake Eyes is still my super-commando, and now, this figure is officially my new small team's addition.

The 1989 Snake eyes was my first Snake Eyes. I'm 99% sure I bought it at the old hardware store, "Bobs," back in the old old-town. (This was in Michigan where $.10 can deposits could be reclaimed quickly around the local taverns in the mornings, or even just along the road!)

Snake Eyes really could have been any figure/ character to me at that time. All I had to "officially" go on was my memory of the old cartoon re-runs, but Snake Eyes wasn't featured as hugely at that time as it seems he is now. It is most likely that the cartoon reruns were showing the old GIJOE: the movie still at this time, and Snake Eyes didn't stand out to me in that film.

I even remember thinking to myself, questioning whether or not Snake Eyes could talk. I mean, all I had to go on was Snake Eyes file card at that time. I most likely had my 1988 Storm Shadow at that time, too, and having him mentioned in the file card likely sparked some imagination. (This could also be why I have really considered Storm Shadow to be "good" all these years....) I also really wished to be able to get that 1989 Snake Eyes to be able to take those two big knives off the front of his chest to get into battle with, which actually happened years later with another version of that figure.

For my small team, I also considered using my 1991 Snake Eyes (which as my 50th GIJOE figure ever) instead of the more modern bash of the parts that I did choose. I still went with what I did though for the fact that there were more details painted on the modern vest, and then the vest looks layered on top of that. Where with the 1991 figure, it was simply just all gray, but it was a close decision as I think this figure is still pretty good!

For characterization, my Snake Eyes is a commando. I would think [my] Hawk, an original member of the GIJOE (arah) team, would want one of his best soldiers from that team with him on his new adventures, too.

Roadblock

2012-02-03T10:15:00.002-06:00

Roadblock E-6
MOS: Infantry Heavy Weapons
SMOS: Cook

My first Roadblock was given to me by my old best bud from way back. Consider our ages, the 1984 Roadblock he gave me was probably one of his very first GIJOE figures. It was well used by the time I got it, too. The backpack peg was snapped off, the machine gun barrel long-snapped off, the tripod lost to who knows where, and the usual figure wear that comes from play. I also later added to the wear when I was putting this Roadblock figure on a vehicle's figure peg and a huge chunk of heel splintered off.

It wasn't until the "Double Blast" Roadblock was out that I essentially "retired" the old 1984 Roadblock figure. With Double Blast, well, THAT is Roadblock to me. I liked the TRU Night Force Roadblock, too, but I didn't like that they essentially replaced skin with the fabric of a shirt. Either way, all the swivel-head-jointed figures were traded out of my collection.

I was happy with the only Roadblock to remain, the Anti-venom Task Force Roadblock. This re-do of the 1992 figure has been THE go-to figure for not only being the famous Roadblock character, but being a really nice figure in itself. (and coming with the original machine gun!)

With my small team, I had to choose which figures I would be happiest with being limited to. This was one figure that was always in my top pick piles. Plus, it is Roadblock. This is a character that is darn-near just as famous to me as Beachhead, Tunnel rat, and close to closing in on Snake Eyes level.

GIJOE Renegades really added to my own characterization of Roadblock, too.

That is my best buds original 1984 helmet on the figure. I was very happy that it fit, as the original 1984 figure that it came with has since gone into the realm of parts donor. I think it is a nice way to remember my old best bud, as well as give the figure some real sense of age in this "older" version of a popular character.

Choosing Roadblock was very easy, too. But there was one little issue that I had to take into account: Roadblock vs. Rock & Roll vs. Repeater.

Essentially three GIJOE machine gunners. I chose to keep them all. But, I gotta wonder if I missed out on keeping another figure that would add more talent to my team by doing this?

Which would you choose if you could only keep one of the three?

Lt. Falcon

2012-02-03T03:27:00.004-06:00

Lt. Falcon
MOS: Infantry
SMOS: Medic

WAAAAY back in the day, there was a summer when a friend in the old town brought Falcon home, and I was SO wanting that figure! Falcon was one of the more "army looking" Joes I had seen up to that point. I had a good amount of figures, but Low-light was probably the most military looking of them all. But something about the all green camo on Falcon made him all the more appealing to me. The rather awesome backpack with the sweet knife and antenna really upped the appeal to me, as well.

Of course that friend didn't want to trade.

One comment that I remember another friend making back in the day was that Falcon was just a rip-off of Flint. I can see that, being a figure with a beret and a shotgun. But also at that time, even into 1988 (maybe even 1989...) it seemed like GIJOE cartoon reruns were still going on TV. So we all probably still had Flint fresh in our minds, as well as that 1987 GIJOE the movie.

I do have Falcon now, though. And I can't remember where I got him. I'm really guessing I bought this guy from an online store, and I'm guessing sometime in 2004 was when I bought him.

With my small team of GIJOE figures, the aspect of rank became a sort of criteria that I considered. Up until a early 2011, I had a whole bunch of officer rank Joes. There were other Joes that were also considered to be a part of my small team, but when it came to a toss-up of indecision, I didn't want to be too officer-heavy on my 28-man team.

This is my old command staff:
Major Storm and Bulletproof were often used figures (and missed...), as were many, and Capt. Grid-iron was even fairly close to making it to my 28-man teams officer slots.

When it came down to it, Hawk was going to stay (an original character/ figure from my original playing days). Hawk is my GIJOE commander, even though in my ARAH-Joeverse he comes in at an impressive O-8 Major General rank! That's high, and realistically no officer would likely be hanging out with my small 28-man team in the field, but this where my imagination is trumping any resemblance of reality.

With the small team of 28, I started to think about how my team would divide down, and essentially it came to two-13-man teams led by 2 officers, and then from there I could make one enlisted "leader" in each 13-man group. And then two more enlisted NCO-type roles if I wanted to divide the 13-man team into two-6-man teams. And no doubt this is confusing to you, the leader....

Anyway, through my over-analyzing, I was thinking about the "first sgt." role, or essentially what Duke would have been. He's not an officer in my ARAH-Joeverse, he is an E-8. But, I didn't want any one "top kick" to overshadow the other, I guess, senior enlisted Joes. (Like Beachhead or Stalker)

So considering all that, I felt like I only needed one officer to "top-off" my two-13-man squads. So with those 26 enlisted Joe operators, and with Hawk as the head honcho, I needed essentially an executive officer as I saw it. (A Riker to my Picard (Hawk)?)

Essentially that left Falcon for me. An officer, but not ranked overly high in the stratosphere.

Falcon is a good looking figure and as a character he still feels like a somewhat of a blank-slate to me.
I will say that as much as his shotgun looks good, I really prefer Muskrat's shotgun when it comes to playing.
There's always other options, though. However, I like a little stock to help "straighten" out the weapon being held.
Other than Capt. Grid-iron or Duke, I think Falcon will work out great in my small 28-man team. Not only as the X.O., but also as an important addition to the team as a Green Beret!

Falcon's class of 1987:

Low-light

2012-01-30T04:30:00.004-06:00

Low-Light
E-6
Infantry/ night fighter
Marksmanship Instructor/ sharp shooter

Low-light is one of those figures I consider a part of my own "original 13" figures. This is a character that has been with me from possibly 1986 itself. Low-light, along with Sci-fi and Hawk, was one of my most often used figures from way back in the day.

The figure above is THE '86 Low-light that I've had this whole time. I've never come across another '86 Low-light figure to upgrade or swap out better parts with. Here are the original accessories that came with my Low-light figure:

One can see the play wear on the rifles handle (as well as the missing bi--pod) and the excessive wear on the uzi. The excessive wear on the uzi came from me trying to put it on that slot on Low-lights leg. I've never felt that it fit quite right, and the uzi shows my "excessive" attempts!

Over the years, I've also had the 1993 Dinohunter Low-light, and the 2001 RAHC Low-light. I had been using the 2001 version as my default since I bought it in 2001 (or so) up until about mid-2011. So about 10 years (wow!), the 2001 Low-light almost always THE Low-light I had in action. Most notably, I had Low-light as part of my former "security forces" assignment/ department.

With alternate figure versions:

The "security force" group was one of my favorite little made-up things over the last decade. I wanted that aspect to play into my new small collection, and this is where some figures simply didn't make the cut; and they were not easy decisions.

As I mulled over which version of Low-light to go with, the more I played with them and thought it out, the original Low-light really had a lot of appeal to me. I think it is the very fact that the actual figure here is so loose and play-worn, that is why I really haven't used this figure as much over the last decade.

Another aspect of Low-light that isn't really "offical," but sticks out to me is that he has a sort of commando-feel to me. Sure, he is most noted for being a sniper in the popularity realm, but considering the uzi with the '86 figure, as well as the 1991 (and subsequent) figures, well, that's why I get that commando-vibe from the figure now.

That's one of the reasons I "assigned" Low-light to my "security force." Even though THAT group of figures is mostly gone, I still wanted to have that little flavor of S.W.A.T./ police/ commando/ delta/ what-have-you.

The figure itself has a great amount of detail, and I'm not usually a fan of uzis, even though I mentioned them how many times just now. Like below, the original uzi doesn't interest me much, but the Marauder Gun-runner's version makes playing so much more fun!

Since Low-light and Sci-fi have been characters (along with Hawk) that have been in my possession for so long, I didn't want to lose these characters in my little collection team; I wanted to keep them together. The '86 Low-light with his gray uniform matches the 1991 Sci-fi fairly interestingly.

Going forward, I think Low-light will be a great asset to my little 28-man team.

Updraft : GIJoe helicopter pilot

2012-01-26T13:22:00.005-06:00

Updraft
GIJOE Retaliator Pilot.

I put up a list "page" of the GIJOE team members that are in my (I guess I would call it...) "elite" team. As you've read along here, you may remember that I'm bringing my collecting and playing habits small by making myself have only a GIJOE team of 28 figures.

Some choices to make for my team were hard, and it was really down to the nitty-gritty-picky points of what I like more on many of these figures; it came to what qualities a figure had that I thought I would be happiest with, as I was going to have less. A lot of choices that were not easy, and even now as I look at what I have left, I question myself on some.

Updraft, however, was one of the easier figures for me to pick.

When it comes to helicopter pilots in the ARAH toyline, Wild Bill is almost always the most popular go-to choice. I've shared my thoughts on the Dragonfly and Wild Bill here. I like the 2000 "blue" Wild Bill quite a bit. Lift-Ticket is an obvious option, too. I suppose Windmill..., but..., yeah...

It really came down to what I saw as versatility in a figure. I wanted the most flexibility out of a figure that I could get. Updraft really fits what I needed the most. Not only is he a world class pilot, the figure feels like it actually fits in a non-flight seat role.

For me, Updraft is most effective as my teams Tomahawk pilot (the Tomahawk is the core of my GIJOE teams mobility). However, Updraft can keep up on foot on a mission just as well. And he doesn't feel out of place to me.
(and his "JOE" belt buckle is similar to Heavy Duty's belt buckle. Coincidence?)

Updraft isn't all "high-tech" looking, nor does his uniform seem like it is best suited (or limited) to the role of a pilot. Plus, the removable helmet helped to elevate him over Lift Ticket. (Lift Ticket would have been a stronger contender otherwise, as the rest of the body of Lift Ticket is great, as evidenced by Sky Patrol Airborne.)

(Dogfight is becoming best buds with Updraft in my imagination, too. I'll have more on Dogfight another time, for now though, Dogfight is the co-pilot. )

Also, Updraft just plain looks good on the Tomahawk.

Updraft as a figure, and considering file card information, is really kind of a blank slate for me. The chance for me to maybe get some imaginative personality out of this figure was another reason why Updraft was one of my easier team choices.

I can't remember for sure where I got this Updraft here. I'm thinking I bought this figure from the old gijoehq.com back in 2004. It might have even been 2005. Or even 2003! I don't like not remembering where my figures came from, or when I got them.

Anyway, Updraft is here to stay as my teams main pilot

Cool

2012-01-26T09:43:00.003-06:00

This is just a cool shot on the page of the HQ in action at M6D .

Makes me want to play!!!

Add a Skystorm? Random thoughts...

2012-01-10T00:47:00.005-06:00

While I mull over my tiny GIJoe motor pool, I will most certainly have the Tomahawk. However, currently, that is the extent of the air power for my GIJOE team. There are no big jets, and the Dragonfly has been retired-away.

I wonder if I need a gunship, though?

The Tomahawk provides for a lot of versatility, which is why it is still here. Sure it is simply plain cool. But it has the utility angle, the transport angle, and the attack angle. A good vehicle that can be used in a variety of ways. It is a "maximum" use ability, and that is what I want in every vehicle that will be in my little collection over the years.

The "need" is met for air movement, and the big jets are "on call" in my imagination. But, what about a one-man air vehicle? I mean, I could send in the Tomahawk, but, is it wise to send it into an area alone? Would the Joe team risk all moving in in one aircraft?

I'm trying out the Ghost HAWK now, but it leaves me feeling like I felt with the SkyHawk.

The Mudfighter is always there, and Dogfight is in my little 28-man team. I could pair him back up with his original craft, and give the Joes a little prop-plane with lots of bombs that can operate from dirt roads the world over (in my imagination). But, past dropping bombs and strafing runs, is there much more in regards to versatility and the Mudfighter? (However, the "low-tech" aspect of the plane is something I'm very much in favor of...)

Which is why I wonder if the Skystorm could be an option. I've never seen one of these in person, and over the years of internet forum discussions, I don't remember seeing it mentioned hardly at all.
I suppose I have overlooked it a lot because of the pilot, Windmill. But even still, it's a 1988 vehicle, but even as I look at it now it seems like it isn't part of that year. I guess, I just haven't looked THAT close at it over the years to even think of which year it belongs to. (this is the messed up association I make, like when I think Rolling Thunder, I think, "1988.")

I know the converting rotor helped to dissuade my interest (obvious action knob). The Skystorm seems like it is a lot bigger than I thought in my head, though.

And it could add to my GIJOE team in bridging the gap between a (fast!) gunship with somewhat (?) stealth-capabilities. It could be good for recon. missions. Plus, 2 bombs, four missiles, and twin nose-guns (and an engine cover!) equal what my Conquest X-30 was bringing.

This shot from Cradea2 is really neat, and I think Dogfight looks pretty good right there.

And the information from the Joe Index on the Skystorm is really neat. But, I wonder about this vehicle here.

And I found a review on youtube.

Or would I be better off with a 1990 Locust?
Or now that Yetibrew has a D.F. "upgrade," perhaps I should think about snagging the ARAHC Locust back again?

I'm also considering just waiting it out and snagging the S.K. Omega Owl, if and when that comes available.

tanks

2012-01-05T09:41:00.002-06:00

Back in the day, I just wanted a tank. I had a Tiger Cat.

And then I had a Mobile Battle Bunker. And then a (used) Fort America. And then other vehicles, but I really just wanted a tank. Two treads under an armored platform with an armed turret, ya know what I mean?

And I have since had a tank, the Equalizer.

However, do tanks really fit in a small, more rapid-deployment force, especially one like my force which is going for the more covert, unobtrusive size?

I was just thinking about how my little elite force is going to function in the very limited vehicle department the other day. The Tomahawk is the star of the show, and the one vehicle that is going to really be the centerpiece of my mobile imaginary adventures.

The Tomahawk, in my imagination, can easily lift the VAMP MK1, AWE Striker, and Whirlwind, if the need be. But, my imagination is questioning whether or not it is too much of a stretch to pretend the Tomahawk airlifting the Equalizer around the globe? (with aerial refueling, my Tomahawk can fly around the world ;) )

I suppose it is possible after all, the Tomahawk carried the Rolling Thunder into battle in the Marvel Comic, so I have that "official" angle of technical capability to play off with my imagination.

But, even still, I wonder if I "need" the Equalizer. Heavy Duty ('91) is on the scene in my elite team, and that guy is almost a walking tank with that rig. Could Heavy Duty replace a tank?

I suppose I could consider replacing the larger Equalizer with a smaller version of any of the "Armadillo" mini-tanks. Without hatches or an interior though, I don't know if I would be happy with one of those as my team's armor. (and I really don't care for the MOBAT, and the Patriot Grizzly is way too big for me)

Looking back at the classic run, I suppose one could argue that a tank is needed. There's been one from the beginning, the MOBAT, which sat along side the VAMP and RAM. And it is that small vehicle array that I was kind of trying to simulate with what I have left here for vehicles. (I was thinking along the lines of, "back to basics," in some respects....)

What roll does heavy armor play in your GIJoe universe?

Is there a (imaginary, for now) C-130 or Galaxy helping to move your team's vehicles around the globe?

New years and holidays

2012-01-01T15:06:00.002-06:00

All the holidays used to be a lot more fun back in the day. I'm talking Christmas vacation mostly here. In my days, it was almost always 2 solid weeks off.

Now it is one day. (work, boo! :P :) )

Not as much fun.

Not even much snow up here this year, we haven't hardly been out on the sled yet!

I hope to get to taking a closer look at how my new slimmed collection is looking as much as possible. It's insane in how just a short amount of time I really can't recall what I picked for my 28 man team right now. I have written down a lot of the "analyzing" I did when I was picking and choosing, and I think this will be interesting to see how after a busy couple months if I still think I made the right choices at this point.

I'm also wondering how my new collection needs to be written in my imaginary joeverse. I mean, I had massive departments and units with units with the Joes, and Cobra was getting very varied within the Viper legions. With all those imaginary characters and backgrounds that I had set up in my head, I think I really have to make up some make-believe background to explain what happened to all those figures that are "just gone (?)."

On the modern side of things, I'm going to get the Renegades style GIJoe figures. I liked that show, a slight diversion from the norm, and with the new figures, the "junior joe" can play, too. Perhaps the VAMP (2011) will serve as our "Coyote?"

V.A.M.P. 2011 VAMP

2011-12-12T09:33:00.005-06:00

I'm glad I waited to buy the VAMP. Sometimes I find that I wish I would have bought something when I had the chance as often I over think the purchases, and miss out.

Such is not the case with the VAMP for me. I think this 2011 VAMP in green is much more interesting than the 2010 VAMP, just for the color alone. (and the no red suspension)

I came across a sale price on the Thanksgiving weekend on this truck, and while it was just a few bucks off, I thought the price was right. And being more a "classic" figure collector, I wasn't sure if this VAMP would fit well in my own GIJOE motor pool. And at worst I figured the "junior joe" of the house would have fun with it.

I think comparison and contrasting pictures help the best when it comes to vehicles. And here the 25th Anniversary VAMP is simply dwarfed by the new VAMP. Where I felt "ok" calling the original VAMP a "jeep," this new VAMP is much more in the solid "truck" category for me.

But, unlike the Hammer or GvC Brawler, it doesn't overpower the "bigger" vehicle with its size. The Equalizer is my main armor in my Joeverse now, and I want it to literally be the "big dog" when it comes to the motor pool.
The new VAMP has a nice sized foot print, considering it is a large all-terrain 4-seater of a vehicle.

And you know what? EVERY color on the 2011 VAMP is GREAT, in my opinion.

The "junior joe" seems to be having some fun with the VAMP. (yes, "firefighters" reign supreme...) I omitted the armaments for now, as the truck itself is the most fun aspect. (even I was having a not-fun time with that turret stand in the back...)

The best part that I knew the "junior joe" would have fun with is the vehicle interactivity aspect: changing the tires!!! I really like that the post holder can be taken off the back so the spare could totally be absent. What would have been perfect is if that post holder would have fit on the roof holes so a spare could go up top.

Either way, the spare is one aspect that makes me like the VAMP more. If this thing had a small engine compartment to open up on the front, that would have knocked this truck up a notch for me.

The dash and interior has some nice interior, even a floor shifter and a cup holder. The only weapon that I like is that front passenger gun. I kind of wish that was mountable on the back roll bar.

But for me, "my" GIJOE team is sort of on the fence about adopting the VAMP into "my" motor pool right now. For my classic-collecting self, the new VAMP comes pretty close to getting in. Blocker would most likely inherit ownership of this vehicle, although Wild card could jump on board, too. The extra diesel cans are an awesome addition and they fit very well in their holder. (the back tools are nice, but I kind want a "snap-on" point for those..., but still nice that they are there!)
The suspension is excellent, too. The base truck itself seems extremely sturdy, and the truck is kind of fun to "bounce" over obstacles. Right now, I think this new VAMP sill last as a toy very well. It's a solid vehicle.

There are little details on it that make me think there was going to be more to the overall design of the vehicle, like that little indentation at the front end of the 'door.'
And just what is that little bar on floor? An "oh #$%!" bar?
If I put an official "my" VAMP into "my" motor pool, the running boards would be totally useless with the modern pegs, though. And I would have little use for the backpack gear holes to hang on the side.
There is quite a lot of leftover room between the seats and the outer edge of the vehicle, too. Some empty space that I really see as wasted. The top holes would just be holes, as I really don't care for the vehicle accessories weapons that the VAMP has. (the Gatling gun alone looks like it would chew up my Equalizer!)

It is nice to see a foot board, though. It's barely noticed detail, but it keeps figures from sliding into the engine compartment! (yes, this has been an issue, we have a 1/18 scale BassPro Ford pick up where figures disappear under the hood....)
Overall, as a classic-GIJOE-figure collector, this modern VAMP gets an easy 3.5 out of 5 stars for me. And that's very good, considering "my" Joes can't make use of some features on this (pegs). If it had more refined weapons, too, like that front-dash mounted gun, it could have moved up to a 4.

My top 5 favorite features on this new VAMP:

* easy removable tires and a spare!
* sturdy and fun suspension!
* Extra figure equipment (sledge, shovel, fuel canisters)!
* Tow hook!!!!!
* Fuel tank spot (fuel-up!) !

Generalsjoes.com 2010 VAMP

Generalsjoes.com 2011 VAMP

Polar Battle Bear and Rockslide: Past and present

2011-12-05T10:41:00.010-06:00

I bought this set just recently, the 2009 Past and Present set for the Polar Battle Bear and Rockslide ATAV.

I wasn't planning on doing it, but it was more for the "junior joe" in the house. We had a pretty good time last winter taking "the guy with the skis" out into the snow. (actual "ski" activity was not as much fun in the snow as I would have thought...)

But either way, I opened this thing up early, as I decided to split the pack up, and true to my own self-imposed "no-swivel head" rule, I must trade the re-molded original Snow Job out the door. And since I don't have any other of my own arctic forces left, the newly-minted Polar Battle Bear here will join the figure on the way out.

It's not that I don't like the PBB, the only other one I had ever was the "Rock Slide," but that figure bugged me, and the launcher immediately came off. It was an earlier trade-out around 2004, or even late 2005. But, really, I figure if I am not maintaining a solid winter operation "sub-team," why should I keep it? (although it would have been fun to play with it, and even army build it, to go along with what I did have...)

Anyway, the modern Rock Slide is here with modern Snow job. (Whiteout is still in the house, as he stayed with the few other modern figures I have, for the eventuality that the "junior joe" will most likely want to play with some Joes.)

I looked at buying the Rockslide when it was by itself a couple year back, but even in the clear view box, I just wasn't feeling the price was worth it. I found the Past and Present set here for $15.99. Originally, I was going to make it a "mine" and "junior joe" type of Christmas present, but I think we're just going to take the modern one out to play in the snow now.

The Rockslide is not nearly as bad as I originally thought.

The Rockslide has a nice round form, very sporty-looking. The front skids seem fairly durable with their non-removable molded mini-missiles on top of spring-fired rockets, all of which is the most unattractive looking part of the machine to me.

But then the PBB is more straight-lined looking, it has a more utilitarian form to it. Utilitarian says military to me. Plus, the PBB has the rear deck with foot pegs.
Foot pegs that are only good for the old classic ARAH Oring-style figures. So, kids that got, or get, this PBB, will have to shave the pegs down to get any use with their now-current modern GIJOE figures.
Oh, and there is a TOW HOOK. Utilitarian. Moves 3 classic GIJOE figures and tows stuff.

But, I suppose, it is apples to oranges. Even though modern Snow Job has pretty much the same accessories as his "past" counterpart. Only they are tweaked, such as the backpack peg being for the modern hole. The modern figure only ups the armament with a pistol that can go into the side holster.

The Rockslide has a very wide skid stance and much more aerodynamic body, too. The Rockslide really seems built for speed to me, just by looking at it.

One deterrent to the purchasing the Rockslide before was that I couldn't tell what was inside, or how a figure fit in there.
It seemed like the canopy didn't even lift in the pictures I was looking, and that the figure just slid into the back section somehow almost laying down.

But, the canopy does open and the interior is really pretty nice. That big solid gray painted area you see in the picture below is an area of opportunity that got missed to make this machine a good Joe vehicle, in my opinion. I mean, storage compartment? Engine hatch? Ski rack? Snow shoes?
As is, the main body of the Rockslide really ends up nicely contoured, but still just a big chunk plastic. A good looking chunk, but still...
The figure does go in all the way to sit, there is plenty of room to slide in lower into the Rockslides shell.
The Polar Battle Bear?

Sitting?

I did not know the Rockslide did this with its rear treads, though.

And the skids do steer!!! They really feel VERY sturdy, too. The Polar Battle Bear actually loses on the steering skid detail for me, here.

And ya know, I like the "sway" feature on the guns of the Polar Battle Bear, but do I really need that 30* extra range on those guns? The guns could have been fixed straight and I would have been just as happy as I think about. (I mean, just turn the machine a little?)
Rockslide wins me on the front-end skid operation, as well as the twin guns. Rockslides nose does look good...

I was surprised to find some detail on the bottom of the Rockslide, too. It could have been left smooth, but what it has really makes it more interesting. Plus, one "rolling tread wheel" is just as good as the "pair."

Overall, the Rockslide isn't too bad of a vehicle. It actually exceeded my expectations, which were not very high to begin with. Count me surprised!

See GeneralsJoes.com review!

Gone. Gijoes that have left the building. Part 5

2011-11-28T10:05:00.005-06:00

Well, as I've looked back at what I had, there's a lot of good memories among all that stuff you see. I've shared the group photos of some of my big "bulk cuts" to my collection. From Part 1, I showed you my big figure cut from October 2011. In Part 2, I showed the "swivel head" articulated figures and others that I had cut in August 2011. And in Part 3, I showed what I cut in May 2011 from an already bare-bones motor pool and then-some. Part 4 shows a big chunk of vehicles and MIP figures and other items that left even before that back in Nov. 2008!

What you won't get to see in a single bunch of photos is the smattering of individually traded and sold GIJoe stuff. And I never did take any pictures of the boxes at a small Madison meet-up in late 2005, or the Ford Taurus wagon full of stuff that I ha with me at the 2005 convention.

So here on out will be a random bunch of GIJoe stuff that has left the building!

Maybe more random photos to come as I find them. ?

Gone. GIJoes that have left the building Part 4

2011-11-27T21:54:00.007-06:00

As I continue (from Part 3) my reverse look back at how my collection has slowly been dwindling in size, I'll have less cohesive photos to say more than I can in writing. So, I may have to simply sum it up on how things went down.

It was around the end of November 2008 when I made another good sized chop. An interesting note is that I pulled my WHALE out of the "bulk" deal at the last moment, but 3 years later I did end up selling it. It was perhaps the biggest one-time draw down I did in one fell-swoop. (I used this liquid value to buy more figures from 2009 into 2010...)

Prior to the 2008 "cut," I met up with some fellow fans down in Madison in late 2005 (shortly after the GIJOE convention in MN) and I was able to trade off some big vehicles and then some. I even got to trade with the now defunct "My generation toys" operator. I may have to make another post with random shots of what I traded there, like the 2003 MCC and my Rolling Thunder and Thunderclap, if I can find them. Or I might just find some old collection shots showing what it was like in my collection at home in 2005 and previous to this "Madison meet-up."

Between 2005 and 2009, I was also trading more online, as well as selling on the Ebay. I'll probably not be able to get a photo grouping of these for you to look at that, though. Perhaps I'll find some photos to randomly put up for something to look at in the next post. ?

Either way, here is what "left the building" in November of 2008 (I did pull my WHALE out just before the deal, so that is why you see it here):

Next up in Part 5 will be a random mix of photos showing what was in my collection around the house that was either traded or sold individually.

Gone. GIJoes that have left the building Part 3

2011-11-27T20:59:00.008-06:00

Continued from Part 2, Part 3 here brings me to my May 2011 trimming of my cold weather forces, as well as many larger vehicles.

The cold weather forces were a little easier to send out the door. As much as I really like the dedicated "arctic" troops, it was that overly dedicated role that really limited their overall versatility.

The vehicles that took the ax here were actually what were my choices for an absolute bare-bones motor pool from a previous reductions and trades (see part 4). So what you see in vehicles are some of my favorites, even though I've sent them on. (Yes, even Destro took a hit, but I'll explain that at some point after the New Year starts.)

Even the HQ and Killer WHALE did go. But, less stuff really did give me more room. But pictures of what is gone is what we're here to look at:

But even before getting to the "bare bones" that got cut here, I made even other trims seen in Part 4!

Gone. GIJoes that have left the building: Part 2

2011-11-27T07:21:00.007-06:00

In a reverse timeline order, this is continued from Part 1, but Part 1 is actually the most recent big cut to my once decent (and fun!) collection of GIJoes. I cut this part of my collection in August of 2011.

Before trimming the large amount of figures pictured in my Part 1 post, I was considering keeping those as my collection. Those figures seen in Part 1 were really "my years." Those were really the bulk of figures that got the most use from me. Not easy to cut.

The "swivel heads" were a little easier, though. I put up a brief post of thoughts on "swivel heads" here. The figures from 1982-1985, for me, and while VERY COOL still, more often than not did not get out for play. These were the figures that really felt more collector to me, more stuff that just didn't get used.

I still think that as a whole, 1982-1984 makes a great set with the vehicles, and is very much hugely visually interesting together.

Also I decided to trim all the unused Joes from other years, as well as figures that would get little use in my future small collection. So, jet pilots and divers, for instance, didn't have much "future" to me, since my future vehicle collection had no jet planes or boats, really. (This will make sense when I tell you what left the building just prior to this group pictured below)

But anyway, pictures say more. Here is 2nd to last "big chop" of my collection to "leave the building:"

Previous to this huge chunk of my collection, I chopped out another smaller chunk that you can see in Part 3!

Gone. GIJoes that have left the building...part 1

2011-11-25T12:17:00.008-06:00

As we are now in the build-up to Christmas season, despite my limited time to play, I still find myself thinking about what I had as far as GIJOE goes.

If you've followed along, you already may know that I made the decision to drastically reduce my collection to a "bare bones" size.

So, I thought I might just throw up some pictures of the awesomeness that "once was."

I'll start with the most recent parts of my collection that "have left the building...," starting my most recent reduction from this past October (2011).

I hope I don't regret the decision to sell. Well, at least for many years when I at that time I will probably buy them all back.

These were the harder "cuts" to make, as some figures had a decent dollar "value" to them. And some figures were just darn cool. There was also the "sub-team" aspect where I didn't want to break up a "sub-team" (I'm strange like that). And even sentiment and nostalgia took a hit on the decision to cut these.

Really, these really were my more favorite toys here.

But pictures are worth a thousand words, and give you the reader something to look at:

But these were just the latest cuts to my collection over the past few years!

More Joes that have left the building will be seen in PART 2!

No longer a vehicle line?

2011-11-22T08:48:00.002-06:00

As the shopping holiday season is upon us, more or less, I've been considering the options to give others. As far as toys go, I've been a huge advocate for G.I.Joe of just about any style, shape, or size.
Heck, even at the wedding, instead of some random vanity cups or something, it was GIJOE guys with the CD-ROM cartoons at the head table.

However, this year, even with the decent looking figures out there, I'm finding the sparse offering of vehicles kind of a let down.

This Christmas, for G.I.Joe vehicles at the store level around here it is either the Black Dragon VTOL and/or the VAMP. Essentially the same VAMP in a different color tone that was out on the shelves in the late fall of 2010.

(I have yet to see a Skystriker at brick and mortar locations...)

Has there ever been such limited offerings for vehicles?

For Christmas, I just don't think I'll be spreading the G.I.JOY this year. I mean, hey, here ya go, more figures...., don't fill up that VAMP too fast!

Hopefully more vehicles this next year?

Next couple weeks

2011-11-01T11:35:00.002-05:00

Another "junior joe" should be arriving at any time.

For the next couple weeks it will be "all quiet" on the GIJoe front around here, I will imagine.

We all know, as fans and collectors, what OUR first GIJOE figures and vehicles were. I don't think it matters what your age is, or what "era," or what style "your GIJoe" is. There's always those first 'Joes that mean something special to each individual.

And we have built upon those first 'Joes, gotten together with others in person, and online, and shared ideas and creative imaginations.

Any GIJoes you might recommend for someone that might get their very first GIJoe?

Fleet Farm toyland

2011-10-28T09:13:00.002-05:00

I totally forgot about Fleet Farm Toyland. I was up at the store locally and I guess I didn't realize it was open already!

It seemed like in previous years that the wait for the usually rather good deals took forever until Fleet Farm opened up their seasonal mega-section of toys.

Last year, I didn't get anything. It was the Doom Cycle and Ghost HAWK with the PoC-style figures.

This year, Fleet Farm is pretty much doing the same thing on figures. (I forgot to scan the catalog mailer image this year)

$5.89 a figure, which is a heckuvalot better than what is essentially the other option in town.

Fleet Farm 2011 sightings:

I don't know "wave" numbers, but what I saw was Dukes, a rather large amount of Shock Troopers, Storm Shadows, and Snake eyes.

On the vehicle front was the Black Dragon VTOL and the 2011 VAMP for $19.89 each.

In my opinion, the figure prices are pretty good, not stellar. However, I was surprised the GIJOE vehicles were so high-priced. Or, I should say, I'm surprised the vehicles are at normal mass-retail price.

Fleet Farm Toyland was where some of the best prices were to be found. For an example of this, compare the Doom Cycle's $12.89 at Fleet Farm last year, to what was near you. (I think Target had Doom Cycles last year at $14.99, if I remember correct.)

Other reports of Fleet Farm Toyland sightings had NAC's at around $15 years ago. This years vehicle pricing just didn't come through.

I'm kind of disappointed in that.

In (local) stores now...

2011-10-23T09:43:00.002-05:00

Over the last few months, I haven't been hitting up the "brick and mortar" stores hardly at all. Here in town, there are really only two big stores that have carried GIJOE over the years, Walmart and Kmart. (We did have a Dollar General that had the cheap VvV-style GIJOE figures, but that store has closed down, a while ago.)

Walmart is king in town, buy the truckloads. I know since I worked there for awhile. They get 2, 3, sometimes 4, full trailer loads of stuff just on the general merchandise side of the store EACH NIGHT! Compare to Kmart just down the road where they are getting at most 2 trailers each WEEK.

I like Kmart more, though, simply because there is usually a different amount of stuff, as well as very small crowds.

Unfortunately, with the last reset of the toy aisle, Kmart didn't get ANY GIJOE stuff in their set. Being so close to Christmas, and add in that the store is already setting up their Christmas seasonal (trees, decorations, etc.) , I don't expect any changes in the toy aisle until closer to February.

Yesterday, I stopped in at Walmart for the first time in months.

They did have the new GIJOE VAMP (2) and the Cobra Black Dragon (3), which I barely noticed.

They also STILL had full pegs of GIJOE Rise of Cobra movie figures. At $6.89 each.

Still.

I guess I'm not too sad since I'm not really buying modern figures, but still, for those in the area (like the kids...) who like GIJOE, simply aren't getting much for interesting options with RoC figures being somewhat the same figures for the last 2 years.

New beginnings

2011-10-15T21:50:00.003-05:00

Over the last couple years I've sort of had some heavy thoughts on reducing my collection down. From my last post I touched on some of the why I wanted to. It wasn't so much of a "need to," it really has never been exactly that.

Well, I just did another huge chop off my collection. And it doesn't feel too bad. Yet. But, I have my new "28-man team" for the Joes sort of lined up for my own play adventures. Even "the enemy" forces took rather distinct cuts on the troop/ army-building side of things, as well as individual Cobras.

All in all, there's a good feeling that comes with having a little bit less. Well, a LOT less in this case. I mean 5 of these Rubbermaid containers were really rather full of just figures not long ago.
Plus, add in another container for file cards. Anytime I had some free time to bust everything out, it was darn rough. I spent more time pulling out figures from the individual bags, making sure to keep an eye out for those small accessories that might slip out of a bag. And then I would pretty much put them all back.

It just wasn't very fun. But, it's not all "Joe's" fault, it's a combination of many things, included that reality that is simply call, life. And really, having more empty space has been really nice.

I spent a lot of time over the last couple/ few months really analyzing everything to see if I could pick just a small amount of figures and vehicles that would make things fun again.

After eliminating ALL figures with swivel head articulation, I really found certain aspects with the remaining figures that I really liked. I guess to keep it short, I got what was left down to roughly two 28-man GIJOE teams. Here's just some of what that "analyzing" looked like:

After what must have been dozens of little change ups in my final team makeup, I decided to make those two "28" teams. And with each little change I started to graph out which years figures came from. And from there I would swap figures around, come back another time and swap some more around.

In the results, 1988 was almost always at the top of the list for most chosen.
Followed by 1987, and then very close for third was 1989 and 1991.

I was really surprised that I was often choosing so many 1991 figures, and so few 1990. All-in-all, my analyzing (and some might say waste of time) has led me to pick these guys:

There's only 26 here, yes, but I wanted to leave room to maybe bring in a couple of figures I didn't have previously. And of course, as I start to get this team into action, I'll most likely find there's a figure in there that isn't all I thought it would be.

Going forward with me writing random Joe thoughts, you'll most likely find me picking out one of these guys to "showcase." When I do that I'll touch more on why this or that particular figure made the cut, and which figures were close to taking its place.

Of course, all random Joe thoughts will still drop in.

Back in reality...

2011-10-11T11:26:00.003-05:00

Well, stepping outside my realm of escape (GIJOE) and into reality, my new job hasn't been the most..., I guess, fruit-bearing. I like the job very fine, but it's one of those deals where if one part of the operation process goes down, it ALL goes down. Today is going to be a no-pay day, for me (and over 30 others!), and that gets me down.

As far as Joe goes, this is making me feel good about my most recent reduction in stuff. I've been considering doing another big chop, too. It's hard to make the "last call" to see which figures and vehicles will remain.

So many different factors come into play when I'm trying to make a decision. I've even had a couple thoughts on just sending it all out. But, after decades of so much time spent with "Joe," I tell ya, it's hard to give up on a fun thing, ya know?

Slice and Dice and Ninjas

2011-10-05T09:25:00.005-05:00

I'm not a big fan of the Ninja Force, over the years I've kept very few of these action-gimmick loaded figures.

Slice and Dice are the two that I've kept, as well as Zartan, but he's in the Dreadnok category for me. Even as a "ninja."

I had a Night Creeper that almost right away after buying it back in the day off the pegs, pretty much became a dust catcher in the turret of my (at that time) only HISS. I think these "version 2" Night Creepers made an appearance in the Marvel comic just prior to me seeing this on the shelf. The power of advertising pretty much tipped my purchase decision into getting this figure. (it's not horrible, though, just not my figure preference.)

I also had the Shadow Ninjas, Bushido and Nunchuk, that I bought on clearance.

Aside from sword-swinging ninja figure set-ups on a shelf, though, these guys didn't really get much more attention. And in a way, I kind of just wanted the regular previous incarnation of the figures.

I did try more recently in the last couple/ few years to incorporate every possibly useful figure in the classic line into my collection, though. I did pick up a Nunchuk on trade, but even as good as the figure looks, he still didn't get much use. Nor did I see much happening with it, so it went out on my last figure draw-down.

My Ninja figures that I've had over the years didn't stop at the classic years, though. Over the 2000's, mostly from '02-'06, I acquired many of the "new sculpt" era ninjas that were out there. Even new Slice, but with Slash, instead of Dice.

I also tried using more "new sculpt" figures in my set-ups, while my classic figures were on a sort of retirement at that time.

And while this Slice is not a "new sculpt," this was a figure that I often used in the last few years.

Lately, though, I've been strongly favoring my classic GIJoe figures a lot more than any of the 2000-repaints or other articulation styles.

Slice and Dice have been coming out fairly strong to me, as my Storm Shadow is "good." Cobra Commander almost seemed to want some ninja, and what better duo that Slice and Dice.

Each character is fairly personable, and each has a decent pair of weapons. While the ninja-gimmick-action-attack does bother me some, it hasn't bugged me on these two as bad over the years.

Plus, can you have Slice without Dice?

I bought these at the now-defunct Prange Way that was at the Mariner Mall, but not at the same time. I think I bought Dice first.

Dice has a nice dark purple and black, and a battle mask that is kind of unique (to me, anyway). And he has some muscles, and a very interesting skin tone. The huge knee pad/ boot detail is kind of interesting, too.

I'm fairly sure I bought Slice separately, but the inter-file-card mentioning, and the rhyme of their names made me want to go and get Slice. Slice is a little more straight-forward ninja looking to me. A red suit, a little lower calf leg detail, but still mostly straight forward ninja. With some rather small and interesting star pattern! The only thing that makes him stand apart otherwise from a traditional '84-style Storm Shadow-like ninja is his fencing mask. And as a Cobra swordsman, this mask really fits the character in my view.

The little strips of felt on the back and side are a nice touch, too. Ninja-attack-gimmicks aside, the felt is a nice touch of "we care about design" that made onto this figure. And it isn't just "stuck on" haphazardly, it's very intentional and well integrated.

Overall, Slice and Dice to me are a little bit like Tomax and xamoT. While not "twins" like our Crimson Guard friends, Slice and Dice compliment and contrast. One is a (possibly) renegade Red Ninja from Storm Shadow's old clan, a fairly well-disciplined traditional ninja. Where Dice is a Night Creeper that is simply too evil for the Night Creepers! (Cobra makes for a better place for Dice.)

Tele-viper : should it be phased out?

2011-09-30T09:05:00.003-05:00

In the modern age of communications I am wondering if the Tele-viper still has use?

Now, these are the communications and electronics dedicated troopers for Cobra, and their file card illustrates an impressive array of equipment.
However, now I have to wonder if the "basic" Viper doesn't have at least a small part of this very equipment built into their helmet? Per the file card: "... helmets with built-in RTO gear are standard issue."

Also, an aspect I hadn't considered before was the part in the Tele-viper file card indicating a "heads-up display," or HUD. When one considers the silver coloring of the '86 Vipers faceplate and compares it to the Tele-vipers silver visor, would it not be easy to assume that the '86 Viper may very well have a HUD in that helmet? Could the Viper helmet essentially carry the same stuff that the Tele-viper helmet carries?

Consider the ever-decreasing size of modern communications and electronic equipment in the real-world, I think the Tele-viper might be better to be phased out. It's like the mobile cell phone in real life, for example. At one time a large brick-sized device, now it has shrunk to the size of a deck of cards (or less!) and not only serves as a mobile phone, but has so many more endless capabilities beyond simple voice transmission!

Amazing technology these days!

I suppose one could argue that the Techno-Viper "could" replace the Tele-viper. We've seen Techno-Vipers performing many more technical looking repairs and whatnot over the years in the medias. I mean, vehicles have electronics and complicated computer systems in their design where like a real-life automotive-tech, the Techno-Viper would have to "upgrade" their knowledge often, wouldn't they?
Could the Techno-Vipers repair and building skills also incorporate the Tele-vipers communications role? At least from the operating and maintaining level?

But perhaps there is more to the Tele-Viper that is revealed through his Python version?
However, even with the more impressive gear that is described in the file card, the stuff that is described as all new and sophisticated still looks the same as the old gear in toy form.
One thing that is upgraded in a way is the mention of the ability to call-in an air-strike!

But, couldn't any old Viper simply jump on the "phone" and call in the coordinates? Or, couldn't any old Viper simply carry the gear, I mean, doesn't the gear make the Viper?

Perhaps the Tele-viper works as a sort of "forward air controller," as well? Perhaps the Tele-viper has the ability to also work with artillery, too?

But, what about the Laser Viper?
If gear makes the Viper, this Viper has the gear that is effectively taking over that field-role of forward air-control from the Tele-viper, as well as adding to the ability to coordinate the heavy ordnance from other vehicles, land and air, to precisely locate and decimate targets.

The primary role of "target illumination" is very practical. Add in that the short range laser can become a weapon in itself, and that weapon is going to be fairly technical, I would imagine that the Laser-viper would have some knowledge of electronics to make the lasers as well as communication between his ordnance-launching Vipers possible and assured.

So, if the Tele-Viper RTO gear could be built-in to not only the Viper helmet, and really any Viper can carry any field gear. And if the Techno-Viper may be able to "fix" any problems with the gear, and then whatever communication system the Laser Viper uses to communicate his targets to his Viper-pals is employed on the field, well, I wonder:

Is the Tele-Viper still needed?
Should the Tele-Viper become an imaginary technician back at the Cobra base?

Or is the communication and electronic realm so expansive that Cobra needs to have a dedicated Tele-viper on the field along side the assault troops?

Destro vs. Cobra

2011-09-28T09:23:00.004-05:00

I've been digging through my GIJOE team figures fairly heavy lately. The bad guys haven't been getting as much attention. When I do give them attention, multiple bad guy factions that exist in my Joeverse divide my attention. (and conquer it!)

Even though I had the Iron Grenadiers early on, and even acquired my best buds Destro (pictured above), there was never any one day that I remember thinking to myself, "I should totally separate the Iron Grenadiers from Cobra."

But I did. The new 1988 Destro pretty much stood distinct from Cobra. The Marvel comic story line helped lead my own imagination into separating Destro from Cobra. It even got to the point in the Marvel comic where it almost seemed more like Destro was more neutral, almost on the "good" side with the GIJoe team helping him out (what seems) often.

But Destro and his Iron Grenadiers sort of slipped right back into Cobra on the media and modern toy side of things, didn't he? A lot like Storm Shadow just went right back to being a Cobra ninja. I mean, Undertow became a COBRA frogman. Even right through the various media over the last decade, Destro was back with Cobra it seemed.

I kept things separate, but I can definitely see why many fans would keep Destro and his Iron Grenadiers within Cobra, though.

Lately, with me trying to "simplify" my GIJoe fun, I now wonder if I should bring MY Destro, with his forces, back into MY Cobra?

After so many years of imaginary Joeverse separation, what would I need (imagine) to have happen where it would make sense? I know in reality it is just as easy as saying, "hey, now they are one." But, I want something more, I want some reason for MY Destro to want to work with Cobra. And for some reason for Cobra Commander to want, or need, Destro.

If you have Destro as a part of Cobra, how does it work in your GIJOE universe?

One possible angle I could play up is the "death" of the Baroness. I am currently without a Baroness from my recent "no swivel head articulation" rule. Even though that figure was Chameleon that I did have. (Chameleon had that big Cobra logo on it, too.)

So, perhaps after the "death" of Baroness, Destro gets down to "business." With renewed goals of market share, perhaps Destro needs Cobra's manpower?

Or, even perhaps Cobra Commander, after his own forces have been "trimmed" back, simply needs a good weapons supplier, as well as some elite troops?

Maybe both Destro and Cobra Commander realize that they have built up such large fortunes and small, but powerful empires, and that they have lost much of what they had gained by staying adversarial?
Perhaps both of these strong characters have realized they have become soft by "sitting" at the top of their mini-empires (in some respects), instead of being out in the midst of action?

What would you do? Would you keep these forces separate? Would you have had them together all along?

Styrofoam

2011-09-27T11:41:00.002-05:00

Styrofoam was sometimes a fun thing to have Joes play with.
Anytime a new thing came in a box, the interesting styrofoam pieces that packed it had some interesting shapes to them.

Of all the odd things that got accumulated over the years for use with my GIJoe toys, white styrofoam shapes was kind of common.

If it wasn't so messy, I would start making the "blue" foam models I made when I was in school though. One can make some interesting things with the very same material that may be insulating your house. It can be sanded and glued by layers. Only thing is it isn't much more durable than a visual item. However it is cheap and some 3M Super 77 spray adhesive usually holds it together. Using the 2-inch 4'x8' sheets, there is plenty of material, but at upwards of $20 piece or more...

Of course there are other more suitable grades of modeling foams, and more expensive. And the price jumps up...

And if you really want to makes some nice looking models, the next step is buy renshape. I really like that stuff, but as a student it was expensive for the smallest pieces so I didn't as much experience with. But I would like to.

In the meantime, I still find random styrofoam pieces fun to set up and see what a piece could be.

Secret GIJOE Sub team fun

2011-09-23T22:45:00.003-05:00

There is no "real" secret GIJOE sub team here. Since I got sent home early from work, I thought I would break out of the mold and see if I could get some crusty old imagination stretched out. This is something I've been thinking about doing for awhile, and I'll probably do more because this was kind of fun. On with the unbounded fun mixes. (A.K.A. "I made up some sub teams for fun.")

SECRET GIJOE SUB TEAMS YOU NEVER KNEW EXISTED:

No doubt you already know about Tiger Force, and Slaughters Marauders, along with others, but did you know about....

TOMAHAWK FORCE

I like how this force looks. What do you think?
Over the years, Hasbro has secretly been building a special unit for a special Tomahawk-borne strike team. I have cracked the secret "hidden" uniform colors that allowed me to identify those team members. Lift Ticket is the key to uncovering the code. All the team members have the same green or tan, or both. Falcon was a little tricky to uncover, but his beret and scarf gave him away!

TOMAHAWK FORCE (wave 2)

Wave two uses the "secret" red for the most part, but Lift Tickets "green" is there on Scoop, and Lift-Tickets tan is on Bazooka, and Rampart(?).

How about....

... this unnamed Force

Now I just have to think of a name! It's pretty obvious why I put these guys together, isn't it? And I guess Captain Grid Iron could have gone in there, but his pattern wasn't as visually strong to stand out. Think he should be here?

Ok, so we have the secret Tomahawk force, and a secret camo force, what do you think about:

...Another unnamed team

It is really all about the tan pants. Okay..., I'll admit, this sub team wasn't very inspired. But, don't they look like they could have come in a six-pack together?

Okay, last one for now, I had to go a little more spacey/ sci-fi on this one. Mostly because Dee Jay has a phaser on his left leg. No, really, he does.

FUTURE FORCE ?

This is the sub-team that can exist in the future, or parallel worlds, or whatever crazy "out-there" adventure you can think of.
Back in the day I could have some "out there" adventures with my Joes.

Well, it was short but fun to just mix up some figures visually for no reason other than to make up a team with matching uniforms, or whatever. I like the first Tomahawk force, it's almost really straight-line where it would fit in my usual JoeVerse.
At the same time, my Future Force kind of makes me want to break those figures usual JoeVerse roles and make up something totally new. Maybe a time-traveling force? I'll have to think about that...

Cobra Rock Viper

2011-09-22T22:19:00.003-05:00

I bought this Cobra Rock Viper in the fall of 1991 at the Kay Bee store at the Mariner Mall. This was one of the purchases made that marked my transition from "kid" to "collector."

Now, the Kay Bee store was a new thing to me at this time. Prior to this, my "local" shop for Joes was Bob's True Value, and the next stop for even seeing Joes was the not-so-often-taken hour trip to the nearest Kmart.

Living in civilization at this time, however, I found Kay Bee awesome! Especially when there were such nice sales as buy 2-get one free, or some such promotion.

I'm fairly certain that Rock Viper was one of the very first figures I purchased there, taking advantage of one of those sales. Thinking about it now, I remember not only the pegs being full up on figures, but a bin of figures that was just outside of the store. My best bud at the time, the same best bud that gave me so many of his Joes, was also with on that day. (He must have been growing up faster, as he bought an NES game!)

(At some point, I also bought a Cobra Rage, and also had one of the most strong Deja-Vu experiences when I had it in a certain location in my new home.)

But, not all was well with this new purchase. The Rock Viper had a broken crotch and I didn't notice when I bought it.

And to this very day I'm writing about it, he still has a broken crotch:

I think for that very reason the Rock Viper has gotten MUCH less use over the year than if he had not had that broken crotch. Thinking back, my 1988 Hit-n-Run spent a couple Christmas' in the tree, and he even spent easily several months (perhaps years) hanging from a planter hook in my old room.
The Rock Viper, did not fair so well, despite having an excellent backpack with a grappling hook on a string. Of course, I think I made a vehicle connection between the 1990 Rage and the Rock Viper due to the maroon coloring at that time.

Other than that, I don't recall the Rock Viper having any big parts in play, or in set-up. But, this is a guy I would like to get a replacement crotch for, as well as add a few more Rock Vipers so as to have a small squad of mountain troops that will give my GIJoe team some trouble.

The Rock Viper really had a unique camo-pattern. How cool would it have been to have those rockets removable, I would think they are not too far off from 1991 "jet pack" General Hawk's sized rockets. And there's more on Rock Vipers leg to reload!

I did have the Python Patrol version, but this guy went out of my collection when I decided to get out of the "sub team" collecting end of it. And as much as I think the Python Patrol set was really near THE BEST of all the later o-ring multi-packs, I didn't like the gold on the Rock Viper here. I really preferred the more matte scheme of the 1990 version.
But, I really liked the overall mold of the Python Rock Viper, and I figured I would like my original one just as much if it had a fixed crotch!

Anyone have a Rock Viper crotch spare?

1988 may be my favorite year

2011-09-22T10:54:00.003-05:00

At least on the GIJoe side of things, 1988 seems to be coming out as my favorite year.

I should explain that I am making this assumption right now based on how my "reduced" figure collection is shaping up. I've made certain criteria over the last couple months that factor into what I like. Some of the criteria are blanket catch all rules, like, no swivel head articulation from here on out. Or the removal of all "sub teams" from the collection, unless the character be wholly unique and doesn't have any other version.

I also played with trying to pick a certain number of figures that would make a fun and well-rounded, versatile GIJoe team. Currently I'm playing with the idea of having two-28-person GIJoe teams. Or one team of 56, where when I divide it back to 28 I won't risk reducing a figure that I may have preferred to keep.

So, one 28-man team is sort of my "alpha" team right now, and the other is my "beta" team. I like how my "alpha" team is looking right now.

But, the breakdown of figures (currently) for the potential 56-man team is (by year):

'86--4
'87--9
'88--11
'89--6
'90--6
'91--9
'92--4
'93--2
'94--2
post-modern-ish: 3

1988 has held fairly high for my GIJoe picks over the last couple months. And, by reason of picking and choosing, with other "made up" criteria and things, 1988 GIJoe team figures really come out high.

So, where at times on forums when somebody asks what my favorite year is, I feel good about saying 1988 now, and I've sort of proved it to myself with reasons.

This was an unexpected revelation!

GIJoe Skymate

2011-09-15T09:45:00.004-05:00

Looking back, 1991 had a lot of interesting action accessories introduced. One of the newest figures I have added to my collection in the last couple years, is Skymate. I would guess sometime in early 2010 is when I obtained this guy.

Probably not even a full year ago, my main goal (if I could call it that) was pretty much to accumulate every classic figure. Every figure character, as well as each version of. On the vehicle side of things, I had already made a 2nd drastic reduction in the number of them. Since the vehicles took up more real estate, I figured I could trade them in for the figures I didn't have. And that's mostly the reason for me going after so many figures.

Skymate was not an inexpensive purchase for me, this figure easily ranks in the top-10 most spent for a single figure. Was it worth it? In a way, maybe. For the very good condition WITH his accessories that this figure had, it was probably the best opportunity for me to snag this figure.
There was no glider as part of the deal, though. After years of thinking of the Gliders (as well as Battle Copters) as more vehicles, I wonder, should the Glider be a personal accessory?

So far, over the last year+ that I've owned Skymate, he hasn't done a whole lot. I think the strongest thing Skymate has going for him is his file card bio.

I think Australian SAS is a huge addition to the GIJoe team, but also consider the exotic weapons skills mentioned in the file bio.

Past the yellow highlights, Skymate looks pretty good to me. I don't mind the hot-pink-ish cap, although I would have liked it in a more subdued hue, of course.

Otherwise, black, green, and green make up the colors that most everyone can agree on.

A neat detail that stand out to me is the knife on his left arm, as well as the ability to attach the bow and boomerang to the figure makes this guy so much more interesting.

Even the bow has a decent amount of detail to it, and I should mention the guard on his right arm is a nice touch that shows this figure knows archery.

The boomerang, too, has some detail etched in!

Aircommandos on YOUTUBE. Neat, I haven't seen this before. We didn't have the right channel for catching this show when it was on T.V. back in the day. Thank you to the uploader for sharing!

28 GIJOE member team (potential)

2011-09-13T12:38:00.004-05:00

There are a few changes that have occurred since my initial thoughts of creating a 28-member GIJOE team.
Here is a picture of my picks that I have been fairly happy with.

Without my pretend GIJOE operations going out to sea, freezing in the arctic, or flying the friendly skies, I was able to better focus on what I think of as more "basic" figures. Figures that could go in most action scenes without feeling too out of place.

I've got pilots, technical guys, special weapons guys, vehicle specialists, M.P.-types, heavy man-portable weapons guys, as well as figures that could be just regular "army" Joes.

Take a look, what do you think?

Is there a figure in there that you think needs to be swapped with another?

Is there an obvious specialty that you think I can't do without that isn't up there? (keep in mind, I am limited to helicopters, jeeps, and tanks in the motor pool....no more dedicated "arctic," "divers," or "jet-jockeys" here.

Eco Warriors

2011-09-12T10:28:00.007-05:00

Who ya gonna call?
Ghostbusters!

But, if Cobra is manufacturing weapons grade plasma-tox, well, you might want these guys.
The GIJOE Eco-Warriors!

If you look back at my last post, I mentioned how I just got Barbecue, so I thought I would take out all these Eco-Warrior guys and set them up and share some thoughts with you.

I think the Joes are looking good here, a real stand-alone team. Side-by-side, can there be any doubt they are working together?

The original 1991 trio of Joes all had removable helmets, a very cool detail, but it would have been cool if Barbecue had had the same option! Of course, Barbecue in this form ended up going into space as another figure multiple times as Payload. And that makes sense, the suit on Barbecue is self-contained, afterall.

While Barbecues Eco-Warrior figure-body made it into space, Barbecue, technically, did not. BUT, Ozone did make it into orbit!

Ozone has his special gear, which I guess I have used as more of a testing device mostly. That little tube on it looks like a sample holder to me. But, I suppose it could be a way to send out neutralizing air as well?

Now Flint here was my main Flint for many years. I did have an '85 Flint from way back in the day, but the o-ring snapped, and this was back when I didn't know about the screw removal to replace it :( . But Eco-Warrior Flint did the job just as well for many years, despite being green.
As an Eco-Warrior, I think his helmet is the weakest design of all, especially when you look at the card-art and notice that he has a screen instead of a fully-contained Eco-Warrior hazard suit.
Flint also brought "the most" firepower with him, though. As huge as that gun is, I gotta say the handle is very figure-friendly, and the curved butt end really allows the weapon to hold to the upper torso-shoulder area of a figure.

Clean Sweep brings in the serious gear, though. Where Ozone seems to be the air quality specialist, Clean Sweep seems to be the sludge specialist.
His water-gun in disguise is kind of interesting, is it not like a PAC/RAT in some ways? I mean, it's bigger than Lightfoots little robot, but not quite a vehicle in itself. I imagine it is controlled by Clean Sweep with his backpack, which features a cool little control console.

Clean Sweep also has a sensible-sized weapon, and a truly sludge-resistant looking helmet.
Now, I was looking at Battle Corp Dial Tone the other day, and could not figure out why his waist seemed so familiar, but, well, now I figured it out!

Other than Clean Sweeps robot, the other three have the same water-blasting sludge-neutralizing equipment. Size-wise, I don't think it's too over large, I would think perhaps in imagination it's like a two-part tank, and then the nozzle ends are specialized to handle shooting some very non-standard liquid at high-velocity.

The Eco-Warriors already have their bad-guy counterparts, too. Cesspool leads the Cobra effort with his own sludge-shooting Backpack, as well as chainsaw!
These three below were the core of the "polluters" side of the Eco-Warrior side in my collection. Cesspool has been used quite often, much in some command role just under Cobra Commander. Sort of similar to how he was used in the Marvel Comic.
The Toxo-Viper and Sludge Viper haven't gotten as much use, though. Kind of neat figures each, but I think the fact that they both received the exact same accessories treatments kind of "cheapened" these two figures.

It's like the Toxo-viper almost should have been the standard hostile-environment trooper that they were before. Perhaps some accessories that were more akin to the 1988 Toxo-Viper that might have looked a little more like dangerous gas-emitting weapons.
I think that would have helped this newer Toxo-Viper stand apart from the Sludge Viper. The Sludge Viper should have been the figure with the big weapon that spews the armor-eating weapons-grade sludge. Hence the name, "Sludge."
Also, consider that the Sludge Viper is much more muscular-looking than the Toxo-Viper, that says the Sludge Viper is a little more a "heavy weapons" operator to me.

Cesspool has a different backpack and squirt nozzle than the GIJOE Eco-Warriors, however, and I am glad for that. They can't ALL be using the same equipment, for me, that's a bit of a downgrade in GIJOE figure originality.

It still all works out in the end for building up a Cobra hostile-environment army, though. Every body gets some wild colors!

Something interesting about the backpacks of the Sludge and Toxo-Vipers, is that there is a big white spot that almost seems like a hose-connecting post might have been there. Perhaps there was more to the complement of accessories planned for these guys, but I suppose these are figures with larger accessories, and they were up a little higher on the retail price as-is. Perhaps some latter cost-cutting measures by removing some accessories?

Also, I wonder about that flat part that extends from and down the barrel of the big sludge shooters? Perhaps something was to attach to it?

The Eco Warriors were kind of my first sub-team assembled, in some ways. If you consider just the first year of Eco-Warriors in 1991, just those 6 figures.

It didn't happen by plan, either.

I bought Flint, Ozone, Cesspool, 1 Toxo-Viper, and the Sludge Viper ALL at the old Childrens Palace store in Duluth, MN.
Not because I really liked these figures, but at that time, which was most likely between 1992 and 1994 (or so) because that is when Childrens Palace was going out of business!

When we moved to civilization, I "discovered" Childrens Palace. I'm not sure if it was just one of many Toys R Us big-box competitors or what, but no matter what, it was an AWESOME store.

However, due to funds and transportation, I was not able to take FULL advantage of the gradual "going out of business" price drops.

By the time I got up there for the big percentage off, most all that was left was Eco-Warriors.

But I still win, since I didn't pay full price!

Clean Sweep came in last, though. I found him later at Kay Bee at Northtown mall for $1.87

I also had the Eco-Striker and a Septic Tank. These were a couple of the first vehicles to be trimmed away though a few years back.

Just a couple years ago, pictured below, was my hostile environment squad. Recently, I've traded out Airtight, Flash, Blowtorch, '85 Barbecue, as well as the GIJCC club Dragonsky.

Going forward in my collection of less, even my Eco Warriors posted about today may go away, as well.

New (to me) figures (sort of)

2011-09-09T09:08:00.003-05:00

With a large chunk of figures going out, it seems counter-productive to bring figures back in, especially so soon. But a few select picks coming in are okay since multiple times the amount of figures were trimmed out.

New additions

Three of them are part of my "army builder" goal, which with the addition of these really makes the goal of six of each attained. These three are probably under-whelming in interest to the majority of fans out there, but these troopers really represent the core base of the bad guys.
These new troop additions are:
a '86 Viper
a '86 Motor Viper
and an '88 Iron Grenadier.

Upgrade and new version

My 1986 Hawk is my original Hawk from waaaaay back in the day. While "my" Hawk is in okay shape, he definitely has the wear to show from years past. I obtained a new-to-me 1986 Hawk figure which is in almost brand-new shape to "upgrade" my GIJoe commander. Sentiment is going to force me to keep my original Hawk, however. I am thinking that "old" Hawk will eventually end up sitting with my original F.A.N.G. copter that I've had even longer; it shows much wear and tear, but is really only still in my possession since it was my first G.I.Joe vehicle.

Also, with my recent trimming of figures, the figures from the range of '82-'85 is pretty much all gone. And while I will most likely still end up trimming much more, I decided to bring in Eco-Warriors Barbecue to replace the "trimmed" '85 Barbecue.
Eco-Warrior Barbecue fits much better with my Haz-mat crew, which comprised of basically the Eco-Warriors, Ozone, Clean-Sweep, and Flint (sometimes). 1985 Airtight and 1985 Barbecue, as well as Charbroil and Blowtorch were in on this little squad up until the latest "cut."

General Flagg III

2011-09-08T08:52:00.004-05:00

General Flagg, son of the original GIJOE commander, General Flagg. As well as being a "version 2" repaint that didn't get a splash of bright color like so many in the Battle Corps.

When I was playing organizer and setting up shop for a big growing GIJoe team, General Flagg was always on the top of the list. Being an officer, and at the rank O-7 as GIJOE General, the only other GIJOE figures that were higher on the list were HAWK, Admiral Keel Haul, and GIJOE, himself!

As the number of my figures grew, General Hawk became a little more inactive, almost like a boss at the base. (Even Cobra Commander ended up more of an unused culprit that stayed in his own little base as more figures entered my collection...) Admiral Keel Haul had no U.S.S. Flagg to command here, but I found him very useful in my "sea squad," as the commander of those operations. I got GIJOE through the mail-in UPC offer, but over the years I just didn't use him, well, that I can remember.

As I look at my collection going forward with a goal of less but more all-around useful and fun figures characters, General Flagg hasn't really been a large player. He's pretty much been one of the top-four ranked GIJOE figures standing around a pretend battle table working out the finer points of missions to come.

He's a decent figure, has a decent removable hat, and a rather nice gun.
Below you can see the "clearance" sticker on the card. This is how I got much of my collection from the last couple years of the classic toy run.

I like the gun, but the like many of the Battle Corps, there is the "action accessory." In this case a catapult! The rocket is pretty big, too. Aside from just trying it out, this is something I never used. The launcher has some wheels styled into the form, so in some ways it almost looks like a trailer, with some fabric draped over it.

As I'm looking at this guy now, I think it makes some sense to have someone "just under" Hawk to take over the GIJOE team. I wonder if General Flagg was going to be the new head honcho in the toy line, though, because in some ways the file card continued the Marvel comic story line with the original GIJOE commander, General Flagg. With this "son" figure, "dead is dead," actually stayed true to that once "concrete" rule idea that has since gone out the window. (which is just fine....)

Perhaps Hawk was going to be phased out?

On the file card, it states that this General Flagg had FIVE preceding generations in the military.
Now, even though it states that the U.S.S. Flagg was named after this Flagg's father, I wonder if it shouldn't be more of a family name as a whole? And while it says one thing, I wonder if the "world war II" style hat indicates that perhaps this Flagg's Grandpa (the original James Flagg) was actually the one that the Flagg was named for?

Well, maybe not.

Something else I wonder about now:

So, here is mention of the U.S.S. Flagg, first mentioned on the 1992 file card, and carried over to the 1993 file card. Now, this is a 1985 play set, a HUGE play set.....and it is being mentioned on a file card SEVEN YEARS LATER?

????

Now, also consider that Admiral Keel Haul made an appearance back on the pegs in 1993.

Do you think Hasbro was thinking about putting the U.S.S. Flagg back out in the early '90s?

Well, either way, it makes me wonder. And at worst, I still have General Flagg III here to figure out!

Do you use this General Flagg?

Should Hawk be replaced?

Would veteran GIJOE team members accept a new commander like Flagg?

Will General Flagg simply man the battle-planning table?

Hovercraft, the next generation

2011-09-02T18:39:00.003-05:00

Here's a quick idea of what I would suggest for a new next-generation W.H.A.L.E.

Keeping track of things

2011-09-02T09:38:00.002-05:00

With my last post, I told about my trimming of a big chunk of figures.

Around 1992 or so, I made my own little hand drawn spread sheets (the computer age didn't start for me until 1996!!! :O ), and this method was essentially my roster of figures.

I transferred this information to a pre-made notebook, but not all the information, like where something came from, made it into the new format.

Well, like many things, I didn't keep on writing down what figures I had at all.

So, about 2009-2010, I re-made my original little hand-drawn spread sheet list, and then I went back through all the various lists, scrap-paper notes, receipts, and any other things I had laying around to see if I could get an accurate account of what I had.

With me trimming out figures, it was easy to simply draw a line through what I was sending out the door.

But, even now, after I thought I had a very accurate list of what I had, I still found a few figures that were not listed when I went to cross their listing out!

More collection trimming.

2011-08-31T10:49:00.003-05:00

Well, I trimmed back on the figures. A fairly hefty chunk of the collection, too.

Just a few months ago, I trimmed a big chunk of my vehicles out. That was a big trim of my favorite vehicles that were left from my prior vehicle reduction.

And even that prior vehicle reduction had a good sized reduction prior to that!

With the figures, I hadn't trimmed these as much. Figures are much easier to store, obviously since they are smaller. I did however start trimming some figures out a couple years ago, but just a few.

Most notably, the easier cuts to make for my GIJOE figures were eliminating "sub-group" figures that were essentially the same characters with different paint. Tiger Force and Python Patrol were easy to trim out. The big reason behind that was that I didn't feel I needed a secondary team within a team. Know what I'm saying? I mean, I really like them all, don't get me wrong, but, it comes back to a question as to what I want my GIJOE team to be.

I'm going with the direction of a small force, a small elite force. I can make up my own "sub-group" mission teams inside of my small force. I may just have a goal for my GIJOE collecting.... ?

Well, in this most recent reduction, well over 100 figures, I trimmed out a lot. I made up some criteria to make it somewhat of reasonable picks.

No "swivel-head" articulated figures, for instance. On the classic o-ring side of things, this means many characters are simply out. Scrap-Iron, Wild Weasel, Copperhead, Blowtorch, Short-Fuze, and more! Even Skystriker and Sparks, all out.

Then, I eliminated the sea and air wing personnel. I'm getting out of the fighter jets and blue-water operations, so characters like Keel Haul, Topside, Wet-suit, Deep-Six, Eels, Lampreys, and others, are out. Aside from the Stinger Raider, I have no boats. And this goes for the big fighters, so Ace, Slipstream, Maverick, ...., they're out, too.

Those o-ring Night watch troopers are out, too, as well as the CG's with the removeable helmets. I didn't feel like a needed that many ceremonial-looking troops.

In essence, simplifying.

Even though a good chunk of figures just left after years of me hunting, storing, well, I still have only trimmed out about 1/3.

And I must say, the extra shelf space from trimming vehicles has been awesome. And now, I've taken out one Rubbermaid container of figures from the stack.

I think it will be easier to sort out my GIJOE team of 28 after trimming back figures as I just did. I'm not sure if I can choose 28 joes as the only figures I'll have, but, slowly, but surely, I'll be better able to do it by slowly trimming back. Even after this trim, I still have over 100 figures on my GIJOE team.

Of course, at the same time, there's about 25+ figures I would like to bring into my collection still. I've got the figures identified that I want.

Ever have that empty space where once it is there, "something" usually ends up going there?

Comics. Marvel.

2011-08-31T08:36:00.003-05:00

I was reading Marvel Special Missions last night. (I got called off of work, ... again. Poor paycheck...)

It's been awhile since I read through these, a few years. I think they're a lot of fun to read.

I'm not a comic book collector. However, since GIJOE 119, I was hooked. And go figure, it wasn't a Hama-written issue. Re-reading it now, I don't know if I buy into advanced robotics that can move that well...., I mean, a Snake eyes robot that can pretty much match the real Snake eyes one-on-one? But, still....

Marvel GIJOE 119 was my first GIJOE comic book, and I shortly after found a bundled four pack of GIJOE comics that included 92, 93. The other two I can't remember which they were.

No matter, that was essentially the start for me with GIJoe comics.

I must have picked up a couple more issues after 119 from the stores, but it must not have been until issue 130 that I started getting a subscription. (130, Cobra actually, finally, invades the PIT)

Issues 130 to 155 were kind of my solid range of GIJOE comic book stories. This is probably the range of comics where most fans seem to have "been out of Joe," or simply thought the book was going down hill before these even, and they simply bailed.

During these same years that I had the subscription, I discovered a local shop had a decent collection of back-issues in it. Of course, I was always stopping in spending a few dollars to pick up a couple/ few back-issues.

I jumped into Guy Gardner and Spiderman 2099 about this time, too. I think the old comic book trick of "issue #1" worked. (my early collector mentality...)

Also, but mostly due to the GIJOE comic book, I got the subscription to the 12-issue Transformers: Generation 2 series.

I still haven't completed my Marvel run collection. I'm not a comic collector, but I would like to have the complete series, but what's the hurry? I think I'm still about 25-some issues short between all the old Marvel issues.

I don't think I can pick out a favorite story overall, but after reading those Special Missions, there sure were a lot of "other" bad guys and whatnot that the Joes ran into out there!

Modern
I dipped into Devils Due right off the bat, and before the comic got in my hands, many of us were chatting on the Devils Due forums. I think overall, I didn't find the Devils Due comics as re-readable. I didn't "hate," so don't think that, but, at the end of the "America's Elite," I started re-reading from the beginning. I just didn't feel it, being that I am not a comic collector, I traded all these out.

I haven't even looked at the latest comics. It's kind of an "anti-accumulative" phase I'm going through right now in life. I really do not want a large pile of stuff that I will have to maintain, organize, and move. (as a renter, moving is a for-sure thing, and job prospects are not solid for me either...)

GIJoe Battle Corps

2011-08-22T22:07:00.008-05:00

GIJoe Battle Corps, or as some say, "the neon '90's."

And even before I started on this post, I already flubbed it up. I have some 1992 figures in the mix with the 1993 figures. I also had a few of my 1994 figures in a different location when I was pulling things out for this group photo, so they didn't make the cut.

The usual method of operation for me these days, when I have time (and I was sent home from work early today), I usually hang out in my corner downstairs. That's where the inspiration really isn't, but my Joes are. Anyway, downstairs, I'm limited to printed guides. The guide I was looking at had "battle corps" tags on the '92 figures (mainline) so that's why I popped them in the photo (I thought it seemed out of place...). Then to get to the internet, after I put everything away downstairs, I share some pictures and thoughts here for you.

Over the last couple years, I've taken out all the figures from certain years and set them all up together. Just GIJoe or Cobra, and just the one year, and for the most part, just the main line offerings.

I've found some new perspective on my figures doing this. And then comparing year to year in pictures is kind of fun, too.

And you know, for the most part when I've done this, I usually stop at 1990. I don't have many "group-year" pictures for anything past. So, I thought this would be a good time.

For some reason, I don't think of '92, '93, or '94 as solidly as I do the other years. For example when I think, "Crankcase," I think, "1985." When I think, "Battle Corps Beachhead," I think, "Battle Corps Beachhead." Not 1993 v1.

But, even still with the added 1992 figures, and the absence of the 1994 figures (it was Flint and Shipwreck), I think there's still something to look at here.

I don't generalize the Battle Corps under the blanket term of the "neon '90's," either. In many ways, the Battle Corps were a solid addition to my collection from back in the day. If you check out other posts of old pictures with the figures in action, you'll probably see some Battle Corps figures.

But like in the picture below, this half of the figures really isn't out there in terms of bright colors, in my opinion. Whether or not Gung-ho would wear a red vest and move his tattoo is a different matter. But even Bazooka is no further "out there" than his 1984 figure in a red football jersey.

But, yeah, there is the other half of the figures here that have some bright highlights. So, perhaps in this picture below are the very culprits that caused all things past 1986 to be cast under the umbrella of too far out there on the neon spectrum?
The recolor of Barricade is really one of the worst offenders. And I don't mind Leatherneck as is, but is he going for a new animal force motif since he never got Tiger Force stripes?

I really do like these just as well as the rest of all the other years. Lots of good points and lots of not so. The sculpt and designs are very, well, rich. Making plastic look like fabric clothing and adding on the depth of detail with straps, ammo, and pouches, overall, the relief in detail is there. Right down to Colonel Courage's tie.

Also, consider how many of these figures are new renditions of old favorites from years past. Even Backblast from 1989 made it out in the line up. But the rest are from 1983 to 1987.

And then there's the new guys. I guess Big Bear shouldn't be there, but still, 5 new main line Battle Corps people? And then, 3 of those were possibly intended as a continuation of the 1992 D.E.F. group?

The Battle Corps shoot didn't go the way I wanted, but, at worst there's some pictures for you to look at.

What do you think about the Battle Corps?

Cobra Ferret

2011-08-21T09:45:00.004-05:00

Over the last few years, and I've already made mention of it, I have drastically reduced my motor pool. Both GIJoe and Cobra have taken the hit leaving a bare bones vehicle department for each.

Sometimes in my haste to "make a decision" I think I have too quickly made some. After looking at my Snake Trax (old review post), I've been thinking about Ferrets. As well as how I think I made the wrong decision on trading these off.

Above, are a pair each of Coil Ferrets and Skull Squad Ferrets. Not inexpensive purchases originally, to say the least.

However, I ended up with the pair of each of these, plus the pair of mail-in blue Ferrets. I was very happy with SIX (!) Ferrets, but three different color schemes.

Originally, I sold the blue Ferrets, and I kept the Club Exclusive Ferrets in the hope that I could find someone that wanted to trade their Skull Squad Ferrets for my Coil Ferrets.

But that didn't happen. And when I saw the Cobra Fury previewed, it really looked like it was going to color match the Snake Trax. So, in my simple plans, I thought, why not "cash out" on the "exclusive" ones so I can buy more of the new Snake Trax. And then, with a few of those, I might pick up one "new Rage" tank (which have previously had the others in my possession, but traded out, too). With the new "rust" (?) color, that seemed like a great new scheme for me to make my standard Cobra ground color.

But, that didn't happen, either.

I didn't even see a Snake Trax until I saw one on sale at a chance stop. And after getting it, I was not as thrilled about trying to hunt down more. I wasn't going to pay full retail on these, either.

Looking back, I should have kept the Skull Squad Ferrets. I really liked those, not too gold-shiny, but somewhat a very cool Cobra-blue camo-swirl pattern that each Ferret ended up with a unique-to-each A.T.V.

Ferrets will be out there for many years, but is there a better option for an A.T.V. for my small Cobra recon. forces?

Snake Trax aka Ferret

2011-08-21T08:35:00.004-05:00

Here are some older thoughts on the Snake Trax that I had posted elsewhere. I sent away every Ferret I had a couple years back, and I was thinking I would army build these, even before I got this one. (you'll read more about that ahead.) I thought I would throw this up here while I'm considering whether or not getting Ferrets BACK in my collection will be easy, or if there is a better vehicle. I would like to get something that is somewhere between and ATV, Buggy, or Jeep, for my collection. (not a Stinger.) Anyway, on with the original write-up:

SNAKE TRAX

Originally I wanted to army build these back when the first images started appearing on the internet. I finally did get one on sale for about $7 on clearance from Target not too long ago. I didn't want to end up with several Scrap-irons, so I wasn't really in a hurry to get these at all.

A sort-of goal of mine is to have my Cobra "army" be a force that primarily uses smaller, but effective, vehicles. The HISS is a good size, the STUN is perhaps a bit too big for an example. I'm saving any "big" vehicles to be one-of-a-kind (or last of its kind!) that are unique in use to certain Cobra individuals. (Wild Weasel is the man when it comes to my lone Hurricane [this has changed since the original post], for example.)

The Ferret is a vehicle that I felt was perfect for my Cobra forces. An ATV is easily transportable and really meant for going off-road, as well as having utilitarian uses. In this case, hauling weapons.
My Motor Vipers have been testing this new Ferret, the Snake TRAX out.

It's been pretty decent so far. Really exactly what I would expect from a Ferret.
I like the color, it's very neutral, and while I originally wanted an all-blue Ferret pool, this red-brown works. [I was hoping the new Cobra Fury would be this color, but now we know...]
I'm still half-n-half on the new front grill, though. It has a nice blue it, but other than looking nice, it doesn't really add to the action of the original Ferret base at all. It sits too low on the front for an ATV, grounding at slight slopes.

Which isn't horrible, the driver just has to remember this and steer just right to avoid digging into the ground.

The big anti-armor missile is a good idea, but I don't think the Snake TRAX came out as successful as it really could have been in this department. As you know, the original "hose" that connected to the original Ferrets cannon is now sticking straight up. Is it an antenna? Could be, but how much harder would a new straight tube of plastic be in place of this? Or even a little technical looking thing to put on top of the "hose" as it stands? I don't know.
The Motor Vipers were left a little put of by the operation of this launcher, too. They didn't want to fire this thing when it was moving, and the weight tended to lean the machine a little too much. And as much as these guys like driving fast and encountering danger, they just weren't having much fun with this over balanced ballast. Plus, near as they figured they only had one shot. However, they did like the push-button trigger, very user friendly.

Even Scrap-iron was saying that it would have been awesome had they included some kind of tripod so it could dismounted to become a deadly ground weapon by itself. As is, they can't figure out why there is such a big amount of material to fire one missile. But they do like the flip-up cover.

Overall, I'm not as impressed with the Snake TRAX. It seems rushed out the gates in terms of the new add-on's. This isn't to say I wouldn't still mind army building the machines, I really would. (but at a very cheap cost to me only...)

Overall 3 out of 5 from me.

What do you guys think? Anyone have any Ferret or Snake TRAX armies built up?

Big Boa vs. Road Pig

2011-08-14T13:45:00.002-05:00

That's right, muscle-mania!

You Decide the winner!!!

Road Pig Vs. Big Boa

WHAT!!

Oh no, the Sarge is coming in?!?!? Who will be left standing in this three-way, no-holds barred rumble!?!?!?!?

Sci-Fi laser trooper

2011-08-14T11:17:00.004-05:00

Sci-fi has been in my collection since about 1986. I have picture of what must have been a birthday for that year, and here you can see Sci-fi before he was opened for many battles to come:
Here you can also see that 1986 L.A.W.. Makes me wonder if whomever bought me these put "laser trooper" and "laser artillery weapon" together to make that purchase, or if this is pure coincidence? (Cy-kill.....YEAH!)

Sci-fi was really one of THE go-to troopers for me back in the day (1986 being my "big" year for the start of Joe...). I don't remember specifics, but between Sci-fi, Low-light, and Hawk, (Cutter and Wet-suit to an extent, too) these were the most used for quite awhile. (fun fact: Tiger Force Frostbite was probably the next GIJOE member to join this motley crew.)

I don't think the 1986 Sci-fi I have now is my original one. I know I had one broken thumb on mine, but I can't remember if I just swapped parts from a 2nd one I acquired, or if I just kept the second one in place of my (most likely) well-used Sci-fi.

That laser-rifle and pack was a fairly futuristic weapon to me. And Sci-fi was essentially all armored-up, in a sense, and often was out doing battle against Cobra. I was always "shooting," but I couldn't tell ya "what" I was shooting out of that rifle and power pack.

But, as time moved on, and as I acquired more GIJOE figures, Sci-fi really filtered into the "back of the box." In many ways, I wanted to get more "realistic" looking figures, you know, like Lt. Falcon; all in camo with a normal gun and backpack with a knife. My collection wasn't the most straight lined looking "army" guys collection for many, many years.

And Sci-fi really got neglected over the years. Even in my "department" project, I wasn't sure where to put him.

Is he a "tech." guy? A sniper? A forward air-controller helping to guide an aircraft's payload? Or a guy that simply shoots laser beams?

I searched the web a little to see what a "real" laser trooper might do, but there's not much out there.

How do you use Sci-fi?

I have 3 different versions of Sci-fi. Left to right, 1986, 1991, and 1993
The 1993 Star Brigade pilot version was my 2nd Sci-fi, however, and interestingly this figure stayed in his baggie up until just a couple years ago. I never used Sci-fi as a Starfighter pilot.
I did assemble and sticker up the Starfighter, though, but it mostly sat on the shelf under a dust-repelling plastic baggie.

I was going to wait and open up this Star Brigade Sci-fi along with other unopened Star Brigade figures (if and) when I found a Defiant with crawler. I never did find one, and I never opened up all the Star Brigade guys even when I got a very nice Crusader.

I'm not sure where the 1991 Sci-fi came from. I am assuming a trade, but I can't remember. How bad is that?

I prefer the overall color of the 1991 uniform to the others, but I still think the 1986 uniform has a lot more interesting details. But, the 1991 does have a removable helmet. So, ultimately the 1991 Sci-fi has gotten more use.

But still, not a lot of use, especially compared to many other GIJOE figure characters in my collection.
As of now, I am contemplating the role that Sci-fi will play in my little GIJOE team.

It draws back on the questions I asked above. What's his MOS, for instance?

1986:
Laser Trooper
mos: Infantry
smos: electronics

Slow-motion, has to hold the laser beam on target long enough to burn through....

1991:
Directed Energy Expert
mos: Laser Weapons Systems Operator
smos: electronic instrument repair

hits targets at extreme range with private arsenal of laser weapons, and can use his beam for air-strikes....

I also consider that Heavy Duty (1991) is a Laser Weapons Systems Operator, as well. Heavy Duty uses his laser beam to guide his missiles in at a tank.

So, Sci-fi is part sniper, part laser gun shooter, part laser-guided weapon system pointer.

And consider that he points big ordnance to where it needs to go, is he also a little bit of an anti-armor trooper, too? Or does that 1991 figure really shoot "energy" from his cannon (search for full carded art)?

I think the "Infantry" MOS is kind of strong, yet, kind of weak, in helping me to create a role for this figures characterization. I mean, look at who else has "Infantry" for a specialty. There's many, like Mutt, Beachhead, Recoil, or Muskrat, to name a few. Sci-fi stands out as a figure visually in all his incarnations, though, from those guys.

Skystriker was Skidmark?

2011-08-11T09:31:00.003-05:00

Here's a random item.

So, look at Skystriker on YoJoe.com, now it's pretty obvious to those that know Joe, that that is the body of Wild Weasel with Thunders' head. Even Thunders' head gear is the same for Skystriker.

Now, look at the file card for Skystriker on YoJoe.com.

Compare that helmet, glasses, and head, to that of the picture on Skidmarks file card.

The face isn't so obvious, but to me that is the very same helmet and sunglasses.

The limits of an older imagination

2011-08-07T13:04:00.002-05:00

My personal challenge of choosing a 28 member team is a challenge. It's not easy. I already swapped out several figures for figures that were pretty much the final picks.

It's been a mix of sentiment, realism, accessories, specialties, "cool," "need," versatility, potential versatility, taking into account the "bad" guys they might face, rank, and all sorts of other little made up criteria.

I've even got a thing in my head where I don't want to break up some "friends" on the team. Yeah, that's how odd I am these days :p . (Skidmark and Wild card from there comic appearances, or Sci-fi and Lowlight from my own early days of playing with GIJOE, for a couple examples.)

And then there's a question as to the role of GIJOE that I ask myself. Where, to any generation and many different ages, GIJOE is something that is really different for each. Is it special forces, Delta? Is it just "army guys?" Secret agents? Is it a big massive force or small elite force?

And then after all this, as I think about all the little angles and missions I want my potential 28 member team to cover, I wonder if I painted myself into a corner with what I picked out? Or by what I limited myself to?

I base my reasoning for choices through things that "are." Things that were in comics, or cartoons, or ideas bought out online, or even just the file cards.

Is my imaginary GIJOE team too limited by my own non-creative imagination?

Am I allowing what is portrayed in a popular (media, cartoon, comic) setting to direct my imagination?

How much of my own totally "made-up" stuff is going to stand up in the long-run to my very own imagination? I've never been one that really just makes up something out of nowhere without some sort of basis to do so.

One thing that I feel pretty good about on my challenge of trimming back to 28 team members is that it has been a lot easier to move 28 figures around and set them up.

With 28 figures, I did a little sub-divide for roles lately. 5 groups of five, essentially.

One group is the super-commando infiltration and assault group, kinda called the "gray" team.

Another is the "green" team, which is mostly "army guys," in many ways. The infantry, more or less.

Another is the "heavy weapons" team. I didn't give them a color, maybe brown? The big guns, essentially.

And then there is my security forces division, which I guess could be the "blue" team, essentially the SWAT/ M.P. intelligence/ investigation area of things.

And then my vehicle-based team. If I use a color to describe this 5-man team, what should it be? Red? Essentially a mix of armor and wheeled vehicle drivers that are just as effective on the ground as in the vehicles themselves.

The other 3 are essentially the pilots that help move these guys around, as well as General Hawk, himself.

Back in the day, Hawk was gunning alongside Low Light, Sci-Fi, and (TF) Frostbite. As per the file card, I'm bringing Hawk back down to the basics from where he came in my collection. Instead of commanding from some room or playing with Defense Department "chiefs," Hawk is the man with the plan, and he leads from the front. And wherever in the the front he wants.

evolution of storage

2011-08-02T11:25:00.002-05:00

The thread on Joe Customs got me interested to show some of my storage and organization methods for my figures over the years. Up above is one of the earlier items I used for storing figures. As the collection grew, this became accessory storage.

I also kept figures in vehicles off and on, as well. I wouldn't doubt I stored figures in the Killer WHALE's bottom compartment for some time, too.

After my tin up above filled up with figures, they started to migrate to boxes. The box below might have started out as all my figures, but as I obtained more figures, only Cobra claimed ownership of this cardboard box. I even labeled it, which was very forward-thinking of me, as it helps me to remember how things evolved over the years.
This particular box got use in about 1991 originally.

The box above became "Cobra's box," and I suspect that the box underneath the APC below is the box that the GIJOE's were issued at that time:

In the picture below, the little plano storage drawer box is seen getting its first "try out." In this photo, it shows the time that I was considering using these little drawers as my main method. I don't think I liked it a lot, as I didn't stick with it. This is about 1994, as you can figure out by the dates on the photos.

What's cool, is I can see my old shoe boxes that I was using for the figures just before that time (somewhere between 1991 and 1994). I think ALL the figures may have been in the Red Wing's box at one point, but I also see the slimmer brown flip-top box, so I can't remember exactly how it all played out. The box with Deep Six to the upper right may be the box of my "unused" figures. (Deep Six ('84) was "unused" as I had the 1989 Deep Six that was a lot more fun for me.)
Above, using the date on the photo, I must have decided to use the pair of slim boxes, one for each team. As you can see all the figures laid out in front of each box. Or, I didn't have enough money to buy more of the drawer units.

Just above, and just below, are the very same things I was using for storage for Joes. Today, I have some H.O. Train items in the shoe boxes, and as you can see below, the plano organizer is somewhat used for accessory storage. So, since I have these still after all these years, shows I'm a pack rat?

IN about 2005 I was trying to get my Joes out of the "box" when I bought eight of these:

Prior to this, I think I had everything organized into the little baggies, in a box of some sort. I wanted to have a quicker, easier way to access everything. With eight of these, I was able to separate every little faction and environmental-oriented group. (one drawer was Iron grenadiers, while another drawer was Arctic, for example.)

I still wasn't happy with it, nor was I getting my figures out for set up after I got these filled. Plus, I still didn't have enough of the three-unit drawers to fit the "new-sculpt" Joes that I accumulated. Now these are scattered all over the place, each holding different household items of paperwork, or something.

Add on that I lost my "joe room" at that time, all the Joes went back into baggies. Back into baggies and into my Rubbermaid storage totes:

And that is a brief showing of my "shoe boxes."

I'm sure I forgot about other boxes I used and I'll probably see them in some odd photo at some point in the future, but I feel like I got most of what I used shown here.

Night Attack Chopper

2011-07-29T08:46:00.003-05:00

This is the Night Attack Chopper.

2002 seems so long ago! Most of the original new vehicles and figures that started coming out at this time did not have my interest ('02-'05 or so). A few vehicles made the cut during these "new sculpt" years in my collection, though. The NAC was really THE last of that crop of vehicles that stayed in my collection from those years. Of course, it is gone now, sold or traded, and I'm doing just fine with my Tomahawk.

The thing is really a nice toy, though. The action and sound features are really not my the big draw on the toy for me, but on this heavy chopper toy it really worked out.
The lower tail end is a handle, and there is another "flip-down" handle up front. This thing is very user-friendly in that manner (two-handled gunship!). With the trigger pull, the rather large multi-shot launchers would extend out to attack mode. Then with each trigger pull, EACH side's pods would fire some rockets until they were empty.

That was fun, I did enjoy that.

I also liked to spin the rotors with the tail trigger. The chopper really puts the user of the toy in control in that manner.

The details were pretty decent, too. I don't think the details were better than the Tomahawks, though. As I made my decisions on what to keep, I found there were some vehicles that filled a space between model and toy. While the details on the Tomahawk (and other ARAH vehicles) are a little more fragile, they weren't as "blocky" or "rounded" as the NAC.

I would say the NAC would easily last in one piece though because of its' "rounded" and solid construction.

And it's a pretty sleek mutli-role chopper. I think it fits closer to the gunship role more than any other, though. The chin-turret is very nice, but I didn't like that it was limited only side-to-side movement. But I very much did like the "sensor nose cone" with the light, it really looks like it belongs.

I know, I'm nit-picky.

And at first, I really disliked the rotor design. It grew on me, though. However, even as thick and rather sturdy as the blades were, one of them was stressed with just a few removals where it connects to the rotor hub.
Of course, the sound attack feature made it on board. I didn't mind the actual thing, and I actually liked the idea of customizable side weapons pods. But, there's only a few of these sound attack weapons that really looked good and made sense. (Scarletts' crossbow, for instance, did not make sense to me on here, even though it seemed like the side sound stations were meant to be used by the cockpits passengers in back; by hand; see that handle in the pic below?)

The cockpit was my favorite part, three figures, so it was a real crew. Even a joystick.

The rear compartment was the big let-down, though. This is where I think a GIJOE vehicle could have separated itself from the pack of other toys. Without the sound attack gear, and especially without the lower front "handle" that was hidden in flipped up position, this would have been one awesome unique helicopter. And the big wing pylons and rocket pods helped block access to the rear compartment some. (and the non-removable mini-rocket under the pylon didn't add anything to the vehicle for me)

The deal-breaker for me keeping the NAC was really based on the landing gear looking like an afterthought of design. The running board with the figure peg was alright. But essentially, the lack of "feet" swung the vehicle into my "trim" list.

Who was the pilot on your NAC?

I don't think I really picked out any one figure to take on the NAC as "owner." I guess, somewhat like Devils Due: Amercia's Elite, I did have Flint ferrying an elite team around on missions. And that really sums up the mission roles that I put the NAC out on, just simple raids and attacks.

Still, the NAC was a pretty fun chopper. I never did get either of the other variants, but nearly 10 years later, I wouldn't mind seeing a re-tooled NAC hit the shelves at retail again, with all the little things tweaked that I mentioned I didn't care for much. (it's nice to dream... :) )

Omega, so that's what is...

2011-07-28T11:38:00.006-05:00

Updated at the bottom
I'm still excited for S.K. Omega, just as excited as I was in 2010. Any little bits of news or discussion on this new line interests me, even just little random things.

If you don't know about them, this was a new line that I pretty much read about at GeneralsJoes.com originally. There is a lot of information at GeneralsJoes.com as well as other links that give other glimpses into what's happening in that whole realm of getting a new toy line off the idea board.

I thought the podcast that discussed a little more about "what we know" was good conversation. The guys really touched on the process that goes into making a product that I found interesting.

This "process" was something that I wanted to be a part of (and still do), and my interests in toys (namely GIJOE) is the whole reason I chose where I was going to go for school (major) and ultimately how I ended up at this point in my life.

No, I'm not part of any production "process." As things evolved in life, I ended up on a different path. I hope to get back on the path, but when the path is rocky and unpredictable, I figure I should be in no hurry. I'll most likely give it another go eventually.

I'm looking forward to hearing the next episode of WOJM on S.K. Omega.

Even if it takes Molten Monkey Intl. a while to get things off the ground and into my hands, I'm still going to be here.

The Hive still looks very appealing to me, as does the Owl. As much as I'm not in the toy market to accumulate things, these are things I like the look of so far. Plus, I hope they work and blend seamlessly into my mostly o-ring style GIJOE collection.

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updated

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So, the WOJM podcast is here. Still sounds like a lot of fun stuff to look forward to!

I wasn't giving it heavy consideration, but, yeah, I wondered what the "S.K." stood for.

NOW I KNOW!

Random Helicopters and gunships thoughts

2011-07-21T08:48:00.007-05:00

Moving forward with my collection, the GIJOE team here is going to be a very mobile team. I think the best way for the figures to be "mobile" in regards to my vehicle collection, is by using helicopters.

I find helicopters to be neat machines. A week or two ago, I attended a small fly-in at the local airport. There were planes of all sizes, from home-built stunt craft, to those passenger carrying brush planes with the big landing gear tires (like you might see on the Flying Wild Alaska show, if I remembered the name right of that show right..).

The best part of that little fly-in for me was watching the Robinson R44 that was available to take rides in. I didn't take the ride, but watching that little 4-seater helicopter zip around was just as fun. A very agile craft.

For my GIJoe team, I'm planning on using the Tomahawk as the main mode of transport. Most fans probably do this, too. It's a great helicopter, and a fun, detailed toy.

Now, when it comes to moving the Joes in the air, I've been considering bringing back a gunship. Essentially, this would be another helicopter, but it would be the helicopter that is there for battle. The Tomahawk can hold its own in most cases, but consider that Cobra has the Fang II's here, as well as a DTC HISS with some missiles, well....it might not be wise to allow the Tomahawk fully loaded with Joes to take them on. (plus, I have the Renegades Black Dragon coming in...)

I had the Dragonfly for most of my life up until just a couple weeks ago. For a 1983 vehicle it never really seemed too old feeling to me. Where it was falling in "like" for me was that the pylon weapons didn't have much "heavy" to them, where in real life a gunship like this would most likely have multiple rocket pods and twin rack TOW missiles. And I would have liked to have had a more detailed chin turret gun, too. But, it really is a helicopter that works with the '82-'84 figures best. I want just a little more "beef." Something that kind of fits in the middle in the '85-'94 span of years for figures style-wise.
I'm very surprise that Hasbro didn't re-tool a Dragonfly like they did other vehicles, like the Water Moccasin/ Sting Raider that essentially made the vehicle a little larger. (Fang vs. Dragonfly: how "anniversary" would that have been?)

And there are many other helicopter options out in the Joe world to choose from.

I don't think the Retaliator is going to be one I'll choose, though. This is a helicopter I haven't seen much discussion about online over the years. It's got a nice looking front end, but the crane/claw/tail end might not be my cup of tea. Without seeing much said about it online, and for me not seeing it in person ever, makes it hard to really get a feel on this craft. Anybody have one of these?

The Locust is another one I've never seen in person. This little bird has my interest lately. Just for the small size this little flying gun platform could be the answer to my wants. It could be used for those days when I just want a small mission, or if I want somebody to just go scout ahead for Cobra. For the size, it's packing the guns, though!
(And it would be shelf-space friendly.)

Of course, I could always get a Razorblade back in the collection. This one has been gone for almost 5 or 6 years now.
It wasn't that bad of a little 'copter. I thought the spring-fire launcher was rather well hidden (and black missiles, too). And while I never did use the string feature, the little backpack figure rescue catcher thing is a unique item. In my imagination, the string slider part was like the secret spy ball on real helicopters, that thing held all the top-secret "black box" surveillance gear.
Style wise, the Razorblade looks like a solid armored battle craft. There is very little "sleek" about this thing. It was really built solid.
The one area about the craft I don't like is how the landing gear attaches to the body. If this thing was ever re-tooled, if the added an Apache looking in style hull bottom with some lowering wheels, I think this would be a more accepted toy.

Options that I know I don't really want are the Sky Hawk or the Sonic Apache AH-74. I traded my Apache for a FANG II. The only regret I have about that trade is that apparently the Apache has (or had) more dollar value for some reason. I could have sold it and bought more FANG II's with the cash, rather than just a straight trade. I still don't see the value in the Sonic Apache, though, it's one vehicle that I don't miss at all.

The Mudfighter is another craft that I could use for my "gunship" role. Being a propeller driven craft, it wouldn't need the runway like the "big fighter jets" and would be very supportive with the extensive payload of bombs.
Perhaps I should try to hunt one of these down along with a Locust?
Anyone have a Mudfighter, what do you think about this little plane?

What other "VTOL" or helicopters am I forgetting about? (No, the POC Dragonhawk is not an option ;) :) .)

Or maybe I don't need a gunship and my Joes are just fine with the Tomahawk?

Or, maybe like suggested on a thread at JoeDeclassified.com, I should look for the Halo: Reach Falcon? (I won't really, but wow, that is a nice looking machine! Poor Joe gets this.)

The Skystriker that is coming out

2011-07-17T14:18:00.004-05:00

I'm just not excited about the Skystriker that is coming out.

I don't think I've every really, really, really wanted a Skystriker that badly at any point in my collecting, though.
It was more where I would have liked one, but at the same time, that "would have like to have" feeling really applies to almost everything. I would have liked, and would still like, to have everything.

On YOJOE.com, there was a thread where before we knew of the possibility of a new Skystriker, it was essentially asked how much would one pay to get them out on the shelf.

In it, at much higher price points, I said I was interested in it. But what would have garnered my interest in a higher-price-point Skystriker would be in the extras that would really add to the plane.

Now, the F-14 Tomcat is very much the basis for the Skystriker. And while the new on is nice, I'm not big on the single-seater. I would have preferred the twin-seater. But then the modern figures would get cramped, so I totally understand that. And the cockpit details look pretty good on this new Skystriker, too.

What would have really sold me on the Skystriker, though?

Getting all the little parts that interacted with the plane from the U.S.S. Flagg, that's what!

I'm talking the tow bar, the fuel car and tanker.

I'm thinking tail-hook.

I'm thinking boarding ladder.

All the things that would compliment a Skystriker on the ground being added into the package would have really been the kicker that would have sold me on this new one.

The optional stickers that are present are nice, though.

What else would have sold me?

Well, on top of a unique night interceptor/ fighter paint job, and everything else I mentioned above...

TWO pilot figures and at least one ground crew figure (to move the fuel, the bomb/ missile rack trailer, etc., etc.

But with everything I would want in a Skystriker, well, I would have essentially ended up with something between what we have now, and this. Or even this at BBTS.

I would guess what I would have done would have pushed the new Skystriker into the $100-plus range.

And I don't want to be a complainer, but I was hoping that there might be a "new" mutli-role aircraft that would be put out. Maybe not an F-22, or F-35, but something fairly accurately scaled that might reflect what our global pilots are flying these days.

But, it's all good. There's a lot of people that won't have to pay an arm and leg to get a Skystriker now.

That's where the fun is, we get to play, just like back in the day!!!

Cobra Transport Helicopter

2011-07-13T10:27:00.003-05:00

These are scans from the Marvel GIJOE comic I did a few years back.

I might be wrong, but I would think a majority of Joe fans would like this in toy form.
I know I would!!!

It would only be a little bit bigger than the N.A.C., I would guess, but imagine the fun possibilities of having interchangeable equipment, such as a big clamp for carrying a HISS or Paralyzer. Or even an armored troop-carrying deployment compartment. OR......????

1991 GIJoe rise of the action accessories

2011-07-10T10:59:00.004-05:00

This is what the GIJoe team had in 1991.

This is an older picture I took in 2009, most every figure stayed pretty much the same since them.
The only additions I made that are not in the picture are, Skymate. I also did not put in my Talking Battle Commander General Hawk in the picture.

There's a lot of things going on with this years assortments. In 1990, it was really a solid release of figures with a lot of accessories. With the exception of Rapid Fire (and Capt. Grid-Iron, to an extent), nothing was too far out there in 1990.

In 1991, I think a few figures really carried similar 1990 stylings. Dusty, Sci-fi, Red Star, Heavy Duty, and Hawk, really carried through solid design form and a good amount of accessories that ranged from specialized weapons to removable headgear. I don't have the 1991 release, but Low-light is another figure that has a lot of gear, and really seems to fit in with the 1990-style figures. Lots of gear and rather simple, solid figure design.

However, 1991 was also the introduction of the spring-fire missile launcher figure accessory. While I am not a fan of these, and they were on Transformers years prior, SOME of these are pretty darn good.

Red Star's RPG-style launcher is really a nice looking launcher. Heavy Duty's "man-portable" weapon system is fairly technical looking, and I thought it was interesting that the missile-tubes were also used on the Sonic Apache!

Sci-fi got a launcher, but in his case, it seems like this accessory was less a rocket-shooter, and more a true "energy" blaster. The yellow rocket (actually "energy?") makes me think this.

Was 1991 more a transition assortment....

Some figures had a little less "1990-style" to them, too, but these were still fairly straight-forward figures, except their accessory list included some kind of new-specialized equipment. And these figures also bring in some of the "neon" that is often moaned about, but more in the guns and such. The figure package backs often led me to think this, like the back here, you can see which 1991 figures are on it, and which are not....

Mercer for instance, is really straight-forward, despite the "orange" weapons. The backpack with the mechanically moving missile tube that swings out to the side is where the specialized accessory angle starts to come into play.

Snake eyes also gets the same straight-forward figure-style, but instead of "just" a backpack, he gets a spring-fired grappling hook launcher with a string. Spring-fired, but it's not a missile. Would you say it is an "action accessory?" Snake eyes also has the "orange" weapons.

Tracker brings an orange weapon into play, too, as well as oars. Instead of a spring-fired action accessory, Tracker gets an inflatable raft. To me, this is an "action accessory."

Grunt falls close to feeling like a 1990 figure, but like the 1992 Duke, his "elbow-out" arms have sort of bugged me. His (to me) Army football pants really feels like this guy did leave the team and is not just getting back from his engineering college days, and as "Infantry Squad Leader," the guy feels like he could be a leader of some sort.
Grunts "action accessory" is some kind of huge massive mortar tube, or some kind of huge massive anti-armor bazooka. And the gun, which is also huge, attaches to the massive spring-fired launcher. But he does have a removable helmet, but I'm not sure if he would fit with the accessory spread of a 1990 figure, or if he is more a step into the realm of a 1992 figure (where spring-fired action became the norm).

Rise of the "action-accessory" and other gimmicks

This is where the often-called gimmicks really start to kick in, and these often get separated out with their "sub team" labels.

I'm talking the Super Sonic fighters, where Zap and Psyche-out are actually really good figures, but unlike their 1990 Sonic Fighter counterparts, the Super Sonic Fighters got sounds AND LIGHTS to compliment their original weapon accessories. Unlike the 1990 Sonic Fighters that simply got a sound-emitting backpack and re-issued weapons, these 1991 Super Sonic Fighters actually have some unique equipment to employ.

Of course, the other action features that are out this year are the water-activated-battle-damage Eco-Warriors. While this color-changing feature was more known to me with Hot Wheels color-change cars, they put it on the action figures. This is something I did not mind. This was kind of neat in that I could use "toxic sludge" to fight with. The "toxic sludge" was actually water. And the figures got mini-squeeze-activated water gun backpack accessories.

And while I'm mostly talking about the figures, and limiting myself by faction (Joe or Cobra), I think a good note to make is about the vehicles that also contained these same features were out there. The Septic Tank and Eco-Striker both have water shooting capability.

The hole in the plot, though? Is the stuff that the "good guys" are using an anti-toxic-sludge "sludge?" In reality, it's all water getting shot around, but, are we fighting sludge with sludge? (Like in Ghostbusters, positively charged slime against the bad ghoul?)

And the "action accessories" don't stop there!!!

If you remember the motorized action packs from 1987 and 1988, "action accessories" are obviously not a new concept in the GIJOE line.
Heck, even 1984's Deep Six figure was a whole "other" type of figure.
Now, do you remember the motorized vehicle packs?

When does an accessory become a vehicle? When it is the Air Commandos or Battle Copters!

By itself, I guess I never considered the battle copters a vehicle in a sense, like I would consider the Dragonfly a vehicle. I've never had the opportunity to try on of them out, but I'm more the guy who would NOT be sending my GIJoe figures up into the air outside. I would be more worried about losing them or their guns!
To me, the Battle Copters really feel like more of an "action accessory," big ones.

And this applies to how I thought of the Air Commandos, too. I've never had the chance to fly these, either. Nor have I even seen an original glider from the very early days of GIJOE, but, even the 1991 gliders don't feel like "vehicles" to me. And I'm not the type of collector/ fan/ person that would be tossing his vehicles around.

Where 1990 was a straight-forward year for the most part, 1991 really starts to split things up where a lot of it fits great with the 1990 figures, but the others sit firmly in with what we got in 1992.

While I very much enjoy all things GIJoe, I will admit that even in my own thinking, I tend to stay between 1985 and 1991 for most of it.... and with my recent organizing project of a small team, I find really taking a close look at the whole and seeing what I really like about each.

28

2011-07-05T07:33:00.002-05:00

Seems like just yesterday I was questioning if it would be hard to live with just 60 figures for my Joe team. But, even still, I did just trim those previous picks down from the 50 I had more recently to just 28 figures.

In some ways I miss everything I ever had, even stuff I just recently sent out the door. I really do like having the space, though. I can move a little more freely, and I am looking forward to reducing my GIJOE team in many ways.

If you remember, I picked out an "A-team" that was going to be my team, but, I felt like I was missing something there. And this is something I've been questioning in my head for awhile, can I really do without?

But as I look at the shelf with the 28 figures, it is still a good number of figures! Shoulder to shoulder, they really take up about a 3 foot wide space. And it's still 28 figures I have to move with my two hands, after all, these are "action" figures.

I still feel some hesitation on what I might be potentially trading out, and I question if what I've picked will be fun and versatile enough for my future adventures.

28 figures really seems good to me now. It's not too small, like an original 13-style force, but not too big, like 120-some.

I can make FOUR teams of 7. And I've found that if I ever was picking out figures for adventures, it was usually a smaller squad such as this that was present.

Plus, I was thinking about the 1983 APC, it held 28 figures. I don't have my APC anymore, but maybe there is some mysterious force telling me that 28 is the way to go and I should get my APC back? (no, there isn't, and I'm not.)

But here is the breakdown for the 28-man team:

'86--2
'87--5
'88--7
'89--2
'90--4 (that's a huge drop from what I had before in'90!)
'91--2
'92--1
'93--ZERO
'94--2
Modern oring--3

So, the numbers for year really changed from previous picks. 1988 came out surprisingly ahead in the picks. And while '92 is still way low, 1993 ended up with no representation at all, which was kind of how it was maybe, as I was lumping '93 and '94 into a "battle corps" category.

Well, I think 28 figures will be THE number I'm going for, but we'll see if I don't edit what I've chosen before I let you all know "who" is in.

Is there a doctor in the house?

2011-06-29T08:48:00.003-05:00

Rice Krispies Lifeline was my first medical professional on my team.
I would almost say that this was the best "prize" in a cereal box ever, but a Transformer cereal mail-in was so much better. Even though I'm a much bigger Joe fan, getting Jazz from a cereal I can't recall the name to, well, that was simply awesome.

It wasn't too long after that in about 1992 or 1993, that a friend gave me an '83 Doc figure. The medical team was set! A doctor and a paramedic.

In my more recent task of possibly trimming down my personnel roster, I just asked myself now how important a medical specialist would be? Would I need a dedicated medical character/ figure on my small team?

Or would a medical specialist simply become another "static" figure, like Lift-Ticket, or '86 Wet-suit..., a figure that has one real strong purpose, but doesn't feel like they "fit" in other roles. '86 Wet suit is a Navy SEAL, however, the guy is in his wetsuit with dive gear, and he's never felt right running around in an imaginary mountain or city setting in my mind. Would a future medical specialist figure simply just end up staying in whatever storage box 95% of the time?

When looking at the future, I am finding I should consider the past.

I've put this picture up before, it's a small set up of a small skirmish. In it one can see how my Cobra Viper team looked for many years.

Lifeline made it into this battle. And while pulling Low Light to safety is huge, I have to wonder, why was Lifeline there in the first place? What does Lifeline bring along on a mission that adds to the mission, other than simply being a guy that pulls his buddies to safety?
For most of my imaginary adventures that I can recall, I think Doc pretty much stood around in the HQ with Lifeline and Stretcher, and even a more recent added figure, Sideswipe.
I'm not sure if I felt like I needed a dedicated medical professional to march around with every little squad of Joes I mixed up for adventures or what.

For a character/ figure that is often in one spot, like the HQ, or in the pilot seat of the Tomahawk, or in a Dive Suit in the SHARC...., I wonder if their roles are too limited for maximum play adventures?

And it's not that I dislike any of the medical figures, or any of the firefighter/ flamethrower types. When I consider the future, though, how much "pull time" will they get, or will they simply stay in a bag in a box 95% of the rest of the time I have them?

I wasn't going to give away too many names for who I was going to pick to keep on my small team. For those readers who might have interest in my "small team" thing I have going as of late, I wanted to make my "final team" picks a bit more of a surprise. That's why I broke it down by year in prior posts.

In previous posts, I've mentioned how I had a quick pick and got some 80 figures as a result, and then I got it down to 60, and then to 50. Well, I have it down in the mid-30's, believe it or not.
I've almost been forcing myself to a point where it's turning into work on seeing where I might want a potential small force to go.

But, the figure that inspired me to consider whether or not I "need" a medical specialist figure is Stretcher. (yes, I chose Stretcher over the others as the "keeper.") Check out the file card, which is the base from which I add to a figure's character. Medical Specialist and troop transportation.

The actual figure really stands out to me more than Doc or Lifeline. And Sideswipe just swiped his outfit. But really, it's a nice touch looking figure mold-wise and all. And he's not dressed in red. (not that I dislike red...) I like that he's not stated as an avowed pacifist, too. While he's only got the flare gun, maybe Stretcher could do more in my possible small force?

I've got vehicle drivers, but with his troop transportation SMOS (and no, I don't use his flying stand thing...), I wonder if he would make a great driver? This way, he can contribute to more missions, even if he would only be out when the vehicles are. With that huge backpack, and I think RTO gear, Stretcher could also contribute in the communications arena.

I guess I'm 50/50 on keeping Stretcher in right now.

Snake eyes

2011-06-28T09:43:00.003-05:00

What can a person say about Snake eyes that hasn't been said before?

If it hadn't been for the Marvel GIJOE comic, I don't think the old cartoon would have put Snake eyes on my radar as much as he is. Back in the day, the 1989 Snake eyes became my first one. But even then, he was still just a commando with silent weapons to me. He was pretty much as the file card stated.

Over the years, his ninja connections were very much brought upon me through the Marvel comic book, as it wasn't until about 1992 (or later) that I started to pick up back-issues, or any issues for that matter.

It's amazing how seeing character/figure toys in action in comic or cartoon form really bring them to life. Even more than a strong personal inner imagination can.

Also, there's something about that launching point of creativity, where a certain amount of information is given, and then from there, a person, or a bunch of people can start to build upon it. I think that's what makes Joe fans so fun, we have a bit of a base we all can participate in to any degree, but then we can all interject our own imaginations and creativity on top of it.

Where Sci-fi (1986) was one of my most played with figures back in the day, and always on the scene of any imaginary battle, these days if there's any one figure that is always out in any figure mix I choose, it is Snake eyes. Sci-fi, however, has been very, very, rarely seen...
(I wonder if Sci-fi had been featured in the comic as much as Snake eyes, what would our imaginations have GIJOE looking like?)

Either way, I have amassed a few Snake eyes over the years.

And this is no where near the amount I could have accumulated, and no where near what other fans may have.

And I think they are all good figures. Perhaps with the exception of the '83-based figures, I can find something I like a lot about them all.

In some ways, if the clothes make the man, then the gear and weapons can even more define him.

And a wolf.

If you've seen me on the Joe forums over the years, you might know this picture or similar. It's pretty much been my "default" commando since 2004.
I can say I rather disliked the camo pants that originally came with him, but instead of painting, Night Fighter Guile from Street Fighter gladly donated the pants.

Despite the 1991 figure being light blue, and having orange-red weapons, I rather liked the "bulked up" muscular look combined with the rather soldier-looking vest. Some fans, and maybe most fans, will choose the '85 visor as the best head gear, but I think the goggles and face armor are a little more real-feeling. I can see how this gear stays on the guy, the visor....not so much. It is cool looking, though.

Like Battle Corps figures, many of the later RAH o-ring figures don't have anything unique about them for accessories. Among the mix of all those things that came out in the last ten years, there are a few of Snake eyes figures accessories that are available.

So, rather simply, I picked out weapons that (essentially) make Snake eyes.
I also gave him the rifle so he can actually become a team player and get into the infantry line. Snake eyes is not as rogue and independent of a character for me in my Joe-verse.

The man is still a super-skilled silent commando with ninja training, but he is still a soldier.

potential 50 gijoe team

2011-06-25T08:57:00.002-05:00

If I remember right, I think my "50th" GIJoe figure was the 1991 Snake Eyes.

That was almost 20 years ago.

Recently I've been challenging myself to see if I can make a small GIJOE team that I can be happy with, as opposed to a large, large, large number of figures.

Well, on a quick decisive pick of my figures, I ended up at about 85 figures initially.
Then, I got myself down to just 60 figures.

Well, after some more "play" time, I chopped 10 more and now got myself down to the big 50.

In my "60 figures" post, I broke things down by year for which figure was present. Perhaps I'll do the same just for comparison of how things changed:

'85--2
'86--2
'87---6
'88--8
'89-- 4
'90--7
'91--5
'92--1
'93/'94--5
modern--9 (technically 10, but one figure is more parts...)

For me, looking back, 1990 got the biggest ax chop. And 1992 is almost non-existent.

And it's not due to me not liking the figures.
As I was trying to be objective in my selections, I really had to consider how much I really used the figure since I got it. Truthfully, as cool as some are, and I don't want to give them up, I really haven't used them much; if at all.
With prior use thought about, I would compare it to the potential broad uses in the future. Would I get a real good amount of play out of this figure?

I would take into account how the cartoons, comics, or even online fans have influenced me on my own take on the character of a figure.

I even tried to see if I had too many redundant specialties, or if I needed a larger variety of specialties that I had already removed.

Keep in mind, I'm not going for the large army. It's going to be a small mobile strike force, and there is going to be a lot of helicopter use, and most of the vehicles are going to be jeeps and tanks with field station weaponry. There will be no high-seas adventures or arctic throw downs.

Cobra '92

2011-06-24T10:14:00.002-05:00

Here's a bit of random. My collection of Cobra figures from 1992.

I'm starting to wonder if 1992 was the "worst" year in my opinion. I'm still pondering that notion of "the worst," I mean, I like pretty much all of it. But in my quest for finding a potentially smaller collection of figures, I have to evaluate what I like about the figures the most.

As for the Joes as of today, I only have one 1992 figure that is looking like he may be left in on that team. There will be more thoughts from me on that, I'm sure.

Right now it's Cobra, though.

This picture is actually from 2009, and below in italics is what I wrote about these figures back then:

1992 seems really slim for Cobra after I've broken it down by year releases.

And I'm not a ninja force collector, but I've really taken a liking to Slice and Dice. The pair almost have a TMNT-humor quality in their names. I still have fun with these without feeling like it's ridiculous. Slice being a swordsman, probably likes to slice people up...kinda almost mobster-like, trimming victims down like ham. Or Dice, being too evil for the Night Creepers, could be just a total street thug with more smarts (in that Night Creepers could be accountants, lawyers, etc.) and possibly even seemingly crazy. (as in a roll the dice wildly way)
Either way, Storm Shadow is a rogue-ish good guy in my world, so Cobra Commander really likes having this pair in his employ.

This was my first Firefly, too. I was kind of excited, and really liked his colorization in the marvel comic at this time, but the lime green didn't hold on me for this character. Even though I do like the mold, I would like to this one recolored at some point. It's a nice figure overall, and the rifle was one of my favorites for awhile despite the lime.

And the Eel falls right in there on the colors, too. Nice styling, and I like the idea of the razor fins, and the accessories overall weren't too out of place...if that yellow had been a maroon, or gray, or even purple, this would really be a nice figure. imo, anyway

And back into today I think most of what I said here is about how I feel about things now. However, in regards to Firefly, I may HAVE TO LIKE this figure. I'm heavily considering a "no swivel-heads" rule to my collection. Not that I hate them, but a little more articulation is always nice.

For me as an old-mold o-ring type of guy, well, other than this '92 Firefly, there is only the '84 Firefly (swivel head) to choose from right now. I figured my swivel head rule would apply to all, even the ones that were produced just a few years ago.

The Eel would be heading out the door, though. As I don't have any boats now, do I need a diver? It is a limiting restriction, but I may not have many (or any) sea battles ever again. I'm going airborne for movement.

And still not a huge ninja fan, but Slice and Dice will serve the Commander well!

Hardball

2011-06-19T14:36:00.004-05:00

There's a lot of GIJoes out there that just don't get a lot of attention, some Joes just get forgotten. Over the years online, I've seen posts about these not-as-often mentioned Joes, posts that ask which Joes fans often forget about. I think Backstop was the guy that I often named as one I forgot, for example.

However, as I've been picking through my figure collection, I realized there was a Joe that I really was (more or less) forgetting. And the guy was kinda really always in my mind, but..., I guess I can't think of why I forgot about him so much.

This GIJOE character is Hardball.

As I was sorting the GIJOE figures through and evaluating each one, I DID pick Hardball out to keep in my (potential) small force. I even gave him my Marauder, Inc. 40mm grenade launcher as I was (essentially) playing with the figure.

At the same time, I was writing down on list all the figures I was going to keep.

Guess who I forgot?

Right, and obviously due to the title of this post, Hardball.

And one could say, maybe I just didn't write down his name. It could have completely have been a random omission and it could have been any of the other figures.

It took me awhile to figure out who I was missing on my list compared to the figures on the shelf (that I picked out as "top" picks). I figured out it was Hardball, but it kind of surprised me.

Now, about 2 years ago, I was going for the all inclusive GIJOE team. I wanted every individual character, and these I put into my "departments." (see that "departments" post for more on that).

I had EVERY character on a large sheet of paper all sectioned up into different categories. I even had a Sgt. Savage stand-in figure for that character. I even had Fast Draw in a category.

Who did I miss? Once again, and obviously, yes, Hardball.

Anyway, as-is, I did pick Hardball out as one of my "keepers" for a (potential) small force. He's a decent figure with some not-so-straight-military flair (baseball style), and he's a grenadier.
I think the modern 40mm grenade launcher in real-life-world is an incredible (and scarily deadly and accurate) weapon that really does exist. Hardball simply brings his larger fictional gun to the battle!

So, I guess in summary, I'm kind of surprised that a fairly simple, straight-forward, and (at least I thought so) used figure has been kind of slipping under my radar somehow. I would have guessed several other figures would have been unconsciously not getting used.

Check out Hardball at the GIJOE Index.

What do you think about the guy?

OH, and check out JMMs page on Hardball, too!

Lift Ticket

2011-06-16T10:07:00.003-05:00

This is a picture that I have to re-do.

I was going to see which figures had the same colors of red, tan, and green as Lift Ticket does. I was going to see if there was a hidden "Tomahawk force," of sorts, where all these guys really matched as a group over the years. Dial tone '86 and Beachhead '86 should be in here, too.

Either way, another time.

I was thinking about Lift Ticket, though. With my "60" figure team, well, one member of the team is Lift Ticket. I figured that I need him, as he is the Tomahawk pilot originally and since I'm running the Tomahawk as the main mover of my team it would just make sense to have this guy as a pilot.

But, do I need Lift Ticket simply if I have a Tomahawk?

I have Updraft, Dogfight, and Wild Bill on hand, and I think all three of these guys are just as well-suited to the piloting task. I also have Flint on hand, and he can do the job, too. And if I stretch the imagination, I could probably get any Sky Patrol members to at least be the copilots.

Aside from being a pilot, Lift Ticket doesn't feel like he might as versatile of a figure to have in play in the collection. Even just as a figure, Lift Ticket has pretty much been seat-warming in the Tomahawk almost non-stop. I'm wondering, would it be better to send Lift-Ticket on his way and bring in another Joe, especially if this figure is just going to be sitting in chair until my collection turns to dust?

What else is there about the Lift Ticket figure that gives him more versatility other than a "just" a pilot?

60 figures

2011-06-15T10:38:00.004-05:00

I've been digging through my figures lately, seeing if I can go with less. Not just fewer figures, but less stuff overall. I'm thinking since I can't really take on a large and expansive collection (real life comes to play...), I was thinking I should get everything down to a very manageable level.

And not just quantity, but quality, too. And not even quality, but personal preferences. And then edit those items by the potential usefulness, originality, and downright fun that could come out of really introspecting on MY GIJoe team.

Well, I kicked out the swivel heads, picked out the "double" characters and got my favorite versions identified. I weighed on whether there was a modern (''98-'08) version that was better than a classic ('82-'94) version.

Then I went through all that to see if I would actually use what was left.

I had it at about 80-some GIJOE team members.

Then I got aggressive and picky.

I got realistic.

What remained? Well, 60 characters (figures) for my future team. That's still a lot of people, but I'm kind of excited about this, too.

Here's the current (today) breakdown of what will stay by product year:

'85--2
'86--3
'87--6
'88--8
'89-- 4
'90--14
'91--5
'92--2
'93/'94--6
Modern '98-'08--9

Does it add up to 60?
One guy is really kind of parts, so...its' kinda 59? Did I add it right?

It's kind of interesting on the breakdown. I found '90 had a lot of good things I wanted to keep incorporated. '88 and '87 wasn't far behind, either. I'm kind of surprised that '89 had so few that left, I might have to see "who" I kicked out.

'92 was really low, even though '85 was the same and '86 not far behind, many of '85/'86 characters are represented in later years that took the place out of those years.

1992. Was this the "worst" year in my opinion? Well, I'm going to save that opinion for another blog post, but, this might very much be the case. More to come.

For now, I'm going to let what I have sit and stew, see if my choices are things I can live with.

I'll also probably start going through the figures heading out the door and see if there's something I might not want to live without.

Interesting times, and a lot of work.

And I still have to pick through the "bad guys!"

GIJoe Skyhawk

2011-06-14T09:54:00.002-05:00

I first got a 1984 Skyhawk (upper left corner of the group of vehicles above) from my best bud way back in the day. The upper rudder wing was super glued the jet engines were loose to the point where they could hardly stay in any position except straight vertical. These things were used pretty heavily on the cartoon when I was watching it back then, too.

I guess I didn't use it a whole lot. In some ways, being that most of my collection was (and is) from 1986-forward, some figures didn't fit the easiest in the 1984 craft. I may have used the Razorblade more than this thing now that I think about it. I guess I don't remember using a whole lot.

Perhaps I used mostly to fight off the Cobra Flight Pod? I can't help to wonder if that's what my best bud back in the day was doing at times when he had both of these...

Either way, I was able to acquire the 3-piece collectors convention Skyhawks when I was at the 2005 convention. I thought it was a great deal at the time. And with 3 figures in that bonus attendee purchase pack (Gung-ho, Dragonsky, Steel Brigade Commander) it was really nice as that little sub-set of figures ended up with instant transportation. Of course these Skyhawks did not have the twin-chin cannon, which really took away some fun. Not to mention the plastic itself on the craft was a little unrefined, each swirl pattern was different, but so were the angles of the landing gear, excess flash in certain spots, etc. Still, for the price, these were pretty decent.

I actually took the guns off my old '84 Skyhawk and added to one of them. I can't find a picture of that one, but either way, it was traded away.

Just a short couple years later, Hasbro put out the 25th Skyhawk which simply made me not want any previous production Skyhawk. Seriously, when I saw the pictures, I wanted THAT and not what I had.
I don't think I saw more than one of these 25th-style "Ghosthawks" and between that point and the time I considered snagging it, it was already sold. Of course, I traded off all my convention Skyhawks and parted out my old 1984 Skyhawk since the 25th release was just so much cooler looking. Still haven't gotten the anniversary edition, but, that's ok... there's still a better (?) option right now.
(Check out this Youtube.com review on the 25th Ghosthawk.)

In the Pursuit of Cobra line-up, there's an even more refined (modern?) Ghosthawk now, and I have had several chances to snag this one. And I guess I still do as of this writing.

I just can't decide if I really "need." I mean, it looks cool, but will I actually use it?
Check out GeneralsJoes.com review for more information!

In my old age, I found that the best spot for a Skyhawk (or Ghosthawk) would be on the Transportable Tactical Battle Platform. Of course, I do not have a TTBP anymore, so the "need" for a VTOL craft for that landing pad is no longer there...

That's about where this little VTOL pod ended up sitting in my world.

And it's that little pod-thing about it that is what is holding me back from thinking I "need" the POC-Ghosthawk now.

It looks cool, don't get me wrong. But, I also think back to old Devilsdue.com board discussions where a lot of people were debating if the thing would even fly. And looking at the visual-weight balance of the toy..., well, I don't think it would!

But with the Ghosthawk POC "vectored thrust" engines, I think there very much might be a strong possibility of it seeming to work. Really, add in that third thruster on the back end, and the twin vectored engines would really only have to get it up, while that 3rd nozzle would give it the push. And it is nice that the engines are angle up a little higher and away from where the old engines were. It seems a little more complex of a craft, and a little more realistic to me this way.

I also think with the rear bomb (or rocket) attachment points on the back wing (bombs not included, however), the visual weight shifts back. It helps the Ghosthawk not seem so front heavy, which was one of the main argument points for this thing NOT being able to fly back on the old Devilsdue.com discussions.

Add in I have no use for the figure that is included, and it bumps the purchase up as too much expense for what I want out of the box. If figure is really $6, $7, or $8 a piece now, I would gladly pay the $7, $8, or $9 for JUST the vehicle. I don't want to get stuck with more stuff I most likely will just toss in a baggie to sit with other baggies in a Rubbermaid container.

With no Dragonfly in my motor pool now, I could use a little gunship to escort my Tomahawk, though, and a Ghosthawk would be pretty useful out in the field for some quick and compact air support for my (planned) field support team/ ground vehicle team.

Anyone get this and now not like it, or did you get one and can't imagine Joe-life without it?

1989 GIJoe

2011-06-12T19:18:00.003-05:00

The GIJoes of 1989. I guess in a lot of ways, this years worth of figures really continues much of what 1988 had to offer me, but it even carries in elements of 1987's style while sort of sliding into the solid year (in my opinion) of 1990.

There's even elements of 1982! Consider Snake eyes, Rock-n-roll, and Stalker make their way back into the prime time of figures in 1989, that's kind of nice. And I think all three are very nice "updates" of those figures. And it doesn't stop there, as Deep Six from 1984 is here, but this time as a fully articulated action figure instead of a suit with swiveling arms.

With my history with Joe, this year was pretty much how I was able to get these characters new. So, where many collectors/ fans might have had the original versions of these, the 1989 "version 2" figures were really my first.

The '89 Snake eyes, Rock-n-roll, and Stalker were my first versions of these characters. As far as Rock-n-roll goes, I haven't really wanted any other version..., I really like this one.

Deep Six, though, I did have the '84 (with the bellows) first, but I found the 1989 version so much more usable and fun! I used the "version 2" on the WHALE and even had him assisting Wet-Suit, Shipwreck, and Torpedo underwater.

As I look at this year as a whole, there's the obviously strong design sense that even newly named figures really could have been previously seen figure characters, too. Downtown could have been Short Fuze, and Dogfight is very suspiciously looking like Wild Bill. And it's a stretch, but Countdown a possible, Ace?? Recoil even could have been, Grunt or Footloose??

Either way, I like the year. I like it even more after having all the accessories out as a group of stuff. There's a lot of gear, and it is really fairly detailed. A lot of removable helmets are present, as well, furthering the coolness of accessories.

Long Range has one of my favorite pistols. And Dogfight's pistol is fairly aggressive looking as well. Recoil has some poorly colored guns, but that rifle is one of the best in my opinion in form, not to mention his awesome backpack.

Downtown and Rock-n-roll really bring the heat with their big weapons. A pair of twin guns and fun mortar (with mortars!) launcher are here.

Between Scoop and Dee Jay, the audio and visual department is looking well-equipped. I have to wonder even now, why was Dee Jay, a Battleforce 2000 member, available 2 years after the rest of that theme?

And Hot Seat is there as the tank driver, essentially. I've never seen his vehicle, the Raider, in person, though. It seems like it would be a fairly decent tank. Anyone have any opinions on it?

If you made it this far down in my ramblings, (thank you for reading!) you may know that I'm considering trimming down my figures quite a bit. In pictures for the 1989 figures I have, well, above is what I'm considering keeping.

I've already discharged tundra ranger Stalker and Windchill with the rest of my Arctic force.

Below is what I'm considering sending out the door:

Payload and Countdown are astronauts. There's not much else I can do with astronauts in their suits as I can see it. I was putting them in the jets I had, but with no jets nowadays, and no Crusader or Defiant missions planned for anytime in even the far future....well, it would just make sense for them to go. They are really nice figures, too.

Deep Six is on the potential for being sent off for the same reason. Deep Six is a deep-sea diver in a dive suit. A dive suit with weighted boots. And it is a heck of a nice figure, as well. But, with no SHARC, no Barracuda, and even no WHALE...., it really does make sense for him to go. As much as he'll be missed (he is an original collection figure, this one bought by me!)

And Snake eyes is up there. What's wrong with Snake eyes? Well, I haven't been buying any modern GIJOE Snake eyes, but I still have a hefty handful of this character in many incarnations. I like this version, and it was my first one, but I have been much happier and have almost exclusively used my "default" Snake eyes over the past 5 years now. It simply doesn't make sense for me to hold onto any other form of this figure. Besides, most of the accessories that are unique to the 1989 Snake eyes were reused quite a bit from 2000-2006. I never use that 3-piece stick weapon, either...

Oktober Guard

2011-06-12T09:05:00.005-05:00

The Oktober Guard has only really been fully assembled in my collection since the 2005 comic pack figures made their way out.
The two sets from 2005 were very elusive for me. The Marvel comic had its influence on me, and I wanted to add these characters to my collection. It wasn't until a chance stop at a Target in Dubuque, IA, where I finally found these. And it was just the two of them there! The only packs of these I saw at all.

Looking back at them now, the heads are a tad on the small side, and some of the hands aren't formed quite right. Especially on Brekhov's figure.
The accessories must not have impressed me, as I've obviously armed them with Marauder, Inc. equipment pretty much across the board with the Soviet-style (at least to me it is) items.

The Oktober Guard was present prior to these comic packs, I actually got the 1998 Oktober Guard 3-pack about the time it came out. YoJoe has a picture of that here.

I had these 3 TRU exclusive figures with me in my small travel tin container when I was doing the school thing. I wanted some figures to set up in my room, and the 2000-'01 figures were what I had in it. And the 1998 Oktober Guard. I have since traded off the "Brekhov" and "Volga" from that pack, as those were straight repaints of previous figures that I still intended to use. "Volga" wasn't as obvious as Lady Jaye, but pretty much was that figure, ball-cap and all. And "Red Star" was most likely present in my collection, already. So that "Brekhov" just couldn't be THE Brekhov...., it was Red Star.

Plus, I lost THAT Brekhov's hat in a dorm room. Go figure..., a 10'x15' space, where something is on a shelf or in a tin, and I lost it... ???

Red Star is where it was at for on that figure. The guy was an original figure afterall, this was a more tangible character to me from the start. If I remember right, I pretty much had to trade to get all his accessories assembled for this figure below. And Red Star has some seriously nice stuff. From the rifle, to the mini-gatling gun, all the way to the RTO backpack with knife. Add in that Red Star has one of THE BEST spring fired missile launchers out there, well, it's a darn nice figure!

I think Big Bear was added in loose to my collection, too, and I know that I did trade for his double-barreled launcher. I'm not too concerned about the missiles themselves.

Just above in the picture with Red Star and Big Bear are the other "newer" Oktober Guard members, Lt. Gorky, and Sgt. Misha. These are the 2006 Comic Pack figures, and the Comic Pack Dragonsky came with them. I think the trio of these figures have better sized heads. Misha is really a nice figure with a unique hat.
Lt. Gorky has a nice head, but got the shaft with the 1964 soldier body. I've tried to find a better body for the guy from spar parts, but it just hasn't happened. I guess it isn't so bad. At least THIS Gorky isn't looking like the Big-Bear-look-alike Gorky from the 1998 TRU 3-pack.

It's the look-a-likes and characters that could be what was supposed this character issue that faces my Oktober Guard today.

Below, for example.

We had a Dragonsky in 2005 from the GIJoe Collector Club. And it's a great figure, but it's Blast-off. With the comic pack figure and the GIJCC figure, which do I pick? How do I avoid the matching uniform issue with the 2005 Gung-ho?
Also, was Big Bear intended to be Horror Show the whole time? Two big guys, in that dark solid green uniform, both with some kind of anti-tank weapon.... A coincidence? Should Horror Show "die" in my Joe-verse like in the comic book, so Big Bear can stand apart and get some use?

"Dead" characters were considered "dead" for a time when the new figures started coming back at the beginning of the century, after all. Brehkov would have to suffer the same fate if in my Joe-verse, Horror Show were to be considered, "dead." I think it was a later Marvel issue that kind of explained that Red Star looked similar to Brehkov, too, but with such a small team, do I have two leaders present at the same time? Just figure-wise here, I prefer Red Star over my Comic Pack Brehkov, quite easily.

Below you can see poor Gorky. If the hands weren't a lighter tone on the 1998 Gorky, I wouldn't mind just swapping the heads. It's too bad, I think Gorky could really have been a strong figure/ character in my Joe-verse had the body been a little more, I dunno..., good?
It's not that I dislike the '64-style body, it is just fine, it really has the feel of the 12" guys from that time. I did play with some of those, too!

On the forwarding collection issue:

Now, "dead is dead," this is an issue that didn't make sense to me. Sure, in the comic, they're gone, not to be seen again. In toy form, they're still here and just as functional as any other toy.
However, should I reduce the Oktober guard? Should I completely bring them into my GIJoe team?
Should Brehkov, Horror-Show, Shrage, and Stormavik, be sent away so the "newer generation" of Oktober Guard character/figures get a chance to get developed?

Do I need an Oktober Guard team?

What do you think?

1988 GIJoe

2011-06-10T09:38:00.007-05:00

I have been pulling the figures out of my storage arrangement and taking a closer look at each years figures lately. I am sort of evaluating which figures/ characters I like the most and which ones I haven't really pulled out over the years.

I was going through each year and setting up every figure, as well as pulling out other versions from other years for about an hour or more at a time. For 1988 here, I'm shifting gears and just taking a picture of the figures that may not make the cut to remain in my collection (if the need so arises...).

As always, reference the 1988 GIJOE Archive at YoJoe.com. And right away, I already forgot a figure in the picture above, and that's Charbroil, the flamethrower.
For some reason, I wanted all the flamethrowers for awhile, I'm not sure why. Where imagination meets reality, though, I don't know if I need flamethrowers as an exclusive specialty. One could make a small "sub-team" with the few flame-weapon specialists that are available, but I found them very useful in a hazardous-material team role. In that Haz-mat role, the flamethrowers could be self contained and be some of the guys that could remain in a hostile environment. Airtight can't do it all himself, can he?
But ultimately, the bulk of future imaginary adventures will most likely not involve this scenario, so Charbroil might be out only a small percentage of the time compared to many other figures.

The normal, regular use of a figure is why I have Lightfoot up in my possible trade-outs. This figure actually came from my best bud back in the day, and overall is a neat figure. An explosives expert is always very handy, and very realistic to have on my future force. But, like Charbroil, how many adventures can I see this figure partaking in? In thinking back over the years I've had this very figure, Lightfoot has been in my hands for 20-some years now, and the most notable use I made of him (that I recall now) is that of a member of my demolitions specialists on my Security team. If you look at that picture, Lightfoot is driving. (barely noticeable). Cool as the figure is and sentiment aside, he's on the list of potential outs....

1988 Storm Shadow was my very first Storm Shadow, and that's my original one up in the photo. A figure that's been in my collection since, well, almost forever it seems. Of course, with this figure now, Storm Shadow is a "good guy." That file card confused me some back in the day, and since it essentially had the man as a friend of Snake eyes now, that is how Storm Shadow played out in my GIJOE collections imaginary adventures. Best buds essentially, a lot like the Marvel comic book in most ways.
However, I think the end of the Marvel run left me out in the cold with no resolution other than that Storm Shadow was brain-washed back to how Cobra was back in 1984. I suppose that is one solution to resetting a lot of things that happened over 10 years of stories..., brainwash them! I haven't gotten the newest comic continuation of this story, I'm waiting for a graphic novel so I can have them all at once.
Devils Due didn't help me feel Storm Shadow out much, either. He was bad, then good, then something, then good. And then even "online" interaction where (and it's all good) some people have Stormy stuck in '84, and others more like me have him "good," well, that bouncing alignment of factions pretty much influenced me a lot. I've put Storm Shadow into a rogue role which THIS figure pretty much summarizes. A not-so-clean-white ninja, and then I scraped off his Cobra logo, and now Storm Shadow has pretty much been out on his own.
So, if Storm Shadow is not a team player, I most likely won't try to incorporate him onto my team with this 1988 figure. However, I would really like to see a "commando" version of Stormy someday.

Spearhead is a nice figure I got in trade in about 2004 or so. I haven't used the guy much, but he's got some things going for him. Most notably, I used him in my Desert Patrol. The orange doesn't bug me. I think he would look good with the Desert Fox, too.
I'm just not sure if I will use this figure much in the future. He might get recalled back into the "keeps," but this is one guy I'm on the fence with.
I'm considering making up a "bull" number of figures I can allow myself to keep, too. If I can only have, let's say 50 figures, Spearhead might not make the cut, simply since there may be other figures I would rather keep. If I make a rule like this up, it could be an actual collecting goal, which I've never had.

Budo is a guy that's been in my collection just as long as 1988 Storm Shadow. He's one of what I call my original team members. He's a heck of a cool Samurai, and his Haiku is one that I memorized early on. But, really, do I need a Samurai?
When I was departmentalizing my entire GIJOE team, putting figures that fit together with others into patrols and whatnot, Budo pretty much got stuck in the tank bay with Quick Kick as a trainer.
That's it. So, sentiment and cool aside, he's actually a little easier to put on the trade-out list.

Windmill.
Well, I have tried to like the guy. When I had a larger motor pool, in particular when I had more helicopters, I simply needed more people! In my planning just a few year ago, though, I didn't figure in the fact that I was just one person... setting up an entire squadron of vehicles for battle began to take on a job of its own.
This mass of movement and set up figures into why I kind of wanted less of a motor pool, and now I'm finding I don't need ALL the people to get my smaller force into action. Windmill, well, he's probably one of the easiest to kick out of my collection.

Sky Patrol

2011-06-08T11:44:00.003-05:00

Sky Patrol is still a newer-to- me-addition to my collection. Back in the day in and around 1990, '91, and '92, I remember seeing these figures on the pegs, but since they had parachutes they made a price jump into a sort of "deluxe" figure price range. Or put simply, they were more expensive compared to mainline figures. Plus, I could buy a vehicle for a dollar or two more, and I found more value in that kind of purchase thinking.

I still don't have all the accessories to this "sub-team," but I have all the helmets and the figures themselves, and I'm happy with that. I think it was late 2009 that I finally got Airborne up there, and I paid a pretty good amount for the figure. For some reason he seemed elusive, and for whatever reason I liked that figure the most out of all of them-even before I got it.

I think I filled in most of the Sky Patrol figures at the GIJoe convention in 2005, but the first Sky Patrol figures I ever got (in the picture below in about 2004-early 2005) is when I got Static Line and Drop Zone.

I like 1990 as a product year quite a bit when it comes to GIJOE, and Sky Patrol really adds to that like. And it has nothing to do with the parachutes. I actually could care less about the parachutes.

With all the vehicles I've had over the years, I don't remember ever even seeing a Sky Patrol vehicle in person.

If you're reading this, you most likely know your Joe, and you most likely know that with the exception of new heads, these are all re-used bodies.

It's an interesting mix, too, in that it's former vehicle driver bodies that were re-used through-out. And that Sky Patrol figure got a removable helmet, which is really awesome.

On the ground, Backstop and Motor Viper donated to Static Line and Airwave. With the use of ground vehicle driver bodies, I really imagine these two Sky Patrol members being used in a ground role. Static line has a demolitions MOS, and the armor on top helps that guy feel that part, and the blue really feels like there's a sort of security (Like Law, Shockwave, etc.) flavor. And while Static Line might get his codename from that sort of airborne jumping method, it also makes me think of explosives for some reason.

Airwave is the "audible frequency specialist." That says communications specialist to me, and with his file card info, Airwave has become a part of my communications and technical specialists. With the riding armor a-la Motor Viper, Airwave feels like a figure that can field his expertise just about anywhere.

Two of the Sky Patrol figures are from jet pilots bodies. In my current thought process of moving my collection forward with fewer figures and missions, jet pilots are looking like they may become very rare. I suppose the Sky Patrol guys could become HALO jumpers, as Altitude is a recon scout, and then Drop Zone is a "weapons specialist." "Weapons specialst" is kind of vague as far as strong fuel for the imagination... it could be anything.
When I had more jets, I had these two Sky Patrol guys as almost exclusive pilots. With no jets, well, I don't want to make the excuse of "they're cool," just to keep them. However, I may employ an imaginary transport plane that can get these two and others into airborne-inserted action.

Then there is the helicopter pilot based bodies. The "leader," Skydive really seems like an older special operations guy that is type of soldier that would be fast-roping out of a helicopter, too. As far as future use in my collection, I feel real good about having Skydive present. He's got a nice pistol and rifle, and his helmet really feels more like those lightweight helmets that a person might see in real life. Well, in a dark black as compared to the toys silver color.

Now Airborne was the guy I wanted the most out of all of them over the years. I think it was mostly since thought he looked the coolest.
He's the "parachute assembler." That sounds boring, an important role for sure, but I don't think I'll have that play out in my imagination. On his secondary MOS, I just got reminded that he is a battlefield medic as I reference YOJOE.COM. In a team with potentially a lot less people, this imaginary point will add to the teams depth.
His overall color scheme is really nice, too. I think it would work in just about any place he's sent into, and his helmet is a little more "combat" feeling to me (as opposed to a jet-pilot face shield). Style-wise, the uniform doesn't feel like a jet-pilots G-suit feels out of the pilots seat, too.
It's interesting that both helicopter pilot-based bodies got the more "combat" style helmet. I wonder if the original design intent had more to it than us at the consumer end will ever know?

Airborne vs. Airborne

If you know your Joe, you know there's two Airbornes. For awhile, I was thinking of making Sky Patrol Airborne, "Rigger." An alternate codename so I can use all the figures. I've also considered using, "Six," as I've seen posts where this, or "Rigger," was used.

Going forward, since the original 1983 Airborne is so much more of a skinny figure and a swivel-head jointed one at that, I think the original is going to go away for sure.

Really, I have a lot of choices for paratrooper GIJOE figures across the board. And as I have been spending a lot of time lately contemplating my figure collection, I find I really prefer the figures from '85 and forward a lot more than the '82-'84. Don't get me wrong, but when it comes to just an issue of Airborne vs. Airborne on these two figures, the 1990 Sky Patrol figure is so much more interesting and detailed to me.

What do you think of Sky Patrol?
I have some parachutes I won't use if anyone wants to trade for them, too, just let me know.

Also, it's been asked before, but why do you think Freefall wasn't a member of Sky Patrol

1987 gijoe

2011-06-06T10:12:00.003-05:00

GIJoe in 1987. Some fans might say the end of the line (that had a few good figures), others may say just an off-year, while others still may think of the this year as just as good as any.

Maybe it was more Cobra La and GIJOE: the movie (1987) that helped defined some of the negative views of 1987. As far as the GIJOE team goes, I think it parallels the 1986 GIJoe team very well.
The 1987 figures in my collection, still pretty much look like what I had from 2009. I typed out some thoughts on the GIJOE team previously, right now I'm spending some time evaluating what my collection will mean to me. I could have it all, I could simply hoard it all, and keep it in some sort of storage for the many years to come. Or I could really take a hard look at what I like about my GIJoe collection.

And it hasn't been easy. Some figures are just plain cool. Or there is some really neat aspect to them. Or even, and I never thought I'd say it, some nostalgic sentiment attached.

As I look at the class of 1987 now, the same color palette really flows through figures as it does with the 1986 figures.
There is the rather traditional looking "army" guys with Falcon, Tunnel rat, and even Outback and Steamroller (to an extent). But then there is a transition with more non-traditional looking figures who still have their army-green pants on (Law, Chuckles).
From there, Fast Draw adds in some more red in his special rocket-slinger blast suit, and that red carries right into Sneak Peak, Crazy legs, Backstop, and especially, Jinx. This red is very similar to the red on the 1986 figures, in my opinion. But there is also some gray tones, and Sneak Peak and Crazy legs really look like they are on a team to me now.
Of course, Psyche-out has to be different, much like Sci-fi. Perhaps that was planned, one guy with a bright green technical specialty?
One could almost take the entire right half of the photo for trimming out figures, and indeed, Sneak Peak, Crazy Legs, (that) Jinx, and Psyche-out are on the potential chopping block.

In 1987, the color blue starts to show on the main line in Law and Fast Draw, but Battle Force 2000 picks it up.
Now I did get rid of my "sub teams," but I made the exception to individuals, and all of Battle Force 2000 is a new individual. I did send Avalanche off with my winter operations team, though, he just fits better with that theme.

Back in the day, the style of the Battle Force 2000 vehicles with their colors really have a certain style that kind of match what was going on with Transformers that year. But, either way, the BF2K figures have been a great addition, even though I don't have much interest in the vehicles, as these guys have really added flavor to my team as vehicle driving specialists.
Dodger and Blocker have been four-wheelin' and off-roadin' in most of my wheeled vehicles, while Knockdown has been serving as a gunner on many vehicles. Maverick was the co-pilot to just about everything, and with his suit, he could almost fit on the Crusader or Defiant just as well. Blaster, as a "ground effect vehicle" operator, he got stationed on the WHALE, but now I'm not sure if he'll have a role in my future force.

Do you think that Psyche-out was potentially planned as a BF2K member?
I like that Dee-Jay fits in visually with these guys, too, even though he appeared later.

Of course, the stars of 1987 in some ways: the Renegades. I just completed these three together just a couple years ago. I'm on the fence with them now. I mean, in the GIJOE:the movie (1987), these misfits weren't even "in" GIJOE and they had a special D.I. that had to whip them into shape. I'm tempted to make my Joe-Verse story one where Taurus and Red Dog either didn't make the cut, or were "lost" in some never-acknowledged-officially mission.

Were these guys going to be expanded upon at some point? Were these and the Cobra-la 3-pack "THE movie figures" back in the day? With Slaughter appearing again in 1988, do you think there was ever any talk of more main-lining of these Renegades, or expanding of the Renegades?

The 1991 Mercer has been my main Mercer since, well, possibly Christmas of 1991. I've always liked the figure, despite the orange. But then, both Mercers have the orange, but the '91 seems more red (more ex-Cobra?) Plus I like the "aged" look on the 1991 version. Somewhere along the way, he got shorter :).

1986 GIJoe

2011-06-05T14:17:00.002-05:00

Most likely, I have already mentioned a bunch of things about 1986. My first post was about 1986 and how my GIJOE team looked. And I may have mentioned how 1986 was really my "big year" when it came to how things started with my GIJoe toys.
Compare the above picture with the photo I took in 2009, and Iceberg is no longer present now since I shut down my arctic operations, otherwise everything else is still the same as it was nearly a year ago. Check out the Yojoe.com archives for more on 1986.

In some ways after getting a lot of these guys out for this go-around of pictures, I gotta say the backpacks and gear got a lot more detail and volume (size) to them. Consider Leathernecks M-16 to Footlooses M-16, much bigger, even without considering the grenade launcher.

As I look at this year as a whole, there are some neat colors that work amongst the figures. Lift-ticket is right in the middle, to his right that same green is on Beachhead and Dial tone. And then Lift-tickets tan is also on Dial tone and Leatherneck. Then from Lift-ticket to the left the red pretty much sums up Lifeline, but that red is also on Low Light and Cross Country.
Hawk takes on green, which is sort of like Leathernecks base green, but not exact, but then Hawks brown is present on Slipstream, who in turn shares a very similar gray with Lowlight and Cross country's pants. Then Cross country's hat is a lighter gray on top, which is really close to Mainframes gray.
The inter-figure color palette is really kind of neat I think.
Wet suit and Sci-fi didn't seem to have much in common color-wise with anybody, though. Wet Suit seems more suited to match the Devil Fish in my mind, and that makes some sense as he's pretty much in dive gear, ready to go. Also, orange is present as a detail color on the HAVOC.
Sci-fi is still a lot more light green than Cross country's vest, though. Other than that, I see no color connection to Sci-fi, or vehicle connection for that matter.

Also as I look at these more, there's just as much of a divide between the traditional looking "army" style figures and the more technical/ non-traditional figures.

Consider Beachhead, Hawk, Leatherneck, Sgt. Slaughter, and even Dial Tone have very battlefield dress qualities to them. Even Low light does, too, it's just not green.

On the technical/ specialty side of things, Mainframe, Sci-fi, and Lifeline really stand out. They have some nicely detailed gear between them, as well as most of the rest of the figures up there.
Of Course, Slipstream, Cross Country, Lift-ticket, and Wet suit really feel more geared toward their respective areas of battle as drivers, pilots, and a diver.

But really, with all these figure out I kind of remembered how I had the tremendous trio of Hawk, Sci-fi, and Low light taking on Cobra back in the day. Sci-fi was the big gun, and Low Light really filled the role of his best bud taking on Cobra.

Going forward, figures that most likely going to be in my collection for sure, is 1986 Hawk, 1986 Lift Ticket, Lowlight, Mainframe, Dial tone and Lifeline.

I may go with 1988 Sgt. Slaughter, then possibly the Battle Corps Cross Country and Beachhead. I may even go with the Battle Corps Leatherneck since Leatherneck (1986) isn't really grabbing my interest that much right now, but we'll see. I'm heavily leaning toward keeping my 1991 Sci-fi right now, too..., the 1986 figure is cool but hasn't been pulled out of my storage system that often in recent years.

And with almost no air superiority fighter now (the X-30 is gone), Slipstream may be out of a job. Pretty plain and simple decision making with that reasoning.
And almost the same with Wet-suit, with limited aquatic-based adventures (no WHALE now) in the near future, do I need a diver? I am considering the Devilfish coming into my collection at some point, it is a nice small mobile strike force asset and would fit on the shelf nicely. But I have to consider many of the other "sea squad" Joes.

GIJOE versus other toys

2011-06-05T09:24:00.002-05:00

Back in the day, and this is in the early to late '80's, there were a lot of different toys one could get. Action figures were pretty big in my world, so it wasn't simply JUST GIJOE, even though GIJOE has become top dog for me by miles.

I had Masters of the Universe, Captain Power, Super Powers, M.A.S.K., Go-Bots, and Transformers. And it was really just a handful of each, but at the same time that handful was plenty enough to get many play adventures started. Oh, and Lego. And for the most part, I still have those. Plus various "other" toys, like a mix of Hotwheels and what not.

How did GIJOE win out over everything else?

Well, even with the cartoon advertising power behind many of these properties, and as much as I wanted (and still kind of do) them all. It was the price.

And it didn't help being located in a small, small, small town.

But price was, and really will always be, a big decision maker. I can remember looking at many items at one particular True Value store. The True Value was THE place for just about anything other than food or postal services. But as I was in there, looking at the prices, especially when looking at Transformers, GIJOE was really the more economical option for me.

For $3 or less, I could get a figure. Even then, cash would still pretty tight.

But also, selection was key. There were GIJOE figures there. I don't remember figures ever NOT being there. Heck, even going 15 miles away to the closest "bigger" town, the grocery store even had them. I remember a bunch of Tiger Force stuff on one particular visit there. Or the Sears catalog outlet store in the "bigger" town would have older stuff that didn't get picked up or something.

So really, while I had plenty of other toys and stuff, GIJOE edged them out in the availability and price areas.
Plus, they all worked in scale with what I had, too.

gijoe 1985

2011-06-04T23:11:00.002-05:00

Here's how my 1985 class of figures is looking now.

Back in 2009, I did snap some "group shots" of my collection, organized into years. I knew I had left the 1982-83-84 years out, they weren't as plentiful and really would have been lumped into one group for what I have. I have done that with the "swivel head" post not too long ago, though, so you can see how the amount of figures compares with what I have/ had.

But on for 1985, I didn't do a "group shot," either. This kind of makes me think, I mean, why didn't I do it back then? No matter..., here it is in the picture above. Tollbooth did not make the picture, and neither did Frostbite (trimmed along with all the other arctic specialists). But there's still a nice group of figures.

When I look at these figures in their respective years, a lot of things really start to pop out to me. I feel a greater appreciation for the "whole" when all the "parts" are brought together. (forest for the trees? anywho...)

I really quickly noticed a break in the visual connection, the more similar color schemes on uniforms.

On one had, there's Flint, Alpine, Heavy Metal, Footloose, and Crankcase. All of these guys really look the "army" part. I posted about Flint previously, and as I thought of what more to say, I have to ask you, the reader, was Flint intended to replace Duke? Or was Flint meant to be the leader of the 1985 GIJOE team?
Heavy Metal is a newer figure for me, I've only had him for a couple years. He's spent most of the time driving my Equalizer, so Heavy Metal has a spot in my collection going forward for sure. So does Crankcase. I've had a lot of fun with this guy in my recent cavalry scout group, and since he brings a nice rifle and removable helmet to the party, well, he's seen more action lately here. Consider that the A.W.E. Striker is a heavily used vehicle here, too.
However, Alpine and Footloose have not seen as big of use since joining my collection not that long ago, really just a couple years ago. They look nice and fit in the picture below well. I'm going to spend some time with Alpine, as much as I really liked the characterization on the old cartoon, the figure hasn't grabbed me. I'll run the guy on some missions in my head to see if he works.

Footloose is another story, though. I'm not getting anything from him, it's like Grunt in a lot of ways. Infantry troopers in the mix of Rangers and other specialists. The figure looks nice, but he brings a backpack, a rifle, and a rocket. Stalker or Beachhead can do this guys job in my mind, and I have plenty of rocket-launching-capable Joes on the bench. Between Footloose and Grunt, I'm just not feeling a need for them right now. But am I wrong? Do I need Footloose (or Grunt) for that matter?

Now, on the other hand, we have the more non-traditional looking army guys. Well, Dusty looks the part, he is just all desert instead of green. You might be surprised (but maybe not) that I actually prefer the '91 version of Dusty and use that figure more.
And Shipwreck, well he isn't army at all, he's Navy! So the sailor suit makes sense, and actually as of the day I am typing this, he's my "newest" figure. My 1994 "SEAL" Shipwreck has been my Shipwreck for over 15 years now. And it figures that I decided to trim my WHALE out of the motor pool, so now I have to find a new use for Shipwreck.

So Shipwreck and Dusty are pretty traditional, just more suited to a specific area of operation. Quick Kick could go just about anywhere, too, I suppose. The figure I have is actually the later mail-in version that is "inferior." And I agree with that "inferior" description, I got another guy a real 1985 Quick Kick for his help in getting me some stuff and it really was nicer. The Mail-in I have has been in my collection for about 20 years now and I don't think I've used him much. When I was creating departments for my team, Quick Kick and Budo ended up in my head as trainers that would hold classes in the tank bay of the HQ. That's the extent to which Quick Kick has gotten.

Barbecue is kind of nice, and makes sense to me from the paramedic perspective of firefighting. Whether it be a downed helicopter, HQ fire, or VAMP collision, having a firefighter on hand is just as good as having a dog-handling cop for security. He's great as a support character. I'm not sure if I'll ever have him along on a raiding mission with Snake eyes, though. And since I don't have a physical HQ now, do I need a firefighter on hand?

Now Airtight is a very cool figure. I got this guy, the actual one pictured above, from my best bud from back in the day. He's not a traditional looking guy, like Flint or Footloose, but his specialty is pretty important. That hostile environment specialist can really help out if the team runs into any on the chemical, biological, or radiological spectrum of things. I gotta say that I haven't used Airtight that much in comparison to many more traditional figures. Even my old best bud from back in the day might not have used him that much, but I do seem to remember that he thought Airtight was cool.
And really, combine Airtight with Barbecue and host of other flame and Eco specialists and one can have a really interesting looking team in itself.

Overall, 1985 really has some personable characters. A lot of the character figures from this really stand out to me in the old GIJOE cartoon. And really, with the mix of figures they really fit with 1984, and '83, but with the new ball-jointed neck. That's what most of my collection consists of and the articulation change really adds to figures for me.

Beachhead GIJoe Ranger

2011-06-04T22:17:00.005-05:00

Beachhead has almost always been in the mix in my Joe-Verse since about 1992. This is a figure/ character that is very simply a special operations soldier through and through, a Ranger.

My best bud from back in the day had Beachhead originally. When it came to each of our respective GIJoe teams back then, I had Hawk as leader of mine, and he had Beachhead. How he arrived at that, not sure. But it makes sense considering the cartoon command rank scene back at this point in time where the chain of command dropped from Hawk, to Duke, to Flint, to Beachhead. Only thing that sucked about the figure was the crotch was broke. And so was a 2nd one that passed through my hands at one point.

Popularity-wise from what I've been exposed to, he's definitely up on the top tier, as well.

My first and only Beachhead for many years was that very figure that was my best buds (and I think it was one of the last figures he held on to before letting me have it). As a Ranger all geared up for battle, Beachhead was used quite a bit over the years. His rifle is really simple and fits most play set ups as to me Beachhead was a rifleman. Not a special weapons gunner, or mine detector, or rescue trooper. No, to me, Beachhead was pretty much the soldier depicted in the file card.

Another aspect of the figures design that I like from 1986 is the extra clips of ammo on the vest as well as an extra bag of ammo. And the backpack has all sorts of neat things molded into it that can keep a person pondering what they could be for a while.

Now, the 1986 Beachhead was THE Beachhead for me until the 2004 Night Force re-issue came out. I bought that pack and I still think it was a very nice set, as much as Action Man should have been left as Tracker. But, really, it was Beachhead just like 1986 just newer! So, this became my most used Beachhead figure since about that point. And technically twice since the same figure came with the 2005 Moray. One thing about all the multi-oring-packs that I liked was that sometimes I could make the original gear with whatever got thrown in some of those (namely Beachheads backpack).

I can't remember how I got this 1993 version (pictured below), but I think it was a trade within just the last couple years. (what does it say about me that I can't remember?)

I've always liked the Battle Corps molds, the ones many other fans might not like at all. Mostly the coloring was pretty wild in some cases, and I'll agree on some figures. But not on this first release of the 1993 Beachhead. In fact, that green that is on the figure is almost exactly the same shade of green that is on the 1986 figure.

Yeah, the blue does seem a little out of place, but twin sidearm holsters on the legs and a tactical vest are pretty nice features. But what really helps make this "updated" Beachhead, Beachhead, is that his original head cover is really still under the helmet and behind the goggles.

So, if you're following how my collection of figures might be getting trimmed, Beachhead brings another challege..., which one to pick?
I was heavily leaning toward the 2004 Night Force version, but after sitting down and comparing all three, the 1993 version is starting to sway me a little bit more. I mean, it's a nice figure, and being a Battle Corps figure means "no unique accessories" for the most part to me. And it's a figure that does have some detail that makes me think of the 1986 version, but gives him some head and eye protection for when he is taking on either that airborne or amphibious assault trooper role. Or light infantry operations?
Only down side is that my figure does have some discoloration.

Which one would you pick?

As for Beachhead the character in general, I think that he is one SO close to being always in a list of figures for almost any reason..., very, very popular.
As I was searching for what other people have put up on Beachhead, I was checking out a section of YoJoe.com that I really haven't before: Feature Character Spotlight. This really is neat and helps fuel my imagination!

Cutter GIJOE coastie

2011-06-02T10:11:00.005-05:00

If I had to pick a favorite character, I might say Cutter. Of all the service branches represented in the GIJOE team over the years, Cutter is the only representative of the U.S.C.G. All respect to all services, always, but the Coast Guard gets left out it seems sometimes. In war, it's under the Navy, but in peace it has its civilian roles here at home. From navigation assistance, maritime law enforcement, S.A.R., patrolling for smugglers, or breaking ice on shipping channels (hence my code name!!!), or whatever. A very useful service that doesn't always get the acknowledgement. Cutter even had to fight to get U.S.C.G. presence on the GIJOE team.

I guess in many ways, as "my favorite," nostalgia really kicks in here, too. Above, I'm pretty sure that THAT Cutter is my original Cutter. And he is showing the wear. And as I think of it more, this might be the oldest figure in my collection from my very original figures from way back in the day.

I think it is interesting that in looking back that my old Cutter has that much play wear on him. The guy has no weapons, and has a life preserver on. Not a front line modern army action figure by any means. But, sure enough, back in the day I must have had more imagination with a much more limited selection of figures and vehicles. Cutter must have been kickin' it with 1986 Hawk, 1986 Low light, and 1986 Sci-fi pretty hard.

The 1992 D.E.F. cutter gave this character a little more muscle. And this 2nd version of the character became my default quite easily, and in thinking back, the 1984 figure just ended up floating around in whatever storage method I was using in the years since.

I did get the Shark 9000 around 1993 or 1994, most likely on clearance sale at that point. And most possibly at the Prange Way store that was shutting down in 1995 or so. Many good priced items bought at that place at that time. With the Shark 9000 came the recolored Cutter, and while I liked the green PFD and big gun, the white pants left me wanting something more.

And then I got the repainted ARAHC Cutter with the Night Landing Craft (N.L.C.), a vehicle which lost a lot of value to me when I learned that it (and the Cobra Mantis) were reused Johnny Quest vehicles. Even though they were decent vehicles, for me it was like picking out any old vehicle, putting a GIJOE label on it, and calling it a GIJOE vehicle. I might be a bit too picky or strange, too.

One of these days, I should bring up the topic of consistent hair color on Cutter, as well as other figures. A figure like Flint seemed to have no trouble staying consistent in various media and toy form. Cutter slides between a sandy blonde and extreme red head in figures, though. I suppose, it is possible depending on sun exposure, that the hair may take on a different tone..., perhaps a little more red in the summer?

I guess, while each Cutter figure has its own unique points that I like, I think the D.E.F. single version is just slightly my more favorite. Minimal white details aside, the guy has his ball cap, a not-so-obvious life vest, blue "coastie" pants, etc. He's also very buff, as a guy who would be boarding vessels at sea might have to get into some tight quarters for combat. Close combat. And he would possibly end up having to swim at some point.
The gun that this figure came with is kind of nice, too. It's not too big. The flashlight is kind of different, too, instead of the smaller ('87 style) flashlights, Cutters light pretty much could become a weapon in itself.
The grappling hook launcher (with lights!) isn't as important an accessory to me. It made me pass up some of these figures back in the day since their "gimmick" bumped the price up. The launcher is kind of interesting, though. I would expect to see something like this on a cutter or patrol ship.
And I could almost say I have a "Cutter Collection." Almost.

But, do I want Gungwreck? I shouldn't make bad humor like that, but really, some covers are unique looking, and that looks like Gung-ho to me still. Otherwise, had the head been a more Coast Guard looking ball cap, I think that figure would have sold me. Mostly for a removable life jacket. (I think of Marty McFly landing in 1955...)

If I trimmed all swivel heads out of my collection, having many Cutters would not be something I would have the, too.

Swivel head figures

2011-06-02T09:04:00.004-05:00

When it comes to the "original 13," I still don't really have them. In the above picture is the extent of my classic o-ring style GIJOE figures from 1982 and 1983. The two straight arm figures up there, Breaker and Short fuze, were more purchases where I wanted to bring the original Marvel GIJOE characters into my GIJOE collection.
And for the "original 13," those comic characters were, and are, so much more interesting to me than the figures themselves. I didn't get into the comic, especially back-issues, until 1992 or 1993. So, with that in mind, the really classic 1982-1983 green team wasn't really a part of my collection from the beginning at all.

It was about 1993 that a friend gave me that Zap, Flash, and Doc one day. While Doc was a nice unique addition to my force (helping Lifeline), Zap and Flash spent most of the time operating the APC I had; they just fit in that vehicle so much better than later '80's into the '90's figures.
And I traded more recently in the past few years for Cover Girl and Airborne, but as far as "action" goes on all these figures, they seen much.

And this non-use of figures kind of follows that pattern into 1984. Below, the only figure that is my original figure is Cutter. He came with my WHALE and shows the wear of a figure that has been around for awhile.
For the rest of the figures, I think I got them more within just the last few years. Thunder has been part field artilleryman, and Tollbooth was the engineer for my 1983 HQ.
Blowtorch has sort of melded into my environmental department, and hasn't seen much expanded use past that. Ripcord, looks pretty cool, and seems to have a big fan base, hasn't really gotten much use, either. And Recondo, who simply has not had a decent update that I like, is part of the Jungle squad, but really he hasn't seen a lot of use, either.

When it comes to the 1982-1983-1984 figures, right now anyway, they really seem to fit within their own time frame. And I say it in a good way, but these figures and the corresponding years vehicles really make a great stand-alone set in a lot of ways. Sure, 1985 fits in just as well, but the only difference is the neck joint. And that's about where the topic of swivel head figures begins, especially as you might know from previous posts that I am considering trimming my figure roster significantly.

I've already trimmed "sub teams," for the most part, as well as my dedicated arctic/ cold weather operations team. I'm now considering trimming ALL swivel head figures, as well.

One might think, why? I really only have a few figures compared to ball-jointed neck figures that area swivel head, but really, when I have a figure like Flash in the mix with even figures from 1985, the guy seems antique. Don't get me wrong, the figure is still cool, but in the mix with figures from 1989, or 1990, the detail level is more interesting to me in the later years.
So, ultimately, should I keep all these old swivel head figures when I prefer the later ball-joint neck figures, or even when there are more detailed "updated" versions of these figures?

I can't forget to chat about Cobra, here, too.
When it comes to iconic, these Cobras are right on top for me. I'm a fan that is more interested in the individual bad guys. The Enemy, with a name. And this is where I think if I made a "rule" to trim out all swivel head figures, I might lose quite a few iconic characters.
Cobra Commander and Major Bludd, I have newer versions of these guys that I like so much more, but from there, the rest are hard to find a nice newer version of.

My "default" Firefly is actually just a repaint of the 1984 figure (picture below). And Scrap Irons modern o-ring issues have left me wanting more, so I just used an original body with the modern head (the original was worn). So, would I "have" to get rid of these figures if I trimmed out all my swivel head figures?
As far as Copperhead and Wild Weasel go, I did buy the 25th versions of these guys, and the detail and articulation is really kind of nice.

And while I have the more modern comic pack o-ring figures and other re-issues sort of set aside as the "junior joes" toys that can be played with, without any fear from me as a 'collector,' would I have to discard these, too? I most likely wouldn't, but would I allow myself to put "my" swivel head figures into this area in a way to skirt around my own potential rule of no swivel heads? Perhaps I need to go through the "junior joes" collection as well, perhaps only allowing swivel heads of the modern years? Or perhaps only comic-pack styled figures?

And that's not a life-ending question at all, that of, what to trim out.

The ultimate goal for me would be to get nice sized GIJOE forces that make being a collector/ fan fun. It would all give me a way to interject my favorites, preferences, ... perhaps aesthetics, and essentially make my GIJOE a very used bunch of toys. I'm not a museum, as much as I would like to have it all, the reality is, I really should not have it all. Right now, anyway.

If the no swivel head rule is applied, and my collection weeded straight-through in this manner, I might lose all trace of some characters, and even later classic run figures would be discarded. Like Skystriker above, but I don't know if I trust him since he seems to have the same mission as Wild Weasel if one looks close enough at those maps...

So, what do you think? In the modern-era with the 2011 Joes out on the shelf, are swivel heads simply antique? Should I chuck all the o-rings and just get a handful of modern era things to make it all really simple?
Am I simply over thinking it all?

Flint GIJOE warrant officer

2011-05-31T08:39:00.004-05:00

In my opinion, Flint is right up there as one of the most popular GIJOE characters across the spectrum of all things GIJOE. He stood out to me in the old, old, old cartoon and correct me if I'm wrong...., but I think he's made it into every incarnation of the A Real American Hero since he was introduced to us in 1985!

My first Flint was that very figure from 1985. However, his O-ring broke on me back in the day. As a really young guy at that time, I remember trying to fish a regular rubberband up in the torso in an attempt to fix him. But, anyone who has tried this direction of repairing O-rings knows it will get one nowhere. I was also a kid that did not even think of taking a toy apart (aka, back screw does come out). So, my first Flint ended up somewhere... in pieces ..., possibly the garbage. If I only had knew how easy it was to replace by removing a screw...

It wasn't until late 1992 that I picked up the Eco-warriors Flint at Childrens Palace. This was my default Flint for many years until the 2001 Desert Striker made its way into my collection with driver Flint.

Below is the actual Eco-warriors Flint that served me for so many years. For fun, I tossed a Steel Brigade helmet on the Desert Striker driver Flint and gave him Marauder, Inc. gun. I think it looks kind of neat, what do you think? The lack of any gear with that desert Flint has left this figure somewhere between the 1994 Desert Paratrooper version and the 1991 Eco-warrior version in feel and uniform reasoning for me.

I guess my next Flint was technically, Rock n Roll. But, it is SO much more Flint to me here. And he came with the HQ, so a command-like officer makes more sense to me, too. But like the Desert Striker driver Flint, this guy was left without the gear that would have helped give some personality. And the worst part? The Rock n Roll/ Flint figure has a leg that is almost a full 1/4 inch shorter than the other! I have never had a figure like this before or since, how rare is that? Or are they all like this?

The newest Flint for me is the 1994 Flint as for right now. I really like the figure, and when I put all three of the original A Real American Hero figures next to each other, in a lot of ways, it is like Flint has matured as the line progressed.
They kept the hair color consistent, which is really nice. Some figures switched a few times. But really, as I'm contemplating slimming and trimming down my collection, I'm trying to figure out which one of these 6 Flint figures would best represent how I view the character.

If you take a look at this GIJOE characters accomplishments in various forms over the years, Flint has a lot going for him. Check out JMMs biography on him!

I've used him as a helicopter pilot and a commando for the most part. Just the toys alone give Flint a lot of characterization to build ones' imagination on.

If the helmet had fit, the above picture was tempting me at using this simple head-swap figure as my main Flint.

I've also considered attempting to get the vacation in the shadows Flint, but that might be rather hard. And it's hard to tell from pictures if I really like the parts mix.