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.
