Roadblock

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?

Low-light

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.

New years and holidays

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?"

Destro vs. Cobra

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?

28 GIJOE member team (potential)

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.

New (to me) figures (sort of)

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."

Sci-Fi laser trooper

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.

My original team revisited

I thought I would revisit my original team, or as much as is left. About a year-year and a half ago I chose to discard any "sub-teams." Substituted here are Tripwire and Frostbite, where "originally" they were Tiger force. I also picked the first 12, I'm not sure if I forgot to count and forgot the 13th man, or what.

This is close to what was given to me, where I didn't have as much of a say as to what I could get. Or, at best, what was available to me with limited cash and only a small-town Hardware Hank's (click here for the live cam from that very building here!!***) selection to choose from.

The actual figures that are from my original collection that have not been replaced or substituted are: Budo, Stalker, Slipstream, Low-light, Hawk, and Storm Shadow.

Possibly, Cutter,Wet-suit, and Snake eyes, however, over the years I have had a at least another of each of these pass through my collection, and I am not sure if I which I kept, although I am sure I kept the best accessories for each.