Omega, so that's what is...

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!

The Skystriker that is coming out

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!!!

1991 GIJoe rise of the action accessories

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.

Hardball

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!

1989 GIJoe

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

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?

1987 gijoe

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

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 1985

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.

Swivel head figures

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?

organizing GIJOE figures

Since the beginning, my collection has always been evolving. For the most part it has been growing in size in all manner, but it has also shifted to smaller size from a more vehicle-heavy collection to a figure/ character oriented one.

Consider below is how my collection of figures looked late 1991. That's 20 years ago already! A lot of things have changed.



One thing that hasn't changed, or perhaps in some ways is always changing, is organizing everything.

Below is one of many different ways I've organized my collection: two boxes, one for the good guys, one for the bad. Simple.



But as the amount of stuff grew beyond boxes, and I wanted to have certain accessories more accessible, I've changed to other boxes, to multiple stacking plastic drawer units, to individual plastic baggies.

In my head right now, I'm still contemplating which figures I really will get a good amount of use out of as my GIJOE possessions accompany into the future. Still

For instance, in my End of Winter post, I essentially organized my entire winter operations troops into one container. Well, over the last couple weeks I pretty much deemed it a sub-team in a sense, although not technically, the figures are too limited to the cold weather action. I liked them all, but, I decided to liquidate these.
It made it really easy to do as I had them all organized in one bin!

I'm still really interested in getting some kind of tool box for organizing my figures. Something I can have that is portable, and is easy to spread out figures in a way that makes it seem just like back in the day; back when I was just taking the tops off of shoe boxes and picking out who I had.

The real tool boxes, which would take a slightly larger (and heavier!) almost chest sized ones, really aren't that portable if I tried to jam all the figures into one.

Organizing things I still haven't sorted out after all these years. But it will be a lot easier with a lot more shelf space available now.

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.