Venom Cycle (2003)
Happy Thanksgiving! In honor of Turkey day, it’s another of the GI Joe toy line’s less successful items. Pull up a chair and have a big slice of holiday turkey, Joe A Day style.
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Sigma Saturday: Dark Ninja Master (2007)
Not only is this another Sigma 6 entry, but it’s also a flash back to one of my earliest posts covering the series. My opinions haven’t changed in regards to the sometimes derided detour in Joe’s storied past. Reading back over this post, I have to disagree with my past self, and say that, having seen a custom of
Read moreStorm Shadow (2013 “T’Gin-Zu” Repaint)
Have you ever searched and searched for a toy, admiring it via pictures on packaging (or these days, online) and wondered whether you’re going to find it? Sure, there are more opportunities now than there used to be in terms of finding and buying exactly what you want. If you’ve got the money, between ebay and Amazon, pretty much everything
Read moreIce Viper (2009)
While I was generally underwhelmed by the Rise of Cobra film’s basic trooper, I found myself enjoying the figures that were the specialist troops. From the movie Eel to the Elite Viper and this Ice Viper, the less generic guys held more interest. Maybe I’m biased because I’ve always found something likeable about the environment specific Cobras, but the Ice
Read moreCobra Moray (2002)
There weren’t too many laser-focused homage type figures in the first series of Joe’s 2002 relaunch. Old faves like Duke, Snake Eyes, Cobra Commander and Destro incorporated some elements of their former selves, but also diverged in new, and sometimes interesting ways. The Moray took cues from the vintage Eels, but injected a modern style that continues to impress me.
Read moreCrimson Neo-Viper (2009)
So I guess the idea here was to create a sort of homage to the Crimson Guard for all of us 80s Joe freaks. The all too brief file card states: CRIMSON NEO-VIPERS are masters of power and lethality within the COBRA ranks. They guard the leaders of COBRA and willingly submit to agonizing procedures to obtain exceptional abilities and
Read moreSigma Saturday: Storm Shadow (2005)
I’m giving the Joe Moment of Zen a bit of a hiatus for a while, in favor of focusing once a week on an area of GI Joe that I really enjoy and that hasn’t gotten enough coverage from me: Sigma 6. One of the points of starting this blog was to reconnect with my collection. As an avid toy
Read moreVypra (2004)
No, it’s not the same Vypra who drove a repainted Stinger in 1998, but this figure does use the same mold. What a difference a change in paint apps can make. Though the Jinx mold isn’t one of my favorites, the decoration on this figure provides a lot of new interest. The detailed patterning is amazing. I hadn’t noticed it
Read moreFirefly (2013)
Unofficially dubbed “ultimate,” this figure to me is anything but. As much as I looked forward to it months ago, I was underwhelmed when I got this guy in hand, especially after the great Retaliation three pack version. Other than having an abundance of articulation, I wouldn’t count it in the same field as the recent movie Duke, Flint, or
Read moreBio Viper (1993)
Happy Halloween! Some folks may ask on this spooky holiday: are there any monsters in the Real American Hero era of GI Joe? Of course there are, thanks to that most wonderfully ridiculous and toyriffic of decades for Joe, the 90s. These weren’t just monsters either, but Mega Monsters. This was the decade of the extreme, after all. As further
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