Silver Pads Grand Slam as he’s more commonly known, is still one of my all-time favorite GI Joe figures. Despite the hundreds of figures released over the years, he’s still in my top five. If I were to be honest though, I would have preferred a different head. The Grunt/Zap mold is just so distinct, and it doesn’t match the
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Wild Bill is one of those figures that not only looks different in his cartoon incarnation, but in his original comic appearance as well. Maybe that’s because he’s usually pictured sitting in the pilot seat of a helicopter rather than running about with his teammates. As a kid, my Wild Bill figure pretty much stayed in the Dragonfly. Being an
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Apologies for the less than pristine figure, but that’s how these guys are often found. The Viper Pilot is of course the standard original Cobra trooper mold, with a silver sigil in place of red. Something about the silver paint used for the chest emblem just doesn’t hold up to play over the years. Like the HISS driver I posted
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I lost my grandmother last week, and it’s been a difficult time to do the usual stuff of life, much less photograph and write about toys. That’s why most of the writing from week’s posts have been cribbed from entries written years ago. Today I was going to post Falcon glider Grunt, not realizing until I pulled up the old
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Cover Girl’s figure doesn’t quite live up to her code name or to the reputation put forth in her file card as a stunning beauty. However, consider this is a figure produced in 1983, when female action figures weren’t all that prevalent, and the production techniques of the time didn’t lend themselves to the kind of detail and realism that
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There aren’t many GI Joe figures that made it through to this day from my original childhood collection. I was much more conscientious with Star Wars in that respect, maintaining all of my original toys. The Joes and Cobras unfortunately fell by the wayside, for the most part. I had thought that the only figures that survived the teenage-years purge
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You could say that GI Joe is a descendant of the little green army men from days of yore. One of my favorite memories of playing with the little green guys were the paratroopers. A simple plastic parachute and string turned the regular troopers into death defying airborne attackers. At the time of its release, the Skystriker was the Cadillac
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By KansasBrawler Copperhead and I go way back, though strangely, my love of the Water Moccasin is fairly recent. That’s because the Copperhead I knew back in the day was KansasBrother’s Python Patrol version. I thought he was really cool but had I known he was first released with an equally cool vehicle, I would have thought he was even
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Another high ranking driver figure, with unique mold elements and accessories to boot. Hasbro didn’t have to pull out all the stops with this figure, but it makes sense considering he came with the line’s most expensive early vehicle. The MOBAT was a beast for its time, and I think it remains a must-have fast attack Joe tank. Steeler was
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Every team of heroes needs a leader, and Hawk fulfilled that role capably in the Marvel comic and many latter episodes of the Sunbow cartoon. Looking at the initial action figure version however you’d have to read his file card in order to tell he’s the commanding officer. I suppose his silver straps and pockets might be a tip-off in
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