Before Lanard rebranded its CORPS! line a few years ago, it had been using the Total Soldier title for other military toys. Most examples I’ve seen have included slightly smaller, reduced articulation figures as pack-ins. Think Chap Mei, if you want an idea of what I’m talking about. Each year at the annual Lanard sale, there seem to be a
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That’s an impressive feat for a toy line in only its second year. This ad, which I found in a 1965 issue of the Justice League of America comic, touts Joe’s sales success as well as his presence as a TV star. I think most folks have seen the vintage commercials that propelled the toys into the American consciousness. It’s
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By KansasBrawler This figure is a rather unusual addition to my collection. I’ve never been that big on international variants or really much of what the Collectors’ Club does beyond the con set until recently. Both of these categories of figures have, in my mind, things that are cool, but usually just too expensive for me to track down on
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No coverage of GI Joe’s history of hair would be complete without mentioning the fuzz-head. A novel concept, to be sure, the flocked hair look was an ingenious upgrade to the original 12 inch painted hair figures. It’s both tactile and toyetic, lending a unique look to the toys that would be forever associated with the brand, even those of
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We’re going back to the 70s tonight, a time of…interesting grooming habits. In this entry, there’s no Joe fuzz to be found, only paint. Now this is how you do a beard on the cheap. Remember those infomercials from the 90s that peddled spray-on hair for guys who were balding? It comes to my mind when I see this figure’s
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Now this is an interesting variation on an earlier facial hair design. The original Roadblock rocked a mustache and soul patch, the first Joe to do so. This update, based on the Resolute animation, gives us a meaner looking Roadblock. He’s also grown out his chin warmer into an impressively thick Fu Manchu and soul patch combo. I dig it.This
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The GI Joe toy line has had a long history of impressive facial follicles ever since the dawn of the 1970s and the fuzzy-headed Adventure Team figures. We’ll be celebrating the finest examples of action figure grooming over the next several days. Be they stupendous ‘staches, glorious goatees, bountiful beards or vituoso VanDykes, we’ll cover them. First up is a
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Some figures hold such a sway that just one entry can’t satisfy my need to talk about them. Recondo is one such figure. Going into this daily blog project, I realized fairly early on that I would need to pace myself as far as covering my favorites, especially if I were in it for the long run. After all, I’d
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By KansasBrawler I’ve mentioned before how much I love it when new characters are added to the Joe line. I enjoy getting to meet a new character for the first time and learn his or her story far more than I like getting new interpretations on characters I already know. Sometimes new versions of old characters are necessary, but my
Read more2015 has been an interesting year for the blog. At times, it’s been a slog to keep up with daily posts (as evidenced by the lack of one yesterday) but for the most part I’m still having fun with the project. While things started out four and a half years ago as coverage of mostly GI Joe figures, I’ve branched
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