By KansasBrawler Of all the Joes that never got a proper update during the 25th Anniversary, I think I was most disappointed about Leatherneck. Yes, he got released with a desert A.W.E. Striker, but he was such a poorly done FrankenJoe that I don’t even count that figure and it was re-released in more vintage-styled colors with a hard to
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I just can’t decide which Dino Hunter figure is cooler–Low-Light or Ambush. I have an automatic preference for Low-Light, since he’s a childhood favorite character, and Ambush wasn’t released until after I was out of playing with Joes. However, Ambush is a unique-looking dude, and I absolutely love his accessories. The only problem with the DH version though is that
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I am not ashamed to say that I love the Dino Hunters. I’m not taking about an ironic or hipster love, but a straightforward nerdy adult who collects toys love. And there’s not much of a nostalgia angle to it either, since my childhood Joe years were 1982-1987. No, the Dino Hunters set came around when I was in full
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Can you remember a time when we didn’t know beforehand about every single product that was scheduled to hit shelves? It seems odd to say that in 2004 an internet connected toy collector Joe wasn’t aware of an exclusive set of figures to be released at a major retailer, but that’s what happened to me. Maybe I missed the write-up
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Amazon offered up a couple of surprise four-packs back in 2012; one focused on Retaliation and the other on Renegades. The Renegades pack struck my fancy as it included three unique figures along with another version of Duke. I’ll admit that I didn’t pay enough attention to Mr. Hauser until recently, and have found the figure to be an interesting
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A year before large scale Joe returned to regular retail with a newly designed highly-articulated body, Target offered up a series of Hall of Fame based interpretations of World War II officers. I had to make a trek to Wichita in order to pick up the set, as my area didn’t get a Target store until the 2000s. At the
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The Desert Assault Squad set was an interesting mix of known and new Cobra troopers. Along with Frankensteined figures, the pack also included two straight remolds of the 25th anniversary style CGs. I’ll admit that I initially found their placement in a desert theme to be out of character for the type, since these guys have not only functioned as
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If there’s been one (make that two) figures Joe ‘toon and comic fans have yearned for over the years, it’s Tomax and Xamot in their Extensive Enterprises business suits. I should have prefaced that by saying adult Joe fans, since I certainly didn’t give a whit about having any business-suited action figures during my childhood Joe years. It’s only with
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The Steel Brigade made a surprise return to the Joe mythos at the tail end of the new sculpt era. It was a welcome sight for me, as I’ve always liked both the SB concept as well as the unique helmet design. Though the familiar design made an appearance (and was removable!) as part of 2004’s Anti-Venom squad, we got
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By KansasBrawler Growing up, I never knew about Night Force. I didn’t hear about it until I was in high school and was wandering around the Joe online collecting community for the first time. I’m guessing that was because until probably the early 90s, there were no Toys ‘R’ Us stores anywhere near me so I didn’t see their ads.
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