I bought my first GI Joe vehicle back in 1983, the Falcon glider with Grunt. It was basically a foam glider that was counterweighted by attaching the figure to the harness. Naturally it was fragile and quickly broke, but it did fly well, and it was a fun toy while it lasted. Fast forward to 1991 and Hasbro’s release of
Read more“There’s never a cop around when you need one. When this one’s around, all you need is one.” The 1992 film starring Jackie Chan was originally released as Police Story III—wait, wrong blog. This is Funskool’s Super Cop, and he’s, well, a cop. Is he super? He’s got Sgt. Slaughter’s head, and he was pretty super. That should count for
Read moreSome Joe fans have a love-hate relationship with the team’s First Sergeant. In the cartoon, he was the de-facto leader until Hawk came around in the second season. In the comic, Hawk was the Joe honcho from the beginning, and Duke was a Johnny Come Lately second in command two years into the series run. Since his first figure appearance
Read moreThe Ice Viper, driver of the Cobra WOLF is an interesting figure for the time, considering the accessories included: a helmet and two sais, extra acessories that set him apart from the usually weaponless drivers. I never really understood why he came with tradtionally martial arts weapons. Maybe he uses them as ice picks. The WOLF was a fast attack
Read moreHow is it that in 1991 the UK and Europe got a cool repaint like this and we in the US got a neon skinned Road Pig? Spirit is still one of my favorite vintage Joe molds, and this repaint is endlessly intriguing to me. I’ve never seen an explanation as to the origins of this figure. Other countries did
Read moreWhat’s in a name? In this case, a bad pun related to a famous TV infomercial. This is T’Gin-Zu, the driver of the Ninja Raider Pile Driver vehicle. The GI Joe line’s loathed ninja sub-group had just three vehicles to its name, two of which were strange four-wheeled rotating affairs with an upright pilot compartment in the center. Not exactly
Read moreAlso known as General Hawk, this version of the modern Joe team’s commanding officer was released as part of the Direct to Consumer comic packs. This series of packs tried to more closely represent the characters as they appeared on the comic page. As such, General Hawk has his comic look of a blond crew cut, rather than the longer
Read moreAnother in the 2009 GI Joe movie line’s non-movie figures, Charbroil is again a figure that seems to work better alongside the 25th anniversary than the movie style. Made up of a mixture of 25th anniversary and Resolute Duke parts, he’s a close cousin to Blowtorch, design-wise. The choice of parts distinguishes him from being a straight repaint of the
Read moreToday it’s not one, but two figures and a vehicle AND the most pathetic looking T-Rex in toy history. It’s no stretch to say that kids have always loved and will always love dinosaurs. Hasbro, in the midst of a decline in Joe’s popularity, was trying anything and everything to boost sales. It seems as if every hot topic and
Read moreHey, looks like old rag head is running for President or hosting his own late night talk show. This suited Cobra Commander was released as a San Diego Comicon exclusive in 2008. Like other recent SDCC exclusives, there were two versions available. The black version was produced in higher numbers than the blue jacketed “Springfield Country Club” version. Both are
Read more