First off, spoiler alert if you haven’t seen the direct to DVD Valor vs. Venom special. Venomous Maximus is the DNA modified form of General Hawk. In the special, Dr. Mindbender combined the good General’s DNA with all sorts of animals. The result was a brutal, feral and ruthless leader who had instant aspirations to take over Cobra. Sort of
Read moreby Twitziller The Ground Striker was released as part of series 2 of the Built to Rule sets released in limited distribution in 2004. The primary mode is a 6-wheeled attack vehicle resembling an SUV. A pair of swivel platform bricks are used to make the twin missile launchers pivot with the turn of a thumbwheel at the vehicle’s rear.
Read moreSince I’m often pressed for time during this little blog adventure of mine, I’m starting up a new feature that I hope will allow me to contribute a wider variety of interesting content without taxing my time too much. Two birds with one stone! Focusing on GI Joe media, particularly comics, novels and the like, I can get away with
Read moreIf there’s one thing that the GI Joe line has lacked, it’s civilians. What is a kid to do if he wants to populate his battle scenes with background characters? Where are the support personnel–you know, the police, bystanders and general onlookers? Nowhere in the official Hasbro offerings. Luckily, Lanard Toys came to the rescue with a couple series of
Read moreby KansasBrawler Growing up, I always loved the small Joe and Cobra vehicles. As much as I loved opening my Thunderclap when I got it for Christmas and playing with it a lot in some pretty epic battles, vehicles like the Cobra Pogo and the Joe Locust saw a lot more play time just because they were a lot simpler
Read moreI’m not usually one for big time a building, or collection pics for that matter, but I was digging through my older Joe photo files, and found a few shots from about ten years ago. Apparently, I got a wild hair one night and set up most of the army builder troops I had at that point. I have to
Read moreThe first time I wrote about Link Talbot, the team’s first combat veterinarian, I couldn’t find his first figure version in my big ole box o’ Joes, so I grabbed the second. Wait, I hear you say–second figure? That’s right, Link Talbot has garnered two figures in the history of GI Joe. Hard to accept? Maybe. I mean, even Super
Read moreHasbro went absolutely BAT excrement crazy during the 2000s relaunch series. This one mold saw seven different releases in various colour schemes, and the later bike short wearing bot was available four times. Even the 1991 mold was brought back into service. I suppose the reason for getting so many out as Cobra troops speaks to their suitability as easily
Read moreby Twitziller The Sand Snake is often considered part of series 2 of the Built to Rule sets released in limited distribution in 2004. However, like the Rising Tide, the Sand Snake featured a hybrid packaging style, including the box art design of series 1 and interior packaging, including a plastic build tray, unique to the two sets. Both sets
Read moreAt what point do you think action features in a toy go too far? While some toy lines over the years made action features standard fare (Masters of the Universe comes to mind) others like GI Joe (until the 1990s) generally hadn’t. The floodgates opened during that most noxiously neon of decades, and the Joe team was suddenly sporting missile
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