By KansasBrawler When Resolute Cobra Commander was first released as a single carded figure, I wasn’t really that interested in him. Sure, he was a bit of a different than the standard Cobra Commander, but unlike Duke, I didn’t feel there enough changes to warrant adding him to my collection. After all, I already had a lot of Cobra Commander
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One of the unique features of the 1960s boxed GI Joe sets were the photo packages. Most were also different from other offerings in that the photos pictured more contemporary subjects than the World War II and Korea era featured on much of the painted packages. I particularly enjoy the juxtaposition of the gritty photo at left with the highly
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Before the days of the Local Comic Shop, my purchases were irregular in terms of titles as well as individual issues. As a kid with limited funds, I was picking up whatever looked interesting on the cover. Being a Marvel Zombie, I was mostly into Spider-Man, the Avengers and X-Men. Of course, GI Joe made the cut as well, and
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I don’t think any figure quite sums up the crazy possibilities (with maybe the exception of Lightning Mobutu) of what’s possible when a knock-off toy maker throws caution to the wind and goes all-out on a ridiculous concept. Witness Condor Strike, a baseball/-themed me-too corollary of 1980s GI Joe, produced years later in the 1990s. The most apt comparison I
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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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I don’t even remember where or when I found this scan of an Eaton’s catalog GI Joe page (apologies if anyone knows where it originated) but I’m in love with the basic but dramatic lighting effects. Often these dio shots feature realistic skies to match the terrain, but this setup goes for a more evocative tone. There’s also some craziness
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Over the years, we’ve not covered one of the most integral elements of the 1980s Joe toys: blueprints. These little extras, printed on the reverse side of vehicle/playset instructions were yet another tool in Hasbro’s world-building arsenal. If a kid were so inclined they could pore over the more technical aspects of their new plaything. Another brilliant low-cost marketing feature
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By Past Nastification When the grocery store is three blocks out of the way, and all you really need is milk, Family Dollar is there. It doesn’t have to be milk. Maybe it’s shoelaces. Or batteries. Whatever sundry items you need, Family Dollar probably has them. And this time of year, they also carry various GI Joe knock-off items as
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By KansasBrawler I’ve always been a big fan of the old-school Battle Stations and Battlefield Accessories. Heck, my very first Field Reports before I became a weekly blogger here were on the 1990 mail-away Battlefield Accessories. However, I never had many of them growing up. I thought they were cool, but I just don’t really remember ever seeing them in
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If there’s one thing Cobra does better than the Joes, it’s to come up with outlandish and ultimately dangerous vehicles. I salute them in this regard, as it takes a special kind of nuts to knowingly develop machinery that will do severe harm to life and limb of troops. Further, that said troops will look gloriously goofy in their final
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