The Order of Battle series’ most famous addition to GI Joe lore is perhaps the short-lived addition of Rocky Balboa to the team. The very next issue retracted the character, as alas Rocky was not available to become part of the toy line. But hey, at least we got The Fridge! The back cover of the wraparound art by Herb
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Many of the figures pictured in dealer catalogs are early mock-ups or prototypes. Case in point today are the Renegades from 1987. Whether it’s the hand painted or rough head sculpt aspects of the figures, a peek into the production process is always interesting to see. Mercer in particular looks quite a bit different from his final version. Image via
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You may have noticed that the last week has featured more than the usual amount of non-figure reviews from me. That's due entirely to the Great JAD HQ Flood of 2017. My collection is now in a packed-away holding pattern and the photo setup needs to be relocated until insurance takes care of base repairs. Hang tight!Thanks to the regular
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Honestly, this one escaped my notice until recently. As a kid, I paid some attention to the video games released to computer setups that I could never afford, but I didn't catch this one. I was lucky to have an Atari 2600 years after its heyday, let alone a Commodore in 1984. That didn't keep me from pining for the
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Hey kids! Duke says you can subscribe to Marvel comics at last year's prices! Sweet, now I can renew my Rom sub! Comic house ads are always interesting to check out, particularly when you can see that titles available back when. I'm trying to pin down the artist on this ad. Frank Springer was the penciler at the time, and
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Toy Fair and retailer sale catalogs are always interesting to look at for their propensity to showcase not-quite-retail release versions of well-known toys. The subjects can range from kitbashed concepts to almost-finished product that differs only in paint scheme or small details. The toys in these shots appear to be similar if not the same as those appearing in the
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By Past Nastification When it comes to naming, sometimes simplicity is best. And sometimes simple is too simple. Two teams in 1:18 scale have lazily laid claim to the group name “Bad Guys”. One of them is “The Bad Guys”; the other is simply “Bad Guys” without a “The”. The Bad Guys. Remco’s The Bad Guys are fully known
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By Past Nastification The A-Team was a logical choice for Galoob. The same kids who bought GI Joe toys and watched the GI Joe cartoon surely idolized NBC’s campy-but-virtuous soldiers of fortune. Galoob was obviously trying to shoehorn some A-Team toys into kid’s GI Joe adventures and grab a buck. Fair enough. The 1:18 scale line featured mediocre figures,
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I’ve been re-reading some of the comics from my younger days lately thanks to the miracle of comic scans. The fact that anything I want to read is at my fingertips is quite amazing. More amazing are the discoveries of advertisements within the pages. Some I can recall vividly, and others seem new to me. This GI Joe ad was
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As a kid, the MP figures were some of my favorites. Both Mutt & Junkyard and Law & Order saw lots of use in my Joe team. The animal companion concept was a unique feature of the 80s line, and the dogs in particular were great. Junkyard and Order were quite formidable fighters in my Joeverse. While 1987 had more
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