The cynical may consider female Joes “tokens”, or out of place in a boys’ toy line, but it’s refreshing to consider that despite the conventional wisdom of “boys don’t want to play with an icky toy girl”, Hasbro still thought it important to include a female character amongst the Joes from day one. Though there haven’t been a large number
Read moreIn 1983, Airborne was one of my favorite figures. The sculpt, accessories and colors worked together to create a figure that was so different from my previous team which consisted of Flash, Grunt and Snake-Eyes. When I got Scrap-Iron in ’84, I noticed that certain parts of him looked–familiar. I knew that the first series of Joes looked alike, but
Read more“The COBRA PYTHON PATROL is an elite unit of troopers that have been handpicked from various COBRA VIPER units. They are specially trained and equipped for stealth and infiltration missions. They wear camouflage uniforms to mask their presence, which confuses GI JOE radar detection systems.” Made up of old figure and vehicle molds, it’s easy to be cynical and say
Read moreIn the world of toy collecting, there are many expressions and terms that the normal world hasn’t heard in our geeky context. Loose, complete and carded are a few common ones used to describe a toy’s condition, and they make sense once you’ve been indoctrinated into the culture. I won’t even go into the many acronyms that litter the collector
Read moreSo here’s Bazooka in his away jersey. I was never a big fan of either the figure or character back in the day. The figure just didn’t hold much interest for me, and I didn’t care for the cartoon version’s “sack of hammers” persona. I have since come to like both of the figures based on the original mold. I
Read moreLet me tell you about a love affair that’s been going on since 1985. It involves a 3.75 inch plastic ninja commando. It began when I first saw the Revenge of Cobra mini-series. I already had an ’82 Snake-Eyes and it was one of my favorite GI Joe figures. But when I saw his new design in that mini-series,
Read moreThe 1984 Joe series really took the line’s concept to the next level. In terms of breadth of characters, accessories and styling, it was the second year in a row that evolved the line into the blockbuster it became. Rip Cord is a perfect example of Joe’s evolution. While the previous year presented an airborne specialist, ’84 gave us the
Read moreIf there’s one vehicle that for me exemplifies 1985’s full-on entrance into the fantastic and unusual elements that came to define the Real American Hero era of GI Joe, it’s the Ferret. I can remember it vividly from the first
Read moreI know what you’re saying, “Wait, what?! Inhumanoids on Joe A Day?! You’ve broken the site!!” Well, then repeat to yourself it’s just a blog; I should really just relax. Besides, I’ll get to the Joe connection in a moment. Hasbro’s Inhumanoids toy line is probably best known for its creature figures, particularly the three giant monsters Metlar, Tendril and
Read moreYes, it’s Cobra’s original “Leaky Suit Brigade”. If I could come up with a forgotten Cobra army builder, this would be one of the finalists. I suppose I shouldn’t say its too odd looking, considering it came just one year after the weirdness of the dog-faced Techno-Viper. From mask to gloves to color scheme, the Toxic-Viper is downright strange. I
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