Repaints. They can be the bane of a toy collector’s existence. Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but at some point as an adult buyer of children’s toys, you just get a little frustrated with the necessities of the marketplace. It’s easier to just accept the fact that Batman, Spider-Man et al are going to be be repainted at some
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By KansasBrawler Ace is kind of a tough figure for me. I agree with Rob that pilot figures are often the most difficult to use when they’re not with their signature ride. Since large vehicles weren’t initially on the docket for the 25th Anniversary line, that meant Ace came in a comic pack alongside Wild Weasel. Weirdly, I don’t think
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By KansasBrawler I’ll admit, I was kind of torn on the Silent Strike set. I really liked the HISS, but I felt a little bored by the Skystriker. I already have the 30th Anniversary version and I really only need one Skystriker in my collection. The Wolf Squad concept has made it grow on me, but I’m still just a
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The title of this entry is a little unwieldy, no? However I thought it important to convey as much information about the figure as possible in the heading, as there’s a lot to unpack. Lanard, makers of the perennial GI Joe me-too line The CORPS! are no stranger to knocking off whatever may come along in the toy aisle or
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The crash of the blog last week was a blessing in disguise. What was a pain in the rear to fix also turned out to be a call to action for me. You’ve probably noticed that I’ve been less inclined to include figure pics in my posts lately. Some of that is due to the stuff of life, but a
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By Past Nastification 1994 was the 30th Anniversary of GI Joe. It was thirtieth year for the overall brand, not our beloved GI Joe: A Real American Hero line. However, GI Joe: ARAH was still around, on its last legs. Hasbro tried to bring the ARAH collectors in on the fun by taking some of the early 12” lineup and
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By KansasBrawler The Alley Viper has always been one of my favorite Cobra troopers. Even back in 1989, the design was powerful and intimidating. Alley Viper was probably the figure I was most looking forward to out of either of the Cobra Island seven packs, and that’s saying a lot because there were quite a few figures in those sets
Read moreThe Cobra Strike Team Urban Division was one of the more problematic of the Toys R Us multipacks. The illustrations of the characters on the front of the package did not match the contents, at least in terms of their uniform’s coloring. All were colorful and resembled some previous version of their figures. Alley Viper looked to be based on
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Your humble host is still recovering (and playing catch-up in real life) due to a recent illness. Never fear, I am on the mend, but still need a bit of down time. In the meantime, here’s a re-run from way back when. KB is on deck with a Field Report tomorrow, then prayerfully we’ll be back this weekend with more
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Here’s an example of a toy’s packaging doing its darndest to sell the item that lurks inside. I think this copter is on many Joe collectors’ “oh yeah, that exists” lists. I haven’t tracked it down personally, but maybe someday I will. There’s a reason why no figure is pictured riding in the vehicle on the back of the box.
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