Blowtorch was one of the first figures of 1984 that I was excited–and I mean really excited–to get. I was also excited to find out what the figure’s code name was. At the time, I hadn’t yet bought any vehicles or accessories for the year and thus didn’t know any code names for the new figures. After all, it was
Read more
By KansasBrawler All right, loyal readers, I have a confession to make. I bought the 25th Anniversary Blowtorch and had buyer’s remorse pretty quickly. I don’t know why, but I just really didn’t like the figure once I got it out of the package. I think part of it was that the facemask on mine didn’t fit properly and made
Read more
By KansasBrawler After Psyche-Out and Repeater arrived in the first FSS 3.0 shipment, the GIJCC took a while to release more characters I really wanted. I liked a lot of the other figures in that subscription series (otherwise I wouldn’t have bought in), but I was really looking forward to Big Ben and Crimson Guard Immortal, so of course, those
Read more
Simplicity of design is one of the great strengths of the 1980s Joe line’s first year. We’ve seen already that even with an economy of parts, Hasbro was able to create a varied group of characters. Despite the fact that several figures shared head molds, the toys still read as individuals. Simple changes in uniform color, hair color, and accessories
Read more
By KansasBrawler I generally like it when Hasbro and the GIJCC do more spiritual updates of characters. I like a lot of figures’ vintage looks, but at the same time, military gear has changed since the 80s, so I don’t mind seeing a little more modern take on a figure’s look. However, I was a little bummed when the first
Read more
By KansasBrawler As a Joe child of the 90s, I have very fond memories of characters like Freefall, Ambush, and Bullhorn. The DiC Joe cartoon didn’t really air much in my area, so those characters were all ones I got to develop myself with just the filecard as a guide. Because of that, I saw Bullhorn as one of the
Read more
Cobra Battle Android Troopers lend themselves well to variants, as evidenced by official Hasbro repaints as well as factory custom figures. Who doesn’t love the option to collect a veritable rainbow of mechanized death? The 25th Anniversary BAT figure remains one of my favorites from the era. The original design translated amazingly well to the more detailed and articulated style.
Read more
By Past Nastification This toy is why I love antique malls and road trips. The randomness of finding things that I probably never would have otherwise stumbled across, even on eBay. But there it was, sitting on the floor of an antique mall, calling to me. Making me wish I would build a customized city or town just to showcase
Read more
By the end of the Real American Hero era, the blueprint concept had become an afterthought. Rather than being printed on the back of the instruction sheet as a dedicated item, some were stuck on the first page and others left off entirely (I’m looking at you, Cobra Rat!) While it’s a shame to see the idea watered down, I
Read more
By KansasBrawler I’m already on record here with my love of the old Cobra Rocket Pack and my love of B.A.T.s. For a souvenir set this year, the GIJCC decided to mix my peanut butter and chocolate and create the B.A.T. Rocket Pack. The fact that this souvenir was still available after Joe Con was a bit part of what
Read more