In 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 moreWhat can I say about Firefly that hasn’t been said before? He’s the ultimate mystery man of Cobra, a saboteur garbed in grey camouflage, his face forever hidden behind his trademark mask. His figure origin dates back to the watershed year of 1984, when all-time Joe classics like Storm Shadow, Baroness and Thunder were unleashed for the first time. Okay
Read moreThe 1990 version of Overlord is a mystery. Appearing as a driver figure and an apparent new foe for the GI Joe team, he seemed poised to be a replacement for Cobra Commander. However nothing much came of his figure in the toyline or comic. It wasn’t until the 2000’s Devil’s Due comic series that anything of substance was done with
Read moreGI Joe comic fans waited years to get an action figure representation of the legendary Eskimo mercenary, and in 2004, Hasbro delivered with this first ever version, released as part of the Valor Vs. Venom comic packs–wait, what’s that? I put up the wrong picture? This is his son, Ghost Bear? Say what? Well, sorry about that–meant to post the
Read moreTextures. They’re not something that I think about often in terms of the RAH toy line. Other than armor, I can’t recall a lot of figures whose uniform reflected some kind of different surfaces among pants, shirts, etc. Early in the line, sculpted details like folds and bloused pants weren’t depicted in much detail, if at all. I’ve wondered if that was
Read morePit Vipers are the stealth, infiltration and evasion specialists of the Cobra forces. They’re trained to be sneaky and persistent, and equipped with highly sophisticated gear that allows them to avoid detection by most security systems. This figure is the second iteration of Cobra’s sneakiest troops. While the initial version of the Pit Viper wasn’t garish, the color scheme didn’t
Read moreAs a fan of both the 2002-2006 era of GI Joe and the newer 25th anniversary style of figure design, I often think of how quite a few of the so-called new sculpt figures could really benefit from a re-do in the moden style. I wish Hasbro would get on that. Wait, what? They already did? Really? In 2009? Get
Read moreWow, who upset Dr. Mindbender’s new intern? This is Hotwire, the Cobra BAT Mechanic from the 2008 convention exclusive set. The theme for the year was Cobra Headhunters, and the main boxed set included both some cool new frankensteined BATs as well as the awesome Headhunter and Headhunter Stormtrooper molds. Hotwire, a character originating from the 2004 GI Joe card game, was a
Read moreAh yes, the Red Ninja. The cobra ninja cannon fodder that made their first appearance in the classic issue 21 of the Marvel Joe comic. I remember reading that issue and hoping I would see them in toy form some day. Little did I know that Hasbro would make that hope a reality with the 1993 Red Ninja fig–wait.
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