If 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 moreBy 1992, I was fully back into Joe collecting, and (in those pre-internet dark ages) waited with bated breath every February for the annual Toy Fair issue of Tomart’s Action Figure Digest to reveal the year’s Joe offerings. I won’t pretend that the idea of anti-drug plot within the Joe toyline didn’t seem patronizing and ridiculous when I first saw
Read more1993 was the year of strange mail aways. While the regular line was waning amongst a bevy of sub-lines, Hasbro Direct was offering odd recolors of recent and not-so-recent figures. Some were multi-packs, like the Arctic Commandos, the International Action Force, the Rapid Deployment Force (complete with a reused Pocket Patrol Pack!) and the Copter Pilot set, from which Interrogator
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
Read moreZombies are all the rage, and as such have become over-exposed. It seems you can’t swing a dead cat without seeing a shambling undead monster in some form of media. I fully expect to see an all-zombie storyline on Days of Our Lives within the next year. This actually isn’t the first time the GI Joe line has presented us
Read moreThe 2000’s new sculpt era produced a fair number of re-imaginings of classic core characters. Early in the line, Duke, Cobra Commander, Snake-Eyes, Destro and Storm Shadow received updates that drew some inspiration from their Real American Hero counterparts. Even lesser known figures enjoyed some new molds that differed from the old versions. As the line expanded to its second
Read moreSo Zartan’s brother finally gets the modern treatment, and I have mixed feelings about it. The original figure never made a whole lot of sense to me, particularly in comparison to his uber-cool brother. Most of this new figure from the BigBadToyStore exclusive Dreadnok battle pack is a straight interpretation of the original, though there have been some welcome improvements.
Read moreImagine a world where a 1987 figure would garner attention from the modern Joe collector. Hard to believe I know but that’s what happened at the announcement of the Techno Viper for the 30th anniversary line. Who knew folks would freak for the purple engineers? I always thought the old head sculpt was weird, but this new version’s helmet looks
Read moreWhile the original Road Pig was impressively buff for Real American Hero line, I found it lacking the imposing face portrayed on the card art. The head sculpt was based on a Hasbro employee of the period, who had an entirely too friendly face for a roughhousing Dreadnok. The remainder of the original figure was well done and effectively accessorized
Read moreSo who knew that Zartan’s extended family would eventually be represented in action figure form? Can’t say that I ever did. Let’s see, we have brother, sister and daughter. All that’s missing now is Zingo, Zartan’s dog. Zanya is an amalgamation of her comic look and her auntie Zarana, thanks to the reuse of parts common to the Dreadnok battle
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