Hasbro’s 80s and 90s GI Joes were no strangers to animal companionship. Wait, that didn’t sound appropriate. I meant animal partners. Okay, not good either. Animal sidekicks. That’s better, I think. From Freedom to Lamont, the small Joes have had a great history of being paired with members of the animal kingdom. I wonder how much of that is a
Read morePoor Dee-Jay, stuck as an extra member of the less than popular Battle Force 2000. To further add to his misery, the guy debuted and died in the same comic issue. And don’t get me started about his funky boots. Possibly the explanation for his boots lies in BF2K’s mission as a testing ground for future weapons. Somewhere in 1986,
Read moreBy KansasBrawler I’ve never had any special affinity for Recondo. I never had him growing up so I don’t have any real memories of him and by the time Pursuit of Cobra Recondo came out, I’d only had the Assault on Cobra Island Recondo for a short time and he really hadn’t made an impression on me. Honestly, the strongest
Read moreAction Man in the 90s became a catch-all character, working in both the spy arena as well as sports themes. I suppose that shouldn’t be too surprising, as the UK’s cousin to GI Joe also delved into sports with a footballer and cricketer. In the 90s, sports were all about extremes, and this figure showcases the decade’s focus on out-there
Read moreAs a kid, I had only Flash (my first Joe figure) and Snake Eyes in the straight arm format. Both figures were well loved by little me. Flash’s right thumb breaking off (a side effect of putting his laser rifle in his hand a lot). Snake Eyes often accompanied me on trips to visit relatives (there weren’t a lot of
Read moreThat’s a mouthful, huh? I wanted to be able to differentiate from the other Cobra Commander figures released as part of the Retaliation line. I was actually surprised to see the Commander as a driver figure. It’s kind of an oddity, considering that named command level Cobras have usually been paired with smaller vehicles, like Serpentor and Overlord in the
Read moreBy KansasBrawler Ah, phantom waves…the bane of every collector’s existence. It always seems like some really good stuff gets shunted off into final, hard-to-find waves of toy lines. Be it the WarriorsThree from Thor, Kwinn and company from Retaliation or the great figures in the last wave of Pursuit of Cobra, it’s always maddening when Hasbro brings the heat in
Read moreThere just aren’t enough shouting bearded men on kids’ toys these days. What the hell, toy companies? In all seriousness, there just aren’t enough painted packages any more. I liken it to the almost lost art of the movie poster, in which photographs and photorealistic renderings have taken the place of evocative and stylized art. Oh well, at least we
Read moreIt’s Terron–the Beast from Beyond! If the GI Joe brand lacked one element during its first generation of toys, it was an enemy. Sure, the concept of the original military line was meant to be open-ended–that’s what GI Joe himself was. But the nature of boys’ play almost always involves an antagonist. I see this in my own son, as
Read moreAlpine is one of those characters that fans always seem to want to see when new iterations of the Real American Hero figures are produced. The 25th Anniversary version is a prime example, as fans clamor for the toy. That may be have been due in part to his elusiveness at retail, but nostalgic memories of the 1985 version surely
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