When the GI Joe Kre-O line began last year, I hadn’t intended to get into it more than looking at a few of the figures that struck my fancy. I remember being a little bit let down that five of the first twelve blind bag figures were martial arts or ninja themed. Then again, the packaging matched the full-on ninja-fied
Read moreOn the eve of the annual Lanard Toys sale, I thought it would be fun to delve into one of the many odd items I’ve picked up from sales past. Each year presents at least a few interesting deviations from the usual fare that shows up at Walmart. I’m hoping the pattern continues this year. Stay tuned this week to
Read moreThe second year of Eco Warriors figures took things into an interesting direction with its Joe team figures. From a squad of three specifically environmentally themed operatives, year two brought the comparatively plain specialties of firefighter and deep water specialist. Both however functioned well within the concept. As much as I liked Barbecue back in 1985, his specialty seemed a
Read moreby KansasBrawler In my opinion, the one glaring hole in the 25th Anniversary line was how many late 80s army builders got missed in favor of additional version of named Cobras that we’d already seen somewhere in the line. While the Hazard-Viper from the 30th Anniversary line was a spiritual update of the Toxo-Viper in my opinion, I was a
Read more2004 was the year of the revived blueshirt. Between the comic pack that spawned this brightly colored version and the uber-popular Infantry Forces six-pack, collectors could get their fill of the generic Cobra ground pounder officer. I certainly did. I’m sure my buying binge was due not only to the colorful nature of the figure (I’m a sucker for brightly
Read moreThe Sonic Fighter figures get a bad rap, don’t they? I mean, what’s the big deal with the colors or the backpacks? Don’t most world military forces accessorize in gold and wear seven foot tall backpacks? I’ve actually covered this fella a few years ago, but for some reason, I left his most important accessory out of the photo. Witness
Read moreI’m sure most Joe collectors (and toy collectors active in the 90s) remember the saga of Recalled Roadblock and his Deadly Spinning Launcher of Death and Dismemberment. The thing apparently didn’t pass muster back then, the story being it either broke easily or was too powerful, so the powers that be recalled it. Was it because Hasbro didn’t want kids
Read moreHere’s the Grunt of Action Force. Well, in the sense of an infantryman, at least. Unlike the relaunched GI Joe of the 80s, the Palitoy offerings included unnamed army builders on the “good guy” side of things. I’ve become really smitten with the Palitoy Action Force figures. The combination of five point articulation with designs based on earlier twelve inch
Read moreI used to think that having the 1982 Joes was an afterthought in comparison to picking up the “improved” 1983 versions. I only went back and bought the straight-arm first run of the original thirteen after the completist bug had bit me in the early 2000s. Looking at the 3 & 3/4 inch line as a whole, and from a
Read moreby KansasBrawler Every good zombie story needs that one character who is prepared for the zombie outbreak. For the Zombie Initiative, the GIJCC decided to make it be Outback—and I love that choice. As the Joe’s resident survival expert, Outback has the requisite skills to survive a full-on zombie apocalypse and while that’s not quite what happened in the Zombie
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