So I guess the idea here was to create a sort of homage to the Crimson Guard for all of us 80s Joe freaks. The all too brief file card states: CRIMSON NEO-VIPERS are masters of power and lethality within the COBRA ranks. They guard the leaders of COBRA and willingly submit to agonizing procedures to obtain exceptional abilities and
Read moreI’m giving the Joe Moment of Zen a bit of a hiatus for a while, in favor of focusing once a week on an area of GI Joe that I really enjoy and that hasn’t gotten enough coverage from me: Sigma 6. One of the points of starting this blog was to reconnect with my collection. As an avid toy
Read moreI still find that the relaunch era of GI Joe has quite a few figures with a certain degree of charm. As each new assortment of figures were released, I awaited my favorites to be released in the new format. The same thing still happens in the current era, and so it’s funny to think back ten years ago to
Read moreChuckles gets flak for his shirt. I’ve never understood why. He’s supposed to be an undercover agent, right? What better way to maintain cover than to look a little ridiculous. I think it makes sense that a guy dressed in a bad shirt would be the last person in a crowd you’d think of as a highly trained and dangerous
Read moreNo, it’s not the same Vypra who drove a repainted Stinger in 1998, but this figure does use the same mold. What a difference a change in paint apps can make. Though the Jinx mold isn’t one of my favorites, the decoration on this figure provides a lot of new interest. The detailed patterning is amazing. I hadn’t noticed it
Read moreThe Tiger Force figures, taken as a whole, seem a little haphazard. While there are common elements among the figures, the colors and application of tiger stripes vary widely. Maybe the higher-ups just sent out a big box of uniforms and let the troops pick what they wanted. It wouldn’t surprise me, given the team’s usual dress standards. Seeing the
Read moreUnofficially dubbed “ultimate,” this figure to me is anything but. As much as I looked forward to it months ago, I was underwhelmed when I got this guy in hand, especially after the great Retaliation three pack version. Other than having an abundance of articulation, I wouldn’t count it in the same field as the recent movie Duke, Flint, or
Read moreHappy Halloween! Some folks may ask on this spooky holiday: are there any monsters in the Real American Hero era of GI Joe? Of course there are, thanks to that most wonderfully ridiculous and toyriffic of decades for Joe, the 90s. These weren’t just monsters either, but Mega Monsters. This was the decade of the extreme, after all. As further
Read moreWhat can I say about Shipwreck? He’s probably one of the more divisive characters in the GI Joe fan world. Some his can’t stand his portrayal in the Sunbow cartoon, citing his nature as comic relief in many an episode. I’ve never had a problem with the guy, especially once I became an adult. I didn’t find him all that
Read moreContinuing from yesterday’s post about the 1983 catalog, it’s the section that first greets you at the top of the pamphlet. This section got the most attention from me way back when. I still have a very vivid memory of going to get a haircut, and waiting for what seemed to be an interminable amount of time. I’m sure it
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