Dear Pursuit of Cobra/30th Anniversary toyline, What a crazy couple of years it’s been. Seems like only yesterday I met you at Joecon in KC, and look how far we’ve come. We’ve both changed since that first meeting; you looked like Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans and Rachel Nicols, and I was a jaded collector who didn’t think Joe could be
Read moreA lot of us Sunbow freaks have a laundry list of “cartoon only” characters we’d like to see in action figure form. Sparks was always at the top of my list. His presence on the cartoon confused me, since the Joes had a communications specialist (Breaker) since the first mini-series. I still liked his look however, with his odd helmet
Read moreThe Anti-Venom Task Force set I must admit was a pretty cool idea. Released as a Toys R Us exclusive during the Valor Vs. Venom series, it presented a group of Joes tasked with the assignment of tracking down the animal/human hybrids created by Cobra. The set was a nice tie-in to what was going on in the main line.
Read moreSo here’s Bazooka in his away jersey. I was never a big fan of either the figure or character back in the day. The figure just didn’t hold much interest for me, and I didn’t care for the cartoon version’s “sack of hammers” persona. I have since come to like both of the figures based on the original mold. I
Read moreLet me tell you about a love affair that’s been going on since 1985. It involves a 3.75 inch plastic ninja commando. It began when I first saw the Revenge of Cobra mini-series. I already had an ’82 Snake-Eyes and it was one of my favorite GI Joe figures. But when I saw his new design in that mini-series,
Read moreA word of advice: if you decide to get into the “new sculpt” era of Joes, be careful. There was so much product released between the years 2002 through 2007, it’ll make your head spin so much, you’ll end up with a loose neckball. Another word of advice, and this isn’t so much a commercial as it is a necessity
Read moreThe 1984 Joe series really took the line’s concept to the next level. In terms of breadth of characters, accessories and styling, it was the second year in a row that evolved the line into the blockbuster it became. Rip Cord is a perfect example of Joe’s evolution. While the previous year presented an airborne specialist, ’84 gave us the
Read moreThe Sunbow cartoon had its fair share of Joe designs that weren’t totally representative of the figures to be found on shelves. Wild Bill was one of the more disappointing figures to me as a kid. He was such a larger than life character on the show that when I picked up the Dragonfly, I found him to be lacking. Naturally, since
Read moreIf there’s one quality that Hasbro possessed with their approach to the Joe line in the 90’s–right or wrong–it was a willingness to try anything. “Throw it at the wall and see what sticks” is a good way to describe it. Although it didn’t stick at retail, the Mega-Marines sub-line was a memorable venture in to Day-Glo and Play-Doh that
Read moreOver the years as a Joe fan, and in the course of this blog I’ve said it time and again: this is a cool sculpt that would really benefit from a better paint scheme. Static Line, being a member of the Sky Patrol, was made up of reused driver molds. The original mold upon which he was based, Backstop, was
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