By KansasBrawler Communications has always been an integral part of warfare. The G.I. Joe line understood that from day one, with Breaker being part of the original the team. In 1985, Cobra decided to get into the communications game with the Tele-Viper and the following year the Joes gave Breaker a little support in the form of Dial-Tone. I’m not
Read more
By KansasBrawler I don’t know why, but until recently, I’ve never been that big on Joe boats. I remember loving the Tiger Fish as a kid, but I really don’t have any strong memories attached to any other water vehicles from the Joe line. However, the 25th Anniversary really started turning me around on that thanks to their amazing new
Read more
By KansasBrawler I’ve always been a big fan of the old-school Battle Stations and Battlefield Accessories. Heck, my very first Field Reports before I became a weekly blogger here were on the 1990 mail-away Battlefield Accessories. However, I never had many of them growing up. I thought they were cool, but I just don’t really remember ever seeing them in
Read more
By KansasBrawler While I didn’t have it growing up, ever since I got lucky and found the Wal-Mart exclusive Rise of Cobra Outpost Defender, I’ve been kind of obsessed with that little set. It’s a great little piece and the design is perfect. As a fan of the Outpost Defender, it’s pretty easy to guess what my feelings towards the
Read more
By KansasBrawler As much as I love Kre-O, sometimes the choices they make with their sets are a little strange. Case in point, the Thunderwave Jet Boat set. While it’s probably the second-weakest set, I wanted it because Cutter is one of my favorite Joes. It’s obvious the Thunderwave Jet Boat set was a refugee from the unsuccessful Battleship line
Read more
While the Kre-O series nailed many a minifigure version of classic GI Joes, the vehicles in the line left a lot to be desired. There were attempts to replicate classic playsets, like the Checkpoint and Outpost Defender. The Terrordrome set was probably the most successful in bringing an 80s favorite into the building blocks concept. Venerable Joe rides like the
Read more
By KansasBrawler Part of what made me love the Kre-O line so much was that it referenced just about every facet of the Joe brand’s history. We got some great callbacks to the Adventure Team years, we got Bulletman, and of course we got a lot of A Real American Hero Joes. However, for me, what was even better is
Read more
By KansasBrawler I don’t know why, but I’ve always been a little fascinated by battle damaged figures. I always wished Hasbro had dabbled in battle damage, especially since they had the B.A.T., which they could damage without making parents uncomfortable since it was a robot. I got my wish with the Defense of Cobra Island set and I was very
Read more
The release of the Kre-O Terrordrome set was bittersweet. The set was probably the most highly anticipated, and also the most accurate to the original toy design. The Cobra launch base was finally the source of several demanded Kreons. I don’t know if I’d count Mainframe high among them personally, but he was a welcome addition thanks to his specialty,
Read more
Airborne was one of the first GI Joes, along with Scrap Iron, that made me realize Hasbro was reusing parts to create multiple characters. The kneepads and boots were a dead giveaway. The backpack was another suspiciously familiar accessory. Was he borrowing it from Duke, or vice versa? Much of the success of a minifigure based on existing material, especially
Read more