So I picked up this unstickered VAMP Mark II years ago, and just discovered it again. So the question is: should I buy some repro stickers for it, or leave it alone? Actually, I kind of like the look of it as is.
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The AGP is one of those vehicles about which I find myself saying, “Oh yeah, that exists.” I’m not trying to be rude, but the thing just doesn’t hold much interest for me. I also have no nostalgia for it, since I wasn’t collecting the toys at the time of its release. Even among the Iron Grenadiers vehicles, it seems
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Mechs have been a part of the GI Joe universe since 1983, when the SNAKE armor debuted. Things got more active in the 90s, with offerings like the Armor Bot (okay, not technically a mech, but close) and the 1994 Power Fighters. Both were space-oriented, a natural extension of military vehicles suited for the Star Brigade sub-team. In 2004, both
Read moreThis stuff has got me seriously hooked. I love seeing the clean art versions of the package paintings. They made even the less interesting vehicles shine (ha!). This painting has me wondering if the collectors club will pull out the Snow Cat mold again and vac-matalize it as a Sky Havoc II for this year’s con set. Sky hope not.
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When it comes to toys and packaging, sometimes what you see is not what you get. The 2005 GI Joe Moray Hydrofoil is a perfect example. The box art depicted a white and black colored repaint of the classic Cobra Hydrofoil. It looked something like a law enforcement vehicle to me, and the matching flames on the hull were just
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Now this convoluted bit of machinery is about as far as you can get from most anything dating from the Real American Hero days. Imagine what a neck-breaking change this was just after the end of that beloved o-ring era. Imagine also the pace the line showed up at discount stores. I remember bins of the stuff at the Half
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Lanard’s Action Rescue series, focused on fire, rescue and police themes is an interesting line to collect. Within Hasbro’s 1/18 scale GI Joe world, we don’t get much material that can be used to replicate real-world people and vehicles within play patterns. I know as a kid I would have liked to have a few regular folks, or at least
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My name is Rob, and I am a HISS IV owner. I can’t quite say how I came to that point in my collecting journey, but being a completist between the years of 2002 to 2006 may have something to do with it. That’s right, I was snapping up every new figure pack and vehicle at the time. If I
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By KansasBrawler Kids can be funny sometimes. I don’t mean in the lame Kids Say the Darndest Things way, but it’s interesting to watch how your opinion of a toy changes after seeing a kid’s eyes light up while they’re playing with it. I was talking with a couple of Hasbro design team folks near the “free play” area they’d
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There’s irony in the fact that the relaunched 1980s GI Joe line, originally conceptualized as a vehicle toy line, became as much about action figures as it did their accessories. Once more colorful characters beyond the green garbed originals were introduced in 1983, the concept took off like a rocket. It’s no surprise then that when Hasbro commemorated the 25th
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