I don’t always have a good memory for the old days of toy buying as a kid, but I can still remember when I got the Water Mocassin. Near our neighborhood was a small shopping center, with a couple of larger stores. One of the stores was a local grocery store chain and the other a TG&Y, a department store
Read moreThe Real American Hero era came to a close with a whimper in terms of the number of vehicles. Just four were released in that last year. However, within this small group were I think some real hidden gems. The Scorpion is one. Obviously, this isn’t the first time Cobra had added an ATV to its arsenal. The Ferret is
Read moreMuskrat’s file card paints a picture of a pretty interesting individual, and someone who seems like a unique presence to add to the team. Just reading his background reminds me of an old Jerry Reed song. It’s unfortunate that the 1988-1989 figures (including Muskrat) fell into a no man’s land of Joe animation, with only a few getting a moment in the
Read moreAdding core Joe team members like Flint to the Eco Warriors sub-group didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. Barbecue, on the other hand, fits into the concept pretty well. Like the file card states, he’s used to functioning in a hostile environment, only now he may be dealing with more caustic elements than just the average fire.
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In the annals of GI Joe, there have been many and varied animals, both friend and foe. The Adventure Team era had its tigers, gorillas, octopus and others. The Real American Hero line presented animal companions for the Joes as well as the Cobras. What would the 80’s line be without stalwart animal compadres like Freedom, Junkyard, Polly, Order and
Read moreI always found it strange that a late 80’s Cobra like the HEAT Viper was revisited just a few years after its original release. However, the late 80’s Alley Viper was also given new life in the Battle Corps series. I find both to be well done and worthy successors to their earlier figures, but with their own distinctive 90’s
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When did Nintendo’s Mario join the Joes? In all seriousness, figures like Slip-Stream amaze me because the face is not an idealized, chiseled image of an idealized male, but more of an everyman. It’s something that the small Joe line has done since the beginning. Just look at Grunt from the first series. Not an attractive guy. Sure, the team
Read moreI still have a tough time wrapping my head around the Range Viper’s look. Specifically, the head, but the rest of the figure kind of mystifies as well. I’ve always read the sculpting on the helmet as brains, which is symbolically odd, if that’s what it’s meant to represent. Why would Cobra, an organization known for symbolism in its uniform
Read moreThe flurry of sub-teams at the end of the Real American Hero line is not looked on favorably by some Joe fans. This I feel is unfortunate, because the concepts introduced, while they ranged from the sensible to the outright goofy, brought some more variety into the toyline. The story from those inside Hasbro at the time goes that Joe
Read moreShort-Fuze is one of those original Joes who never really got his.moment in the sun. He was pretty quickly relegated to history after the first series of figures, and never received a revival in later years like Hawk or Grunt. The closest he came was with Downtown, another blonde mortarman, who could have easily been given the name (and actually
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