By KansasBrawler As you could already tell from the photos of what I purchased that I posted during my Joe Con After Action Reports, the GIJCC really managed to hit my nostalgia buttons with their choices for souvenir sets. When I went in 2009, I was really only interested in one set. However, in 2016, I snagged everything but the
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Some figures sell themselves based on concept, others need a boost from their packaging. Buzzer didn’t need any help to snare me back in the day, although I will say the in-your-face chainsaw helped steer me a bit toward his favor over the other ‘Noks that day. The unique feature to the packaging art here is the presence of a
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There aren’t many GI Joe figures that made it through to this day from my original childhood collection. I was much more conscientious with Star Wars in that respect, maintaining all of my original toys. The Joes and Cobras unfortunately fell by the wayside, for the most part. I had thought that the only figures that survived the teenage-years purge
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This version of the Lamprey inherits its specialty from the previous release of the mold, the Sonic Fighters Lampreys. Whereas the original was a specialized elite hydrofoil pilot form the Eels corps, the later Lamprey are assault troopers. I guess they’ve gone back in a way to their Eels origins. I found the Python Patrol set’s color scheme to be
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What do successful and long-lasting toy properties have in common? How about a memorable and ubiquitous enemy? From Megatron’s Decepticons to Skeletor’s Evil Masters to Cobra Commander’s minions, any bad guys worth their salt had a variety of troops at their disposal. What separates Cobra though from the others–an amazingly diversified cadre of specialists. The Tele-Vipers stand out to me
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By KansasBrawler I don’t have any childhood memories of Night Vulture. Truthfully, I don’t recall seeing any of the Air Commandos figures on the pegs when I was a kid. However, I definitely remember a scene out of a diostory that I can’t find online anymore (if anyone else remembers the sequence I’m about to describe, please let me know
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By KansasBrawler Growing up, I never really knew all that much about Sky Creeper. Having only heard the name and never seeing the figure it was associated with, I thought Night Vulture was Sky Creeper because Night Vulture looked kind of like a Night Creeper and I thought the SkyCreeper was a Night Creeper on a glider. As nearly as
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By KansasBrawler When the GIJCC first announced the Sky Patrol theme, I was excited. However, I didn’t really know what they could do with the Cobra side of things. Yes, there were the two international Sky Patrol Cobras, but beyond that, I wasn’t quite sure what way they’d go for army builders. I think Night Vulture was the first army
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By KansasBrawler I’ve mentioned before that I’m not super into foreign Joe figures. While I think they’re interesting variations on things we’ve seen in America, I generally don’t think they’re something I need to track down. However, there is one exception to that rule—the international Sky Patrol figures. I’ve always been strangely fascinated with those figures, especially since the international
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Wrapping up the SDCC version of the Danger at the Docks set, here’s the Cobra Night Raft. If you’re a vintage 80s Joe fan, you’ll remember this vehicle as famously featuring Firefly on its packaging. I don’t think there’s a more iconic pairing of figure and vehicle from the era. Here, the raft is matched up with the Cobra Eel.
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