By KansasBrawler Hasbro made some pretty great exclusives during the 25th Anniversary line. While I thought it was a bit overpriced considering how much of it was stuff I already had, the Ultimate Battle Pack from Target was pretty impressive. You got six figures, two large vehicles, one small vehicle and a JUMP pack. I couldn’t afford it at its
Read moreThe STAR Force series flew under my radar during its time in store shelves. I was looking for new Star Wars toys and wasn’t paying much attention to Lanard’s venture into space toys. It’s too bad, as the series produced a few real gems for collectors of unusual small Joe scaled vehicles. The APC is the granddaddy of STAR Force
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The relaunch era vehicles for the most part don’t get much attention or respect. Only a few garner the kind of good will associated with the 80s and 90s toys. Much of the output doesn’t appeal to a collector’s sensibilities, and aspects like scale, realism and fit/finish skew toward a younger demographic than we’re accustomed to. Early 2000s vehicles like
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By KansasBrawler Some Joe vehicles just really take on a life of their own. When you look at the original Sky Hawk, you wouldn’t think it would be destined for the greatness it achieved. It was a neat little design, but it really took off when it saw extensive use in the Joe comics and the cartoon. While the Skystriker
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By Past Nastification This toy is why I love antique malls and road trips. The randomness of finding things that I probably never would have otherwise stumbled across, even on eBay. But there it was, sitting on the floor of an antique mall, calling to me. Making me wish I would build a customized city or town just to showcase
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It’s the last day of the last JoeCon, and I thought I’d go out with a bang by covering the greatest convention exclusive vehicle ever produced. Ha! Just kidding, but there is something positive to be said about this version of the Crimson Command Copter. Everybody who was collecting in the early 2000s remembers the first CCC, right? The one
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The Hammer was one of the vehicles I’d missed out on, but always admired from afar. Until I happened upon a large lot of Joe stuff in the early 2000s, I hadn’t had hands-on an example. The mere fact it seated four figures was enough to push it into my favorites. The relaunch era’s remake of the vehicle as the
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By the end of the Real American Hero era, the blueprint concept had become an afterthought. Rather than being printed on the back of the instruction sheet as a dedicated item, some were stuck on the first page and others left off entirely (I’m looking at you, Cobra Rat!) While it’s a shame to see the idea watered down, I
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If there’s one thing Lanard packs into its vehicles, play value is it. I can’t think of any other budget toy maker that gives kids as much bang for their buck. While such things may not be a collector’s cup of tea, little ones dig action features. The Havoc Chopper is a neat little one-man copter. The silhouette is similar
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Over the years, we’ve not covered one of the most integral elements of the 1980s Joe toys: blueprints. These little extras, printed on the reverse side of vehicle/playset instructions were yet another tool in Hasbro’s world-building arsenal. If a kid were so inclined they could pore over the more technical aspects of their new plaything. Another brilliant low-cost marketing feature
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