By KansasBrawler Every now and then, the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club really surprises me and 2014’s membership figure was a perfect example of that. Cross Country is somebody I’ve always kind of liked but since he was so closely affiliated with his vehicle, it didn’t surprise me that Hasbro never made a modern version of him. However, that didn’t preclude
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By KansasBrawler I’ll admit, I was kind of torn on the Silent Strike set. I really liked the HISS, but I felt a little bored by the Skystriker. I already have the 30th Anniversary version and I really only need one Skystriker in my collection. The Wolf Squad concept has made it grow on me, but I’m still just a
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By KansasBrawler Bear with me, ladies and gentlemen, because another vehicle set is about to get the KansasBrawler review treatment, so this could take a bit. Growing up, the big vehicles were always pretty secondary to me, but I loved the smaller sets. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the hell out of the Thunderclap I got for Christmas (probably
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By Past Nastification Based on the real world Saab Draken, the Cobra Liquidator is also close in design to the Cobra jet flown by Major Bludd in the opening scene of Sunbow’s The MASS Device. It was probably a coincidence that Hasbro chose to source the Draken as a Cobra Jet, as Sunbow had nothing to do with the GI
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By KansasBrawler While I had strong childhood ties to both parts of the Joe half of the Danger at the Docks set, everything on the Cobra side was basically new to me. I didn’t have either the Eel or the Night Landing Craft growing up. I was pretty excited to get my hands on these pieces for the first time.
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Here’s an example of a toy’s packaging doing its darndest to sell the item that lurks inside. I think this copter is on many Joe collectors’ “oh yeah, that exists” lists. I haven’t tracked it down personally, but maybe someday I will. There’s a reason why no figure is pictured riding in the vehicle on the back of the box.
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Even though the Rise of Cobra movie and some of its figures didn’t impress me much, I did like some of the vehicles that arose from the line. The Snarler had a sleek look, a splash of color and came with two figures to boot. It also had a missile firing sidecar, which gave me warm fuzzy memories of the
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One of the things I really enjoy about the Adventure Team package art are the mixing of depictions of the product in both fictional and real-world settings. The Windboat illustrates Joe in his craft at the left, yet the right panel shows a kid hand assembling the toy. Better yet, a closer look at Joe on the windboat reveals that
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By KansasBrawler Sometimes the Joe line surprises you. I’m honestly a bit tired of seeing repainted Snow Cats. I’ve never really liked that vehicle, yet I have three of them now. The Wolfhound was a clearance impulse buy (seriously, I think I got it for five bucks somewhere during a post-Christmas inventory sell down), the HAVOC was a brilliant cross-sell
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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
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