Talk about going out with a bang! Can you believe that the best GI Joe water vehicle (well, actually only second to the WHALE) was released in the last year of the Real American Hero series? What more could you want in a sea-going vessel than a real inflatable feature? The Manta-Ray actually floats on water, provided you can manage
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Buying a GI Joe vehicle in the 80s and 90s was akin to the experience of a plastic model kit. Not only did you have to put the vehicle together, there was also the fun of removing parts from a plastic sprue, and placing tiny decals on the finished build. What fun! Once the 2000s rolled around, the building experience
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The SHARC was one of my childhood favorites, due in no small part to the fact that it was a water vehicle. Between the SHARC and Water Mocassin, I was busy playing out Joe and Cobra battles in the pool. The summer of ’84 was legendary! Once again, the art sold the product to me. Not that the toy needed
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How can you make the Pulverizer look cool? How about sticking it in a nice diorama environment and publishing it in a seldom seen international catalog? Sounds about right to me. While it doesn’t measure up to the ludicrous brilliance of the Cobra Rat, the vehicle nevertheless piques my interest for its uniqueness.* And hey–Scoop gets some exposure as well.
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The Stun never really resonated with me, even as a kid. I just couldn’t get into its look, and was bummed that it seemed to become the de facto Cobra fast attack vehicle in the Sunbow cartoon in place of the Stinger. Of course, the toon had to maintain a link to the product that was new on toy shelves,
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Oh, what could have been. When the collectors club announced its series of small-scale versions of the Adventure Team, I was excited about the possibilities. Sure, it would be great to integrate these legendary members of the GI Joe legacy into the smaller scale, but I was imagining the translations of the Adventure Team’s vehicles, accessories and mission-specific outfits as
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Now here’s something interesting that I hadn’t noticed for years. The Toys R Us Exclusive release of the Slugger from 1997 uses the same image layout as the classic version, yet done in a photographic rather than painterly style. The conceit is revealed in its driver, Gung Ho, who looks more like an action figure than the usual painted representation
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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
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