I’ve said this before, but G.I. Joe was easily the biggest toyline from my childhood. I had my fair share of Transformers and MOTU. I treasured my comic-based figures and loved plenty of smaller lines too, but I had a ton of G.I. Joe toys. It was so different from today.
Initially, I was going to treat Memorial Day like a regular Monday because my review backlog is really piling up of late, but none of the usual suspects seemed like a good fit. And it didn’t seem right to just skip the day either. Luckily, I thought of the perfect Joe.
While the onslaught of G.I. Joe Retaliation figures will soon be upon us, there are still some cool non-movie figures to be found – provided you have a good ‘dollar store’ nearby. This so-called “Basic Line” isn’t a dollar line, but I think you’ll agree they’re worth the price of admission.
The goal of writing one Thirtieth Anniversary G.I.Joe review per week kinda went up in flames the last few weeks. Plans tend to do that around here. We’ve got theme reviews lined up next week, but April needs at least one Joe review, right? How about a quick look at Sci-Fi?
I’m not a completist by nature, though running IAT and buying subscription-based figures has sorta turned me into one. Still, what I really appreciate is a good line that I can jump into and pick up a few great figures... though lately it’s been more than a few with GI Joe.
I’m setting a bad precedent doing two consecutive weekend spotlights, but you guys don’t really mind do you? I mailed off a check to the GI Joe Collector Club this week and that got me thinking about last year’s figure, Dial-Tone. Turns out he never made it onto the review schedule.
Since its Joe week here, I’ve got three Joe mini-rants to share...
1. I get that kids enjoy firing missile launchers, but can we make them a little more sensical? There are a couple of good ones like the Ice Viper’s (best one ever) or Sgt. Stone’s which looks like a remote control missile launcher. But then there are strange ones that make no sense at all. A missile launcher you hold with one hand like a revolver? I’m sure that wouldn’t rip your arm off. Or how about Helix’s absurd satellite dish missile. Is that for when you need great reception, only way over there? Then there’s the Para-Viper’s strange helicopter-thing that he can’t hold onto correctly without being cut to ribbons. Hope Cobra has a good health plan. Don’t even get me started on the suction cup that Duke can hang from. What kid hasn’t wished for one of those?
