1984: Hard to believe....30 years ago!

[80s Child]

I was still busy with He-Man & Star Wars for the first 2 years of Joe, but it was 1984 when I got my first G.I. Joe toys (Steeler & The M.O.B.A.T., Cobra Commander, Grunt, Rock N' Roll, Short-Fuze, Breaker, and two Machine Gun Defense Units).

I hold that 1984 was the best year for Cobra figures and vehicles. (BTW my vote for Joe figures would be 1985 and Joe vehicles 1983). Plus we got the awesome Weather Dominator mini-series on TV!!!!

WHAT DO YOU THINK WAS THE BEST THING(S) TO COME OUT OF 1984?

[pbarny1701]

The WHALE. My favorite vehicle.

Close second was my brother's favorite, the Rattler and Wild Weasel.

third, the mail away for the hooded commander.

[neapolitan joe]

...baroness.

[Nekoman]

Transformers!

1984 is one of my favorite Joe years though. Firefly is a favorite figure, but the whole lot was pretty good for Joe and Cobra.

[troopsofdoom]

'84 was an awesome year for the single carded figures, especially Firefly, Baroness, Recondo, Stormshadow and Scrap-Iron. Duke was the weak link that year, I remember him being the only peg-warmer. Also the Rattler was one of the coolest vehicles ever made. Never had one until the 25A.

[Lava Boss]

I was the opposite, after loving Joe in 82 and part of 83, I was almost completey out of the GI JOE thing in 1984 (the fickleness of youth, distracted by MOTU and others ), but my brother was still major into it.

I have a soft spot for the one item I did get myself that year, Zartan and his Chameleon. The swamp skier is crap that broke too easy even when it was new. But the idea of it all was cool. Plus it was something I had that my older brother didn't (He got all the other 1984 items except the Vamp MK2).

Also, the COBRA CLAW brings memories, not because I liked it, but when my brother got it was the first 84 thing we'd seen. We had no idea what was new, and it included the 1984 catalog/folder. Seeing those for the first time was the best kid "high" ever.

I'd get back into GI JOE in '85 after a major birthday haul, getting older stuff, like Recondo then, too (he became my favorite 84 Joe because of that). My older brother outgrew toys by mid-1986, so after that I carried the Torch (and Buzzer and Ripper, too ;) ).

The best thing, though? The WHALE was a great thing, it started a new trend of assault vehicle with crew positions and mini-vehicles that would go on and on (with mixed results). That was a true team vehicle.

[lehsreh]

85 or 87 for me. I just have more memories playing with the figures from those years.

[yorktownjoe]

Firefly and Recondo were my highlights from 1984.

Also, around that time, my brother and I would try to find a small vehicle or playset we could buy to get the new catalog insert and start dreaming about larger vehicles.

And since we could not afford to collect one of each figure each, we would agree who would buy which figures. I still remember agreeing to pick Firefly and letting him snag Storm Shadow. Sometimes we would play together, and other times he would let me use his figures, and vice versa.

On a shopping trip with a special Aunt, she bought us each a Zartan. She even helped us take him in and out of the sunlight and then she popped him in the freezer to see if he would change a different color. It was a fun day!

[TwoOneEight]

1984 was the year I graduated from High School and I got hired at TRU. I exercised my five finger discount on every new figure that came out that year. :D

[Renegade]

1984 ... Storm Shadow. Easily one of the coolest figures out at the time. Also he is possibly one of the plainest, and simplest in terms of design, however he was still a very intriguing character to me. I love martial arts and ninja films, so seeing a character like that packed with such great accessories blew me away. I read his file card in the store thinking that this dude would be a great bad guy to have. I remember not being able to get it the first time I saw it and was really disappointed and it almost haunted me, lol. Then later I saw him again and I absolutely had to have the figure. I got it, got home, and my brother and I were amazed at the cool backpack and weapons he came with and had a blast using him. He was THE coolest Cobra figure we had.

Later on I got caught up on Storm Shadow's comic book story and I found him to be an even more interesting character. There's a lot of dpeth there. To this day I'm still a huge Storm Shadow fan, regardless if he's a hero or a Cobra.

[Renegade]

I also got Duke, and was thoroughly disappointed. I debated leaving him in the store that day because of his goofy expression. Something told me that if I don't get me a leader for GI Joe then I never will. I had been using Steeler pretty much as the Tank Commander and leader at that point because I never had Hawk, but considering that Steeler's filecard said that he had a problem with authority, getting another guy who was ranked above him only made sense to me. So, I got Duke. Pretty much was disappointed with his stupid look and only used him as a guy that the other Joes listened to but didn't like very much. What can I say, he looked like a jack ass. I liked his helmet and accessories, but couldn't like the figure that much.


Also Mutt and Junkyard were great figs. I loved that there was a dog to use for the Joes, someone who can go out and sniff for bad guys and even take them down. Junkyard used to scare off Cobras in my world. I liked the dog even more than Mutt, who was cool with the glove and mask and all, but come on! Junkyard was awesome!

[Thunder]

A very belated, but very sincere THANKS for all the great shared memories of 1984!!