When did YOU get into GI Joe???

[Sonneilon]

Yup, like the topic says. When did it all start for you?

[The Faceless Master]

Xmas 1987 = i got a Cobra STUN from my Aunt
I kept using Motor Viper as Cobra Commander!! :p

I kept collecting til about 1992 when there was just too much neon,
too many childish gimmicks from sonic fighters to super sonic fighters
to ridiculous oversized gliders = I wished i army built Air Devils & Night Vultures
back then tho = and too many tonka-themed vehicles for me to handle :cool:
Altho the Cobra Commander & Destro released those years were much better
IMO than the originals...

In 1997-98 I visited TRU but was turned off by the name swapping
Jinx is now a Cobra named Vypra, the Rattler is now a camouflaged Joe vehicle,
the Oktober Guard, Vipers were misnamed Cobra Officer & Cobra Troopers...

But in 2002 when the Convention Exclusive Crimson Strike Team came out is
when I dove back into collecting.
I then went on an eBay rampage & started bidding on everything I missed out
on during my childhood.
When I got done with that phase, I started collecting international exclusives
like obsessively scouring for Escorpiao Voador, brazilian Furion, etc
The only international item that ever eluded me was the Python Swampfire.
Thats when I got into customizing which I did up until 2005.

Then one day mid last year ~ 2006, the fire just wasn't there anymore.
The excitement & the anticipation of the mailman stuffing my mailbox with a
brown envelope from Gijoehq.com or a priority mailbox from an ebay seller just
wasn't there anymore.

I ended up selling most of my collection. I still have some here, mostly vehicles
that I have listed repeatedly but nobody has been asking me about them so
they are just collecting dust.

[Self-Modifier]

I think I've mentioned this story before, but it started for me years after the Joe heyday. I had had Duke, Zartan, Short-Fuze, Breaker, Grand Slam with the JUMP, Clutch with the VAMP, and a Cobra Officer when I was very young, but I just wasn't interested. I think they were too realistic for me. I got right into He-Man and Transformers around the same time though, because they were more fantasty-oriented.

But years later, in about 1990, my brother had a birthday party (by my math, it was probably his 7th or 8th), and a friend gave him Tracker. My brother was pretty interested, so that very night he went to the drug store with my mom and bought 1990 Cobra Commander and Snake-Eyes too. For my part, I bought issue #120 of the comic for my brother while I was at the comic shop that month, but read it myself and loved it. I started helping my brother collect the toys (I was in middle school by this point, and therefore "too old" to play with toys myself).

So really, it all started for me at a point when I probably shouldn't have had any business being interested. Strange how things work out, isn't it?

[lehsreh]

[COLOR=Red]i think i said this one a week or so ago. i was very young and went to my great aunts house. one of my very older distant cousins had been there and had forgot his rock n roll. being a kid and not knowing any better i played with it, i liked it so i took it home. but then i lost it in a tree trunk:([/COLOR]

[Sonneilon]

I got started X-mas 1982! :P

Received the Giant-sized #1 under the tree. And X-Mas eve, I received SE, Stalker, Grunt, Cobra Trooper and 2 others. When I got the VAMP, I sure don't remember!

[Fisher]

I am with Sonne on this one, I received everything in the first series for Christmas in 1982 when I was 6 years old. I continued collecting until the early 90's, when the neon brigades and star brigades and all those figures hit, so I stopped. I was in high school at this point and most of my toys had been lost or broken over the years due to heavy heavy play in the sandbox and dirt piles and mud holes.

When I was living on my own a few years later, the 1997 Toys R Us exclusive packs were released, and I picked up a few of those, but with lack of new figures, continuous releases, and the fact that at the time I had no vintage Joe stuff left, I lost interest quickly.

Then 2002 rolled around and the line relaunched, army building became a huge thing to do, and eBay allows one that is patient enough to purchase Joe stuff for cheap if you dig hard enough (I picked up a Joe HQ from 83 for $0.99 plus $6.00 shipping complete), plus I discovered the toy shop I deal with an hour from here. So collecting exploded for me in the past few years. I still have a few pieces my collection lacks but I will acquire them eventually. Thankfully Misty supports the hobby.

[General Scarlett]

Chuck E Cheese-1982

Dance School Xmas Party-(yes, I do know how to dance; tap, jazz, ballet, baton, gymnastics, hip hop, ballroom, swing, etc...........)


Scarlett, Straight-Arm Grip-Mom (Dance Teacher/Owner), handed it to Santa as my gift.................. :D



The rest, as they say, is history.................. :cool: ;)

[General Scarlett]

[QUOTE=Fisher]I am with Sonne on this one, I received everything in the first series for Christmas in 1982 when I was 6 years old. [/QUOTE]



Damn, I could have been your babysitter................ :rolleyes:

[lehsreh]

[QUOTE=General Scarlett][B]Chuck E Cheese-1982[/QUOTE]
[COLOR=Red]
[COLOR=Red]
mmm, off the topic, but wasnt chuck e cheese showbiz pizza in the good ol days???[/COLOR][/COLOR]

[Ruki Ren93]

I sorta liked SpyTroops and Valor vs Venom, but never really liked them too much.
Fully got into Joes late 2005, for Sigma 6.

[LordRaven]

I remember my first Joe, it was Duke V1, and I carried him around like a Teddy Bear. My Dad is military, so he fueled my love of the military toys, and I've been hooked as long as I can remember. I got back into it last year Nov. The first thing I bought was was the comic pack of Serpentor, Firefly and Scrap Iron. That opened the flood gates.

[Outrider]

Well, I'm going to show my age here, but what the heck. My first Joes were the old 12" Adventure Team figures I had when I was a kid. When I outgrew them I completely forgot about Joe stuff. Then one day in '86, which was when the 3 3/4" Joes first came out here, I walked into a store and saw "GI Joe" on the shelf, a lot smaller than before, but pretty cool looking. I bought a couple for old time's sake and got hooked from there, eventually going back and spending a fortune picking up most of the early stuff I had missed out on. For a while I was a completist, but now I just buy the stuff I like. :)

[Stormer]

Summer 1986; I was six years old, on vacation with my family and was given Zartan w/Swamp-Skier by my grandparents. All the articulation, accessories, color-change, filecard and fascinating wider universe had me hooked right away.

I'd previously been aware of the Action Force line while Palitoy was releasing it in "Action Man: Action Force" packaging but I'd never got into it and had not been aware of the transition from the Star Wars-style figures to Joes (so I missed characters like Scarlett, Duke & CC and didn't realize they'd been released until years later). In 1986, though, Hasbro took over and copied the US packaging style for "Action Force: International Heroes." The TV ads and sudden wealth of storybooks, coloring books, yo-yos, etc. certainly helped pull me in. It replaced He-Man and Star Wars as my favorite toy line and has been in that position ever since!

[ender098]

[QUOTE=General Scarlett]Chuck E Cheese-1982

Dance School Xmas Party-(yes, I do know how to dance; tap, jazz, ballet, baton, gymnastics, hip hop, ballroom, swing, etc...........)
Scarlett, Straight-Arm Grip-Mom (Dance Teacher/Owner), handed it to Santa as my gift.................. :D
The rest, as they say, is history.................. :cool: ;)[/QUOTE]


You're such a Girly-Girl! LOL!


[QUOTE=General Scarlett]Damn, I could have been your babysitter................ :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

Can you be MY Babysitter? :D



1982, fourth of July. In June I got Issue #1 of the comic. I loved the comic and was collecting Star Wars. I went to a Fays Drug Store with my Dad and Uncle Arnold to get more Beer, and I got Stalker and Snake eyes.

And....We're off!!!

[gung ho]

i got into it a little late i started collecting about 2001-2002 i went to my local doller store and found a heavy duty and cobra CLAWS 2 pack and the rest is history

[yorktownjoe]

Sometime in 1982 (or maybe 1983). I saved money for a long while to get my VAMP with straight-arm Clutch. My brother picked up a straight-arm Zap the same day. That Christmas my brother and I received some Cobra Officers (1 each), and the rest was history.

We both stopped around 1990. I picked back up recently around the time I found Joedios, perhaps a little before that.

[Self-Modifier]

I'm finding it kind of funny that a lot of you folks dropped G.I. Joe in 1990, which is right around when I got into it.

[Urban Saboteur]

[FONT=Arial]April 1987.. the toys, my birthday.. I got Flint, Crazy Legs, Airtight, Dial Tone, Ripper & Dr.Mindbender with Snow Cat & Frostbite.. :cool:
I know strange selection of figures.. but.. I didn't really know at the time and I was 7.. :rolleyes:
They were all way cooler to knock the likes of chewbacca, luke & han from their podium.. soon as I got home I began playing.. and han solo got a pasting from Ripper... these figures.. I fell in love with swivel arm battle grip.. I was mesmerised by the detail and the articulation in a figure so small.. Star Wars didn't stand a chance really :o
Rich [/FONT]

[Bayer]

July 22, 1982 - I received a straight arm Breaker and Rock & Roll for my 13th birthday. I remember very clearly because I always received 'educational' gifts and when I saw these guys I knew I had to have them. Luckily I was able to fast talk my Grandfather into getting them.

[snipesfg17]

I got my first two figures 83 Gung Ho and Zap along with the APC for christmas of that year when I was 4. They were not followed by anything until 1987 when I got Wetsuit, and it has escalated from 3 figs and 1 vehicle to around 580 figs and 110 vehicles.

[maxtype]

1982-May...............the 'Legend Of GI Joe' TV commercials grabbed my attention........a week or so later,went to 7-11 with my Dad,found issues 1 and 2 of the GI Joe comic-WOW!!!...............Unfortunately,didn't find the toys 'til August 1982-on the 4th,Mom & Dad bought me HAL w/Grand Slam,Snake-Eyes,Rock 'N Roll,and Breaker...........about a week or so later,got Grunt................ :D

[nando]

I got my first figures in 1990 a little late right , i remember that my mom buy me scoop and recoil , i used to collect gijoe comics ( marvel era) well then my first cobra , the night viper really a cool figure , i try to buy all the 1990 line and then i discover the first version s and now i have a lot of them but some figures are hard to find in my country.. ;)

[Flint]

For me it was X-mas 1982, I saw the commerials of the Legend of G.I. JOE & was hooked!!! :) That X-mas I got Straight-Arm versions of Grunt, Flash, Rock'n'Roll, Scarlett, Stalker, & Snake-eyes!!! :D