Otto the Otter
01-12-2010, 07:39 PM
What's your G.I.*JOE History?
What is your history with these 3 3/4 inch Real American Heroes? How did you get started? What were your first figures and vehicles? What are your favorite and not so favorite memories of collecting? Take some time, write your story down and share it with the rest of us.
It was 1982 and I saw the first animated commercial advertising for the new G.I.*JOE comic book coming out. It wasn't long after that the toy line followed.
My head was still wrapped around the new Return of the Jedi toys that had come out that year, but there was this other guy hanging on the pegs next to him. Mom was OK with getting me Star Wars figures, once in a while, but she wouldn't buy me any G.I.*JOEs. She didn't like the idea of me having war toys. As a nine year old, I guess I never saw the irony of the situation where she wouldn't buy me war toys, yet she'd buy me toys with the word "Wars" in their name.
My friend Pete and his twin brother Jeff were comic book kids and knew all of the Marvel characters like an encyclopedia, so when G.I.*JOE came out, they were all over it. Their birthday came up and all they wanted was G.I.*JOE toys, especially anything Cobra related, so I got them a FANG and an officer to fly it. As party favors, the boys gave each of their guests one of the original 13 of their choice. I didn't quite know all the characters at that point, so I blurted out the only one I knew. My first figure was Rock & Roll, straight arm.
Since he was the only Joe I had, he was forced to mingle with my Star Wars figures, but man! What a far superior figure he was! Rotating shoulders, bending knees and arms, and a twisting waist. Yeah, I knew what was going to be all over my Christmas/Birthday wish lists. Not that it did any good, because, as I said, mom wouldn't buy me war toys.
Within a couple months I had acquired Zap and Scarlett. This wasn't out of any kind of real love for those characters, but more due to the fact that the Target near by sold out of every figure but those two quickly. Trying to mimic the card art pose of Zap, his hands were busted within a day. Rock & Roll's left arm was cracked at the elbow because I had seen in a catalog that he was supposed to have "swivel arm battle grip" and I tried to twist his arm, not knowing there was a difference in molds.
My first vehicle was the Polar Battle Bear. I bought it from a friend who received it as a birthday gift, but didn't collect G.I.*JOE. Zap and R&R rode the back of that thing while Scarlett drove. And boy did they kick the asses of those figures from a galaxy far, far away (Rock & Roll's time with them was learning what weaknesses to exploit, not to befriend them).
I figured that Scarlett might be a little on the cold side wearing only that thin body suit, so I gave her Yoda's cloth coat and his utility belt and the glow in the dark sword of a Dungeons and Dragons figure. Viola! My very first custom!
My collection grew slowly as I had to buy all my own Joes and I mainly had just figures. Thankfully the Flag Point thing started so I could get some of those toys I missed out on because I didn't have enough money at the time, so I got a HISS, MANTA and Hooded Cobra Commander amongst others that way.
About this time I met a guy who lived down the street named Cameron. He was about a year younger than me and his parents were divorced. That divorce worked to his advantage as his parents tried to buy his love. And boy howdy did they buy it! He had almost all the Star Wars toys released, all the Transformers and later all the MASK toys. But the pride of his toy box was his G.I.*JOE collection. He had everything that I had only looked at longingly in catalogs and box inserts and toy shelves.
The Skystriker, Dragonfly and MOBAT. The Wolverine, what the heck was this thing? I'd never heard of it. A girl driver? This thing is too cool.
As each year progressed and each new wave was released, I knew within a week it'd be in his room. Cameron and I played G.I.*JOE for hours on end. We'd start off picking what vehicles wanted and going from there. He was always G.I.*JOE, I was always Cobra. He'd use the Joe HQ, later combined with the Battle Platform. My base? Castle Greyskull. Seemed appropriate to me at the time, and the throne designed to fit a six inch tall figure was perfect for the six inch tall ego of 3 3/4 inch high Cobra Commander.
He lived in a four bedroom house and the hallway was a river where the Killer WHALE and the Moray would duke it out. One guest room was his domain, the other guest room was mine. His bedroom was where the FLAGG (actually his bed as the real FLAGG had not been released yet) was stationed or when it suited my needs, it was Cobra's heli-carrier.
He and I had some awesome battles. Although it sounds boring, some of the fun was trying to remember what missiles went with which plane or vehicle after the battle was over.
When ARAH came out on TV, I couldn't get home from school fast enough to watch it, even more so when Revenge of Cobra came out. Then when the series came out, oh my DOG!!!! I was in Heaven! But no! What do you mean it's on at the same time as Transformers!?! Fortunately Cameron had a VCR and we could watch G.I.*JOE and record Transformers and watch it immediately after. We later learned to record G.I.*JOE because we'd have rather have watched G.I.*JOE over and over. I still have pretty much all of the second episode of Revenge of Cobra memorized because we watched it so much.
Once the series started, the Saturday after Pyramid of Darkness was aired, the TV station showed it all the way through, which was good, because I had missed it through out the week. Even now when I watch it, I immediately go back to that same feeling I had then when the scene is shown down the tunnel and the flames from the space shuttle come rushing out as the shuttle is transported to the launch site.
Unfortunately Cameron moved a few years later. It was somewhere between the 86 releases and when Arise Surpentor, Arise was aired, as I remember having Dr. Minbender and Viper v1, but hadn't seen them animated.
So now I was once again stuck with my small collection. That was fine though, I had incorporated other similar scaled vehicles into the fold. I liked following in the lines of the first two mini-series. Cobra has a cool weapon that, similar to the MASS Device, runs on exotic elements from around the world. I had some cool looking rocks that played the part of the elements and I'd make small teams that had to go in search of them.
My uncle had a cabin in the mountains of Colorado. I generally refrained from bringing my Joes with me because my cousins had a a bunch of toys up there and generally brought their own Joes. One time mom, uncle and I and were going to be the only people who were going to be there for a long weekend, so I brought some Joes along. This was a chance for my go-to guys to enjoy the mountains with me. Duke, Footloose, Mutt and Alpine. I had a big four wheel drive truck that was perfectly sized for Joes and the mountains seemed the best place to have them use this truck. Since I felt these guys needed more than just the guns and packs they originally came with, I borrowed gear from some of my other Joes as well as gear from the Machine Gun and Mortar sets.
I had a great time using the truck and my Joes together over some of the rough terrain around the cabin. They didn't need and Cobras to fight, they were just out having fun. So was I.
Later in the weekend, some friends of my uncle came for a visit, and brought their five year old son. That kid wasn't in the house for five minutes before he started eye-balling my Joes. I tried to steer hi towards my cousins toys, but he wanted my Joes and their awesome truck.
Mom told me I needed to share my toys. I told her that five year old kids don't know how to play safely with small toys like action figures. I distracted the kid with something and snatched all my Joes and put them away before he messed them up. He didn't like that, I didn't care.
It got late in the night and the family decided to spend the night. The next morning I woke up and walked into the kitchen. From there I saw the kid. With my truck. And my Joes. I asked mom why she let him play with my stuff when my cousins had all these other great toys around (on a side note, I wasn't hoping the kid would break my cousin's toys and not mine, but my cousin's toys consisted of things like Tonka and Nylint trucks. Big, heavy duty toys designed to stand up to abuse). Mom told me I was being silly and not to be so selfish. No sooner had she said that then we looked out on the back to deck just in time to see that little booger eater fling my truck, Joes included over the edge and send it tumbling down the brush covered hill.
Duke, Footloose, Mutt, and Junkyard survived.
Over half the gear was lost
Alpine was MIA and presumed KIA.
When we returned to Denver, the rest of the Joes held a lovely funeral for their fallen comrade.
A few years later, although I still liked collecting and watching the show, may parents made the decision that I was too old for toys and needed to get into other things. I didn't see it that was so I'd have be sneaky about watching the show and making sure all my stuff was cleaned up before my parents got home from work.
What is your history with these 3 3/4 inch Real American Heroes? How did you get started? What were your first figures and vehicles? What are your favorite and not so favorite memories of collecting? Take some time, write your story down and share it with the rest of us.
It was 1982 and I saw the first animated commercial advertising for the new G.I.*JOE comic book coming out. It wasn't long after that the toy line followed.
My head was still wrapped around the new Return of the Jedi toys that had come out that year, but there was this other guy hanging on the pegs next to him. Mom was OK with getting me Star Wars figures, once in a while, but she wouldn't buy me any G.I.*JOEs. She didn't like the idea of me having war toys. As a nine year old, I guess I never saw the irony of the situation where she wouldn't buy me war toys, yet she'd buy me toys with the word "Wars" in their name.
My friend Pete and his twin brother Jeff were comic book kids and knew all of the Marvel characters like an encyclopedia, so when G.I.*JOE came out, they were all over it. Their birthday came up and all they wanted was G.I.*JOE toys, especially anything Cobra related, so I got them a FANG and an officer to fly it. As party favors, the boys gave each of their guests one of the original 13 of their choice. I didn't quite know all the characters at that point, so I blurted out the only one I knew. My first figure was Rock & Roll, straight arm.
Since he was the only Joe I had, he was forced to mingle with my Star Wars figures, but man! What a far superior figure he was! Rotating shoulders, bending knees and arms, and a twisting waist. Yeah, I knew what was going to be all over my Christmas/Birthday wish lists. Not that it did any good, because, as I said, mom wouldn't buy me war toys.
Within a couple months I had acquired Zap and Scarlett. This wasn't out of any kind of real love for those characters, but more due to the fact that the Target near by sold out of every figure but those two quickly. Trying to mimic the card art pose of Zap, his hands were busted within a day. Rock & Roll's left arm was cracked at the elbow because I had seen in a catalog that he was supposed to have "swivel arm battle grip" and I tried to twist his arm, not knowing there was a difference in molds.
My first vehicle was the Polar Battle Bear. I bought it from a friend who received it as a birthday gift, but didn't collect G.I.*JOE. Zap and R&R rode the back of that thing while Scarlett drove. And boy did they kick the asses of those figures from a galaxy far, far away (Rock & Roll's time with them was learning what weaknesses to exploit, not to befriend them).
I figured that Scarlett might be a little on the cold side wearing only that thin body suit, so I gave her Yoda's cloth coat and his utility belt and the glow in the dark sword of a Dungeons and Dragons figure. Viola! My very first custom!
My collection grew slowly as I had to buy all my own Joes and I mainly had just figures. Thankfully the Flag Point thing started so I could get some of those toys I missed out on because I didn't have enough money at the time, so I got a HISS, MANTA and Hooded Cobra Commander amongst others that way.
About this time I met a guy who lived down the street named Cameron. He was about a year younger than me and his parents were divorced. That divorce worked to his advantage as his parents tried to buy his love. And boy howdy did they buy it! He had almost all the Star Wars toys released, all the Transformers and later all the MASK toys. But the pride of his toy box was his G.I.*JOE collection. He had everything that I had only looked at longingly in catalogs and box inserts and toy shelves.
The Skystriker, Dragonfly and MOBAT. The Wolverine, what the heck was this thing? I'd never heard of it. A girl driver? This thing is too cool.
As each year progressed and each new wave was released, I knew within a week it'd be in his room. Cameron and I played G.I.*JOE for hours on end. We'd start off picking what vehicles wanted and going from there. He was always G.I.*JOE, I was always Cobra. He'd use the Joe HQ, later combined with the Battle Platform. My base? Castle Greyskull. Seemed appropriate to me at the time, and the throne designed to fit a six inch tall figure was perfect for the six inch tall ego of 3 3/4 inch high Cobra Commander.
He lived in a four bedroom house and the hallway was a river where the Killer WHALE and the Moray would duke it out. One guest room was his domain, the other guest room was mine. His bedroom was where the FLAGG (actually his bed as the real FLAGG had not been released yet) was stationed or when it suited my needs, it was Cobra's heli-carrier.
He and I had some awesome battles. Although it sounds boring, some of the fun was trying to remember what missiles went with which plane or vehicle after the battle was over.
When ARAH came out on TV, I couldn't get home from school fast enough to watch it, even more so when Revenge of Cobra came out. Then when the series came out, oh my DOG!!!! I was in Heaven! But no! What do you mean it's on at the same time as Transformers!?! Fortunately Cameron had a VCR and we could watch G.I.*JOE and record Transformers and watch it immediately after. We later learned to record G.I.*JOE because we'd have rather have watched G.I.*JOE over and over. I still have pretty much all of the second episode of Revenge of Cobra memorized because we watched it so much.
Once the series started, the Saturday after Pyramid of Darkness was aired, the TV station showed it all the way through, which was good, because I had missed it through out the week. Even now when I watch it, I immediately go back to that same feeling I had then when the scene is shown down the tunnel and the flames from the space shuttle come rushing out as the shuttle is transported to the launch site.
Unfortunately Cameron moved a few years later. It was somewhere between the 86 releases and when Arise Surpentor, Arise was aired, as I remember having Dr. Minbender and Viper v1, but hadn't seen them animated.
So now I was once again stuck with my small collection. That was fine though, I had incorporated other similar scaled vehicles into the fold. I liked following in the lines of the first two mini-series. Cobra has a cool weapon that, similar to the MASS Device, runs on exotic elements from around the world. I had some cool looking rocks that played the part of the elements and I'd make small teams that had to go in search of them.
My uncle had a cabin in the mountains of Colorado. I generally refrained from bringing my Joes with me because my cousins had a a bunch of toys up there and generally brought their own Joes. One time mom, uncle and I and were going to be the only people who were going to be there for a long weekend, so I brought some Joes along. This was a chance for my go-to guys to enjoy the mountains with me. Duke, Footloose, Mutt and Alpine. I had a big four wheel drive truck that was perfectly sized for Joes and the mountains seemed the best place to have them use this truck. Since I felt these guys needed more than just the guns and packs they originally came with, I borrowed gear from some of my other Joes as well as gear from the Machine Gun and Mortar sets.
I had a great time using the truck and my Joes together over some of the rough terrain around the cabin. They didn't need and Cobras to fight, they were just out having fun. So was I.
Later in the weekend, some friends of my uncle came for a visit, and brought their five year old son. That kid wasn't in the house for five minutes before he started eye-balling my Joes. I tried to steer hi towards my cousins toys, but he wanted my Joes and their awesome truck.
Mom told me I needed to share my toys. I told her that five year old kids don't know how to play safely with small toys like action figures. I distracted the kid with something and snatched all my Joes and put them away before he messed them up. He didn't like that, I didn't care.
It got late in the night and the family decided to spend the night. The next morning I woke up and walked into the kitchen. From there I saw the kid. With my truck. And my Joes. I asked mom why she let him play with my stuff when my cousins had all these other great toys around (on a side note, I wasn't hoping the kid would break my cousin's toys and not mine, but my cousin's toys consisted of things like Tonka and Nylint trucks. Big, heavy duty toys designed to stand up to abuse). Mom told me I was being silly and not to be so selfish. No sooner had she said that then we looked out on the back to deck just in time to see that little booger eater fling my truck, Joes included over the edge and send it tumbling down the brush covered hill.
Duke, Footloose, Mutt, and Junkyard survived.
Over half the gear was lost
Alpine was MIA and presumed KIA.
When we returned to Denver, the rest of the Joes held a lovely funeral for their fallen comrade.
A few years later, although I still liked collecting and watching the show, may parents made the decision that I was too old for toys and needed to get into other things. I didn't see it that was so I'd have be sneaky about watching the show and making sure all my stuff was cleaned up before my parents got home from work.