How did you start collecting joes?
 

How did you start collecting joes? I'll post why I did tomorrow I' so tired.

Back in 1982 when the now vintage line came out with the original 11 members plus the two cobras (CC and Cobra Officer) all with the STRAIGHT ARMs! I persuaded my Grandfather to get me two of them on my birthday (I was 12).
Those two originals were Breaker and Rock and Roll - I've had a soft spot for Kibbey and McConnell ever since. (No I don't like the ROC Breaker - he's not Alvin Kibbey!). After that I was hooked and GI Joe was an obsession of mine through the years until I entered the Army in 1989. Time, occupation and peers tended to quiet my collecting activity after that. I continued to collect the comic until its cancellation in the mid-ninties.
In '97 I noticed the TRU exclusives and when the Spy-troops hit in the early 2000's I started picking up a few here and there - much to the anger of my wife. I'm not the collector I was in the early days. I don't collect everything and my interest is tempered by the adult responsibilities I now carry (Food, rent, gas, etc.), but this year I had the best birthday I've had in years (I'm 40 for those slow on the math), as my hobbies have become more limited by life, children and my job, my wife asked me what I wanted for my b'day. I told her GI Joes. I got Terminator figs, Star Wars vehicles and 20th Anni and ROC vehicles (Pics and reviews to come). I feel like that 12 year old all those many years ago...its really nice.

Started when I was 5. My very first figure was straight-arm Breaker and my brother had straight-arm Snake Eyes. Over time the collection grew until 7th grade when my mom made us give them all to her friend's kid, because we were "too old". I bought a few every now and then, but always gave them away as I got older. Then the TRU Cobra Infantry Forces 6-pack hit and I was, once again, hooked.

I was 10 when they came out and I always watched the cartoon so I had both GI JOE and star wars collections going. I didn't have many vehicles as I came from a big family (4 boys,1 girl including me)I did get most of the figs while they were my top things to play with.I had a huge back yard and trees surrounding it.I wish I lived there now cause that would be dio paradaise.

I was 10 or so too. Got a whole slew of them for X-mas 1982 as well as an oversized #1. Just got stuck on that. But I was also at the age where Star Wars just wasn't working for me. The lack of elbow and knee joints really turned me off. As well as their crappy crotch and they couldn't swivel at the waist. Yeah, even at that age, I wanted more out of a toy. So GI Joe had everything I could want. Then swivel came out AND they had good vehicles!

I still like the military aspect of Joes which is why I try to cater to the more... 'realistic' stuff. And for the funny stuff, I try to justify it since Cobra is kinda weird BUT I try not to go too outlandish. That's right, I'm picking on YOU Coil Crusher, you waste of plastic!!!

Being a little older I started off as a kid with the 12" Adventure Team figures and vehicles (the Secret of the Mummy's Tomb was my favourite set) which I enjoyed for years. But then as I got a little older like alot of people I chucked 'em all out (idiot!). Then one day in '87 I walked into K-Mart and saw the new smaller Joes (that was when they first came out here) and bought a couple for old times sake - and was instantly hooked. Then I found my first comic (Special Missions #1 - still a great read!) and got hooked on that. The cartoon only showed sporadically here so I never saw much of that. A small fortune and many years later and I still love my Joes!

I am with you Craig. The 12" AT guys is what I grew up with. Mummy's Tomb was awesome, I wish I still had my 6 wheeled ATV. I still love the 12" guys with all their gear. I still remember throwing my Land Adventurer off the top of the barn with the red & white parachute pack, it made me so mad because it never worked.

Back in 82-83 I’d been watching the GI Joe ads on TV and thought they were the coolest thing ever, but my parents wouldn’t buy me any because my mother didn’t want me playing with guns. (Yet there were real guns and ammo in the house I could get my hands on at any time.) So while on vacation in New Hampshire I went and bought the VAMP and swivel-arm Clutch myself. When she seen it didn’t turn me into a mass murderer, my parents always got me Joes for birthdays and Christmas. I discovered the Marvel comics a little while later and that sparked my imagination and solidified my interest in GI Joe. (Never watched the cartoon.) I had a few other odd toys but GI Joe and Lego were the only ones I had any real interest in. In my early teens I boxed up my toys and put them in the attic trying to act grown up, but now I’m grown up and wishing I was a kid again. Yo Joe! :D

Basicly I was walking through the store and caught them out the corner of my eye, but my mom wouldn't let me go look, they were pretty far off, but I recall Sanke Eyes being there.

About a week later I got a good view. THey were (to me) likethe green army men only poseable and could interact with my Star Wars figures. I grabbed Breaker and the obsession begain.

HMMM noticed alot of other people had SA Breaker as thier first fig as well. Interesting.

sorry it took so long I forgot I posted this.

I got my first joes way back in 95 they where sgt savage guys. I still have a few most of them are broken. I also had the gi joe movie (which was awesome back then) when I was a kid that movie made me love CC the crimson guards and vipers.

I remember chuckles from the movie and I found him in my grandparents basement with my uncle so that was my first incounter with the vintage line. years later I went up into my grandma's attic and pulled out all the old 80s stuff. they were alot of fun but I didn't start collecting until I was in grade 6 when my aunt got me a snake-eyes with the dvd. I fell in love with gijoe just because of the articulation on snake-eyes.

I then got into the vintage line after watching the cartoon and my uncle telling me all about the figures that he didn't have any more so I started looking for them on the net to see what they looked like. I found yo joe in the process it helped me with every thing I was wondering about.

So here I am today 17 and collecting joes.

Oh yeah when I was little and watched the gi joe movie I didn't like the cobra blueshirts I thought that they were ninja's and they looked like dumb ninja's now that I'm older and understand more about gi joe I love them.

let me see i got my first joe back in 89 : scoop and recoil my mom bought them , they rocks , my best friend used to have lot s of them , all the ARAH 86 , 87 , ( the best years) and i love to play with joes since 1989 , wow that was long time ago ...

Started collecting with straight arm Breaker. Stopped collecting in '89, after the death of my father. Life changed in a big way for me from that point on. Started collecting again after I finished my Masters degree.

Always wanted one of each character, but during the time when I wasn't collecting, I realized I wished I could've army built. That is why I collect now and army build now.

My first joe was Backblast, I buyed him in 1990 more or less. I only had as a child like 15 or so Gi Joe vintage figures. I re-started collecting when the Gi Joe vs Cobra appeared in stores.

Probably because Breaker didn't come with a gun. :D

I was born in 82, but my brother had been into Joes and his first figures were SA Flash and Cobra Soldier. Loved watching the cartoons as a kid. We still have old Beta tapes with G.I. Joe, Transformers, and Thundercats recorded in them. My brother started getting less interested in G. I. Joe and that was when his collection became mine. His friend had sold us a lot of his Joe collection and it included the Mauler, Snowcat, Night Raven, and the Terror Drome (all incomplete.) Still kept getting a couple for birthdays, and Christmas. We lived on a farm and about 1 hour away from any store that had Joes, so When we went to the store I might be able to convince my mom to get me one every other month. Stopped collecting until about 2001 and got some of the ARAH 2 packs. Left home for a couple of years to live on the east coast. Came back and my first christmas home, my mom got me an 84 Stormshadow with a full filecard. While I have been gone, they had bought a couple of collections off of ebay and I got them. Now, 6 years later, I am army building, and fixing the broken vehicles that I have.

Go Breaker!
 

My first Joe was Breaker and the JUMP on my 8th birthday. Maybe the RAM; I can't remember clearly and don't have any photos. He was a super agent (notice I didn't say "trooper") that attacked the Rebels & Imperials alike (I was a Star Wars fan). The Hasbro catalogs (wishbooks) and packaging reeled me in, and I begged for more when I could. Hit puberty and it all went into storage at the parents' house.

Flash forward 20 years: I visit the folks to clean out "my" storage and find the Joes again. Thinking I'll sell them on eBay and make millions, I ship it all to my place. This is virtually the entire collection '82-'87 = A LOT. While that was shipping, I carried the Collector's Case with my straight arm guys home, including Breaker. Reminiscing about the adventures, I couldn't let my buddies go. By the time the rest of my collection arrived, I was back on the collecting wagon. Now my kid enjoys playing with them, too. But I'll confess: the straight arms stay on the wall. They've served their duty and deserve a break!

It was 1985 or 86 we had to go on an hour long car trip because my Grandma found a deal on something at a Montgomery Ward (not sure what) I remember seeing them on the shelf, Grandma bought me Snake Eyes Version 2, Flint, Lady J, Shipwreck, Roadblock v. 2, Shipwreck, and Ripper. The next year in second grade I met my friend Tim we had many a battle on the side of his house with all our joes and our friend Rich. Most times we would spend more time setting up than actually playing which is why the dio really reminds me of old times. My cousin Russel also had a pretty impressive collection the Flagg and the Mobile Command Center. I got older and sold/got rid of most of them. Flash forward to 1998 Tim and I are at K-Mart walk down by toys and see some Corps figures we each by a 5 pack and are in his backyard 18 years old playing with them that night. A few months later we went to a store called groovy I bought the v.1 Destro because I never had him as a kid , and it was back on. We bought so many joes in the next few months that we decided to set up at a Toy show just to sell the extras. We ended up doing toy shows for about 7 years and that was when my collection really grew (especially the BATS). Sorry if that was a little long.

For me it all began the summer of 84 I was four years old and remember going to sears with my dad. My dad was in the military in cuba so when he saw the awesome life like guns the joes came with he didn't hesitate to get me some. The first time was zartan and firefly. Since then I was hooked and would get joes for birthdays and christmas as well as motu. Like everyone The collecting died off as I got older. My parents passed on about 93-94 and some where when I was an about 17 or 18 teen I walked into a toys r us and My eyes got teary. I remembered my parents and it brought back a feeling I had not felt for years ever since then its been my biggest vice next to painting. As well the joe collecting helped me quit smoking cigarettes. It got so expensive to smoke a pack a day that I decided that a pack a day meant a joe a day so I called it quits and now I have way to many joes...lol Like my wife says I can't help getting pissed at your toys when they give you such a big smile!

Medical proof that Joes are good for your health! :)

I wish Joes made it that easy for me to quit smoking! :)

For me the year was 1982 I was about nine and had just moved to Arizona from Chicago after my father went on disability from the sheriffs dept. It was for some reason or other that I earned myself a toy and my folks took me to Lyonel Playworld (first time I had been in a toy store like that) Now I of course was a Star Wars kid as was almost all my generation but when I got to the action figures the wall of Joe Toys caught my eye first! after the usual labored decision making process I left that day with straight arm Stalker and the Attack Cannon Flak (which for some reason I still have today) From then on Joes were my kiddie crack well into my teen years till toys just weren't cool anymore! After I meet my wife I made some feeble attempts to collect again around the Venom and Valor era but lack of money at the time made collecting short lived. Then 2008 I remember getting into an arguement with my wife while grocerie shoping at Walmart (which happens every time we go grocerie shopping) I walked off and found myself in the toy Isle and there I saw the Crimson Twins comic pack, had to have it! now several waves and thousands of dollers latter I have a room full of Joes and they are spilling out into the garage!

I started like most of ye here as a kid about 4 or 5 . I remember one of my first was the cobra officer and i think wet suit was there too. but i hadn't bought a new joe from the as of 15 to my 20's then saw them in the local toy shop VvV line and picked up a few chars it wasn't till I found this place about 2 years ago and saw the amazing pics here and on flickr that i got back into them in a big way its taken me just 2 years to amass the sizable forces you see in my pics . most of the figures i had from my childhood was gone or broken.

Playworld.. there was one in New Orleans. This is where I bought my first Joe, Breaker. Reason was I knew I wouldn't have the money to buy a lot more--of the two other friends in the neighborhood, I didn't have many Star Wars figures, so I knew I wouldn't have bunch of Joes compared to them. So Breaker was a strategic buy--I knew the other kids were going to get Grunt, Stalker, etc, but they will need a communication expert to coordinate everything, even spy on enemies. So Breaker was a way for me to stay in the heart of all the action, even without a gun.