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.

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