JoeDios.com Forums - View Single Post - What's your G.I.*JOE History?

For me, I think I've mentioned here before that I never got into G.I. Joe when I was the "right" age for it. I was into He-Man and Transformers, but Joe was too "realistic" for me, so even though I had a passing familiarity with it, and I knew all the main characters, I only had a handful of toys that were given to me as gifts -- Duke, Short-Fuze, Cobra Officer, Grand Slam w/JUMP, Clutch w/VAMP, and Zartan w/Chameleon. Other than those, I had no Joes, and I had no interest in them.

Years later, when I was about 13, my younger brother (7 at the time) got into G.I. Joe. He'd not been into them either, but a friend gave him a Joe -- Tracker -- for his birthday, and he soon bought a couple more at the local drug store -- Cobra Commander w/the red faceplate, and Snake-Eyes w/the red goggles. On a trip to the comic shop, I grabbed a couple of issues of the comic to give my brother -- numbers 118 and 120 -- and read them myself, too. I found them very engrossing, and as the monthly Transformers comic had just been cancelled, I decided to start reading G.I. Joe regularly.

So my brother began collecting the toys (with input from me), and around this time, a friend of mine at school was being forced by his father to sell off all his old toys. My brother bought his entire G.I. Joe collection -- tons of figures and vehicles from around 1986-1988, and even a Terrordrome -- for a song! To this day I feel a little bit like we took advantage of my friend. But he had to get rid of them anyway, so maybe not.

Anyway, that was that. This would've been around '91 or '92, so the toy line was almost done anyway, but we'd managed to secure a large "back catalogue" of stuff. I was hooked on G.I. Joes without really even realizing it! I'm one of those who always kept collecting toys, though, so when the "new" stuff showed up at Toys "R" Us in '97 (has it already been over 12 years since then?!?), I was still making weekly trips for stuff like Beast Wars and the Toy Biz Marvel figures (pre-Marvel Legends). I picked up some of the '97 Joes (I've never been a completist, only buying the things that appeal to me). From there, I've bought some of every Joe toy line since.

I think that about covers it...

01-13-2010, 09:00 AM	#10
Self-Modifier Crossover King Emeritus Offline --> Posts: 1,472 --> Join Date: Feb 2005	For me, I think I've mentioned here before that I never got into G.I. Joe when I was the "right" age for it. I was into He-Man and Transformers, but Joe was too "realistic" for me, so even though I had a passing familiarity with it, and I knew all the main characters, I only had a handful of toys that were given to me as gifts -- Duke, Short-Fuze, Cobra Officer, Grand Slam w/JUMP, Clutch w/VAMP, and Zartan w/Chameleon. Other than those, I had no Joes, and I had no interest in them. Years later, when I was about 13, my younger brother (7 at the time) got into G.I. Joe. He'd not been into them either, but a friend gave him a Joe -- Tracker -- for his birthday, and he soon bought a couple more at the local drug store -- Cobra Commander w/the red faceplate, and Snake-Eyes w/the red goggles. On a trip to the comic shop, I grabbed a couple of issues of the comic to give my brother -- numbers 118 and 120 -- and read them myself, too. I found them very engrossing, and as the monthly Transformers comic had just been cancelled, I decided to start reading G.I. Joe regularly. So my brother began collecting the toys (with input from me), and around this time, a friend of mine at school was being forced by his father to sell off all his old toys. My brother bought his entire G.I. Joe collection -- tons of figures and vehicles from around 1986-1988, and even a Terrordrome -- for a song! To this day I feel a little bit like we took advantage of my friend. But he had to get rid of them anyway, so maybe not. Anyway, that was that. This would've been around '91 or '92, so the toy line was almost done anyway, but we'd managed to secure a large "back catalogue" of stuff. I was hooked on G.I. Joes without really even realizing it! I'm one of those who always kept collecting toys, though, so when the "new" stuff showed up at Toys "R" Us in '97 (has it already been over 12 years since then?!?), I was still making weekly trips for stuff like Beast Wars and the Toy Biz Marvel figures (pre-Marvel Legends). I picked up some of the '97 Joes (I've never been a completist, only buying the things that appeal to me). From there, I've bought some of every Joe toy line since. I think that about covers it... __________________ is on indefinite hiatus...