My name is Ryan; I'm 22 years old and live in Austin TX, where I'm in my final semesters of studying Civil Engineering. I'm getting married to my wonderful fiancee Katherine (who is supportive of my hobby, even though she doesn't really understand it) in a little less than two months, and looking forward to graduating this coming December. When I'm not collecting Joes, I really enjoy reading, camping, and generally being outside. I run, bike, and swim quite a bit to try and keep fit, and also spend a lot of time just hanging out with my fiancee.
I grew up in Houston, where I fell in love with G.I. Joe as soon as a I got my first figure (either Recoil or Dogfight, can't remember). I really got into G.I. Joe in 89-90, so I still have a soft spot for all of those figures. Once I got "too old" to play with them any more I immediately decided to start collecting, so I'd have a reason to hang on to my prized Joes. I've drifted in and out of the hobby since then, and have had interests in most every scale and era of at some point. When I entered college in 2003 I was sort of on a hiatus from collecting, but that all changed about 2 years ago. Believe it or not, it was the Greenshirts 6-pack that awakened me to the fact that new Joes were coming out and convinced me to start collecting again. I finally found my collecting "niche" in vintage and new classic-sculpt 3 3/4" figures (recently expanding to vintage/modern 12" AT as well). I started taking pictures of my figures about a year and a half ago, and before long I found this site and was blown away by some of you all's work. It inspired me to push the quality and creativity of my photos as far as I could, and learning to do so has been such a great way to have fun with my collection.
My tiny apartment here in Austin doesn't have much space for Joes, so most of my collection is in Houston at my parents' house, which I visit pretty frequently. My dad and I enjoy taking photos together; it brings back lots of wonderful memories of childhood battles and the like. I love this hobby and am really excited at what a wonderful community you have on this site. Thank you all for making me feel so welcome!
There's more about me, my other hobbies, and my Joe collection over at
my website 