Yup, like the topic says. When did it all start for you?

Xmas 1987 = i got a Cobra STUN from my Aunt
I kept using Motor Viper as Cobra Commander!!

I kept collecting til about 1992 when there was just too much neon,
too many childish gimmicks from sonic fighters to super sonic fighters
to ridiculous oversized gliders = I wished i army built Air Devils & Night Vultures
back then tho = and too many tonka-themed vehicles for me to handle
Altho the Cobra Commander & Destro released those years were much better
IMO than the originals...

In 1997-98 I visited TRU but was turned off by the name swapping
Jinx is now a Cobra named Vypra, the Rattler is now a camouflaged Joe vehicle,
the Oktober Guard, Vipers were misnamed Cobra Officer & Cobra Troopers...

But in 2002 when the Convention Exclusive Crimson Strike Team came out is
when I dove back into collecting.
I then went on an eBay rampage & started bidding on everything I missed out
on during my childhood.
When I got done with that phase, I started collecting international exclusives
like obsessively scouring for Escorpiao Voador, brazilian Furion, etc
The only international item that ever eluded me was the Python Swampfire.
Thats when I got into customizing which I did up until 2005.

Then one day mid last year ~ 2006, the fire just wasn't there anymore.
The excitement & the anticipation of the mailman stuffing my mailbox with a
brown envelope from Gijoehq.com or a priority mailbox from an ebay seller just
wasn't there anymore.

I ended up selling most of my collection. I still have some here, mostly vehicles
that I have listed repeatedly but nobody has been asking me about them so
they are just collecting dust.

I think I've mentioned this story before, but it started for me years after the Joe heyday. I had had Duke, Zartan, Short-Fuze, Breaker, Grand Slam with the JUMP, Clutch with the VAMP, and a Cobra Officer when I was very young, but I just wasn't interested. I think they were too realistic for me. I got right into He-Man and Transformers around the same time though, because they were more fantasty-oriented.

But years later, in about 1990, my brother had a birthday party (by my math, it was probably his 7th or 8th), and a friend gave him Tracker. My brother was pretty interested, so that very night he went to the drug store with my mom and bought 1990 Cobra Commander and Snake-Eyes too. For my part, I bought issue #120 of the comic for my brother while I was at the comic shop that month, but read it myself and loved it. I started helping my brother collect the toys (I was in middle school by this point, and therefore "too old" to play with toys myself).

So really, it all started for me at a point when I probably shouldn't have had any business being interested. Strange how things work out, isn't it?

__________________

is on indefinite hiatus...

I got started X-mas 1982! :P

Received the Giant-sized #1 under the tree. And X-Mas eve, I received SE, Stalker, Grunt, Cobra Trooper and 2 others. When I got the VAMP, I sure don't remember!

I am with Sonne on this one, I received everything in the first series for Christmas in 1982 when I was 6 years old. I continued collecting until the early 90's, when the neon brigades and star brigades and all those figures hit, so I stopped. I was in high school at this point and most of my toys had been lost or broken over the years due to heavy heavy play in the sandbox and dirt piles and mud holes.

When I was living on my own a few years later, the 1997 Toys R Us exclusive packs were released, and I picked up a few of those, but with lack of new figures, continuous releases, and the fact that at the time I had no vintage Joe stuff left, I lost interest quickly.

Then 2002 rolled around and the line relaunched, army building became a huge thing to do, and eBay allows one that is patient enough to purchase Joe stuff for cheap if you dig hard enough (I picked up a Joe HQ from 83 for $0.99 plus $6.00 shipping complete), plus I discovered the toy shop I deal with an hour from here. So collecting exploded for me in the past few years. I still have a few pieces my collection lacks but I will acquire them eventually. Thankfully Misty supports the hobby.

__________________
I Am Pilot Error...
I Am Fetal Distress...
I Am The Random Chromosome...
I Am Complete And Total Madness...

I Am Fear!

Chuck E Cheese-1982

Dance School Xmas Party-(yes, I do know how to dance; tap, jazz, ballet, baton, gymnastics, hip hop, ballroom, swing, etc...........)


Scarlett, Straight-Arm Grip-Mom (Dance Teacher/Owner), handed it to Santa as my gift..................



The rest, as they say, is history..................

__________________
Non illigitamus carborundum~Vos mos non effrego mihi

Coming soon: 'JoeSpecialOps'

Damn, I could have been your babysitter................

__________________
Non illigitamus carborundum~Vos mos non effrego mihi

Coming soon: 'JoeSpecialOps'

mmm, off the topic, but wasnt chuck e cheese showbiz pizza in the good ol days???