I asked this same basic question a couple of years ago when it was the 30th anniversary of my favorite Joe-year & got some great replies:

http://www.joedios.com/forum/showth...&highlight=1984

I forgot to ask it the next year for the 1985 crop, but figured I'd resume the survey and see what memories held up best between '86 & '16.

(feel free to add your '85 highlights in as well since the year of the Flagg, Flint, and SE V2 got forgotten last year).

For me:

1986 - Probably the box art of my Tomahawk on Christmas morning & the fun design & rubber tires of my STUN that same day. Also the mystique of the Night Raven that never was.


1985 - Finding carded Joes of Shipwreck, Alpine, & Barbecue hidden inside the always-boring-to-a-kid gift of new clothes that Christmas. I still fondly think of that genius idea my Aunt had every time I grab a shirt-box sized gift from under the tree.

So, what do you see when you look back 30 years through Low-Light's rose-tinted goggles?

85 was the last get Joes and Play year for me and my Co-Joe buddy...
I found my Alpine in my 20s up in the beams of my childhood home, the heat had melted his o-ring to nothing...I think I still have his pieces...have to take a look!

I was a little displeased with the mid section of Alpine and Footloose...too big!
Great Figures though...
I also remember the ferret and Tomax and Xamot being an Awesome Combination!
A perfect fit in all aspects!
And we were also lucky enough to acquire the Awe Striker! what a revelation in small vehicle design!

So jr high ended serious Joe play...but for some reason we had to stay at my buddy's grandparents...so I grabbed the Awe and Crank Case and The ferret with Tomax and Xamot....about 10 years ago they hired me to fix up that house to sell it.
When cleaning out the basement I found this:
http://www.joedios.com/dioramas/sho...&imageuser=4828
the figs and ferret were mia...but this really warmed my heart...
My buddy's extensive collection went to a kid his dad met...he was pissed, but what the hell....Mine (mostly 82-84) were worn out, blown up, or with the large collection that was given away!

on a side note, propably in 94, my buddy said I got a few things to sell...
A huge Lion robot man Godaikin....a moog synth....and an in the box G-1 Megatron!
Still have the moog and Megatron!

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Hell of a coolness!

One of my fondest memories is going to TRU to get the Conquest on my 6th birthday. Getting the Moray at Christmas and battling my brother's Night Raven was also a lot of fun.

1985: IIRC, my birthday gifts that year were a big boost of my GI JOE stuff after setting out most of 1984. AWE Striker, Snow Cat, Wolverine (even though it was discontinued by that year but there was so much stock that things didn't just disappear from shelves like now days), various figures including Recondo and maybe Destro. Can't remember everything.

Got the Cobra hydrofoil at some point, never called it Moray, still don't. My brother and I both had one, which was rare for a vehicle that big.

1986: The year I started army building, though that exact term was alien to me until the 90's (read it in collector magazines). Got 2 BATS and 2 Vipers the first time I saw them. My non-character Cobra forces were quite small at the time (1 straight arm officer, 1 trooper, maybe 1 crimson guard, Lamprey and 1 eel) and even my characters were just CC, Destro, Bludd, the Twins, Zartan and the Dreadnoks.

Lamest memory from that year: Passing on the Thunder Machine because I thought Thrasher looked dumb. I got one later in 1987 sometime.

??? I thought 80s Child posted the 1984 question?

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"They're not dolls, they're Action Figures! I do not play with toys, I take diorama photographs!"
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80s Child > Steeler > Thunder. It's all the same dork behind the camera and on the keyboard sorta like Dick Grayson > Robin > Nightwing...

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"They're not dolls, they're Action Figures! I do not play with toys, I take diorama photographs!"
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A Warwolf!

In '86, I had a ton of lawn mowing money and bought pretty much any toy I wanted. I spent that summer updating my '85 figures that had gotten trashed. At the same time, I was picking up the battle field playsets from earlier years that still hung around at TRU.

In May, I called the local TRU to see if they had a Havoc. They did. Afraid they'd sell out, I had them hold one for me. My mom took me to get it on the Sunday of the Indianapolis 500. (I was from Indy and that was a still a big deal back then.) That year, it absolutely poured on race day. My Dad and brother had gone to the race, so I got my new toy home and played with it in with no hassle from my brothers in front of the huge picture window in my parent's living room as the rain deluge continued for hours outside. Still remember that like it was yesterday.

In the fall, my neighbor gave me a $50 bill to take care of his house that winter while he was in AZ. I had never had such a denomination. I took it to TRU and bought myself a Tomahawk. That Friday, a friend of mine came over. We played with the Tomahawk bombing "Viet Cong" Quick Kick armed with an AK 47 while we listened to his new Bon Jovi cassette.

Good times.

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