1. Receiving a ton of GI Joes and the original oversized Marvel #1, X-mas 1982. My parents had tapes them so the packages faced each other to resemble a box. I went ape shit and well, over 20 years later...

2. A friend blowing up an ARAH Torpedo at the grade school and everyone making dibs for what part they wanted.

3. LOSING Torpedo behind the condo we lived in (as a kid). His gray/black color scheme didn't go well with the concrete stairs we were playing in, if you know what I mean. On top of that, it was all wild growth back there so...

4. Playing in FRONT of the condo and the VAMP rolling into blackberry bushes. I'm sure a LOT of vehicles were damaged that way.

5. Trying to carry my Joes in the APC as a carrycase and them all falling down to the end.

6. I had a yellow bean bag. One of those ones you could sit in. THAT was my Cobra Island YEARS before Cobra Island was even created. What else was I gonna use beside my bunk beds and whatnot?

7. Getting Gung Ho for my b-day from the Canadian foreign exchange student we were hosting for a short time. That was in my soccer days in which, while we were the best in the state, got crushed by them.

8. My buddy having a b-day at Chuck E Cheese's (when it was cool) and getting Storm Shadow before me. I remember the smell of Bubbletape too. Incidentally, he got several figures before me and/or had figures I never got. The Crimson Guard comes to mind.

9. Trying to play with Deep Six and the SHARC in the bathtub. That went well. (note sarcasm)

10. Going to a friends house who had the REST of the O13 that I didn't. So odd cuz he filled in the holes in that regard! He also had 12" but we never played with those DOLLS!

11. I'll skip to about 1994. I was in Alaska. Summer between 1st and 2nd year of college. Seward, Ak. 1 funky drugstore that had GI Joes. And it was old GI Joes that were gathering dust. I am STILL kicking myself for NOT buying them. NOT to have and to hold for love, it would've been for ebay purposes or trying to sell them off to Brians Toys. But nooooooooo, I was too busy buying Primus and Faith No More cds and seeing Johnny Mnemonic and Waterworld 15x in the dinky lil theater...