G.I. Joe 1983 Collection.
My 1983 G.I. Joe collection restored.
Original Image by Hasbro, 1983.
There was this card and candy shop on our main street. The owners attracted patrons with lottery tickets, cigarettes, greetings cards, and cheap gift boxes of holiday of the month candy. The old storefront was the final hope for those seeking last minuet gifts, party supplies, and seasonal novelties. Between the Ben Cooper Halloween costumes and model kits was an short aisle with toys. One day in 1982 a display case with eight or nine military figures snapped me to attention. The toys were free from their captive packaging and standing defiantly in action poses. These weren't the typical green cast plastic army men. The collection was fully painted, had a cache of removable gear, and more importantly were highly poseable! My mom must have noticed me fixed at the exhibition. She reminded me that I had one week's allowance coming.
I grew up in an exclusively blue collar neighborhood in Brooklyn. The quaint coastal hamlet is still an estuary of city workers and tradesmen. Like any working class stronghold, most proudly served their country. In the troubled times of the late sixties and early seventies none of the men in my community waited for draft notices. Most chose to earn their uniforms on Parris Island. All wanted to do their part and live up to the momentous reputation that their fathers stamped on the sands of Normandy and Iwo Jima only a generation before. Some never came home. Those who made it back found a country they barely recognized. The words, nationalism and patriotism desperately clung by a flag thread when the pendulum began to swing the other way. The nineteen eighties began a time of renewed pride for our wounded country.
When a reinvented but recognizable military toy brand with an established house hold name hit shelves in 1982, it was received by a nation still struggling to come to terms with it's recent past. The move was a big gamble on the part of Hasbro. War toys were far from the peak of popularity. Fortunately, the smaller scaled toy line was embraced by parents and children alike. The new four inch figures were welcomed for their affordability as well as their revitalizing flag waving spirit. For us kids the blitz of exciting commercials, colorful comics, alluring art, intriguing file cards and later the animated cartoon was plenty to keep us riveted to the new adventures of G.I. Joe.
In 1982, adds featuring Grunt leaping out of that trademark explosion were everywhere. I mean everywhere! Every kid that I knew had the new army men! Soon our school recesses were fevered debates about who had the most figures and who had the built the best team. To this day I can't tell you why I chose Breaker that day in the store but I can tell you that thirty five years later the bearded communications officer and his blond doppelganger with a machine gun and crossed bandoleers are what I consider the "coolest" Joes. My second addition was Short Fuse. Intuitively the mortar didn't seem like the right weapon for a commander but he looked like he should be the leader. I'd eventually find out how close to the mark I was. I embarked upon my third mission with a fist full of allowance dollars. This time I returned with a squad of Joes. With Rock 'N Roll, Flash, Snake Eyes, and Stalker I felt that I now had a respectable team! But who the hell was the leader?! I never had the Mobile Missile System and so I never had Hawk. It was a debate soon resolved when Toys R Us began carrying the three pack second printings of the titular comic. The random valueless reprints that I brought home are favorites in my collection. Those introductory issues explained everything that I needed to know about the new characters.
Marvel's run expanded the universe beyond the limitations of the small card back dossiers. The news print provided our heroes and villains a world to live in. In those pages I explored the Arashikage Ninja Clan in Japan, Cobra Island in the Mexican Gulf, Springfield in Middle America, Silent Castle in "Trans-Carpathia", the Florida Everglades, and The Pitt located right across the Verrazano. Fort Wadsworth?! GI Joe operated in my own back yard! The comics were great for strengthening character dynamics with a soap opera styled drama. In the 1980s G.I. Joe outsold any superhero title. I adore my vintage issues and keep the entire run in trade paperback.
Like Masters of the Universe I was entrenched in G.I. Joe long before the animated cells graced the screen. The exciting box illustrations and serious high stakes characters portrayed on the file cards will always be what the line is to me. For hours my brother and I would pour over the tiny paintings of new figures teased on the back of the cards. GI Joe wasn’t the first to include inserts but nothing enticed me like those little pack in catalogs that displayed the toys in natural dioramas. They are some my most treasured pieces of my vintage collection.
One day in 1983 I ran the ten city blocks home from school. My mom said there would be a cartoon. I sat in front up the old convex television with my Mobile Strike Force Team logo ironed on tee-shirt, Army Green belt with brass latched buckle, red white and blue wrist bands, matching head band, dog tags, whistle, and marksman pins. I held my membership card in my hands. Written in child’s penmanship I had filled in the name on the white card with a blue marker, "SnAke EyeS." The cartoon opened with a defining phrase and a song. I'll be singing that jingle on my death bed. The phrase became so ingrained in our culture that I can confidently assume anyone reading this already knows it. You’re singing the song now too arent’t you? So am I.
Years later the biannual mini series would go full time and recruit legions of new fans. This did not make me happy. Let me explain. The toy line that I had so lovingly collected for three years became overwhelmingly popular! Past items like the Hovercraft or Storm Shadow did sell out quickly and had haunted parents and children alike. Those were isolated instances. The new wave backed by a full time cartoon in 1985 was impossible to find altogether. New comers to the hobby would bring in fresh figures to school and show them off. This enraged me. I could not find a single figure! Happily that changed in time for my birthday and later Christmas. My disgust and temper cost me a trophy. With clenched jaw my ten year old self told my sympathetic dad that if I couldn’t find the figures that I didn’t want the damned aircraft carrier! I know, I know.
G.I. Joe had endeared itself to me more than any other toy line. The toys, the characters that they represented, the cartoon, the comics and the file cards hit on all points. I can recall countless adventures in the back yard or on the living room floor, many Christmas and birthdays of pent up anticipation for the new Joe items. The emotion was so strong that years later I would have these reoccurring dreams. Dreams replicating that rush of excitement that my young self would experience when I turned into that isle in Toys R Us and found freshly stocked pegs and shelves of new Joes. As adult collectors I know many of us pursue the hobby especially for that sensation. I can't express to you how disappointing it was to wake up and realize that it wasn't real. Until one day it was real.
Twenty five years later in 2007, I was in my local Toys R Us. The store of my childhood. I wasn't collecting then but would always venture down the action figure isles, for old times sake. That day something magical happened. As I turned into one of the isles I froze. My hands began shaking. Staring back at me was a 1982 GI Joe Stalker card with silver foil edging and a figure in the bubble. It wasn't the exact same toy but it was vintage styled Stalker. What the hell was this?! Was it real? The best part is, Stalker wasn't alone. I ran to grab a cart. But that's a story for another album.
The tireless dedication of Hasbro’s 1980's R&D team is legendary. If any of them should end up reading this, your work made lot a of children very happy. I know. I was there. I was one of them. Even today I still spend indefensible amounts of income trying to recapture that feeling. And I am only one of thousands who do. Thank you for the memories and the awesome childhood. These albums are dedicated to all of you. For any who have forgotten the decade defining phrase, YO JOE!
G.I. Joe 1983 Collection.
My 1983 G.I. Joe collection restored.
Original Image by Hasbro, 1983.
There was this card and candy shop on our main street. The owners attracted patrons with lottery tickets, cigarettes, greetings cards, and cheap gift boxes of holiday of the month candy. The old storefront was the final hope for those seeking last minuet gifts, party supplies, and seasonal novelties. Between the Ben Cooper Halloween costumes and model kits was an short aisle with toys. One day in 1982 a display case with eight or nine military figures snapped me to attention. The toys were free from their captive packaging and standing defiantly in action poses. These weren't the typical green cast plastic army men. The collection was fully painted, had a cache of removable gear, and more importantly were highly poseable! My mom must have noticed me fixed at the exhibition. She reminded me that I had one week's allowance coming.
I grew up in an exclusively blue collar neighborhood in Brooklyn. The quaint coastal hamlet is still an estuary of city workers and tradesmen. Like any working class stronghold, most proudly served their country. In the troubled times of the late sixties and early seventies none of the men in my community waited for draft notices. Most chose to earn their uniforms on Parris Island. All wanted to do their part and live up to the momentous reputation that their fathers stamped on the sands of Normandy and Iwo Jima only a generation before. Some never came home. Those who made it back found a country they barely recognized. The words, nationalism and patriotism desperately clung by a flag thread when the pendulum began to swing the other way. The nineteen eighties began a time of renewed pride for our wounded country.
When a reinvented but recognizable military toy brand with an established house hold name hit shelves in 1982, it was received by a nation still struggling to come to terms with it's recent past. The move was a big gamble on the part of Hasbro. War toys were far from the peak of popularity. Fortunately, the smaller scaled toy line was embraced by parents and children alike. The new four inch figures were welcomed for their affordability as well as their revitalizing flag waving spirit. For us kids the blitz of exciting commercials, colorful comics, alluring art, intriguing file cards and later the animated cartoon was plenty to keep us riveted to the new adventures of G.I. Joe.
In 1982, adds featuring Grunt leaping out of that trademark explosion were everywhere. I mean everywhere! Every kid that I knew had the new army men! Soon our school recesses were fevered debates about who had the most figures and who had the built the best team. To this day I can't tell you why I chose Breaker that day in the store but I can tell you that thirty five years later the bearded communications officer and his blond doppelganger with a machine gun and crossed bandoleers are what I consider the "coolest" Joes. My second addition was Short Fuse. Intuitively the mortar didn't seem like the right weapon for a commander but he looked like he should be the leader. I'd eventually find out how close to the mark I was. I embarked upon my third mission with a fist full of allowance dollars. This time I returned with a squad of Joes. With Rock 'N Roll, Flash, Snake Eyes, and Stalker I felt that I now had a respectable team! But who the hell was the leader?! I never had the Mobile Missile System and so I never had Hawk. It was a debate soon resolved when Toys R Us began carrying the three pack second printings of the titular comic. The random valueless reprints that I brought home are favorites in my collection. Those introductory issues explained everything that I needed to know about the new characters.
Marvel's run expanded the universe beyond the limitations of the small card back dossiers. The news print provided our heroes and villains a world to live in. In those pages I explored the Arashikage Ninja Clan in Japan, Cobra Island in the Mexican Gulf, Springfield in Middle America, Silent Castle in "Trans-Carpathia", the Florida Everglades, and The Pitt located right across the Verrazano. Fort Wadsworth?! GI Joe operated in my own back yard! The comics were great for strengthening character dynamics with a soap opera styled drama. In the 1980s G.I. Joe outsold any superhero title. I adore my vintage issues and keep the entire run in trade paperback.
Like Masters of the Universe I was entrenched in G.I. Joe long before the animated cells graced the screen. The exciting box illustrations and serious high stakes characters portrayed on the file cards will always be what the line is to me. For hours my brother and I would pour over the tiny paintings of new figures teased on the back of the cards. GI Joe wasn’t the first to include inserts but nothing enticed me like those little pack in catalogs that displayed the toys in natural dioramas. They are some my most treasured pieces of my vintage collection.
One day in 1983 I ran the ten city blocks home from school. My mom said there would be a cartoon. I sat in front up the old convex television with my Mobile Strike Force Team logo ironed on tee-shirt, Army Green belt with brass latched buckle, red white and blue wrist bands, matching head band, dog tags, whistle, and marksman pins. I held my membership card in my hands. Written in child’s penmanship I had filled in the name on the white card with a blue marker, "SnAke EyeS." The cartoon opened with a defining phrase and a song. I'll be singing that jingle on my death bed. The phrase became so ingrained in our culture that I can confidently assume anyone reading this already knows it. You’re singing the song now too arent’t you? So am I.
Years later the biannual mini series would go full time and recruit legions of new fans. This did not make me happy. Let me explain. The toy line that I had so lovingly collected for three years became overwhelmingly popular! Past items like the Hovercraft or Storm Shadow did sell out quickly and had haunted parents and children alike. Those were isolated instances. The new wave backed by a full time cartoon in 1985 was impossible to find altogether. New comers to the hobby would bring in fresh figures to school and show them off. This enraged me. I could not find a single figure! Happily that changed in time for my birthday and later Christmas. My disgust and temper cost me a trophy. With clenched jaw my ten year old self told my sympathetic dad that if I couldn’t find the figures that I didn’t want the damned aircraft carrier! I know, I know.
G.I. Joe had endeared itself to me more than any other toy line. The toys, the characters that they represented, the cartoon, the comics and the file cards hit on all points. I can recall countless adventures in the back yard or on the living room floor, many Christmas and birthdays of pent up anticipation for the new Joe items. The emotion was so strong that years later I would have these reoccurring dreams. Dreams replicating that rush of excitement that my young self would experience when I turned into that isle in Toys R Us and found freshly stocked pegs and shelves of new Joes. As adult collectors I know many of us pursue the hobby especially for that sensation. I can't express to you how disappointing it was to wake up and realize that it wasn't real. Until one day it was real.
Twenty five years later in 2007, I was in my local Toys R Us. The store of my childhood. I wasn't collecting then but would always venture down the action figure isles, for old times sake. That day something magical happened. As I turned into one of the isles I froze. My hands began shaking. Staring back at me was a 1982 GI Joe Stalker card with silver foil edging and a figure in the bubble. It wasn't the exact same toy but it was vintage styled Stalker. What the hell was this?! Was it real? The best part is, Stalker wasn't alone. I ran to grab a cart. But that's a story for another album.
The tireless dedication of Hasbro’s 1980's R&D team is legendary. If any of them should end up reading this, your work made lot a of children very happy. I know. I was there. I was one of them. Even today I still spend indefensible amounts of income trying to recapture that feeling. And I am only one of thousands who do. Thank you for the memories and the awesome childhood. These albums are dedicated to all of you. For any who have forgotten the decade defining phrase, YO JOE!