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Unfortunately we recently lost Dick Gautier, the voice of Serpentor. I took this aerial shot of my childhood figure in his honor.
An Indiana Jones-inspired custom Recondo. The legs are from Freefall and arms are from Tunnel Rat.
This custom aims to combine the feeling of the '70s Adventure Team Joes with the '80s military-themed ARAH soldiers.
A little while back I posted a pic of Gnawgahyde in the snow. Some of my Instagram followers suggested giving him a winter look, so I opted for a jacket provided by Tiger Force Frostbite.
This shot was a horrible pain due to icy and windy conditions. Getting that horse to stand up was intense. I'm not 100% happy with it, but I hope it captures the vibe I was going for.
A little setup showing Cobra's forest activity. Perhaps there's a vast network of tunnels, for some sinister purpose.
I got sick of using the same troop builders, so I cracked out my Crimson Vipers and also some female troopers by Black Major.
A few of my own customs are in there too.
Outback is definitely a favorite figure of mine. I've seen collectors complain about the white shirt, but I think the very basic look of it suits this Chuck Norris- inspired character.
The camo trooper is a Black Major custom.
General Hawk can't help but stare. The new Battle Force Aegis Heavy Power Armor strikes a formidable profile. Dodger chuckles from behind the wheel. "That's how I first felt," he says to Hawk. "You get used to it."
An evening shot, I finally got to use the little spotlights I bought about 4 years ago. As an experimental weapons group, I feel like Battle Force 2000 never got the respect they deserved, probably since most of their vehicles were garbage, but their concept is sound. Sadly, they got killed off too early in the comics. This ain't the comics.
My custom version of Muskrat makes an interesting discovery. There was Cobra activity in this marshland at some point.
The torso of the figure is actually a Big Boa torso with the harness filed off. I'm not exactly a master sculptor but I tried to give it the right general shape and then painted over it.
I decided to roll some of the Time Machine figures into my GI Joe in the Lost World concept. Here, Sci-Fi and Ripcord discover a race of primitive humanoids deep in an unexplored forest.
Sentinel hits the streets on his specially modified bike. He's got high tech armor and a serious problem with criminals that are breathing.
This custom uses parts from Payload, it was partly inspired by scarrviper's Bandito custom (which I believe was in turn inspired by the Street Hawk GI Joe figure).
I originally intended it as a new character, like a special agent attached to the DEF. I also think it might be cool as a vigilante type, like one of the Joes secretly going rogue and no one can figure out which one.
Airtight goes inside a Cobra chemical plant to find the aftermath of a terrible accident, the apparent leakage of the highly hazardous compound-Z!
Fifteen days and 16 nights on the road. The joe's will soon be at there destination and this convoy would have secured the most deadliest weapon in the world. Just five more jungle days and nights and three desert days and the joe's will be home free.
My childhood Hit & Run.
Loved this figure pretty much from the first second I had him. Also loved the accessories.
No matter how many times they re-released that gun, I thought of it as "his."
The 1987 Cobras are a real bunch of misfits!
As a kid, I thought they were really scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas with this bunch of guys!
I mean, look at them! You've got a pirate, a fortune teller, a boxer, a falconer (!?) and a guy who is a crocodile handler! It's like the Village People exploded and a new universe of Village People formed in the vacuum to replace them.
Then there is the battle armored Cobra Commander, which has always seemed a little too much like a Darth Vader knock off to me (due to the shape of his helmet), although the idea of the enemy leader wearing state of the art armor makes perfect sense to me. I must say I was suprised to see a new Cobra Commander figure a year after he was deposed as Cobra leader and the same year he was (hilariously) turned into a snake in the cartoon (" I wassss once a man... a maaaaaan!").
Of these characters, the only ones I thought didn't totally suck as a kid was Zanzibar, but that is because he has a cool name (it's an island off the coast of Africa if you didn't know) and is a Dreadnok, upholding their proud 'nok tradition of wearing belly shirts - REPRESENT!
I liked the idea of Big Boa, it makes sense that Cobra would have some sort of a drill sergeant type responsible for whipping recruits into shape, but I thought the name was a little silly, and I didn't like his design (what is with that helmet?). Ditto for Croc Master, I thought he kinda looked cool, but did we really need an action figure of the dude who stocks Cobra Island with pits of crocs? I thought he was the GI Joe equivalent of the Rancor Keeeper figure, nice to have, but hardly very necessary or interesting.
Then there is Crystal Ball and Raptor.
Don't know which one I hated more as a kid. Probably Raptor, because he seems so silly. A falconer may've almost made sense in the middle ages when it was a popular sport amongst knights, but nowadays - no, sorry completely silly. Especially since Cobra has a serpentine theme going on and birds of prey are natural predators of snakes so this seems an odd choice for a Cobra character. Even in the comics he was often mocked by other characters. His backstory actually did make him seem sort of plausible, his real specialty was shifty accounting if I recall correctly! He actually is a pretty cool looking figure, especially for the era he came out in. I do find it odd that this year the Cobras got a falconer, and the Joes got a guy named "Falcon". Somebody clearly had falcons on the brain! Raptor is an awesome name for a character, by the way. Rarely has such an awesome name been given to such an undeserving character!
Crystal Ball is another oddball. His filecard mentions him using hypnosis to interrogate prisoners, but Dr. Mindbender who came out just the year prior was listed as being Cobra's chief interrogator, so this seemed like a weird overlap - why did they need 2 interrogators? The whole angle with having psychic powers also seemed too fantasy based for my liking. One of the persistent legends about this character that I have always wondered if has ever been confirmed is that he was created by Stephen King, or maybe it was his son? It might not be as kooky as it sounds. I read a book about King in the 80's that said he was a GI Joe fan and had a few figures posed around his word processor. He has also made a few scattered references to specific GI Joe characters or obvious anaologues of them in a few of his novels. We also know he has a fascination with characters with psi powers (Carrie, the Shining, Firestarter, the Dead Zone, yadda yadda). Is it any coincidence that Crystal Ball's card artwork looks just like a young Vincent Price? Anyhoo, C.B. was such a goofy character that Larry Hama wouldn't touch him with a 10-foot pole. His sole appearance in the classic Marvel comics comes in an issue of Special Missions not written by Hama. I must say though that the character has actually been used to very good and suprisingly spooky and effective use in the more recent comic book series by both Devil's Due and IDW.
The TechnoViper is a sharp looking figure with a great miltiary specialty. I wish I had 10 of them! As a kid though, I think the purple in their uniforms turned me off, but it seems positively subdued compared to what we were to get in the 90's, and as an adult troubles me not in the least.
As much as I hated most of the '87 Cobras, I love them now as can be evidenced by the fact that I basically own all of them except for a few of the vehicle drivers from this year and of course, Cobra-La. In my doddering old age of 39 I can finally appreciate these guys for their campy coolness.
But what is up with those airhoses? Cobra Commander, Big Boa, and Croc Master (mine is sadly missing) all have prominent air hoses as part of their masks! it makes sense for CC, whose costume is supposed to enable him to breath in harsh environments, and Croc Master , who spends a lot of time in the water - but why Big Boa - so his visor doesn't fog up?
Also notice how much more buff and ripped the guys are this year, even the dorky accountant who likes to dress up like Big Bird has a six pack that would make Ahnold green with envy!
1987 was truly the pinnacle of Cobra weirdness
This is my arctic Storm Shadow custom, a simple one where I switched the arms with Ryu.
The mountains were added in from a free stock photo, because it's a cooler backdrop than my neighbor's house.
Sniper Recondo takes the point as a Joe squad keeps it moving. The figure is my childhood Recondo with a camo retouch.
Duke and Pathfinder are also customs. There's a couple of dead Cobra Troopers too, a bit hard to spot, and they're head swaps with Ripcord.
The ice terrain was fun to do. With thanks from some of the many others that have pioneered the SNOTed landscape. Such a versatile technique for easy setups.
I felt like making a Backblast custom that was a little more "standard," like not with a notepad on the leg and maybe more like a soldier.
This one uses the legs from Thunder and torso from Footloose.
Custom painted Monster Blaster APC. I call it the Night Monster. I've had this vehicle since it first came out, but I wasn't thrilled with the colors. A couple of years back I spray painted it black and gray, then decided to try again in the more usual Night Force colors.
Hopefully the Chuckles story will return this weekend..maybe. In the meantime enjoy this leftover shot.
One of my favorite Joe vehicles, the Snow Cat does suffer from the lack of good passenger room. But I found a way for my custom Tunnel Rat to hitch a ride.
This is a good example of how a simple picture sometimes isn't enough for me, so I messed with it for a vintage look.
Chuckles and some Shockwave figures. One is my childhood figure, the rest were nicely priced used finds.
The coat came from a Reaction figure, I thought it looked pretty good for an undercover Joe. I've also used it for my General Flagg figure.
Decided to do another pic with the Water Moccasin.
I like using the Python Patrol figures as swamp or jungle troopers, so this seemed like a pretty good fit.
A custom Night Force Blowtorch I made a while back.
Hopefully creepy enough for Halloween night, reminds me a little of the suited soldiers in Stranger Things.
I still have some winter shots left. In this one I tried to pose my arctic Storm Shadow custom to give a sense of tension.
A custom Dreadnok driver using the head from Ambush and torso from Snake Eyes v3. I call him "Motorhead."
The vehicle in the back is a custom painted Desert Scorpion that's meant to match the Thunder Machine.
I only recently realized Lady Jaye is a good match for the RAM.
I'm not too big a fan of this figure, and never have been. I like the character in the cartoon and comics, but never felt like this figure was a good portrayal.
Cobra urban troops and Gristle's Headhunters engage in a little deal on the side... but there's an unexpected visitor. The urban camo figures are Black Major customs, but I did swap out the arms on the CG. Gristle is a custom that I much prefer to the original, and the car is an eighteenth scale diecast I often use in these types of scenes. The bronze color and '70s muscle look seems appropriately gritty.
Cobra's Python Patrol are secretly working in a isolated medieval castle. There, two will unknowingly meet their fates as Snake Eyes enters.
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!
This custom is intended as a replacement for the standard Gristle, which I don't like due to the colors. I wanted something to match the Headhunters but still keep some feeling from the original figure, hence the Snake Eyes torso with the knives on the chest. The Headhunters are figures I bought myself in 1994 when I was no longer still playing with Joes, so they're in very good shape.