I was still collecting them till the 2nd movie nuked the franchise
Stuff before the end was really amazing.
Stuff before the end was really amazing.
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Did you collect G.I. Joe toys?
- Thread starter DeaconKnowledge
- Start date
I miss the awesome big toys and vehicle play sets like they used to make. When toy aisles were so full of a wide variety of figures, nothing is like that anymore:
Yep, it's because kids today get the bulk of their entertainment from YouTube.
Paramount screwed over Hasbro so hard over the the handling of the movie. The product was already on the way to stores when Paramount decided to delay the film for 9 months, so all this product ended up on shelves with no movie to go with it. Future waves held back, and retailers didn't want to carry the line when the movie actually released. So much of the line was dumped into liquidation retailers like 5 Below and Big Lots. Stores didn't want GI Joe anymore after being stuck with so much stock for a movie that didn't come out.
I still have all of mine in the basement and I'm almost 40. Tons of figures and vehicles.
I have a Refrigerator Perry figure still that I had to send UPC labels in to get in the mail. He had a mace shaped like a football. This was about 1985 when the Bears were huge in the NFL..
I still have all of these too, cut out and everything haha. I should snap some pics of all the weird Joe stuff I have, I had a ton of the futuretech stuff that came in the late 80s..
I have a Refrigerator Perry figure still that I had to send UPC labels in to get in the mail. He had a mace shaped like a football. This was about 1985 when the Bears were huge in the NFL..
I still have all of these too, cut out and everything haha. I should snap some pics of all the weird Joe stuff I have, I had a ton of the futuretech stuff that came in the late 80s..
If you were to reboot the GIJoe videogame using the same engine philosophy of War for Cybertron, what would be the most ideal roster of characters and vehicles in the line? Do you have the team consist of all the original members or do you have some of the later characters like Duke and Roadblock right out the gate?
And couldn't GIJoe benefit from the Netflix treatment, with more of an emphasis on the comic books?
And couldn't GIJoe benefit from the Netflix treatment, with more of an emphasis on the comic books?
Yes until G.I. Joe went to DiC. I hated those character designs even as a kid.
I actually have a number of the 2007 25th anniversary line which is the '80s characters with updated joints and designs. They're great.
I also thought some of the Sigma 6 toys were pretty cool.
I actually have a number of the 2007 25th anniversary line which is the '80s characters with updated joints and designs. They're great.
I also thought some of the Sigma 6 toys were pretty cool.
Yes! Plastic bag parachutes and all. The old TV series is on tubi.tv for free too, I was watching those recently when I found out.
I don't think any figures have survived though, and I don't think I had any vehicles.
M.A.S.K on the other hand, I'm sure I had some kind of bike or boat something at some point, and a playdough MASK creator thingie. This is all hard to remember.. something about a little robot guy with one wheel? Or is that something else?
I don't think any figures have survived though, and I don't think I had any vehicles.
M.A.S.K on the other hand, I'm sure I had some kind of bike or boat something at some point, and a playdough MASK creator thingie. This is all hard to remember.. something about a little robot guy with one wheel? Or is that something else?
How is the line sustaining itself now? Does Hasbro have any plans on reviving the series any time soon?
I grew up in Australia and England where GI Joe wasn't really a thing. We had Action Man who, by the way, is the Greatest Hero of Them All
Retaliation's delay pretty much killed GI Joe, there was some ToysRUs exclusive 50th Anniversary sets but that line died out a few years ago.
No plans to return at least until the next movie.
Its sad that others have had to step in to fill that void
these people were just selling custom weapons for GI Joes till it died now they have had huge success kickstarting multiple lines of figures.
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Comic books still run, while the new movie is coming in 2020. Also rumor of a Snake Eyes stand alone spin off film also. The last toys came out to retail in 2016, rest now is convention exclusive stuff till the new movie.
You need some of the later more recognizable characters. Much of the original 13 joes got pushed aside quickly and ignored in the cartoon.
To me me the perfect game for GI Joe would be an Overwatch style of game. Hundreds of characters with unique talents and gear. Coild have forced Cobra vs Joe sides with varied rosters for each.
I wouldn't say "collect", but my brother and I were heavy into G.I.Joe and Transformers from about 84 to 88. I was getting a bit too old to actually play with the toys by that point, but I still really liked the designs of some of the characters.
After I had finished high school and was more relaxed and comfortable in my maturity, I resumed buying a handful that always appealed to me.
Things have happened since, but if I had the disposable income, I'd totally track down a bunch of the figures from my youth and buy them again. I was always really into Cobra's crazy bunch of characters, like Zartan and the Dreadnoks, Dr. Mindbender, Serpentor, Destro, and Tomax/Xamot.
After I had finished high school and was more relaxed and comfortable in my maturity, I resumed buying a handful that always appealed to me.
Things have happened since, but if I had the disposable income, I'd totally track down a bunch of the figures from my youth and buy them again. I was always really into Cobra's crazy bunch of characters, like Zartan and the Dreadnoks, Dr. Mindbender, Serpentor, Destro, and Tomax/Xamot.
The best Christmas gift I maybe ever got was this HUGE GI Joe figure set, it must have had like 25 different guys, I remember getting it but I can't find anything online about it ever existing
I remember I had ones that had like talking backpacks, I'd get dirt in them and they'd break
Oh shit I found it, on Christmas in 1993 I got A and C (The image is too big, not gonna embed it):
https://i.imgur.com/yZk2GoH.jpg
I remember I had ones that had like talking backpacks, I'd get dirt in them and they'd break
Oh shit I found it, on Christmas in 1993 I got A and C (The image is too big, not gonna embed it):
https://i.imgur.com/yZk2GoH.jpg
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Could game design today do that? In licensed IP's, there's usually a cap number limit to what you can feature in a game.
I really enjoyed War/Fall of Cybertron. I imagine a talented team could craft a cool GIJoe campaign using the engine. But you can't use every character and vehicle from that toyline in a game.
Because all the original toys have been off the shelves for decades, everything would be new and fresh to the player. If you were a Kevin Feige or a Geoff Johns and were signing off the rights to which character and vehicle to show up in a game, what would be the obvious choice?
And...
What would you purposely keep on standby for potential sequels? The Batman Arkham series space out their villains but probably stipulated that the Joker be featured in the first game. Could a GIJoe game feature Hawk, General Flagg, and Stalker prominently with the idea of introducing characters like Duke, Roadblock, Zartan, Destro, Storm Shadow etc. in the sequel? Have much of the story campaign centered around the earlier, iconic characters like Wild Bill, Ace, and Gung Ho, and using some of the later but forgettable characters like Sci-Fi or Hardball as expendable NPC's.
On the vehicle front, the earliest vehicles are usually held in high regard by fans as opposed to the garish designs that would later come toward the end of its run. So, if the Skystriker (jet), Dragonfly (helicopter), Mobat (tank), and Vamp (humvee) were to serve as a rudimentary basis for GIjoe's vehicular roster, what would best represent Cobra in a game? Do you stick to the basics or do you mix it up with some of the more goofier shit?
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If it's complete and in mind condition you could make some serious coin with it on ebay.
yes! I loved world war 2 history when I was kid because of an older brother. Loved acting out battles and stuff lol!
The Flagg went for $100 back in the day. What did the Defiant sell for when it was released? I remember that the Eternia playset sold for $200 back in 1986. You could actually buy an NES for half that price. Even as a kid back then, I knew where my priorities were.
Oh, I know it. Obviously I don't know what condition the shuttle is inside the box. I can say the box itself is in C7 condition and the shipping sleeve around the box is C4.
However, I don't plan on selling it anytime soon. I bought for $250 back in the early 90s. I would like to sell it to a serious toy collector eventually though.
What did you think about the G1 late in its run? They were really scrapping the bottom of the barrel with Sparkbots and Pretenders. I don't follow Transformers that much, but how far into the G1 lifespan have been given the Masterpiece treatment by third party manufacturers? You never see an updated Pretender, do you.
You could probably get serious buyers even if the box was less than perfect but otherwise complete. Honestly, a lot of the playsets look like crap compared to the insane diorama sets that serious collectors create today. You see that with Star Wars collectors, it wouldn't surprise me you have that with some GIJoe collectors as well.
I was born in 86 so by the time I got to the age of caring about toys TMNT was the thing. I did receive some of my cousin's old hand me down G.I. Joe along with the Terror Drome which was fucking awesome.
Lol at the pretenders. I was born in 83 so I must have been 6 or so when those came out. I actually had one and didn't remember what the name of the line was. I don't recall hating them when they were new, but looking back, yes they look pretty lame compared to the earlier runs.
As for the masterpieces, when those started coming out (mid 2000s) I was either late in college or just out. Didn't have enough to buy stuff like that and I never really kept track of them after Optimus was released so I can't comment much on them.
On a related note, I'm excited as fuck for the next four episodes of The Toys that Made Us, especially for the Transformers episode. Pretty sure they're coming out Friday.
Yeah I had some:
Collected Ghostbusters, then GI Joe, then TMNT. Then it was fun to get the best figures out of some sets, like an Alien, a raptor from JP, etc. Fun stuff to mesh with the Joes.
I had about 20 GI Joes and 3 of the cheapish vehicles. I had this one jeep thing that was pretty good.
Collected Ghostbusters, then GI Joe, then TMNT. Then it was fun to get the best figures out of some sets, like an Alien, a raptor from JP, etc. Fun stuff to mesh with the Joes.
I had about 20 GI Joes and 3 of the cheapish vehicles. I had this one jeep thing that was pretty good.
One thing I forgot to mention is I really dislike modern G.I Joe figures from a functional toy perspective. They are too light and stiff and don't shift in the hand with enough weight like they used too. I was never one of those that liked to pose my toys much, it's was all full contact kicks and flips (and a lot of dialog!). That used to be a feature of the knock offs that were expendable (and flammable...)
I'm impressed with what the Masterpiece lines have done with the old characters. You can buy classic transformers that were based on the budget line of figures like Bumblebee and Powerglide, but upscaled to a size on par with the standard line of Diaclone/Transformer figures from the 1980's. If I were a transformers collector, it would be an embarrassment of riches for me. Only they look so fragile that they look like they could break if you breath on them the wrong way. Even if I could afford to invest in those lines, I'd be too intimidated to commit myself to collecting them as a hobby.
That being said, I've never been too impressed with the Hasbro line to be perfectly honest, but they're way out of their league when compared to these third party outputs. The only thing that Hasbro has above them seem to be the licensing rights to the names. That seems to be a pretty fair tradeoff, costs nonwithstanding, when you can buy Transformers that are spot on to their cartoon counterparts.
Since you bring up the Toys That Made Us, I think it's worth pointing out that TF G1 had the absolute worst box art for the toys they were showcasing. When you think about the box art for GIJoe or Masters of the Universe, you could imagine the potential for a rebooted cartoon series that based their animation and art design around the art on the toy packaging. You'd never want to see TF package art used in future TF animated shows.
I loved G.I.Joe Action Force! I devoured the comics and the figures were my favourite toys at the time. I had a handful of them and a quite a few vehicles too.
I lived in a small town so I couldn't just get any of them I wanted, I just picked from what was available at the time when I'd get a new toy.
My most priced possession was Storm Shadow I got when visiting Sweden. I don't think anyone in my home town had him (there was quite the Action Force scene going on) and I must have made some kids jealous. I lost the figure and I remember I kept looking everywhere for months before giving up in the end.
I talked about this with a friend as an adult and he said "Dude, you don't remember? Those older kids bullied you and took it from you!"
My mind had completely blocked out that memory. Ouch.
I lived in a small town so I couldn't just get any of them I wanted, I just picked from what was available at the time when I'd get a new toy.
My most priced possession was Storm Shadow I got when visiting Sweden. I don't think anyone in my home town had him (there was quite the Action Force scene going on) and I must have made some kids jealous. I lost the figure and I remember I kept looking everywhere for months before giving up in the end.
I talked about this with a friend as an adult and he said "Dude, you don't remember? Those older kids bullied you and took it from you!"
My mind had completely blocked out that memory. Ouch.
The action figures were the best. And if they became loose or that rubber washer that held their legs and torso came apart, they were easy to fix. Only problem was sometimes the thumbs would snap off :(
I miss the awesome big toys and vehicle play sets like they used to make. When toy aisles were so full of a wide variety of figures, nothing is like that anymore:
Every time I go to Tokyo I am a bit regretful I am not into toys any more. Literally every single toy store looks like this. And a lot of places stock the classic GI Joe figures.
I wish. I still love the Hammer Head and The Sharc
Holy shit! This was probably the only reason I took baths as a kid.
Hasbro has actually made some nice updates of most of those budget Transformers for $9.99 in the past couple years.
They're much bigger than the originals, but nothing crazy.
I actually remember the big 12" GI Joe line as well, though just barely. It must have been the Adventure Team line of toys from the early to mid 70's.
I know I had at least one figure and one of these:
I know I had at least one figure and one of these:
Ha, same. Had like 2 cases of He-Man figures, had Castle Greyskull and Snake Mountain. Didn't have too many Transformers, but I had a small collection.
Just wasn't really interested in GI Joe for whatever reason, couldn't really say why.
Unopened is a gamble but people pay insane money for those. Defiants to some are even more rare than the FLAGG, and many have parts like the wheels on the crawler that broke, so new in the box is a grail. Seen folks ask close to $7,000 for the Defiant NIB.
There is lot of big vehicles where the joint by the wheel really couldn't handle the weight and with time the plastic becomes brittle and often breaks, so many of these large vehicles are hard to get in good condition still.
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Toy departments don't look a thing like that any more. Its sad.I miss the awesome big toys and vehicle play sets like they used to make. When toy aisles were so full of a wide variety of figures, nothing is like that anymore: