Hi folks.

Just as I did last year, for Star Wars, I'm updating photo archive of my G.I Joe figure collection..
These are the single good guy carded figures released in 85:

Hostile Environment
Code Name: Airtight


Mountain Trooper
Code Name: Alpine


Firefighter
Code Name: Barbecue


Missile Specialist
Code Name: Bazooka


Desert Trooper
Code Name: Dusty


Warrant Officer
Code Name: Flint


Infantry
Code Name: Footloose


Covert Opperations:
Code Name: Lady Jaye


Silent Weapons
Code Name: Quick Kick


Sailor
Code Name: Shipwreck


Commando
Code Name: Snake Eyes


Don't worry guys, my collection of Joe's is nowhere near as big as my Star Wars (or Action Force).. I just cherry pick the toys I like from this line.. so if these aren't your cup of tea I wont bore you for long

But seriously, the range is a major milestone in action figure history & I think Hasbro were at the top of their game in 85.

T'shot

Your making me miss my gi Joe collection. I had most from the 80s up to around 95ish. Mine were for sure not as nice as yours, most ended up with broken thumbs and broken crotches as and even had some with almost no paint left on them. They had been played with so much. I traded them all away in the mod to late 90s and really regret it now days. Not that they were or are worth much in the condition they were in but man I loved playing with those figures. I collect star wars out of love of the movie but I only had a few figures growing up. Gi Joe's I had almost all of but since trading them off I have never looked back and tried to recollect them, they just wouldn't be the same.

Go on, treat yourself

Yeah, I understand where you're coming from.. I'm the reverse, in that, I grew up with Star Wars toys & didn't take much interest in Action Force/G.I.Joe until a decade or so ago.

Cool figures, cool photos, and they come with really cool accesssories too. I never had any GI Joe but can see the appeal. Having that extra articulation compared to SW figures gives them more poses and makes them sit in vehicles better I guess.

ugh........... I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe,

DarthBerizing wrote:

ugh........... I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe,

Right. I think if I collect one more toy line i might end up single.

I never got into GI Joe,
Having said that I have got a few Action Force MOC's ,that became GI Joe over here in the UK but its a line that I don't buy very often

Artoo_Detour wrote:

Cool figures, cool photos, and they come with really cool accesssories too. I never had any GI Joe but can see the appeal. Having that extra articulation compared to SW figures gives them more poses and makes them sit in vehicles better I guess.

Couldn't agree more.

Darth_Berizing wrote:

ugh........... I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe,

I dont need GI Joe, lol!

On second thought, yes.. I guess I could agree more!

DarthBerizing wrote:

ugh........... I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe, I dont need GI Joe,

Yeah, you're correct... collecting Cobra's much more fun:

The 1985 baddies...

Cobra Elite Trooper
Code Name: Crimson Guard


Cobra Frogman
Code Name: Eels


Cobra Polar Assault:
Code Name: Snow Serpent


Cobra Communications:
Code Name: Tele-Vipers


Crimson Guard Commanders
Tomax & Xamot


Dreadnok
Code Name: Buzzer


Drednok
Code Name: Ripper


Dreadnok
Code name: Torch

Onto 1986..

The G.I.Joe team

Ranger
Code name: Beach Head


Communications
Code Name: Dial-Tone


G.I.Joe Commander
Code Name: Hawk


Snow Trooper
Code Name: Iceberg


Marine
Code Name: Leatherneck


Rescue Trooper
Code Name: Life Line


Night Spotter
Code Name: Low-Light


Computer Specialist
Code Name: Mainframe


Heavy Machine Gunner
Code Name: Road Block


Laser Trooper
Code name: Sci-Fi


S.E.A.L.
Code Name: Wet-suit

The bad guys..

Cobra B.A.T.
(Battle Android Trooper)


Cobra Infantry
Code Name: Viper


Dreadnok:
Monkeywrench


Zandar


Zarana:


Both of Zartan's siblings share his sun light activated colour changing skin feature, mind, it doesn't work quite as well as it did 31 years ago:




Zartan's colour change abilities activate after only 30 seconds exposure to sunlight.. vintage Stormtroopers take 30+ years

Man you keep making me miss my collection. I had all of these. Funny the color change ability makes them gray, I recall it being dark blue or something but might be my memory playing tricks. I loved zartan also as he came with this wierd face mask to change to someone else but his skin changed dark and the mask was leach I never quite figured that out, but thought it was awesome anyway.

Zartan's such a cool figure, loads of play value for a small set.

Here's mine outdoors the rare occasion it wasn't in the display cabinet:

1986: William "Refrigerator" Perry


Being British, other than he's an American Football player, I know nothing about "The Fridge" & what his connection to G.I.Joe was... or even how this mail away figure ended up for sale (in a box of random action figures) at a carboot sale here in the U.K. :scratch:

Nice, the fridge. He played for the Chicago bears when this figure was made I think. Always liked this figure and Sgt slaughter, which was a wrestler, as both of those were "real" people so made their figures special. I think there are variants of the fridge figure with the wristbands painted differently or the belt buckle painted different or something. It was a small thing but I remember it was considered to be a variant.

Cheers for the info Bryan,

I'm midway thru restoring a Joe figure, which I picked up at the weekend, just in need of a good clean & a new O-ring..



We tend to forget how even these basic figures involved some pretty sophisticated engineering to produce & manufacture.

This figure design made swapping legs, arms, heads all really easy. Though I don't actively collect Joe's, I can tell you be careful on getting an o ring for them. I have read threads where if the o ring you replace with is to small it causes the legs to put stress on the waist. Since the ring is new and the leg anchor is metal I have heard stories where the tightness has caused the waist to fracture.

Hi, thanks for the info.

I think G.I.Joe must of kicked off a lot of custom creators careers

Also, I've noticed Joe collectors are much more relaxed about swapping around figure components & replacing parts than Star Wars collectors are... that's down to the multi-part construction I guess.

It's common place to replace the O-rings and, as long as the parts used are correct & authentic, the replacement or upgrading of individual broken/paint worn figure parts (to produce a better example) isn't frowned upon, in that respect it's more like restoration of the larger Star Wars vehicles.

I'd have to think twice about playing in the garden with vintage Star Wars.. I've no such problems with G.I.Joe

In the early 90's Hasbro released G.I.Joe onto the Chinese market, re-issuing many of the classic characters long unavailable elsewhere in the world. Until fairly recently many of these figures were easily available &, due to being manufactured of slightly inferior materials, of lower interest/value to collectors.

I had seen some of those China stormshadows selling for a song in the past. Never really tried to get one but there was a company from India called funskool that released gi Joe's also and I have a want to buy for the funskool superhero. A gi Joe Superman lookalike. They also had a line called supercop by funskool that was all gijoe repainted vehicles and the cop figure was Sgt slaughter repainted in blue and white looking like a Mounty/police officer combination.

Those funskool toys do look funky.


I dream of adding Funskools, R.A.M. cycle/Snake-eyes repaint, version of televisions Street Hawk motorcycle to my collection.

We got a Z-Force version of the R.A.M., here in Europe, that included a repainted Scarlett figure:


The character's code name was "Quarrel".. another term for a crossbow bolt.

And now it's back to G.I.Joe... 1987

Chuckles:


Crazylegs


Croc Master:


Fast Draw:


Gung-Ho:


Jinx:


Law & Order:


Falcon:


Outback:


Psyche-Out:


Raptor:


Tunnel Rat:


Steel Brigade (Mail-away exclusive figure):



This is the year (1987) where I begin to lose interest in collecting G.I.Joe as the line, especially Cobra, starts to get too science fiction/cartoon like for my tastes....  from now onward's I cherry pick only the figures I really like.

Psyche-Out & Raptor must of came in a job-lot, as their not ones I'd of normally chosen.  
Croc Master verges on the ridicules yet, from a technical perspective, it's such a well sculpted & nicely detailed figure.