GI Joe Collectors?

[rche]

Somebody's been keeping an eye on what the GI Joe Club has been up to...

Aw yeah. Officer rche here. Looking forward to that AA commander.

[Nostalgiabuff]

I had an older brother so inherited his Joes and I was right there for the AT adventures in the mid to late seventies. I did collect the RAH when I was a kid in the early eighties but it was all there was for Joe by then. As an adult I couldn't care less about RAH. I do have a bunch of repro Joes, both military and AT. I also have a bunch of vintage vehicles, including the space capsule, Sea Wolf and the mummy buggy.

[jds1911a1]

I've seen both: some adopt an "Us against Them" attitude while others are open to anything GI Joe.



There can be movement between the various scales but most stay with what they originally had. There are a few younger collectors who've gone over to Playscale. I think these latest 12" releases from HotToys is pandering to them. I started out collecting 12" Painted Hair and the move to AT came naturally. I don't make a distinction between Painted Hair and Fuzz Heads, they're all vintage in my eyes.


I haven't met any 3 3/4 scale Action Man collectors.

There are a few like me who actually like the early Pailtoy's

[jds1911a1]

Any thoughts around the appeal of a generic "Barbie" type guy referred to as "GI Joe" in all his 12" multiple hair colors/military branches/skin tones incarnation, versus specific characters and personalities like Snake Eyes and Duke that were created for the Real American Hero line?

What about the Comic Book/Animated Series aspect that informed so much of 80's toy consumerism?

My brother has invited me to go with him to a GI Joe convention and I'm really not sure what to expect, but we had an interesting chat about the generational aspects of 12" versus 3 3/4" and the dynamics around that kind of interaction intrigues me.

Theoretically, you could have three generations of a family converging on something like this... the grandfather who played with 12" military Joe, his son in his late twenties/early thirties who grew up with RAH, and the grandson (under 10) who is excited about this new live action movie.

SImply put if that Generic barbie like joe had failed this board would not have an action figure focus if it was here at all. 12" joe allwed the kids to act out the war movies and shows they loved in a new way. I am a huge rah fan but I would argue that the success of SW in the 70's took imagination out of play. after that all figures needed a back story no one just made something up new (like big joes or even adventure people). The military authenticity when it was OK to like the military is what made Joe work. and many of those RAH unique bios were pretty bad.
The Joecon is really fun but I am a joe fan so I am biased

[4NDR01D]

I collect the RAH line and 70's Superjoe's.
I picked up 7 carded '82 Joe's for my b-day last Dec.(I have everybody but S.E.'s,Scarlett and the cobra's) and I have a carded Storm Shadow.
I also have about 30-50 loose figures sans weapons.
I'd love to get 1 boxed 60's/70's joe. But I've mostly been consumed with monsters, aliens and space toys for last several years.

[Neutron X]

There are over 50 Adventurers of Gijoe the commercial would say. Then they would introduce an adventure and say you decide what happens next at the end.. This concept left a lot of room for kids to play. I know I remember many of the strories I made up as kid with Gijoe and the games we played.
So the AT stuff was it for me. I remember begging for the 1969 Painted head joe with white T-shirt and tan cap for months. I was finally able to buy a GIJoe for my birthday in 1970 and was amazed by the flocked hair Sea Adventurer all the painted heads were sold out. The hippie Joes as parents called them were the best to me.

[JoeCanuck]

I was born in 1973 and thus, grew up on discounted Megos and the 3 3/4" G.I. Joe line..... well, those and of course Star Wars.


Nowadays, I'm done my Joe collection (kinda), finished my SW collection and still (slowly) working on my Mego one... what can I say, I'm fussy and cheap! lol

[ctc]

>Anyone here collect GI Joes?

I've been resisting the urge mightily.... although I HAD to get a first edition Grunt. He's my fave.

I was kind of young for the 12" ones. The authentic military figures were before my time; although I had a few, mostly from yard sales. I remember the fuzzy head Action Team ones, and had a few but for some reason wasn't a fan. (Although I DESPERATELY wanted that mobile rappel tower!) I think I was kinda young; and when I really got into action figures the 8" Mego style was the thing. I liked the 8" figures better 'cos it was easier to find places to play with them.

GI Joe RAH was the last toy line I ever really played with, and like many I have fond memories. I can remember me and my friend Les getting a few and being confused about what noise the guns should make, since we'd been playing Star Wars for so long. I started losing interest around the "Nemesis Enforcer" era; but kept a few figures, since I never really lost interest altogether in action figures.

Now that I make so many custom figures It's been a goal to make all the GI Joe guys. Including a set of 8" Action Team figures (AND rappel tower) and maybe some authentic military guys. (Although those will pretty much just be 8" army guys.)

For some strange reason work on the "Cobra nekkid patrol" keeps hitting snags. I SHOULD have finished them months ago....

Don C.

[samurainoir]

I was born in 1973 and thus, grew up on discounted Megos and the 3 3/4" G.I. Joe line..... well, those and of course Star Wars.


Nowadays, I'm done my Joe collection (kinda), finished my SW collection and still (slowly) working on my Mego one... what can I say, I'm fussy and cheap! lol

I guess you're the guy I should ask about the Hamilton convention!

Is the focus here mostly the 3 3/4" RAH or will there be some programming/dealers for the 12" lines as well?

Are the dealers here GI Joe only, or is there any chance a mego-head like me might find some cool seventies superhero/scifi stuff? I'm probably the odd man out since I gravitate towards the Bulletman and SuperJoe eras of GI Joe.

[samurainoir]

Here is something to think about... I would imagine the reaction of the Military 12" GI Joe fans to the Adventure Team era was probably akin to the way some of the 3 3/4" RAH fans react to the GI Joe movie, which introduced Serpentor, Cobra-La and other Sci-Fi/Fantasy elements into the world of Joe as Hasbro attempted to extend the franchise.

Is GI Joe best as a Military themed toy, no matter what the size? Or are the extensions to Archeological Adventurer/Jungle Explorer, Martial Arts Ninja clans, Superhero, Aliens/Scifi, Creatures/Monsters, etc etc okay too?

[ctc]

>Is GI Joe best as a Military themed toy, no matter what the size? Or are the extensions to Archeological Adventurer/Jungle Explorer, Martial Arts Ninja clans, Superhero, Aliens/Scifi, Creatures/Monsters, etc etc okay too?

Hmmmm.... personally I like them all. My only problem with the ninjas was that at the time EVERYTHING had ninjas in it, and they sort of took over the line. Even the comic became "Snake Eyes, and GI Joe." PLUS the ninjas all wore dayglo pastel colours. WHERE were these guys gonna hide? "GI Joe is having a rave! Send in the ninjas!"

Don C.

[Bionic Joe]

I fall into the group who grew up with the adventure team Joes so they are the ones i want to one day get, When RAH hit the air and toy shelves i was in my teens so i really have no attachment to them but i don't hate em i loved the cartoon and wouldn't mind getting ahold of a MIB ZARTAN and swamp bike or what ever it was, It always reminded me of the speeder bikes from Jedi but for me give me the fuzzy head 12 inch Joes with kung-fu grip

[jds1911a1]

Here is something to think about... I would imagine the reaction of the Military 12" GI Joe fans to the Adventure Team era was probably akin to the way some of the 3 3/4" RAH fans react to the GI Joe movie, which introduced Serpentor, Cobra-La and other Sci-Fi/Fantasy elements into the world of Joe as Hasbro attempted to extend the franchise.

Is GI Joe best as a Military themed toy, no matter what the size? Or are the extensions to Archeological Adventurer/Jungle Explorer, Martial Arts Ninja clans, Superhero, Aliens/Scifi, Creatures/Monsters, etc etc okay too?

At the time of the original change not so much. Remember that the change was driven by real world events (the Vietnam war's tet offensive for one) The war was ugly and war shows quickly lost favor. When the war shows and movies stopped so did hasbro's primary marketing. the switch to adventureism was still allowed kids to imagine new exciting things (like hunting tigers when that was still an ok desire or digging for treasure)

in the 80's there was a faction split in the 12" joe collectors between Painted head (military and 69's), Adventure team (there were tons of store and warehouse finds in the 80's so MIB examples were pretty cheap), and action man (along with other foreigns were REALLY cheap). as the collector interest in the RAH grew the factions came together (I think the fact that there stopped being so many store finds of AT stuff helped) but Action Man collectors were still segreagted for a long time.

[Joe90]

in the 80's there was a faction split in the 12" joe collectors between Painted head (military and 69's), Adventure team (there were tons of store and warehouse finds in the 80's so MIB examples were pretty cheap), and action man (along with other foreigns were REALLY cheap). as the collector interest in the RAH grew the factions came together (I think the fact that there stopped being so many store finds of AT stuff helped) but Action Man collectors were still segreagted for a long time.

I think that the number of GI Joe collectors who were actively collecting in the 1980's is a very small percentage of today's total. The Genesis of GI Joe -- The Hobby, is usually attributed to George Geary's article in Spinning Wheel Magazine in 1983. The events you write about were more the 1990's and it wasn't so much as a faction split as 2 separate incarnations of GI Joe that eventually came together. But yes, there were lots of great "Warehouse Finds"... A lot of these were people selling stuff they had pulled out of dumpsters from the Hasbro factory.

[Neutron X]

Dumpster Diving for GIJoes, I never heard that story but sounds plausible.