Interview with SnowSerpant11 from Hisstank.com

1) Greetings. Can I ask your name, for formality reasons and where you are from? Yes of course! My name is Christian Nowzari; I was born in Iran, moved to France after the revolution and have been living in Canada since my early teenage-hood.

2) What is your best life moment with G. I. Joe? I have had many wonderful GI Joe moments in my life: playing with them, watching the cartoons, trading with friends. Now, its really about making new friends and sharing our passion!

3) What do you do for a living and what do you like to collect? I am a Test Coordinator for one of the major Canadian banks in Toronto. Basically, we test the codes deployed on our phone systems (IVR) and agent desktops. It’s actually quite an exciting career field of work! Coming from a military background, I have always been fascinated by history and the military. As a child, I always played with some sort of military figures (12 inch GI Joe, Playmobil, Star Wars, batteries from old toys I would file in ranks, model figures I would paint) but the GI Joe line is the only one I ever collected!

4) What G. I. Joe in your collection do you love the most and why? I have many characters I like but if I were to name jut one, I would say Serpentor/General Rey for being good and frontline leadership. Flint would fall in the second place for the same reason and Firefly for just being a badass and cool!

5) Name the one G. I. Joe in your collection that you would consider the rarest and tell us a little about it. I am not one to care about the rarity of a figure but the cancelled Blue Resolute Baroness which I have “improved” is one that could fall into that category.

6) What is your favorite part about this hobby and least favorite? Haha! I think for those of us who customize, that is the aspect which we enjoy the most and find most exhausting at the same time.

7) Is there anything special you would like to tell your fellow Joe fans? Yes, funny you ask! I have been secretly working on a project for our collector community with my friends at Greatbeard.com. It is now ready and I am proud to introduce it now. I am naming it the “King Cobra Command Chair” and it is a throne for your 3¾ - 4 inch action figures. Take a look at my thread: http://www.hisstank.com/forum/genera...ml#post4609537 I hope people will like it as we really worked hard at it! Thank you for the interview and hope to meet some of you at this year’s GI Joe Convention in Texas!

G. I. Joe / Funskool Metalhead 2003

Professor blog: 000015 Subject: Metalhead Brand of product: G. I. Joe (Funksool) India Original Release year: 2003

This is a figure that only came out in the country of India. You are looking at Metalhead from the Funskool toy line. Funskool was licensed to make G. I. Joes in India and they did a very… interesting job. Colors that you would never paint your walls ended up on some of our favorite toys! Since these figures are from a different country and tracing down parts would be a little hard / impossible for most, I have decided to review them without them.

Now Metalhead is a popular character and got imported to India. They decided to change his main colors to black and orange. One of the best parts about Funskool joes is that they did such a terrible job on painting their toys that it adds character to everyone! I love my Funskool joes and sadly it is really hard to complete the set. India has some of the rarest joes ever made. We are glad to announce that Metalhead is not one of them!

Now if you look up the India Metalhead on yojoe.com you will get this: http://www.yojoe.com/action/int/india/metalhead.shtml . As you can tell, they gave the most ridiculous weapons to the India joes. Metalhead actually came with paint / grenade mix… It is the most interesting toy set up to this date in my book. He is such a goofy toy. If you are into international toys, give old Metalhead a shot!

Background of the toy: This particular Metalhead came to me from an Ebay seller in India itself. He arrived into my collection in May 2013. He has no breaks or chips and his paint looks amazing. He is missing all his weapons and the instructions. He is the proper color and has no damage.

G. I. Joe Leatherneck 1986

Professor blog: 000014 Subject: Leatherneck Brand of product: G. I. Joe Original Release year: 1986

Today we are looking at good ole Leatherneck. This is the original toy that came out in 1986. Now this guy was a famous character from the G. I. Joe: Real American Hero cartoon. He is supposed to be a stereotype marine and always seems to wear the same uniform no matter the scenario. He is actually one of the better comic reliefs because he always fights with Wet Suit. Now his appearance in the comic series is not as high as some of the others but he is usually in the back ground for no real reason.

Now his toy was nice and simple. He came with a rifle and a back pack. Now the rifle is the same one he uses in the cartoon but the color was black in there. He is also seen in the cartoon wearing his back pack. He is one of the few toys, besides Lady Jaye really, that appears in the cartoon with all his weapons.

One of the best things about the “A Real American Hero” toys is the file cards. Leathernecks file card is extremely detailed. It gives a little biography into his life as well as other stuff. You find out his real name for instance and where he is from. Ironically the cartoon had this “pro American” thing going until DiC took over the cartoon franchise and made them “international.” Now the best part about this toy is that he is easy to complete. You literally only have four things to get and they are pretty common. He was first 80s joe that I was able to complete and his parts are pretty main stream. I would suggest his toy for everyone. It is a nice way to start your joe collection and he is pretty easy to maintain. The only parts that really break on the 80s joes are the thumbs, heels, and heads. Just be careful to get them from a toy dealer or trusted seller on ebay or look at it with your own eyes!

Background of the toy: This particular Leatherneck came to me from the Joearmory.com website. He arrived into my collection in September 2012. He has no breaks or chips and his paint looks amazing. He is complete with all his weapons and the instructions. He is the proper color and has no damage.