2) How did you start collecting G. I. Joes? Having been used to Star Wars figures and their 5 points of articulation I remember a neighborhood kid getting the first GI Joe I ever saw, Grunt. I remember how loose he was compared to the rigid Star Wars figures. I remember the tiny backpack he had and I loved the idea of having figures with removable gear. I was still into Star Wars at that time, however with Joes being stocked on the shelves and the final movie being released later in 1983 I suppose it a somewhat natural progression toward the GI Joe line. My mom bought me my first Joe and over the years I’ve really tried to narrow it down to who it was, I’m pretty certain it was Breaker followed shortly with Rock n Roll, Scarlett and the RAM cycle. I was hooked from there.
3) What was your absolute favorite moment when collecting? Any personal memories you are willing to share? I have so many it’s hard to narrow it down to one event. Our family wasn’t well off in the 80’s so GI Joes were hard to come by, however my parents always seemed to get me great toys for birthdays and Christmas. I spent every dime I got for allowance on GI Joes. 1983: My mother took me to Toys R Us in Amarillo Texas and said I could get ONE toy for my birthday, naturally I picked one of the largest available at the time, the Skystriker. She then took me to get a hot dog and Coke. I was the middle child, so getting personal attention that day was a treat I’ll never forget. 1984: South Fork, Colorado. We were struggling. My parent’s restaurant was barely afloat and that year was a difficult time to be a kid. The neighborhood kids had all the cool toys. The Whale, Rattler, Zartan. I only owned a handful of Joe figures that year, but I was happy. I made my own vehicles out of scraps of wood and bent nails discarded from the local saw mill. I made my own Whale. I then cut out catalog pictures of the GI Joe figures like a sort of paper doll and used them to crew the wooden Whale. Of course the other kids laughed at me, but I looked at it as improvising. Something I still do today. 1985: Phoenix, Arizona. With issue 40 of the Marvel run featuring the Cobra Moray battling the Tactical Battle Platform, I was shocked to get both for Christmas that year. I spent many a day recreating the battle. I remember using the Lamprey as my Cobra Commander because I didn’t have one at the time and he looked as close to chrome dome as anyone. I would rush home after school to watch the cartoons and really fell in love with all the odd ball characters like Alpine and Bazooka, Shipwreck and the Crimson twins.
4) Did you only collect modern Joes or did you collect the 80s Joes too? I collected 80s Joes as a kid until 1990. High School, music, girls pretty much killed it at that time. As the cartoon series started to get released on DVD in the 2000s and the comics being released in large collections like graphic novels, I still kept the light on, so to speak. In the late 90s and early 2000s with the boom of eBay I was able to get a few Joes here and there to satisfy my nostalgia but it wasn’t until the 25th anniversary figures came out did I get back into fully. I had just gotten married and with no kids we had plenty of disposable income to indulge my passion. 2008 and 2009 were good years, plenty of Joes, the line was strong and I amassed most of my modern collection at that time. As the line tapered off I focused on collecting the vintage vehicles and found pleasure in restoring vintage vehicles back to their former glory. I have a few of the o-ring 80’s GI Joes, but I’ve decided to keep collecting the modern era figures and any vintage vehicles that are in my price range.
5) What is your favorite Joe and vehicle? That’s a tough one to narrow down as well. I’ve always looked at GI Joe as a collective team of characters. I’m staring at a picture of my collection trying to see if something stands out more than the others and I suppose the 25th Stinger Jeep is pretty cool. Now that I own a somewhat similar type of vehicle (minus the missile rack, of course) I like the design and overall look. As a kid I really liked the Desert Fox. It was used briefly in the comics and because I had both the Desert Fox and the Stiletto I could again recreate the pages of the comic in my bedroom. Despite his goofy name, I really liked Skidmark. The Star Viper was pretty cool too. I loved his AC/DC shirt and that he was able to infiltrate the Pit. My all time favorite figure as a kid would be the 1985 Alpine figure. I loved his attitude in the cartoon and over time the only accessory I was able to retain was his pick axe. He took out many a Cobra with that thing, forget climbing mountains with it! As an adult I’m quite fond of my 1983 Cobra Officer. I love the vintage card art, file card and the overall story line of the early years of the Cobra organization.
6) What is your rariest Joe and can you tell us a little about him? I’m not sure if I own a rare figure, I suppose the Gold Head SDCC Pimp Daddy Destro and both podium Cobra Commanders are the only guys I would say are rare in my collection. These stand out because my wife actually created a profile on Hisstank.com and was able to buy them from fellow Tankers for me for Christmas one year. I had no idea she was doing it since I don’t always frequent the B/S/T forums. I have the DVD 25th Alpine that is sought after and guys like the FSS Big Boa or a Con Python Tele Viper and Trooper, but so do a lot of other collectors. I try to avoid getting into the rare figure collection because it’ll make you go crazy trying to acquire them all.
