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09-15-2017, 03:17 PM | #1 |
I just want foam gliders.
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Tooele (two-willa), Utah
Posts: 18,727
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It's been a rough week for GI Joe and us fans. Over the past few days I've been thinking about what made GI Joe such a heated topic and I was starting to come to the conclusion that these characters, comics and toys ARE indeed very important to us all. The fact that we're still actively discussing it, buying the toys, attending conventions hundreds of miles away every year is a testament to that.
Rather than focus on the garbage of late, I'd like everyone to put aside their political standing, their opinions of the current events, and really just focus on what GI Joe is to you. I'd like everyone to post and just have fun today! It's the weekend, fall is coming, let's have some fun. For me GI Joe has been a constant in my life that I didn't have as a kid. Now I'm not saying this to get all deep and philosophical, but as a child of the 80s I had to endure my parent's divorce, custody battles, moving all over the country, and being the constant "new kid" at school. I went to seven different Elementary Schools, two different Middle Schools (Jr High) and three different High Schools. Friends came and went, but GI Joe was always there. Every day after school I'd rush home to catch the Joes battle Cobra. Every week I'd rush to Target or K-Mart to spend my allowance on Joes. Every month I'd spend what was left on the comic books. I'd pour over the catalogs, the file cards, the inserts because these little plastic men were my crew. I'd been with them since the beginning in 1982 with Grunt and Scarlett, Snake eyes and the RAM. Got the Mobat and the MMS for Christmas from my step dad's parents. While in the small town of South Fork Colorado in 1983 my mother returned from a local grocery store with issue 28 of the Marvel GI Joe comic. Of course seeing the Rattler piloted by Destro was super cool, my absolute favorite part was Roadblock lifting the Whale's gun turret up so they could fire back, sending Destro on his merry way. I local kid mentioned issue 27 was still on the rack of that small grocery store, so I scrounged up the change and walked there to get it... the issue was the perfect battle between Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes about events, that at the time, I had no idea about (issue 21) However I didn't care, I followed the plot, page by page, panel by panel and I was hooked! 1985 I was in Phoenix, new home, new school, but also new Joes! The cartoon was going strong, the comics too. Pining for the Flagg sitting on the top shelf of the local toy store, out of reach both physically and financially. (as was the Terror Drome and Defiant) But I got the figures, and that was enough for me. The best part of seeing the new figures on the pegs was flipping them over and seeing the entire roster of new recruits on the back, each one highly detailed and individual in both appearance and military specialties. Getting a new vehicle and seeing the new catalog of all the new Joe and Cobra vehicles. I loved the diverse cast of characters, the numerous vehicles and yes, even the silly ones like the Road Toad and Battle Barge. As the end of Jr High and the start of High School approached, the toy buying stopped, the Sunbow cartoons ended,but the comics were still there until I graduated. As I got older my interests shifted from GI Joe and went to music and TV shows like Star Trek TNG. With the advent of eBay and the rise of YoJoe.com I was able to easily relive the days of my youth without having to buy toys or anything to still be able to see them online. Now that I'm an adult and with the 25th line reintroducing me to GI Joe 10 years ago, I now have the disposable income to bring all that continuity that got me through my childhood back into my life. Without sounding too weird, the Joes are my boys. The care Hasbro and all the designers took with creating these toys and the addition of Larry Hama's great story telling and character development, the GI Joes are more fleshed out than any other toy line I ever collected. This is what GI Joe is to me.
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09-15-2017, 03:39 PM | #2 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: MS
Posts: 305
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My dad was in the Army. He pasted away when i was 5. It happen the same year g.i. joe aired. The first & last g.i. joe toy my dad got me was a Rock N Roll. I love g.i. joe for my dad the story the cartoons & the cool toys.
From day one i'v been a G.i. Joe fan. It makes me sad that hasbro has no care for g.i. joe any more. |
09-15-2017, 03:48 PM | #3 |
Cobra Viper
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Canada
Posts: 247
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Great childhood memories playing GI Joe with my brother and my friends. Obsessed with the comic and toys, and caught the cartoon sometimes when I was lucky. Now it's fun to watch my kids enjoy it, and fun to spoil them with the toys. It is good for them to be proud and respectful of our military; they've always been the heroes who protect our way of life.
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09-15-2017, 04:04 PM | #4 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 561
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What is GI Joe to me? GI the story of Thomas Arashikage and his former military buddies along with their current associates.
GI Joe is a construct of Larry Hama's brilliance. |
09-15-2017, 04:04 PM | #5 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Lima, PerĂº
Posts: 1,015
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GIjoe to me is my grandmother coming back from visiting my aunts in the US and bringin gifts (of course Joes) and getting all these different characters and specialties and personalities, my dad was military here in PerĂº so i bonded with these guys right away.
To me it's also Marvel issue #155, one of the best comics i have ever read. Anyone who has ties with the military can understand at least that issue and made sense of GIjoe. If i were the editor of the book i would give any writer that issue, that's the core of Joe there. |
09-15-2017, 04:18 PM | #6 |
Iron Grenadier
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: US
Posts: 572
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For me, it's all about the vintage style toys. The toys lead to the classic Marvel comic run and those two, in conjunction with each other, define my Joe experience.
I lost all interest in the new comics in 2001 due to the curtain being pulled too far back on the people involved with them. But, the toys have kept me going since then. They are a connection to my youth and mnemonic devices for many memories that would otherwise be lost to time.
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09-15-2017, 04:26 PM | #7 |
Cobra Soldier
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Texas
Posts: 58
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GI Joe to me is the core of the whole culture of my youth. It was the language we spoke in the halls of my middle school. It wasn't nerdy or niche to love GI Joe. I'll never understand why, but it was synonymous with loving liberty and America. In my mind, it still is. It's like Doc said to Duke, "It has never deserted you. It is at the heart of your idea of America."
Awesome post Xerofall, thanks!
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Now I'll never rule the world! I HATE THIS JOB! |
09-15-2017, 04:58 PM | #8 |
ha!
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Earth?
Posts: 3,429
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When I was a kid, before the wife, kids, mortgage, responsibility. I spent hours just playing GI Joe. Building bunkers in the sand box, or mountain hide outs in blankets if it wasn't nice out. Just being immersed in a world I created. Now as an adult, with all those said responsibilities, it's still a way to get lost in something, to reconnect with your childhood, to be free from it all, if only temporarily. It's funny, I didn't have anything to do today, yet I have enjoyed my time beginning customizing figures. Finding what fits, paint schemes etc. it's been a fun day, and I have only left the couch to pick up my kids from school.
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09-15-2017, 05:30 PM | #9 |
Gunslinger
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: MidWorld
Posts: 38,081
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It's been a lot of things at a lot of different times. All of them intertwined into what I think of as GI Joe.
In 1982 when the figures first appeared at my local Gemco store I was instantly hooked. I had been heavily into little plastic army men at the time. My friends and I had dozens of them so for my first introduction to GI Joe, were little plastic army men that could actually move like Star Wars guys. Rock 'N Roll and Flash were my first. I was soon out to collect all the figures on the back of the package. We didn't have much back then, but I was still able to pick up the RAM, the JUMP, and the VAMP. I was so excited about the VAMP that I took it along with me to school in Third Grade, hiding it in a paper lunch bag. I also picked up Grunt, Breaker, and Short Fuse. My step dad said that Grunt reminded him of himself in Vietnam, so Grunt became my dad when I played. My older cousin was just turning 13 when GI Joe came out. We played a lot at first, he got the MMS, the HAL, Scarlett, and Snake Eyes to complete our collection. (although at the time we didn't know what a Commando was and figured he was the Commander) but then he was too old and all his Joes became mine. That was the last time we really did anything together as children. Joes were my Pokemon. I wanted to have them all, but, as I said, I didn't get a lot back in those days. But by mowing lawns, doing odd jobs, and even starving to save my lunch money, I could keep up with most of the figures. When I turned 13, I asked for the WHALE for Christmas. I knew I was older, but I still loved GI Joe. My step dad said "no" but my mom secretly bought it for me anyway. He was actually pissed off when I opened it on Christmas morning. He felt toys were a useless waste of money. Two days later, I was riding my new bike (also a Christmas present) and crashed into a brick wall when the brakes went out. I broke both arms in two places, cut my teeth through my lower lip and jammed my front teeth deep into my gums. I was a bloody mess and my step dad raced me to the hospital in a panicked, caring way I didn't often see with him. I ended up staying the night and when I woke up in the hospital, I found my WHALE sitting on the end of my bed filled with my figures. My step dad had gone home and brought it back for me. The kindest thing he ever did. That's a lot of GI Joe history, and by far that's not everything. I can't even count the times battling on my friend's hill, or floating everything in the pool for days, or turning my bunk bed into the USS Flagg. Too many memories.
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09-15-2017, 05:32 PM | #10 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: At the bottom of the pile!
Posts: 2,846
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As a kid it was playing with Joes, inside outside, at grandma's house, anywhere. As an adult it's all about customizing for me. It's therapeutic, a good way to wind down for a little bit and forget about the crushing weight of the world on your shoulders. A few years ago I was just so stuck in the grind, work, home, chores, sleep, work, home...I was becoming a person I didn't like. After meeting with a professional I realized that I didn't have an outlet for all that stress. It was destroying my marriage, my relationships with my family and friends. I was always a scale model builder, but then I discovered custom Joes and that became my release. My Joes have helped me through deaths, births, a major career change and financial crisis, and just all the other little things that weigh on a person. If it weren't for GI Joe I don't know what would have happened but I'm sure it wouldn't have been pleasant. GI Joe has and always will be a one of the best things that ever happened to me. Yo Joe!
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