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01-30-2020, 07:28 PM | #41 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,937
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Quote:
Yes. It's very nostalgic. When I read the stories, I remember the time like it was yesterday. It's ingrained in my mind as some of the most important times in my life. I remember the old 12" joe I had- one with a beard. And the Steve Austin figure with the hole in his head you could look out of his eye with! I had the lone ranger and silver- his horse. Chief Tankua (not sure where he was from- but he had a chopping motion arm and was super cool. And then Star Wars came to the scene.
We were in Germany so everything was ordered from the bibles... er... I mean the Sears wishbook and J.C.Penny Catalog! All my friends had the similar toys. Man, it was the heyday. I know that this is a foolish endeavor and I don't care. Every time I see this stuff or think about it I am transported to a simple time when all that mattered was GI Joe. |
01-30-2020, 11:41 PM | #42 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: South Dakota
Posts: 1,160
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speaking of deadly toys. the infamous cabbage patch dolls with the eating feature where kids would be dumb and stick their fingers in etc.
Even Kenner Boba Fett was deadly too once. good times back then lol. |
01-31-2020, 12:23 AM | #43 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: May 2015
Location: CT
Posts: 2,052
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Great thread - it conjures up memories of my youth for sure. Caldor, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, TRU, the P/X and Children's Palace are all the places I got my Joes.
My dad was in the army and for a few summers we were stationed in the midwest and would drive back east to visit my grandparents - on each of those trips my dad would take me and my brother to the Children's Palace or K-mart and let us buy a few GI Joes. On my 8th or 9th Birthday my dad took me to TRU and let me pick out four Joes - Pathfinder, Sub-Zero, Night Creeper and Capt. Grid Iron were the 4 I got - I can still visualize all of the Sky Patrol stuff in the aisle - I vividly remember seeing the Sky Raven. Fun times for sure - this hobby helps me reconnect with nostalgia and jostle forgotten memories all the time. I remember Ben Franklin too but I never purchased Joes there - my little brother used to buy Pogs from there all the time though. |
01-31-2020, 12:52 AM | #44 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,937
|
Quote:
Great thread - it conjures up memories of my youth for sure. Caldor, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, TRU, the P/X and Children's Palace are all the places I got my Joes.
My dad was in the army and for a few summers we were stationed in the midwest and would drive back east to visit my grandparents - on each of those trips my dad would take me and my brother to the Children's Palace or K-mart and let us buy a few GI Joes. On my 8th or 9th Birthday my dad took me to TRU and let me pick out four Joes - Pathfinder, Sub-Zero, Night Creeper and Capt. Grid Iron were the 4 I got - I can still visualize all of the Sky Patrol stuff in the aisle - I vividly remember seeing the Sky Raven. Fun times for sure - this hobby helps me reconnect with nostalgia and jostle forgotten memories all the time. I remember Ben Franklin too but I never purchased Joes there - my little brother used to buy Pogs from there all the time though. Back then it was cool because the base was only open to the military at that time. A lot of times I would find cool used stuff at the thrift store. You know people wouldn't always take stuff with them when they got redeployed. My grandfather was in the army. I definitely miss her and all of those simpler times. |
01-31-2020, 12:56 AM | #45 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: May 2015
Location: CT
Posts: 2,052
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Quote:
Excellent story. I enjoy reading all of these. I remember going to Toys R Us and Lionel Kiddie City. It was so overwhelming and fun to see 40 foot sections of nothing but figures and vehicles. I remember it taking up like half of the Isle. We used to have a store called Jamesway. It went out of business in the early 90s. I used to buy a lot of cool GI Joes and stuff there. I remember going with my grandmother on the army base at Fort Belvoir.I always liked going to the PX to see what cool stuff they had. She always liked the thrift store as well and sometimes I would find older GI Joes that way.
Back then it was cool because the base was only open to the military at that time. A lot of times I would find cool used stuff at the thrift store. You know people wouldn't always take stuff with them when they got redeployed. My grandfather was in the army. I definitely miss her and all of those simpler times. It is kind of sad though as so many of the stores listed are no longer around either - Jamesway, Caldor, Kmart, TRU and Children's palace have all gone the way of the dodo bird. |
01-31-2020, 01:08 AM | #46 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,937
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Quote:
You're absolutely right we grew up in a time with so many cool stores and so many cool toys and options that just don't exist anymore. It kind of sucks for my kids because they don't get to experience that. Unfortunately the only thing we can count on is that everything will change. |
01-31-2020, 04:30 PM | #47 |
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: A little town called Springfield
Posts: 318
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I was just thinking that the "modern equivalent" of this would be the Other Sellers options on Amazon Prime.
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bromanagro |
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01-31-2020, 06:37 PM | #48 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: May 2015
Location: CT
Posts: 2,052
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Quote:
That is so cool! My grandfather's last Duty station before he passed away was Fort Belvoir. I live in Woodbridge at my grandmother's house. It's our house now but I still refer to it as hers. Anyway on the way back from leaving the base we would always stop at that Jamesway store in Lorton. I remember going in there this one particular time. It must have been 1990 and to my surprise they must have found an old case in the back because they had some python Patrol figures. My great-uncle and my grandmother let me pick out one and I bought a python crimson guard. I remember going home and calling my father at work. He took me back up there and I got a python Trooper and I believe a python officer.
You're absolutely right we grew up in a time with so many cool stores and so many cool toys and options that just don't exist anymore. It kind of sucks for my kids because they don't get to experience that. Unfortunately the only thing we can count on is that everything will change. It does really stink to see the slow death of brick and mortar stores. I used to travel to all the different TRUs around NOVA during my summer breaks from college in from 2003-2005 hunting down Spy Troops/VvV stuff - I think I went as far as Richmond one Saturday to get the Desert Humvee! It was a fun time - no gf to worry about, disposal income etc. Once they started releasing the 25th anniversary and RoC stuff I would again go on weekend rampages buying up anything I could from TRU, Kmart, Wal-Mart and Target - crazy to think that 10-12 years ago now. My kids really won't get that same toy store experience - I did take my daughter to a TRU probably back in 2017 when she was 2 and I remember she was amazed at all the toys but I doubt she will remember the experience. I do remember one of my trips back east I landed a Python Patrol Copperhead, PP Viper and PP Crimson Guard from Children's Palace in 91 or 92. PP Copperhead was probably my favorite Cobra figure I had has a kid. |
02-01-2020, 08:04 PM | #49 |
Crimson Guard
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 1,937
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Quote:
My dad was stationed there in the late 90s. It's insane how much Northern Va has grown (not for the better in my opinion) since I was a teenager. Overpopulation, congestion and inflated property values (sounds like you don't have to worry about that at least!) are all reasons I left the area.
It does really stink to see the slow death of brick and mortar stores. I used to travel to all the different TRUs around NOVA during my summer breaks from college in from 2003-2005 hunting down Spy Troops/VvV stuff - I think I went as far as Richmond one Saturday to get the Desert Humvee! It was a fun time - no gf to worry about, disposal income etc. Once they started releasing the 25th anniversary and RoC stuff I would again go on weekend rampages buying up anything I could from TRU, Kmart, Wal-Mart and Target - crazy to think that 10-12 years ago now. My kids really won't get that same toy store experience - I did take my daughter to a TRU probably back in 2017 when she was 2 and I remember she was amazed at all the toys but I doubt she will remember the experience. I do remember one of my trips back east I landed a Python Patrol Copperhead, PP Viper and PP Crimson Guard from Children's Palace in 91 or 92. PP Copperhead was probably my favorite Cobra figure I had has a kid. |
02-02-2020, 09:25 AM | #50 |
just a Marine
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: central PA
Posts: 1,681
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Quote:
I grew up in northern Montana our little town of 1500 (with nothing for 20 miles around and we were on a major road) had two dimestores that were independent, a movie theater that sold comics, books, and toys in the lobby (owned by a disabled German paratrooper, most patriot man I ever met, he knew how bad a government could get) a Coast to Coast, True Value, and one other hardware store. All had Joes. The town is down to one hardware store now but still has a few toys. If we made the trip to the big town about 23 miles west, there was a K Mart and Woolworth that were reliable for action figures, and sometimes their Coast to Coast, True Value, and drug stores had them. We also had Osco Drug that bought the chain called Butteries Grocery, they had action figures, I got the Indiana jones and Cairo swordsman there (he had a knife, early joes and star wars figures didn't have knives as accessories). My dad died, money got really tight (it was tight before, but you can always go downhill), but I still managed a couple joes now and then. No big playsets of course, but I knew money was tight and would not have asked for anything like that. Anyway, went in the service was stationed a couple places got commissioned and stopped to visit a friend in South Dakota, and he showed me this place called "Walmart". He said it was just like K-mart but everything was a few cents cheaper. Got to Quantico and was amazed at all the stores there- Jamesway, Walmart, Potomac Mills with a TRU. Even though I was an "adult" of all of maybe 23 with responsibilities (an ossifer in charge of stuff and people), my wife would get me a small lego or action figure every so often, kind of as a joke and because she knew I grew up poor and liked them. Now she complains that I have tubs of stuff and make customs. Crazy how all those stores are mosty gone, yet we have more people. Those small town hardware stores, you could get everything except food and clothes, and they even sold some clothes like work coats, coveralls and boots. I love modern action figures but the prices are beyond what any kid can afford, especially because kids are hard on their toys. I never deliberately destroyed toys, but I did play outside in the dirt with them at times. You can't take a MGR figure at 30 bucks with tiny (and very awesome!) accessories out in the dirt and play, maybe take a picture or two, but those kabars will fall off and disappear, not that I would trade them for the old figures. |
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