[hushed]

Within the last six months, I purchased my first Joes in more than 20 years, starting with a 50th 2 pack. I have been expanding my exploration of what I missed out on far and wide, but hopefully as cheap as possible. To that I end, I purchased some random weapons from a Chinese seller on Ebay.

I purchased two 200 packs of weapons, with shipping the total came to $25.91 with the exchange rate (I used the Ships Worldwide Option to save a few pennies, buying off an AU auction).

The weapon quality is fairly good, and the vast majority of these items, are actual GI Joe and work with my Joes. Seven of these pieces match what I already have in my collection (from new in box packages). I compared the ebay weapons against what I know is from Hasbro, and only found much difference with 1 of the weapons. The detailing on the shotgun is very poor compared to the original I have from Hasbro. I believe they are using original molds, though some may be at the end of the life. Very likely, someone stole some molds, stole a few pallets of each weapon, or are running them after hours at the factory. A few of the weapons (sound attack weapon most notably) had dust on them. Most however, were clean. Are they ever really clean coming from the factory?

Overall, the quality is very good for the value. I paid roughly 6.5 cents for each weapon, versus the roughly $1.00 at a minimum I would pay off ebay. Even if you had to throw 3/4s of the weapons out, 26 cent for troop builder weapons is very good. Even considering the fact you will get some random light sabers, this is a good deal.

Each bundle of 200 weapons is broken down into 11 packets of 19 to 21 weapons. The 11th packet seems to be overage to prevent any complaints. "I gave you 10% extra, screw off!" I received 441 items in total. The 7 ramrods were stuck in the 7 large spring loaded rocket launchers (which hardly work). Each of the 11 packets of roughly 20 weapons were separately packed so there are not duplicates of weapons in the same packet. I suppose someone could buy $50 of these and sell the individual packets at a convention for $3 or more each, easily doubling their money.

There is some variation as to how shiny or flat the weapons are, but not any more so that you find in regular Joe gear. Most weapons are black, then brown/tan, and a few which are in a slightly metallic blue. The colors in my photographs below are fairly accurate, after some adjustments in Photoshop.

I noted the quantities of each item in each color in the photographs below.







Roughly half of the items on the images on the ebay listing I purchased from were in the delivery I received. I will check back from time to time, and if I see some variation, I will make another purchase. Even if I don't see a change in the ads on ebay, I will probably buy more in a few months. The randomness, makes it a fun buy.

[PinewoodCobra]

Good review! I've thought about purchasing these weapons packs before and I might just do it now.