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03-22-2024, 02:40 AM | #1 |
Yee Ha!
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 1,276
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Forewarning, the following may not entirely be the typical feel good G Joe experience, but ultimately will have a happy ending:
Wednesday afternoon, I was pulling out and going through some storage boxes full of Star Wars toys that haven't been touched in many years. In the last box I opened, there it sat on top. It was my childhood GI Joe Collectors Case... ...and it was full of figures. I was totally shocked. I had no memory of actually still having any figures left from back then. The Captain OG origin story begins that as a child, I was extremely into GI Joe as a lot of us was. I had the lunchbox, sleeping bag, and trick or treated as GI Joe wearing my uncle's cut off Vietnam fatigues for multiple Halloweens. I had always taken great care of my GI Joe toys and kept up with every part, piece, file card etc. I bought a whole lot of them with my own money. I never got an allowance, I didn't know of any kid who did. For years I thought an allowance was something made up that was just for kids on TV. I had to mow yards, collect cans to get a few cents a pound, and pick up those old style returnable coke bottles you got a dime each for in the ditch along the roads. It took a lot of effort back then for a kid to scrape up $2.12 for a figure. As I got a little older and still collecting, I put everything GI Joe in the very top shelf of my closet and locked the door while away. Somewhere around 1987, my mom decided it was fine for my much younger brother to just destroy most everything I had while I was at school, especially my GI Joe stuff. I can't really blame him because he was only around four at the time. I'd come home everyday and pick up what pieces I could find and try to somehow barricade or booby trap my closet for the next day. Nothing I could do or say managed to help any and the next day it would just be more shit broken and lost. It really soured me on GI Joe after that as I figured it was pointless to try to collect and save everything if it would just be destroyed or lost anyway. I guess it also eventually created this mental block with remembering that I must have recovered and hid what figures I could at some point and put them in with those Star Wars things later on. Or maybe I just have a total shit memory with certain things, I don't know. A lot of mixed feelings and memories have come flooding back since I've found the case, but overall I'm happy I've found what I did. A highlight was Flash, my very first figure was in there that came from a now long defunct OTASCO store. The mail away figures were always special to me as well. All of the figures are missing accessories of course. Although, I don't know how so many of them managed to still have helmets, lol. Zap and Clutch have some broken fingers and thumbs and Rock n Roll has a missing a leg. A couple o rings have snapped and I really haven't moved anything around yet to see who else might need O-ring replacement. I'm planning on giving these to my son at some point this year. He's into GI Joe way more than I ever was and although he's not the biggest O-ring fan, I know he's going to flip out about these just because they were mine as a kid. I just don't know yet if I want to try to complete and repair the broken ones first or just give them as is. Any thoughts? .
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03-22-2024, 03:11 AM | #2 |
Soldier of Misfortune
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Out of direct sunlight
Posts: 4,051
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I'd suggest giving them to him as-is, and designating them as projects you can gradually work on completing together. Many of those look like they're in pretty serviceable shape overall, and probably worth completing eventually; Zarana looks darn near stunning from what I can see.
I'd be careful breaking in the knees, as they sometimes tend to fuse after long periods of inactivity. It's not impossible to re-tighten any loose joints with the right materials and a little care. O-rings are easy to replace, as you probably already know. I don't know if you're into retouching vintage figures' paint jobs; I like that sort of thing personally but some people prefer the natural worn look. I'm pretty sure that black bazooka is a Remco weapon, possibly Galoob. Did you buy any of that stuff as a kid?
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03-22-2024, 03:36 AM | #3 |
Yee Ha!
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 1,276
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Quote:
I'd suggest giving them to him as-is, and designating them as projects you can gradually work on completing together. Many of those look like they're in pretty serviceable shape overall, and probably worth completing eventually; Zarana looks darn near stunning from what I can see.
I'd be careful breaking in the knees, as they sometimes tend to fuse after long periods of inactivity. It's not impossible to re-tighten any loose joints with the right materials and a little care. O-rings are easy to replace, as you probably already know. I don't know if you're into retouching vintage figures' paint jobs; I like that sort of thing personally but some people prefer the natural worn look. I'm pretty sure that black bazooka is a Remco weapon, possibly Galoob. Did you buy any of that stuff as a kid?
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03-22-2024, 07:47 AM | #4 |
McGuffin Device Inventor
Join Date: May 2008
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 1,058
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What an awesome find!
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03-22-2024, 09:15 AM | #5 |
Hisstank.Com General
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 5,874
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Looks like you have the Cobra Viper Pilot (w/ the silver Cobra logo). I probably wouldn't give that one to your kid. The silver tends to wear off easily and you have one in relatively good condition. It's worth a lot.
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03-22-2024, 09:40 AM | #6 |
Dark Lord of the Mods
Join Date: Dec 2021
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7,589
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Yeah, that's definitely the Viper Pilot and not the Cobra Officer. You can tell by the web gear and lack of insignia on the helmet. Good catch, 07GT500.
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03-22-2024, 09:44 AM | #7 |
Mass Nerderer
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Slitherin' around the tank- It's cool, though, 'cause I'm being "watched"
Posts: 9,128
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Jeez Cap, that was almost like reading my own story, right down to the bit about thinking allowances were only for TV kids, although my own brother was around 3 in '87. I'll never forget asking my mom what was cooking, only for her to get an odd look on her face, rush to the oven, open it up, only to find a once nice Falcon figure that now looked like corporate art.
Anyway, great find, make sure you put up a needed parts list, I *may* have a part or two. That Viper pilot is looking fresh AF- slightly jealous
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03-22-2024, 09:46 AM | #8 |
Hisstank.Com General
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Posts: 5,375
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Awesome story, love hearing stuff like this! (Wish I had one, but I don't think I have anything left from my childhood... I was lucky to find some random Lego with which I was able to reassemble a couple cherished Classic Space and Castle sets with the help of Bricklink).
Just a bit of advice, though. First and foremost - DID NO ONE ELSE NOTICE THAT IS NOT A COBRA OFFICER, but a VIPER PILOT?! With a very, very nice sigil to boot. That is at LEAST $200, maybe more (I am out of date on current prices). I would be very, very careful with that one - do not touch the silver at all! And... I don't know how old your kid is, but... well, I'm just going to come out and say it. Giving that to a kid to play with would be a tragedy. I know it sounds "wrong" somehow, because these are toys and "meant to be played with", etc. etc. I'm just saying that figure in particular, in that condition, is extremely rare and the sigil, at least, would almost certainly be destroyed, even by the most careful child (or adult, even). So that would be a big shame! Honestly, given that so many of these are original straight-arms... Well, same thing, so a somewhat lesser degree as these aren't quite as rare or valuable... but the thumbs especially are extremely brittle (you can already see Zap has at least one broken, probably due to his stupidly designed bazooka), and frankly all of these are pretty delicate these days. That plastic was great in its day (mostly) but over the years it gets brittle and easily broken. And the paint on all of these is really quite good for the most part. All I am saying is that you might regret it, lol. Trust me, I know where you are coming from - I gave my young daughter a vintage Soundwave to "play" with under supervision! And she still managed to break it in no time flat. These toys were "meant to be played with" but not after 30-40 years of plastic degradation! I would just buy him some Classified figures and "share" these with him on the shelf, if I were you. EDIT: Looks like I took too long with this post, but as you can see I wasn't kidding! Knowing is half the battle...
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03-22-2024, 12:00 PM | #9 |
Free Agent
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Houston
Posts: 1,082
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Nice that Zarana's the early earring version too!
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03-22-2024, 10:44 PM | #10 |
Yee Ha!
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Tennessee
Posts: 1,276
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Thanks, I still can hardly believe it.
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