[JayC]

I have a complete MOC set of Hasbro's new G.I.Joe: Hall Of Heroes figures that includes:

- Zartan
- Flint
- Crimson Guard
- Cobra Viper
- Beach Head
- Storm Shadow
- B.A.T.
- Firefly
- Snake-Eyes V1
- Snake-Eyes 2/Timber

And I'm going to give them away to one lucky board member.

Between now and Sunday May 24, 2009 you need to post in this thread in your own words what G.I.Joe means to you. It can be a couple sentences or a few paragraphs, but we want to hear from YOU what G.I.Joe means to you.

Once you post in this thread "What G.I.Joe means to you" your name will then be entered into a random drawing which will be held on Monday May 25, 2009 and the person who's name is drawn will win and be mailed the set.

Only 1 entry per person and PLEASE only post in this thread your one post about what G.I.Joe means to you.

DO NOT comment on other people's entry posts or ask questions about the contest here as any off-topic post will be DELETED. If you have a question about the contest then please feel free to PM me directly with it. YO JOE and good luck.

[kurjon]

GI Joe means to me:

Being 10 years old and taking my Gi Joes, making parachutes out of rubber bands and hankercheifs, then Running up to the third story window of our home and CHUCKING them as far into the back yard as possible.

Also, me and my 2 brothers: Taking every Gi Joe we had and putting them in a pile. THEN, taking every GI Joe weapon we had and putting them in a pile. Then we got to take turns picking our GI Joes for the Battle that would Ensue for the next Few Hours.

GI Joe Made my Childhood what it was!

Give these to me, and let me once again RULE

[ARROW]

What GIJOE means to me:

GIJOE is about heroes, against villains.
Its about nobility of purpose against dire evil.
Its about "saving the day" and all the fun that can entail along the way.

For me, its about colourful characters and fantastic vehicles and equipment up against equally bizarre foes, and their own wild technology.
Its about detail, themes, styling, articulation, but most of all.............fun.

[AtROSSitus]

To me, G.I. Joe is more than just an elite force who keeps the world safe. For the past 26 years of my life they've been THE premier action figure brand to put a smile on my face on a bad day or to inspire me in my day to day life. The Joes and Cobras have always been depicted as having more internal depth than any other plastic counterpart. Between the comics and the Sunbow cartoon I feel as though every Joe has a strong voice/personality and there is definitely a character in the mythos for everyone to relate to individually.

[psagem10]

GI Joe is a link to my childhood... racing home every day to watch the cartoon after school and then re-enacting the episode with my figures. It is a part of my childhood I hope to pass on to my son when he gets older.

"and knowing is half the battle" will always ring on just like "Yo Joe"

[Jin Saotome]

What GI Joe means to me, hmmmmm feels like an essay question that takes me back to my high school days....

First let me define the term as I see it. Living in America and being a citizen here I've always thought of it as "GI Joe a Real American Hero" instead of just GI Joe. GI being true to the term 'general issue' Joe, the all around soldier that would give his life to protect the country he lives in. So to me GI Joe is a standard to which loyalty, honor, and bravery are held true in the hearts of anyone in the military force, no matter their color, religion, or background. The GI Joe team is so diverse in that members come from all around the USA just like our soldiers here, each one with traits that make them individuals. It mirrors and enforces how the American military should be, diverse and loyal to protecting it's country. GI Joe a Real American Hero will always be the untarnishable standard of military excellence that every soldier should hope to achieve for his country. A group of heroes in the purest sense of the word!

[Zodach]

GI Joe represents what was so great about being a kid in the 80's: Cartoons every day of the week after school, toy commercials, Christmas wish books, awesome playsets, and great toy stores. It was the golden age of action figures and we happily reminisce.

[Sid]

G.I. Joe means the life to me. Plain and simple. Growing up, watching G.I. Joe cartoons and playing with the action figures always made me happy and always made all my sadness go away. I used to imagine myself as a Joe character and then play with that action figure for hours and hours together. Whether being sick, yelled at, getting bullied, getting low grades, didn't matter, because I could always go away from it all with my G.I. Joe action figures. And today, just looking at my old Funskool action figures just makes me notalgic and makes my childhood memories really sweet and pleasant.

[superlanb0y]

GI JOE was the reason I ran home from school everyday back in the 80s. I only had until 330pm before it started.

[Batmanandrobin]

What Joes mean to me.
Well we I was 10 my brother had to go to summerschool. Do to wear we lived It was a hour drive 1 way. Class was 2 hours long, so my mother and I would sit under the big tree in front of the school and wait. About 3 blocks away was a store called Gregory's. My Mom took me into Gregory's once a week to get a new Joe then we would go wait for my brother and play with Joes under the big tree. All summer I took my Joe toys when we would take my brother to school. It was one of the best times I can remeber.
My Mother past away do to cancer in Jan 2008 and I sated collecting the 25th aniverery figures to remeber the time we spent play under that tree.
Joes mean a lot to me and I can not wait to share my love for them to my children when they are old enough to play with them & share my story about their Grandmother with them.

[GIJeff]

GI Joe is about fighting for the American Dream. It is about childhood. It is about creating a world where there are good guys and bad guys, and even some of the bad guys want to be good. I believe GI Joe represents the Hero in all of us and the drive to be a better person. GI Joe IS the freedom of choice, the freedom of religion, and the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I can't imagine the USA without GI Joe, and I'll bet, if you think about it, neither can you!

Yo Joe!!!

[Snowball37]

What G.I.Joe means to me....

G.I.Joe has been the premier action figure for me throughout my life as a collector. When I was younger, G.I.Joe figures were the best, most articulated figures around. I would stage battles in the backyard with very rough backdrops and scenery, and my friends and I would also "customize" if you can call it that, our doubles into different never before made characters, and even characters from other "universes" (like DC and Marvel Superheroes).

All in all, G.I.Joe has always been the best detailed and articulated 3 3/4 inch toy around, for almost 30 years. They've made a big impact on my life, and really helped shape the creative person I've become in my life, as they've done for so many boys and girls of the 80s, 90s, and new millenium. G.I.Joe will surely be entertaining and inspiring children for decades to come.

Yo Joe!!

[jedimaster-c]

Back in the 80's GI Joe was one toy line I really got into while the Star Wars like was starting to petter out in 1985.I remeber the first Joe I got was Stalker and my Brother got Grunt but GI JOE was a great part of growing up.As for that I have a great appreciation for the people in the armed forces.People want to think that GI Joe was a war toy.In the 60's it may have been but in the 80's it became a more of an anti terrorist(yes,I said terrorist)task force defending freedom.I do hope that the GI joe brand will go for a long time to come.YOOOOJOOOOEEEEEE

[EldestSon]

Yo Joe! The ultimate battle of good vs evil. That's what GI Joe is, has been, and hopefully will continue to be.

[Skorpion]

What GI Joe means to me:

i grew up in a time where America thought itself invincible. The cold war was on and the American way of life was considered the best way of living. GIJOE represented the best of America at that time. They stood for truth justice and most of all duty and honor and doing the right thing regardless of anyone's opinion.

The figures were more than toys to me. They were literal representations of what it was to be a hero.( at least to an 8 yr old kid) My first joe was Snakeyes (as it was many ppls) I remember the awe at staring at the all black body and thinking "man even good guys wear black!" I also grew up lonely i had no brothers or sisters to share my love of joes and lived out in the country where it took about 40 mins to get to town. my cousins were close by but were way too small to understand how cool the toys were or what they were even about.
They became friends. I know it sounds crazy but its true. the imagination works wonders when it has the time.
When Hasbro came out with the 25 ann line, i felt like i was seeing old friends again.. i have the entire single carded collection and have no shame as to tell you that i still talk to my toys. lol

I still think that GI JOE still represents the best of America. If you dont think so, talk to a fellow collector, even someone you dont know who collects. you can instantly connect with them on that level, and by doing so bring you closer together.
I have a baby due in July and from the time he is old enough to understand I will share my passion and love of all things joe with him, so he and I can make new memories with the toys i love best.

[sector2814ser]

GIJOE is a means of remembering my childhood. I was 7 years old when I got my first GIJOE... Flash, the Laser Rifle Trooper. That week I also got my first GIJOE comic, issue #10 of the marvel series. I was instantly hooked and over the years tried to get as much as I could for a poor kid living in Hawaii. Hawaii always got the figure assortments last. I spent years hunting for Snake Eyes, Scarlett, and Storm Shadow. Now as an adult I enjoy buying the figures with ease from websites like hasbrotoyshop.com I buy all the characters I remember having when I was a kid. Thanks to the Internet I don't have to hunt so hard for these figures. GIJOE means reliving a part of my childhood that was long ago but thanks to the reissue of the figures... not so far away...

[asurmac]

When I was about five, my cousin had already been collecting Joes for a while. I was envious of his collection. I got my first Joe on my sixth birthday. Flint. My parents stood him up in the middle of a camouflage cake that my grandmother made for me. He had sunk in to his neck by the time my happy birthday ended. I have been a collector, or possibly a lover of GI Joe ever since. I would save my allowance, a quarter a week, solely to buy GI Joes. Growing up, the punishment that had the greatest impact on me was when my parents would give away my favorite Joe. Years later my love of GI Joes helped lead me in my decision to join the U.S. Marines. I left for boot camp on September 16th 2001 with Leatherneck in my jacket pocket. I can honestly say that GI Joe has had a profound impact on my life. At 26, I still have dreams of walking into Children's Palace and seeing an entire isle devoted to GI Joes, and buying as many as I can.

[Kill Solo]

GI Joe means good times hanging out with friends and waging war on Cobra. It means setting up different environments to test out new vehicles (or adapt the vehicles to new environments). It means going out shopping with the parents on the weekend with the sole intention of begging for a new Joe figure. It means getting lucky some weekends and scoring a vehicle! GI Joe means a simpler time.

[stormshadow77]

I love gi joe i have made over 100 fan videos of it a new one comeing out called brothers about storm shadow and snake eyes storm shadow is my fav. gi joe means so much fighting for land and air i cant waight to see it it comes out 6 days after my b-day i love haveing battles air strikes ans droping them from the roof top and seting them up with fire crackes to make them fall down i check all the gi joe web sites evry day to see what new is comeing out yall im sur it will make may fans happy for yall to make a gi joe channel on hear. but thats what it means YO JOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[buff0323042009]

GI Joe is the only toy that truly ever inspired me. The 3.75 line was what inspired me to join the military after high school. It was the knowledge that these guys really did jobs that truly existed and their depictions in comics and cartoons that gave me the drive to make it through basic and AIT at Ft Benning, GA. Later, serving in Germany and Desert Storm, figures and comics kept me motivated. While the stories were not real, I could relate to the organization being an infantryman. Since leaving the military, GI Joe has become something that I share with my daughters, neices and nephews, not to mention several coworkers. I still have all my old figures and still buy the older ones as well to augment and repair my collection. I will probably continue to collect this great toy for the rest of my life, much to my wife's chagrin.

[Viper Hunter]

What G.I.JOE meant to my parents (back in 1968) is that their 6 year old son could STOP playing with his older sisters barbie dolls.

What G.I.JOE has always meant to me, is the "buddy" (or group of) that I can escape into my active and overly imaginary world with, fighting off the bad guys and villains or just toughing out some wild adventure, that my own physical limitations or experience wouldn't permit. A boy pretending to be the kind of man he hoped he could be and wanted to be.

That world has never left me to this day, and I've continued to live vicarioulsy through the adventures of G.I.JOE, either in my head or through OTHERS imaginations with him as well. He's a link to some of my best memories as a child and still a pretty darn cool "buddy" I like to keep around.

[Dagger]

GI Joe to me means:

-A fun hobby.
-A fun outlet for some creativity.
-Reminiscence of my childhood.

[Cmdr_Y]

I had a rather lonely childhood, I didn't make friends all that easily, but I had my toys. I'd come home from school and break out my joes while watching the cartoon and then play with them for the rest of the night. The toys provided me with countless hours of enjoyment. As with most of us at one point or another, I grew out of the toys.

When the comic re-emerged right around 9/11, I picked up a few issues and immediately recaptured some of the security I felt as a child. It was a relief to allow my mind to wander back to flights of fantasy rather than the reality what we'd experienced. I guess I never saw a reason to quit after that and I've been collecting comics and toys ever since.

Irony aside, I guess GI Joe means to me peace of mind.

[BradMan]

When I think of GI Joe I still think of the opening narration from the cartoon show:

G.I. Joe is the code name for America's daring, highly trained special mission force. Its purpose: to defend human freedom against COBRA, an evil organization determined to rule the world.

My very first G.I Joe was a birthday present from my aunt in July of 1985. It was the Bridge Layer and Tollbooth, and to this day my parents tongue-in-cheek blame her for starting my collection. From that point on my brothers and I would amass a huge army of Joes and Cobras. My parents moved to a smaller house after my brothers and I had gone off to college and weren't ever going to be living at home again full time, and so I salvaged the surviving bits and pieces of the collection during the last great toy purge as my parents got ready to sell the old house.

My level of dedication to G.I Joe has waxed and waned over the years. From 1985 - 1991 was the "golden age" for me as a child of the 80s when G.I. Joe was at the forefront of my toy buying. Other lines came and went during that time, and I experienced a brief resurgence in my interest for G.I. Joe with the Battle Corps figures in 1993 and 1994 since they were cool new versions of some of my favorite characters like Shipwreck, Duke, and others.

When the Toys R Us 15th Anniversary figures came out I was tempted by them, but didn't end up buying any of them. I regretted that decision for a while, but since I now have a full line up of original 1982 figures courtesy of eBay I realize that had I bought the Toys R Us sets they would probably just be sitting in the repaints and extras box at this point.

I know it sounds odd, but September 11 really brought G.I. Joe back into focus for me. I still remember picking up issue #1 of the Devil's Due run on Wednesday, September 12 and feeling a strange sense of reassurance. I remembered playing with G.I. Joes as my dad watched the live CNN coverage of the Gulf War in 1991, and so watching the aftermath of 9/11 on television I felt a need for the familiar comfort of G.I. Joe. I was a Junior in college at that point, and all of my G.I. Joes were back at my parents' house, so I went out and bought a few of the Real American Hero two-packs that were out at the time so I could have a few Joes to set up on my desk.

At that point I started rebuilding my RAH collection from eBay and other online retailers as I also continued to collect the new figures through G.I. Joe vs Cobra, Spy Troops, and everything else up to the present.

These days my collection is focused on the 25th Anniversary figures. I've pretty much got all of the vintage stuff I want, and the 25th Anniversary line is a way to recapture the childhood excitement that those characters represent in a way that doesn't have me worried about breaking thumbs and crotches off in the process.

And so, 24 years after that original Bridge Layer it's still G.I Joe against Cobra the Enemy, fighting to save the day. They never give up, they're always there, fighting for freedom over land and air.

A Real American Hero - G.I. Joe is there.

[SkyBuzz]

What GI Joe means to me?

I didn't get into the toys until I was in my early 30s.

To me GI Joe represents the United States and all our dreams. You look at kids playing with them, it's their imagination, whether it be themselves, granpa, Dad, or an Uncle they are pretending to be.. To me, it also represents the legacy of all those warriors who helped create and defend this nation. All these things fit into this tiny action figure, whose brother (12 inch joe) started it all. Maybe it's hokey to some people, but to me, it fits perfectly. Patriotism. I like it.

These pictures sort of show how I feel about it.

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