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When Did Gi Joe Come Into Your Life?


RobbieDigital

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I know we have a lot of age groups here at TNI and when I read a lot of your guys reviews and comments of figures and vehicles. I feel like I can pick out the guys (or gals) that started with RAH and who got reeled in with JvC. I was born in 1981 and GI Joe was a big part of my afternoons well into 90's. THen JvC came out and got me back into GI Joe in a big way. However I still miss the RAH days.........When did you guys (gals) get started and what time period????

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Well, I guess I'm getting ready to reveal my age...

 

I was born in 1973, so I was introduced to G.I. Joe mainly through ads in the back of comic books for G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. I think they were advertising the fan club or something; I remember it wasn't for the toys, but the pictures were from the toy packaging art. One picture was of Flash from his card art, and the other was of Breaker or somebody on that bike that had the buzz-gun on it. (Can't remember the name of it just now. Wish they'd reissue that thing; I loved it.) Anyway, my first G.I. Joe figure was the ever-awesome commando Snake-Eyes from the initial wave of figures. I loved him, even when my grandmother's living room carpet ate his accessories. And the rest as they say is history. I was a G.I. Joe nut as a kid, having alot of the toys, almost all of the comics, and never missing an episode of the 'toon after school every day. And it's funny; when I see some of the episodes on Cartoon Network or on one of those mission disks, it's so weird how I remember the episodes even though I only saw them once or maybe twice at the most as a kid. Ah, the memories...

 

So I guess you could say I've been there since day one of RAH, and I like most of what I see of GvsC. And it seems to be getting better every day. #US1#

 

 

 

22566-new_asthanos.gif

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1982 RAH. While I do like SOME of the new stuff, I prefer RAH. Call it nostalgia.

Hee hee! Dude, you said exactly the same thing I did, but in alot fewer words. Geeze I'm such a windbag. (lol)

 

 

22566-new_asthanos.gif

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i've had g.i. joe since the first series in '82, i was like five years old then. g.i. joe remained my favorite toy line, 'til around '93. i was getting older, and i can't really remember why i was losing interest in it, but probably because of my interest in comics at the time, spawn toys and marvel toys and all that. either way, i never stopped collecting toys, there was always something.

 

but, now as most people who know me here can tell i'm all about gvc. nostalgia and retro is not my thing. i'm a toy lover first and foremost and toys change with the times. and right now, aside from g.i. joe, i collect a little of everything.

 

diesel

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I believe I started collecting RAH in 84 at the age of 1.5 years old (born 9/23/83). Granted my figures had the weapons taken away so I wouldn't choke or anything lol.

I collected till then end of RAH. I picked up a few wave 1 JVC and was dissappointed and stopped. Then I found out wave two was going back to o-bands and got a few fav character from wave 2 and 3. Officially went into collecting mode with JVC with wave 5 or 6 (which ever one had Barrel Roll in it), and plan on remaining so until my death.

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I was 8 years old in 1990. All my life I'd watched the kids in the neighborhood play with GI Joes. I mean, who didn't have a GI Joe in thier sandbox. Up until that point, I'd played with MOTU, Ghostbusters, Ninja Turtles, and Batman. However, one day I decided it was time I started collecting GI Joes. My first figure was Captain Gridiron. Next it would be Night Creeper, followed by Countdown. After that it gets hazy.

 

I never completely outgrew toys. I've always gone to the toy department or toystore when I was shopping. However, after I graduated from high school, I was in Kroger and went to the magazine rack. I picked up an issue of Toyfare that was polybagged. I turned it over and there it was. A poster featuring what turned out to be the first wave of the RAH Collection. Immediately it hit me for the first time in my life...nastalgia. Well, maybe it wasn't the first time, but it was the most impactful. I didn't buy the magazine that day, but it was firmly etched in my memory. It's all I could think about. It started driving me crazy. I had just started college and the day following the magazine sighting, I sat in class daydreaming. I played hooky during my last class and made a prompt trip to our local TRU. There they were. All 5 2-packs. I swore to myself that I wouldn't buy them all. I bought the Hawk/Dialtone, SE/SS, and CC/Cameleon packs. I saw the vehicles and the other 2 packs, but I decided that I would leave them there and now get drawn in. Being drawn in was an understatement. I opened them in the car before work. I was completely head over heels in love with GI Joes all over again. I went to work and did nothing but think about the figures and vehicles I had left behind. The next day was my day off. I couldn't sleep that night. I was at TRU the next day the second they opened the doors. I bought the remaining vehicles and figures. But that wasn't enough. I discovered YoJoe.com. I dug out my old Joes and the few vehicles I had. I sat in the floor for the first time in years and actually played with my toys. The next thing I discovered was ebay. Roughly $500 went towards the purchase of about a quarter of my current Joe collection.

 

Not only did Joes get me collecting toys again, it served as a springboard for the nastalgic freightrain my life has become. I've collected toys from every single toyline of my childhood. I've bought everything from that damn elusive Dragonzord to LJN Wrestling action figures. The best part is that it will probably never end. Over a year ago I "retired" from collecting old Joes in an effort to keep up with all of the toylines that were either out or were coming out. I am currently out of that retirement and collecting again. This time not just figures. I'm going after the comics I don't have and the vehicles. There are just a few figures I don't have and I pick them up when I find a good deal on them.

 

Currently I juggle 6 current toylines with collecting mainly old Joe stuff and old MOTU stuff. My best friend helps me out when he can, and I help him out with Star Wars stuff. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have a few of the harder to find Joes.

 

Holy Crap!!! Sorry guys, I didn't mean to write a term paper about my life as a toy collector, but there it is all puked out.

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My first Joe memory was of watching the cartoon back in 84 or so. My older brothers had gotten the first figures, while I was still playing with the Star Wars stuff. Of course as the 80's went on, the SW stuff went out and I was a die-hard fan of Joe until about '90-'91. Then I "grew up" and stopped playing with toys. I got back into SW toys about 2000, and back into RAH once JvC came out -- long story.

 

Now I collect SW, RAH, and only the JvC stuff that I can either tie in with my RAH (some of the vehicles) or the very few figures that I like just as they are (ie SE, SS, Kamakura, FF, etc).

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My first Joe memory was of watching the cartoon back in 84 or so. My older brothers had gotten the first figures, while I was still playing with the Star Wars stuff. Of course as the 80's went on, the SW stuff went out and I was a die-hard fan of Joe until about '90-'91. Then I "grew up" and stopped playing with toys. I got back into SW toys about 2000, and back into RAH once JvC came out -- long story.

 

Now I collect SW, RAH, and only the JvC stuff that I can either tie in with my RAH (some of the vehicles) or the very few figures that I like just as they are (ie SE, SS, Kamakura, FF, etc).

I started out watching the cartoon here and there. When I was that young, I thought Duke was actually named G.I. Joe. Honestly, I never had a lot of the Joe toys. I had several figures, but never got any of the vehicles, which was what I really wanted. As a result, Joe got overshadowed by my other toys, especially HE-Man and Transformers. I started watching the show seriously a little later and really grew to like it though I still never got many of the toys. Then came adolescence and the need to move on from such things. It was a short lived need for me as I never really grew out of watching cartoons, but my allowance money now went to comic books instead of toys. I didn’t buy any toys for a while, but a friend I met in High School was a big Toy Collector so I was always going with him to TRU and such. I saw the RAH Collection and thought it was cool. I still resisted the urge to buy. Then I found it, the one thing from G.I. Joe I always wanted, but never had: The Conquest X-30. As a kid, I was really impressed with this jet as it looked unlike anything that came before it. I had to get one and that started it. I picked up a few other reissue vehicles here and there (Dragonfly, SHARC), mostly flying stuff. When JVC Wave 1 hit, I was actually very impressed with them and I ended up buying the whole set. I had to have a Dominator too, so there went all the vehicles too. Wave2 made Wave 1 look like crap, so that was that and I was hooked. I have a huge JVC collection now trying to recapture those toys I never had as a kid. Of course, now I have a job and can buy all the figures I want (especially since I spend less and less on comics). Anyway, I’m in for the long haul now and I’m loving every minute of it.

 

Brian

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I was about eight years old when GI Joe started in 1982. I remember being in Sears one day and seeing the figures on display. I wanted them but my mother would not let me get any. (She hated army toys) My Father however must have had some words with her though, because only a few days later he came home from work with a Cobra Soldier and Snake eyes. This turned into a regular occurance, he'd come home from work with new Joes when ever I was "Good". I kept collecting until about 92 or 93 when they started getting out of controll with the Neon colors and all. I picked it up again in 98 with the TRU exclusives and I've been back to collecting ever since.

 

Violentfix

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For me, 1967, when I got my first REAL 12" GIJOE Action Sailor in the dress blue unifrom. A black-painted hair figure with the old hard hands.

 

Later had a talking Adventure Team Commander.

That makes me VERY old school.

 

My first RAH figure was the '86 Sci-fi--first version anyway, who I bought in later 1986 for a conversion into a Robocop figure-that I never got around to.

 

After that, a Cobra Viper and the the flood gates opened up and its been a deluge pretty much ever since.

 

--Ken

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In 1983 a beautiful thing happened at the age of 4! I got Short Fuse, Breaker and Grunt for X-mas that year. After that I was hooked and the best was 1985 when I got most of the single carded figures that year. Ah the old days! But I also love JvC and wouldn't go back. I love the past but can't dwell on it. Me likes knew things! lol

Draven #US1#

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1982- The comic book and then the cartoon - In which that started collecting guns and swords and got into Martial arts because GIJoe*I collect a little bit of the toys but I dont see the big deal about them. #US1# I rather go dress up and play war games than play with toys. period

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In 1991 when I was a lad of 7, I bought my first figure which was V4 Snake Eyes and a week later, I bought my first vehicle which was the Gi Joe Badger. I owe it all to a friend who introduced me to Gi Joe on the playground at that school. Now, 12 years later, my collection consists of all the US released figures, not including variations such as PDD or other simple variations (although I do have both Zaranas since they are considered different figures), all US vehicles, all US released comic books(Image and Marvel) all cartoon episodes(Sunbow, Dic, Reel FX), all the toy catalogs which I bought extras of and made custom wallpaper for my room, and a few "prize pieces" that includes 1982 Scarlett C10 MOC, 1985 Tomax/Xamot MOC C10 among a few other carded figures. I like to think I have the biggest collection in NC but I could be wrong.

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I got into it around 86-87. When my mom brought me a SE home. I just been into it until I was 13 and then it died down, but I was really happy when it came back and been back into it ever since and getting all the figures I lost or broke back and being back into G. I. Joe big time

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born in 1979.. I probably didn't start collecting Gijoe until I was about 5 though.. but you have to remember that back then you could still find GiJoes from up to 2 years past on the shelves..

 

so my first figures were Snowjob, Barbecue, Airtight, GungHo, Airborne, Duke etc..

 

I didn't miss many of them and then I inherrited my older brother's collection when he lost interest.. well, he still says they are his, I am just waiting for him to forget I have them @lol@

 

 

I kept collecting until at least 1992.. then tried to catch up on the 97/98 stuff when it was just leaving TRU for good.. I missed alot of that because I wasn't collecting joes..

 

then I got a computer and found ebay, where I added tons of vehicles and alot of figures.. and then the RAHC started, which was totally awesome.

 

 

In my opinion, the RAHC produced the best GiJoe figures since at least 1990, maybe earlier.

 

I wish they would have continued to produce the RAHC, I hate GvC crap.

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I know we have a lot of age groups here at TNI and when I read a lot of your guys reviews and comments of figures and vehicles. I feel like I can pick out the guys (or gals) that started with RAH and who got reeled in with JvC. I was born in 1981 and GI Joe was a big part of my afternoons well into 90's. THen JvC came out and got me back into GI Joe in a big way. However I still miss the RAH days.........When did you guys (gals) get started and what time period????

c'mon if you can pick, guess wich one for me? @smilepunch@

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I started when I was five, I got Zap. I got him in a store I think was called 3D, that does not sound right. It was a long time ago and the store is long gone now. Anyway, I saw these Joes and thought they looked really cool and awesome. Zap had this big bazooka and it looked so neat, and it broke his thumbs. They were way better than little plastic army men. Oh, and the helmets came off, back then that was a big deal.

 

They just kinda piled up after that.

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