Do you remember how to play with GI Joe?

[MrBear]

I was just curious if you remember how to play with toys. My wife and kids were gone last night and I thought it would be kind of fun to play with some of these things that I spend my dollars on. So I picked up a couple joes and my small Crimson Guard army and sat down by the coffee table to relive my past. It lasted all of 5 minutes as I was so intent on posing figures for every little move they made. It was almost frusterating.

[Bandalero]

ohhh emmm geee!!! I'm so happy I'm not the only one that feels this way. I don't think it's the fact that we've actually forgotten how to play with toys, but more the fact that we're adults and are conditioned to think differently. Let's face it, there's a stigma (comic book guy) attached to grown men "playing" with toys and it has to influence your behaviour towards toys. Basicaly as we get older, our life experiences influence how we behave. I'm not saying some of us don't play with toys, but I'm in your camp - I've tried it, and I can't do it anymore.

 

I'm proud to say I'm a toy collector, everyone at work knows it, my friends know it, my wife tolerates it (ha!) - I love every opportunity to show off my collection. I'm 30 years old and not ashamed of it; like you mentioned I too love posing these figures and making dioramas, but when I tried to play with them...lost all interest in less than a minute.

 

I remember spending hours every day as a kid playing G.I. Joe. If I wasn't playing with the figures, my friends and I were reinacting scenes from the cartoon as characters. We lived and breathed G.I. Joe growing up. I don't even know where or how to begin doing that now with my collection.

 

I never had those WWE Hasbro wrestlers growing up so to improvise I made my own "G.I. Joe wrestling federation" and would spend hours performing matches to my heart's content. As an adult, I was able to purchase WWE Hasbro figures, the ring, everything and thought - "Hey let me re-capture some moments I lost as a kid" - two seconds bouncing the figures off the ropes and they were back in my glass display case to be admired and untouched.

 

I've revealed way too much but it's so cool to hear I'm not the only one lol.

[JFAK075]

I really don't play with the Joe or Star Wars figures. But I certainly love to break out the wrestling figures and have matches. That said, it takes a lot more creativity to play Joe and SW figures then it does to make up a mock match- IMO.

[Bandalero]

oh and the other thing - I don't know how I ever managed to play with a handful of joes by myself as a kid. I remember one summer it rained so much that our yard was flooded and it was then I discovered the Warthog can float, piled up with Joes - Cobra was on the run in the "marshs" and it was a totally wild event for me.

 

Now if I were to attempt a Cobra invasion of G.I. Joe headquarters, I would be totally frustrated with all the figures lieing down or leaning against something while I tend to others. Guess I didn't care about that as a kid.

[nonameshmo30]

When i was a kid id st in my room and take fishing line and go from dresser to bed post and all other areas inbtween. Makeing zip lines and mazes for my joes. Hell it was a maze just to get out of my room for me HA. and Id set up and zip around and make the joes talk and have a good time. I tried to do this a few months ago again. not as much as I used to maybe one or two zip lines. But by the time i got the joes out found weapons and did this and that I was like tired and kinda bord and just put them back up. I'm 31 so i know what your talking about. I guess for me playing with them just dont hold the same appeal. i still love my joes and i am collecting the new ones. But I like them just fine MOC.

 

I love to look at them and remember my childhood days. At least this time i can get some of the ones i missed growning up like firefly. He was always a fav of mine but the parents didn't always have the money for things like that growing up. It was either toys or food in my belly and clothes on my back and a roof over my head. I guess they made the right choice lol... Still would love to have the first firefly and storm shadow though.

[nonameshmo30]

oh and the other thing - I don't know how I ever managed to play with a handful of joes by myself as a kid. I remember one summer it rained so much that our yard was flooded and it was then I discovered the Warthog can float, piled up with Joes - Cobra was on the run in the "marshs" and it was a totally wild event for me.

 

Now if I were to attempt a Cobra invasion of G.I. Joe headquarters, I would be totally frustrated with all the figures lieing down or leaning against something while I tend to others. Guess I didn't care about that as a kid.

 

Funny how a mud puddle becomes a river/pond to ues you boats an such. And the bath tub became the ocean or a dirt mound was a mountin to take over.But it was good times and soooooo much fun

[FlyingFigg]

I got the Conquest in the mail the other day and I can admit to flying it around the room making (quiet) jet noises.

 

Occasionally, some figures make it off the shelf for a short time, but for the most part this is my version of playing:

 

[nonameshmo30]

I got the Conquest in the mail the other day and I can admit to flying it around the room making (quiet) jet noises.

 

Occasionally, some figures make it off the shelf for a short time, but for the most part this is my version of playing:

 

 

Don't lie! You know the jet noise you were makeing wasn't quite lolol.

[FlyingFigg]

I got the Conquest in the mail the other day and I can admit to flying it around the room making (quiet) jet noises.

 

Occasionally, some figures make it off the shelf for a short time, but for the most part this is my version of playing:

 

 

Don't lie! You know the jet noise you were makeing wasn't quite lolol.

 

Oh yes it was! My wife was in the other room and I really didn't want to have to explain what I was doing.

[VindowViper]

I was giving my 3 year old son a bath the other day, and we had so much fun playing with the Piranha Attack Boat, Torpedo, Shipwreck, Deep Six, and Cutter. Man, he has breathed new life into my Joe collection. The only problem is that I sometimes feel that I have so many joes, it's difficult to decide who to play with. Most of the time, we just end up playing with the customs of my son, myself, and my wife. The best joe stuff to have come out recently are the DVD battle packs. We have had a blast with the M.A.S.S. device and Weather Dominator. My wife knows that as soon as I come home from work, I'll give her a kiss, grab a snack for all the fam, take 5 or 10 minutes to talk about the day, then it's off to play GI Joes with my son for an hour or so! My wife used to complain about the money spent on Joes, but now that my son is old enough to appreciate them, she loves seeing daddy and son playing together.

[Wheeljack35]

The only word that would decribe my style of "play" id fidgit

 

I don't play with them but do fidgit with them while I'm fixing them to make room for the newer figures I just put up

[CLAM]

I can't play anymore.... I just like to get them geared up, pose them a bit, and put them back away

[Ares6009]

I too remember the days of 'Assault on Sofa-Mountain'. I'd be absorbed for hours playing out imaginary battles over all manner of furniture, or if it was nice out, terrain. Nowadays, I (we?) have so many other responsibilities, I don't have the time to all-out play, if I even still could. I'd like to think I still have the imagination, but as mentioned, would probably spend so much time adding unecessary detail, it would grow tiresome. I do still like to set up my figs in different poses and scenarios, but mostly like to sit in my comfy-chair and just gaze at them all. I wonder what the neighbors would think if they one day saw me laying in my yard with the setup for a full blown war in progress!

[gojira77]

Playing with toys isn't that distant of a memory for me, but I'll admit that with nobody else to play with I got pretty rusty in college! @loll@ I wrote short fan fics for both G.I. joe and the Transformers (sorry, no cross-overs) all through Jr. High and High School and my social outcast friends and I would act out the plot and fill in the endings. It's just too hard to move around a whole squad, plus the enemy, and direct the story pacing all by yourself-- you gotta have your 'posse'. I did this a long with drawing amateur comics anmd coming up with my own superhero characters. I eventually had more friends in college and even found girls that could tolerate me enough to go out on a date, but it definitely wasn't the most creative time in my life. And I was an art major, for crying out loud!

 

One thing with fanfics, though is that the characters "grow up" with you. In the cartoon, Duke got progressively less jolly as he evolved from that smiling little army dude into more of a veteran squad leader, and we kept that more serious progression until you basically had a black ops type character-- very commando like. Cobra Commander got a similar re-imagining, which was probably more believable than either the 'toon or Hama's version.

[nonameshmo30]

I too remember the days of 'Assault on Sofa-Mountain'. I'd be absorbed for hours playing out imaginary battles over all manner of furniture, or if it was nice out, terrain. Nowadays, I (we?) have so many other responsibilities, I don't have the time to all-out play, if I even still could. I'd like to think I still have the imagination, but as mentioned, would probably spend so much time adding unecessary detail, it would grow tiresome. I do still like to set up my figs in different poses and scenarios, but mostly like to sit in my comfy-chair and just gaze at them all. I wonder what the neighbors would think if they one day saw me laying in my yard with the setup for a full blown war in progress!

 

 

assault on sofa mountain.. i love it !!!!

 

I used to use a belt as my fort wall and shoes as hideing places or sometimes boats. rulers were slides

 

Ahhhhh memories

 

Yo Joe

[Ares6009]

I too remember the days of 'Assault on Sofa-Mountain'. I'd be absorbed for hours playing out imaginary battles over all manner of furniture, or if it was nice out, terrain. Nowadays, I (we?) have so many other responsibilities, I don't have the time to all-out play, if I even still could. I'd like to think I still have the imagination, but as mentioned, would probably spend so much time adding unecessary detail, it would grow tiresome. I do still like to set up my figs in different poses and scenarios, but mostly like to sit in my comfy-chair and just gaze at them all. I wonder what the neighbors would think if they one day saw me laying in my yard with the setup for a full blown war in progress!

 

 

assault on sofa mountain.. i love it !!!!

 

I used to use a belt as my fort wall and shoes as hideing places or sometimes boats. rulers were slides

 

Ahhhhh memories

 

Yo Joe

 

Yeah, we were not 'well-off' when I was young. (Still not, I guess) So we had to make do with the sofa as a playset, not to mention the 'Battle for the Bunk-Bed-Bulkhead' playset. My bro and I did not have alot in the way of vehicles, playsets, and such, but my parents were pretty good about letting us get the figs (much cheaper) and also had a ton of improvisational stuff like string, yarn, Lincoln Logs, and stuff that we turned into bunkers, rappel line and the like.

 

Imagination is way better than realism when you have the space for it.

[nonameshmo30]

I too remember the days of 'Assault on Sofa-Mountain'. I'd be absorbed for hours playing out imaginary battles over all manner of furniture, or if it was nice out, terrain. Nowadays, I (we?) have so many other responsibilities, I don't have the time to all-out play, if I even still could. I'd like to think I still have the imagination, but as mentioned, would probably spend so much time adding unecessary detail, it would grow tiresome. I do still like to set up my figs in different poses and scenarios, but mostly like to sit in my comfy-chair and just gaze at them all. I wonder what the neighbors would think if they one day saw me laying in my yard with the setup for a full blown war in progress!

 

 

assault on sofa mountain.. i love it !!!!

 

I used to use a belt as my fort wall and shoes as hideing places or sometimes boats. rulers were slides

 

Ahhhhh memories

 

Yo Joe

 

Yeah, we were not 'well-off' when I was young. (Still not, I guess) So we had to make do with the sofa as a playset, not to mention the 'Battle for the Bunk-Bed-Bulkhead' playset. My bro and I did not have alot in the way of vehicles, playsets, and such, but my parents were pretty good about letting us get the figs (much cheaper) and also had a ton of improvisational stuff like string, yarn, Lincoln Logs, and stuff that we turned into bunkers, rappel line and the like.

 

Imagination is way better than realism when you have the space for it.

 

I understand completly we/ I were in the same boat growing up. I didn't have lincoln logs but i did have legos which i used to make houes for my joes and forts.

[I AM SCI-FI]

I brought a bunch of the extra Gung-Ho's, from the VvV Gung-Ho/Viper 2-pack, I have to work. I gave one to each of the guys here, ranging in age from 20-39, and they went to town see how they could mangle them. We'd drop them from the outside balconies and down the interior stairwells.

At home, I'll even break out the fireworks every once in a while.

[MrBear]

I too remember the days of 'Assault on Sofa-Mountain'. I'd be absorbed for hours playing out imaginary battles over all manner of furniture, or if it was nice out, terrain. Nowadays, I (we?) have so many other responsibilities, I don't have the time to all-out play, if I even still could. I'd like to think I still have the imagination, but as mentioned, would probably spend so much time adding unecessary detail, it would grow tiresome. I do still like to set up my figs in different poses and scenarios, but mostly like to sit in my comfy-chair and just gaze at them all. I wonder what the neighbors would think if they one day saw me laying in my yard with the setup for a full blown war in progress!

 

 

assault on sofa mountain.. i love it !!!!

 

I used to use a belt as my fort wall and shoes as hideing places or sometimes boats. rulers were slides

 

Ahhhhh memories

 

Yo Joe

 

Yeah, we were not 'well-off' when I was young. (Still not, I guess) So we had to make do with the sofa as a playset, not to mention the 'Battle for the Bunk-Bed-Bulkhead' playset. My bro and I did not have alot in the way of vehicles, playsets, and such, but my parents were pretty good about letting us get the figs (much cheaper) and also had a ton of improvisational stuff like string, yarn, Lincoln Logs, and stuff that we turned into bunkers, rappel line and the like.

 

Imagination is way better than realism when you have the space for it.

Lincoln Logs were the best for forts. You can by them by the piece now on thier official web site. My uncle owned a printing shop so he would cut up the paper rolls and give them to us as blocks. They were nice heavy cardboard. We made some cool bases with those.

[pesatyel]

I'd play, but I don't have a lot of room just yet.

 

The thing I remember the most as a kid was my brother and I going to visit our grandparents. For like a month after, they would be sending us guns and accessories in the mail.

[DarthHavok]

Oh man...My kid brother and I used to play with Joes for hours. Joes were our ultimate toy. Sure we had He-Man, Transformers and pretty much anythign else the 80's and early 90's had for us, but Joes were always our base toy. Every Joe had at one time or another had to have it's o-ring replaced or screws replaced due to rusting out. Most were crotchless or missing thmbs due to us wearing them out. Great fun.

 

To this day I remember how we used to play and get really into it. It usually ended with us fighting over how to do something...

 

Now I don't play with my toys. I open the, pose them and recall the times when I played withthe original (I'm a 25th/Modern man now) and then pack them back up and put them away put of my wifes condescending eye. There have been times where I made a sound effect or imagined a scenario but never played them out.

 

Sure wish they had these when I was a kid...I would have had loads more fun.

[CaptainTriumph]

I can't say yes because I didn't get G.I.Joe as a kid except for a couple of figures. But my daughter and I did play with my Patriot Grizzley Tanks a couple of weeks ago. She not much on sharing though.....

[GIJoeKing65]

I got the Conquest in the mail the other day and I can admit to flying it around the room making (quiet) jet noises.

 

Occasionally, some figures make it off the shelf for a short time, but for the most part this is my version of playing:

 

 

Don't lie! You know the jet noise you were makeing wasn't quite lolol.

 

Oh yes it was! My wife was in the other room and I really didn't want to have to explain what I was doing.

 

Yup... did the same thing with the Firebats I just got hoping the wife wouldn't see.

[GIJoeKing65]

Kind of off topic, but I distinctly remember the day when the mouths of the JOE figures stopped moving (In my imagination anyway). I was playing with the toys as a kid and noticed that and stopped playing with the toys altogether for years.

[JoeRhyno]

I think playing as a kid and playing as an adult are totally different, as an adult, we care too much about the small details, how he's holding his gun, if he has his right gun, how his legs are, can he hold his gear and his gun and look cool on his stand, all that.. by the time we actually want to do anything remotely like "playing" we're done, lol..

 

Most of us I think that "play" with their figs are probably just setting them up in little poses and that's it. Now kids, that's different, they don't have to always have the right gun, or even hold it right.. and are usually just grabbed by the waist and held against their cobra figure to battle... My son turned 5 this year and finally started "playing" with some of the action figures I gave him, mostly start wars, but still... same thing there, instead of R2 using all his legs and his special features, all his little astromech droids all have their legs the same, one in front, on in the back, sticking straight out and then he spins them like tops, lol... As for the figures, Luke and Anakin walk and play like they're father and son, then mean old Obiwan comes and fights Anakin and then he gets all burnt and becomes Vader, and then Vader has all his clones and then Luke and Han join in the fun and put on their stormtrooper clothes, lol..

 

I just gave him a ship I had, and now they have something to take them to the store.. but it only sits one person, lol..so now I'll have to find something else, so they can all ride to the store together.

 

Now.. granted my son's a little young still, but I think that'll show you a little but why it's a lot easier for a kid to play than an adult.. they simply don't care about all the little things, the articulation and all, my son loves his 1995 stormtrooper just as much as his 2008 clone trooper. To them, like someone said about their couch and their bunk beds, it's about the imagination and the fun of playing, where the adult would get frustrated making sure BeachHead's gun is sitting just right, lol..

 

A cool little side note that kinda fits in, I just moved into the house that I grew up in, my parents built a new house, so I got this one.. and guess what's on the side of the house still??? That one willow tree stump that was COBRA ISLAND!!!! Granted, it's all worn down and grown over, but it's still there, I can't wait till the weather's nice and show my son, lol.