The Year of Joe - January 2020

As you know, my goal for the year is to build my vintage GI Joe collection, primarily focused on the years 1982-1987.

I started with four vintage figures and one vehicle (The Wolverine).

I managed to get several awesome figures from a local vintage toy store and a few from ToyBox. I did break my rule about Ebay once or twice. Most of those were before I made the pledge to keep away from Ebay and enjoy the actual hunt. But those pesky straight arm figures are hard to find in the wild.

What I started with:
Short Fuze, Steeler, Grand Slam and Covergirl + Wolverine

Ebay Purchase
Breaker, Flash, Rock n Roll, Stalker + Toss n Cross with Tollbooth. I never had Rock n Roll or Flash when I was growing up. Always wanted them. Now I have them. Woohoo!

Tosche Station Purchases
Joe - Gung Ho, Tripwire, Snowjob, Doc, Barbecue, Iceberg, Torpedo, Dusty, Blowtorch
Cobra - Destro, Firefly, StormShadow, Dr. Mindbender

ToyBox
Joe - Zap, Tiger Force Tripwire
Cobra - BAT, Night Viper

Found Among my Other Stuff
Original Snow Serpent

Somewhere among all my stuff is still a Beachhead, Original Iceberg and Tunnel Rat.  Hopefully I'll find them someday.

We'll see what February has in store.

Series 1 - 1982 - all straight arm except Steeler.

Series 2 - 1983

Series 3 - 1984

Series 4 - 1985

Series 5 - 1986

Marvel Legends Netflix Daredevil and Elektra vs the Hand Ninjas

These red clothed Hand Ninjas from the Marvel Legends 2 pack from years ago have had so many uses. After setting them up against Wolverine a few months back, I also had them battle the Netflix versions of Daredevil and Elektra. Lots of fun.  We need some more figures from that show. Unfortunately, Netflix stopped making them. Hopefully DisneyPlus will take over.

RIP Kobe

I always enjoyed basketball, especially the Bulls era with Jordan and Pippen (I am a Chicago native).

But there was something about Kobe I had to respect even if he played for the evil Lakers. He was a human, had his faults - but his unwavering desire and competitiveness were inspiring.

I think the first McFarlane basketball figure I purchased was Kobe in Series 3. Plenty more followed it.

Rest in Peace Kobe.

Kobe even attended my action figure house party years ago.

GI Joe: Vintage Cobra Snow Serpent

I didn't have to go out and find this guy. I found him among a bag of newer Snow Serpents from the 25th Anniversary line. This is the last vintage Joe I purchased as a "kid" - a kid in high school - too cool for toys. But I saw the design and had to have him. All original gear. Will have to make sure I have the right missile launcher though.

This is the original file card as well.

This Little Mermaid VHS Tape Could be Worth Thousands

Have you ever seen that clickbait? Supposedly there is the Black Diamond collection of Disney VHS tapes from the 80s/90s that can be worth a lot of money. Don't believe that hype. That has been debunked. However, before I debunked it, I was in a small town in Indiana this summer visiting relatives. The few stores on main street were mainly antique stores. There were plenty of Disney VHS tapes around. I was wondering if they had the Little Mermaid one.

Lo and behold, there it was. I purchased it for a dollar fifty. I'm going to sell it for $1000. Surprised no one else grabbed it over the years.

It's been a long time since I purchased a VHS tape. Don't even have a player anymore.

What's the big deal? Well it's the art work, specifically the design of the castle turrets. Take a look - does it remind you of anything?

Well, the phallic symbol turrets made it past censors originally but then the movie posters and DVD covers were soon replaced.