GI Joe Memories, Part 2

Time to carry on with the GI Joe memories from this post.

1. Keel Haul - When the Flagg came out, I knew there was no way that I was going to get it. It was just too dang big. The Defiant Complex was a little bit of a different situation. The Complex was a beast, but it wasn't quite the huge beast that the Flagg was. I figured that getting Admiral Keel Haul was going to be near impossible. Oddly enough, the kid's pizza restaurant, Chuck E. Cheese, came to my rescue. I don't recall when I actually got the Keel Haul figure, but I think it may have been in the early 90's. Somehow I found out about a promotion at Chuck E. Cheese in which the Keel Haul figure was being given away as prize for some of their games. Well, the next chance I got, I headed to the nearest Chuck E. Cheese and I was able to pick up one for just a few dollars. Score! I added Keel Haul to my ranks without the investment of the Flagg. Over the past few years, I have drastically reduced the size of my old ARAH collection. I think Keel Haul will be one of the ones that stays with me.
2. 12" Modern Figures - As someone who grew up with the original GI Joe figures, when Hasbro reintroduced the 12" soldier into the stores, I was all over them. Target started the rebirth of the 12" line with their exclusive Duke figure. Hasbro moved forward with a 30th Anniversary line, which were cool, but lacking drastically in the articulation of the figures. Eventually, Hasbro released a 40th Anniversary serieswhich replicated the original GI Joe and many of the original style sets. This progressed to further development into more a modern style of 12"articulated figure, especially the super articulated body. For a few years, I was pretty intensly focused on the 12" lines. Many of the new troops were modern military soldiers. Hasbro also started putting out 12" versions of the ARAH characters. They also had a huge assortment of varied head sculpts. This lead to a bit of an obsession with creating as many ARAH characters in 12" size as I possibly could. I even have another blog, somewhat abandoned, primarily devoted to the big guys. One day, I'll get back to it. One day.
3. 25th Anniversary boxed set - When I first saw the pictures online of the new rebirth of GI Joe with the boxed sets for the 25th Anniversary, I wasn't really that impressed. Everything I saw about them highlighted the flaws in those initial designs. I was willing to just let them pass by. I happened to stumble upon a battered clearanced boxed set of those first five GI Joe figures and bought it. Sure, they had issues, but dammit, they were pretty cool! It didn't take too long until I was addicted to these new figures and have been hooked ever since!
4. Zombie Viper Wave - The Rise of Cobra had come and gone and the GI Joe line transitioned into the Pursuit of Cobra with Renegades figures and 30th Anniversary figures soon to follow. One day, I happened to swing by a local Walmart after work and there was one peg hook that looked to be freshly stocked with new figures. I'm pretty sure I bought ten figures that day. I think I paid a few bucks over $80.00. Let's se if I can remember all of them... Renegades Duke, Scarlett, Tunnel Rat, Ripcord, and Airtight. Lifeline, Sci-Fi, Law & Order, and two Zombie Vipers. Hell yeah!
5. Dollar General figures- The late Gary Head was the original source of information about these figures. I saw his pictures of the figures that he acquired prior to the figures making it to Dollar General stores. Once they showed up... Holy crap, I was all over them! Especially the Cobra soldiers both in the black uniforms and the later lighter blue uniforms. Of the six figures, from both redeco'd waves, the Cobra soldiers were my favorite and I never passed on them when I saw them. Never. My next favorite was the Storm Shadow figures, both of which I use as members of different ninja clans. Shipwreck was next; such an awesome base for customs. Next up was the "Duke" figure. Not so much, I never bought too many. Finally, tied for last place were the Snake Eyes and Cobra Commander figures. Both sucked, but not bad enough for me not to buy at least a couple of each color versions. I really wish Hasbro would revisit this concept again. Those figures were a great way to keep GI Joe out in the retail environment.

I've decided to cut down the list of memories from my previous post. Perhaps I'll revisit this idea again. How about you? What sort of GI Joe memories do you have? Share one or two in the comments!