Oh the shame of it!

This is no way to treat these guys!

This is how I've stored my G.I. Joe figures for the past 15-20 years. Disgraceful! Fortunately, there are only two damaged figures in this mess. One day soon, I need to get their filecards and weapons out and sort them all properly.

The Best Helicopter Ever!

The Air Adventurer wants his ride back!

I had the AT Helicopter when I was a kid and played with it until it was dead! By the time it was "retired," it was probably more glue than plastic. I bought this one from Buddy Finethy at a local Joe collectors club meeting. He's a great guy and a true supporter of the GI Joe collector community here in the metro Atlanta area.

This is more of a nostalgia piece for me. I'd love to have a minty fresh one, but this will do for now.

Stirring up some stuff...

I've been stirring up some opinions over on Joedios.com in regards to some of the pictures that I posted on the site. Interesting discussions from the gang on Joedios, all intelligent and well thought out. The best part of it is that nothing has turned personal which says a lot about the great collectors at Joedios. You can see all my pictures on Joedios here.

The primary comments about this picture had to do with the customization of Flint - adding gloves - and the look on his face in regards to the battle. No one commented on the guy in the back, laying face down with a particularly nasty head shot.

Again, not many comments about the nature of the scene, more about the paint job on Scarlett and Bazooka's rifle (it came from the 70's Star Wars collection!). Still a brutal shot. Somebody pumped some armor piercing rounds through Major Bludd's body armor!

This is the most controversial picture of my recent uploads. Would General Hawk execute Cobra Commander in such a brutal fashion? It depends on how you view these characters.

The cartoon/Marvel comic book CC (Cobra Commander) surely wouldn't deserve this. He should have been taken into custody and put on trial. That's been tried before and he always gets out and causes more death and destruction.

In the Devil's Due comics, CC was indirectly responsible for the death of millions when Boston was nuked. Plus countless other lives lost in the resulting conflict. A trial would be great, but if there's a chance of him getting out and starting things over again...

Most GI Joe collectors have their own "Joe-verse" stored in their heads. They have taken bits and pieces of the comics, cartoons, and good old-fashioned imagination and made their own GI Joe universe. Mine has bits of the old cartoon series, and Marvel and DD series combined with my own junk.

The bottom line is that these guys are soldiers and the essential job of a soldier is to kill people and break things. Cobra forces simply want to kill people and break things. My CC doesn't want to rule the world (imagine the paperwork!), he just wants to cause pain and suffering to those that he percieves had wronged him. The Joe team is the response and they must act accordingly - when in combat against a ruthless enemy, it is kill or be killed.

At this point, in regards to the pictures, GI Joe has been given Presidential Authority to end the threat of Cobra forever. No more mercy, no more sham trials - end it forever. This encounter is an assault on a meeting of the core of Cobra Command as it is losing its grip on its worldwide resources. This is a chance to get them all in one swift attack.

Mad dogs are put down for the good of society. Cobra Commander is a mad dog. All Hawk had to do is visualize all the faces of all the soldiers that he has lost to this madman. Pulling the trigger wouldn't seem so hard.

The Final Battle

I recently set up a mini diorama of my troops engaged in the final battle against Cobra. Here's one of many pictures I took and the one that captures most of the action.


I've begun to take a few of the other pictures and have been adding some Photoshop effects to add a little extra drama.

Beach Head, Shipwreck and Falcon examine the dead and dying.

Hawk's troops look on as he aims his weapon at Cobra Commander. Will he or won't he?

Stay tuned!

The General...

Filecard Information: Hawk was the original field commander of the Joe Team before he got his General's star and was booted upstairs to honcho the entire G. I. Joe Operation. He's a West Point graduate and has a list of special education credits as long as his arm, but he still managed to get the main body of his experience out there where it counts—on the battle field.

He's the top dog on the G.I. Joe team, a true leader of men, one that leads his team into battle. Hawk's character started in the original release of the G.I. Joe toys in 1982 as the Colonel in charge of the team. The second release of the character was in 1986 and he had been promoted to General. That's the best interpretation of Hawk through the years.

I definitely wanted to recreate him in the 12" scale. There's been several other versions of Hawk to follow the original General Hawk, but this version has always been my favorite. There was a version with a jet pack and flight suit, the talking Battlefield Commander version with the hideous tan and other versions based on the 1986 version or the flight suit version.

I decided to stick with the 1986 version. He's wearing a relatively basic uniform that should be fairly easy to recreate in 12" form.

I actually used the jacket that came with the Anniversary General that was released at Target way back around the time the 30th Anniversary Joes were released. Remember those guys? With those hideously bulky non-articulated bodies? That's okay, they were a necessary step in reviving the 12" G.I. Joe!

The next step in the evolution of this version of General Hawk came during the 25th Anniversary of the Real American Hero line. Hawk was first released in a two-pack with Scarlett, but he was more in line with the original style uniform. I anxiously awaited the version that I knew had to be made.

When I saw the first pictures, I knew I had to get this figure! An excellent job at capturing this iconic look of General Hawk. Excellent detailing and accessories. Hasbro did a great job!

Here's a look at the General in 3 different versions, my 12" version, the original General and the 25th General.