Memory Lane of GI Joe's, or "What's in Mom's Basement"

Started by bayonetbrant, June 10, 2014, 02:44:35 PM

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Toonces



The bummer is that I've been through my mom's basement a number of times and there are no cool nostalgic toys left.  They've all gone to toy heaven.   :'(
"If you had a chance, right now, to go back in time and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it?  I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him because I think he's awesome." - Eric Cartman

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bayonetbrant

Quote from: Toonces on June 11, 2014, 12:45:38 AM
A couple of days ago one of the guys in my office brought in his AD&D 2nd Edition Monster's Manual.  Man alive did that bring back some memories!  I had the red box basic set, blue expert set, and wasn't there a turquoise set above expert? and all of the AD&D 1st edition stuff back when I was about 12. 

The 2e MM was '92 or '93 or so (and was actually called the "Monstrous" Manual).  They also released a binder version of it with all the different monsters from different modules / expansions as 3-hole-drill expansion packs.
There was an '80-'81 Red/Blue pair of sets that had the white circled numbers in the top left corner and 3-hole-drill books. 
In '83-'84 or so, they started releasing the boxes you're thinking of, and they ran Basic (Red) - Expert (Dk Blue) - Companion (teal) - Masters (black) - Immortal (gold)
The module codes were B - X - CM - M - IM, and there were the GAZ series of country backgrounds and the Red Arrow, Black Shield module/wargame
There was also a handful of boxed campaign sets for the Mystara setting, including the Hollow World expansion, Wrath of the Immortals, and the Princess Ark (based on a Dragon Magazine series of articles)
And yes, I've got all of those in the man-cave back home.  That series was the one I played / followed the most when I was growing up, and I was one of the earlier contributors to the site now known as the Vault of Pandius back when it was still just a set of message boards on the dial-up AOL in the early/mid-90s.
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BanzaiCat

Damn, I had quite a GI Joe collection as an elementary school kid and even into sixth/seventh grade, but by then I'd played with them so much the rubber bands in their torsos broke, or the thumbs broke off from constant weapon changes, so they'd be far from collectable now.

I pined big time for the USS Flagg, that ginourmous carrier, but it was so godawfully expensive then (much more now of course).

I still remember my 'real' GI Joe from when I was five or so...the 12" figure with the beard and the eagle-eye view. Also had some kind of tower that I vaguely remember the pieces to and putting it together.

Oh hell, this looks like it! I remember the reddish support struts clearly but little else about it:





Now that I think about it, the beard made him look much less 'elite special forces' and more 'hey kids, free candy in my panel van!"


Ubercat

I had the big GI Joe's as well.

Quote from: Toonces on June 11, 2014, 12:45:38 AM
And...I remember this cool plastic Iwo Jima Mount Suribachi with an elevator, big artillery gun, and all sorts of stuff along with green and tan army men.  Now that was living!  I think that died while I was still a young guy because I can't remember seeing that after about 12 or 13. 

Great stuff man!

Are you sure that wasn't a guns of Navarone play set? I had that, with the elevator and the guns and the green and tan armymen.
"If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labelled a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago, and a racist today."

- Thomas Sowell

BanzaiCat

I had Navarone as well...got it for my birthday just before sixth grade started.






DoctorQuest

Quote from: Steelgrave on June 10, 2014, 05:34:27 PM
Pshaw.....kids, this is a GI Joe:



My favorite toy as a kid. God, I wanted the GI Joe in a Mercury capsule soooo bad, but my footlocker was full of gear so I was hardly deprived. Awesome toy. Screw that Cobra stuff....my GI Joe was still fighting Nazi's!!!

Yup. Had one. I also had the dress Marine version (in honor of my uncle) which was pretty cool. My prize was the Mercury capsule mentioned earlier. It had a record that I played the heck out of which has sound bites from some of the real Mercury missions. "Zero gee and I feel fine. Capsule is turning around. The view is spectacular!"

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. 
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"Zero-G and I feel fine....." - John Glenn

"I reject your reality and substitute my own." - Adam Savage, inventor of the alternative fact.

BanzaiCat

Not GI Joe, but I had this toy back in 4th grade or so. The capsule and the Bionic Man.



Hadn't thought of that, either, for many years. Thanks for the memories. Or the feeling of being really, really old now. ;)

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bob48

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'

'Clip those corners'

Recombobulate the discombobulators!

BanzaiCat


bob48

^Still one of my favourites.

...and you try tellin' that to the kids today.........
'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers'

'Clip those corners'

Recombobulate the discombobulators!

Toonces

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on June 11, 2014, 09:11:32 AM
I had Navarone as well...got it for my birthday just before sixth grade started.




Holy shit!  That's exactly it!  LOL.  I googled Iwo Jima playset but couldn't find it...man, that is so cool.  I remember that my mom ordered it from Sears of all places.  Do you guys remember that huge Sears catalog you'd get around Christmas?  My brother and I would pour through the toy section of that to pick out Christmas gifts and that's where I got that playset from (I think).

That is so cool you found that.  Man alive, I played the crap out of that thing when I was a kid.

And Brant, you are a frikkin' encyclopedia on D&D.  I had up to the teal set, but I didn't go to the gold and black.  We moved to 1st ed AD&D after we finished the expert set.  I don't think we ever even used the teal one. 

I wish I still had all of that stuff.   :-\
"If you had a chance, right now, to go back in time and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it?  I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him because I think he's awesome." - Eric Cartman

"Does a watch list mean you are being watched or is it a come on to Toonces?" - Biggs

BanzaiCat

I can't remember what happened to mine...it might have been thrown away as pieces were lost slowly over time and we moved to a new house back in '83 or so. Same story with my Star Wars Death Star Playset...I got that when I was eight years old. My grandmother had found one in San Antonio and put it on a bus (of all things) to send it to us in Virginia. If I'd known then how valuable those things would be today...

I remember very well the Sears catalogs...they were pretty much colorized Christmas lists. I'd go through and circle everything I wanted...which I was instructed to do. :) Of course I'd only get a fraction of the literally dozens of things I'd request, but I didn't care...it was all cool, regardless, no matter what they ended up getting.

I just thought of this thing...I got this for Christmas in fifth grade, I think...the Battleground WWII playset. Anyone else have it?


Ubercat

I didn't have it, but I dreamed of getting it and combining it with the Navarone set. Man, those pics up above sure bring back memories.
"If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labelled a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago, and a racist today."

- Thomas Sowell

Gusington

I also had a ton of GI Joes like Brant and Toonces and my Mom also threw them all away :( I still have the comics at least. If I still had the figures today they'd be worth 100s!


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