GI Joe 12" figures

Here's a place for NON '66 Batman related subjects.

Moderators: Scott Sebring, Ben Bentley

User avatar
John Mack
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:15 pm

GI Joe 12" figures

Post by John Mack »

One of my other passions besides Batman are GI Joe 12" figures. Sorry, Ben. I dont know anything about Action Man.
Thought it could be fun to post about them here. The GI Joe websites I've come across favor the newer 3 3/4" Cobra figures. I never got into that. So please, when posting here make it just about the non Cobra figures, so I can chime in too! Thanks. The later Joe's are fine too, as long as they're the not Cobra related.
Music. BAT! Music.
User avatar
Keith Mayo
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2017 5:52 am

Re: GI Joe 12" figures

Post by Keith Mayo »

I used to collect 12" Joes and did a lot of kitbashing and customizing. This is a "mini me" I made for my father.
Attachments
WP_20140706_16_10_20_Pro.jpg
WP_20140706_16_10_33_Pro.jpg
WP_20140706_16_10_47_Pro.jpg
"It's the very essence of our democracy". - Batman, S1 Ep 11
User avatar
Keith Mayo
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2017 5:52 am

Re: GI Joe 12" figures

Post by Keith Mayo »

I won a kitbash contest at the SC Joe Convention in 1999 with this Iwo Jima diorama.
Attachments
th_IwoJima.jpg
th_IwoJima.jpg (4.5 KiB) Viewed 8653 times
"It's the very essence of our democracy". - Batman, S1 Ep 11
User avatar
Keith Mayo
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2017 5:52 am

Re: GI Joe 12" figures

Post by Keith Mayo »

My historical USMC uniforms custom.
Attachments
WP_20140517_11_13_40_Pro.jpg
WP_20140322_16_02_31_Pro.jpg
WP_20140322_16_02_37_Pro.jpg
"It's the very essence of our democracy". - Batman, S1 Ep 11
User avatar
Keith Mayo
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2017 5:52 am

Re: GI Joe 12" figures

Post by Keith Mayo »

Drill Instructor's "house" (office in a Parris Island squadbay). Technically not GIjOEs as I used 20th Century Sam figures.
Attachments
Dihut1.jpg
Dihut2.jpg
Dihut3.jpg
"It's the very essence of our democracy". - Batman, S1 Ep 11
User avatar
Lou Szabo
Posts: 0
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2012 8:22 pm

Re: GI Joe 12" figures

Post by Lou Szabo »

GIJoe was sold around the world, starting in 1966’ about 2 years after the iUS introduction, under various names.

Action Man is GIJoe in the UK. In their Soldiers of the World, they included the Green Beret as the US figure.
They had a large variety of uniforms we never had.

In Spain they had a Disney licensed Zorro figure for their Geyperman line, as GIJoe was known there.
Some days you just can't get rid of a ... SHARK!
User avatar
SprangFan
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:34 am

Re: GI Joe 12" figures

Post by SprangFan »

Those are awesome, Keith. GI Joe will forever be a 12-inch figure in my mind; it's cool that they took on a new popularity later at a different scale, but the complete retooling of the entire concept (into a SHIELD-like global agency) made it unrecognizable to me.

Anyway, I got one "old school" Joe before the "Adventure Team" phase hit. Then I had a ginger Joe with beard and "life-like hair" ( if you're a hedgehog). My most fondly remembered play set for my original Joe was the Friendship 7 space capsule with the silver spacesuit. I remember playing with it while listening to the included record of John Glen's transmissions back to CapCom.

Later my little brother got a "talking" Joe and ruined him by taking him on a submarine mission in the bathtub. After that he still "talked" but he sounded like he'd had a stroke.

We bailed about the time Kung Fu Grip showed up. I had a dog-eared old catalog with color photos of the wide line of pre-Adventure Team, clean-shaven serviceman Joe's and always wished I hadn't arrived at the party too late to get them.
"You were right again, Batman. We might have been killed."
"Or worse. Let's go..."
User avatar
Yellow Oval
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:57 am

Re: GI Joe 12" figures

Post by Yellow Oval »

Keith,

That collection is phenomenal - especially the Mini-Me. I fondly remember the Joes, especially the commercials advertising "G.I. Joe now with the kung fu grip!" I remember how excited I was with this commercial thinking the guys at the beginning were the real life G.I. Joes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g5vH9A8t9I

My friends and I were too realistic when we played war with them drilling holes into some and inserting firecrackers and then yelling "INCOMING!!!" You can guess the rest. Man, what boys can come up with during playing sessions... Actually, on the funny side, one my friends discovered you could clean-shave a Joe using dad's Wilkinson razor. Too funny! :lol: I miss those days.
"Hmmm... I don't like the twist this joke is taking. Let us away! Let us away!"
User avatar
Therin of Andor
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2015 5:46 pm

Re: GI Joe 12" figures

Post by Therin of Andor »

My youngest brother was getting close to disbelieving in Santa Claus. That year I was actually allowed to help my mother buy and wrap his presents (after years of secrecy and mystery). After several years of me plumping up his 8" Mego superheroes collection, we went out with a bang: a GI Joe, his inflatable raft, and the amazing yellow "GI Joe" helicopter! Many 8" superheroes got to ride in that chopper.

https://youtu.be/8VM9w4d7TkE
"Holy nostalgia, Batman!"
Therin of Andor

(aka Ian McLean, from Sydney, Australia)
User avatar
Yellow Oval
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:57 am

Re: GI Joe 12" figures

Post by Yellow Oval »

I loved everything - the figures, the vehicles, the playsets, the accessories, the whole nine yards. I remember really wanting the Adventure Team Headquarters with the flashing spotlight or the desert set with the Egyptian cobra. Looking back at the G.I. Joe of the '60s and '70s, this figure was John Wayne's military soldier and (later on) Indiana Jones' treasure hunter wrapped into one. I remember one pal had the chopper and when I checked this old ad out I was surprised how much it seemed with the music, the toy props used, and action like an early forerunner of the Six Million Dollar Man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzaF93gwUQw

Steve Austin - works for the O.S.I.
G.I. Joe - works for H.A.S.B.R.O.

Steve Austin - A man barely alive...
G.I. Joe - He ain't even alive, he's plastic!

Steve Austin - The Six Million Dollar Man
G.I. Joe - A Bargain at Monkey Ward's for Only $5.47

http://gijoe.ebcutler.com/christmas/1970s.html
"Hmmm... I don't like the twist this joke is taking. Let us away! Let us away!"
User avatar
John Mack
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:15 pm

Re: GI Joe 12" figures

Post by John Mack »

Very impressive collection Keith!!

Can you guys help me ID a Joe? He's marked 1994 on his rear. As you can see, he's got two stars on his collar. I know this is one of the newer ones, but he's 25 years old now, and is in great shape. Any ideas? More photos needed?
Attachments
20191116_202613-612x816.jpg
20191116_201636-600x800.jpg
Music. BAT! Music.
User avatar
John Mack
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:15 pm

Re: GI Joe 12" figures

Post by John Mack »

Oh, I hear you guys! The adventures I had with my Joes!! I wish I hadn't destroyed them, but as with my Corgi Batmobiles being destroyed by M80's (The Joker's dynamite) I destroyed my Joe's with cherry bombs.

I had an Air Force Joe with a huge parachute that I never could fully get to open and see him float, so I went to our local railway bridge and threw him off. Yeah, the chute opened, Joe was saved, but the wind carried him off for a half mile into the forest preserve. Alas, Joe was MIA. Never to have been found by me. I wasn't too smart. But you know, as with the Corgis, I thought these would be around forever. I never stopped to think that one day they'd be no more.

Great stories guys! Which Joe was your favorite? Mine was the deep sea diver and the SCUBA diver in both black and later the orange Adventure Team wetsuit.
Music. BAT! Music.
User avatar
John Mack
Posts: 0
Joined: Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:15 pm

Re: GI Joe 12" figures

Post by John Mack »

Great videos too!! I thought I was the only one that thought those two guys were life size Joes!
Music. BAT! Music.
User avatar
Keith Mayo
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2017 5:52 am

Re: GI Joe 12" figures

Post by Keith Mayo »

John, the Joe is from the 1994 WWII Commemorative line. They were the first set of Joes once Hasbro reintroduced the 12" line. In that set was an Army General, Navy Admiral and then the Action Soldier, Sailor and Marine (dressed in period accurate uniforms). There was no Air Force at that time (Army Air Corps).
Attachments
s-l1600.jpg
s-l16001.jpg
"It's the very essence of our democracy". - Batman, S1 Ep 11
User avatar
Keith Mayo
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2017 5:52 am

Re: GI Joe 12" figures

Post by Keith Mayo »

A few more of my kitbashed Joes.
Attachments
WP_000323.jpg
WP_000324.jpg
WP_20140115_15_34_23_Pro.jpg
"It's the very essence of our democracy". - Batman, S1 Ep 11
Post Reply