European Joe's

That cover, again?!

I’ve seen it on the US comic book, the reprints of that comic book, as a puzzle, on posters, a metal sign, and now as a metal ingot. Am I tired of seeing it? Hell to the no. I can never get enough of it.

It comes wrapped in a very sturdy cardboard box with a window and the Snake-Eyes box art in the corner.

The back of the box states that only 1,982 of these ingots have been made worldwide. If you want to know which number I got, keep on reading… The company that has created and sold these ingots, is Fanatik. They have a whole collection of Pop Culture coins and memorabilia. Go check it out!

The ingot itself is heavily embossed version of the G.I. Joe issue #1 Marvel comic book. The difference here is the Arashikage logo in the bottom left where the barcode should be and no reference to Marvel whatsoever. The banner that should be showing Marvel Comics Group is blank gray. The G.I. Joe logo is higher than the rest, hence the shadow in the picture on the tagline.

The back of the ingot features the G.I. Joe logo on a black all-over print showing YO JOE! On the bottom of the back is the Hasbro trademark and the individual number of the ingot (limited to 1,982). I’ve got #0454.

In the box, there is also a little plastic stand included to display the ingot together with your comics and/or toys, or just the ingot itself. That’s really up to you.

That’s it for now. See you again soon, until then… Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Bearely a Ninja

I’m back with a new addition to my collection. This time it’s something I knew existed, but I didn’t know they had made one with a G.I. Joe connection. Until now…

You may have to grab a magnifying glass, because it’s printed quite small on the box. For reference, the box is 7cm tall and 4cm wide. For those that use Imperial measurements – Execute Order 66 and get with the rest of the world 🙂

Changes of getting the G.I. Joe Hero Bearbrick, yes, it’s Snake-Eyes, are slim… Only 4.16% of all boxes ship from the factory with this figure in it.

Bearbrick – Hero G.I. Joe with only 4.16% chance

I didn’t get so lucky though, No, I cheated and bought me an open box so I was sure I was getting him.

The figure itself is the iconic Bearbrick shape with an all-over Snake-Eyes print. The ears are made of clear plastic, the rest of the figure is black. The print itself is very clean and sharp.

Bearbrick – Series 51 – Snake-Eyes file card

The back of the file card – by lack of a better word for it – shows the classic Snake-Eyes artwork we have all seen countless times before, but it still looks so good.

That’s all for now. See you again soon and don’t forget… Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

E sapere è metà della battaglia

And now you know… the rest of this famous G.I. Joe sentence in Italian. Why this is relevant you ask? Well, I recently came across some Marvel G.I. Joe comics from Italy and I had to snatch them up for my collection.

The first one I have is #2 (coincidently the one that in the US version has my birthday on it), The Panic at the North Pole. The issue contains not just this story, but also Hot Potato. The cover shows the English title in the bottom right, but also the Italian version in the left bottom corner. The top left shows Hawk, the volume (anno 1), the issue number and the price in Itialian Lire. FYI, although we have the Euro in most of Europe as currency, the exchange rate for ITL is still usable, 2000 ITL would be around $1.22…

The editorial page shows Scarlett, but strangely enough, her crossbow has been removed from the drawing. The issue was released in December of 1988, so more than 6 years after the original US release.

The header of the splash page is still showing Stan Lee presenting G.I. Joe.

On the inside of the back cover, a commercial is printed for the G.I. Joe cartoon that was aired on the Odeon TV network as of 9/26 at 5PM… Did I mention this issue was released in December… Great timing don’t you think?

The second issue I got was issue #3.

Here we see that the volume has gone up 1 (anno 2) and Hawk’s pants are now solid green. No more English titles, all is Italian here.

In the middle of the book, a full page is dedicated to some letters from fans. Little Alessandro and Sergio were probably very proud to see their letters printed in this issue. Not just letters though, the next page is showing some gorgeous fan art.

The next issue I found was issue #6. Here they dropped the volume all together and they’re not showing a title as well. To be fair, the English cover didn’t show a title too.

Issue #3 and #6, both have an extra story in the book, though not like issue #2 that had Hot Potato, these 2 have a story called “I’ll Cinese”. Not sure why they felt the need to add some other story to the G.I. Joe issues, but the art is quite good.

No commercials for the cartoon in issues #3 and #6 too. They have a commercial for other comic books. The NAM in issue #3 and something called Balbao in issue #6., I don’t think this is about Rocky, but it does feature a black haired man.

Detective Balboa – maybe related to Rocky?

That’s it for this time. I’ll be back with another update soon. Until then, Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Does size matter?

For some things, probably. For G.I. Joe figures, not really, I’ll gladly add any figure to my collection and – today – with these Just Play mini figures, that is no exception .

I found these whilst browsing on eBay and I hadn’t come across any of these before. The shipping took some time, but they arrived in just under a month after buying.

Each of the figures comes with a bonus foil card which is a nice plus. The figures themselves are ok looking, not that detailed, but given their size, that’s only fair. The brand is Just Play, but that doesn’t really suit these figures. They’re more like little statuettes or game board figures, maybe a little like those Warhammer figures? I heard of them, haven’t actually seen those up close, so I could be wrong.

On the back of the cards, like with Pokémon, they urge you collect them all… I have only seen these 3 and they only show these 3, so I guess that’s “Mission Accomplished” for me.

See you next time. Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Somebody give that man a medal!

That somebody would be me and that man would also be me. Yes, I bought myself a medal. Not just any medal, more of a Challenge Coin. Since I won’t be making it to any U.S. convention any time soon, I don’t feel guilty about getting this.

That’s it for this short update. A bigger update is coming soon, keep you posted. Until then … Happy Collecting and YoJoe!