G.I. Joe – Page 13 – European Joe's

The tale of the well-traveled Mr. Sneeden

Last year, Funko released the G.I. Joe Beach Head figure as an NYCC Exclusive. At first, it looked like it would be very hard to find one over here in Europe. After searching for a while and debating with myself just how much money I was going to spend on him, I found one on eBay for a very reasonable price, $30 including shipping to Belgium. All the others I had come across were either cheap but with expensive shipping costs or they asked already more than $30 for just the figures. So, I didn’t doubt long and bought it. Paid with PayPal. Friendly contact with the seller. So far so good. And then started the waiting game.

I waited a long time, but suddenly I got contacted through Facebook Messenger by some guy from Norway. He sent me pictures of the Beach Head Funko pop, papers with my name and address on them, and accused me of trying to rip him off. I explained that I did buy the figure on eBay, that my data was correct, but that the tracking information I got from eBay was still showing my figure in transit. We soon discovered that we both ordered from the same seller, and that most likely the packages got mixed up. The confirmation for that arrived a few days later, when I received ‘my package’. It contained the Norwegian’s Star Wars figure.

I contacted the seller and he remained friendly and was quite upset with the mixup. He only had 2 international sales and it just happened to be these 2 that got messed up. He told me not to worry and just file for a return through eBay. There the trouble started. There was no way that I could initiate a return shipping other than sending it back on my own initiative and cost. The seller tried to get it initiated, but couldn’t make it happen as well. I then contacted the eBay Customer Support. I must say, they were quite helpful and quite timely to reply. They told me that because it was an international sale, no returns could be initiated from eBay itself and I would have to arrange it through PayPal. So, I launched an inquiry with PayPal. Meanwhile, the Norwegian guy and I had come to an agreement, we’d ship the packages between us, if the seller would pay for the fees. We never heard back from the seller on that offer. And after escalating with PayPal Support, we got our money back in full. We could start the exchange ourselves.

I tried to register the parcel with our Belgian Postal Service, but they were asking $44 to ship the package to Norway! I wasn’t going to pay that much for the Funko Pop figure, and so I looked at other shipping providers. DHL, DPD, several others, they all charged more than that. It was insane. Since we don’t live that far from the border with The Netherlands, I thought to look with their PostNL. They offered the shipping for just $23. So I risked it – technically all non-essential travel outside of Belgium is still discouraged – and drove to the nearest Dutch post office. I filled in a few forms, paid the fee and the package was on it’s way to Norway. Due to the pandemic, shipping times are longer, but just a few days later, I received my Funko Pop figure and another few days and the Star Wars figure landed in Norway. Happy Ending 🙂

Let me end this post with some pictures of the Beach Head Funko Pop figure. I won’t go into another Belgian Post rant. Believe me, I want to, but I’m not going to. Enjoy the pictures.

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Pardon my French – Part 2

Well, I did it again. I was browsing through a local second hand marketplace app when I came across this vinyl record with cartoon tunes from the 80’s in French.

This time, not just a 7″ single, but a full 12″ album with the tunes for G.I. Joe, Jem, Transformers, Bravestarr, Clair de Lune and Guerres Secretes.

The A side contains the tunes.

The B side has 2 stories, one of Clair de Lune and 1 of G.I. Joe.

The story is a 14 minutes radio drama where Cobra is making ships disappear with some sort of magnetic weapon. They have a huge base underwater and in the end G.I. Joe comes along and attacks it from all sides. Cobra Commander and Destro need to flee to try and terrorize the world another day. Sounds familiar, right? They stole this story and turned it into part of The Rise of Cobra script.

It may not be the best of stories, and certainly not the best voice acting, but even then, this vinyl album is a great little gem showing the international appeal of G.I. Joe. I’m very glad to add this to my collection. Now If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go and listen to the rest of the album and maybe this holiday, I have to introduce my girls to Jem…

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Play that Funko Little Joe Euro Boy

It has been a while since I added something new to my collection. Today these four little Funko Mystery Mini Retro Pops have arrived.

I got these figures through an eBay auction and actually scored them for a nice price. The little Shipwreck has both his grappling hook and Polly, something his bigger version is lacking (see this post). The Snake Eyes figure is all black. That’s always a good look, but on this figure, it does seem a bit cheap. At least there is some glossy black to make some details stand out. He comes with no accessories whatsoever. Strange if you ask me since his hand is shaped like he could perfectly hold a sword or UZI…

The Leatherneck figures are nice. A simple repaint, it’s not like we haven’t seen that before in the G.I. Joe universe… The 3.75″ figures had nine iterations. Still, it’s a bit odd that they have chosen Leatherneck. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a cool character, but if you ask a hundred Joe fans to list their top-5 Joes, I don’t think he’ll be mentioned a lot.

These little figures do have me thinking back to the Sunbow cartoon episode ‘Once upon a Joe’. Mind you, I haven’t seen that cartoon as a kid, but we had a sticker book from Panini in Belgium and The Netherlands that featured this story. There were other stories in the book as well, ‘Cobra’s Creatures’, ‘Jungle Trap’, ‘Haul down the Heavens’, ‘The Phantom Brigade’, ‘Spell of the Siren’, ‘Excalibur’& ‘Ninja Holiday’.

Disclaimer: While I have the original sticker book in my collection, it’s currently somewhere in a storage box. The pictures above were scanned by gijoe.nl, the official G.I. Joe fan page of Belgium and The Netherlands. Check out to see what goodies we got over here (you’ll have to learn Dutch or use a translation app to get the full experience)

That’s it for now. See you around and until then…

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

It’s all so quiet…

While the last few weeks had been packed with new toys coming my way, it has been very calm these last few days. Sure, I pre-ordered the new Funko Pops (Leatherneck and Dr. Mindbender) and there are still some Classified and Retro Line figures that I have pre-ordered as well, but it all seems to have calmed down for now. Naturally, in a few hours, Habro Pulse is going live and lots of new and exciting toys will be announced. I’ll try and watch it, or watch it later when I can. December is traditionally a very expensive month with gifts and this year, we have the extra cost of putting a new roof on our house. If you have been reading along with the blog, you’ll know that we moved 2 years ago and that we’re building 2 new rooms on the attic. One for my daughter to use as bedroom, the other one will be my office/G.I. Joe museum 😊. While we were preparing to put up isolation, we noticed quite some issues with the roof and it was so severe that we have to renew the roof. The works should begin by the end of the month. After that, we can start with isolating and building walls, putting in the wires for lights and outlets, flooring,… A lot of work and a lot of costs, and I may have been stretching my budget to buy new toys quite a bit already. So here I am, waiting to see what new toys are being announced and fearing that I may never be able to have the money for them.

In any case, let’s hope the end of the year will be brighter and healthier than it is right now.

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Pardon my French

Well, I’ve been working from my home office since March and in those 33 weeks, I’ve been expanding my collection with a lot of the new Classified line, the Retro line and Funko Pops. Today however, I have something vintage. And it’s in French.

Yes, it’s the 7″ vinyl of the cartoon’s theme song in French.

Alors, copains & héros, chante avec moi!

No seriously, I didn’t know these even existed until I came across it on a marketplace app. And right on time too, because you can now order the original music on a 12″ full album (see here).

And also vinyl related, Wordburglar will be releasing the amazing Welcome to Cobra Island album on a 12″ as well. The campaign has ended, so if you’re too late, sucks to be you I guess. Grab a digital copy or a cd on bandcamp if you haven’t done so already.

Until next time! Happy Collecting and YoJoe!