European Joe's

Happy New Year 2017 and some looking back

Let me start by wishing you all the very best for 2017! I hope all your wishes and dreams, however crazy or surreal, may come true!

The start of a new year – or anything really – also implies the end of something old. As we say goodbye to 2016, a lot to remember comes to mind.

When I started this blog, I couldn’t dare to think it would become a small success. I’ve always liked writing, but the past couple of years, I couldn’t get myself to getting anything decent on paper. I picked up my Joe collecting a bit more in 2016 and I found it a great way to get back into writing as well. I want to take the opportunity to thank you all for reading my posts and leaving comments and feedback, both here and on Twitter.

A lot has happened in the past 12 months. Terror struck all over the world (just today the attack in Istanbul costs at least 50 lives…), we had to say goodbye to loved ones and to idols (Bowie, Prince, our Princess Leia, Andrew ‘Manuel’ Sachs, Kenny Baker and many more). 2016 probably wasn’t that worse than other years, but it just feels like a lot more bad happened than good. And going over the Social Media outlets, I sense that this feeling is shared by many of you. I hope 2017 may leave a better taste in our mouths in 12 months time.

For me personally, 2016 has given me some more professional challenges besides putting more effort in this blog. It looks like 2017 will see our company growing some more and that also implies more work for me. However, I will try to put out a new post on a weekly basis for 2017, getting more of the fantastic Impel Trading Cards online and show off a lot more of my collection. Meanwhile, the redecorating of the Man Attic is ongoing and will probably get finished this year. I’m making more space for my Joes by putting my others stuff (classic game consoles and lots of books) in storage for now. I can’t bring myself into selling them just yet.

I have a lot of MOC and MISB Joes, that are in boxes as well right now. I’m probably not going to open them up soon (words of a true collector :-)), but I have a lot of Joes from when I was a kid that need some TLC so that I can display them properly. I’m also still thinking about customizing some Joes and other 1:18 series toys to make my collection somewhat more exclusive.

I’m also still thinking about customizing some Joes and other 1:18 series toys to make my collection somewhat more exclusive. I have some great ideas (as always), I’m just not that much of a painter, sculptor or builder. I guess in 2017 I’ll just have to overcome my fear of messing things up and just go with it.

Here’s hoping that 2017 will be a great year! IDW is providing with a lot of comics this year, continuing the ARAH series with Larry Hama, the new Revolution series that sees a crossover between all major IDW properties (apart from My Little Pony I guess), and an all new BIGGER, BOLDER & STRANGER main G.I. Joe line. I really hope this last one is going to be good. It will be hard to come out of the shadows of the ARAH stories.

Not a lot of news from Hasbro, but there will be a Joecon in 2017. I hope to win the lottery this year so I can maybe attend once. As for new figures, I guess we have to look at the club. That Big Lob figure really looks great. There might be something from Hasbro coming out, but I can’t find any clear news on that front as of yet. I know that the golden years will probably never return, but seeing at least a few figures and vehicles in the shops around here would be so nice.

This post has been going on for a while now and I hope it’s the start of many more posts in 2017. I hope you enjoyed reading this. Time to sign out for now!

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Impel Trading Card #25

This week we take the battle with Cobra to the high seas. Get your feet wet landlubbers, here is Shipwreck!

Shipwreck was introduced in the comics in perhaps one of the best story arcs of the Joe line, the creation of Cobra Island in issue 40. He is assigned to set up the new Transportable Tactical Battle Platform on top of an old oil digging site in the Gulf of Mexico.

In the Pyramid of Darkness, Shipwreck teams up with Snake Eyes and infiltrates the Cobra underwater base disguised as Cobra troopers. “Yeah, who’d notice a wet sailor with a parrot and a masked silent man with a Timber wolf.” A while later, both Joes are dancing on stage. I don’t know what those cartoon writer had been smoking…

In the Spy Troops spin-off continuity, Shipwreck is the Joe that get’s to impersonate the big snake himself after Zartan infiltrates the Joes posing as Shipwreck. Not quite James Bond level of spies, but still an entertaining Joe movie.

To end this post, I’d like to link to the ABSOLUTE AWESOME album by Wordburglar, Welcome to Cobra Island. On track 7, Rank & File, Shipwreck is present with some fellow Joes. Go check it out and buy the album. I have it on repeat most of the time in the car. Nautical flows 🙂

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Impel Trading Card #24

Today we are going to take the high road or possibly no road at all. In any case, we are getting high with Impel Trading Card #24, Alpine.

The first memory I have of Alpine is from the Special Missions #2. On this mission, he and Airtight are diffusing a WWII gas bomb on an old bomber that is stuck in a melting glacier. Whilst they are busy with that, another Joe team is in Brasil to protect a wanted Nazi – Doktor Otto Totenschadel. I won’t spoil the story here, if you haven’t read it yet, make sure you do. I feel the Special Missions are more serious and real world than the regular ARAH stories. Words of Honor is one of my favorite stories. It shows the impact WWII still has on our society.

As for the toy line, there have been 7 versions of Alpine released between 1985 and 2015. The original figure did not get a second (and third and fourth!) version until 2004, and I have to say that the 2004 figures are not that great looking. They are all 3 repaints of the same model, and the fourth version made him actually white… This version came in a Tiger Force themed two-pack with Cross Hair. The package art does show Alpine as black, so guess someone in the Hasbro factory is colorblind or something 🙂 They did release a darker version in the same pack later on, so maybe it was a production error? Anybody have any information on this?

That’s it for now. I’ll see you all after Christmas when we will set for the high seas with Impel Trading Card #25… Until then:

Ho Ho YoJoe!

Happy collecting!

I hope you all get to find some Joes underneath the tree on Christmas morning.

Impel Trading Card #23

We have arrived at #23 in our Impel Trading Card overview and review. How clumsy of me to not introduce our Joe Member depicted on the card first…

Here is Tripwire.

There are 6 versions of Tripwire made in the 3 3/4 inch series (http://www.yojoe.com/action/83/tripwire.shtml). My modest collection only includes the original 1983 version. Although I once had a Tiger Force figure, he seems to be MIA. In hand, I always found the figure a bit thin, slender. For a guy working explosives, I should have him wearing something extra padded. Then again, the Joes have always been a bit sci-fi, so maybe he’s wearing the equivalent of this guy below in future tech 🙂

In case you haven’t done so yet, go and check out the G.I. Joe reviews from Formbx257 on Youtube. I’ll post a link below to his Tripwire Review. What do you think of the figure? Let me know in the comments.

In the comics and cartoons, the character works great as comic relief between the often serious and dangerous missions of the Joes. The other Joes really need to have steel nerves and cool to go on a mission with Tripwire in the team. Not sure I could cope with someone like him on my team.

That’s it for this week. I’ll try and post #24 and #25 this year.

As always, Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Impel Trading Card #22

It has been a while, but we are back on track with the review of the Impel Trading Cards. Today we arrived at # 22, First Sergeant Conrad “Duke” Hauser.

Duke is the field commander and second-in-command of the G.I. Joe team after General Hawk. He was first introduced into the comic in issue #22 (and this is the #22 of the Trading Cards, talk about coincidence). He is introduced alongside Roadblock on the funeral of General Flagg, shooting down a Cobra Rattler. The character has been a love him or hate him character all these years. Even Larry Hama (God for the admirers) admitted not really being able to handle the character.

However you feel about the guy, he has played a major role in all of the Joe storylines. In the Marvel run, he keeps on duty till they fold the flag. In the Devil’s Due main comics he takes over active duties from an – spoiler alert – disabled Hawk. In Amera’s Elite, he leads the Joes into the battle against the Plague during World War III. In Reloaded, he gets knifed by Scarlett (Go Red!).

Not only in the comic books, but also on the small and big screen Duke plays a big role in the Joeverse.

In the ARAH cartoon, he is field commander for General Flagg and later second-in-command under General Hawk. In the animated movie, he is the older half-brother of Lt. Falcon and should have been killed, but Hasbro intervened and at the end of the movie a small line was added – uttered by Doc I think – to indicate Duke would survive. In Sigma 6 he is the Joe leader. In the Resolute story, he finally gets a shot with Scarlett. During my research I came across some fanfiction that goes deeper into this (I haven’t read them though). In Renegades, he is part of the fugitive band of heroes that fight the Cobra Corporation. This is grittier, darker setting and so is Duke. He even gets a role in Prime Time TV show Community – Episode G.I. Jeff – where he leads a court-martial against the main protagonists of the show alongside Scarlett and Flint.

In the Live Action movies, Duke is the main character in the first movie and becomes a part of General Hawk’s team. Only to be killed in the second movie…

This brief overview again shows that it’s a difficult character for the writers as well. While one depicts him as a hero saving the day and the world, the other might just have him shot in the nuts.

Personally, I have nothing against the guy. I thought he was a regular Joe in my toyworld. It wasn’t until I started getting into the comics that I learned he was a big shot. The more recent IDW comics show some more of Duke (having a wife and all that). They’re making him into more of a tragic hero and I think that is fitting for a guy you either love or hate. Basically a good guy, that can do bad things if it means saving someone or something he loves or believes in.

Until next time!

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!