G.I. Joe – Page 32 – European Joe's

Impel Trading Cards 11-12-13

Okay, I’m back with the review of the Impel Trading Cards and to make up for lost time, we’ll tackle 3 cards today.

First up is the #11, the Mauler M.B.T. (Mobile Battle Tank).

This is one of the more realistic looking toys that were more common in the early years of the 3.75 inch run. I didn’t own this tank when I was a kid. It was released in 1985 and I don’t think it made the trip over the Atlantic to be sold in stores here. Fact is, I still don’t have this one in my collection. I do have the 2003 Patriot Grizzly Tank, which can be seen as the M.B.T.’s successor.

Next we have card #12, the Snowcat.

Now this is something else. The Snowcat (or is it Snow Cat?) did make it’s way into Europe, but as the Tiger Cat, part of the 1988 Tiger Force. I had this in the tiger striped version and later on during my collecting, also acquired the original white version. Come to think of it, I also had the Tiger Force Blizzard figure and never really knew there was a white version of this until I started life as an adult collector. One does wonder how on earth you’re going to camouflage yourself (or your snow vehicle) when it’s bright yellow with orange and black detailing. Then again, maybe the Cobra Soldiers were all colorblind.

The last one for today is the #13 card, the A.W.E. Striker.

There are like 9 gazillion versions of this vehicle released (okay, so maybe more like 10, but still) and I’m a bit sad to say that the only one I have in my collection is the 2012 Ninja Commando version. The vehicle doesn’t really stand out for me. I do like the fact that the top mounted cannon can be remote controlled (as seen in the comics). I can see this working as a fast response vehicle, but other than that, there’s no real protection , heck there even aren’t any doors.

That’s it for this one. Join me next time when we take to the skies Cobra style 😉

Happy Collecting & Yo Joe!

Still here

I know it has been a while and yes, I will be posting about the Trading Cards soon, but first I want to show off my newest additions that I purchased on the FACTS fair (it’s like our version of Comic Con).

I stayed within my budget (almost). There were also some Pops for my daughter that aren’t pictured here.

It had been several years since I went to the fair myself. It has grown a lot over the years and I must say that I was impressed with this year’s setup. I wasn’t expecting to see a lot of Joe related stuff, but was pleasantly surprised. There were actually quite a few items for sale and I can only guess that on the first day, there was even more.

One stand sold the 3 SDCC Joe vs Transformers sets, but for a whopping €600, so unfortunately I didn’t pick those up. Maybe next year 🙂

Anyway, check out their site on www.facts.be if you want more information on the previous and future fairs.

Happy collecting and YOJOE!

Comic book update

I’m very pleased to tell you all that I have received the Marvel #144 and #152 comic book today. I was able to buy these for a reasonable price from smalljoes.com.

With these last 2 comics, I now have the entire Marvel A Real American Hero run complete.

Ever since FCB back in 2010, I’ve started seriously collecting the Joe comics. First the IDW run that started (including all the new runs they introduced), but I soon discovered the original Marvel run. I had a few TPB’s of Special Missions that were translated in Dutch from the nineties, but I never would have believed it was possible to collect the entire Marvel run here in Belgium.

Six years down the road, my comics collection has expanded well beyond the ARAH run, with also the Image and DDP comics, as well as most of the convention exclusives.

I think that on the next leg of my comics journey, I’ll try and find all the Dutch comics I can find. I already have 4 TPB’s as mentioned above, but I’m still missing one. So that will be the first one I need to find.

Next to the comics, I’ve also gotten my hands on several of the Find your fate books. It will be nice to have the complete set of those as well.

Plenty more to collect I guess. Better get to it 🙂

Happy collecting and YOJOE!

Impel Trading Cards #10

It’s a stormy day here in Belgium with gusts of wind going well over 100 kph/60 mph. Nothing the Tomahawk, the all-weather, twin-engine, twin-rotor heavy lift and troop transit helicopter from the Joe team, couldn’t fly through.

I didn’t own the Tomahawk as a kid, but it was one of the first pieces I bought as a collector. I do remember having a friend who owned both the Tomahawk and the Killer W.H.A.L.E. and I went over to play with my Conquest X-30 and Warthog A.I.F.V. Strangely enough, we didn’t have any Cobra vehicles, but the bad guys always got the chance to hijack one of the Joe vehicles.

The card art for the Tomahawk is nicely done. It shows the helicopter in mid flight with it’s six-barreled 20mm cannon blazing. Their fire caused serious damage, if you can go on the smoke seen on the left. It’s a shame that there are no figures shown in the cargo area. You can however see the chairs , so nice details.

I’ve always been very fond of the Tomahawk (and also the new released Eaglehawk) as it is a very multi-functional vehicle. You can use is as a troop transport, but it can also stand on it’s on in a battle. The story from Special Missions #19 is one of my favorite stories in the Marvel run and shows the Tomahawk in all it’s glory. Like the Joes themsleves, even tough their battered up and tired, they get the job done.

Leave a comment if you liked/disliked or want to add your personal thoughts on the Tomahawk.

Until next time, YoJoe!

DISCLAIMER All these cards are in my private collection and were scanned by myself. I don’t hold the rights on the card art or any text displayed on the cards.

Exciting news

As you all know, I’ve been posting about the 1991 G.I. Joe Impel Trading Cards and I plan to explore the other available G.I. Joe trading cards.

On Instagram, I’ve been following Gijoe365 for a while now and I must say that I am a really big fan of the artwork there. So go find him on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and his own site (http://gijoe365.com/) and like what I like 🙂

The bit of exciting news is the fact that there are plans to turn his art into G.I. Joe trading cards. I’m following the developments in this and will post a review here when/if I get my hands on them.

YoJoe!