European Joe's

Impel Trading Card #19

We’re back with the Impel Trading Cards! The following cards take us back to the Joe team after seeing some of the coolest vehicles and playsets.

Up next is card #19, David L. Katzenbogen, better known as Bazooka.

Apart from the big stache, he stands out because of the bright red football shirt, that appears to belong to New England Patriots quarterback Steve Grogan. The card art shows him defending a structure (the G.I. Joe Headquarters? – see the post on Card #18).

His filecard depicts him as a swift, strategic thinker. And in the comics, that seems to be the case. The Sunbow Cartoons, however, show Bazooka as being a bit of an oaf.

There are 8 figures made (4 as Bazooka, 3 as Sgt. Bazooka and 1 Sgt. Katzenbogen – Hasbro, get your rights straightened please). Of those, I only have the latest figure, the 2015 version (the fourth version named Bazooka). This figure was not dressed in red, but in 50 shades of blue as part of the 50th Anniversary line. He was packed in the Sneak Attack pack with Specialist Dusty and Firefly.

Before that, I already had the Kre-O version of Bazooka (that came with the Firebat Attack set). He is actually called Sgt. Katzenbogen here as well. This set also includes a Firebat with pilot and the Wolverine tank with Recondo as it’s driver – sadly no Cover Girl here 🙁

Recently, I have seen Bazooka die 2 times (once in G.I. Joe: Resolute – we got this on DVD here a while back and again in the IDW new run of G.I. Joe – issue 15). He seemed like a nice guy, liked by all the Joes. I leave you now with the words Stalker dedicated to his fellow Joe.

David L. Katzenbogen died so that Bazooka could be born. Bazooka died so his fellow Joes could live. Bazooka gave it all for his country and for the Joes. He made some mean firehouse chili and he was always there where the lead was thickest. When the last bugle calls for you – pray you’re half the Joe your brother was.

Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

G.I. Joe 365 – 1982 cards

I mentioned in a previous post that the G.I. Joe 365 project by Christopher Hemsworth was going to release the drawings in the form of cards (not exactly trading cards, since you buy the whole set of a year in one go).

Everyone will agree that the art is sublime and so I wasn’t going to pass on the opportunity to buy these. I’ve currently bought the first 2 years (1982 & 1983). Hint: Follow me on Instagram if you want to see snaps from the newest additions to my expanding collection.

As I’m writing this, the 1984 set is made available as well. I will be ordering the set when 1985 is released – to save on shipping 🙂

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Included with the 1982 pack, is a card of the artist himself. Much like the original G.I. Joe filecards, you get the specialities and some background information on the character. Again, on the back, there is amazing art as well.

The 1982 cards show the 16 figures from that year. These include Breaker, Cobra Officer, Cobra Trooper, Flash, Grunt, Rock ‘n Roll, Scarlett, Short-Fuze, Snake Eyes, Stalker, Zap, Clutch, Grand Slam, Hawk, Steeler and Cobra Commander. So we get the original 13 members of the Joe team, 2 Cobra underlings and the Big Snake himself.

If – like me – you like the art, check out the site (www.gijoe365.com), follow on Twitter and Instagram and leave a like on Facebook.

Note that this post is by no means sponsored by the G.I. Joe 365 project or it’s designer. All art is the property of its owner.

Note too, that there appears to be something in the Halifax water causing G.I. Joe fans to become creative. We already had Wordburglar’s fantastic Welcome to Cobra Island album (listen for yourself and get it here), and now the G.I.Joe 365 project by Christopher Hemsworth. I have to go and visit that magical place sometime…

For now, Happy Collecting and YoJoe!

Impel Trading Card #18

Welcome Home, Joes!

The 18th Impel Trading Card brings us back home to the G.I. Joe Headquarters.

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The card art here reminds me of the Marvel Comic issue #24 where Cobra Commander is being held on top of a mountain in a pre-fab fortress. As I said many times before, the first Joe toys we got here in Belgium were those from 1986 I think. Toys from the first few years, need to be found online as collector now, rather than been seen in stores or received as gifts when I was a kid.

I still find the concept of this HQ odd as straight from the start of the comics, the PIT (iteration 1), was shown in the comics as the Joes´ base. I guess that is why I made the link to the pre-fab base used to imprison Cobra Commander (briefly).

That being said, I do find it pretty neat that you can have a place for the MOBAT and VAMP inside the HQ and with the helipad to land the Dragonfly, it´s a very complete playset to show off the early Joes and vehicles.

I don´t have the HQ in my collection (yet). I have the 1987 Mobile Command Center and the Conquest of Cobra Mountain set from 2003 that I´ve been using to display my figures on. I still plan on building a custom HQ for my Joes, I just need to find some time to draw up some plans and start building. And clean up my workplace first 🙂

As I´m writing this, I´m enjoying the last days of the summer holiday in a Holiday House in the Netherlands. I haven´t had a lot of time off during the summer and truth be told, the weather was not that great, so I didn´t really mind. This week however, temperatures have been on the rise and have been over 25 degrees Celsius (that´s over 77 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time this year.

I´ve got my toes in the water, ass in the sand. Not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand. Life is good today! (link)

See you in September!

Happy collecting and YoJoe!

Welcome to the new site!

I had been thinking about changing the original europeanjoes.wordpress.com site to a .com site for a while. Finally I decided to go through with it and, well, here we are.

Brand new site (thanks to one.com hosting) and a brand new style created by my talented brother-in-law Davy (check out his designs on his website www.davydenduyver.com, Behance, Twitter or Instagram).

Leave a like or comment about the new site and keep coming back! I’ll continue discussing the Impel Trading Cards as well as the various other Joe related stuff I have in my collection.

Impel Trading Cards #16-17

Time to conquer the land and seas in Cobra style with the following cards in the superb Impel Trading Cards series.

First up is card #16, the H.I.S.S. (II).

This was the second Cobra vehicle I’ve had in my collection. The first one being the little Devastator. This H.I.S.S. however could carry 2 people in the cockpit, 1 trooper in the turret and up to 4 troopers in the back. For me, that meant I could transport all my Cobra’s in one go (Yes, I only had about 7 Cobras… insert sad kid face).

The description on the back talks about the H.I.S.S. model II, but the model depicted on the front is clearly the model I from 1983. The 1989 model II is lighter grey with bright red accents on the turret, guns and the windshield. As a kid, I never knew the older model existed, and I’m still looking to add one to my collection. I really like the first model better than the 1989 model, the triangularish shaped threads, the all black color and the red Cobra Sigil and number make for a more subdued tank than the grey and red from the model II. But it also looks more fierce and dangerous. And after reading the comics, I want that black model to put the Baroness in, she looks so badass driving a H.I.S.S.

Card #17 takes us into the water, fast and furious, the Cobra Moray Hydrofoil.

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This is one big, bad boat. On the Box art of the toy, it features the driver Lamprey, but also a gathering of Cobra’s finest (sort of). Destro is manning the gun turret on top, the Baroness and Storm Shadow are on the aft dropping sea mines while Monkeywrench is shooting into the water (probably a Dreadnok survival technique for catching fish) and Buzzer is in the cockpit handling the searchlight. To say this is a strange selection for a mission is an understatement.

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The card art here shows the Moray with all guns blazing and no real distinguishable troopers on board. Less detailed perhaps, but I like it. It shows the Moray is a force to be reckoned with when at sea and you best get out of it’s way.

I had discovered Carson Mataxis’ site; 3DJOES.com, a while ago. But only recently have I ordered the 3 books he created on the magnificent art of G.I.Joe. Check out his amazing site with full 3D pictures of most of the figures and vehicles now, the link to the Moray is here (the H.I.S.S. II is not online yet, but the model can be seen here. While you’re at the site, check out his books and posters and place your order to help him keep this site online and add more Joe awesomeness to the web! When the books arrive, I’ll post about it here, so keep an eye out for that.

As always, Happy Collecting and YoJoe! The next card we will be discussing is taking us back home, or to our home away from home at least 🙂

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