The appeal of the O13 figures can't be replicated. They upped the bar in subsequent years, but unless you take into account what was new about the 82 figures, you miss the point. It is just like people watching 1977's Star Wars and saying that the special effects look silly.

The 1982 line was a huge jump in quality, and not just because of the figures. File cards. Package art. Interchangable backpacks, weapons, and accessories.

I really don't think we have had as much innovation in the Joe line since 1983. To me, those years were the ones that define G.I.Joe: 1982 and 1983. 85 and 86 were just repetition. Quality, called-for repetition, but certainly not what I would call the best years of the 3 3/4" line.

Thanks for all the great discussion.

I think Past-Nast helped clarify for me a bit. I LOVE the characters; I just do not LOVE the figures. I was a comic guy, not a cartoon, so Rock ' N Roll and Clutch will always hold a special place for me, even in the later issues. And I was never exposed to green-shirts.

Some of my best comic memories involve the orginal team.

Rock telling Heavy Metal to keep his powder dry during the assault on Springfield

Flash (or was it grand Slam) reconning the empty hangars and finding the tunnel system.

The Snake Eyes past revealed in issue 26 which tied stalker and Snake back to a LRRP team (Stalker being tied into the plot, not just the whole Nina she-bang

Zap and Short Fuse fighting off the Sea-Legs in the tall grass.

Grunt at MIT, meeting Lola, coming back to help bust Hawk out of the DIA clutches

Breaker riding with Hawk on the Awe Striker on the attack on Cobra Island

Zap flying the second Dragonfly off the Jane ("I used to fall off my bike a lot").

Hawk will always be the leader of the Joe team for me; Duke was just his Top Kick, admittedly an important position, just not the LEADER or commander of the Joe team.

I think one of my favorite comic memories was in the post Pitt II attack when all the Joes were in BDUs. That lent a very "real army" sense to the comic for me for that issue. Very cool.

But back to the topic, the Joes were a major improvement over action figures of the day, one of the things I loved about them over my SW figures-swivel arm battle grip. So I do love the characters, they will (like many have said) be the core of my Joe team.

But I guess my Nostalgia for the skinny 82 Joes does not reach that far, as I have no burning desire to spend $14 bucks to get Grunt, or $62 for Short Fuze, nor any desire to customize an O13 crew. Not sure why on that, as I did love them all at the time, I guess maybe I just got infatuated with the more colorful and diverse uniforms and individuality over the basic fatigues and M-16, which is odd when you think of how much I love sub-teams and uniform colors. I will have to ponder this some more.

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Err, it was forced. Hasbro would request certain figures and vehicles be pushed and Larry had to work them into his story. There was even that one issue where Larry set the whole story line aside just to cram in the new figures and vehicles without messing up the on-going story. It's the one where Lady Jaye is training the new recruits including Airtight and Crankcase and the BATs attack.

But I agree that life would have been so much sweeter with the O13 continuing their adventures for another few years.

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As figures, the original 13 Joes are historically significant. However, as part of a larger Joe collection, I have always felt that they were overrated. Of the originals, really only Clutch, Steeler and Stalker retained their relevance due to their more original coloring and molds. (Though, all the figures were, ultimately, surpassd by later versions.)

When Joes came out in 1982, they were great. I have fond memories of playing with them in our front yard. Everyone in the neighborhood had Joes. But, as soon as Return of the Jedi came out, Joe figures were quickly discarded. The new Star Wars figures simply ran them out. But, once the '83 Joes started to get out there, Star Wars was done. The addition of swivel arm battle grip and the more ambitious mold, color and accessory choices were what made Joe the toy line it was. Without the '82's, none of that would have happened. But, when I look back at my childhood collection, it was really only the original Stalker figure that was able to maintain my attention after 1983 and that was mostly due to his role in the comic and the fact that I had a new Snake Eyes figure in 1985.

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you forgot the one where Clutch and Rock N Roll are riding in Clutch's car, and R &R opens the glove compartment,....and its full of Gloves!

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you forgot the one where Clutch and Rock N Roll are riding in Clutch's car, and R &R opens the glove compartment,....and its full of Gloves![/quote]

No, I love that one too, they go to Broca Beach, of course I did not like the Dreadnoks in the Pogos disguised as carnival rides, but hey, I love Clutch and Rock togethor, they make a great team.

How about Scarlett telling Clutch "I grew fond of your abscence" when they are discussing rebuilding the Pitt?

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Like them or not like them, I think it's okay to go either way because the cool thing about the world of GI Joe is that it gives us so much stuff to chose from and the fan base belives that each person should pick what they like and be allowed to skip what they don't like.

Sort of like me I'm a Cobra fan first so if the wallet is a bit light that week I'll get the Cobra figures and wait until later on the Joe figures.

I did manage the 13 Joes though for the 25th collection thanks to a bit of customizing because at the time it seemed like an easy goal. Something I could actually see an end to since I'll be collecting Cobra figures until Hasbro stops making them or they get too silly even for me. It's sort of a nice little prize up on my display case that gives me a feeling of accomplishment when I'm feeling down about how crazy finding waves of the figures can get.

That is a great point, Joe-dom/Joe-verse is HUGE when you really think about it.
Star Brigade, Lunatrix empire
Mega marines and Monsters
Mechs and RHINOs
Maulers and Tomahawks
Mobats and Vamps
Venomous Maximus and Swamp Rats
Many, many many, much-much diverseness and abilty to repurpose.
Don't like the Swamp Rats being genetically engineered cross-DNA rat boys, then just use them as swamp troopers. same with the Snow Wolves, use them as DNA cross-spliced engineered troops, or just snow troops. Star viper can be a hot-stick pilot, or he can have a shunt in his head, it is up to you.

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its not bad,you like what you like.
but its funny because the 13 are about the only joes i liked.
i liked that they were similar but not the same and they were in green and had some resemblance to what i recognized as an actual military.
i remeber me and all my friends buying them as soon as they first came out.i dont know why we bought them and went crazy because i dont recall the cartoon till a long time later and i never read the comics.
but for the most part i lost interest in joes all together by about 86, not because of my age but because of the coloring and totally non military look of alot.
i liked plain green joes and blue cobras. i appreciated the variety of the next few waves.of the destros and bludds, the storm shadows and quick kick even.
and i liked the dreadnocks though but that was about it.i never liked barbecue in his big orange iron looking outfot.i never liked bazooka and his sport jersey.i never liked alot of them.
but then again i didnt even usually play g.i.joe with them.i played like weird future street gang and stuff like that. i was into the warriors and escape from new york and mad max type stuff.

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