1982 -- got Joes. Stalker and Flash fought Scarlet and SE.
1983 - 1984 -- my cousin moved back to Alaska and he had all the best Joes, Cobra missile base, WHALE, and major characters. I was sour on GIJOE because all my figures had broken thumbs (except Clutch, and Deep Six who deep sucked).
1985 - swayed by the miniseries, I collected many characters including Flint & lady jay, Zartan & dreadnoks, Barbecue & Airtight, CG & twins, and Televiper.
1986 - 1990 - COLLECT THEM ALL!
1991 - Last year of collecting.
1992 - 1994 - played less and less until trading all my figures for a dozen CDs.

1997 - saw the reissues at TRU and felt like Hasbro got them all wrong.

2001 - checked out joes on the internet (ebay).
2002 - saw Joes at the grocery store for the first time in years.

2005 - learned of the comic packs and TRU 6-packs, started collecting again from scratch (and found I kept some old vehicles).
2006 - 2012 - COLLECT MANY OF THEM!

1982-1983: Segueing. It took me a while to get more than a couple of Joe figures, and a while longer to get as interested in them as I was in my Star Wars figures. The introduction of Swivel-Arm Battle Grip helped immensely.
1984-1992: Pure joy. I loved Joes and played with them all the time during these years. I had toys from other lines, but Joes were by far my favorite and the only one I really maintained an interest in.
1992-1997: Nostalgia, part I. I bought a few Joes here and there, and managed to track down a few older figures during this time. I inherited my cousins' Joe collection, which gave me access to vehicles and figures that I didn't own as a kid. I was still interested in Joes, but was focusing on other things in high school.
1998-2000: The glorious rise of eBay. I was in college and had more time and money to amass tons and tons of Joe stuff that I had always wanted. This was around the time eBay started to blow up, but before prices had gotten very high for vintage toys, so I bought piles of Joe figures and vehicles. I also started my first serious forays into customizing, and found that I liked it. A lot.
2001-present: Customizing. I should have realized it sooner, but once I figured out that I could make figures that were exactly what I wanted, I never looked back. Everything turned into custom fodder and I focused all my efforts on making figures. I buy vintage stuff here and there, but all in the service of displaying customs or for future projects. I shifted from customizing ARAH-style to 25th/PoC-style figures a couple of years ago, which prompted another push of accumulating fodder. The process is ongoing.

The "'toon years" of 82-97 I collected what I could. I had to buy my own coz mom wouldn't buy me war toys, so I had a small collection, mostly figures, but a few of the smaller, less expensive vehicles.

After that I was kinda pushed into getting out of toys, thought I still built plastic models (more "grown up" I guess), but I'd break out the Joes every once in a while as I tended to be grounded to my room a lot in 6th, 7th and 8th grades. From then on my stuff was more or less always in storage.

92...I was in the Marines and bought the first Gung Ho figure I ever owned, proceeded to lose him in a month.

97...was feeling nostalgic and bought almost all the three packs that came out that year, along with a butt load of SW Action Fleet vehicles

Early 00s...a friend gave me his VHS copy of The Movie, kept my love of the line alive, but still hadn't bought any toys for a while.

08...discovered some site called Joe Customs, and basically have collected all the stuff I never had as a kid. I've been buying whatever modern figures look good to me then going through YoJoe and HalfBattle and finding all the old figures I think look cool and some that look not so cool.

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It's kind of weird that, with a few exceptions, we're all the same age group because we experienced everything in childhood at the same time. I'm not sure how many fandoms have that - if you like Batman, you have a jillion different time frames and representations of the franchise to enjoy. But for us, it's pretty much a lock that we're 30-40ish.

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25-40 which makes sense,

I am 28, born in september, the joe line was on its thrid release when I was born making me roughly the same age as
wide release Duke
Roadblock
Ripcord
Spirit
Cutter
Blowtorch
Mutt and Junk
Recondo
Thunder
Deep Six
and tan Clutch - Woot vamp mk 2

and some really iconic COBRA troops
Baroness
Zartan
Firefly
Copperhead
Wild Weseal
Scrap Iron
Stinger Driver
and at the time - Storm Shadow

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The age range of fans is mostly due to Hasbro. They haven't hit a perfect game and got kids involved with GIJoe in a while in enough capacity to matter. Many of the kids that might have liked Sigma 6 or other version of GIJoe has pretty much moved on. It was just a toy and not a "life long obsession". At this point, I don't know really what it would take to create the next phase of "obsessed" fans like we are.

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Some fun movies, an ongoing cartoon, and maybe a comic. I saw a kid looking at the movie masks the other day. While I know that isn't a sure sign that Joe is back, it was neat to see some one under the age of 25 looking at Joes.

When I was younger, G.I. Joe would always launch full scale attacks at a Cobra base. Every time.

Now? Depends on what figures I have out on my study area are doing some sweet covert ops.

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1982: Awesome new toy line (despite thumbs breaking). Gotta get everything...I do, except MMS. Oh, and a cool comic.

1983: Awesome new additions, even better than 1982...but my interest is distracted by other toys....Star Wars ROTJ, among them.

1984: Interest almost totally in other toy lines, MOTU and Go-Bots ( My brother is collecting GI JOE, so I still get to appreciate their coolness.

1985: Awesone new characters...get a lot of stuff for Birthday and XMAS. Still distracted by MOTU, etc.

1986: Brother gets too old for toys and quits after this year. I get more into GI JOE

1987-1994: Total collector, though I missed some stuff...too many repainted vehicles and such.

1994-1998: Some used stuff purchased. Don't care about Sgt. Savage or Extreme.

1998-2006: Collecting again...

2007: Tried to get into 25th stuff...but got burned out by the new sculpts. Not a fan or the new scale, either.

2008-now: Just like to see what they make, maybe pick up an occassional item.

For Joe to develop into an obsession, it needs multi-year carry over, multiple media tie-ins and to become a part of daily life. I did NOT miss an episode of Sunbow if it was on TV, which it was every weekday, even if it was a re-run. It was a part of my life from elementary through middle school, and it kept the brand and toys in my mind.

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Back then, it was a difficult task to NOT be into GI Joe.
The cartoon was on 6 days a week, the brand was advertized on every cartoon block, the toys were everywhere and every boy played with Joes.

I remember making friends in a new school simply because we all played GI Joe.
We would run around the school yard pretending we were the characters fighting imaginary Cobra troops.

For GI Joe to reach a new audience with the same impact, Hasbro would have to go full force once again with a cartoon with multiple seasons, toy commercials and they'd have to maintain a strong shelf presence in the various toy departments. The case assortment and distribution issues would have to be taken care of. I think that the whole wave system would have to be dropped to bring back the yearly assortment. It worked 30 years ago.

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To win big, they've got to GO big. Stop waiting on a movie to carry you! Transformers made you billions because it advertised toys that were already awesome!

They will have to bet BIG on Joe for it to happen. The downside is it could wipe out again, but if they don't make a legit run at showing the cartoon and not just in their little hub area, they won't make a big splash.

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Hmmm. This thread has made me realize how much i miss ARAH and the disconnect i feel towards modern joe incarnations .

1982 - 1984: Fuzzy memories of playing with Flash and his rocking green army man helmet that you could remove from his head Not to mention that clear visor. He went head to head in combat with ROTJ Luke Skywalker and gave driving instructions to my Stompers 4x4 truck. I recall my Dungeons and Dragons Strongheart figure and his sparkling blue cape taking a lot of my attention as well.

1984 - 1985: Interest almost totally in other toy lines and riding my bike, sea monkeys , Vetrex video game system and hiding bologna sandwiches in my football shaped toybox until they were covered in mold. GI joe was on my radar but i was an outdoors kid and He-Man was destroying the competition when i was indoors. I was racing home to watch He-Man lay the hurt down on television.

1985 - 1986: The Most Powerful Man In The Universe would continue to destroy all challengers. Silverhawks died a quick death. Transformers never fully caught on with me due to their lack of poseability. Same with Go-Bots. I liked both cartoons well enough but , meh, they never stuck with me the way He-Man and GI Joe did. I had friends around the corner from me , a pair of twins, that owned GI Joes. Specifically they owned Serpentor, Beach Head, Mindbender , Sci Fi and......... the Cobra B.A.T. . A swivel armed robot with removable claw hand and superior articulation across the board?

He-Man was dead to me and he didn't even know it.

1987-1992: Trading. Buying. Buying . Trading. I was a professional investor and speculator in joe during this time. I loved everything about joe . The battles i had as a kid are some of my fondest memories . They helped block out the pain of Kirk Gibson ruining my world series memories Hit & Run single handedly taking out a Cobra BUGG and it's troop compliment. Roadblock and Flint infiltrating an airstrip heavly guarded by Cobra Vipers. The only challenge to joe during that time was an unconquerable enemy.... girls. I started early.

1992-1996: Joe was still there as it is now but school, playing sports, driving and women became my dominant interest. Of course driving and women meant working so there was that as well. Add in weight lifting and Joe became a pleasant memory that i was not ready to discard but i couldn't devote time to. Joe died in 1994 so it was perfect timing.



1996-2002: Life was moving at Mach 5! Joe was still loved but he was on the fringe. I'd hit the occasional toy show and peruse the aisles of TRU to look but generally speaking it was school, work , thongs and life lessons. I recall a scammer named GIJOEIRVIN reinforcing one of those lessons I bought ARAH toys at discount stores and customized joes on the odd occasion when i had the time (rare). I bought my first Terror Dome during this time and enjoyed the heck out of it!!


2002-2006: The return of Joe (new sculpt). A friend of mine had 3 children and i wanted her oldest boy to experience the joy that was Joe. The resurgent interest was brief (just long enough to get my friends son onto reading comics, playing and being an overall better child). The names were the same but it wasnt my joe. I still enjoyed them but not in the same way. Besides life had kicked it up a notch and it was one crazy adventure after another.

One thing i absolutely appreciate about this time period:
1. new sculpts: to this day i appreciate the ease of dis assembly mixed with the pliable plastic New sculpt joes provided. The only thing missing from New Sculpt Joes was a sense of proportion in the body designs. They were almost perfect. The latter series figures rectified that right before they were abandoned for the modern era design. If ARAH / New Sculpt hybrids were re released with plastic rivets and softer plastic i'd be buying them today.

2. Sigma 6 2.5'' sets. Hasbro dropped the ball BIG TIME in my opinion. Had they released 2.5'' figures with articulation on par with ARAH figures i'd still be collecting the line. The vehicles were fun and exciting and they actually had a cartoon pushing the toys that while not "My Joe" was definitely entertaining (in it's second season primarily). The ROCC. The Rhino. The Dragonfly. The Artic VAMP. The Street Razor / Razors Edge. Each and every one of these concepts is superior to what i've seen attached to the movie thus far. I look at Transformers Human Alliance and cant help but to wonder what could have been with the 2.5'' GI Joe Sigma 6 line............


2007-now: I really enjoyed LOOKING at 25th stuff but the magic was missing. I'm not a fan of the new larger scale so that didn't help, either. I saw the movie in the theater & enjoyed it for what it was but i have no interest in anything related to the Movie verse thus far outside of it being custom fodder in some fans amazing custom creation.

I check in to see what's been made but joe customizing / 1:18th scale customizing is my main connection to the hobby along with IDW's comics which i eagerly anticipate these days (i really enjoy the Joe and Cobra titles ).