That thread about whether or not you killed characters got me thinking about the days when I actually used to play with toys instead of sticking them on a shelf and staring at them. I can't really remember if I used to kill characters, but I can remember who got the most play time. I never had any of the core characters as a kid except Tiger Force Duke, who got little play due to broken thumbs, Ninja Force Snake Eyes, Ninja Force Storm Shadow, and Star Brigade Destro. Never had a Cobra Commander, no Baroness, no Roadblock. My brothers had some of the core characters though, like IG Destro, Firefly, Snake Eyes 1-3 and Zartan.

The only core character I had who got any real play was Ninja Force Storm Shadow because he looked so damn cool (Snake Eyes got about zero play because of his crappy hips). So, because I didn't really have any of the "cool" main characters, I had to make due with a lot of the others. On top of that, I preferred the Cobra characters, so they had a tendency to be my "main" characters.

My two main figures were actually both Battle Corps: The black and yellow Alley Viper and the Crimson Guard Commander. I used to love those two. That Alley Viper probably got the most play from me. I used to take him on car trips where he'd do some imaginary rappelling down the seats or hide out in cup holders. He usually tended to fight against a toy robot that looked A LOT like a Terminator I had from a short lived line called Socket Poppers. I don't know if any of you are familiar with it, but they were Joe sized figures that could be disassembled and have their parts swapped around. and For the Joes, the ones who got the most play were Battle Copter Ace (because he had a neat helmet) and Blocker. Yeah, a BF2000 figure was one of my favorite Joes. He always reminded me of a Captain Power character, which is probably why he tended to get a lot of play.

So who were your favorites?

Airborne and the Baroness when I first started, along with the RAM. Carried them around in one of those little belt backpacks.

Then I started getting more and more and more.

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Sci-Fi. I had very few Joes as a kid, and he got to pull double duty as both a member of GIJoe AND a stand-in for Megaman, as Megaman did not have a toyline at the time yet.

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I used him as Robocop

At first, it was Flash since he was the leader of my team. Then Blowtorch had to take over after Flash vanished. Falcon became my main character after 1988. He would "transform" into White Tiger (Storm Shadow V2) or the Panther (Snake Eyes V3).
Cobra Commander got a lot of play time since he was always my main villain along the Cobra trooper and the Crimson Guard which were used a lot since I only had one of each so they would incarnate the whole regiment.

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Mainframe, my first figure, got played most, even top-billed playtimes when my collection grew larger and larger.

For me, it was a toss up between Outback v1 and Alley-Viper v1.

Outback was always my jungle operative who was far in enemy territory. Alley-Viper was not a Cobra, but an urban specialist.

Oh, and Snow Serpent v2. Strictly for that jet snowboard thingy.

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the most play from me as a kid were:

'89 Rock n Roll - I usually just armed him with a standard machine gun and rarely used his two twin gattling guns.

Sonic Fighter Tunnel Rat - I didn't have an original Tunnel Rat till later in life, but he as one of my favorite characters, so this figure was used on several missions

'88 Skidmark - This guy drove everything

'94 Flint, Shipwreck, Lifeline, Stalker and Dial Tone - Most of my friends were done with Joe, but I still played with them nearly every day. The last year of Joe was one of my favorites due to these updated classics.

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You know..i thought i'd be able to provide an easy answer but truthfully i'm not sure anymore. I played with my joes A LOT as a child. They were my favorite action figures by far but i also had a lot of joes that i acquired in trade so the adventures and figures i used all kind of run together in my mind.

I wont include Cobra characters because every battle involved every Cobra character i had lol. Destro and Hooded CC saw a lot of action. The figures that stand out the most though simply based upon my the first images that come to mind when i think of my childhood play time are:

1 . Hit & Run http://www.yojoe.com/action/88/hitnrun.shtml
This figure at some point started to see a lot of action. I'm confident it was the duffel bag with grappling hook and simple straight forward machine gun that he could hold by its top handle. Man that figure kicked so much ***. I'd rappel him down the couch for a 3 man assault mission on what i believe was the Cobra Bugg being guarded by Desert Scorpions and Crimson Guard Immortals. Hit & Run truly is the ARAH definition of a simple, effective and very fun action figure. He is the Joe equivalent of the Cobra Blue Shirt. He fits in every scenario.

Side Note: Interesting - i Googled Hit & Run and Yojoe and was taken to the modern version of the characters action figure first. An immediate scowl crossed my face upon seeing it. Weird. It was a non conscious reaction.

2. Roadblock - http://www.yojoe.com/action/88/roadblock3.shtml - http://www.yojoe.com/action/92/roadblock4.shtml

I recall owning the Tiger Force version which was cool (sans yellow helmet) but i warmed up even more to the 1992 version. A more modern "cool" look and bigger muscles moved him from my top 5 to my top 3 action figures that received the most play time. He'd hold the line behind a blown up Desert Fox against a Hiss tank on his own.

3. Duke - I'm not sure if it was Tiger Force Duke or Regular Duke but it was probably Tiger Force - http://www.yojoe.com/action/88/duke2.shtml

It's Duke. Much like Cobra Duke HAD to be involved on some level in every operation

Honorable Mention: 1989 Snake Eyes . Original Falcon , Original Flint , Dial Tone, Mainframe , Budo , Duke v3, and a custom Stalker.

Christ... A Real American Hero = the greatest toy series of all time

Zartan is the one I carried around with me and took on trips... until Battle Armor Cobra Commander came along. And he remains my favorite until this day (and he's the real Commander, not that loser Fred).

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Stalker v.1, Rock n Roll v.1 until v.2 came out, Snake Eyes (every version), and Outback all went on every mission. No question about it. Everyone else was supporting cast.

Sgt. Slaughter never went anywhere in the TTT or Watthog without Mercer and Muskrat. If Alpine, Bazooka, or Footlose went on a mission the other two would join him whether they got assigned or not. Hit n Run and Shockwave also formed a task force tandem.

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Flint, Recondo and Beachhead, and Storm Shadow and Baroness for Cobra.

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Sgt. Slaughter went on lots of missions, but I didn't have the Triple T or the Warthog. I had the mail away version and never actually had the want for the vehicles that had a figure I already had.

Snake Eyes was involved in everything. Any version. Major Bludd was a mercenary that worked for his own group in my world and would show up more than Cobra. Darklon and the Cobra Emperor would team up with him some.

I used Hawk all the time up until the voice commander set. At that point Duke was finally the main one to lead missions.

Scarlett and Lady Jaye went out pretty regularly. If Snake Eyes was there, Scarlett was too and I used Snake Eyes all the time...

Gung Ho was another favorite. Let's see... also Sci Fi, Low Light, Eco-Squad, Recondo, Roadblock, Zartan, Baroness, Destro, Crimson Guards, Vipers, Cobra Troopers, BATs, and I think the rest were random grabs. I'd put Snow Job on any Arctic mission. To some degree, everything got fair play, but the mentioned ones are the ones that always were there.

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Snake Eyes v2, Recondo, and Beach Head were on pretty much every mission for the Joes.
No matter if it was a stealthy mission or an all out war, they were always involved.

Storm Shadow and Firefly are really the only Cobras who I could say the same thing about. Storm Shadow moreso.
There were Cobras who were always involved in every all out war, but Storm Shadow and Firefly were best by themselves for stealthy missions.

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Tan Grunt... he was me. aka Tiger...figured Grunt had the green uniform then I could use this one... along with Dial-tone, Hit & Run, and Tunnel-Rat...

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Figures that could hold their guns well and had cool weapons. Beach-Head, Lowlight, Dusty, Dialtone, Tunnel Rat...

I wore out Major Bludd's o-ring...so he saw a lot of use, especially since i only had 4 Cobras until 1985.