Snow Job was probably the first one where I was blown away by the accessories and how they all fit on his backpack.

Doc's accessories are timeless.

Firefly's backpack. Before the Joe vs Cobra era and subsequent 25th that cell phone was going for $10 by itself.

I got Quick Kick the same day my brother got a Snow Serpent. We were both instantly jealous.
Alpine's full compliment of gear is untouchable.
The BAT of course was great but I think he was a rifle away from being perfect.

Chuckles holster and beretta.
Falcon's backpack with knife. Heck Shotgun is still one of the better ones in the line.
Fast Draw is pretty much his backpack. He is nothing without it.
I did get Sneak Peek specifically for all his gear.
Outback is an all around perfect with his accessories raising a 10 to a 12 on a scale of 1-5.
Fridge's football stick

Blizzards backpack would top the list if the thing could stay together.
The previously mentioned Hit n Run rifle and duffle bag with knife.

Annihilator's backpack and gun.
Gnawgahyde's everything. My second favorite all around figure.
Tundra Ranger Stalker's rifle and Kayak. Seriosuly the gun on that Kayak is one of my favs.
Backblast is a rifle away from being my 3rd favorite. Why give him the bullet belt and no rifle for it.

Salvo's rocket launcher. And suitcase, just because.

Sky Dive, another figure I bought solely for the accessories.

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Even though I never had him, Alpine has awesome accessories.

Ripcord and Bullhorn have accessories that define them to me.

Two that haven't been mentioned and I loved when I was a kid because of their weapons...Headhunter with that sawed off that fit in the backpack and Barricade with that great helmet and machine gun and the battering ram missile launcher thing that attached to his backpack.

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Yeah, there are some figures where clearly the accessories were carefully thought through. That has always in my mind made a figure go from good to great.

E.g. the rightly mentioned Snow Job - just a plain figure by himself, really. But then a crap ton of mission-specific gear neatly held in place on his back - oh baby.

On the other hand I think of Tunnel Rat - I LOVE the figure - but the accessories were strange! A guy who wriggles through tiny tunnels with a backpack that won't fit through most doors and an MG almost as big as him?! He should have just kept the TNT pack and been given a knife and suppressed pistol.

Not to hijack the thread, but from the modern era I feel the same way. The 30th Law and Lifeline were solid figures that went over the top for me based on perfect accessory load-outs. Or POC Lowlight.

Argh, there were so, so many, this is a great topic.

Some ones that stick out, just from memory:

snow serpent
Snake eyes v2 - the sword, the Uzi, the wolf
Snake eyes v3 - the Uzi, the blow gun, the sword/pack, the nunchuk's
Shipwreck v1
Rock n Roll v2
Tunnel rat
Annihilator
Hit N Run
Alley Viper, probably the best as far as cobra and accessories go (IMO, of course)
Bullhorn
Astro viper
Blizzard
Tracker

I left a lot out. When I look at the line as a whole, it seems the ones that came with animals stand out. Also, in terms of accessories, the 88-90 years were incredible with the unique designs on the accessories, before everything went spring loaded. Pre 88 had it's gems, but when I look at 1988-89 specifically, almost every figure had some really great, great stuff.

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Football stick. I win.

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This thread is making me smile at all the awesomeness. Even more old skool - how cool was it when Joes first came out that not only were there removeable helmets, but visors you could flip up, or RnR's machine gun with a folding tripod?

And can we count the file cards as an accessory?

I agree with all you said but how could I forget this one. I remember getting this guy from Hill's and stopping by Dairy Queen on the way home for a Blizzard with Dennis the Menace on the cup. That kayak being a packed in accessory is ridiculous in today's market. If it was released today it would be as a limited deluxe edition release and cost twice as much as a basic figure. But oh the fun I had with Tundra Stalker carrying it on his back and then using his smaller backpack/comm device as the pontoon float. The massive rifle mounted up top was just icing on the cake. The sweet mask and white rifle got used by other joes as well on snow missions when Tundra Stalker was elsewhere on his kayak.

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Not mentioned:
Pathfinder. His accesories are awesome.
Tomax and Xamot skyhook.

Bougth only for an accesory:
Iron Grenadier Uzi.
Countdown backpack

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Man..reading these post....

So many good memories. Walking through neighbourhoods to trade with other kids. Using the bed frame edges as sentry platforms for my cobra soldiers.

And that Cobra Bunker.

Would that be considered an accessory?

1991 General Hawk & Targat - both jet packs received use

Spearhead and Max. I really enjoyed that figure.

Yeah, Hawk's jetpack was bad-ass. Such a great design.

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RnR v2's Side Arm/ Night Viper-Heli Vipers rifle - that to me was a great concept mounting weans on the figure itself

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What a fantastic topic this is!
I'm getting all these memories of battles I fought with my Joes and Cobras. Many mainly set up because of a new figure I had gotten, and the PMS or accessories just had to be the subject of such battles.

I agree with:


Hey, and that gun was very nice too. All together you could really make the figure pose as seen on the card art.


The inspiration to create my custom Il Nero


He just couldn't get more ninja-like. I also like the detail on the katana and tanto handles. Brilliant.


- A cable-way was featured in many ninja movies so such a thing was great to have!
- The Iron Grenadier Uzi easily makes it in my top 10 of best guns. Showes up in lots of 80's action movies so who wouldn't want one for their figures to play with?


- YES!


- The main reason why I'm quite a big fan of that figure.


- Yup, the B.A.T. is simply bad@ss!
- Falcon is one of my figures that got the most playtime because of his shotgun and backpack (+ his outfit). I have to mention the antenna too. Though it's easy to loose, it did add extra realism to the figure (comm stuff in the backpack) as a green beret who is all geared up and ready for any mission.
- Gnawgahyde's stuff clearly emphasises his background as a poacher. Great bow.
- Tundra Stalker's kayak makes him perfect for one man missions. I love the white gun. The brown machine gun is so cool too, I wanted to have a portable version as well, the main reason why I customized it for my Sergeant T.A.N. I still want to make another portable version.
- Backblast probably has the coolest way for a figure to carry a knife. The knife itself is great.


- Yes, tripwire's mines (and the ones from the Action Pack) were used in many other battles where Tripwire himself wasn't present. Ideal for car-like vehicles to drive onto causing A-Team-ish crashes.
- Mainframe's laptop often functioned as a large time bomb in my verse. Blowing stuff up is just fun.

And some more, as an ARAHddict that's not just a few.....

- Eels V1: you can actually make any other figure go an a diving mission using all of his accessories. Win.
- Tunnel Rat V1: the TNT satchel was perfect for tossing it around to blow stuff up. In many 80's action movies the hero at some point would find/use a bag of explosives or a time bomb to start the action. So that happened a lot in my battles as well.
- Hardball: I have a thing for grenade launchers, shotguns, bazookas and uzis. This grenade launcher was seen in Terminator 2 and (a little different one) in Predator, favorite movies of mine. Results: lots of playtime.
- Storm Shadow V2: in a time where Wolverine wasn't "overused/overrated" as now, that claw was very awesome!
- Downtown: I never had Short Fuze and man, all those lovely little mortar shells... Being a fan of Vietnam movies and Tour of Duty, I was thrilled when I got my Downtown.
- Frag-Viper: best grenades in the line. Perfect. If I had to name one figure I REALLY bought because of the accessories, it's Frag-Viper for his grenades.
- Ambush: OMG, that camouflage stuff!!!
- Topside: he can hold that gun so well with both hands and still in one of the most realistic ways in ARAH, it certainly deserves to be named. And a rocket backpack always comes in handy....
- Range Viper: I already mentioned my love for grenade launchers and bazookas. This figure has both. Go figure.
- Big Bear: Even though later on that gun was overproduced in included with many other figures, I still think it's wonderfull. Almost every figure carry/hold it very easily and it looks good on every figure.
- Dice: now that I think of it, isn't he the only figure in the (ARAH) line until then which holds a bo staff? Again, such a staff was seen in many martial arts movies, so it was cool to finally have one in G.I.Joe size. (Zanzibar had a spear, he only used it for throwing/stabbing in my verse)

Honorable mention: The Corps! had this guy called Boomerang Billy, a jungle specialist carrying three boomerangs in a backpack. Hasbro should've shamelessly copied that feature for G.I.Joe, since Lanard pretty much copied the body design from Hasbro.

I submit that the BAT v2 had cooler accessories than the v1 in that the entire backpack was a swappable forearm attachment.

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First version of that I ever got was the Funskool one as an adult. Even as crappy as that figure was made, it was such a cool design I bought the US version. Defintely one of those figures I felt stupid for overlooking. Great helmet, cool rifle, and the backpack with the missiles is better than the CLAW.

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The only thing keeping BAT v2 from being my clear #1 favourite BAT design is the colour scheme. Outside of that i prefer the more streamlined / less alien look when compared with the original.