We ended up at (or in? what is it?) 1988!
Figures from Tiger Force and Night Force are not in, but there are still a lot other cool guys to choose from.
Let everyone know what figure you like best (and please explain why)!

http://www.yojoe.com/action/88/

Tim 121RVC

Many cool figures here. 88 is an underrated year. Notable if not only for the accessories that the figures came with. Blizzard, Budo, Hit & Run and Muskrat are prime examples of this.
Storm Shadow is obviously up there with interesting paint and great accessories. Lightfoot almost got my vote due to the tank and backpack. More realist ones like Repeater and Shockwave will get some votes.

My vote still went to Ghostrider. Mainly because he has a gorgeous sculpt and probably the coolest accessory so far in the toy line: A scarf.
He also came with a pretty cool plane.

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Storm Shadow. A personal favorite and I still have the one I had as a kid.
What a great figure. The sculpt is great, the colors are very cool.
The composite bow, the claw and the cool new sword.
Only flaw, the backpack was flashy red...

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Went with Shockwave, his uniform and accessories were perfect for his role in G.I. Joe.

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Hit & Run for me. Great paint apps, one of the best weapons of the entire line (except when molded in neon colors), and I used the heck out of that black duffel bag!

Second place would have been a tie between Repeater, Muskrat and Shockwave.

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Hit & Run. As with many figures, I didn't really like him until I got his accessories

This one was a hard choice,... as so many figures,.. I could have went with Hit & Run for style, Shockwave, for looks, Repeater, Budo, and Lightfoot for their appearance in G.I.Joe comics.,.... but in the end, I went with Storm Shadow.

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This was a toughie for me, because frankly, there weren't a lot of standouts. Maybe it was the lack of media attention they got. It was cool to see Storm Shadow as a Joe, and some characters like Hit & Run and Shockwave were neat, but I ultimately went with Ghostrider, because I like his overall design, I like how the comic book had some fun with his code name and how no one can remember it, and the little fabric scarf on the figure was a nice touch.

I do have a story, though, that will remind us of what 1988 was like. I was in a Toys "R" Us at one point on the year. They had an entire end cap of single-carded G.I.Joes. Dozens of them. Lots of dozens of them. And here was a mother and a small boy going through the display as best as they could. However, they could not reach the upper racks. They said they'd been trying to find Storm Shadow. Ultimately, they walked away rather dejected.

I started going through the racks, and I noticed a Storm Shadow on the very top row. He was almost out of MY reach, and I'm about six feet tall. But I snagged him, and quickly located the mother and son. They were very grateful.

Couple of days later, I was in a nearby mall. The mother and son were there, and came up to me to thank me AGAIN for Storm Shadow, and told me that they'd been bragging about me to their friends, about how there are still some nice people in the world.

One of my nicer G.I.Joe memories...

What a great story,man! I bet that family still remembers that day,too.

My pick for '88 is Hit 'n Run, and he remains a favorite to this day. Realistic-looking sculpt,awesome camo-paint on his skin,incredible accessories-that Colt 9mm Submachinegun is just too cool! and the duffle and knife are even better.

Also,Hit 'n Run has deeper meaning for me-summer '88 was a very trying time health-wise for me,but September saw me home safely with my parents again,and the very next morning after I got off the plane,we found Hit 'n Run at Target. It was a very 'comfort-zone' feeling to get such a great Joe figure.

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1. Shockwave. Cool look, cool gun and the knive in the backpack feature is always a winner.
2. Hit & Run. Like everyone else has said.
3. Budo / Storm Shadow / Muskrat. Budo was my first martial arts guy. Storm Shadow was my first SS and I really liked that bow + claw. Muskrat just has this excellent jungle outfit and his shotgun is one of my favorite guns from the whole line.

Tim 121RVC

It is very hard

Muskrat had a cool specialty

Hit and Run had awesome paint

Budo had cool accessories- SAMURAI!

Repeater had a super classic look to him

but I inevitably went with:

Shockwave or as I like to call him the total package
cool paint/cool accessories/ classic look/ cool specialty

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figured Shockwave and Hit & Run would be the leading the pack here, they're both insanely popular within the joe collecting community. And while their sculpts are awesome in their own right, 1988 had a wealth of Joe sculpts equally as great!

I had to go with Spearhead & Max, because I think he was the first 1988 figure I got back then. Sure his camo is a bit garish but he looked like an updated Desert Trooper (to keep Dusty company), came with a bobcat and an insanely huge rifle...hey I didn't know what a "point man" was! So he was my desert trooper.

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I had to go with Blizzard. I'm biased toward the snow Joes, so while there are several good figures to choose from, he's the one who just stands out a bit more to me.

On the surface, I didn't think there would be much to vote for in '88. But, this reminded me of the many high quality figures that were released that year. Ultimately, I crossed of Shockwave since I like the Night Force version better. The same it true of Lightfoot. I went with Repeater for a minute until I remembered Hit and Run. Hit and Run is pretty much a perfect figure. You couldn't really change his paint or accessories to make him better. Plus, I only bought 3 figures in 1988: Hardball, TF Roadblock and Hit and Run. Of the three, only Hit and Run is still commonly used today. So, he's my pick for the class of that year's figures.

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Looks like Hit & Run is the winner, only two votes ahead of Shockwave!


Tim 121RVC