I'm about 90% all in. There hasn't been too much I have skipped. Kamakura, the Blue Ninjas, some of the retro figures and all of the movie line. I collected when I was kid from 83 till 92. So I'm open to a variety of styles and sub teams. Those later years have some great sculpts and character designs. don't get me wrong they are fewer and far between (I would love a Eel V2 with his robotic shark). If anything I think the classified team has more creative freedom with the later years. Not being so held to making it look exactly like the original.
Army building I have also slowed down on. My max now is three. Their is just to many coming out now. I think we had about thirteen in total this year. besides the money the space fills up to fast. Next year with the Action Solider and Frogman I'm only planning on doing one of each. Their cool but they also seem almost to realistic compared to the rest of the Joes. Also army building at the deluxe price point.
Python Patrol and Tiger Force I'm just about done with. I'll get the new PP officer when he comes out. copper head and the trubble bubble I'm planning on skipping. For Tiger Force just Roadblock when he comes out. Tripwire I'm good with the normal release and life line I'll just get the regular when he eventually comes out.
New characters and ones created post ARAH I'm in for as long as they interest me. Shadow Tracker, Shooter, Vypra, Mole rats I think look great and are nice additions to the line. Especially in the case of the female characters which the original line was really lacking. I'm hoping we see Bomb strike and Crimson Asp at some point.
Vehicles is were I will get picky. I'm not really interested in anything past 86. with the exception of Destro despoiler and the buzz boar. Maybe the Coastal Defender because its so stupid its good. But really on the Joe side of things I think I will be good with the Ram, Vamp and Dragon Fly. With Cobra the Hiss, Ferret, Trubble bubble and Claw. Although the Snake Armor would be cool. I've heard rumors of the Rattler for the next Haslab. If that is the case I might be on the fence with that one. Its not that I don't like it but its going to take up a lot of space.
@theknightdamien thanks. most of the wave has been showing up at retail in the last week or so. TRU has 25% off classifieds right now. I've heard of a few guys getting the Snow Serpents and Firefly with the discount. If you have R club rewards you can get an additional 25%.
Wange wipers are up. Or they were a few minutes ago.
If you do not hurry I'm gonna buy em all then resell em all to you guys at a higher price. Jk.
wish the eels would pop up for me. I don't think I'm ever getting that figure.
Got me some. Thanks, unclassified!
I was a die hard GI Joe fan as a kid. Watched the cartoon, read the comic and collected the figures. Sadly at the ripe old age of 13, I felt I was too old to play with toys so I stop collecting the figures. This was back in 84 so I missed the bulk of the line. There were a lot of great figures I missed out on. That said, I have almost no interest in reliving my childhood through this line. I'm buying Classified figures to supplement my Marvel MCU collection. I need soldiers to go up against the bad guys, mercs to fight the good guys and custom fodder for Marvel characters that haven't made it to live action.So many GI Joe Classified figures have been coming in lately, and I've been enjoying all of them. But it got me thinking, how does everyone on here collect this line?
Are you all in, meaning you buy everything. Mostly all in, or do you have some method or reasoning to just buy certain characters?
For me, until just this year, I have been all in. But I changed. Some things I'd bought over the years just didn't have meaning to me, or felt like "man, I don't really feel like spending the money on that."
Things like Kamakura and the Blue Ninjas. or pre orders like the Fire team, Shooter, Mole Rats etc.
So, I looked at what GI Joe is to me. What means the most. And that is the Classic GI Joe Hasbro 1:18 line from 1982-1998.
So, that what I do. If it's from the vintage toy line of my youth, I buy it. Not that I won't buy other things. Like, I may or may not got the Crimson Strike Team. And if I get them, I may have to get some Crimson Alley Vipers. And right there, I did just get some Crimson Vipers regardless of if I get the Strike Team and Alley Vipers.
So, how do you handle this? How do you collect Classified?
@normdapito PM if you want to sell the wolf pelt that comes with the Snow Serpent.
@maczero Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there's no PM function on the new forum.
So many GI Joe Classified figures have been coming in lately, and I've been enjoying all of them. But it got me thinking, how does everyone on here collect this line?
Are you all in, meaning you buy everything. Mostly all in, or do you have some method or reasoning to just buy certain characters?
For me, until just this year, I have been all in. But I changed. Some things I'd bought over the years just didn't have meaning to me, or felt like "man, I don't really feel like spending the money on that."
Things like Kamakura and the Blue Ninjas. or pre orders like the Fire team, Shooter, Mole Rats etc.
So, I looked at what GI Joe is to me. What means the most. And that is the Classic GI Joe Hasbro 1:18 line from 1982-1998.
So, that what I do. If it's from the vintage toy line of my youth, I buy it. Not that I won't buy other things. Like, I may or may not got the Crimson Strike Team. And if I get them, I may have to get some Crimson Alley Vipers. And right there, I did just get some Crimson Vipers regardless of if I get the Strike Team and Alley Vipers.
So, how do you handle this? How do you collect Classified?
This Classified line has been an interesting journey for me. To me, GI Joe is really 1982-1985. In my years of collecting, I've managed to acquire a mostly complete O-ring collection and 3.75" Modern Era set of figures from these years, so Classified is my third time buying most of these characters. My original intention was to cherry pick, be very specific to 82-25, and try to wait for a sale for a few others that piqued my interest. After all who needs three different versions Dusty? A lot of my thinking was 'who can I live without' to save space and money (I currently collect several other toy lines, like Star Wars, Legends, McFarlane Super Powers, etc).
Well, all the deep discount sale prices this year had me buying a lot of figures I was on the fence about. When Dusty is only $5 at Ollie's, FOMO kicks in hard. And Zarana and Tiger Force Outback are not in the 82-85 year range, but she's $5 too and he was on clearance for $13, and both look really cool! I wasn't planning on buying Shipwreck, Grunt, or Sgt. Slaughter, but clearance sales suckered me in on those. But I skipped Cover Girl, Snow Serpent, Buzzer, Trip Wire and the Eel, all of whom are 82-85 characters.
So my focus has shifted. I don't need every 82-85 character. I don't need to limit myself to 82-25. I pick only 3-5 Classified figures a year that I think look really cool or hit some sort of nostalgia/emotional button for me, even if a couple of them extend beyond the 82-85 range (like Big Ben). If I'm interested in any others, I'll wait for a sale (at least 20% off, but usually more), and if I don't get them, so be it. For 2024, Mutt and Junkyard look really good to me (it's really Junkyard I want!), and retro Duke and Scarlett on are the 'must have list' for now. Pre-orders for me are limited to mostly exclusives, as it seem general release figures are usually easier to come by and often times can be picked up on sale.
This is a new approach for me, as usually nostalgia for 82-85 was the primary motivator, but it was also limiting. I was able score some Cobra BATs on sale in 2022. I hated the idea of BATs as kid, and they were from the 1986 assortment so I'd never own any before. But the Classified BAT is tons of fun, and I started imaging all new scenarios with this character in my mind that I'd never considered before. Those BATs really made collecting fun, as it felt like something new, and not just a repeat (or larger version) of what I already have.
I’m the guy that wants ALL the late-80s/90s stuff and beyond. I was born in 1978, so 87 was really the first year I remember having some control over buying toys, and while I love the 82-86 stuff (swivel-arm Snake-Eyes v1 was the first figure I chose for myself off a store shelf) I didn’t have that much of it. But once I had an allowance from chores and more autonomy to shop, *that* is when I really got to build my collection of Joes. I was also a big monster/horror kid, so some of the weirder stuff they did later on like drug lords and mutant monsters and pollution zombies totally sparked my tween imagination. And it was not lost on me that while a lot of the original designs and package art were AMAZING, the best sculpting was later in the line. I mean, just set 85 Snake-Eyes next to 89 Snake-Eyes: design notwithstanding, there was no question to me which was the cooler toy when I was 11. I want all the crazy stuff, all the nutso latter day subteams and the aliens and all that. If Range Viper is any indication, the weird 90s stuff is going to be incredible.
wish the eels would pop up for me. I don't think I'm ever getting that figure.
I'm pretty sure the Joe team said he would get a carded Retro release, someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Got me some. Thanks, unclassified!
No problem. I had insomnia and once again like last time i scored, sometbing told me to check and they were in. So got some, posted here. Told my buddy who I just got a sarge and the twins for from ollies, to get one because these are real dope, they are a pain to get at the moment and totally worth getting. So he grabbed one. These things are so bad ass I went from like building 5 to 10 haha. God. That's it. This ain't gonna be the 25th all over again for me. Not doing it.
4 has been my magic number for builders but if the day comes when a retro Cobra Trooper and Viper happen, my wallet will be toast.
It's so interesting to see how everyone collects. It definitely seems that a lot of you, like me, stick to stuff from the Classic RAH line.
It's interesting to see some of the cut off points. Like 82-85, or 82-87. For me I guess it's 82-94 (Up to that final Battle Corps Wave).
I was born in 1982, and the first thing I was really into was He-Man. But around the time I was 5, I got into GI Joe too (MOTU, TMNT, and GI Joe are my all-time favorite toy lines). So, 1987 ish. Once I got into it, I was lucky enough to either get some of the older figures I had missed at retail from the previous 5 years, and I had an older cousin who gave me some of his older GI Joes I missed.
From 87 to 94 was my sweet spot.
I loved figures like Blizzard, Scoop, Cpt. Gridiron, Recoil, Dee Jay, Big Ben, Shockwave, Night Creeper Leader, Gung Ho V.3 and V.4, Duke V.3, and Snake Eyes V.3,4, and 5 etc. I even enjoyed the nonmilitary looking stuff that some folks didn't enjoy or felt fit, like the Ninja Force figures and some of the figures with the crazy neon colors. They felt very 90's and I enjoyed them.
I can definitely see being all in though. Like I said, I had been all in up until this year. And I even still may pick up some characters like Helix and Shadow Tracker, or the Crimson Strike team.
GI Joe Classifieds really to me feels like the best, most enjoyable toy line out there right now.
Even with all the MOTU, TMNT, Star Wars, Marvel and DC stuff there is, I get the most enjoyment out of this line. And I guess the reason I dialed it back a bit is some characters I just have no attachment to, and I'd rather put the money towards army building characters from the Classic RAH line, like Vipers, Alley Vipers, Crimson Guard etc., than spending money on characters that I have no care or attachment to, or I feel just don't fit.
But so cool seeing how all of you go about it. Thanks for sharing 🙂
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