Reflecting on a Decade of G.I. Joe Action Figures: 2017’s Exclusive Joys and Missed Retail Opportunities

Story by Mitchell Smith

Welcome to the Outpost. Today I’m taking a look back at G.I. Joe 2017 as a whole. 10 years had passed since the modern style Joe was released in 2007 as the 25th anniversary of the 3-3/4 inch style O-Ring Joes that took the world by storm and still holds up as one of the greatest action figure lines of all time. I would have to say of all the toy lines the only other close ones are Star Wars and Transformers. 2017 would prove to be another great year for exclusive club and convention figures. There were a bunch of really nice figures that would have sold at retail and well it just didn’t happen. If you wanted Joes this year you had to join the Club. Like George Carlin said there is a big club and you ain’t in it. I wasn’t and I Got Nothing.

Any-hoot had I been one to buy into the big boy club or have a convention. Within a 1000 miles of my town I very well would have loved the Battle Force 2000 figures and the 1 vehicle a repainted Polar Battle Bear. A couple vehicles to make a small Outpost or something would have been really cool, but I guess that wasn’t in the budget. A few favorites from this year include, Scoop, Ambush, Salvo, Hardtop, Raptor, Darklon, Cross Hair, and Big Lob, but I would have picked up all the rest at retail. This was a sad year and even though the 3-3/4 inch figures were coming to a halt I had a good run and picked up a lot of cool stuff over the years. Who are your favorite figures from this year? Make sure to check back next week for those hard to find 2018 release some.