Hook, Line & Figure: The Holy Trinity of G.I. Joe

Story by Destro Designs / Viper Den Studios

The Holy Trinity:
Card Art – File Card -Figure
The ultimate criteria when choosing a figure in the toy aisle.

There are countless reasons I think Gi Joe is the undisputed best Toy Line. But one thing is the way I was able to become so insanely immersed like a drug addict, when standing in the toy aisle with a figure in my hand

Every figure had, right next to it, an absolute work of art reaching out and pulling you into the figure, getting you to flip it around, to see all the available card art and read a super cool insight in to this figure you’re holding. You didn’t have to see the cartoon or read a single comic to feel like you were instantly transported into this world where every one mattered, everyone had a duty, a task, or in some cases, shit like Falconry and Reptile Training.

Card Art

Arguably, as important to me as the figure. I know that sounds crazy, but I would just STARE at card art and let my imagination do the rest. The back of every figure would have more card art and I would just drool over the figures i’ve never seen in person, or just couldn’t get. In fairness, I would stare at flyers in the Sunday paper or Christmas Catalogs as well. Just. Staring.

Before I even saw the Destro figure, I saw that Card Art, a hulking set of shoulders and on top was the coolest freaking mask ever, and hmmm, what’s that gun? And Holy shit, are those WRIST ROCKETS???

l will never forget that moment. And so by the time I went to look at the actual figure i was already dropping money on the counter and pulling the plastic open. And it went that way for so many figures, because that’s how I saw them. Shockwave and Alley Viper have the best Card Art and when I would hold those figures, I imagined them looking just like that. These amazing militarized images HIT my brain like a key, unlocking parts of my developing mind and allowing my imagination to grow beyond what I was currently limiting myself to this is a major part of the experience when looking for, buying and just appreciating Gi Joes. I still can feel those doors opening when I look at original card art.

File Card
Other side of that experience when standing in the toy aisle, was that File Card. Of course, I was free to make up whatever I wanted about a character, but I didn’t have to, almost always without fail, The File Card delivered, at minimum, an excellent foundation for a new figures back story and place in the overall lore. At best, you get crazy cool File Cards like Copperhead with the Gung Ho quote, or Scrap Iron wanting to “Blow Up The World” and plenty of freaking awesome other File Card a in between. Even the Joes had great file cards! The crazy part, is the File cards didn’t always line up with the comic or the cartoon, and that just furthered the idea of open head cannon, a major part of why a Gi Joe Fandom is awesome. With all the comics, file cards, and cartoons. You can choose which version of the figure/character you like, even if its your own, and that totally rocks.

Figure
After you see that Card Art jump at you, your eyes slide right and you see the plastic representation of that work of art and it immediately becomes real. This isn’t an idea, this is a perfectly sized, highly detailed, super pose-able figure that is Now in my hand, it has accessories that are small and detailed and freaking cool. A pose-able figure that allowed those unlocked imaginative doors to be blown complete off of their hinges, as the new figure gets set up and the full scale battle starring the new figure commences. Gi Joes are so much more than the plastic they’re played with, but at the core of that, is the figure. The scale was so much cooler than He-Man and so much more detailed than Star-Wars. As time went on they were more affordable than Voltron or Transformers and still superior in every way to Mask and Ninja Turtles, despite how cool those both were.

To me, choosing a figure was about all 3.
The Card Art grabbed your attention, the File Card Card would shake that line, and the figure would set that hook as you were reeled in and boated into another purchase.

I remain obsessed 42 years after later, still boated.