Nostalgia Unleashed in the 25th Anniversary GI Joe Collecting Adventure of 2007
Welcome to the Outpost. Wow what a year 2023 has been. I know there have been a lot of Joes we have been anticipating, but Hasbro really cranked out a lot of classified figures from several different years and multiple generations. I love the Classified line but the 3-3/4 inch will forever fill my heart. I went through my favorite Christmas hauls from 1982-1994, now I want to take a look at when I started collecting and some of those highly anticipated and sometimes hard to find figures. It seems like just yesterday, yet only 16 short years ago it was the 25th anniversary of the newly launched 1982 three and three fourth inch scale GI Joe.
Not an original scale or idea, but an action figure that would take the world by storm. Most of us grew up with Joes, left them behind to start careers, families, or just pursue our dreams, but in the back of our brains never forgot the joy those little guys brought us. It slowly started a nostalgic memory as we passed by a shell of a Rattler at local flea market, then the occasional “How did I end up in the Target toy isle?”, and eventually it was full blown bedlam with figures, vehicles, and comics raiding the shelves everywhere.
On line shopping was still in its infancy in 2007, so when you saw the newest line up, off to the store to try and find that figure or vehicle. It could be very hit or miss but I had my local stores down to a science for finding the new arrivals. In 2007 the Battle Pack (Starter kits) were released, 1 with 5 Joes and the other 5 Cobras. These were like dumping a barrel of chum into a school of fish. It didn’t take Hasbro long to realize that the cute and cuddly kids who not long ago were lighting fire crackers off in the torso of their GI Joes now had a hunger to recapture their childhood. We all know that these were not the greatest figures created in the modern style, but for the time these were revolutionary and down right awesome. Out of the battle pack my 2 favorite figures are Scarlet and Storm Shadow. Single carded I have to go Stalker and Firefly.
Honestly though seeing GI Joes on the shelves brought back fond memories and it was hard to fight the urge to invest some money into these nostalgic little 3-3/4 inch masterpieces. Although almost every figure from 2007 would have another version and most several very cool versions, the first wave of the 25th anniversary style Joes is similar to those pilot 1982 Straight arm figures. For many it was the dawn of collecting both in 1982 and in 2007. What are your favorite figures from 2007? Make sure to check back next week for those crazy hunts for 2008 releases.
