Nostalgic Review: The 2016 Hunt for G.I. Joe Action Figures – A Collector’s Reflection
Story By Mitchell Smith
Welcome to the Outpost. Today I’m taking a look back at G.I. Joe in 2016. It was getting harder and harder to find 3-3/4 figures at retail. This would be the last year for a bit to find figures at retail. I remember seeing a couple at Toys R Us, and wishing things were a bit cheaper. Times were tough and I just didn’t have extra cash for anything back then. I passed on some cool figures I wish I had been able to pick up like Shooter, Stiletto, and Tombstone. I did find after the fact a Heavy Duty and somewhere along the way I ended up with the Zombie Viper.
The vehicles went sideways quicker than our presidential campaign that year. Hasbro released a small amount of exclusive vehicles like 2 gliders and a couple Sky Patrol vehicles. These would have been nice but I would never get a chance to even think about it back then. Some of my favorite exclusive figures include the Sky Patrol, Cloudburst, Skymate, Freefall, Law & Order, Billy, Bullhorn, Doc, Pythona and I guess every other figure from this year would be great to have. I especially would love Pythona and think an O-ring Pythona is way overdue.
I did receive a special gift from my buddy Adam this year, The Ice Ninja Night Creeper. This is an awesome figure and I know it was hard for him to part ways with this guy, so I greatly appreciate having this figure in my collection. Overall this was a great year for figures, but not a great year for being able to get all of these awesome figures. Who are your favorite figures from this year? Make sure to check back next week for those hard to find 2017 releases.
