The FunPub G.I.Joe Conventions – A Retrospective!
This week in Loveland Colorado is the final official G.I.Joe Convention for now, and we thought it would be appropriate, before the Convention gets going, to take a look back at all of the great items that Fun Publications has brought to the fans over the past several years. If you are a fan of G.I.Joe you are going to enjoy this walk down memory Lane. One thing is for certain, if you are a fan of ‘sub-teams’ the club has given you a lot of great figures to add to your collection down through the years. Here are some of the highlights.
The first Convention ‘set’ kicked off 14 years ago back in 2002 with the ‘Crimson Strike Team‘. This set took the concept of the Crimson Guardsmen and addedBaroness, Vipers, and the Crimson Guard Commanders, ‘Tomax’ and ‘Xamot’ to this ‘All Crimson’ O-Ring style set.
The second Convention set, ‘Operation Anaconda’ was the first to introduce all new characters. This set melded the classic o-ring style figures with a duel between The Swamp Vipers and the Black Dragon clan vs Major Storm, Falcon and Lady Jaye!
In 2005, the Convention set brought us one of the best sets of Iron Grenadier figures produced with their ‘General Mayhem: M.A.R.S. Invades‘ set. This set brought us new Iron Grenadiers Characters such as Iron Anvil, and the introduction of ‘General Mayhem’ into the pantheon of Iron Grenadiers characters. Check out the set below.
In 2012, the G.I.Joe Club released their final O-Ring style figures with their, ‘Vacation in the Shadows’ box set. This set highlighted the popular International sub team ‘Red Shadows‘.
There have been 4 other Convention sets since 2012, all in what is known to G.I.Joe collectors as the ‘Modern-Era’ style figures. Many of these sets were remakes of previous sets, recreating them in modern styles. But the most popular and in my opinion the best of the ‘Modern-Era’ style convention sets was the 2013, ‘Night Force – Nocturnal Fire’ set. This set brought back the ‘Night Force’ which is probably the most popular and hard to find G.I.Joe sub-teams of all time, as well as several Cobra Vipers such as Frag Viper and S.A.W. Viper in new ‘Modern-Era’ sculpts.
While the 2016 G.I.Joe Convention closes one really nice chapter in G.I.Joe lore, there are still plenty of fans of collecting G.I.Joe action figures still around, and the love for the classic G.I.Joe: A Real American Hero story line has not wavered. It still has a huge fan base. Lets just hope going forward that the executives at Hasbro, who will be taking over control of any future Convention offerings, will remember this when planning future offerings.
