The Return to Cobra Island: How G.I. Joe Took Over My Life Again at 46

Story by Destro Designs / Viper Den Studios

If you had asked me years ago, if I thought it was possible my life would be completely consumed by G.I. Joe once again at the age of 46, I would’ve thought you were out of your mind. I have a busy contracting business, twin daughters which whom i am the head coach of their Basketball and Softball teams, i am renovating my entire house, But yet, here i am.

In a years time, ive built and filled an entire toy studio with mostly Classifieds and some 3¾ figures, carded and loose. We will get to my impulsive nature later.

Ill start at the beginning.

I was almost 5 years old when I walked into Kay-Bee Toys in Latham Circle Mall, a now defunct shopping center, that was an incredibly important part of my growing up. It was close to my house had Kay-Bee, Caldor and an arcade when they meant something. It was here in 1984 when I laid eyes on the Destro Card Art and figure. I was stopped in my tracks. Id seen the green shirt joes and they looked OK, but once I saw that Destro, they all suddenly looked amazing. I was consumed by these figures in a way I hadnt felt in my years on the planet. I was levitating.

I strutted out with Destro V1 and Snake Eyes V1 and never looked at another toy in a wanting way again. I walked out of that mall into a full blown obsession. For the next 7 or so years I bought so many vehicles and weapons packs and figures that it all spilled out of every toy box and shelf in my room. I have a huge family and my obsession was well know. “Don’t bother buying Michael anything besides Gi Joe” is what I would hear being said into the corded phone in the kitchen from my mom, over the course of the weeks leading up to my birthday, or Christmas.

So many amazing and iconic figures like Snake Eyes V2, The Snow Serpant and the Eel in ’84 and ’85 that continued to fuel thecruise missle that flew my.obsession through the sky and when ’86 hit and Beachead, Low Light, The BAT and a wide variety of colored characters arrived, that cruise missle went from sky bound projectile to intergalactic rocketship.
Every year the figures kept coming and some were my favorites. Shockwave, Alley Viper, Blizzard, Lightfoot, Ambush, Salvo all led the charge as I became solidified in my postion that the Gi Joe toy line was the greatest thing on Gods green earth. These were the glory years.

Then, the Neon Nineties came and my teenage sensibilities couldnt handle it. The Blue and Yellow Major Bludd was the tipping point as well as Beachead V2 and the god awful Low Light V2. I was done, as girls and sports took over. I boxed everytbing up. And moved on. Bought a few things in 2008 when ths Rise of Cobra came out as well as the 25th anniversary. But my life was utter chaos at the time and the Joes only got sent to the closet with my OG toys from youth, howling for attention. A flutter of recognition here or there, I always thought of Gi Joe Lovingly, but as I stated, those were seriously WILD years for me.

Until.

December 2024 I was scanning through Amazon to get some last minute odds and ends for the kids when I saw the Classifed Alley Viper in all of its 6″ Glory. I felt the hairs on my neck stand up and a familiar butterfly came running through my stomach. I ordered the Classifed AV and a Destro.

3 days later I sat in the room that would soon become my toy studio and opened the Alley Viper. And as that plastic tray slid out of its cardboard box, i felt myself slipping back into the pilot’s of that old, yet familiar intergalactic rocketship,. I pulled that figure from its plastic prison and as I put that shield onto his arm and affixed the backpack, I realized I was Jodie Foster in Contact, hurtling through the cosmos form wormhole to wormhole. I felt the years of obsessing over these toys take root once again as if I was Serpentor and this was something being spliced into my DNA. But this was me. All me. A hidden, buried collection of feelings bursting from a forgotten tomb and encompassing my whole entire life, just like that.

And in these 14 months since then, my 7 year-old-self has taken control of the check book and Ive gotten caught up on all things Classifed, even Troop building to a crazy degree, vehicles, dioramas, insane photo shoots, doing promoshots for such amazing makers as Mos Mind Custom Design and Sys3dArsenal, I do a podcast, Live! From Viper Den Studios for 4 hours at clip about all things Gi Joe. I have found the coolest group of people on Gi Joe Twitter/X thats changing the world through being positive and encouraging to all of us living life through the lens of how much we love Gi Joe. Ive made great friends and been on their podcasts, dudes like Mark from Destro Is My Spirit Animal and Ahbi, Lou and Talib from Figure Fight Club. Dudes out here making amazing content while being a positive and awesome force in the world of Gi Joe, and now, I get to throw down here with all of the amazing people at Serpentors Lair. An amazimg source of the best damn writing, and all things 80’s nostalgia.

Iam honored to give you all this quick glance into my Gi Journey and how, in my mid-40’s, ive made my whole life outside of being a Dad, about these amazing toys and the brotherhood and sisterhood we share around them.

Ive come full circle, and iam ecstatic with every ounce and fiber of my being to be here sharing this experience through these words, here on Serpantors Lair. Stay Tuned.
-Destro Designs / Viper Den Studios