 Hello everybody hooded Cobra Commander 788 here and this is the answers video for our annual Q&A For 2018. This has become a tradition every year on this channel. We do a question and answer So I ask you to give me your questions. You did You gave me over a hundred questions to answer So I'm gonna try to go through these quickly. So this video doesn't take hours and hours But I'm very thrilled that you guys did want to ask questions. So I'm happy to answer them I was a little concerned that since we do a weekly live stream on the channel now that the Q&A might be obsolete But then I thought well not everybody can come to the live stream And even if you do make it to the live stream Sometimes the live chat goes so fast that I can't read all of the questions. So This was the opportunity to have your question answered if you really wanted to so I've got over a hundred questions here Let's get started. These are gonna be answered in the reversed order in which they were asked So the last question asked will be the first question answered and this question is from John Smith He says dear ACC 788 loved the channel. Thank you very much Not sure if I can get a multi-part especially this late But I'm going to try anyway and hope you'll at least pick one as a quick disclaimer I was born in the 1980s so by that time of my oh by the time of my first exposure to GI Joe The sci-fi elements were already heavily Integrated as a result. I easily accepted them first a quick one. When will you get to snake eyes version 3? I'm biased being born in the night in the 1980s But I believe it's a very underrated version second and again biased in my opinion the 1990 line was a great GI Joe year With many classic and or underrated figures given you have one ridiculous figure in Captain gridiron But but every year has one of those That being said Classic figures such as ambush bullhorn freefall Rampart and at least half a dozen more Could it could have been top figures in any 1980s year? I would love to hear your thoughts on this agreement disagreement indifference. I won't be offended lastly It seems like it seems that the change in direction of GI Joe represents a cultural divide When the Gen X kids were leaving while the early Millennials were being introduced during the 1980s Of note being that the first wave of GI Joe's Were produced in 1982 the year that is generally thought of as being the first year of Millennial births Again, I would love to hear your thoughts on this PS love that you got snuckered in the live stream last night Thank you very much So thanks, John. That's a lot But basically basically you have three questions here and I'm gonna try to answer each one first Snake eyes version three That is a figure. I hope to review Next year in 2019 I also agree. It's a somewhat underrated figure. I like Snake eyes version three. I've been trying to review a Snake eyes figure each year And I think that might be the one that I do for 2019 So that those that's I think I should be able to get to it this coming year The next question is you listed some great figures from the 1990 Series and I also think those are great figures. I don't disagree there. I think You mentioned ambush bullhorn freefall rampart all fantastic figures from 1990. I can't disagree at all 1990 actually Was overall a good year. It was a little bit of a return to form for GI Joe where they kind of picked up some of their military roots again and In addition to that they also had some of the really excellent 1990s sculpting So there's a lot of good to say about the 1990 series and you listed a few really great figures from that series Lastly about the cultural divide with Millennials Being introduced in to GI Joe in the 1980s and that being kind of a Change of direction for GI Joe. I think that may have something to do with it the Shift more towards science fiction heavy GI Joe happened a bit before then you could definitely see that in the 1986 series and as people like to point out There was science fiction in GI Joe all the way back in 1982. There's always been science fiction in GI Joe Yes, I know that But it started to tip more in the science fiction direction around about 86 and then as you point out in 1990 they actually sort of The pendulum swung back the other direction I think a lot of that has to do with what was happening in the toy market at the time When you had the introduction of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which was huge and power Rangers also huge so In the 90s GI Joe was trying to emulate some of that so That's where I think the real divide was In you know once you get past 1990 and move more into like 1992 93 94 Where you get a lot more bright colors a lot more outlandish? costumes and more science fiction and fantasy I Really think they were trying to copy what was happening in the toy market at the time and GI Joe had lost a bit of its penash And was chasing trends rather than leading trends. So that's kind of how I look at it and Certainly, you know millennials had something to do with that, but I think really The kids that were coming of age and playing with toys In the early 90s late 80s early 90s We're more enamored with power Rangers X-Men and Ninja Turtles And what happened when GI Joe was more of you know chasing those? Thanks for the questions John. Let's move on to the next one Next one is in Jay Edd 974 Oh, no, New Jersey, New Jersey is that NJ for New Jersey? Asks what figure or vehicle has eluded you in your collecting some time something You keep passing up for some reason or another mine was the Cobra bat for example It's such a popular figure, but I keep passing on it. That's an interesting question Not necessarily a grail piece, but just something I keep passing on I could get it But I just haven't got it yet and the figure that comes to mind right now is Tiger Force bazooka, you know, I've thought about getting that figure many times I haven't picked it up yet. There's no reason why I couldn't get it. It's not particularly rare. It's not especially expensive I've seen a lot of them online on eBay, you know being offered by sellers on Facebook and I just Pass, you know, I always have higher priorities. It just I just haven't pulled the trigger on that one That's my answer to that question Tiger Force bazooka is the one I just keep passing on But someday I'll get it when I have absolutely nothing else to get. I'll get that one Mark a hook It's either hook or hokey Pardon my pronunciation, but Mike or I'm sorry Mark Mark hook Asked you get your vintage Joe's from a store or the internet. The answer is both. I We have a local toy dealer here that I visit frequently and I try to get stuff from them I always try to support local vendors as much as possible, but I also get some things from From online I search eBay like a lot of us do There are for some Facebook groups sites like og toys Conventions like if I I used to pick up a lot of stuff at Joe con So yeah, I get my stuff from a variety of different places Including a lot of stuff that is sent to me From viewers So I get a lot of stuff to help way to surprisingly, you know more than I expected But yeah, I do both. I do some shopping online and do some shopping in a local toy shop Okay, Raymond Pascalino and I again, I apologize if I mispronounce your name. You have to understand I'm from Oklahoma. So English is a second language for me He asks At the last minute, but here's my question. Hey, you got your question in on time. It wasn't even the last question that was asked He says what characters would you like Larry? How about to go deeper into? Explaining their origin or creating a mini series to give more prominence Happy New Year. Thank you too bad. We did not have did not have Brazilian Joe reviewers in Cobra Convergence We have a lot of collectors, but none do reviews. Well, hey, maybe there needs to be a Brazilian Gijo reviewer somebody needs to step up and start a YouTube channel I'd be very interested in seeing that but to answer your question a Figure that I reviewed recently that I thought was tragically underused in the comic book series was big Ben and I if you read the file card, that's such an interesting character and So much more could have been done with them and I really would love for Larry to flesh out that one And give us, you know, let big Ben be the star of a story. I think that would be really cool Okay, Mark Storm asks the next question Mark says why did Joe die out? Why isn't Joe more popular nowadays? What can be done to get it back in the spotlight? Well a lot of reasons I think one reason is some Some really poorly written movies the two to the two movies that we got rise of Cobra certainly could have been better and Retaliation was was better than rise of Cobra, but it still didn't quite hit as well as it could have another problem I think is Gijo has a lot of different Elements to it. A lot has just been Piled into it over the years and I I think we may have reached a point where their G.I. Joe's G.I. Joe contains too many concepts to Digest into a coherent narrative So you have your science fiction G.I. Joe you have your military G.I. Joe you have your space G.I. Joe you have your mutants and aliens and All these things are sort of shoehorned into a universe that wasn't really built for them So it makes it hard to create something that can appeal to a lot of people because it's just so scattered but one okay What I don't think is a reason though is the fact that it's military focused that it's U.S. You know United States centered The fact that the terrorists or the enemy is terrorists or and fascists these are not Reasons why G.I. Joe can't be popular there are example examples of things that are popular right now That have all of those elements in it and if those things can do it G.I. Joe could certainly do it as well So those aren't excuses But I do think that G.I. Joe needs to decide what it wants to be And just be that thing and not everything you can't be everything You have to decide what you're gonna be and then be the best at that that you can be Those are my thoughts about it But you know we do have the snake eyes movie coming up in 2020 and I'm hopeful that that will be good and it will maybe spark a new generation of Of G.I. Joe fans we can hope I'm remaining optimistic about it The next question is from be Bishop. He says Have you ever considered filming the making of a review whereas? Background cameras are rolling and filming you in the process of you filming a review it makes sense It's like the making of a Metallica album. Well, the answer that is yes, and you may get something like that soon A comic tropes has a three-part question comic tropes asks First any ideas for your Joe fast panel and to what elements of your show excite slash keep you going and Three when can we get a hoodie cocoa t-shirt? Okay Answering the first question. Yes. I know what I want to do for my Joe Fest panel I want to talk about all of the really cool stuff that is happening With G.I. Joe on YouTube So, you know, there are a lot of G.I. Joe fans and they have no idea all the cool stuff that's happening on YouTube for G I Joe. Well, they're gonna get an education at the Joe con or the Joe Fest panel That's what I'd like to talk about. There's so many cool Things happening and so many cool people creating awesome stuff for G.I. Joe on on YouTube And I want everybody to know about it Your second question what elements of the show keep me going and I'm keep me excited, you know I like actually completing the review and having a finished product that I can present to everyone And I hope that they like but that moment when I actually have this the review done And I can actually show it to you. That's a thrilling moment for me and the the ability to interact with people interacting with viewers has become one of the most important parts of this experience and Just being schedules and timeframes being what they are interacting Through the comments section has not been, you know, what it used to be But I find other ways to interact with you guys So I can still keep talking with you and see keep communicating and we can still, you know Keep going on this journey together. So that communication with you guys has been Very rewarding and that's part of it that keeps me going And to answer your third question when can we get a hoodie cocoa t-shirt? I don't know. I was actually trying to work on a design for a hoodie cocoa t-shirt and I Haven't quite hit on the right design yet And I have haven't had a lot of time to work on it So I've only been able to work on it kind of in my spare time So I actually really would like to get a hoodie cocoa t-shirt out there for you but it's got to be a good one and The right design hasn't quite hit me yet. So I'm working on it. I'm working on it. Okay, Jason Karest Says When you eventually get to this special missions Brazil set will you comment on the obvious similarities between? Dial tone and mainframe and the Sunbow cartoon character sparks from Cobra stops the world I will try to remember that it's easy for me to overlook these characters that did not Have figures at least they didn't have figures in the vintage era So yeah, it's easy for me to forget about a character like sparks But hey sparks was in gi Joe at least in the cartoon series So that might be a good opportunity to talk about that character And I will do my best to remember when I get to that review Abba daba says I love your stuff. Thank you very much And have watched your success grow then skyrocket and I look forward to a new episode every week Thank you very much. I look forward to making a new episode every week he says I've been poking posting pics of new sculpt figures on Instagram getting likes and followers Do you think this is a good way to start a new sculpt in parentheses the 2000s Joe's like spy troops Valor versus venom etc Review series on YouTube. Well, actually, I think that could be a nice niche because Not a lot of reviewers talk about those figures And I'm sure a lot of collectors remember those figures and might like to see somebody talking about them so that's something definitely to Think about if you're thinking about doing it. You might give it a try It might be an area that You know, that's it could be an interesting niche area that Could be explored. So it's not a bad idea And if you decide to do that, you know, send me your channel If you get it started and I'll be happy to take a look at it interesting idea Doug Dillow He says I've been carrying around my Joe collection since childhood But I'm about to go through them and assess conditions and start building on my collection Do you have recommendations on how to repair figures and vehicles or where do you go for? Reconditioning slash repair help the best place to go is probably the YouTube channel toy polo toy polo focuses mainly on toy repair and And He does a lot of stuff. He doesn't just do gi Joe, but he covers gi Joe as well So check out toy polo. I watch his repair videos And if your answer isn't there, you know, see what else is out there I know there there are a few other people on YouTube that have done videos on toy repair and fixing gi Joe figures But check toy polo first. That's a good place to start Okay, Bader Ray Bob says In the post-credits scenes from the ice cream soldier video we see Xandar and Chabang Trapped in Beelzebub's dollhouse riding my little ponies and having a tea party Were they ever were they ever able to escape? If so, it would be fun to see the story of their escape in a future video at some point Knowing that figure animation videos are very time-consuming to make. Yeah, they are Hope you and your family had a great Christmas and I have a happy new year. Thank you very much I hope your family did as well Well to answer that I would say that Xandar definitely escaped Because Beelzebub forgot he was there So yeah, Xandar gets that in his in his favor You just kind of just kind of forget about him and then he can wander off if you can call that an escape It's more like just leaving It's an interesting idea I'll have to think about that if I have time to Do an escape story for the the trapped Joe's or the trapped figures. That'd be fun Okay, Eric Detrask Says I know during the run of the live-action movie toys There was a prototype of a new smaller USS flag. Do you know of Haswell ever considered Releasing the original Do they still have the mold? Well, I don't have any specific information about that. I don't know if they still have the mold Even if they did it would be very expensive to produce right now only a few collectors would Would buy it probably just considering how expensive it would be so They probably haven't considered reissuing it That would be a tough one that would be a tough one to actually make money on it'd be very expensive to produce and You'd probably smell us Sell very small quantities of it. So that's all I can really say about that I don't think they've Considered re-releasing it and if they did it cost you quite a bit to get one You probably in fact you'd probably be better off just buying a vintage one Considering what they would have to charge for a new one Michael Johnson says thanks for running an amazing channel Thank you for watching. I hope you have a good Christmas and New Year. Thank you. I hope you do too Not a joke question, but I'm curious whether you've ever been to the Tulsa Art Deco Museum And if so, whether it's any good. That's an interesting question I have not been to the Tulsa Art Deco Museum. I'd like to go it looks Nice the pictures. I've seen I have been to the Tulsa Historical Society's Museum And that has some really cool stuff for anyone who's curious what he's talking about the town that I'm from Tulsa in, Oklahoma Has a lot of Art Deco architecture In the 1920s a lot of oil money was flowing into the city And that's about the time when Art Deco was popular So a lot of buildings were built in an Art Deco style and we actually have a really nice A really nice Set of Art Deco buildings in the city a lot of them in the downtown area But even if you get outside of downtown, you can still find some really nice Art Deco gems. So The museum I haven't seen Now that you mentioned it, I'd really like to But if you wanted to see a lot of Art Deco buildings that are still in use You could just take a tour of the city There's a lot to see the building that I used to work in the the Pythian building downtown is an Art Deco building And it's really gorgeous inside It's it's very nice. So That's one nice thing I can say about my city. I can't say, you know, I Can't say the city is perfect. Certainly. It's not a perfect city But that is one thing it has going for it is a lot of really cool Art Deco architecture So so thank you Michael now Super Curry Max Says what is the best flavor of Pop Tarts? The best flavor is strawberry But without the frosting on top the frosting on top just adds unnecessary sugar and the strawberry flavor Is just fine as it is. So that's your answer a zombie snake 57 says What is today your favorite issues of the GI Joe comics? Well, my favorite story arc is the Cobra Civil War story arc. It ran through some of the the 70s But as far as individual issues number 43 Had a big impact on me. It doesn't have a lot of action in that issue, but it's the issue where Wade Collins tells the story of you know Being a POW in Vietnam and then returning from the war and how he was led to join Cobra It also has the deaths of Some important side characters a lot of emotional punch to that issue So that's always one that's kind of stuck with me So as far as if I had to think of just one specific Individual issue. I think number 43 is the one that pops into my head Michael Bassett says, okay, here I go. Well, here you go What are your thoughts on the? 1997 reissues thoughts on yo-jo.com thoughts on the mobile command center and finally what vehicle do you absolutely love and absolutely despise? The 1997 releases, I don't have a lot of them They look nice and in fact some of the color schemes on the 97 Re-releases some of them are better than the originals. I can't complain about that What I'm just not sure about is whether or not those figures were issued Or were marketed toward kids or toward collectors I have noticed that in later Reissues of folder o-ring figures. They seem to have been marketed toward adult collectors and like the plastic quality of them is poor Um and would not stand up to a kid playing with them Whether that's true of the 97 figures or not. I I don't know But some of them look nice. I can't argue with that Uh your next question is thoughts on yo-jo.com. Yo-jo.com is still the gold standard for gi-jo websites There are other great websites out there and certainly yo-jo.com is not perfect, but uh, it's got a lot of really useful information It's great for reference. Uh, and I still think yo-jo.com is great. I still visit the site almost every day So, uh, yeah, it's it's it's pretty cool site When I first started looking at gi-jo again and started thinking about collecting again Yo-jo.com was the first website that I found And I just enjoyed looking through the pictures and seeing all the old figures And you know also seeing the figures that came after I had gotten out of the line So I think yo-jo.com does a pretty good job Thoughts on the mobile command center. It is big Possibly too big, but it has a ton of features. Um, and Um, I don't want to go into like a full review right here, but I like its features Um interesting design reminds me a lot of the jawa sand crawler, but um It's a cool. It's a cool vehicle But I mean does it count as a vehicle or do you count it as a play set? It's it's debatable Next question was What vehicle do you absolutely love and absolutely despise? I absolutely love the killer whale and I absolutely despise the cobra rat A roguish paladin Says the gi-jo fandom unlike many fandoms feels like a collection of fandoms which overlap in some ways The vintage toy fandom the modern toy fandom the comic fandom the vintage cartoon fandom renegades Cartoon fandom modern movie fandom. Yes, there are people who like the modern movies to the preference or exclusion of other gi-jo properties What are the elements that link these fandoms together? Are there elements which link the fandoms together? um, uh Are say a fan of sunbow the sunbow cartoon and a fan of the modern movies truly a fan of the same thing Over all these people fans of different things joined together by a common naming. That's a really interesting question um, and I think you describe it correctly it would be very difficult to draw a venn diagram that completely Uh explains gi-jo fans And this is a good thing and it's also a little bit of a drawback because um when you are Have fans that are ostensibly the fans of the same thing, but what they actually like about it are so different It can sometimes Make it hard to find common ground um I kind of looking at look at gi-jo as a constellation of many different elements A lot of the elements that you described the movies the cartoon the comic book the actual figures the toy the old figures The new figures everything in between Many of which were all very different and so people like some of them, but not others and so Each gi-jo fan Draws from the same constellation of features even though even though they may not Uh be drawn to the same elements Uh, it's they're drawn to different elements within the same Constellation of elements that we call gi-jo, but if there is any common thread to all of it at least You know 1982 and beyond if there's one common thread that common thread is larry hamah His influence can be felt in all of it some more than others But he wrote the early file cards which influenced the characterization of The joes in the animated series He wrote the comic book series and that influenced other aspects of gi-jo the comic book series influenced the toys There were some toys that were made Because they were popular in the comic book series the baroness is an example of that Um Even when you move past the vintage era You see a lot of the same characters repeated Snake eyes storm shadow duke and a lot of what they did with those characters It's not exactly necessarily the same as what happened in the comic book or the cartoon or on the final cards But there are echoes of it um So even where they really tried to depart from The old style gi-jo and do something totally different with it. You can still see echoes of The vintage era and echoes of larry hamah's influence I honestly think that is the thread that ties it all together a downside to that very diverse constellation of elements that could that comprises gi-jo is um You know, you're going to be trying to do movies soon. You're going to try to do a snake eyes movie you're going to try to follow up that with uh A gi-jo team movie, uh, so everything's going to be updated for a new audience But what exactly are you updating? Are you updating the campy gi-jo from the cartoon series? Are you updating the more gritty gi-jo from the the comic book? Are you updating some later iteration? What exactly From gi-jo are you bringing forward to a modern audience? It's really hard to say, but the thing is you can't be everything You have to decide what you are and and be that And that's what these upcoming movies are going to have to do and it's going to be very hard to Please a lot of gi-jo fans because even if they do a great job of that Whatever it is that they bring forward is going to leave behind some element of gi-jo that Existing fans like and would like to keep so that's that's a tough one But your question is very interesting. I liked the question very much Tim Bentley Says hey, uh, how are you doing? I'm fine. Thank you for asking I'm sorry. I don't have I haven't I'm sorry, uh I don't answer your channel, but I enjoy you enjoy your channel. I'm sorry Little difficulty reading there, but it's he says, um, I have one question Did you ever Did you ever do repeater from night force yet because I cosplay him and Merry Christmas and happy new year. Thank you to you as well And I hope your family is doing well. Thank you. They're doing quite well. Um, I have not done Night force repeater yet I would love to get to it. I think night force repeater is a really cool figure But I have not quite got around to Reviewing that one yet. So hopefully hopefully in the future Hopefully it won't take that long, but I don't have night force repeater ready to review yet So, you know, it's going to take a little while night force figures can be kind of expensive. So, um, I have to You know Wait until I can actually get the figure before I can review it The weapon x says, uh, why why do the wheels squeak on the gi jo hammer vehicle? I don't know. Um, that's a good question. I haven't reviewed the hammer yet. I do have Most of the hammer. I don't have a complete and ready to review yet. But, uh, I haven't actually had a chance to play around with it enough to really, um To really see how it works and to see, you know, what the flaws might be or Find out why the wheels squeak. So When I get to it, I'll try to remember to address that but the the answer is I I don't know Uh, james trickland says Uh, wonder what your thoughts on Serpentor when he came out in 1986. Well in 1986 When Serpentor was released, I did not love the snake costume. I did not love the sci-fi But, uh, it I did like the historical roots that larry wrote into the file card and the comic book that I liked That was the saving grace For Serpentor But the look of Serpentor and just kind of how Serpentor was introduced Not my favorite thing I do have to say though, you know, if you're gonna do something like that I actually liked the way it was done in the animated series where you had some build up To the creation of Serpentor. I thought that was done. All right, but um, but still not my favorite thing Travis Garland says hey hcc 788 Uh, hey I always have loved play sets. Um, I received picked picked up a toxo lab play set And it's awesome a toxo lab. That's a pretty good pretty good find Did you ever study up on the proposed cobra island play set during the mid 80s? To me, that would have been an epic piece next to the uss flag I do know a little bit about the Um cobra island play sets Uh, I know that they ended up not producing it because it would have just been too expensive to produce The price point would have been too high Um, and yeah, it would have it would have been huge But yeah next to the uss flag that would have been awesome Uh, since we didn't have a cobra island play set, you know We kind of made our own cobra island as kids, you know, we'd set up a pterodrome here and A base over here and Have a little patch of the backyard to use as an airstrip and that would be our cobra island But it really would have been nice to have some kind of play set that would have That we could get that out could actually be cobra island. Um, you know, it It wasn't meant to be It really it really probably would have been so expensive that very few kids would have had it So, uh, that's that's all I can really say about that Martin D says If you had to choose a joe that, uh, you most relate to based on the file card details, who would it be? Well stalker is my favorite joe, but I don't especially relate to him based on his file card. Um, it's The only one that really pops into mind is grand slam actually, which is weird He just has like that one line in his file card that actually describes his personality Uh, it doesn't give you a lot to go on but that little Bit of information I can actually relate to I I think I might relate to grand slam That's It's an odd one to choose, but that's the one that comes to mind that I think I could relate to Uh Weems Wallace says nice storm shadow shirt Well, I'm not wearing the storm shadow shirt right now, but I'm glad you like the storm shadow shirt That shirt was made by matt tod And if you go to the storm shadow review, there is a link where you can get your own storm shadow t-shirt And thanks again to matt tod for that shirt. That was cool Uh David Sorriente says are you ever going to do a short movie type thing like joe burg guys did? Well, I tell you what I've got an idea for a story that I'd like to do Um, but I have no idea if or when I'll be able to actually produce it Um, I would love to do it. I'd love to do it. It's been Uh, something um, that's I've thought about for several years Um, and as you may know those little action scenes, that's kind of how I started this channel before I did toy reviews Uh, and and I enjoy doing them, but they are really time consuming, you know The scripting the shooting, but also if you want any kind of set or background You have to figure out how to do that. It's not easy and I admire the people who have done it Um, and having said that g. I joe burg does a great job and you know, it would be difficult for me to do To do any better than that. I mean the joe burg Storylines that they've done Have been really cool and fun to watch Brandon night says, uh, hello, brandon. Uh, we've talked a bit Uh, would you review international g. I joe figures? Uh, only the unique ones from different countries if people donated the figures from the uk and south america Uh, it would be cool to have an international review once in a while and make the community bigger than ever Uh, I have done that before and I think that would be fun. I did a review of action force Um, and sometimes I will bring in an international reviewer like fun school ronnie To help, uh, talk about some of the international figures because I don't have a lot of expertise on the international releases So I sometimes have to rely on The real experts the the people who actually collect them But I wouldn't mind doing that again I have received more action force toys and I'd like to do another action force review Uh, and so yeah, that's something I would consider that's something I would think about But if I were to do that, I would definitely want to find Uh, an expert on those toys to bring in and do a collaboration So I can really do it right and bring some knowledge to, uh, to the review And I don't have enough knowledge myself to do all of that But it's a good question. Thank you Kevin maily speaking of somebody that I brought in for a collaboration Kevin maily. How you doing? He says what gi joe item has been too difficult for you to obtain so far? Well Uh, it's not necessarily the rarest thing Uh, I would have said the 1982 cobra missile head missile command headquarters The cardboard play set that was released in 1982, but I did manage to get that one. So not that one anymore Now the thing that has been a real bugaboo is Uh, the rapid deployment force The mail away set from I believe 1993 the one that has the black, uh Pocket patrol pack. Well, I already have the pocket patrol pack and I already have the, um Fast draw figure from that set, but I I still need the rest of the set including the file card And that sucker has proved to be very hard to come by. I'm not Trying to get a sealed set. I want the set loose so I can review it Uh, but, um, it's proved to be more difficult than I expected and that's the thing It's not the rarest thing. I mean, I'd still like to get some things like the sears, you know Dreadnought air and ground assault sets. Those are very rare and not easy to come by But the thing that's on my mind right now is that rapid deployment force that has been such a pain in the butt to get So that's my answer to that question um zazzle phoenix Says, uh, can you do a stop motion for the cassette stories using the joes, please? That's a fun idea. Uh, no, I'm not a stop motion expert There are a couple uh guys that do stop motion better than me form bx 257 does stop motion Joe fan 80. Uh, I'm sorry joe motion videos 82 does stop motion I've done a little bit of stop motion, but I'm far from the expert So I don't know if it would turn out um You know the best But uh, maybe I could work with somebody else and and put something together. It could be fun. It could be fun It's a fun idea though, especially considering how uh, kind of silly and ridiculous those Uh cassette stories are it would be quite amusing to see that acted out With the joe and cobra figures. Good idea. Good idea Mr. Chabong says Have you ever met sergeant slaughter in real in real life? I have not yet But he is supposed to be at joe fest next year and I am supposed to be at joe fest next year So that should be my opportunity to actually meet the real sergeant slaughter Tim roper mr. Roper Uh says is there any review that you have done that you would like to revisit? Yeah, um Reviews that I'd like to revisit Almost everything that I did before 2016 And a lot of stuff that I've done since then it I'm almost never satisfied with my reviews There are a few reviews that I'm more or less satisfied with but Uh Most of my stuff I'd like to go back and revisit but uh at some point I have to just be satisfied with the way that it is But there are a few reviews that I really feel like ought to be updated Um The original reviews just isn't quite up to par So yeah a lot of the stuff that I did before 2006 I don't love a lot of that stuff and I would consider revisiting revisiting a lot of those Magnus logo Magnus laugo. I apologize again. If I'm mispronouncing your name, you know, I'm from oklahoma. Please forgive me Magnus He says which military specialties do you feel are missing most? And the joe and cobra rosters. I'm especially interested in cobra troops slash army builders Were there any troop types you wished you had as a kid or that you feel are especially notable in their absence today Thanks for everything you do and merry christmas. Merry christmas to you too Okay Well, I think gi joe Really needed a hypnotist And a bird trainer. Why didn't we get that cobra got that gi joe didn't have it? Obviously, that's a mismatch All right, I'm kidding. But what I actually I think I might have liked to see is Well, how about a navy seal? I mean, I know we got navy seals, but how about a navy seal that's not just a diver How about a real navy seal? How about oh, how about a crew for the uss flag? Rather than just having like 50 Shipwreck figures Everywhere how about an actual crew for the uss flag that I think that's it I want a crew for the us that thing back there that thing needs a crew It came with one figure. He can't run the whole ship so Yeah, yeah, that's my answer uh beach 76 says um, if you could send away for uh, a name your own figure like steel brigade Uh, what will you name him and what was primary and secondary military specialties be? Well, I would name him his codename would be hoodie His primary military specialty would be elite ninja super assassin And a secondary military specialty would be filing clerk Mike Smith says since I'm near the end of the original gi joe line I've been uh kit bashing and making custom figures hasbro never made Or inspired by the comics and cartoon my question is do you feel like there are figures you would like to make for your collection? Well, I'll tell you I always Wanted a queen figure um I know that there was after the vintage era there was an o-ring queen figure released That didn't really look the way I imagined him And I know there was a modern queen figure released and that was actually pretty good, but Back in the vintage era back when I was collecting back when I was a kid I really wanted a queen and I know they killed off queen But I don't care about that just because they killed them in the comic book doesn't mean I can't play with the toy anymore So I really would have liked a queen figure and if I were to uh, think of a figure that I would Want to make for my collection Um, I probably think about queen. It's surely there's some way to make a decent o-ring queen figure Uh, so yeah, that's that's my answer to that Lord snook Says, what's your favorite gi joe action figure slash a play set slash? Vehicle, I love to know. Okay. Well, I'll tell you Uh, my favorite figure as always um is stalker Um, and it's version 1.5 the swivel arm stalker. That is my favorite figure I've got a lot of great memories of that figure. My favorite play set is the uss flag I know it's big and that's probably a cliche to answer, but I don't care. It's my favorite. I love the thing Um, and my favorite vehicle is the killer whale. Um, that's Always top of the list as far as vehicles. Uh, I think it's a fantastic vehicle Uh, mark harrell says lego gi joe. Uh, the customs are pretty neat. Yes, they are and um, if you look at Magnus from a few questions back Magnus does some really cool Lego gi joe vehicles and play sets and stuff very cool work. Uh, check out his stuff. Um, he does some cool stuff Uh, guitar dude guy, uh, tmark slash osh Says Our gi joe figures too expensive to make nowadays or are we being duped into paying too much For club figures? Well, the smaller production run for club figures Uh, does drive up the cost of making the figures. So They're probably are they probably are priced for the Uh, price correctly for the cost that goes into them, but I don't get the club figures. I still think they're a bit expensive for what you get Which is a lot of reused parts And I do think they run a little bit high. I understand the scarcity. I do understand that but Even so I I'm not getting the club figures. So Yeah, I mean if you like them then obviously you'll you'll pay what, uh, what they cost and a lot of people do but not my thing Uh, Nicholas Sacklaris says Uh, can you think of another joe and cobra subset? Uh, we should have gotten and would make sense And a good opportunity to get repaints of classic characters and why Um in parentheses, he says like tiger force or python patrol. So we're talking about like Reissues of older figures, uh, but with new colors and as a subset. I got you. I got you Uh, pick a couple joes and cobras that you'd put on it. Okay, uh, my thinking is Uh, I would have liked to see a desert themed set. I know there were individual desert themed figures um and vehicles Both on joe and cobra at least when you get got to the desert store scorpion. He got an actual cobra desert figure, but um Especially around the time of the gulf war. I think a desert themed team would have been a nice idea um, and you could get like a um, I would not include like figures that already had Releases in desert uniforms and duke had a desert figure Um, you know even flint had a desert figure and of course he had like tan grunt this kind of a desert figure But no you could go into figures that never were equipped for a desert environment But you know might reasonably be deployed in a desert environment like like footloose Like um roadblock like Like gung-ho I'd like to see all of those with a desert color scheme. That would be cool Um, as far as cobras, I probably just would have wanted a bunch of vipers Uh in desert colors that would have been fine. But yeah, yeah, that's my answer a desert team Uh with really not just any desert codes, but really cool desert colors Don't give me orange. Don't give me purple or red. Give me like proper desert camouflage Okay, gray fox 007 00 Uh says, uh, my question feel free to skip it skip if it's not okay. Well, I will skip it if it's not okay Let's find out what the question is So as assuming you've had a sizable collection for a good while Uh, what was miss a she sees reaction slash opinion when you told her about it and Uh, when you guys met I know some significant others don't like the idea of having toy collection as an adult Um, however, uh, I'm sorry. Hopefully it's it was positive for you Well, the answer is I didn't have my collection when we met. Um, I didn't start collecting until Um Actually quite a few years after we had already been married So, uh, she was here when I made the decision to start it and she seems to be okay with it It probably takes up more space than she would like but you know, I you know There's only so much I can do I got to have more joe stuff But yeah, everything seems to be fine. But yeah, we I hadn't started collecting You know before we met we I've only started doing that since since we were already married Um, that's that's fine. That's nothing inappropriate about that question. That's that's fine Um, so trouble maker toys says How oh Question that kind of dovetails into the question that was just asked. He asks How long have you been collecting? Um, and keep up the great work. Thank you. I will try Uh, to answer your question I started collecting really only shortly before I started making videos Truth be told, I probably didn't have enough experience collecting toys before I started making videos about them But um, I've been making videos for almost five years. It'll be five years in april Um, and so I started collecting toys as collecting gi joe's maybe Half a year before then So I'm still a relatively new collector. I still have a lot to learn so Part of the appeal of doing this project is You and I get to go on this collecting journey together and learn these things together And doing the videos has been a fun reason to learn more about the toys. Um, so Yeah, I've not been collecting for years and years. I've really only been collecting for maybe a little over five years Keith ivy says Uh, were there any other vehicles on the joe team that would have you would have liked to have seen repainted in cobra colors, ah for example, um Like what has row did with the mobat the vamp of the mms in the early years? Yeah, like they took the joe vehicles and gave them cobra colors. I got you Um, I always thought like the persuader kind of looked a little bit like a cobra vehicle Uh, but we did get the persuader in the night force series and the night force colors almost kind of looked like cobra colors um The havoc Could probably be recolored as a cobra vehicle. I mean it kind of looks like a cobra vehicle doesn't and cobra doesn't care anything about its personnel So cobra absolutely would put a driver behind a giant glass canopy and a gunner up on top with no protection at all That's a very cobra thing to do. So yeah, the havoc in cobra colors could work Zapp Zapp root zapp roots. I think that's how that's said uh zapp roots says What is your favorite storyline in the original marvel gi joe comic book? My favorite storyline is the cobra civil war storyline that ran through some of the issues in the 70s Uh, lobo two or lo one bo two Says hcc seven eight eight. That's me Uh, what do you think of shipwrecks portrayal in the classic gi joe cartoon? Apparently some people consider him an annoying sidekick character like snarf in thundercasts or orco in he-man But I thought he was funny and entertaining plus he had a dramatic role in the excellent There's no place like springfield to parter The ending with lady jay was touching shipwreck Said uh, what's uh, oh no, she said shipwreck. What's wrong? Was there something important in that house and shipwreck replies? Not nothing important just a dream of or two. Come on. Let's go That was very dramatic and I kind of agree with you and I understand how Shipwreck could rub people the wrong way. I understand how the character could be a little annoying I get that but I thought the the the character was mostly. All right And like you said he had some very dramatic moments too, so you can't take that away from him Um, I personally imagine shipwreck as kind of the more gruff sailor That he was portrayed as in the comic book So the portrayal in the cartoon seems a little campy to me, but it's definitely not the worst thing in the cartoon I think he's fine But I yeah, I'd still do or imagine him as the sort of angry gruff sailor from the comic book All right, michael proctor Michael proctor says, uh, thank you for all the great videos and hard work you have put into In this year and every year. Thank you very much for watching. I appreciate it Um, if you had to choose a character from gi show and a character from Transformers to combine into a new character for cosplay Who would they be and why? I don't know. Um I don't know. Um I think maybe like the colors of blaster and like version one of roadblock Maybe could be melded together But that's a really tough question. I'm not sure if I have a good answer to that maybe like a Maybe like cup and mainframe. I always kind of felt like cup and mainframe were similar characters. Anyway Maybe there's a way you could combine cup and mainframe. Maybe but I mean No, they're not necessarily the most exciting characters. They're not the most recognizable But I like them and I don't know that's the best I can come up with It's a very interesting question and you may have stumped me Okay, uh, Jerome kennedy says, uh, what year in gi joe do you like the most? Well, it's really hard to choose because there are great things from most of the years But I guess it still comes back to 1985. Um, I think maybe 1984 was a better year for Cobra But overall 1985 gave us a lot of great figures a lot of great vehicles a lot of great characters And uh, there's a lot that I love from other years, but 1985 Probably had the most Concentration of greatness In the line not everything from 85 was great not everything from 85 was great But a lot of it was Matt Rubin says Hi hoodie, which piece of your collection was the hardest to find? The cobra missile command headquarters from 1982 That was the hardest to find. I'm so glad to finally have it Okay, adam ver wolf who I like to call air wolf adam air wolf says if I were to begin Comic collecting for gi joe. What do you think I should start with? I have number 21 That's a good start And tales of gi joe number one. Okay, so that's what you have right now And so what should you really start with if you want to collect in earnest? Well, it depends on your purpose for collecting if you're just collecting to read Then I would say just get the reprints the collected volumes If you just want to read the issues that's Probably the best way to do it Now keep in mind though that the later volumes of the collected reprints Can be quite expensive I think they had lower print runs and so they can be hard to find even the reprints can be hard to find But of most of the earlier issues in fact most of the entire run You can get reprints of them to read relatively cheaply Now if you're collecting for value then I would say There are a few issues in the marvel series that tend to run pretty expensive And I would probably focus on getting them first So, you know your issue number one and number two You already have issue number 21 Like the final issue number 155 Tends to be very expensive And you know with the prices going up The the earlier you get them the more likely you're going to be able to get them at a lower price So I probably try to pick those up first once you get past the few issues that tend to run kind of expensive because they're relatively rare The rest of the series Is not too bad. You can you pick up the rest of the series pretty affordably So that's probably what I do. I probably try to pick up those those rare issues first And then get the rest of it and you know, this is a good opportunity for me to thank once again the anonymous donor That sent to me what was essentially the entire Marvel comics gi joe series That still blows me away. I'm still reading them and thank you. Thank you for that Okay Erdo 21 Says in my opinion gi joe peaked in 1985 and began his decline in 1986 When do you feel it began his decline? What made you realize it was losing its edge? Thanks. Okay. Good question. Now. I do think 1985 was the pinnacle year and I do think It kind of took a dip in 1986 I know there are a lot of people who like 90 1986. We're talking about my personal preferences here I think it took a bit of a dip in 1986 with the introduction of more science fiction elements Um, we got a little more crazy in 1987 But after that they sort of Writed the ship a little bit. Um, and there were a few Figures from 88 um 89 90 That I think are really great. Of course. I was Out of gi joe by 88 89 90 um Or at least you know part of 88 through, you know, the rest of it So I missed out on a lot of those great figures But they did is issue some really great figures in those later later years I think after, you know, it sort of peaked again, I guess in around 1991 But then it kind of started to decline after that. So um When I Finally decided to give it up was after I saw the animated movie Which I saw I think sometime in 1988 um Because I remember collecting a few 1988 figures But once I saw that movie I was like, yeah, that's that's me. I'm done So that's when to me it declined to a point where I just couldn't follow it anymore Okay, so, uh, who's next who's next, you know, I printed all these out and it's a lot of pages But we're making progress. We're making progress Jackie Chan six six two five hundred junior Jackie Chan says When I was a kid, I thought spirit had professor Xavier like mind powers and played with him as though he Could hear others thoughts Um on the file card it states he has mysterious powers of the mind What does that mean to you? Well, I totally understand why you would see it that way And I kind of played in that way and some he was often sort of written that way And that's it's a bit of a trope that a lot of writers use for Native American characters kind of imbuing them with mystical powers But um, I I mean I like spirit, but I see spirit as just a very experienced soldier Very experienced and competent soldier. Um, I've never Uh, you know thought of him as having You know mind reading powers But you know based on what was written about him. I can understand why you would and I could understand why a lot of other kids might have thought So too Uh sly coos sly coosy Sly says Uh great year of content. Thank you. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you too Um, roughly how many gi jo figures did you have as a kid? Uh, and how many vehicles and play sets? Well, the answer is I don't know Uh, the reason I don't know is because Uh, my brother and I uh, we had a friend in our neighborhood named sam. Uh, he lived not too far away Um, my brother and I got a lot of gi jo stuff Sam got a lot of gi jo stuff and we would always play with all that stuff together We'd either play at sam's house or he would come over and play at our house He would bring his toys. We would bring our toys. They'd all get mixed together and honestly in my memory It's hard to um It's hard to remember which ones were ours and which ones were sam's So that's why I don't know. Um, I do like to share a lot of my childhood memories Uh, and I you might get the impression that I remember more of my childhood than I do I share the memories that are clear, but there's a whole lot of my childhood That's kind of fuzzy in my memory. It was a long time ago, right? Um, so I don't know because some of the stuff that I played with Belonged to sam and I don't remember which was his and which was ours Between the three of us my brother me and sam we had almost everything and we played with this stuff all the time But we didn't really care who it belonged to. We just all played together Uh, w w jd 85 says, um, have you ever seen the gijo headquarters play set that came out in 1992? I have seen it, but I don't own it yet. I'll be interested in getting that sometime, but I don't have it yet Uh, kyle moody says which of your video reviews is your favorite? Well It's hard for me to Pick a favorite because when I go back and rewatch my reviews All I can really see is the mistakes every mistake I make Gets kind of amplified in my mind and it really it's hard for me to go back and watch my own stuff Well, there are a few though that I'm still relatively happy with The action force review that I did with cyber tiger. I still like that Um, a lot of the collaborations that I did Uh, I get the opportunity to work with some really cool creative people. I still enjoy all of those Um, uh, the big boa, you know, I was actually fairly happy with the big boa review Um, I I still like that one Um, that I don't know if that's my favorite. I don't know if I can pick a favorite Um, but that's definitely among the the videos that I still like Um L kills one says, um, who would win in a fight snake eyes or boba fett Well, it's the answer is snake eyes Now I've heard some star wars fans defending boba fett by saying hey boba boba fett has armor That snake eyes's, uh sword could not Penetrate, uh, he has a a wrist blaster. He has a grapple hook. He has a jet pack So, you know, it's not going to be an easy contest for snake eyes, but No, I don't buy any of that all that armor and all those gadgets are only good if you can use them properly And I think boba fett has demonstrated that he can't use them properly. They didn't save him They didn't save him in return of the jedi He got knocked into the sarlacc pit by, uh By han solo who by the way was still mostly blind at the time and why because boba fett Uh, what did not have sufficient awareness of what was going on around him So that is not a mistake that snake eyes would make. Uh, so yeah snake eyes every time Uh swamps thing says why are all the lawyers I know so miserable Well, the answer is it's a difficult job with a lot of conflict all the time You don't necessarily get a lot of true victories, uh and, um People hate you no matter how good a job you do so, um, it's It can be a rewarding career, but it's not an easy one and uh, I can't speak for all lawyers, but That's um, I think that's how a lot of them feel Uh bloody card says hello. I started watching your videos, um about three months For you've been what I'm sorry. You've been watching the videos for about three months. Thank you And he likes them. Thank you very much. Uh, I think I've watched about half of your videos Thanks. I hope you watch the better half Uh, my question is do you plan on making one day reviews of the gi joe street fighter line? I really like the idea of guile and bison military side When I was a kid As gi joe was my favorite toys and uh and street fighter my favorite video game Again, love your reviews and keep up the good work. Thank you very much. I will try I don't have plans to review the street fighter series When I was deciding what the scope of this project was I had to draw a line somewhere. I had to decide, you know You know what's in and what's out and um I was never a fan of the street fighter series So I just chose to draw the line at street fire and not include street fighter in this project I know a lot of people liked them But um, I think I'm going to stick to my plan here And stick to the the scope of my project And so yeah, I don't have plans to review street fighter But hey somebody else may do it. I know Some other reviewers like street fighter. Uh, so we you know, maybe one of them can do a street fighter review for you M. Ross says, uh, what was the one joe? You never got as a kid and always wanted mine was stalker. Well, hey, I did have stalker But that that's a good one and I hope you're able to get your hands on a stalker now The figure that I didn't have as a kid but always wanted Was hooded cobra commander The very name of this channel. Um, I didn't get one as a kid. I had friends who had it So I was able to see it and occasionally play with it But I never had one of my own and now I do and that was actually a really thrilling time Um in my adult collecting experience is to finally get my own hooded cobra commander figure York town joe says, uh, did you ever have any of the sergeant rocks 3.75 inch figures? That were out around 1982 to 1983 They were seven point of articulation and the bad guys were dressed in black uniforms With snake and fire themed, uh, card art The answer is yes. I did have a few of them I remember the sergeant rock figures I used to enjoy reading the sergeant rock comic book And so yeah, when I saw the figures, I did get a few of them. I don't think I got a lot of them They were in gi joe scale, which I appreciated But my recollection is the quality wasn't quite the same as gi joe Um And I don't think they were around Uh, very long at least I don't recall them being around very long, but I do remember I got a few of them I don't remember which ones I got but I do know that I had a few of them. Um, so I hope that answers your question Andrew bell says, uh, will you ever have a video for lantern core and remko american force as a video for those Other guys on the joe or cobra teams, you know, it's a good question That kind of ties in to the previous question, uh, because we did get the lantern core figures as well and the american defense figures Uh, some of the lantern core figures were compatible with gi joe for customizing So, uh, we really liked, uh, getting the ones that had parts that you could swap out with joe figures Uh, so, uh, will I do a video on them? Um, I don't have very many of them now I'd have to get quite a few more of them To feel comfortable doing a video on them But if I could get the figures to review I would love to do a video on them because You know, even though they weren't as important to us as gi joe for me and my friends, you know, they were important They were part of our playtime We enjoyed getting them and we enjoyed playing with them and customizing them. It's I think it's an important topic It's not a topic that i'm prepared to talk about yet, but maybe someday in the future That hulk says If you could put any number of accessories together for an ultimate figure, what would you choose? Thanks for all your hard work and merry christmas Well, I can tell you the accessories that I always like to put on my custom figures as a kid I like footlooses helmet I like leathernecks rifle and rickhandos backpack I just love all of those accessories and you know, when I was trying to put together military figures I use those accessories a lot. Sometimes I would even get like the battle gear accessory pack versions of those accessories and paint them better colors. So Uh, yeah, those are those would be the ones I would go with John Orwick says which figure or vehicle did you enjoy reviewing the most from this year? Um, let's see. I really enjoyed the big boa review. I enjoyed that a lot The vehicle I most enjoyed reviewing was probably the mamba Because I got to work with so many other really cool reviewers and that was that was a bit of a milestone for me So the mamba review I very much enjoyed Uh, forge mas masijewski Again, I'm sorry if I miss pronouncing your name. I'll just go with forge A lot of characters slash vehicles Do you think should aid it in the Vigil line that may have been done in the modern lines or not at all? Well, like I said before I always wanted to wanted to get a vintage quinn figure Uh, and like a dr. Venom a vintage dr. Venom would have been nice As for vehicles the cobra transport helicopter that we often saw in the comic book Really wanted to have that as a toy Kevin Carter says hey hcc 788. Um, I've seen your activity around the finest costume club. Are you a member? Would you consider joining if so what character would you like to portray? Thanks? Um, okay I love the finest. Uh, it's a great cosplay play club. I'm not a member I would love to join and I would really love to do a hooded cobra commander cosplay I've got an idea For it, but I just have not had the time to actually put it together I have accessories for it because Viewers have sent in the the cobra commander gun and a really cool cobra staff That I think would go great with that costume But I just haven't had the time to do it if I ever have the time to do it Then I would apply to the finest because I think it's a great Great organization and I love what they do. Okay, jack laura says is there an issue of the comic book series that left a bad taste in your Mouth like the animated movie. That's a good question. Well, not as bad as the animated movie, but Um, as much as I love the comic book series, it is not without flaws There were some stinkers in the comic book series, too um A couple that come to mind that Um, I really didn't like from the special mission series issue number 24 the one where they had the lady joes dressed up in uh in In costumes and there's the one at the baseball game It's the one with crystal ball I just don't like that issue. I just thought it was not very good The one that came after that issue number 25 the tiger force issue Um, I had some problems with the story for that one as well um The at one point There were transformers in the main gi joe series Now if you want to do a crossover with transformers, fine If you want to do a special story mini series with gi joe and transformers Okie dokie, but you know, I really don't need transformers in my main gi joe story. That's Um I like transformers. I'm not saying I don't like transformers. I just I really don't need transformers in my gi joe Now I don't hate that stuff Nearly on the same level as the animated movie, but Yeah, it's just not not my thing not my thing Christopher hilt says concerning ranks. Did you adhere to actual u.s rankings concerning your personnel personal joe team or Did you supply or i'm sorry? Did you simply make stalker second in command knowing that he's your favorite? personally I tend to use the comic and sunbow cartoon As my go-to sources for who's in charge Also, sometimes I feel like certain joes have been given the wrong rank Especially in the case of flint Who started out as an e6 staff sergeant when he was supposed to be a warrant officer His tiger force file card listed him as w3 Which i'm guessing is supposed to be a c w3 or w03 however, uh the eco warriors flint and the Desert paratrooper flint from 1994 both both listed his grade as w02 I'm just curious as to what your view on the matter is good question And you point out a big problem with the file cards I I as a kid I would have loved to follow the Rank the regular normal u u.s military ranking Um, but the file cards as you pointed out were not consistent Uh, so that's kind of it's kind of doesn't make sense So it's sort of impossible to do it the way that it's on the file cards and really be consistent So you point out actually a really good point, uh and kind of a flaw in The grades that we got on the file cards Um, I actually really liked the pecking order that they had in the sunbow series with hawk duke flint And beach head even though as far as their actual rank goes it really shouldn't work that way But I still uh, I still liked it because it was clear at least I liked the clarity of it Um as for the way I played with them, uh, I would often have stalker as a mission leader Um, you know, he's on base. He has he's a sergeant. Uh, so he um would Um follow the the usual, you know, uh Chain of command but because of his experience I would often have him as the leader of specific missions Um because of that though if we had like different squads doing different things I would rarely have stalker paired with duke or flint because duke would Lead his own squad and flint would lead his own squad and then stalker would lead a mission over here So often they wouldn't necessarily work together because I saw all of them as leaders And you know, I didn't necessarily want to double up on team leaders for one mission. That's kind of how I looked at it Sheila and Keith Koch say, um, what are your favorite gi joe slash cobra play sets top five if you wish? Um, and the uss flag is disqualified since some argue it's a play set slash vehicle Um, second, can you share a good resource for vintage or even repro joe parts? Well to answer your first question, um, leaving out the uss flag, which I consider to be a play set Um, number one is probably the 1983 headquarters command center number two would be uh, the terror drone uh, number three now again, can um, considering the Possibility that could it could either be a vehicle or a play set the mobile command center You could consider it either a vehicle or a play set in my opinion Uh, but I'll put that at number three. Uh, number four the transportable tactical battle platform That one is definitely not a vehicle And uh, again, if you consider it a play set the defiant shuttle, uh, this one back here That could also be considered either a vehicle or a play set. So, um, I'll put that at number five. Um To answer your other question, um, I try to steer clear of repro parts But there are a lot of sellers of, uh, vintage gi joe parts that parts out there, you know Check ebay check the gi joe facebook groups Uh, there was a website that sold gi joe parts that unfortunately recently closed down G i joe junkyard was a great place to find specific parts Um, so sometimes it can be a little bit difficult to find the part that you want to track down But they are out there. Um, so just check all the gi joe groups Um and ask for help because a lot of people may have the parts Even if they don't have them for sale just at the moment. So, um, you ask around and you can definitely find lots of vintage parts Uh, dc 36 says do you think hasbro should make the original 13? Uh in six inch format would you buy would you buy them? Well, I don't collect modern Figures, so I probably wouldn't I know that a lot of collectors would like to see The figures issued in six inch scale The question does come up from time to time. Um, If they made them, uh, keep a couple things in mind, they would probably be expensive Because they probably have a relatively limited production run Um, and there's no way you would get any vehicles for that scale vehicles would be prohibitively expensive to produce so Uh, it was not my thing since I don't really collect, uh, modern stuff I do get modern figures donated to me sometime, which is cool But I don't typically go out with the intent of collecting them Uh, so it's wouldn't be a thing for me, but yeah, some modern collectors have expressed an interest in that series So, uh, yeah, maybe they could but just keep in mind. They would probably be rather pricey Um, marcel deb ruin Marcel Uh, did you ever own gi joe inspired toys like remko us forces? A galube a team or the core to name a few if so, did you enjoy them and did you integrate them into You're playing with gi joe. Well, I did talk about this a little bit. Yes, I did get them And we had a number of uses for them We did use them with gi joe Sometimes if we just need to like extra soldiers or like some other faction other than cobra that gi joe would fight We could use those figures for that and also we used them for customizing So, yeah, we had a lot of fun with them Uh, exilion says, um, I asked this once before I think Have you ever thought about doing a music review slash discussion discussion channel? From your shirts, it seems like, uh, it seems we both like old school industrial music And there's not much out there for that fan base. I think you'd be really good at it Thanks for all you do. Thank you. And thanks for noticing the whole t-shirts. I appreciate that. Yeah I used to be a big fan of that stuff. I've been kind of out of it for a while Um, I don't think that I would be the best person to do a channel like that I probably somebody with you know more current knowledge would would be a better person to dive into that I would probably watch a channel, uh for those, uh, you know covering those bands Uh, it would be very nostalgic for me to uh To look at those bands again, uh, but uh, but probably not something that I would be the best at Uh, there I'll bet there would be probably somebody out there that could do a better job of it than me Uh, but hey, thanks for noticing the t-shirts. And uh, I was glad I'm glad to know that there's somebody out there that uh, like those bands Okay, invader six dark lord cobra 6 6 says Uh, I just picked up a few more gi joe vehicles and found some very cool ones They're they are in my video if you wish to see you might like some of them The black awestriker is just like the vintage. Well, thank you. And uh, if I have time I would like to check out your video I'll do my best to find the time to do it terry turner Says are you going to purchase the 30th anniversary pursuit of cobra? um sergeant, uh stalker Uh, oh the pursuit of cobra sergeant stalker and compare it to the original figure It is in my opinion the best version of the the character with the best articulation Well, um, I didn't have any specific plans to do that. Like I said, I don't um, collect modern figures if I At some point acquired one. I'd certainly love to compare it to the vintage figure And I would definitely do that. I just didn't have any specific intention of doing that at the moment But it's something that I would consider for the future thomas p says What was the hardest gi joe in your collection to locate and where uh, we're able to find him Well, not not including play sets talking about figures um The hardest figure that I've collected so far Is rather ironic Uh steel brigade version 1e The variant version 1e was the hardest figure For me to find that actually found But now we just we find out that Version 1e is not a legitimate variance version 1e it was kit bashed from other figures so Even though I found one Now I find that the one that I got Is just a kit bash of earlier versions of steel brigade now. That's okay. That's okay Now that was a lot of time wasted looking for that figure, but I'm still happy to have the knowledge. I'd I'd rather Uh, I'd rather know that Um, it's an error than to persist in believing the error. So Uh, now we know steel brigade version 1e not a legitimate variant Which consequently is why it was so freaking hard to find. I guess I had to just wait until some unscrupulous seller Um Sold a fake version. It's not really fake because it's all vintage parts, but still Not the legitimate variant And I think I found it on ebay Just scouring ebay for Months and months and months until I finally spotted one Steve johnson Stephen johnson says Uh, what was one thing you wished hasbro had created in the vehicle line that never transpired The cobra transport helicopter that we saw in the comic books Always wanted it as a toy It looks like it was modeled after a toy in the comic book the way the artists drew it But it was never a toy always wanted it Fragminion says do you still have a holy grail type figure left to collect? Oh, yes Oh, yes At the moment the holy grail is The gold head steel brigade And yes, I know what the prices are you don't have to tell me I've seen the prices on the thing That's why it's a holy grail. I will get it eventually. It's not the highest priority right now. I can wait I can be patient, but uh Yeah, that's that's the one right now that I would consider to be the holy grail the gold head steel brigade Um, it's the one steel brigade that I don't have yet Um, and it's the one that someday I must have Uh, David Fitchner says I love melodrama. Well, I love marshmallow drama Uh, when you played with the toys as a kid did your joes ever die? Yes, we were brutal Joes would die all the time Um, you know, we had epic battles with you know, massive Casualty counts. It was uh, you know huge loss of life. It was horrendous But you know when we would start a new storyline They would be resurrected and we just you know play with them again I think there were some times when we actually bury the dead figures But of course we dig them up again because we we play with them again Uh Jeff a dragon says Uh, what do crimson guards carry in their backpacks in your opinion? Good question. I think the crimson guard carry in their backpack laundry Literally, I think they carry in their backpack Their business suits that they wear when they're undercover And maybe even the backpack itself could unfold and reconfigure into a briefcase and they could put their Crimson guard uniform into the briefcase except so the helmet wouldn't fit Anyway, I think I think they carry laundry in their backpack Uh Kaylee matthew commended or says What are your thoughts on the cancel 1995 joe figures and vehicles? You can find pictures of them mostly on yo joe.com P. Yes quick question quick suggestion for the next cober convergence member a youtuber named michael mercy He's another canadian joe fan Um, okay as far as the 1995 figures. I have seen some of them. They were not released, but I've seen some of the unreleased figures Uh, they did look like they were gonna continue the basic kind of aesthetic of the 1994 line into 1995 I'm not a big fan of the 1994 line. So I probably would not have been a big fan of the 1995 series either As for michael mercy, I'd love to have him on board for Uh cober convergence. I'll definitely extend the invite to him and uh, he's welcome to join if he wants to Um, I haven't started working on the next cober convergence yet I plan to start working on it after the new year after that People should start getting their invitations chris brewer says When will we get to see a hoodie coco in an actual cobra commander hood? As soon as I can do that cosplay as soon as I can do that cosplay I don't know when that'll be but when I do that cosplay, then you'll get to see it I really do think I have a good idea for it. I just it just takes time You know time that I have to dedicate to doing it But I'd like to someday I would Invader six dark lord cobra six six asks another question. He says what collectible store is your favorite to buy from? We actually have a vintage toy mall Here in the town where I'm living right now Um, yes, it hasn't been around for very long. It's relatively new Before we had that it was kind of a desert. It was a toy desert It was hard to find a local dealer that had you know decent Inventory, but now that we have the vintage toy mall. That's my favorite place to go Tyrell white says what do you consider to be the best and worst figure and vehicle for top middle and bottom tiers? This is I don't know if I can answer that that's a hard question Uh, and it's not because I don't want to answer it It's because of basically the flaw in my rating system Um, to me, there are too many factors to consider Uh, when giving a figure or vehicle a rating, that's why I don't go with like a star rating system Or like a number rating system It would just I I couldn't do it. It just it would be impossible Um, so instead I opted for some very vague Uh, ratings just just top middle and bottom tier and there's a lot of wiggle room between all of those So I don't know if I could pick the best and worst from each tier So I apologize for not being able to adequately answer your question But the problem is not what's your question your question is fine The problem is it's a flaw in my rating system In that I don't know that I can accurately answer the question I mean, I can tell you which figures are my favorites and which are my least favorites Which I've already done a bit, but But I don't know that I could parse it out quite that Quite that well, so I apologize for not having a better answer to your question Byron, I think this is supposed to be Jackson, but I think I may have Clipped off part of the name Byron Says What would your advice uh, what would be your advice to a new collector? Uh, what years offer the best quality versus price? Thanks, cc. Uh, you're welcome um, okay, my advice to a new collector um is Try to buy in lots if you can instead of Buying individual figures unless there's just no way for you to get an individual figure um, if you buy in lots Uh, you pay less per figure or per vehicle And if you end up with doubles you can just sell the extra ones And have more money to buy more toys now some vehicles and figures you can't really get that way It's hard to find them in a lot with other figures for a decent price You're gonna have to go out and find that specific one and you know pay full price for it But as for what year? provides the best value for the price I'd have to say I'm gonna go back to 1985 Because I mean 1985 has a lot of high quality figures as do a lot of other years in the line, but In 1985 the figures were produced in in pretty large quantities So for the most part with a few exceptions there are exceptions But for the most part they're still pretty common So you can still find them for reasonable prices. So, uh, I would you know for the value I think 1985 is the is the best now If you go into the 90s Like 93 94 you can get some cheap stuff. All right, you can get some stuff that Is is you can get a lot of stuff for a small price So if you're only looking at price, I'd say go to the 90s But As far as quality goes there's a bit of a dip in quality in the 90s It's one of the reasons why it's not too expensive We've looked at some 90s figures in vehicles. So keep that in mind Zach Ivan 75 says are you going to do an entry for toy poise pocket penny toy? Videos, uh, that's a good idea. I hadn't thought about that, but uh, perhaps I should that's something I'll try to look into thanks for suggesting it He also asks are you going to do a new year slash christmas special? Well, I did a new year or I'm sorry I did a christmas special, uh, which was the retrospective and I guess this is the new year special So the answer to that is yes He also asks is there any of the 80s, uh, gi jose you haven't reviewed yet The answer is yes, there are a bunch of 80s jose. I haven't reviewed yet Go to the website go to hcc788.com and you can check by year and see if I've reviewed something yet But there's a ton of stuff in the 80s. I haven't got to yet Forge again, uh, we talked uh, read one of forge's questions earlier He says, um What is your opinion on what will happen to the gi joe line since jet hasbro isn't pushing that specific product anymore. Well, I think it all depends on how these Movies do if the movies do well We'll get a lot of gi joe If they don't do well gi joe will be back on the shelf again the thing is though Historically gi joe has made hasbro so much money That even if gi joe isn't isn't successful this time around It's only a matter of time before somebody somebody at hasbro decides they're gonna try to make some money with it again. So Um, you know, I think at some point we would still have gi joe in some form but, um If the movies are successful, I do think you will see a lot more of it So I think it all hinges on how these movies do So if you want to see more gi joe, you know cross your fingers and hope that these movies are good And really hit well with the general audience Uh draws walker nine says which gi joe comic or cartoon episode is your favorite? I think I already mentioned issue number four I don't know if issue number 43 is my favorite issue, but that certainly had a lot of impact on me It'd be hard to pick a specific favorite issue Of the comic book series, but my favorite, um Episodes of the animated series are worlds without end parts one and two I know that's probably another cliche. A lot of people have that answer, but it's the right answer. Those were great episodes A pence of ruin says I love this channel. I love gi joe gi joe is a lifetime obsession and passion for me Thank you for your passion and love for gi joe. What is your favorite gi joe subset? Mine by far is the iron grenadiers. Well, I thought, um out and Well thought out and an amazing attention to detail Well, iron grenadiers is great. I mean, that's a good one to pick as your favorite Um, if I had to pick my favorite, uh, it would probably be, you know, I think the dread knocks I think I love I love the dread knocks, especially the early dread knocks Something about their anarchic nature appeals to my inner punk rocker um that and um Night force even though night forces all just reissued stuff Some of the updates of the colors of night force figures. I really love So night force is a contender, but I really like the dread knocks Benny Benzino says did you get joes for christmas as a child and what were they? Well, I remember getting the 1983 headquarters command center for christmas as a kid and I loved it um As the years went by, I think I got fewer and fewer gi joes for christmas Because I think my parents had a hard time keeping up with what I had um I got most most of the joes I got as a kid. I bought myself Um, I would mow lawns in the summertime to get money and I would use that money to buy my own joes So, um as for what I got for christmas, it's really hard to remember specifically Again, it's hard for me to remember exactly what was mine and what belonged to friends Um, and like I said before, you know I don't have perfect recall from my childhood I do try to share as much of it as uh as I can remember because I do have a lot of great childhood memories But there are also sections of my childhood that I don't remember as well I really wish that we had more photographs Um of christmas like the christmas presents I got as a kid my parents didn't take a lot of pictures When we were opening christmas presents Which is kind of weird because that was kind of a family tradition for a lot of people So I don't even have a lot of photographs to look back on to remember what we got for christmas So, uh, not the best answer to your question, but I do remember that 1983 um cobra I'm sorry the 1983 gi joe headquarters and I loved that Bradley good He asked the question he says What did you think? What do you think hasbro should do to commemorate the 40th anniversary of a real american hero in 2002? It's hard to believe the 40th anniversary is coming up. That is incredible. That means i'm really old But as for what they should do, um I hope they don't just reissue a bunch of figures Um, just give us a bunch of reissues like Mostly what they did with the 50th anniversary line Um, I think the only way to adequately adequately celebrate the 40th anniversary Is to commission a real us navy aircraft carrier as the uss flag Somebody get on that it needs to happen A not snarl says, uh, were any of your original figures stolen as a child? Probably so, but I don't specifically remember having figures stolen If I lost figures it was most likely I lost them while playing with them outside Or you know, I would leave figures at sam's house and forget to bring them back home Or he would leave figures at our house and not take them back. So I'm sure I lost figures I don't remember specific ones though, and I'm sure I had some stolen. You know, that probably happened to every kid Um Deener wiener says I like the name deener wiener Says, uh, who is your favorite street fighter to gi joe? I like e honda Sadly, I do not have a favorite street fighter gi joe M lopez says so taste great or less filling Uh, but seriously, um, how did the killing off of older joes in the comic affect you? Uh, when you read them at a younger age I started to read them again and was pretty surprised at how many joes got whacked in just In such a short time span I doubt it would have affected my play scenarios, um, any as a kid because they never followed the comic or cartoon Anyway, great channel. Keep it up. Thank you very much. First of all less filling Uh, and to answer the rest of it, um In the early issues of the comic book, um, not a lot you didn't lose a lot of actual joes You lost a lot of side characters. I mean like general flag was killed, but general flag didn't have a figure um Like quinn dr. Venom Candy the soft master they all died and that was you know, kind of shocking in the comic books But uh, but again not actual joes Um, it was only later in the series and kind of after I had stopped reading That some actual joes Died in the comic book and I've only read those issues As an adult collector And I thought they were had a lot of impact. I mean Uh, that's the way to get to your attention um, I know that Larry was allowed to kill off some of those joes because They were the their figures were discontinued. They weren't they weren't on the pegs anymore So they were expendable, but it really does drive home the costs of war Uh, and I think Larry very consciously decided to do that and I understand why um And like you it would not have affected my play scenarios at all Our play scenarios did not copy the comic book or the cartoon exactly as as you did So if a character had died in the comic book, we would have still kept on playing with them Um, but that doesn't mean I would dislike the story though if you know, give him a good death And uh, I'll still appreciate, uh, the story and the drama the dramatic effect of it The orderly ollie viper says what is your favorite part slash feature of the uss flag and why There are so many great features on that. I like the bridge. I know the bridge is mostly mostly just like chairs and, uh green community Computer terminals and stuff like that, but I just like the idea of Being on the bridge and sitting in the admiral's chair with that great big wheel Steering this giant, uh aircraft carrier now looking down at the deck and seeing the the jets take off in the in land Um, that would be pretty exhilarating to me Um, but there's so many other great features. I really like the the sound system, which is kind of cool I like the arrestor cable. Um, that's it's a nice touch um, I like a lot of the features, but My favorites, I guess would probably be the the bridge and the idea of like just Being on that bridge and seeing those sky strikers down on the deck. That would be very exciting to me um Rob in says, uh, you said before, uh, you would customize your joe as a kid What is one custom that really sticks in your mind that you remember and what figures was it made up? Well Me and my brother and our friend sam we would we all made Custom figures of ourselves. So we made a figure that was supposed I made a figure that was supposed to be me And my brother made a figure that was supposed to be him and then sam made his own figure and uh Those would be you know, basically our sort of fan insertion figures and our own story lines But I honestly don't remember Uh, what parts made up my figure? I remember most of the parts that made up my brother's figure My brother's figure had dial tones head um, and the chest and arms of Falcon and I don't remember whose legs he had but probably somebody like flint We really liked camouflage. So if if the figure had camouflage those parts got used a lot. So Um, I I kind of remember my brother's figure, but I can't for the life of me remember What my figure was made of but uh, that's kind of what we did with customized. We enjoyed like um that kind of uh Immersion in this uh in the toys and by Making ourselves in plastic form Jason phlema says What is your favorite gi joe slash cobra air clap or cobra air clap? Jason phlema says what is your favorite gi joe or cobra aircraft? It helps if I read the question correctly Uh, my favorite of all the aircraft joe or cobra is still the sky striker I love the sky striker. It's a great toy. It's a great jet. It looks great. It has great features Uh, of course, it's not perfect. It does have the landing gear that's tied to the Uh, the wing mechanism and a lot of people don't like that. I understand but I still think it's great I love the sky striker We're almost done glenn robbins says okay hoody coco I know you aren't a fan of the 90s uh gi joes, but which out of the 90s joes including cobra Would be your favorite one. Well Right now and I can't say this is going to hold forever, but at this exact moment Um, my favorite 90s joe is big ben fantastic figure Fantastic figure. Love it. Love it. I think that's just represents the best of what the 90s could do love big ben and finally last question And technically the first question that was asked Is from chris mc 83 Who says in your opinion? What's the worst gi joe figure ever? That would have to be gallobulus Gallobulus is a terrible figure I know I don't like the character. I don't like the movie Even if I did though, I would have a hard time with The figure the gallobulus figure has the tail gimmick And it it cannot stand up You cannot bend the tail in any way that will allow the figure to stand up Uh, I don't know how you play with the thing. It's a bad figure. I can't stand gallobulus. It stinks And that's it. That is the last question So that wraps up 2019. Thank you to everyone who participated. I hope I didn't miss any questions I don't think I missed any questions. Some people just made comments and didn't actually ask a question. I tried to skip those But thank you everyone. This has been The most successful year this channel has ever had When we started the year we had fewer than 4,000 subscribers This year we hit 4,000 subscribers and then 5,000 and then 6,000 And uh, as I'm making this video, we just passed 7,000 subscribers Uh, it's amazing and I'm so grateful to have you all here. I cannot wait to see what 2009 brings Um, it I'm hoping next year will be a great year too I hope we get to meet a lot of you people. I hope some of you will come out to joe fest But thank you. All I can say is thank you for everything you do for me You have made this experience better than I could ever imagine that it would be So I think I have the best viewers on youtube I mean look at these questions. Some of these questions. These are like smart questions from smart people Um I I know that a lot of channels Even big channels Would envy what we have here. We have a great Community of folks here. So thank you for being a part of it Um, and at that I think it's time to finally let you go. That's it 2018 is in the books. I will see you in 2019 And until then remember the slogan Only gi joe. Yes. I'm gonna say it last time in 2018 It's I didn't make it up. By the way, it comes from the 1964 gi joe commercial But it bears repeating only gi joe is