25 years of GI Joe and it's only now that I got to play

The year was 2007, and something happened that I thought never would: the GI Joe of my youth was back!

I distinctly remember being into GI Joe in 1987, when I was in my second year of high school. But a minimal allowance and limited family budget (not to mention the pressure of "growing up") kept the number of my Joe figures small. I had a version 2 Snake Eyes and a version 1 Storm Shadow. When one of my cousins migrated to the US, he left me a Jinx and an Iceberg and some loose accessories. Only the rich kids got a lot of figures. Vehicles and playsets were under the category "Asa ka pa!" ("In your dreams!"). That era ended with some good times, albeit limited.



Fast-forward to 2008. An officemate came to my cubicle and was harping about the release of the GI Joe 25th Anniversary 5-pack and the 25th Anniversary - G.I. Joe Cobra 5-Pack Action Figures Set We checked Amazon for it and plotted to get those figures. For me it was the first time ever I could have the core characters: Duke, Scarlett, Roadblock, Snake Eyes (Commando), and Gung-Ho. (Okay, maybe Gung-ho wasn't core, but he was in the first 5-pack.) Then I got the Cobra 5-pack. Then Hasbro continued the line two years after the actual anniversary, before the GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra movie and its line of toys were released.

Beware of grown working men who never got their fill of toys when they were kids.



Now, my Cobra figures are at platoon strength, and I can organize my Joes into squads/teams. And yes, I also got vehicles.



Thank God I got to enjoy GI Joe one more time. :-)