Toy Recon: 2011 Skystriker and GI Joe-compatible toys

I'm thankful to my friend Darlene who gave me a Motorola V8 with a usable cam. Makes these toy recon trips easier.

I was going through the toy section of Landmark Dept. Store, looking for GI Joes or Transformers or anything that could be of interest. I found this on a high shelf:

After the fiasco that is GI Joe: Rise of Cobra, I would have thought that retailers would be a little paranoid in getting GI Joe merchandise. Well, they are, because they are really limiting what they are getting to sell. But I have to ask, why did they get a big ticket item (Php2,200+) like the Skystriker? I mean, sure, it is iconic and collectors my age might get them. But after presumably suffering loss and remaindering the rest of their RoC stock, would they gamble on a big vehicle? Why not Pursuit of Cobra figures? Why not smaller vehicles? I may want one of those things but lack of money and, more importantly, lack of space keeps me from getting this.


But I did find other things of interest. GI Joe collectors are always on the lookout for toys that would be compatible with 3.75 inch figures like GI Joes. Mostly they are the military set toys made by Chap Mei (Soldier Force V) and Power Team Elite. Toys R Us's True Heroes line also looked good to me, though I've yet to procure one of their "Little Bird" helicopter gunships. That said, I was surprised to find this:

Whenever I'm stressed, GI Joe is there!

It's been a grueling last several days for me here at work. I've been working on a project that seems to keep me at my desk for what feels like forever. Suffice to say, I'm stressed out. Good thing my GI Joes are close at hand. I've been thinking of building an urban strike team from my current roster of figures. Here's the beginning of that team:

From left to right: Resolute Duke, Pursuit of Cobra (City Strike) Low Light, Pursuit of Cobra (City Strike) Beachhead, 25th A Shockblast and 25th A Mutt and Junkyard.

Yeah, nothing like an urban strike squad assaulting my desk to chase the stress away.

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.