Saturday, February 19, 2011

Yo Joe: Portraits of a Boyhood Obsession.



The other day and for whatever reason, a friend and I were talking about the GI Joe aircraft carrier, a mutual object of desire as kids, which lead me to looking it up which lead me HERE. A nicely photographed, comprehensive catalog of most every Joe I spent countless hours as a kid obsessing over. For all of you who spent a portion of your formative years memorizing each Joe's File Card and arranging them just so, this post is for you. Let the wave of nostalgia wash over you. Also, some photos comparing Joes from the 80's to their more recent counterparts.
All photos from BurningAstronaut's Flickr stream. Go check them out. And thanks to BurningAstronaut for permitting me to post them here.








































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































(all photos courtesy of BurningAstronaut)

15 comments:

thwany said...

haha classic.

Creative Silence said...

This post made my day. I grew up in the era when these were out and I was an avid childhood collector. Thanks for this, tons of great memories!

Adriano said...

I had alot of these. Bringin back memories

Halo Effect said...

Best dude hands down.

"Halo Jumper"

I need that....

james said...

Halo Jumper was actually a huge part of the conversation b/w GT and I that got me searching.

D.L. said...

While that Flickr feed is great, the true mother lode awaits you at the address below...

http://www.yojoe.com/action/

The site also features all of the 3 1/4" vehicles for your perusal. Rest assured, the U.S.S. Flagg receives ample coverage.

Chuckles was always my favorite Joe. Dude was a sartorial gunslinger, too. Hawaiian shirt with cargos? Ballsy.

The Halo Way said...

Actually Zartan was my all time fav and the dreadnots.

I remember sending away for Hooded Cobra Commander.

Gt's friend and ours (bryan) had the hovercraft, which i was pretty envious over.

Great post James.

See you soon,
Halo

noose said...

That's effing great!! GI Joe was an integral part of my child hood. I collected every figure from their release in '82 up until '89. I've still got them. I still remember almost shitting myself when my mom brought home Zartan for me. Never got the goddamn aircraft carrier tho.

Yankee-Whisky-Papa said...

Destro had the world's best shawl-collar, and Cobra Commander had a mean double-breasted uniform.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for reminding me how awesome these are! I had a professor at RISD who worked at Hasbro back in the day and he told us they would create GI Joe characters in homage to the other designers there. His was Doc (the one with the stretcher, 17th one down). Looks a lot like him, actually.

Junctioned said...

Storm Shadow all day!

CM said...

First time i ever punched someone was when another kid broke my Cobra Ninja, man it took me forever to get him. Great Post thanks for the spark to the memory banks.

CM said...

Storm shadow (cobra ninja)

Anonymous said...

Had about 75% of the figures pictured. Never got the aircraft carrier, but drooled over it in the pages of the Sears Christmas catalog.

Anonymous said...

This post is amazing
I have every figure in this photo

dope

I like that ripcord has a closer pic..he needs the detail shot.
ha

nerds rule.
**screw the aircraft carrier..the cobra terrordrome was ILL