G.I. Joe as a way of life... (2 Viewers)

[Rutledge]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/08/06/joe.collectors.irpt/index.html

"There's nothing terribly unusual about Mike Gardner's home in Cumming, Georgia -- except in the basement, where there lives a world of action figures.

Gardner's collection numbers in the hundreds and includes a large castle diorama, where figures are posed as if on a horror movie "set." Creating these elaborate dioramas, such as a "skeleton army" and a recreation of "War of the Worlds," can each require 150 hours of painstaking work, said Gardner.

He is one of several collectors who originally posted their stories and photos on iReport.com"

Mike doest live far from me. May have to pay him a visit.

 

[thebritfarmer]

How cool is that

Growing up in the UK I had Action Man but later on I switched to the smaller (Star Wars like) GI Joe figures. Oh Happy Days :0)

 

[Lewey Gun Vick]

That's awesome! G.I. Joe was my hero as a kid! By far tied with favorite toy with my plastic toy soldiers! My memories include making buildings, forts, and boats with the family couch, cardboard boxes, and a pool table! Glad to say I'm seeing G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra at 12:01 AM tommorrow!

Vick

 

[kreddy]

I don't know if it's an age / generational thing or not, but to me, the only "true" G. I. Joes are the 12-inch tall guys you could change the uniforms on. The "smaller" Joes and Cobra figures they later came out with just don't seem like they deserve the name "G. I. Joe" . . . they weren't the true "fighting man from head to toe!"

(Heck, even the later Joes with "life like hair" were questionable!)

 

[theBaron]

I'm with you, Kreddy, the later version was lame, even though he had a cartoon and movies.

I remember a bit Eddie Murphy once did on "Weekend Update" on SNL, back when he was still in the cast. He did a news report using action figures, talking about Michael Jackson going to the Grammys with Brooke Shields and Emmanuel Lewis, using all of their dolls/action figures, with a little Gizmo from "Gremlins" for Lewis.

And then he said, "And GI Joe's comin', too! Look at him, he looks mean! You'd be mean, too, if they shrunk you down to 3 inches!"

I still have a couple of GI Joes around someplace, with longterm plans to make Prussian cuirassiers from the Franco-Prussian War out of them.

Prost!
Brad

 

[rossim1]

But action man always kicked his ***!

 

[thebritfarmer]

But action man always kicked his ***!

Indeed he did !!!!!

 

[OzDigger]

The basement would be an appropriate place to play with those, make sure others don't know about it.

I'm kidding guys - kinda

 

[Scott]

If you can take it's clothes off ..it's a doll.

 

[kreddy]

If you can take it's clothes off ..it's a doll.

And what do you call those goofy little things they later came out with? "Action Figures", which can't do as much as the bigger Joes?!?

 

[Rutledge]

Action figures, toy soldiers, "miniatures", they are all the same genre. Neither one is considered a "cool" hobby by the public at large.

That said I do not collect "Action Figures", nor will I. But I would enjoy seeing this guy's set up.

 

[Carnahan]

If you can take it's clothes off ..it's a doll.

I don't collect any of the 1/6th stuff, but I have to give credit to the people I've seen who execute amazing conversions. There was one guy who came up with a way to make French bush hats for his Indochina figures - he actually sewed up small pieces of cloth and the end results were dead-on accurate!