20th Anniversary Key Moments - European Force

 In 2016, I offered my first ever Rarities Month.  This showcase of rare and oddball items from the Joe world was a huge hit.  And, the most popular post of that figure year was of the European Force knock off figures.  I had first discovered these figures in the early 2000's.  And, in 2016, I was surprised to find that over a decade later, there still wasn't much information on them out there.  With the publication of my first European Force article, though, more information came to light.  I found more photos of them.  And, within a couple of years, discovered that a select few European collectors were hoarding them and not sharing photos so that they could buy up the European stock for cheap and sell it privately to American collectors at a huge mark up.  Seems Joeluminati shit isn't limited to American collectors.  Now, I've done a European Force write up four out of five of my Rarities Months.  And, each year, they are very popular and I get messages from collectors remarking how they had never seen these figures before.

And, with this post, I'm done with my 20th Anniversary retrospective.  This has been a weird year.  G.I. Joe returned to retail.  But, even a "retro" offering was nothing more than a disappointment to vintage Joe fans.  Despite that, you could make a case that the Classified series is the hottest collectible of the year.  The movie is delayed.  But, it also seems no one cares about that.  Prices are up, but they're also down.  You can get deals and also quadruple your money with a lucky retail find.  So, in short, I have no idea where the community is going.   I suspect 2021 will bring more clarity.  Until then, I soldier on....