I look at my collection in distinct stages. The first, of course, is my childhood. This covered 1982 through 1987. The second phase is the pre-internet days of adult collecting. For me, this was 1992 through 1997, give or take. And, then the final phase is my adult collecting years that have occurred since I found the Stars & Stripes set in December of 1997.
As a kid, it was nearly impossible to get extras of specific weapons. Your only options were to buy another figure or two to get the gear. Or, really hope that a friend of yours happened to hate that particular item and you could trade him something you didn't really care for in exchange for the item you did want. The notion of having several extras lying around was pretty much a pipe dream and impossible for all but the richest kid.
During the mid 1990's, it was also somewhat difficult to just buy accessories. You'd often find guys with grocery bags or shoeboxes full of Joes. And, they'd say something along the lines of "it's too much work to figure out who gets what gear" (there was no YoJoe.com back then). But, at the same time, none of them would sell individual gear. They were too afraid that you'd buy the one super rare item and they'd miss out on 4 extra bucks in later years. 1990's scalp culture was weird. The thing those guys would do, though, was sell you the whole bag or box of figures for what, now, seems a really stupidly low price. Sure, there'd be no female figures or Snake Eyes in the lot. But, that was fine because you'd end up paying a dollar or two per figure. So, you could get extra gear, but you'd get the figures to go with it, too.
The early days of internet collecting were nice as guys would pretty much trade any accessory straight up for another that they needed. So, for a few years, you could easily trade a spare Alpine rope gun to get a Shipwreck pistol. But, as the 2000's dawned, things like that mostly disappeared. By then, collectors had realized which gear was the most desirable and hardest to find. And, as the 2000's turned into the 2010's, you had the rise of online dealers who would sell individual accessories and Ebay stores that did the same. Sure, you'd pay a premium for a 1982 Uzi. But, they'd often sell very nice stuff from later years for cheap prices. You could still get the charcoal Recoil rifles from later editions of the Steel Brigade for under $5 up through this time.
Since then, the price of gear has steadily gone up. Certain weapons that were once desired (like Snake Eyes' Uzi) did see demand tempered a bit as repaint era options became readily available. I didn't need to seek out extra 1983 weapons to arm my terrorist contingent because I could easily get 2000's era accessories that worked just as well and were a fraction of the price. But, other gear got stupidly expensive. Things like Flint's shotgun (that, really, were never hard to find) got really pricey as dealers flocked to the market and marked things up in the post 2018 Joe world. Now, I'm glad that I have a lot of extra gear. Because there is no way I'd accumulate my armory at today's prices.
For today, I'm going to focus on my childhood favorites. There is a lot to read here. So, I'm going to break this walk down memory lane into different parts so they are more manageable. Here is part 1:
My Childhood Favorites:
1. Flint's Shotgun
There's just something about this weapon that always spoke to me. It was an original design and unlike anything that had come before it in the line. The notion of a shotgun toting badass hearkened back to the Westerns you'd see on weekend afternoon TV.
On a boy scout trip, some of the adults were shooting skeet. I gathered up a dozen or so spent shells and cut slits in them so that I could affix them to suspenders or a belt like Flint. When we'd play guns in the neighborhood, I'd wear the shells over a vest. It's amazing to think we used to run around the neighborhood, toting very real looking toy guns with real spent ammo on my chest and no one batted an eye. This is probably the one thing that's most changed between my childhood and that of my kids.
As a kid, I lost Flint's shotgun all the time. My original figure's disappeared at some point during his run. In 1986, I replaced my original with a new one so I'd have the rifle, again. That winter, we went to visit my grandparents. We'd play in their basement. The floor was cold, hard concrete. But, they had about a dozen carpet sample sized rugs that we'd arrange as islands or somesuch and structure our adventures around these. We were playing down there one afternoon and my younger brother somehow kicked Flint's shotgun off of one of these carpets. I frantically searched for it for hours. I picked up every carpet, got a flashlight to look under the cabinets and swept the floor with my hands. But, that Flint shotgun was gone.
A while later, my grandmother told me over the phone she had found a green gun in her basement. She put it in her room, thinking it might be important to us. I was sure it was Flint's shotgun. But, when we saw her again, I was disappointed to find it was not. Instead, it was a broken machine gun from one of my dad's old, cheap plastic soldiers. So, the remaining years of my childhood Flint's life were spent with him wielding the weapon from the Night Landing Craft, a Snow Serpent's AK-47 or the Ripcord rifle from the Tactical Battle Platform.
When I started collecting, getting a complete Flint was a priority. As Flint was super popular, though, he'd be in a ton of the lots I was acquiring in the late 1990s. Usually, I'd get his gun, too. Over time, I bought a bunch of loose Flints from online and local sellers. I had up to 8 of them at one point. Even after my collection purge, though, I still have 5 originals plus at least 5 loose and 5 more carded Funskool versions. What I can not do, though, is give Flint's shotgun to another figure. It just doesn't look right. So, while I love Flint's shotgun, it is reserved for Flint and Flint alone.
2. Alpine's SMG
What's interesting is that many of the weapons on my childhood list feature stories about me losing the weapon. The reason for this is that the experience was traumatic since I loved the accessories so much and I often would no longer use a figure once his original gear was lost. For Alpine, the main story is one of loss. But, there are also two stories of redemption.
Alpine was one of the earlier 1985 figures I acquired. I remember that I already owned him by the time I got Snake Eyes in April. And, I have cold weather, early spring memories of playing with him and the Eel on the front steps of my parents' home. Being an early arrival, though, meant that I was less careful with him than I should have been. In short order, I lost his pistol and broke his grappling gun. As the figure was cool, though, I replaced my original Alpine some time in 1986 so I once again had a complete figure.
In the fall of 1986, we were playing with our Joes outside with some kids down the street. We rarely played in their backyard as it was small and didn't have a ton of great places. But, their dad had recently cleared out a small thicket of trees near their back fence that bordered the alley. So, on this day, we set up an adventure there. Among the figures I had was Alpine. At some point, I took his gun out of the figure's hand and set it down on the soft, dry dirt. The gun instantly disappeared. It was gone. I searched for quite a while, moving dirt, etc. to no avail. My Alpine's gun was gone.
About a year later, we were playing soccer in their yard. The ball went back into this thicket. I went to retrieve it. And, as I went to pick up the ball, I saw my Alpine's gun in the dirt! By this time, we had given up toys. But, I did show it to everyone and asked if they remembered when I had lost the gun. I put the pistol into my pocket and added it to my stash of Joes when I got home. Over the years, my youngest brother broke into these stashes and removed key figures. During these thefts, my Alpine was taken and his pistol disappeared again.
In 1997, I was working a job post college and living at my parents' house until I moved to Arizona. During this time, I dug out all my childhood toys and started displaying them on the shelves in my childhood room. One night, as I was heading to bed, I happened to notice something weird about the SnowCat. It seemed there was an asymmetry in the open spaces on the black underbody beneath the lights. Upon inspection, the difference was that my Alpine's gun was wedged into the part! No idea how it got there. But, I had a complete Alpine, once again. It was the same gun from the dirt thicket because the grooves of the weapon were still filled with the fine dust from a decade earlier. With this recovery, my Alpine was again, complete.
Over the years, I've picked up one or two extra Alpine pistols. It looks good with a variety of figures. And, I'll often use it with other 1985 releases as a way to bring some visual diversity to a photo. It's a weapon I still enjoy. I wouldn't mind if I had another four or five of them. But, I'm very happy with the number in my collection, today. Each time I see it, I'm reminded of finding that dusty gun in the back of our friends' yard. It's a great connection to the past.
3. Hawk's Pistol
I view this pistol as Hawk's. It actually debuted with the 1985 Keel Haul, though. But, since I never had a Keel Haul, I had no idea that he came with a gun. So, I view this weapon as Hawk's and Hawk's alone. Originally, this Hawk figure first belonged to my younger brother. And, while I did use him quite a bit, my brother was hard on the figure and lost his pistol. This hurt as I loved the weapon and often used it with other figures. I gave Hawk the M-203 from Leatherneck and made him a younger leader, more akin to the role meant for Duke, instead of the grizzled general. This made the Hawk figure much more useful and kept him a key player in my collection.
Sometime in late 1987, I went to a local toy shop in my neighborhood. It was a small, independent store that was mostly a hobby/model shop who also sold toys. They were expensive. But, it was just a few hundred feet away from the comic book store where I spent many, many hours of my youth. I stopped in one afternoon and found they had marked their Joes down to $2.99 instead of the usual $3.99. I didn't like paying that extra dollar. Their entire stock was 1986 figures...including Hawk. I didn't buy the figure that day. For some reason, I felt I needed parental permission to buy a figure, even though I spent my lawn mowing money with impunity at the comic book store. When I got home, I mentioned something about the figures being on sale to my mother. She made a flippant comment about how it was my money and she didn't care how I spent it. So, on my next trip to the comic book store, I dropped by Ed Shrock's Toy and Hobby and bought myself a new Hawk.
I kept this figure, though, as the younger character from before. And, Hawk, once again, got the M-203. I had 2 of these weapons. (It's next on the list!) So, that freed up Hawk's pistol to be used by other figures or in other situations. Crankcase was the main recipient of the pistol. But, I would also use it in specific scenarios. So, if a Joe got caught without his weapon at the end of a firefight and he had a sculpted pistol on his leg or chest, Hawks' pistol would stand in for the sculpted weapon. The Joe would just use it that once. But, it allowed for me to finally put to practical use some of the sculpted details on my favorite figures.
Today, the weapon remains a favorite. I have a couple. I never felt the Hawk pistol was all that hard to get. But, when I liquidated all my extra Hawks, I sold them complete with the pistol. I think I kept one or two extras that are available. Though, one is always with Crankcase. Hasbro had the mold for the weapon in the 2000's. It was included with the Convention Hardtop. But, it never appeared again. Instead, we got crappy new sculpt pistols in the Comic Packs that the figures couldn't hold and that were just too stubby to be any fun. I only imagine what it would have been like to get a dozen or more extra Hawk pistols in that era. I'd have kept them all.
4. Leatherneck's M-203
Leatherneck's rifle had a lot going for it. It was a bit bigger than the weapons from prior years. But, I liked that about it since it made the weapon appear more deadly. The main calling card, though, was the affixed grenade launcher under the barrel. This gave the weapon more utilization possibilities and made Leatherneck effective against both infantry and Cobra vehicles. I always wanted more of the weapons. In the summer of 1986, though, I lost my original Leatherneck in the bushes in front of grandfather's house. My cousin, who lived next door, never found the figure. And, I went months with no Leatherneck. At some point before the end of the year, I bought another Leatherneck figure. My main reasoning was that when I returned to Buffalo and found my original figure, I'd have a spare gun to give to other figures.
When I went back to my grandfather's in the summer of 1987, though, my Leatherneck was no where to be found. I know the bushes were evergreen. But, the volume of snow they received could have left him shoveled away. So, I wasn't to get that spare rifle. But, fortunately, the end of 1986 and early 1987 gave me another avenue. For Christmas of 1986, I got the Mission to Brazil set. This included a desert themed Leatherneck with the same rifle as the original. Naturally, I kept that accessory with the figure. But, when I really wanted the 1986 Hawk to have the rifle, I'd equip the desert Leatherneck (now a Marine army builder) with the 1984 Battle Gear Zap Bazooka. But, then, in 1987, a new Battle Gear set was released. Frankly, this set sucked like the earlier sets with poor colors and missing gear. But, it did include a brown version of the Leatherneck rifle...a color that perfectly matched the Mission to Brazil figure. So, the army builder was given the Battle Gear accessory and I had a spare M-203 to give to other figures.
As an adult collector, I discovered that the weapon was later released in black, too. But, I also found the weapon had fallen out of favor. I didn't see it as a team standard any longer. I did give a black one to Recoil for a bit. But, once I had a charcoal Steel Brigade rifle, Recoil didn't need the M-203 any longer. And, by the time superfluous weapons were included with repaint era figures in the 2000's, I ended up with a baggie full of extra M-203s that I don't use at all. It's a precipitous fall for one of the top weapons of my childhood. But, Hasbro made too many better weapons in subsequent years.
5. Mutt's Mac 11
Mutt belonged to my younger brother. And, he didn't take care of him. In short order we lost the mask, nightstick and pistol. At one point, I found the Mutt figure in the bottom of an antique wardrobe that was in my brothers' room. Since I had pulled the figure out when it was fairly dark, I always thought that Mutt's pistol must have been lost in the bottom of that piece of furniture. I searched it many times. In fact, I searched it as recently as 2013 when my mother finally moved out of the house and was giving the piece away. No Mutt's pistol. There were a bunch of old Legos, though.
Having lost such a cool gun always made the weapon mythical to me. Add to that the weapon's silencer and it was a perfect accessory for Dreadnoks, Cobra leaders or even just Snake Eyes. In 1985, I finally got a bright green Mutt's pistol in the Battle Gear. And, despite the color, I used this weapon extensively. I'd give it to Zartan. Or, some nameless bad guys would use it to assassinate Hawk. I'd place the weapon in the cockpit of the Whale where either Cutter or Shipwreck could grab it as a backup to shoot boarding Eels. It had a ton of uses.
But, I never got another black version of the gun until I was an adult collector. While I upgraded pretty much my entire 1985 figure collection, I didn't do the same with the 1984's. Mostly, this was due to the fact that the '84's were pretty sparse at the retailers I frequented in 1986 when I was spending to upgrade my figures. But, also, the '84's were somewhat old news by then. I was more interested in getting some of the newer characters back into my collection since they were the staples of the comic and cartoon. So, a complete Mutt didn't rejoin my collection for over a decade.
Now, I have just two Mutts: both with the pistol. But, I also have Mutts from Europe and Brazil. So, I've got several of the pistols. I think I have a spare or two still hanging around. You'll find photos of the pistol being used by Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Headman and others. It's a fun weapon to use as an alternative pistol. I still think the silencer adds a sinister element to the weapon.
So, that's a look at the weapons that drove my childhood. While I liked most Joe weapons of that era, these were the ones that most spoke to me. They were the ones that were the subject of daydreams of bins of gear being available to me. Now that I can do that, I've found that I still flock to many of these weapons and never pass them if they're offered cheaply. (Which doesn't really happen any longer.)
I'll continue this series at some point. It won't be next week. But, probably this year. This was a fun jog into the bowels of my formative Joe years. It's good to dig into that well of memories every now and then as it helps keep some of the feelings fresh. Let me know your childhood favorites in the comments below.
