What's more amazing to me is that when we learned about Joe coming back in 2000, 1982 Joes were only 18 years old. Really, Joe had only been gone from the vintage run for 6 years. Now, it's been two decades since Joe's "return". These figures are older than the original Snake Eyes was when he appeared. Yet, these figs still seem somewhat new...if only because they were released to a burgeoning collector community that would see exponential growth in the next 18 months as tons of early 20-somethings discovered they could collect their childhood favorites.
Through the years, I've reviewed many of the first wave of releases from the A Real American Hero Collection. I've got a few more coming up in 2020 and 2021, too. In no particular order:
2000 Undertow
2000 Dialtone
2000 Law and Order
2000 Chameleon
2000 Dusty
2000 Lamprey
2000 Wild Bill
2000 General Tomahawk
This series of figures has aged relatively well. The colors in the overall collection got redundant in 2001 and beyond. But, in general, the 2000 series of figures was the best overall set of figures that we saw in the 2000's and later releases devolved in some way or another. It's hard to believe these figures are now that old. But, time marches on....
I loved the ARAH Collection - I was 18 when they were released - too young for the early vintage line so getting Firefly in his original mold was a big deal. Same with getting the Locust (Dragonfly). Even as a collector now I have no objections to and really like acquiring any of the vintage o-ring figures from 2000-2005. It really is hard to believe it has been 20 years since they were released but still remain a staple of my collection. When I got back into vintage collecting a few years ago I initially was going to stick to getting just o-ring figures from this line and through 2005 but that of course changed and I have acquired a ton of vintage figures from the 82-94 run...i digress!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I can't thank you enough for this blog it has become required reading for me on a weekly basis. I look forward it each week.
I was working at Kay-Bee toys when the ARAH Collection first came out. I got dibs on the figures every week when the truck brought in a new shipment, but I also remember seeing them eventually warm the pegs. It wasn't as bad as Star Wars: Episode I, but we had more Hot Wheels collectors coming in than anyone else. And we never got that many cases of ARAH in comparison to other lines. But it was a good time to be a Joe collector. I remember the thrill of getting the Locust years after giving away my Dragonfly, and grabbing the Night Rhino since I'd never owned the Warthog. I think it was the only time I ever tried to army build vehicles! I loved the HISS III.
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