Diorama - Shock Vipers Invade!

Shock Vipers invade the HQ.

Diorama - Nullifiers

The Cobra Urban Strike set is just about my favorite Toys R Us 6 pack that was released.   The Nullifier figure was just excellent.  In those days, I was up very early to beat the traffic to my office.  In the mornings, I'd go out and water the plants, though.  Usually, the sun was only partly up.  So, you can see the shadows and lack of light on the periphery of the photos.

This was also a way to highlight my recently acquired Paratrooper Guile.

Diorama - Through the Looking Grass

Eels on patrol.

Diorama - The Trojan BAT

Hot Seat picks up the latest supply crate and enlists Fast Draw and Dodger to unload it.

But, the crate comes to life as a hidden BAT explodes from the box.

Hot Seat is quickly taken out.

Fast Draw fails as the BAT moves on to Dodger.

Mutt hears the commotion and arrives just in time.

The BAT is dispatched.

Diorama - Scrap Iron Ambushes the Joes

These photos were taken in the fall of 2001.  The intent was to get shots of both Blocker and the 2000 Dial Tone figures.  At the time, the Persuader was recently recovered from my parents' house and was new to my collection.  I had liked it as a kid.  But, the limitations soon shown through.  It was rare for me to use Vipers at the time, but they mixed well with Scrap Iron and were INSANELY popular figures back in 2001.  I added in some 1998 Cobra Troopers with the 1997 Rage for a second attack on the Joes.

The Commander's Entourage

Cobra Commander arrives with his personal entourage.

Diorama - Arctic Cobras

Firefly leads some Cobra in the snow.

Diorama - Bat Factory

There was a time when I bought a lot of new sculpt figures.  They were cheap and plentiful and were a way to buy something at retail.  The Joe world was a lot of fun in 2002 and 2003 as the community was especially vibrant.  2004 started a downturn, though.  These photos were taken in 2004 when the single pack figures started showing up at local CVS stores.  By the end of 2004, I had abandoned collecting anything other than vintage style Joes as Hasbro made collectors jump through too many hoops to get the figure they wanted.

Ultimately, sold my entire new sculpt collection to fund the purchase of some bootleg Cobra Troopers.  I don't regret that decision at all.

You will notice the unpainted Neo Viper pre-production piece below.  At the time, it was cheaper to get figures like this than it was to buy retail figures.  How times have changed on that front.

Diorama - Island Raid

In my old backyard, there was a section on the left hand side that was the "forest" of about 20 younger trees.  The ground beneath them was small river rock over a plastic tarp to keep the weeds down.  But, when it rained, I got large puddles in the area that make for a great photo setting.  You can see the location used often in profiles from 2001 to 2003 on the site.

It was still raining when I went out take these pics.  The water was at it's highest and there just a single dry patch.  My intent was to showcase my newly acquired 2002 Shipwreck figure that you can see below.  But, it ended up being a good way to get some Dreadnok shots.  Again, you see the theme of a large force being necessary to take out the Dreadnoks. I don't know why I return to that theme a few times as the Dreadnoks as characters were not a huge part of my childhood Joe collection.  But, they made for some different show of force type shots.