Creator of "G.I. Joe" Action Figure Passes Away at 86

[vienna]

For young boys since 1964, G.I. Joe was a staple of the toy box:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/creator-g-joe-action-figure-dies-86-article-1.1804455


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[Wolferz]

I preferred guns. Real ones. Not some macho Barbie that had his junk shot off in a war. Ken was neutered by the Misogynistic Barbie.

[swamprat69er]

I wasn't into dolls either. Guns were where it was at. (Thank you Lee-Enfield and Cooey)

[Jimbuna]

We had Action Man in the UK.

[Cybermat47]

I'm a bit freaked out by you guys having guns as kids TBH :haha:

[Wolferz]

I'm a bit freaked out by you guys having guns as kids TBH :haha:

I said I preferred guns. It doesn't mean my parents were crazy enough to give me any.:haha:

[Rockstar]

I had those bendy space men when I was 6 years old. Thought it was pretty kewl to set'em up and plink at them with me .177 full metal jacket Daisey BB gun. Yep, I was right regular SGT Rock back then. Arrrrrrr Giiiiyaaaaa zip zip zing!

[swamprat69er]

I said I preferred guns. It doesn't mean my parents were crazy enough to give me any.:haha:
we played cowboys and indians when I was a young'un. When I was 16 I bought my first Lee-Enfield and had a 16 gauge shot gun given to me.:up:

[Jimbuna]

we played cowboys and indians when I was a young'un. When I was 16 I bought my first Lee-Enfield and had a 16 gauge shot gun given to me.:up:

You must have soon lost all your 'Indian' friends :)

[swamprat69er]

I went from shooting Indians to trap/skeet shooting and rabbit hunting. Funny thing with a 303 and shooting rabbits.....If you get them in the head you get meat. Anywhere else and you've wasted a bullet.

[Jimbuna]

Yeah, same with squirrels...there was a guy on tv last week who has a squirrel pie recipe and he was facing the same problem :)

[swamprat69er]

I let the cats have the squirrels and chipmunks. They gotta get exercise, too.

[Wolferz]

I had those bendy space men when I was 6 years old. Thought it was pretty kewl to set'em up and plink at them with me .177 full metal jacket Daisey BB gun. Yep, I was right regular SGT Rock back then. Arrrrrrr Giiiiyaaaaa zip zip zing!
Didn't shoot your eye out?:D

we played cowboys and indians when I was a young'un. When I was 16 I bought my first Lee-Enfield and had a 16 gauge shot gun given to me.:up:
I chose not to be a racist kid. We played Army with sticks and dirt clod grenades. If you couldn't prove that you shot one of the enemy soldiers with your stick, the grenades removed all doubt.:haha:

You must have soon lost all your 'Indian' friends :) He didn't like Curry.

Yeah, same with squirrels...there was a guy on tv last week who has a squirrel pie recipe and he was facing the same problem :)

Squirrels can't make pies because they're nuts.:doh:

[swamprat69er]

We did the Army thing in winter with snowballs.

I didn't view it as racist back then. Army with snow balls and snow forts was a lot of fun.

[vanjast]

I didn't view it as racist back then
He's pulling your chain :haha:

We played the same games... :arrgh!:
Although I was jealous of my friends who had GI-Joes... We were poorer than them !!

[swamprat69er]

When we played cowboys and indians we made our 'guns' out of tree branches. The snowball fights were a lot more fun.

[August]

We went from stick guns and GI Joes to crab apple fights.

Campaign season for crab apple warfare was in the late summer and fall when ammunition was plentiful. Our historical enemy was the kids who lived at the other end of Biscayne St. Every year solemn delegations from the two ends would meet at "Dead Mans Hill", a steep dip halfway up the street which was the accepted neighborhood border, and like ancient armies of old arrange a date and location of the great battle.

Ammo caches would be deployed and complicated tactical plans would be worked out but it always seemed to turn out to two lines of kids on the opposite edges of someones back yard pelting each other with crab apples (rocks were banned by mutual agreement) non stop until one side or the other ran out of ammo or got called in for supper.

Interestingly these annual battles did create an arms race of sorts. Garbage can lid shields were the first major improvement and soon everyone had them, the now cover-less garbage cans a boon for the local raccoon population. Forts were tried but found to be nothing more than traps for the defenders who were soon forced to make a running break though a hail of apple fire. Slingshots and wrist rockets were eventually introduced and became the standard.

Secret weapons were also developed like the bicycle lance made from a sharpened broom or mop handle. Six kids riding down the street in line abreast with those things tucked under their arms made an awesome sight. That one however the adults put a stop to pretty quick when one of the neighbors car radiators got speared during a practice run. Then there was the Bee Bomb. A mayonnaise jar full of captured bees and hornets that would be hurled at the feet of the enemy. Didn't work so well in the fields and woods we normally battled in.

It reached it's peak however with the BB gun. Suddenly things got real. Jimmy Burns had to go to the doctors to get a BB dug out of his butt and there was talk about repealing the rock treaty. If things kept up someone was gonna loose an eye for sure!

Lasting peace was finally declared upon our discovery of girls and alcohol and crab apple fights became "kids stuff".

[Betonov]

So much violence, so much hatred, such militaristic childhoods :huh:

And everyone turned out normal :03:

[Wolferz]

So much violence, so much hatred, such militaristic childhoods :huh:

And everyone turned out normal :03:

Define "normal" Dirt clods are still available.:haha:

[Aktungbby]

Yeah, same with squirrels...there was a guy on tv last week who has a squirrel pie recipe and he was facing the same problem :)

And everyone turned out normal :03:

Define "normal" Dirt clods are still available.:haha:

http://i1.squidoocdn.com/resize/squidoo_images/800/draft_lens6195392module49138092photo_1248970759GI_ Joe-squirrel-funny-toys-image.jpg NORMAL?!! My childhood safaris served with Spam and Hamm's BBY!:woot:unless it was to feed the raptors (hawks, falcons and owls) in the science department...anything for science! Waste not Want Not! Things keep better in the dead of Minnesota winters:know: http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390584965l/1241826.jpghttp://www.urbanspoon.com/w/s/j4/PJJ2eRUN52vj6B-640m.jpg (http://www.urbanspoon.com/rph/18/1509264/993884/las-vegas-john-mull-s-road-kill-grill-sign-photo) "Things go better with Co....Hamm's!" :O:

[Wolferz]

Somebody totally forgot tire tread turtle and dented fender deer.:D

Bloviated Bear on a bumper ain't bad either.:rock:

[vienna]

I was a bit too old (about 13yo) when G.I. Joe hit the market. Also, I was infested by the "Beatle" bug having seen them on the Sullivan Show. My main passion was guitars. Girls were also a passion especially since I had taken note that girls, particularly the pretty ones, seemed to really like guitar players....

As a child growing up in the 50s, we played War and Cowboys and Indians. I also had a rather sizable assortment of those little green army men one could buy in large plastic bags; they looked kind of like this:


http://www.retroplanet.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/26629-sp-e1364423887880.jpg


The boys in my neighborhood staged some mighty impressive battles on the sidewalks...


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[magic452]

I was a bit too old (about 13yo) when G.I. Joe hit the market. Also, I was infested by the "Beatle" bug having seen them on the Sullivan Show. My main passion was guitars. Girls were also a passion especially since I had taken note that girls, particularly the pretty ones, seemed to really like guitar players....

As a child growing up in the 50s, we played War and Cowboys and Indians. I also had a rather sizable assortment of those little green army men one could buy in large plastic bags; they looked kind of like this:


http://www.retroplanet.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/26629-sp-e1364423887880.jpg


The boys in my neighborhood staged some mighty impressive battles on the sidewalks...


<O>

I use to have tons of those things. I was also too old for GI Joe.

Magic

[Wolferz]

I use to have tons of those things. I was also too old for GI Joe.

Magic

Yup. Tons of the army men lined up for mock battles when I was little and we used a couple of tinker toy hubs to simulate the destruction of each others army. Last man standing was the winner. There were times when diplomacy broke down and the hubs went from rolling across the floor to flying across the room.:huh:
My younger brothers got the GI Joes. AKA Macho Barbie dolls.:)

[swamprat69er]

Define "normal" Dirt clods are still available.:haha:
Horse apples worked good too. Grossed the prudes out, but what the hey.

[Wolferz]

Horse apples worked good too. Grossed the prudes out, but what the hey.

Just hay, grass and water but still.:timeout:
I guess you used cow patties like throwing stars too?:har:

[mapuc]

What a childhood memory I had different type of these figures, Soldiers, Cowboys and Indians.

For some it was or is nothing more than child play and for some it's more than that

I can't remember much of it, ´cause I was only a very little boy. I do remember I was with my dad visiting a friend of my dad and he had some landscape and on this he had lots of tin soldiers(it was first much later I understood it was Tin soldiers)

Markus

[CCIP]

For me, I had these three black plastic figures of cavemen, back when I was six years old. I think those were actually made in East Germany. Because of what was going on in the world around me at the time, I used to play with them acting out what I thought a democratic election was like.
Which basically was this: there was only one candidate for president, the caveman guy with a big club. There was another guy I called "minister of elections" who stood guard over the ballot box with a spear. And the voter was this hairy caveman with a rock, who had to cast his ballot for the only candidate, or my "minister of elections" would poke him with a spear. My parents laughed their butts off when they heard my explanation for what I was doing with my caveman figures that day.

Come to think of it, I had it pretty accurate to how it works in reality, didn't I :har:

[Platapus]

Matt Mason could kick GI Joe's butt. :yeah:

[August]

No GI Joe thread would be complete without the Nissan GI Joe commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXdFKcETEPg&feature=kp

[August]

And if you like that one the sequel is just as funny:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ELV9d12hHg

[Jimbuna]

Never seen either of them but they were good :cool:

[AVGWarhawk]

So much violence, so much hatred, such militaristic childhoods :huh:

And everyone turned out normal :03:

That is up for debate.

[AVGWarhawk]

I had GI Joe. Eagle Eye with the Kung Fu grip. A chopper to fly the plastic guy around and the 6 wheel vehicle for the marshy spots in the woods. Eventually I grew bored with Joe and threw his naked carcass on the garage roof never to be seen again until my pop cleaned the gutter. His joints were a bit rusty. Not to mention a fine film of algae growing on him. Soon I discovered chicks, hooch and eventually pursued both with vigor. GI Joe was long forgotten.

[swamprat69er]

Just hay, grass and water but still.:timeout:
I guess you used cow patties like throwing stars too?:har:
In public school grades 1-8 I was called 'farmer', I think mainly because I wasn't afraid to pick up cow patties/horse apples and throw them.

[Platapus]

No GI Joe thread would be complete without the Nissan GI Joe commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXdFKcETEPg&feature=kp

I had never seen that before. It's awesome!

[vienna]

This thread has turned toward bovine scatology:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMNPqMZNlxo


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[Platapus]

This thread has turned toward bovine scatology:

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Don't poo poo scatological humour.

[Jimbuna]

This thread has turned toward bovine scatology:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMNPqMZNlxo


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The term I was thinking of was 'crap'.

[AVGWarhawk]

Most threads in GT get derailed to toilet talk or something totally unrelated to the OP.

[TarJak]

Most threads in GT get derailed to toilet talk or something totally unrelated to the OP.

One tries one's best. :D

[Jimbuna]

Most threads in GT get derailed to toilet talk or something totally unrelated to the OP.

Rgr that.

One tries one's best. :D

Not even a close second or third :)

[Sailor Steve]

One tries one's best. :D

Not even a close second or third :)
I agree. When considering all the threads that haven't been derailed, Grant, I have to say you're not doing a very good job. :dead:

[TarJak]

I agree. When considering all the threads that haven't been derailed, Grant, I have to say you're not doing a very good job. :dead:

Oh come on, I can only post so much. I don't have the span engine that Jim does and I'm selective about what I derail.:O:

[Jimbuna]

Oh come on, I can only post so much. I don't have the span engine that Jim does and I'm selective about what I derail.:O:

I'd certainly never accuse you of being an attention whore :)

[vienna]

The term I was thinking of was 'crap'.

Gosh, Jim, I've been trying to keep the language rather in a proper mode; does this mean we shouldn't give a ... oh, hold on, there's the phone ringing...


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[vienna]

Just for you, Jim:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wSzPBy0GgI



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[Jimbuna]

LOL :)