Just a quick update, there’ll be some posts coming soon. Just didn’t want anyone thinking this blog had gone silent. But a busy couple of weeks (new job, new hours, etc.)
Very exciting rebuild on the way, which I’m very happy I was able to do.
When I think of my childhood and playing with my toys, it’s always my G.I. Joes.
I used to go outside and play in front of my apartment building with the figures in the dirt and bushes. They’d have elaborate adventures, battling Cobra while climbing through the branches and hiding behind leaves.
But as the 1980s came to an end and the 1990s began, my interest in the Joes waned. Not in the figures that I had, mind you. Or the animated series I watched religiously, the Find Your Fate books I loved to read or the comic books I still have. It was in the new figures and shows being produced. It was during this time that the figures started to get… silly.
Glimpses of this began in 1989, but really took hold in the years after.
Snake-Eyes went blue. Cobra Commander got some strange orange face mask. The B.A.T. got lime green highlights. These ridiculous designs continued well throughout the 1990s, along with some oddball character names such as Long Arm, Muskrat and Headman.
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I decided to carry out a little experiment.
While putting Airborne back together again, I noticed something. The screws in his legs, as well as the one in his back, were covered in rust. Upon removing them I discovered that while the threads were nice and clean, the heads were pretty bad. The one that had been in his back was especially discolored.
I checked online for some possible remedies. A few came up, but the one that seemed to be the most straight forward was white vinegar.
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There was a time when I easily had dozens of G.I. Joe action figures. Many had been lost over the years, but I would say that at its height my collection reached around 50 at its peak.
I was heartbroken to realize the other day that many of my oldest and most significent ones are gone… and it was basically my own doing.
Up until high school I kept my Joes meticulously organized. They were housed in a two-foot high organizer with small, narrow drawers. Each figure was in one of the drawers, stashed away along with their individual accessories. The drawers were also labeled for each Joe inside.
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Figured I’d take a moment to talk about the rubber o-rings I’m using to fix my G.I. Joes.
Contrary to what you may think, those aren’t regular old rubber bands that keep the Joe action figures together. They are actually plumbers o-rings, generally used to prevent leaky joints in faucets. The strong rubber circles can take a lot of stress, which is undoubtedly why Hasbro chose to use them.
In my searches online, I came across different websites suggest different specifications for the small bands. Generally they are about 3/4-inch in diameter or 3/8-inch. You can buy them in bulk or in sets of 10.
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I recently cleared out the last of my stuff from my parents home. Hadn’t quite realized I’d left so many things behind in a place I haven’t lived in more than a dozen years.
One of the things I left behind were my old G.I. Joe action figures. I loved those things. Played with them all the time as a kid. And now they look like it. The figures are worn down, the details faded, their body parts all separated. The rubber bands that once held them together are dried, brittle and broken.
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