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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It is probably the second most common ailment the 3 3/4-sized G.I. Joe action figures: Crotch Breakage.
I can’t say when Airborne originally suffered from this horrific disease. It likely fell off some 20 years ago, back when he was regularly used. If I recall properly, he was one of my brother’s figures. I eventually adopted him.
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This orange-haired G.I. Joe is among the oldest of my meager collection, and he’s showing his age.
Rip Cord, first released in 1984, broke long ago. So long ago, in fact, that an attempt to fix him was made. I’m not sure if it was me or my brother who did it, though.
Perhaps we were lacking rubber bands at the time. The string was effective in keeping him in one piece, but he was so loose and wobbly I had to reassemble this reassembled Joe.
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As action figures go, Mainframe is pretty run of the mill.
Introduced in 1986, he’s hampered by a pretty dull design. His grey outfit is a bit uninspired, and he doesn’t come with any weapons. He was essentially a phone operator.
This particular action figure did, however, prove to be unique in my collection.
First, he was a challenge to rebuild. The spacing under his waist actually proved to be fairly small. As a result, getting the leg hook through with the rubberband was difficult. I was concerned the plastic would break, and it did appear to have some stress coloring. Thankfully, however, things worked out.
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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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