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Community => Other Toy Lines => Joe Defender => Topic started by: iFett on March 4, 2010, 10:19 PM

Title: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: iFett on March 4, 2010, 10:19 PM
Why not another good thread for JoeDefender?

Never had the Moray as a kid, and kinda wanted to pick up the TRU version a few years back but never did since I wasn't into Joe at the time.  LOVE this vintage boat now that I have it - a tad dusty (still trying to figure out how to clean these things without damaging the stickers/decals)  Clever system on the front missle launchers....Finally figured out to push down the steam pike thing - guess I should look at the blueprints.

Rediscovering a lot of my past childhood in these toys.  A lot to go though......
Title: Re: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: spiderpumpkin on May 7, 2010, 08:57 PM
A member over at the yojoe.com forums wrote up a great article about the top ten ARAH vehicles for the LA Times.  Check it out.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/05/top-10-gi-joe-vehicles-of-the-1980s-.html
Title: Re: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: John C on May 10, 2010, 11:33 AM
I would agree with most of the vehicles on that list.  The WHALE would be much higher, though.  probably 2 for me.  Never had the aircraft carrier, but no question it's the best.  The HISS and MOBAT wouldn't make my list, either.  I'd replace them with the Mauler and Snowcat.
Title: Re: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: efranks on May 10, 2010, 12:20 PM
That's an interesting take.  I'm surprised the Tomahawk is in there but the Dragonfly isn't.  RAM and Mobat but no VAMP?  Hmm...

As much hype as the Flagg gets, if I had my choice I'd take the Shuttle Launch Complex over it.

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Title: Re: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: iFett on May 10, 2010, 12:43 PM
Without calling favorites out of any of those - the Defiant should be added and the RAM should get the boot.  As for the coptors - the Tomahawk was nice and big, but the Dragonfly would come first...third being the Mamba then the Fang in my book.

Looking at those nice crisp pics reminds me of all the cleaning I still need to do on a lot of vehicles/playsets.   :-\ 

I should be getting the TerrorDrome and the original Joe headquarters this week.   :)
Title: Re: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: efranks on May 10, 2010, 01:22 PM
Nice scores.

I agree that the Tomahawk is a nice big chopper and of the two, Dragonfly being the other, I've always wanted the 'hawk more.  I think because it was a big troop carrier rather than the combat chopper.

I'm also a big fan of the WHALE but I always liked the Water Moccasin.  i never had the Moray, though, and I've never really been tempted by it.

It was surprising to me that he put both the Night Raven and the Rattler on the list.  I never had the Raven but I've come to learn that it's very popular.  I was always a Rattler guy since that's what Wild Weasel flew. 

I also liked the Phantom X-19 a lot.  I actually had one and of all the Joe stuff I've sold over the years, that's the one I regret the most.  It was just too big and I moved it because of that.  And I paid such an insanely low price for it that I'll probably never be able to get one again, at least not in the condition the one I had was in.

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Title: Re: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: iFett on May 10, 2010, 02:19 PM
I'm also a big fan of the WHALE but I always liked the Water Moccasin.  i never had the Moray, though, and I've never really been tempted by it.

The WHALE was awesome.  I never had one (and still don't) but a buddy of mine had one when I was a kid so I got to play around with it.  Seemed pretty big back then to me.  Never owned the Moccasin, but have several now and love them dearly.  I don't think the Hasbro remold came with the little sled though.  The Moray is another awesome boat that I didn't have back in the day, but I was severely tempted to buy the Joe TRU re-release a few years back when I was just hardcore into SW only.  Happy to finally own a vinty version now, but ya...gotta clean it up.  The Devilfish is a surprisingly cool little boat as well...Too bad Hasbro didn't get around to re-releasing that with Wetsuit.

It was surprising to me that he put both the Night Raven and the Rattler on the list.  I never had the Raven but I've come to learn that it's very popular.  I was always a Rattler guy since that's what Wild Weasel flew.

I never had a Night Raven either, but the Rattler was definitely an awesome jet and was/is a very cool toy.  Still trying to pull a *jedimindtrick* on the Raven on my local buddy who's dumping his Joe collection on me

I also liked the Phantom X-19 a lot.  I actually had one and of all the Joe stuff I've sold over the years, that's the one I regret the most.  It was just too big and I moved it because of that.  And I paid such an insanely low price for it that I'll probably never be able to get one again, at least not in the condition the one I had was in.

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I had both the Phantom and the Condor on my wish list - what back in 87-89?  Got the Condor that year and loved that thing.  Very cool ship that split in two and had lots of bombs and missles that I kept loosing.  Picked up the Phantom a few months ago and was pretty much blown away by it.  Never even knew about the wings that split open.  Very cool as is the retractable landing gear.  Nice big jet.   8)

Anywhoo....Just dorking out on some good old Joe stuff.   :)
Title: Re: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: Brian on May 11, 2010, 12:59 PM
That's a neat article, thanks for posting it.  It really brings back some memories, and - unfortunately - gets me tempted to track down some of those old vehicles (or get re-done/re-released as we saw in some of the 25th line).  Much like Star Wars, I didn't really have a ton of vehicles from the Joe line as a kid...but one I did have was the WHALE.  I agree, that was a great toy - for that time or today - and I had a lot of fun with that as a kid.  I still have it now, although a lot of the accessories didn't last through my younger brother.  Just looking at that list, the Joe line sure did have some neat "toys" in that line - they looked good and were fun too.
Title: Re: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: shmashwitdaclub on May 11, 2010, 01:44 PM
Fun article - aside from the Flagg, I had most all others on that list.  The two I didn't have as a child were the Whale and the Rattler.  Thanks to the 25th line Target exclusive I now have the Rattler.  The Whale was something I always really liked the design of - oh well, maybe someday.

Probably the one I had the most fun with on that list was the Moray.  Yeah it was cool and all to make swooshing sounds through the air with the Night Raven and the Skystriker - but I cannot even tell you how many times I had GI Joe vs. Cobra battles in the hot tub growing up.  You should see the screws in the backs of all my Joe toys...
Title: Re: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: iFett on June 19, 2010, 04:46 PM
Been driving around with the TerrorDrome in my back seat for the past two months now and finally had to drop it into storage without a proper cleaning or restoration.  The damn thing is just too big to bring in the house at the moment (or for the past two months)

Haven't stopped by storage in a few months, but I had a pretty massive LEGO avalanche in there.   :'(
Title: Re: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: iFett on October 30, 2010, 07:11 PM
What's a good place for repro Joe stickers?  My Rolling Thunder and Bridgelayer look very naked without them.   :-\
Title: Re: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: Ben on December 30, 2010, 08:30 PM
I think Cobrastickers is the place to go for that, but I'll be honest, I've never ordered replacement stickers from them before.

Found this (http://cgi.ebay.com/GI-Joe-Vintage-Terror-Drome-100-Complete-/200556867749?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eb21ef0a5) beauty on ebay. I have to say, if I wasn't so overspent due to Christmas, I'd consider this. Especially if you get the box. That free shipping offer is great.
Title: Re: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: Brian on September 13, 2017, 05:42 PM
Bumping up an oldie here, continuing my trip down memory lane with vintage toys. Looking back on the Joe line, and man there was some great vehicles. I personally didn't have many, although I did have the Killer WHALE. Otherwise, I relied on that "one friend" that almost everyone seemed to have back then. He and his brother had nearly everything from the line (outside of things like the FLAGG which I personally haven't ever seen in person.

Although it belongs firmly in the "some day" camp, I sure would like to try and track down some of these old vehicles. Watching YouTube videos and reading through YoJoe.com really brings back memories. The Wolverine, bridgelayer, skystriker, rattler, HISS, etc. I did get some/most of the vehicles in the 25th line, but the vintage line had so much greatness. One vehicle I didn't know much about that I watched today was the APC. I can't believe how many figures you could fit in that thing. Pretty cool. Anyone here have, or intend on getting, those old Joe vehicles?
Title: Re: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: Scockery on September 13, 2017, 06:13 PM
I used to have a lot of them.

APC was good, but lacked a tow hook. That was when there was towed weapons in the line.

In regards to getting vintage vehicles, these things weren't meant to last, so certain problems to look out for.

Original HISS tanks will usually have loose guns. The tabs that click the elevating cannons into place are ridiculously thin and the plastic gets brittle. You might be better off getting a later 2000's release of that vehicle (I don't think they ever really fixed that issue, though).

The red parts on the COBRA STUN get brittle with age. This is one the worst vehicles in that regard. If you get one with the engine covers snapped on, do not remove them!

Finding a Wolverine with an unbroken tow cable can be hard.

THE WHALE's fan assembly pieces are fragile, too.
Title: Re: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: Brian on September 19, 2017, 05:43 PM
Just looking through YoJoe.com this week, and remembering how robust this line was in its heyday. Not just due to the size of the vehicles/playsets, but the number put out each year. These days you maybe get one big feature toy per year, but Joe seemed to have several.
Title: Re: ARAH Vehicles/Playsets
Post by: efranks on October 21, 2017, 03:25 AM
Since the last time I posted in this I've picked up a few pieces including an APC, Desert Fox, and Whirlwind at the 2013 Joe Con in Indianapolis. And a couple summers ago I hit up the Steel City Con in Pittsburgh and replaced that X-19 I sold with one in almost as good of shape, and for a great price.

I also added a Tomahawk and Bridge layer from a buddy. I had a shell of the Shuttle Launch Complex that I got from the same person, for free, with the intention of picking up parts and building it. But it was too big of a task so I ended up giving it back.

I've picked up a couple vintage figures since last posting also but I think that was it on the vehicles.

One reason I've hesitated on vehicles is because of what Scockery mentioned, too brittle on the plastic. Not sure I want to invest too much in toys that could easily break. SW stuff doesn't seem to be quite as bad but I've seen some discoloration on things like the B-Wing so that's also a factor.

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