Have a good one guys...  

The only one i'd be really into, at this point, is the Sailbarge.  And I'd pay $100 or over for a good, to-scale (it's not that big actually) Sailbarge.  I'd go $120 max I suppose...  And I'd need to not be on some time limit to buy it.

It's a fun ship, a ship that would double as an action-filled playset...  I'd enjoy that.

Death Star and things I'm interested in, but as a modular playset, not a single, large ticket item.  

On the Barge I'd want no frills, no pack-ins...  Just a large playset.  Market it around some figures at the same time...  re-release of Luke or something, I dunno.  Pack-ins, I've found, are only irritating anymore to those who dn't buy ships for whatever reason.

If they did do a pack-in, re-releases would be cool I guess.  Gammorrean or whatnot.

If they REALLY wanted to wow us, a Pit of Carkoon "stand" for it would be amazing...  

Ah!  

Someone merged these...  Thank you!

I'll be damned if I could get anything.  I should've just started digging because this just found its way to the second page I guess, or third perhaps.

Anyway, appreciated Scott or Dale...  Or whoever merged them.

Nice collection of freakish images, as well as some fun ones too!

Well, as luck would have it, I picked up 2 recent items on Ebay this past month, and they arrived today!

A ceramic smoking monkey, complete with a pack of smokes.  Unfortunately he's packed with one in his mouth and arrived with it broken so I had to pull it out with pliars and light the broken cancer stick.  

And I also got a cigarette case, with a smoking monkey on the cover.

Very classy.

not bad purchases...  I'll see if I can find images!



&



Not bad if I do say so...

Unfortunately I can't find my old smoking monkey thread, or I'd just add to it, so sorry for the new one...  Can't relive the fun I guess.

They have some nice smoking monkey oil paintings up for $.01 but the shipping is $20!  Yikes...  Does it cost that much to get something like that shipped?  Sounds like Monkey Business to me!

The Ceramic Monkey I got doesn't smoke as well as my old paper mache smoking novelty monkey.  That one actually blows smoke rings!  Still, he puffs away like there's no tomorrw on his cigs, so it's cool.

First, while I respect your disagreeing opinion, political discussion (and bashing) aren't allowed here Bob, so please be respectful of fthat.  It's a site rule is all, so please just keep that in mind.

I'll reply with why I don't believe Joe's propoganda though...

“any organization or plan for spreading a particular doctrine or a system of principles”

G.I. Joe, while like "Uncle Sam" as a fictional character, isn't organized to spread a doctrine or system of principles.  He was a fictional character (set of characters) set into a specific story fighting a specific enemy.

He was based in America, but didn't fight American enemies that are real.  To that end, the only principles spread by G.I. Joe were basic moral ones.  Also, G.I. joe marketed in other countries was often not marketed as "A Real American Hero", but rather marketed generically or to the country in question.

Basic moral messages of "do what is right" were the only propoganda G.I. Joe ever seemed to spread in my view.  That's what I got from him as a child.  I feel it cheapens a lot of people's childhoods to say otherwise, but that's just my opinion.

“a specific type of message presentation, aimed at serving an agenda. Even if the message conveys true information,”

G.I. Joe didn't serve an agenda other than his own...  He wasn't aimed at any one particular "enemy" other than Cobra, a fictional one.  He wasn't a recruitment tool, didn't endorse joining the military, etc...  

Just because he was pro-American doesn't mean he was pro-military power to reach an end.  If anything, it was the opposite in the cartoon series, which preached non-violence to a kind of funny extent when you watch the cartoons now as an adult.

The comics were more aimed at adult thinking, just as they are now, but I still don't see a correlation to propoganda for the U.S. military there.

“the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person”

G.I. Joe reached many audiences, but didn't spread any anymosity in its themes against U.S. enemies of the time.  For instance, the communist USSR.  Whatever brief mentions they had in G.I. Joe fiction eventually wound up showing we were in some Alliance against a "common threat".  

If G.I. Joe had preached anti-Russian sentiment, I maybe would agree, but because it was all fictionalized I can't see any correlation to propoganda for the U.S.

Propoganda for better living...  Moral behavior...  Being "brave".  That I can agree with.  That's not "propoganda" in its truest form though.  No more so than saying Mr. Rogers is propoganda anyway.

Being a good person isn't an "instiatution, cause, or a person" though, so I again just disagree there.  To each their own though of course.

There’s no question that G.I. Joe is propaganda; while it may not preach a negative viewpoint, it preaches nonetheless, with its infamous tagline- “A Real American Hero” it states that heroism is built on militaristic principles and bravery weighed on how much damage you inflict on the enemy in the process of defending your home turf.

Again, I simply disagree...  G.I. Joe's tagline of "A Real American Hero" is no different than if you applied it to a Fireman, or a Policeman, or a school teacher...  It's just that kids react to military toys instinctively.  It's not an intentional message that "military power to acheive victory is America at its finest" or anything similar.

Also, if anything, G.I. Joe preached pacifism at all costs...  To not hurt your enemy but take them prisoner.  The cartoon was so chock full of non-death it really does make you laugh now if you watch it.  

You saved your enemy.  Even the "real" enemies of the time didn't like who the enemy in the fictional world was and G.I. Joe/America and Russia even teamed together, working as one, to fight the fictional enemy.

So long as there's fiction there, which is all Joe is, was, and will be, I don't agree that there's propoganda there.  If there is, it certainly didn't change me in the slightest, even if it was the most influential toy on my childhood.

To each their own though...  It's just seeing things differently.

I'm pretty liberal leaning, but when it comes to sticking your head in the sand on such silly issues as what toys your child plays with, it's just sad.

G.I. Joe represented everything good about our country's military...  He's a role-model, not a propoganda tool.  He fought a terrorist everyone hated...  Even our enemies at the time, the commies.

The only point against him is that Joe does NOT have anything to do, even remotely, with baseball.

Shoulda included Hardball as the G.I. Joe maybe.  

irritating...  to say the least.

If they're gonna re-release this stuff, at least don't redeco it like this.

Yeah, it's nicer than it was, and at least Jawas are a justifiable purchase as army builders to an extent, but really I could've done without these.

The RFT Blaster is the same as the DST blaster...  Yes Paul.

As for Lando's duds, I would go with the flamboyant idea...  Or possibly it's not even a uniform at all, but more or less just another outfit of his and his title of "General" is short-term for the upcoming conflict...  Kinda like Han's.

Lando's uniform resembles Madine's and the other Generals in their duds at Endor, but it's not quite right.

As for the branch of service, I don't consider ANY of the generals at Endor as "FLeet Generals".  TO me their uniform is typical of a Spec. Forces uniform, which is a separate military unit from "The Fleet", whose officers wear the uniforms we see in ANH, such as Antilles, Dodonna, Willard, etc...  And on Hoth we see them in their cold weather duds.

That's how I've gone about the infamous uniform continuity discrepency anyway.  They're simply 2 separate military entities all together.

If there's a rep from "THe Fleet" at Endor I'd say it's Ackbar...  Which his uniform may be indicative of a certain sector of Fleet Command that even humans wear as well.  We don't see a Fleet Admiral, just Fleet Generals in the films, so the Mon Cal uniforms may just be high ranking Fleet Naval uniforms of some sort...  That or I've also considered the notion that the Mon Cal command crews for Cruisers have kept their uniforms out of respect for their donation of their fleets, and that the Humans would wear the uniforms we see in ANH, as there are people in the mid-level officer ANH duds running around MC Cruisers if you look closely.