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Community => Other Toy Lines => Joe Defender => Topic started by: iFett on March 4, 2010, 07:33 PM

Title: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: iFett on March 4, 2010, 07:33 PM
Figured this new area needs some attention.  I had tons of Joes as a kid, but stopped collecting in 88-89 as Joe stuff started getting strange and I was getting more into girls.  I had all my Joes stored until 96 or so when I finally decided that I didn't need to hold onto these things anymore so I sold off about 200+ vinty figs for $100 and was happy to be rid of them since I had no interest.

Come 00 after TPM was released - I started collecting SW figs again and got hooked on the Joe TRU reissue 2 packs, but ultimately clipped them in 03 as I only wanted to focus on modern SW and vinty TF only.

The return of the 25th Anniversary stuff totally hit the nostalgia bug in me and I've been hooked on them eversince.  1 carded and 1 loose...That got expensive, but luckily/unfortunately that line didn't last too long.  One of my local SW buds decided to sell off his vintage collection late last year and I've been picking up chunks eversince August of 09.  Thanks Stevey!  

I remember laughing at the comparisons of vinty to 25th.  These things were truly toys!  Was difficult to get them to hold there weapons (with fear of breaking off thumbs) and all of the recent broken o-rings and t/j bars I've been dealing with.  These things are really out of proporation with the 25th stuff, but I grew up with these things and they were my life for a good portion of my childhood.  What a trip!  Haven't seen these guys in almost 15 years.

Good times..
Title: Re: ARAH figures
Post by: spiderpumpkin on March 4, 2010, 09:52 PM
It's never too late for ARAH toys. 

Be careful.  Once you repurchase all the stuff you had as a kid then you may expand from there.  That's what happened to me. 

Starting in 2001 I began buying the 1982-1986 toys that I had as a kid and sold off in 1988.  Then once that was complete I started army building.  Then while army building  I decided to buy the 1987-1992 toys that I didn't have and army building some of those as well.  I didn't have to buy 1993-2001 because I already had those but I did army build some of them. 

Finally, I started to go to Joecon starting in 2005 and buying those sets, older sets and other Club exclusives.  I even took it one step further and started buying foreign Joes.
Title: VIntage G.I.Joe action figure identification question
Post by: 501ST on June 6, 2010, 07:24 AM
Hi there,Found one of the characters I had in my childhood collection on AU ebay and bid and won - yay!

The character I had was 'Mercer' however in the auction I won there's two others who I never did have and wondered if any members here could assist me in identifying them:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330438435933&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

(or... if there's a site out there for reference that anyone knows of either that'd be great help and much appreciated)
Title: Re: VIntage G.I.Joe action figure identification question
Post by: Paul on June 6, 2010, 10:29 AM
That is Red Dog and Taurus.

The other 2 members of Sgt Slaughter's Renegades.


http://yojoe.com/action/87/87card/slaughtersrenegades.jpg
Title: Re: VIntage G.I.Joe action figure identification question
Post by: 501ST on June 6, 2010, 12:04 PM
oh wow! Thanks heaps Paul  ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Ben on June 19, 2010, 03:55 AM
Received a v1 Shipwreck today. It only took me 25 years to acquire one, and man, am I glad to have it.  :)
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: spiderpumpkin on August 21, 2010, 02:57 AM
Here are some of favorite army builders.

 (http://pictures.pumpkinweb.com/pictures/2010/toys/goldstar3.JPG)  (http://pictures.pumpkinweb.com/pictures/2010/toys/goldstar1.JPG)
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Ben on August 22, 2010, 09:54 PM
Wow. Them's a lot of Stardusters. All yours? If so, nice.

Went to Chicago Comic Con and Quake in Lincoln Square this weekend. My haul:

SDCC Sgt. Slaughter (original deco)
vintage Duke, complete
vintage Lift-Ticket, needs microphone but was too good to pass up
vintage Range Viper, complete with FC
vintage MOTU Modulok, complete.
25th Bazooka Trooper

I could have spent thousands at both places if I had it. But then comes the trouble of getting them back to the hotel on the train...
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: spiderpumpkin on August 23, 2010, 06:47 PM
Wow. Them's a lot of Stardusters. All yours? If so, nice.

Went to Chicago Comic Con and Quake in Lincoln Square this weekend....

Yes, all those Stardusters are in my collection.  Right now I have 2x version 1, 1x version 2 and the rest are version 3.  Two version 3 are incomplete but the rest are complete.  All of the Steel Brigades are complete except for one.  I saw a backpack on ebay the other day but missed it unfortunately. 

What is Quake in Lincoln Square? 
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: spiderpumpkin on August 23, 2010, 07:02 PM
Just Googled that Quake store and I drove right by it back in April according to where it's located on the map.  May swing by there this fall if I go to Chicago.  Do they have a lot of loose complete ARAH toys?
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Darby on August 23, 2010, 08:07 PM
I'll let Ben describe Quake  :o but they do have A LOT.
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Ben on August 24, 2010, 01:49 AM
Yeah, it's kind of like that show American Pickers. A couple hundred square feet stocked full of completely random toys, some loose, some carded. There's an absolutely incredible selection there. There was a Terror Drome for sale that had seen better days, but was nonetheless tempting. Hundreds of loose figures, so you have to dig through them to find something. I do wish I'd have asked how much this MOTU Slime Pit with box was now, since I've been thinking about it ever since.
There weren't many complete ARAH figures. I was kind of disappointed about that. I bought Duke, Lift Ticket, and Modulok there, and IIRC, Duke was probably the only 100% complete ARAH figure in the store at that time. It was better the last time I was there, about a year ago. I'm sure the stock changes all the time.

And the owner is really cool; willing to deal. And the prices on things were fair for everybody. I recommend checking it out when/if you're in Chicago.
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: shmashwitdaclub on August 24, 2010, 10:54 AM
Cool - I have never heard of that store.  I just live a hop skip and a jump away in South Bend, Indiana.  I may have to check that out the next time I head that way.
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: spiderpumpkin on August 30, 2010, 07:32 PM
I sure wish they would have shipped these tanks by Thanksgiving in 2007.  Unfortunately the Maulers were canceled.  Really wish Hasbro would make new molds for the missing turret so they can be released someday. 

(http://www.mastercollector.com/neat/gijoe/atlanta/images/07tankposter.jpg)
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: iFett on August 30, 2010, 07:46 PM
Wow - nice repaints!  I sure hope we continue to see vintage stuff sprinkled in from time to time that's not too overly butchered, not to mention 25th figure throwbacks like Lowlight.  Would like to know if we'd see a few more nods before the new movie stuff hits.  I dig that Steeler's visor/helmet dealeo.
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Brian on September 13, 2017, 05:53 PM
Bumping this one up as well 😉. I loved the ARAH line as a kid, and still have my figures from that time, although the accessories are another story. I've thought about trying to track down a small collection of these down the road, when I complete my vintage Star Wars collection. Looking through stuff online lately, I guess I didn't really realize there was a certain faction of fans/collectors that sort of just focus on the early years of Joe, and don't really care for when Joe became more.....colorful.

I honestly saw the earlier (straight arm years) at my friend's house, but I think Stalker was the only one I ever had. My first Joe was Duke, and it was one of my favorites. He had a lot of solo missions for awhile, until I was able to expand my ranks. I remember clearly my search for a Snake Eyes figure, until I finally found one at a local drug store and spent my hard earned money on it at 8 years old. It really was a great line, and those old cardbacks strike that same nostalgia as vintage Star Wars.
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Scockery on September 13, 2017, 06:05 PM
What is a small collection? ARAH is a huge line to collect with a lot of large items and scarce items.  It's easy to see why people focus on certain areas.

But, yeah, there's always been an early years focus by snobs certain fans. Those were the best years overall, I think, but the whole run has its merits. The early days online there was quite the Marvel comic book centric attitude, too, to the point of being jerky about it.

There's also fans who are really just COBRA fans. The original Black Major guy who produced the factory level customs seemed to be one, a huge army builder, which one reason he had all those "bootlegs" made. (If you don't know know what I refer to, see Ebay search RED LASER and BLACK MAJOR customs...you'll find various figures that Hasbro never made.)

One of the biggest MIB ARAH collectors was a woman in Texas who has sold her stuff off for financial reasons. She had gobs of foreign items.
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Nicklab on September 13, 2017, 08:14 PM
I just cleaned out my storage unit.  And in that was my vintage GI Joe ARAH collection.  Over the next few months I'm going to be prepping it for sale.  But damn, is there a lot of stuff!
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Brian on September 18, 2017, 06:00 PM
One of the old Joes I was kind of hoping to pick up was Sgt. Slaughter. I always wanted one as a kid, and wasn't able to get one. Just with some initial checks of eBay, prices seem very reasonable. Joe experts, is there something I'm missing? Some don't seem to have his little baton, which I'm not sure I care about that much, but I guess I just thought he'd be a pricier figure. I may just be thinking of the modern 25th version, which I wasn't able to get either.
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Scockery on September 18, 2017, 06:27 PM
Prices aren't that high for most vintage loose figures (there's some big exceptions). This is in part because many GI JOE collectors have moved on to modern style, some even selling off their vintage collections. It's similar to how Star Wars collecting became in some aspects.

Which Slaughter? There were 4 in the vintage line.
Triple T Driver, the cartoon look more or less.
Mail-In (the wrestling look...though not as pudgy as the real Sarge. Was offered for years via pack-in forms, but some price guides will act like he was a 1985-1986 only)
Warthog driver (a more tactical look, with removable hat)
Slaughter's Marauders (the only vintage single carded version of him released domestically. A repaint of the wrestling version. Made of more brittle plastic because it was made in Brazil and not China like most figures.)

And there was a large non-poseable wresting figure that was a mail-away only, made in the style of LJN's big rubber figures.

Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Brian on September 19, 2017, 05:47 PM
Prices aren't that high for most vintage loose figures (there's some big exceptions). This is in part because many GI JOE collectors have moved on to modern style, some even selling off their vintage collections.

Thanks for the info, I am starting to see lower than expected prices in some places, thanks. I just haven't really looked into vintage Joes in some time, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It seems so strange to hear that some collectors are choosing modern over vintage, not something you often see in Star Wars, at least with collectors that grew up with the original line.
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Jesse James on October 3, 2017, 05:09 PM
I actually think the modern SW crowd has to outweigh the vintage by a large margin?  I mean in the one or the other category not buyers of both.  I know I've more or less given up vintage Star Wars at this point.  Cost is meh, grading has become too pervasive for me.  I'm even thinking of selling off what little boxed ships I have left.
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: efranks on October 21, 2017, 03:32 AM
One of the biggest MIB ARAH collectors was a woman in Texas who has sold her stuff off for financial reasons. She had gobs of foreign items.

Airedevon.

I actually got to pick through that collection from the guy that bought the bulk of it. It was very, very impressive.

I haven't been looking for stuff on eBay lately but I hit up the NJCC show this summer and the Joe prices were pretty reasonable. I snagged a Ferret for a buddy and I think I only paid like $10 for it and he threw in a figure with it.

   E...
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Brian on August 12, 2018, 07:27 PM
After finishing a nearly lifelong goal of getting a complete loose vintage collection of Star Wars figures (except POTF, too pricey for now), and I've started turning my attention to some ARAH figures. I still have some of my childhood figures, and years ago completed my '85 Snake Eyes (my favorite), but wanted to replace some favorites and add some characters I never had and always wanted.

Anyways, I started of with the original Duke figure. He was my first Joe figure, and I can still remember getting him for a birthday present from my childhood friend (who was super into Joes). I had so much fun with that figure. I don't know that I even knew too much about the cartoon at that point, but he was just a cool "army man" to me. Somewhere between me going to college and my brother taking over a lot if my stuff, he got lost. After a lot of waiting for the right figure/price, I finally reacquired him last week. I can't wait to get more. I have my sights set next on Cobra Commander, a figure I oddly enough never had. Prices seem to be a little higher on some of those earlier Joes, higher than expected anyways.
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Brian on September 16, 2018, 10:46 AM
I know Joes don't get a lot of attention these days, but I've been having fun tracking down and fixing up some Joes from Real American Hero days. Over the past couple months I've either picked up the parts to fix up or just picked up the following:

Duke
Snake Eyes v2
Cobra Commander
Storm Shadow
Destro
Flint
Snow Job
Cutter
Rock n Roll
Airtight
Dusty

I didn't actually ever get some of these as a kid, so it has been fun tracking down some that I always wanted. Hoping to continue on, but yeesh some of those early ones are kind of pricey (swivel arm Scarlett I'm looking at you). Such great toys though, and good memories.
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: efranks on October 19, 2018, 12:42 AM
I would say most of my summer was spent on vintage Joe figures, much more than the time I spent thinking about Star Wars.

Started at Joe Con in June, picked up some loose figures and parts to complete some figs I already had. Grabbed some blueprints and an Action Force Armadillo.

Also spent some time on eBay and went to the Harrisburg toy show and picked up some vintage 12" Joes and accessories. And the latest pickup is an Action Force Armoured Troop Carrier which I'm really psyched about.

   E...
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Brian on April 29, 2019, 07:48 PM
I know not a lot of people visit the Joe forums any more, but I've still been chipping away at picking up or upgrading figures from the ARAH days - focusing on 1985 (for the most part) for now before moving onto another year (probably 84). In addition to the ones listed last time, I've picked up:

Quick Kick
Footloose
Alpine
Barbecue
Bazooka
Beach Head
Tomax and Xamot
Lady Jaye
Roadblock
Baroness

Some of them get fairly pricey these days, so I'm taking my time. It really reminds me how great, and huge, that line was with the figures, vehicles, playsets, etc. Good toys too.
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Ben on May 1, 2019, 04:59 PM
Yeah, the prices are nuts these days, on eBay at least. I picked up a few figures at Quake Collectibles in Chicago last month, but they didn’t have any weapons. I grabbed Beachhead v2, Ambush, Crankcase, and Rampart. The only way I can afford to buy these any more is at a collectible store. I’m pretty lucky that I live a couple hours from a great store in Des Moines called Jay’s that has all sorts of great stuff for fair prices.
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Brian on May 2, 2019, 03:02 PM
Yeah, the prices are nuts these days, on eBay at least. I picked up a few figures at Quake Collectibles in Chicago last month, but they didn’t have any weapons. I grabbed Beachhead v2, Ambush, Crankcase, and Rampart. The only way I can afford to buy these any more is at a collectible store. I’m pretty lucky that I live a couple hours from a great store in Des Moines called Jay’s that has all sorts of great stuff for fair prices.

I may have to start checking stores then, if that is a better option. Even Des Moines isn't too bad of a trek if we were out and about sometime. The prices is what has kept things at a slow burn for me as well. Like I said, I've been working on the '85 figures, and I think the last Joe I need from the regular releases is Shipwreck, but holy cow is he pricey (especially with the parrot, I may have to give up on that accessory). Another one I was after when I first started, but took a break from due to price, is a swivel arm Scarlett. Yeesh are those expensive. Thanks for the advice!
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Qui-Gon Jim on May 6, 2019, 02:31 PM
 So funny...  I saw this listing on Facebook Marketplace:
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1943403705771717/

..and said "wow...  never had a Swivel-Arm Scarlett back in the day."

Not sure how palatable that price is but figured I'd share it.
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Nicklab on December 15, 2021, 11:06 AM
I've been gradually selling off a lot of my vintage toys.  I've worked my way through most of my Kenner Super Powers and Mattel Marvel Secret Wars figures.  G.I. Joe is coming up soon.  I was just looking through a box that had some of the smaller vehicle sets.  OMG, it's going to be a lot of work getting the Joes and Cobra ready to sell!
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Jeff on December 15, 2021, 11:51 AM
OMG, it's going to be a lot of work getting the Joes and Cobra ready to sell!

YoJoe.com's WHOBIT (https://www.yojoe.com/action/whobit/) is a great resource to help match stray accessories to figures as you try to put everything together.
Title: Re: Vintage 3.75" ARAH Figures
Post by: Nicklab on December 15, 2021, 12:00 PM
OMG, it's going to be a lot of work getting the Joes and Cobra ready to sell!

YoJoe.com's WHOBIT (https://www.yojoe.com/action/whobit/) is a great resource to help match stray accessories to figures as you try to put everything together.

Thanks, Jeff!  I've already got a lot of things bagged up, but being able to match things up with a resource like that is going to be really helpful.

I've also seen scattered information about replacement O rings.  Since the first wave of figures came out in 1982 or 83, some of those O rings have deteriorated or disintegrated.  I haven't replaced an O ring myself, but I suspect that it might help as I sell off my old Joes.