I distinctly remember my first G.I. Joe figure. I was around 5 and one fine saturday morning, my mom brought me along for her weekly grocery shopping. On the way home, I made her take me to a toy store called Leo Toys. And in this store is where I came across an action figure so awesome, so kick-ass, 3 inches of plastic in all its glory, molded, shaped and painted in the form of a half-ninja, half commando, which in the mind of a 5 year old epitomizes everything that’s cool in the world. I had never seen anything like it. I just had to make it mine and that’s how Snake Eyes, my first G.I. Joe figure, came to be.
Taking home that Snake Eyes figure sparked a childhood obsession that lasted for many years afterwards.
From that point on, I would never miss a chance to tag along with my mom for saturday morning shopping and it soon became a ritual that my parents would buy me G.I. Joes for my birthdays, for christmas, as a reward for doing well in school, for doing chores around the house and any other occasions which included giving gifts, I would get G.I. Joes.
My collection grew at a considerable rate. And as my addiction grew, collecting just the figures couldn’t fully satiate my hunger anymore. I had to have the G.I. Joe vehicles and playsets too. Pretty soon, my room was filled with G.I. Joe toys of all shapes and sizes. Tanks, Boats, Choppers, Jeeps, Planes, Bikes, Flight Pods, Jet packs, Cannons, all sorts of evil Cobra devices. You name it, I had it. And I was in command of this plastic army. Life was all good in the Hauva hood.
And now 20 years later since I first picked up that Snake Eyes, it’s deja vu all over again.
Earlier this year, I was out at the mall with my girl. I decided to check out the local Toy’s R Us store. Quick browse, I thought. Anything was better than shopping for clothes with a girl. So. Walked around the first aisle, the second aisle and in the third aisle, I was greeted with a spectacle so grand my knees almost buckled. Shelves stacked full with G.I. Joes. Apparently, Hasbro celebrating G.I. Joe’s 25th Anniversary, released updated versions of all my favorite Joes from back in the day.
So which was the first figure that caught my eye? Snake Eyes, of course. The updated version of Snake Eyes totally blew me over and I felt like that 5 year old kid from so many years ago. No way was I leaving the store without it. That figure had to absolutely come home with me. Damn you Hasbro.
The Snake Eyes you see on the right woke up the collecting beast in me that had lain dormant for so many years and now my obsession begins all over again. And it certainly doesn’t help that a G.I. Joe movie is being released this summer and a whole new wave of movie merchandises and action figures have already hit every toy shop and major retail chain stores nationwide. My wallet is becoming increasingly bulimic and is now a mere skeleton of its former self.
Now obviously, this G.I. Joe obsession dictates that I spend a lot of my time in toy stores and ebay hunting for figures, and with so many other different types of action figure lines available in the market today, I realized that my Joe addiction was only the start of it. This also made realize that I’ve become a big geeky toy collecting nerd. Just with any addiction, it starts off with something harmless but you don’t realize how far deep into addiction you are until it’s too late.
There are different levels to this addiction. One of the most severest form is the “completionist”. The completionist has to own every single figure released in a particular line regardless of whether or not he actually likes the figure. For example, a completionist would buy each and every figure from Hasbro’s line of 25th anniversary G.I. Joe which would be around 50 to 60 figures.
Another extreme stage of addiction is the “army builder”. As the name suggests, an army builder will keep buying the same exact figure over and over again so as to amass enough of the same figure to create an “army”. An extreme case that I have heard about is a guy who apparently has 221 of the same figure, of which he opened 66 of the figures and left a 155 unopened in their boxes for storage. Below you can see the product of this man’s obsession. A bit much? But who am I to question another man’s life choices.
And then you have the collectors that are only into high end collectibles. But really, who can blame them? When you see the level of quality and detail of these figures, you lose your breath. You also lose your breath when you see the price tags. Currently, one of the biggest and most popular producers and sellers is Hot Toys. Check out some of their products and tell me that you’re not impressed.
Yes. Every picture you see above are of action figures from Hot Toys. Pretty-fucking-amazing aren’t they? To see a gallery of all their products, head on over to their site by clicking here. Now that is what you call attention to detail. Unsurprisingly, each of these figures are well into the price range of 150+ US dollars. That is if you can get them on retail because they sell out in the blink of an eye. So if you’re not fortunate enough to get these on retail, you’ll find some of these figures on Ebay for say anywhere between $300 to $1000 US dollars.
My addiction to G.I. Joe figures pales in comparison to some of the collectors I’ve talked about considering that a G.I. Joe cost only $16 and I only buy the ones that I really like. But the more I immerse myself into the world of toy addiction, I can feel that i’m dangerously close to moving onto a whole new level of collecting. If not for the fact that my girl is keeping me on a tight leash, I would probably have already owned some of the figures above. Boy, talk about being pussywhipped. No but seriously, I would have been dead broke and living without electricity, dining on tinned beans, reusing tea bags and strictly on a ramen noodles diet for a couple of months.
But for now, all I can do is to hope that my Joes and whatever figures I already have will be sufficient enough to support my action figure addiction. To see some of my own collection, click here to visit my facebook album.
Action figure addiction is no joke. You’re in your mid-20′s and you’re still hanging around the toy section at the department store and fighting over toys with 7 year olds. It’s just embarrassing. People look at you like you’re a pedophile or something. It’s just not pleasant but you just can’t help it. A toy hunger in a collector goes way too deep to be ignored.
Some of the hardcore collectors even have blogs which are updated regularly with toy reviews. Some of these guys even get paid to review toys. And the best part is that companies like Hasbro, Mattel, Playmates or NECA will send out free toys to these dudes to review. Free Toys! Anyway these are some of my favorite sites to visit for toy reviews, news and upates:
