Yo, Joe!

Well, my son wanted me to break out the GI Joe cartoon DVDs earlier. He went to bed a couple hours ago and here I am still watching episodes and drinking High Life. When I was his age, DVDs were not even thought of, and GI Joe was a morning ritual before leaving to catch the school bus; if I missed an episode I'd have to wait for the inevitable rerun. Funny how after all these years many of the cartoons still stick in my head. I also bought a Bazooka 3 1/4" action figure earlier today. With all the Rise of Cobra merchandise, the 25th anniversary toys were on clearance at Target for $1.74 instead of the $6.99 the figures originally went for (and the Rise of Cobra ones still do). Unfortunately, I think I missed most of them. Poor Bazooka was the last Joe left. I'll have to check out other Targets to try to find more at that price.

I stopped by Dollar General earlier too. A few years ago they sold GI Joe figures for $2 apiece. I still have some of those unopened. Then they went to $3 and I found one of the last $2 figures (Kamakura) and had to get him while the getting was good. Now the Dollar General Joes go for $3.50 and include only the figure itself, no weapons or accessories. Even poor Dusty is without his trademark headgear, and both GI Joe and Cobra are unarmed regardless of their specialty or standard equipment.

As for the upcoming movie, I found I will be working at a local theater on the opening day. Rather ironic as GI Joe the cartoon was part of my inspiration for wanting to be a Soldier when I was a kid, and now as a Soldier I will be promoting both the movie and the Army. At least free tickets are part of the deal, damned movie tickets aren't getting any cheaper.

Also on the subject, my mom salvaged some of my GI Joe comics and brought them down here when she visited a week ago. I never knew of the comic until I was a teenager, but once I learned of them I purchased scores of them. They all got left in Virginia when I joined and who knows where most of them are. Maybe one day I'll try to locate them and complete the collection.

Anyway, time for more Sunbow Real American Hero episodes. Then it's on to bed and waking up to cook bacon and eggs for breakfast. I promised to pull out some of my collection for my son to play with tomorrow. While I do so I may try to inventory what I have. I am still finding new(er) toys I bought and forgot about, and remember even more I should have gotten when I saw them on clearance.

Which theater will you be working?

This incidentally reminds me of a GI Joe from the mid-70's I saw at the Smithsonian American History Museum on Saturday. He had a full beard of reddish brown artificial hair that stuck out to the same length as his hair, and he wasn't in the army but rather the head of an "action team," so he wore a generic green jumper suit with a couple "AT" emblems emblazoned on it.