beachhead.tibranch.comG.I. Joe The Beachhead GI Joe Action Figures

(C) Copyright Hassenfeld Bros., Inc., Pawtucket,R.I. Collecting G.I. Joe figures and accessories is a great hobby and one which I thoroughly enjoy. G.I. Joe was one of my favorite toys when I was a kid. I remember many days when my cousin and I would bring out all of our Joes and equipment and create many adventures with the imagination that most children have. We had a blast playing with Joe. Friday night sleep-overs and Saturday afternoons usually involved at least one Joe adventure. Eventually, as I grew older, Joe and his fellow troopers were stored away in footlockers and my adventure team headquarters as my life led me in other directions ... high school ... girls ... college ... girls ... job ... marriage (one girl). The Target 1991 Duke In 1991 while strolling through the toy aisle of a Santa Maria, CA Target store, I stumbled across the new G.I. Joe Hall of Fame Duke figure in desert camouflage fatigues and I was hooked again. That single figure with the photos of the old GI Joe on the box fired up a ton of emotion. Those great memories of my youth came flooding back into my mind. It was great to have Joe back in the military theme and back in the 12" size. I grabbed him right away and almost immediately went searching for all my old friends who had been packed away for so long. Unlike many of my other toys, I had kept all my GI Joes and their equipment from my childhood for years. I still have them all today and they are now proudly displayed. Of course, now they have many more friends and are even better equipped. My collection now includes a number of different action figures from vintage Joe and vintage Adventure Team to newer Classic Collection, Masterpiece, Timeless Collection, the new Adventures of G.I. Joe, as well as many additional action figure items. With the help (financial approval) of my wife we have continued to build a nice vintage collection (easily my favorite of any GI Joe line ever produced). She has been and continues to be a great supporter of my G.I. Joe hobby and will always grab a Joe if she sees one and think nothing of laying down the cash...within reasonable limits of course. Today, we have accumulated a fairly moderate sized collection of over 1300 figures, which includes nearly 200 vintage painted hair and Adventure Team figures, 140+ newer carded sets, 110 vehicles, and hundreds of various vintage and newer GI Joe collectibles and toys. If you are interested in selling your vintage G.I. Joes or accessories, feel free to contact me using the email link below. I have purchased several collections over the past few years and am always anxious to add more troops to the platoon. I am interested in complete collections or single items. Take a look at the Platoon Photos section to see the kind of items that interest me and that are in my collection today. The easiest way to describe what you have is to send photos. Photos help give me an idea of not only what you have, but also help me assess the condition of the items. I will respond by asking specific questions regarding condition such as whether or not the figures have stress cracks and to what extent; clothing condition (stains, rips, missing buttons and snaps); melt marks, broken or repaired items; etc. If you have an idea as to the price you hope to get for the items, let me know that as well and we will see if we can come to an agreement. Me in 2010 after purchasing a small Adventure Team collection. Memories For me, memories is what G.I. Joe collecting is really all about. That is why I and many others go to such insane lengths to find more Joes to add to our collections. G.I. Joe reminds me of times when my world, at least, was a little simpler. The 1960s and 1970s were a less chaotic time despite the political problems of the period. I lived in a very small town in Upstate New York along the border with Vermont and access to G.I. Joe and his accessories was very limited if not nearly non-existent. Only two stores in town carried GI Joe and that was usually just the figures, not the accessories. I remember one time when my Uncle visited from Syracuse and brought me a heavy weapons set. I thought that was just great and I still have that set today. Just wish I hadn’t thrown away the box. For a long time during my early childhood, the only thing I wanted at Christmas was G.I. Joe. One Christmas my Aunt searched the entire State of New York and probably most of the remainder of the country looking for the Adventure Team Headquarters. She eventually called Hasbro directly. Hasbro actually found two of them in their warehouse and shipped them to her just barely in time for Christmas. One for me and one for my cousin. My Christmas was complete! My late Aunt was terriffic! Her husband, my Uncle (see how that works?), was a real American Hero, a GI Joe assigned to the 45th Infantry Division. He was killed in action in 1944 by a German mortar attack at the Battle of Monte Casino in Italy. Having no children of her own, my Aunt spoiled me and my other siblings. ALL of my childhood G.I. Joes were gifts from her and that is why they have such a special place in my heart. Sometimes, the collections can be quite large like this one which filled our Chevy Suburban truck. Today, as I look at the first two painted hair G.I. Joes I ever received now proudly displayed, I can tell you exactly where I was and how excited I felt when I received them. Those are the kind of childhood memories that are priceless to me. G.I. Joe is not an investment in the future and a quick money maker as many people have let it become. For me, it is an investment in the past. G.I. Joe is a recapturing of pleasant memories from a great childhood. Here is a picture of me (on the left) and a neighborhood friend of mine back in the early 1970s playing with G.I. Joe. That seems like so long ago now. The Joes, from left to right, are action sailor (in white diving suit), adventure team AA adventurer (who incidentally, came with a foreign soldiers of the world Japanese soldier shirt), action soldier, adventure team land adventurer, and adventure team talking commander on the Irwin motorcycle. They are all still in my collection today. The footlocker was a MARX Stoney Smith version that my Aunt probably purchased through the SEARS Christmas catalog. It was made from cardboard and I still have it in my collection today. The footlocker was filled with several knock-off cheap plastic accessories (machine guns, MP-45, rifles, belts). These appeared to be produced with similar Hasbro molds, but were instead molded in a soft olive drab colored plastic. Here is another picture of me from January 1969 taken by my Aunt at her house. Look! It’s a MINT Hasbro #7000 Jeep with trailer, searchlight, and the projectile gun (somewhere around there). I remember turning off all the lights and driving this thing down the hallway of my home with the searchlight blazing away. This was such a cool vehicle for G.I. Joe. I dragged this thing around everywhere I went. It saw some pretty heavy use, but never abuse. Just well used in the battlefields of my backyard. What was I thinking when I threw that box away!? If I had only known then what I know now. I would have purchased (I mean had mom purchase) every Joe I could get my hands on for $4.99. Never in a million years would I believe I would have to pay the kind of prices I do these days just to add another Joe to my collection. It is insane! My wife is very supportive of my Joe collecting. She jokingly tells everyone that it keeps me out of the bars, but in truth, she just understands how GI Joe helps me connect with my past and my now deceased Aunt. We only get to a few Collector’s Club Conventions, but do hit quite a few toy and collectible shows. She is just great. Shown on the left here are my wife and I at the 2002 Convention in Norfolk, VA. This was the night of the traditional dinner and I am shown (with a great deal more gray in my hair than previous photos) after...