JoeCanuck

I had an easy time convincing myself that I will cut myself off from Joes when the Movie stuff hits the shelf. They are just going to torture us though, I'm sure. Movie waves will probably hold key remakes we are still missing. It would be nice if they could do the movie stuff independent of the nostalgia line, but I ain't holding my breath.

That's a really sweet wave. I will definitely buy all of those, even though I have comic pack versions of a couple probably.

I have been seeing BATs in every store in London. They are rare?

I did some major catching up today, but I still probably only have less than 50% of the carded figs, and a random asst of comic and tru-packs.

It is pretty frustrating that Hasbro is reissuing some pretty awful figures and premiering some lesser ones before I've had chance to even begin getting all the early waves. I mean, why the hell have they remolded that insipid '89 Snake Eyes? And why has he been remolded so much to begin with?

I believe I suffer OCD and this is actually causing me emotional distress, I am not even joking. Several years of Joes have no effect on my psyche (think 2000-2006) but the thought of missing any of these anniversary Joes really hurts. Maybe it's cause I grew up poor and always missed over a dozen Joes each year (counting drivers) back in the 80s (or my brother got the ones I wanted) and so now being able to say, buy Spirit or Croc Master in (arguably) nicer molds is too much to resist.

Maybe by Valentines or Easter I'll feel I can take a break.

Hi, just thought I'd introduce myself.  I am Jon and I am an expat American living in Ontario. As such, my Joe collecting tactics have had to adjust!

I grew up on Joes. One of my very earliest memories is being annoyed that Zap couldn't be posed the way he was on his card. This was 1982, I was three(!) I also clearly remember getting Flash and thinking he was the coolest toy ever. I can't recall just how early it was, but my toy box had several (ruined) straight-arms in it at one point. Most of them were given military burial in my Mom's back yard when I was between eight and eleven. I never let straight-arms mingle with swivels because they hold guns like idiots. I think I may have OCD from a very young age

When I got "too old" for Joes in grade five (89-90) I felt ashamed to still be so into them and managed to divert my interests into other areas. The last vehicles I got as a kid were the Hiss 2 and that miserable piece of shit Fang 2. Come 1993 or so I made friends in high school who shared my nostalgia for Joes and we all began collecting again. Those were dark days for Joe. When the best figures coming out were movie tie-ins (M Bison is one of my favorite Joes), you know things are weak. I bought every figure I could, even up through the days of Lobotomax. Then the line shifted format to some Nazi-looking things and I was confused. TRU restored my faith briefly with great character remolds...but the extreme low quality depressed me. I gave up toy collectiing after the 2000 season or so.

Now I am hooked again thanks to the master sculptors at Hasbro. And here I am, looking for friends to share my obsession with. I've got about thirty of the 25th figures and have a fever to get them all. Wish me luck!

I wish I could have a reprieve...only just started buying the 25th stuff. All my life I've kept up on the Joes to a degree, but after the TRU repaints and then all that ridiculous Sigma stuff and really ugly molds of the last few years I stopped looking at the Joes. Then last month I saw a few of these in Wal-mart and now my OCD has kicked in again. In the 80s and 90s I bought every Joe I could, even Lobotomax and Predacon! My standards were forced to be lower during those dark days of generic weapon sets, firing missile launchers and Ninja Force. Now..well to be honest, very few of the ARAH figures are as nice as these new ones. I am able to keep Star Wars figures in the package, but these Joes demand to be posed and admired in hand, I would have to buy two of each if I was ever going to be content (OCD, again).

OK, so now here's the question I have: where can I get the early waves? Should I just keep going to Wal-mart? Ebay? Zellers? If I still lived in USA I am sure I'd have bought them all by the armload at TRU (American TRU may be the best store ever, Canadian TRU is just "really good"). But yeah, for my mental health's sake I need to get all the remolds of classic ARAH carded figures, but drivers/specialty figs interest me greatly too. The comics and TRU exclusives helped me get versions of at least some of the early wavers but I have hardly found all the comics and exclusives either.

So anyway that's my story about why it isn't a break for me yet. I do have over thirty of them so far but several of those are Iron Grenadiers, Cobra soldiers and guards.

Can someone please put my soul at ease and tell me I'll be able to get most of the remolds? It isn't like I need pimp Destro or Roddy. Though a They Live re-enactment would be fun

I am considering making up a checklist of all the carded ARAH from 82-89 and using that as a rough guide to collecting these new ones. I still seem to have them all memorized from when I was a kid, though the 89 series and beyond I am less knowledgeable about.