To help promote the show, the producers decided to launch a toy line, possibly one of the greatest toy lines of the 80's. I have some of those very toys I played with in the 80's. I have them displayed alongside some original Captain America comic books, my Star Wars figures, and of course, some Star Trek Deep Space Nine action heroes.
On to some of the toys. One of my favourite toys (probably because my buddy had one and I always wanted it) was the Cobra Hydrofoil. When you're 14 years old, this is one cool looking toy. It came complete with missiles and torpedoes. The missile launcher would come up from the middle.
Next on my list is the G.I. Joe AWE Striker jeep. What I liked about this more than anything else was the fact that it rolled really well. You can launch this thing from 30 feet and still knock it into your mama's feet, or trip your sister with it. The antennas were flimsy and the wheels felt like they were going to fall off, but when you're young, you don't care.
The Cobra Helicopter was probably one of the coolest toys I remembered having. It was compact, fit a Cobra Soldier nicely, and had missiles you can launch at the ewok camp I had (since I didn't have enough GI Joe's at the time for an attack)
The Cobra ATV (same pic) was also very cool but the figures sat on it very loosely. They would fall off all the time. The ATV, however, had a very cool design, with it's not movable cannon.
The Cobra ATAT gun (same pic) as I call it (can't remember it's name) was pretty lame. It had to be hitched up to some other vehicle to get it going, then setup to fire. When you're a kid, the attack happens before you can unhitch the thing from your HISS tank.
Another not so cool vehicle is this Cobra missile launcher. I liked it because the soldier sitting in it can drive it anywhere, but once you launched those two SCUDD missiles on it, you're dooooomed.
The GI Joe diving boat (next to the hydrofoil) was cool because you can get it wet. It also came with an 'air pump' so the diver figure could breathe underwater.....
The mini raft/hoovercraft (next to the diving boat, same pic) was also pretty cool, except for one thing: it had wheels. Basically when you showed up at your friends house for a throw down, he had motorized G.I. Joe tank, and you had a raft with wheels. At least you could get out of the way quickly....
Ah the G.I. Joe and Cobra rafts.....could there be anything cooler? They didn't float.
The G.I. Joe missile launcher, complete with anti aircraft gun in tow (look behind it) was awesome!! Lots of missiles to misplace all over the house, and room for a driver (I think Scarlet drove this thing, what a butch)
The Cobra water moccassin was the coolest boat Cobra had. Copper head, the driver, was nasty though. The back propeller directional thingie always broke (it's broken on both of mine) and the gun turret never swiveled well. However it was cool looking.
Last on this cavalcade of toys is the HISS Tank. I loved the HISS tank. Simple, yet rugged design, if tanks looked like this today, I would probably join the army. I remember my mom bought me my first HISS tank when I was really young on a vacation trip to Tampa, I believe. We were staying at the diplomat hotel while my dad attended a gathering of christian men. We walked over to the local Montgomery Ward (never heard of it before then since in Miami we only had Jefferson Ward) and I fell in love with it. My mom bought it for me. That entire trip was complete! Ah, memories.................
