Expert: Kevin Smith - 8/2/2009

Question
QUESTION: Sup Kevin. I believe that I have a pretty serious question. You see I absolutely LOVE G.I.Joes. I used to play with my cousins for hours. I would have this  missile launcher and shoot them down and then set them up and shoot them down again. ANYWAY, this same cousin started to give me them. Right now I have only eight. I want to go to the mall and buy some BUT my parents think its too "childish" They started selling the old ones from like 1985 (g.i.joe vs cobra) again. When I go to the mall I always look at them and my parents are usually like "grow up mike" But I really like them. please give me a good response and I will memorize it and tell them

ANSWER: Hmmm.. a psych question about GI Joe - awesome :>

I collect GI Joe's too - and have them proudly displayed at my place. While my wife shakes her head at me, she hasn't given me any flak about them.

Probably the two best arguments that could be given to someone now understanding the want to collect Joe's are:

1) Eventually, they will likely increase in value and be worth collecting. While this argument can be a bit shaky with used figures that are not on their original cards, it's still valid. If you want to show your point on that one, look up a few prices for Star Wars figures - some of them are worth a small fortune now. Based on this, collecting Joe could be considered an 'investment for the future'

2) While I'm not sure of your age, per-say, for most people, another possible argument is that collecting Joe's is a harmless activity. As long as a person isn't spending money on collecting that should be going to other places, the activity is simply one of investment ( see above ) or nostalgia of an earlier time in life. For many people, one should consider that a safe, harmless hobby that will eventually, likely, have a financial gain, is a sign of a strong, healthy adult mind.

Hope this helps you out some, and good luck collecting your Joe's!


And now, you're second question:


As you mentioned, I'm not really an expert in the 12' figures, but I do know a bit about them.

The set you are speaking of, I think, is called "Search for the Abominable Snowman" from 1973. It came in a white box and included G.I. Joe, the little white ape and lots of accessories - skis, a sled, etc.

Doing a bit of research, the prices for the full set vary slightly, but hover around 300 USD for a mint set. I'm not sure what a harsh amount of cash will mean to you, but that's fairly pricey for me. Lesser sets - either not-packaged, or missing items, should decrease dramatically in price ( between 100-200 USD for an almost-complete set ).

Hope this helps out - but one word of caution - recently, the set you are speaking of has been re-released, so make sure you ask the year of any purchases you are thinking of making for pricing. The set I'm speaking of was sold as an exclusive in 2008 with a new price of 270 USD! Both of these sets would be valuable, but make sure you know which one you're getting.

Hope this helps out some! Good luck in your search !

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks dude. I will use that argument with my parents. Now I have some more questions.

1: do you take your g.i.joes out of the box and then display them or do you keep them in the box because I love making animation movies (another one of my hobbies)with them.

2: You were right. The 12" set is "The Search For The Abominable Snowman" Now this is the set that was re- released right? And its really 300 bucks HOLY CRAP.

3: Do you know who destro is. Usually he has a silver face but when g.i.joe vs. cobra first came out, he had a gold face do you know where I can find a destro figure thats 3 3/4" with a gold face.

ANSWER: Hi Michael,

1) Usually not anymore - the one's I'm mainly collecting right now are the 20th anniversary 3 3/4" - but they're hard to find around here, so I usually keep them on their cards, and in Star protective cases. I do have lots of loose figures though, that I sometimes will setup in diorama's - lots of fun. Stop-motion animation with them would be alot of fun.

2) Yes - there have actually been alot of re-releases to classic sets, but this one, being limited-edition and available only at certain conventions, was tonnes of cash.

3) Destro is Cobra's arms dealer and head of the MARS Corporation. The gold-face Destro, when the 25th Anniversary edition was first released, was a very rare figure to find, and was fetching top dollar - well over 100-200 USD per figure on card and was available only at the San Diego Comic Con in 2007. He is quite often referred to as the Pimp-Daddy Destro because of the costume and gold mask that he usually wore during his 'Iron Grenadier' days. In 2008, a new release of the Destro figure came out that tends to be called the 'Blade' Destro - you might have alot more luck finding that one.

As for finding the figures - ebay has tonnes of them - just search for 'gold Destro':

http://shop.ebay.ca/?_from=R40&_trksid=m38.l1313&_nkw=gold+destro&_sacat=See-All

If you're interested in Destro and want to know more about him, check out his wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destro

Have fun!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hey its me again. I forgot to mention my age, Im sorry. Im 16. Oh and I talked to my parents about it. First my dad. I simply told him that in time if I collected enough G.I.Joes, their value would go up and then I would be able to make some spending money. The response he gave me  was a stern "GROW UP!!!" Then I talked to my mom about it. She was very nice and said that maybe she'll let me. She was kind of hesitent about it because she was afraid I would get made fun of. I told her I would just put them in a droor. She said she'll think about it. And maybe one final question. Do you know where i can find a neo viper 2002 model and same as alwats , 3 3/4"

Answer
Hi Michael,

Your best bet is probably still Ebay for finding that figure. For instance, by searching for 'Neo Viper 2002', here is one of the examples I came up with:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/2002-v1-Neo-Viper-100-file-card-case_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksi

Since you expressed an interest in this particular figure, here's the YoJoe file on the basic one - there were also two variants of it that year:

http://www.yojoe.com/action/02/neoviper.shtml

Have fun collecting!