You kids and your tiny little Joes

My go-to team was Adventure Team Commander, Mike Power and Bullet man. I still remember buying a talking Action pilot from Children's Palace when I was a kid.

But... if we are talking only 3 3/4 Joes...

I grew up in the 70's so I played with green army men a lot. When the New Joes came out in 82' I instantly fell in love with the Green Uniformed figures. So my go-to Joes were Grunt, Clutch, Bazooka, Breaker, Flash, Grand Slam ,Rock and Roll, Short Fuse, Stalker and Hawk. I liked that their gear was interchangeable and the Vamp was awesome. They defended the earth against every other 3 3/4 line out there at that time.

Over the years the Go-to team Changed as new figures came out but Clutch and Breaker were always part of the main team.

Considering I've been back in collecting (20+) years now post-"childhood", I think some of my "crew" is skewed by the way the figures have been rereleased over the years. Meaning, there are some figures (such as Spirit) that I probably had as my crew early on, but have fallen out of favor because there hasn't been a rereleased version that has kept my interest.

Mutt and Junkyard (dog handler)
Snake Eyes and Timber (again, canine companion)
Wet Suit (scuba diver and probably my favorite color scheme ever on a figure)
Airtight
Flash (still hoping for an updated version I can get into - the V1 is still my "definitive" figure for this character)
Stalker (see Flash. Also, his v1 camo pattern and beret really set him apart from the rest of the crew)

As an outlier, Recondo. A figure my mom bought that I didn't want, never considered him a "favorite" but also ended up playing with him every time I played with my Joes.

I was the same way with new figures. They'd pretty much dominate, especially in the first part of the year which was when I usually acquired all of that year's releases.

For me, Flint was always around. He was one of the few figures that I used even after I lost his accessories. He and Footloose were usually mission staples. I'd then surround them with various characters based on the scenario. The Whale had a defined crew: Cutter, Shipwreck, BBQ, Bazooka and then either Flint or Footloose in the 2nd gunner station. The Mauler was the same where Bazooka was always the second man behind Heavy Metal.

My childhood Joes tell the story of my favorites. Figs that were broken and replaced were ones I loved. Figs that were worn out, but never upgraded were guys I liked. And, mint figures were ones I didn't really care about.

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