Sixshot Funky, Joe Mobile

I’m not a big Transformers collector. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the Transformers, but unlike G.I. Joe I’m not really actively looking for them. If you compared the Transformers Ebay related watches to my Joes, it’s close to a 60-1 ratio in favor of the latter. While I’d admit that I probably liked G.I. Joe more than Transformers as a kid, it would be by such a small margin that I feel odd in making a distinction (same with Robotech–basically my cartoon/toy childhood trinity). That said, I think I know why I prefer Joes.

First, it should be noted that I have a ton of Transformers, most of which were bought in one single bulk purchase. I wasn’t looking for them but happened upon what I thought was too great of a bargain in a (at the time) almost comprehensive MOB set. Currently, I only look for (and hoard) Sixshot. It’s an odd choice because the character himself was never a huge part of “my” experience with the cartoon or comic (if anybody hasn’t read Sixshot in the current IDW comics you’re missing out–get the Metroplex Spotlight now! The reason why I still grab Sixshot is because he was one of those Christmas gifts that I vividly remember (I still have him). It was a gift from my grandparents, and back then they were my “Japanese grandparents”–so anything coming from Japan was just clearly more awesome – by default – than anything you could get in the states. Second, he’s helluva tight–the guy has six modes and if you read Transformers canon (get the gist at wiki if you want) you know that he is one of the hardest ‘bots in the whole damn mythos (though like I said, I didn’t know that when I as kid). I actually got Sixshot at the same time I got Ultra Magnus, who I loved when I as a kid, but I’m pretty sure that I don’t collect now because he was a lame in the animated movie (at the time, my opinion is a bit different now).

So why Joes? Kind of weird using the term that now means something like having access to too-much-info-about-people-we-don’t-and-shouldn’t-care-about to then, but man they were just more readily social. I used to go to my friends’ houses and have all out Joe battles, and I could my army in a red tackle box (which I also still have–though no it has silly tools in it). I even remember when I was once introduced as “the kid with a 100 Joes”–Ha! With Transformers you were really limited to one or to if you were about to troop, and that choice just has nothing on all-out staged campaigns in the back yard!

I guess when I look at my JOES I see not only the tools of my own imagination, but also the shared experiences of my best friends’ imaginations coming together with mine. It was like a live MMORPG.

Related posts:

1. Dion Neon “Prime Time” Viper?
2. Spiff Six Shot – new personal blog