Top 10 Most Important Vintage GI Joe Figures | List Show #12 

When I had Snake-Eyes (v.1), my friends thought he was a Cobra guy. When I saw Snake-Eyes (v.2) in the store, I didn’t have enough money to get him. He was gone by the weekend. Then my mom searched every figure rack in five stores until she found him and got him for me for Christmas. Thirty-three years later, I still have him 😎

Ummm, you forgot to mention the mail order Refrigerator Perry figure 😆 I think I still have one of those somewhere 😒

Snake Eyes may have carried the line, I believe he also was the reason it died out. His character became too far fetched and spawned all the goofy ninja storylines.

Spirit wasn't the first native American Joe. Airborne (1983) was first!

OMG... flag points... you just shook the dust off an entire part of my brain

My dad got me the Triple T Tank that came with a special edition Sgt. Slaughter when I was 5. You better believe I played with that everyday in 1987! Good times, good video.

I was obsessed with GI Joe, which came along right as I was getting too old for toys. Didn't care, kept on collecting the toys and comics up until I finished high school and enlisted. The cartoon was cheesy and unrealistic (laser guns, and nobody ever got killed) but the Marvel comic written by Larry Hama was fantastic. He gave those characters interesting back stories and developed something epic with the Snake Eyes vs Storm Shadow feud, tracing it back to the LRRP team in Vietnam they served together on (along with Stalker). My father was career Army so I grew up in that world. I used to take a screwdriver and rearrange some of the figures to make them more realistic military in appearance (like the guy with the red sports jersey).

Hawk was the original leader of GI Joe, Duke was just the leader in the cartoon.

"Master of disguise or just a man with a mask?!?"- cracked me up! Keep it up, bro!

Cobra Infantry and two snake eyes but No Destro or Crimson Twins?

my mom "Why do you need another Stormtrooper, you already that one..."

Snake Eyes had no backstory? G.I. Joe comic book #21 begins the big reveal of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. Oh yes there is a backstory, and it's a good one.

I agree with your list, but i always thought that B.A.T was pretty original concept, interchangeable hands, hologram in the chest :) pretty important :P

Storm Shadow is my #1. I still remember finding him in a box yet to be unpacked on the shelves of a local Toys R Us. It was an amazing day!

Three must be added. 1. Clutch: He comes with the VAMP jeep. The jeep is the most basic of Army vehicles. This reinforces the figure and vehicle concept with a classic combo. 2 Stalker: Lets face it. Other than Snake Eyes. Stalker was the coolest character in 1982 with Clutch coming in third. unlike the Black Adventurer of the 60s Joe line Stalker was the Joe toy White kids wanted to by. Plus his role in the comics and the Cartoon. Made him the default team leader prior to the introduction of Duke. 3.Tunnel Rat. His connection to Larry Hama makes this character a must have to any fan and every collector of the line .

No. 8, Sgts Laughter. that is exactly what you got out of me when my brain's ready part caught up with the listeny part.

airborne not spirit was the first American Indian in the lineup.

This is so weird but....when I grew up and watched GI Joe as a kid, I loved Baroness because she was evil and had glasses. I don't know why but the fact that she was an evil woman with glasses and not the dorky type, I actually liked her a lot. And dude, I don't think Hasbro would be that stupid to mess up the Baroness' look for her toy. They knew what they were doing with her. They knew that people liked her. MONEY, MAN. And yes, Srgt. Slaughter. I think my brain exploded when I saw him on GI Joe and then he was in a rerun of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show later on. Young me was like 'HOW DOES THIS WORK?!' And I loved that you used Joseph Gordon Levitts as the 'COBRA' figure. Good call man. I dunno. Would Hasbro EVER kill a main character in a big motion picture to kill the childho-I mean, SURPRISE the audience...only to bring them back later on because he was the money pot of the entire series and his replacement kinda sucked? I don't think they'd every try that TWICE!

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe Airborne was actually the first Native American GI Joe figure.. Airborne was Navajo while Spirit was Sioux...

If you're a mysterious man in black I love you? Dan has to be the biggest Roy Orbison fan there is.

My wife had 2 older brothers. They blew up her Barbie's with fireworks at some point. She told me the story of her revenge. " I knew their weakness. I would destroy that which they loved. I went straight for the ninjas!" I love that story.

Uh... Where is Destro?

Sgt slaughter was a real wrestler from the WWF (WWE), which was super popular at the time. It was a tie-in.

I'm not arguing the order but Storm Shadow was by far my favorite from the first time I laid eyes and hands on him. There was something mysterious about him that had me in his awe to the day. Plus I was into the big Ninja craze that happened in the 80's which helped for my love of his, pure Ninjas are still a big draw for me.

Snake eyes is the boba fett of gi Joe

My number one gi joe is Beachhead

YES! Dead Milkmen reference.

I almost forgot- you’re good at this, and your team is equally spot on. Great work all involved!

I'd say cobra commander and starscream are rank 1 because that same voice was just so awesome.

Dan you have become the best thing to hit you tube for toy videos. Period. Between the expert information provided and subtle, witty humor you mix into the videos, I'm officially hooked! God bless you lolGo Joe!!!

You forgot the cobra battle Android troopers

Thank you for this video and well done. However, I want to point out what you mentioned about "subtle racism" and counter with this. I was born in '83 so I played with the Joes alot. I want to point out that GIJOE was filled with people of all sorts of backgrounds races and even gender. They were all very very different but each came with amazing skills to help defeat the enemy, Cobra. This is what it meant to be American. We were all different but all on the same side and fighting against evil. This toy line had a very lasting effect on me so much that it encouraged me to join the military. I only wish today that this generation could see that yes we are all very very different, but none of it matters because we are all American and we all bleed the same. Thank's Larry Hama and thanks GIJOE!

I have to say I'm really enjoying these short and really informative videos, been watching all the previous videos to date and love it, great presentation and excellent quality guys, keep it up!

What about Flint??? He was my favorite by far. Also, don't sleep on Shipwreck.

The Cobra Twins? They were pretty iconic.

Shipwreck. He was always my favorite.

Sitting here in 2019 wishing that GI Joe will comeback soon. Honestly hasbro just needs to do a six inch line of GI Joe.

Snake Eyes' story was told early on, making him the most fleshed-out characters, and the one we know most about. The mystery was gone early on but we all loved the character anyway.

Great list! Other notables... Destro, Doc, Quick Kick.

Watching your videos is like going back in time you got all my old toys

Lowlight was my very first Joe. My favorite in my collection was Shipwreck. I used to make Sgt. Slaughter, Roadblock, Lowlight & Stalker fight against the Dreadknoks, LoL. Good times!

I'm a Brit, we had the gen 1 GI Joe figures as vehicle drivers in our Action Force series of figures. I believe that the V1 snake eyes figure came with the SAS force jeep.

Snake Eyes v3 is my favorite. He's just too cool. He might have been the start of my childhood ninja obsession.

Great show my man very entertaining and informative

Gung Ho V1 was my favorite Joe, while Storm Shadow V1 was my favorite Cobra.

Spirit was the second Native American. Airborne Robert Talltree was the first.

I have all of these, and a couple of duplicates of a few ... that said: The Cobra Commander Mail Away was Cobra Commander v.2 [Hooded figure] (v.1 was the figure with the silver metallic paint as the helmet visor) Snake Eyes v.1 actually only became a major collectors figure after Snake Eyes v.2 was released. Even then, v.1.5 [Swivel Arm] was sought out when Storm Shadow was released. The original Straight Arm v.1 Snake Eyes wasn't thought of until about 5 years after its initial release, when kids wanted to own all of the original figures, many of which came out a year or two prior to these kids getting their first G.I. Joes. Snake eyes wasn't what sold the line. I knew a bunch of people who never even owned Snake Eyes until v.3 [with the two silver non-removable daggers on his chest]. G.I. Joe was a phenomenon. Between the Cartoon series & the Commercials, as a boy 7-9 yrs old, you weren't in unless you owned the figures. The replaced the Star Wars figures as the number one selling toys for boys. And, because both toy lines were in the 3 3/4 inch model, you could have cross over battles, which gave you more variety in an expanded play scenario. . . .

One admission I would put into this list is the male away figure that you created yourself. You can make them a specialist in whatever area you wanted, give them whatever name you wanted, and create their bio yourself.

Firefly never gets any love on these lists. One my favs for sure. Also Destro and Hooded Cobra Commander need honorable mentions. I guess I'm a big fan of Cobra:)

storm shadow v1 was so rare in my area ... I never got him

No Firefly?!?!

I'm sorry but Stalker has to be the one of if not the most important Joe. 1. First black character 2. In comics and the first made for tv movies the ACTUAL JOE field Commander 3. Just damn cool toy.

The original Snake-Eyes was way better than the visor version, but the visor version did have a wolf, so points. But how did that crappy wrestler guy make the list?

My fiance likes to remind me that her great grandpa was the inventor of that color changing paint, to which I can only respond thank you Sir, for all the hours of fun as a child with color changing GI Joe figures and as an adult with your great granddaughter's "figure".

Serpentor saw Transformers the movie, saw how it made kids cry and said "Get me dossiers on 10 Joes. Bingo, that guy. Imma gonna coma that guy."

In his retirement, Zartan plays guitar for Immortal.

I had both versions of Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes I wish I still had them

Oh Duke. If you can jump in front of a petrified snake to save your brother then you can push your brother out of the way.

A piece of very 1. Of these thoughts . rough draft for a Basically when Transformers became a juggernaut, Takara-Tomy and Hasbro wanted to continue to make $$$ and no longer pay for licensing automaker’s blessing (Lamborghini, Porsche, VW + more). They found ways to ride their success so far, while changing the storylines to mostly “space Sci-Fi, use cheaper plastic. Nudge the retail cost (just a little), 1. Introduces new characters in both toy, comic and toon to stay adequately fresh enough. 2. For the toys, most no longer licensed (or had rubber tires and die-cast), so they could make ugly crap, make it cheaper for them and call the alt-mode whatever. 3. Then they got Crazy. Made Transformers that didn’t even transform into the main line. I heard Optimus asked them to sacrifice their ability to transform as a heroic act to benefit the War somehow. Or Hasbro wanted to make $7 for toys *bound to sell* (at least enough), And so much cheaper to stamp out without the need to pay for designing the transformations, producing a lot of special internal mechanics and no need for more factory assembly workers. SO cheap to stamp out, paint and package, sell. Eventually most people closed the book on it.

Mego's Captain Eagle line had a ninja character that precedes Stormshadow by about 2 or 3 years.

I really liked the more military styled Early figures. After those, I gave up

I 100% agree with you on the v1 Snake Eyes was the best out of all the figures produced.

Great list (and excellent editing). I might have found room for the 'Tele-Viper' in there somewhere, if only because it started the precedent for the 'Something-Viper' range that dominated the Cobra line. (although they never did release the vehicle maintenance specialist I was hoping for: the Windshield-Viper)

Tunnel rat was my fav

Good memories. Love these toys. Zartan is still one of a kind with the color changing body. I could never get Snake-eye v.1 when I was a kid since it was so popular. But I have made up with subsequent versions of Snake-eye; and it improves with age with additional cool accessories.

Great video guys, better all the time. Although I think "Sgts Laughter" is one of the most lol typos ever!

In the UK the original 3.75 figure series was know as Action Force, its was a multi national force (I forget if the villains where called cobra or not) and the leader of the bad Guys was called Baron Ironblood, he had a very aircraft that looked like a flying skull, later it all got changed to G.I. Joe.

Flint was so cool to me man i miss joe collecting as a kid/teen. Toys now ahhhh to many....

I was late to GI Joe. Voltron and Transformers had my full attention at that time. I got into it around '87 and if you were that late to the game, getting any of those first run figures was IMPOSSIBLE. The best I could do was pick up the few reissued recolors that came along. Sucked but at least I finally got some of my favorite characters, even if their colors were dumb.

Snake eyes and Storm Shadow was the shit!

Snake Eyes has always been and always been the heart of ARAH. The quiet commando sold the line for nearly a decade.

I have always been more partial to Cobra. The top 6 Cobras should have been in the top 10 list - Cobra Commander, DESTRO, Baroness, Storm Shadow, Zartan and Cobra Troopers. The Top 4 Joes should have been - Duke, Flint, Snake Eyes and LADY JAYE.

I think Destro and Flint should have been on the list.

Surprised you didn't mention the "Paranoid schizophrenic" file card controversy for Zartan.

Of course you guys left behind Firefly ! And the Evil Twin Brothers !

Ten most important figures that has Snake Eyes as the top two... Analytics must have been lacking that day to leave Destro off the list and have “Sgts Laughter” on it.

Very good list! I would take some, I would put others ... anyway ... Keep making videos!

Yeah...5 minutes out of the package, I lost Zartan and his mask on the front lawn, on a bright sunny day, thus of course his "witchcraft" kicked in...complete camo

Great List..but I Feel it should have been some Honorable Mentions like 1.THE CRIMSON GUARD Twins 2.FIREFLY 3.STALKER 4.DESTRO 5.ROADBLOCK.

Jeeze.. the editor was having a blast with this video.

These action figures are amazing. Only a screw on the back that holds all the limbs & a rubber band for the lower body parts. Everytime I got bored of them, I just take them apart & reattach them randomly to make my own made up characters & stories. The possibilities are endless!

3:37(ish)... they tried that on me, too! COBRA! I’ve. Even a subscriber for a 2-3 years(?), and you and your team, even in 2020, give us fun stuff. This whole “Gobal Plague” has seen me buying 89’s toys like old ladies buy scary dolls off of Home Shopping Channel. I’m scared. But (in my best girly-man/“Rudy” voice) Toy Galaxy and a few others have been a big help. Pat yourselves on the back!

I agree with that lemur, man. That was super deep.

I'd include Scarlett and Stalker because like Snake-Eyes, they were first to deviate from the shared molds of the first Joes. Stalker's camo pattern and beret were both the first of many; even his name & M.O. were copied - by Tracker. I prefer gold Destro, but silver head Destro broke the mold by being the first (only?) that like his cartoon/comix counterparts was taller than others (unlike the pathetically puny Nemesis Enforcer). He was also the first to have his own "spin-off" group. The Crimson Twins also kind of "broke the mold" by being "cut from the same mold".

This editing is killing my sides. So good.

I made my own list before I watched. Nearly identical. Even though the 2 Snake Eyes are my favorite 2 figures I put Serpentor on my list instead of SEv1

No BARBEQUE.....No Destro......no RoadBlock.....???? I had all of them(only child) I'm 41 and this list is INCOMPLETE!!!

Favourite was the gold-headed Destro that came with a small vehicle.

Low Light and Alpine were the first figures I ever owned. Low Light was my favorite till Sgt. Slaughter came along. It wasn't till one Christmas I got a lot of the figures that I got Snakeeyes, Stormshadow, Flint, Zartan, the Dreadnoughts and more..

My brain cannot even comprehend how insanely rich I'd be if I still had my collection of GI Joes and Star Wars action figures. Actually, I'd probably still be just as broke as I am today, because I never would have gotten rid of them. The only two I have left are an Imperial Tie Fighter pilot, and Bosk the bounty hunter, and neither have their sidearms (guns). Although I still could claim knowledge of where my original Cobra infantry soldier is. I'm sure he's still there. I was probably 8 or so, and had JUST bought him like the day before, and I was playing with my buddy who brought his Joes over. We were at the top of the stairs into my attic, and there was a board with a little 1.5"x1.5" hole cut out of it that I was using as a foxhole, and if the figure kept their arms apart, he sat in the hole just right. But he got bumped and fell down inside the floor. It was probably an 8" deep hole. I tried to get him back with the kitchen tongs but only succeeded in pushing him further under the joist. I bet he's still there to this day.

Rock and roll never gets the credit he deserves.

Sgts Laughter??? HAHA!

Only one I loved better than Storm Shadow, was Storm Shadow two.

Lifeline and scoop. Unsung heros.

Man I miss my Joe’s 😢 didn’t had a lot but had tons of fun

I used to like g1 snake eyes, called stalker who came with the panther jeep for me, im in the uk, and our repaint of scarlett as quarrel with the rapid fire motorcycle was another favourite

Had a pile of joes when I was a young lad, but never had a v1 storm shadow, but I’m 40 now so thought it was about time I got one, only paid $75. Check that off the bucket list

Must have the gi joes from 1964 vintage to have a collection second to none

love you're videos there were 525 figures produced from 82 to 94

no firefly!!!! Really