Joe & Hank
name ?
Steve
Online name ?
Somekindajoe
Location ?
‘Sarf’ London
first vam/gi joe/mam or 1/6 figure ?
A Blond PH Talking Commander for my birthday in 1967. I thought he was the greatest toy ever. With my birthday money I got a Green Beret uniform for him (not sure if I’ve ever mentioned that before?) I still have ‘some’ of him, his head, torso, left arm and Beret. It would be great to get around to rebuilding him one day.
Favourite figure now ?
It all depends on the definition of favourite. My childhood guys, especially Joe and Hank are the figures I obviously have the most sentimental attachment too and so are technically my favourites. My favourite figures plucked from the AM range would be the Green Beret and British Para. My favourite ‘type’ of figure has to be the 40th GI Joe.
what will you do with your collection as you get older ?
Keep adding to it! Long term I have no idea. I’m a compulsive hoarder so there’s no way my collection is going anywhere while Im still around.
do you set yourself a budget ?
I wished!
worst vam/gi joe/mam or 1/6 figure ?
How can you answer a question like this without upsetting someone?....but since I’ve been asked I may as well upset as many people as possible! MAM. It irks me that they used the name ‘Action man’ for the range. To me that was like putting Rolls-Royce badges on a Skoda ( might as well upset Skoda drivers too!) Had they called it something else I could happily ignore it nowdays remembering it only as the way too PC line of figures my son had as a kid and it would turn up on the forum about as often as Max Steele. As for proper AM, I think the Intruder and Bullet man are two figures the range could have well done without. I don’t rate Atomic man and Tom Stone very highly either although I can see their appeal if you have childhood nostalgia for them. I think it’s to the Palitoy design team’s credit that they can say they had nothing to do with these characters but just inherited them from Hasbro’s GI Joe line.
Most desired item ?
Whatever I’m chasing this week! Can’t say I have a so far unobtained holy grail item.
views on 40th reproductions ?
The 40th was the best thing to happen to Action man since his demise in 1984! It breathed new life into the hobby. It’s why so many of us are here. Remember how many people collected it and how busy the hobby was 2006-10? . Many have now moved on but it’s left a hardcore of new collectors like myself who’ve made the transition from buying a bit of 40th to becoming bona fide VAM collectors. Who didn’t get the nostalgia rush to end all nostalgia rushes the first time they held a carded 40th of their favourite childhood AM set? Quality-wise it’s hard to fault 40th uniforms and equipment and they are the two things that are hardest to find in vintage. It’s true 40th figures are a bit hit and miss but VAM figures aren’t in such short supply as say, vintage GB uniforms are so it isn’t really a problem. 40th figures are ‘fit for purpose’, good enough to use as mannequins for the uniforms. If you want to relive those backyard wars of childhood, use VAM.
Soon after discovering the AM 40th I found out that there’d been a GI Joe 40th a few years earlier and set about collecting that as well. The highlight of that range for me was the figure. It was much better quality that the 40th AM and instead of trying to copy the original head sculpt and getting it not quite right as 40th AM had done they went for a modern interpretation instead. The sleepy eyed Joe invokes either a love him or hate him response in most people. I can’t get enough of them. Pretty soon, if not already, 40th Joe will be the largest figure type group in my collection.
My childhood started with PH HH’s and ended with Fuzzy grippers. My 6 months of AM collecting in 1985, when I cleared out Zodiac toys of their stock, introduced me to EE BP’s. Now for me 40th Joe has become the symbol of my current ‘mid-life crisis/second childhood’ collecting phase!
worst item of the vam/gi joe/mam or 1/6 range ?
After alienating so many people earlier in the interview with my worst figure answer I think I’ll be diplomatic here and say I can’t really think of any specific VAM items I don’t like.
best thing about collecting vam/gi joe/mam or 1/6 figures ?
That warm glow of nostalgia you get owning things that are such an important part of your personal history.
Also I like how multifaceted the hobby is. It’s not just all about amassing a collection. There’s a whole creative side to it. You can kitbash, scratch build vehicles, create dios, make photostories, the list is endless Who amongst us hasn’t got numerous ‘projects’ on the go at any given time. All at varying degrees of completion.
The community. You come for the VAM but stay for the people. After everyone I knew outgrew reading comics I was a solitary collector for many years but when I started attending comic fairs etc I made many friends in the hobby. The same is true for VAM. Nostalgia got me back into VAM but the friends I’ve made in the collecting community is why I stay and what keeps me enthusiastic for VAM.
Remember how cool it was when your mum let you have a friend round after school or his mum let you go round his house? Well ‘mums’ might have been replaced by ‘wives’ now but the idea still holds true. Luckily for Richard (Beatlefan) and myself our wives don’t mind hubby having a nerdy mate round to share quality VAM time. We’ve escaped so far but it can’t be long before one of our wives comes out with a classic, cringe inducing ‘mum’ line like ‘They play so nicely together’. It can only be a matter of time!
Do you think your collection will be collectible in the future ?
That’s a tough one. To use comics as an analogy, who collects Golden age (1940’s) comics now? They contain the beginnings of the whole superhero genre but who’s still around to buy them out of childhood nostalgia for them as opposed to historical significance ? Silver age comics are the ‘biggy’ right now because that’s what us 1960’s baby-boomers grew up reading and we’re the ones on a nostalgia kick and have disposable income.
My prediction? Action man has got another good 20 years left him in but after than although his value won’t drop to noticeably finding buyers will get harder and harder.
if you did not collect vam/gi joe/mam or 1/6 figures, what would you collect ?
As I’ve hinted at before I’m a massive American comics fan. Marvel and DC from the Silver age (1960’s), as that’s what I grew up reading. I have quite an impressive collection, even if I do say so myself. In fact it’s almost as big as Beatlefan’s !!
Although I don’t actively collect things like Airfix and Timpo soldiers, Corgi and Dinky, and assorted other toys I still have small collections of each and do buy the odd bit from ebay.
I pretty much like the same things I did at 10 years old. Except a girl called Debbie who used to live at no26. I see her in Sainsburys now and then and the years haven’t been as kind as they could have been.
Modern collecting-wise, until rediscovering AM I was really into Warhammer 40k. I think I have enough troops and vehicles to be classed as a super power in my own right. I loved every aspect of the hobby from building the kits and painting the soldiers to having the table-top battles. My brother introduced me to it in 1989 and I was pretty fanatical about it until the day I found the 40th on-line. Haven’t looked at a minature since!
I’m not really into music. My ‘collection’ consists of two items. Alice Cooper’s album ‘Billion Dollar Babies’ which I got in 1972, and A Kinks ‘Greatest hits’ CD I was given one father’s day. If I’m on the xbox or playing VAM I might dip into youtube for some background music. The best way to describe my selections? If it would fit on the soundtrack to a Vietnam war film or documentary then I’ll probably like it. Another aspect of life where my tastes and interests were set by the time I was 10 years old!
why do you like ammo ?
It’s a very friendly and lively forum. I belong to most of the AM/GI Joe forums and enjoy them all. They all have their own distinct character and strengths but I must admit after the demise of the UAMHQ I did feel a bit homeless. Ammo has helped fill that void and having an AM day such a short drive from where I live hasn’t hurt either!
Steve on holiday
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Subject: April Interview 2013 somekindajoe 
Mon Apr 01, 2013 9:18 pm
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John where did you get that pic of Debbie??
