These are my Class of ’83 Joes.  There are many like them, but these are mine.

Ok, not really, not anymore.  That’s the point of the post.  But they made a heck of a display.  You can find Part 1 here.  Enjoy!

‘Til all are one, collecting is half the battle.  (Note: The other half is finding room to display it!)

And of course, a classic ’83 cardback.  It’s wild to think about how much I stared at the cardbacks as a kid!

And don’t forget, ’83 was the release of the first two accessory packs.  Gotta replace all those guns that got lost in the yard!

And diving deeper into the memorabilia, 1983 saw the release of a half-dozen diecast miniature vehicles.  They were really cool, but ultimately pointless without little figures or even any Cobra vehicles to battle.  The MOBAT worked ok because you could pretend the tank crew was inside, but the rest looked conspicuously odd without drivers.  Even if they’d been molded in place, that would have been an improvement.  As it was, the tiny things could only mill around like early autonomous vehicles, saving the world from rogue hotwheels or those evil “tan” plastic army men.  Still, I love the artwork on the packaging, as these really crank the nostalgia knob.