Gi Joburg

Time to wrap up on another miniseries. Operation Dragonfire, love it or hate it, it's part of GI Joe history. And to quote the Sally Jupiter from Watchmen: "Every day, the future looks a little bit darker. But the past... even the grimy parts of it... keep on getting brighter."    And you don't get much grimier than Operation Dragonfire.    But dammit, I love it all the same.   Enjoy.   Also, please take a look at a very noble initiative by fellow Joe content creator on YouTube - Timmer. You can find the relevant vid at:   https://youtu.be/P71ZKu6K9uA   Do it!

This episode has it all! Double crosses! Triple crosses! The titanic struggle between Cobra Commander and Serpentor! Low-Light being a baddass! Zarana getting dumped! A spectacular aerial duel between some underutilized Cobra jets! And of course, a conspicuous yellow panty...   Since the one true CC is being reinstated, it felt right to pay tribute to his finest action figure incarnations.   So what are you waiting for?!

APE WARRIORS OF COBRA, ATTACK! It's the third part of Operation Dragonfire and things are getting interesting! Thanks to hygene problems back at Cobra HQ, Scoop learns a dark secret and is forced into a crisis of conscience. It's the tipping point of the series and it plays out Temple of Doom-style!    And check this out: Rock & Roll is our figure focus. Can OG 13 edge out twin gatling guns? Or could there be an upset?

Mudfighters! The Thunderclap! Luxury Kayaks! It's all here and more in Day 2 of Operation Dragonfire! Join the Cujo, Paul, Robert and Steve as they discuss their highs and lows of the second installment, with a special focus on their definitive Alley Viper.   ALLEY VIPER LEAP!!!

We've run out of Sunbow miniseries' to review... So this September we reach for the DIC! But it's not all bad. In fact, some of it is pretty darn interesting. Stay tuned as we discuss the highs and lows of this era of GI Joe cartoon adventures for five days straight! We also discuss the potential animal companions of the GI Joburg squad, and we see red with a definitive sculpt section devoted to the Crimson Guard. Stay locked onto us this week for a whole lotta DIC.   Okay, the DIC thing is getting old, I'll try to reign it in. But it was so damn funny to me as a child. I don't think I'll ever get over it.

Choose Your Own Adventure: '90s Subteam Edition! Join us as we live-roleplay three tales based around a few of the most notorious GI Joe and Cobra subsets. Lily and Paul are on the line from Joburg, Rob's in Cape Town. Cujo joins us from Long Beach and Steve is in Singapore of all places. It's another triple timezone debacle.   Do you take the Blue pill? Do you take the Red pill? Either way, be sure to take your dose of GI Joburg.

It's SHARC week and we sink our jaws into GI Joe's premier flying submarine! Definitive sculpt section this ep is on Buzz LightyeaDEEP SIX (of course)! The boys give a rundown of their favourite submarine books and films and a healthy bit of debate on which would win in an air/sea duel - the SHARC or the Sea Ray?    SHARC love to the max...

Some folks out there might want to skip this one... We're tackling a subgroup that may well be the one that made GI Joe jump the shark. We are talking Ninja Force. And the opinions shared may shock you. Or amuse you. Hopefully both. We get into the art of negative reinforcement and the double bluff, courtesy of our man Psyche Out. And our definitive sculpt section deals with the first lady of GI Joe, a woman with no shortage of ninja connections, the one and only Scarlett. So check your spring action ninja moves and get ready to throw down with Slice & Dice & Everything Nice!

It's Episode 90! So we're talking the 1990's! Like duh. The neon. The spring-loaded missiles. The football lingo. We'll tackle it all. We answer the important questions like whether Low-Light should be blonde or beardy. And whether Aubrey Sitterson is winning the war on Cobra mind control...   Cowabunga Dudes.

Today we talk Toynography ("toy+photography" - let's see if it catches on...) with a master of the game: Paul Panfalone. He's a professional photographer and art director who is the man responsible for @plasticbattles. His stuff is good. Really good. Listen to the show; scroll thru his Insta; be inspired, Joburgers.

At GI Joburg, we pride ourselves on our originality. So for our 88th mission, we bring you a special on 1988! We talk the toys, the concepts, the characters. With no 'toon to back it up, who were these guys? What world called for Cobranauts, hostile environment troopers, and mutant frogmen? GI Joe was dropping big bombs and Destro was into something DEMONic. It was an interesting time.    We kick it off with our definitive Iron Grenadier picks. 'Cos, what else?

GI Joburg runs down its favourite vehicle redecos to determine the finest reuse of a classic mold. We do a definitive sculpt section on everybody's favourite redeco Viper: Mercer! There's also an unexpected guest waiting in the wings. AND it wouldn't be a GI Joburg list show without a rundown of the WORST colour schemes to ever pollute our beloved toys. Shenanigans ensue... 

PAUL. GOT. A. TERRORDROME.   So we revisit an ancient topic that's ripe for revisiting: The Big Three. Get 'em? Don't get 'em? We share some honest opinions about the Flagg, The Defiant, and the Terrordrome... now that we have all three!   Cujo calls it 'The Terrordome'. It's weird.   We also do some coverage of Cape Town's premier fan convention, with the very original name of FanCon.   Get it, Joburgers... 

E.L.E, baby.   That means "Everybody Loves Eels". Don't forget it.   It's Episode 85 and GI Joburg gets wet and wild with one of the best figures of 1985. Possibly the best figure... ever. We also get into some fanmail on the topic of Joes you'd want to have your back in the big bad jungle... and the Cobra foes that would get you quivering in your boots.      There's also a chick on the show. Oh. Yeah.

Deep dive with Stephen, Paul, Robert, and Cujo into the new live-action Ghost in the Shell 2017 movie as GI Joburg discusses everything to do with Ghost in the Shell, consciousness, cyborgs, souls, and technology gone wild. We also talk about our newest GI Joe major acquisition, and choose our definitive tech accessories and figures. And to wrap things up, we wonder how GI Joe could have been done differently if the Japanese had come up with the Real American Hero concept. Yo Joe!

Come join us in 1983 as we explore the year's selection of figures and vehicles. Find out what our favourites and least favourites are, and how Rob gets out of a burning building with more toys than Paul, Stephen, and Cujo combined. Yo Joe!

Ever wanted to meet up with three pals, assemble your troops, brief them on a perilous mission and then let the adventure begin? Yeah. Us too. But [sigh]... adulting. Well, GI Joburg is gonna bring you four missions where one of us briefs, the other assembles the troops and equipment and together we weave the plot! Don't judge. It's how grown-ups play with their action figures.   Also, Mike Zeck comes under an artist spotlight with some inside info from Cujo;   We do a righteous Postbox: The Pit section where a handful of your mail is discussed;   And our definitive sculpt section deals with none other than the Battle Android Trooper!   Awesome.

Introducing STRYDENT! An impromtu Skype call between Paul and Steve and a GI Joe super fan from the States called Ewart morphed very quickly into a GI Joe conversation worth putting into the world. We talk about what we'd do if we were calling the shots in Hasbro; the debate around being a vintage collector, modern era collector, or both; and Doctor Doom! Yep. Doctor Doom.

Battle Force: 2000. It's a broken concept. Whether it's the figure design; the characters and their representation; the vehicles; the gimmick... it's fair to say that these guys missed the mark somewhere along the line. So with the advantage of hindsight, GI Joburg undertake to fix BF2K. How can we make these toys desirable? How do we make sense of GI Joe's "Soldiers of the Future"? Is it even possible? Hit 'play'!   Also, expect much gushery over our new custom figures.   Much.

Presenting the conclusion of our MASS Device commentary! Feel free to watch along, with us in your ear, or check out what our pal Michael Mercy does with the audio on YouTube here! Yo Joe!