From the Collection of Scott McCullar...

GI JOE AQUANAUT (1969)



I'm not too sure if many folks know that I collect 12" GI Joe action figures. I was born in 1971 and was a kid at the tail end of the Adventure Team era (1970-78) with the fuzzy hair and bearded Joes with Kung-Fu grip. My kid brother, Steve, collected the "Real American Hero" era in the 1980s and I played with his figures when we were kids while I also enjoyed the cartoon and the Larry Hama written GI JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO comic book series.

Sometime after the first Gulf War, Hasbro released Duke as a 12" GI Joe figure. I was just graduating college and my mother gave me one for Christmas. I didn't expect to get back into Joe collecting because of this gift, but for me and thousands of other adults aged 20 to 40, we rediscovered our old childhood friend in a wave of nostalgia.

By 1994, I got the Joe collecting bug really really bad during the 30th Anniversary of GI Joe and started seriously collecting GI Joe all over again.

Ten years later, and I've become a diehard collector of GI Joe. I have well over 100+ figures in my collection and I'm a member of the Official GI Joe Collector's Club. I also outfit alot of custom 12" GI Joe figures. I'm a military history buff and I've turned my hobby of collecting GI Joe into 1:6th Scale modelling. My wife and daughter think I play with dolls, but I'm a diehard fan of the original "action figure" and attend GI Joe Conventions to trade and socialize with other Joe collectors. I get the chance to play GI Joe with my son, Mitch, and really enjoy the bonding and playing. It gives me a chance to relax and have fun.

As a collector, I thought it would be fun to showcase GI Joes from my collection from time-to-time to share with other collectors who have wanted to peek at my collection. I may one day set up a section on my website to showcase figures from my collection.

Today's example from my collection is the 1969 GI Joe Aquanaut. Probably one of my favorite pieces of my collection. From 1964-1968, GI Joe stayed true to his military roots where you could get an Action Soldier, an Action Marine, an Action Pilot, or an Action Sailor.

1969 was a transition year as GI Joe became "The Adventures of GI Joe" and he took a more para-military look without being assigned to a specific branch of the armed services. The Vietnam War was hard on Joe and the miliatary. A year later in 1970, Hasbro would add flocked hair to simulate a fuzzy beard and brush hair cut and get out of the military all together and become an "adventurer" who was more Indiana Jones than John Wayne.

1969 was the last year of the original vintage "painted hair" transition era. The Aquanaut was the one of the coolest and rarest looking uniforms to come out of that year. It took me a while to piece together this uniform, but I bought it off eBay a few years ago.

In this picture, I'm displaying an original vintage uniform on a reproduction 40th Anniversary GI Joe action figure. I have an extensive collection, but display most of my vintage uniforms, outfits and gear on reproduction GI Joe figures that were re-issued in recent years by Hasbro. These are pretty much exact replicas of the original action figure that are sturdy enough to handle or let my young son play with.

40 years later, most nude plastic GI Joe action figures have cracks, discolorations, fungus, paint chips, rust on joints, loose stringing, scratches and are too fragile to handle for play.

And the original figures, even in shoddy shape, are waaay too expensive to get. For the cost of one nude original (broken) figure, I can buy five nude mint condition reproduction re-issues. I'd rather stretch my dollar and have a better looking collection that my son and I can play with rather than have broken pieces that we can't touch and that are behind glass in a case.

So, I do use some repro parts mixed with vintage pieces. Thought I'd mention that.

Just sharing my hobby. Enjoy...