A photo of Crankcase, a Hasbro G.I. Joe figure from 1985 sold as part of the A.W.E. Striker vehicle set. I couldn’t find the helmet and his weapon while the vehicle is in no shape for a photo session.

The articulation is very impressive for its time. There’s a ball-joint for the head, swivel/hinge combos for the shoulders, swivel joints for the upper arms, hinge joints for the elbows, ball joints for the hips and hinge joints for the knees. The final articulation point is at the waist where there’s an O-ring that provides a range of motion roughly equivalent to a ball joint.

Although I’m a big fan of articulation, I would’ve preferred a simple swivel joint for the waist. The problem with O-rings is the rubber tends to disintegrate after a few years. It’s an easy enough fix, though. You should be able to get substitute rubber pieces at a hardware store.

I have no doubt the majority of G.I Joe: ARAH fans are Americans but there is a significant number of fans who aren’t residents of the US. How do the latter feel about the flag-waving aspect of the franchise? It wasn’t constant or flagrant but both the cartoon and the comic did give a nod to the “Real American” aspect of the line. It may not have mattered as a kid but as an adult you do have to wonder what impact it may have had.

I know the Europe markets dealt with this by turning Real American Heroes into International Heroes and changing the “Yo Joe!” battle cry (which was rather genial as battle cries go) to the slightly more bloodthirsty “Full Force!”

(Malaysians got the original US versions of the toyline and cartoon but it was possible to find Takara-packaged toys in some department stores and the UK version of the comic was serialised in the Transformers UK comic which was sold in newsstands here.)

My personal feeling is the values these G.I Joe characters exhibit and practise are universal. You don’t need to be American to appreciate G.I. Joe anymore than you need to be Cybertronian to appreciate Transformers.

Besides, the Real American Hero shown above was actually made in Hong Kong.

A photo of Nien Nunb, a Kenner Star Wars figure.

The toy’s over two decades old and it certainly looks its age. Paint applications on the vest and the gloves have rubbed off and I have no idea what happened to his pistol. The figure’s got the standard five articulation points of that era: swivel joints for the head, shoulders and hips.

Action figures were a bit hard to come by for me in those days. Stores with decent selections were two hours away from home, stocks were limited and popular characters predictably flew off the shelves quickly. I got stuck with guys like Nien Nunb, Lando in his skiff guard disguise, Admiral Akhbar, Imperial Stormtrooper and 8D8.

Still, I’ve come to appreciate Nien Nunb a little more especially after recent attempts to translate his movie lines.