Action Figure Vintage 1976 GI JOE EAGLE EYE LAND COMMANDER RESTORATION PROJECT

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The Skull

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So I decided to finally get a real vintage GI JOE from the 70's and picked my favorite, the 1976 land commander with eagle eye and kung fu grip, the figure is in very good condition and only really needs a clean up and some parts to complete. I don't know if this figure has been reflocked or was just well taken care of, it must have been restrung I'm sure as its not to floppy so this should be an easy project.

The figure originally came with boots, pants, shirt, which came included with my purchase of him on ebay, but what's missing is the dog tags, the rifle, the AT patch and box. I have sourced all those parts except the box which I plan to soon.

Here's a few photos for those not interested in the video

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Love this kinda stuff. Looking forward to the next update. You should use a small brush on his face to get the loose hair off too.

Thanks very much, glad you liked it buddy, most parts are ordered and on the way, the patch, the hunting rifle with correct strap, the dog tags, all parts are vintage. Only thing left to order will be the box, I will post the next update when that stuff comes in.
 
Really curious to see how the custom box turns out too. On another note I took out my new Sgt Rock Joe and he has extremely loose leg and arm joints. My guess is this thing must have been used. Thinking about doing an adjustment on those elastic bands inside the body to tighten him up.
 
Really curious to see how the custom box turns out too. On another note I took out my new Sgt Rock Joe and he has extremely loose leg and arm joints. My guess is this thing must have been used. Thinking about doing an adjustment on those elastic bands inside the body to tighten him up.

It may have been played with or the elastic bans may just have gotten loose with age. There's a few videos that might help you if you want to restring him, here's one, he also sells the kits on ebay.

 
Probably gonna re-string cause my other Rock and Easy Co figures that came out around the same time are tight. This new Rock is a rag doll at the moment, so that needs to change. That kit looks pretty good :hi5:
 
Before my time, but looks very cool.

Before mine too, still like the 60's 70's joes though, real classics that dawned the Action figure era, so many cool features in these figures, great articulation, changeable outfits, kung fu grip, life like hair, moving eyes and even talkers, they really pioneered.

Probably gonna re-string cause my other Rock and Easy Co figures that came out around the same time are tight. This new Rock is a rag doll at the moment, so that needs to change. That kit looks pretty good :hi5:

Get it buddy, it could be a fun little project to work on:hi5:
 
I had one of these when I was a kid with lighter brown hair. Had a bunch of equipment too, but no clue what happened to it. My dad probably ended up throwing it out one day with a bunch of other stuff. He had a habit of rounding stuff up in a garbage bag and tossing it out when nobody was paying attention :thud:
 
I had one of these when I was a kid with lighter brown hair. Had a bunch of equipment too, but no clue what happened to it. My dad probably ended up throwing it out one day with a bunch of other stuff. He had a habit of rounding stuff up in a garbage bag and tossing it out when nobody was paying attention :thud:

I have a feeling that happens to a lot of toys even today, most of my childhood toys ended up that way too, though most of my toys were usually pretty beat up anyway.
 
I had so many good ones from the 70's.... Megos, Kenner, Hasbro, etc.... :(

I'm sure you and your older bro had a lot of the stuff I'm talking about :)

For sure, my older brothers had all that stuff, 70's GI JOES, Megos, the Evil Knviel guys, you name it. I grew up on the ARAH 3 3/4" line being the youngest and remember my older brother saying his old GI Joes were better than mine as a kid:horror He wasn't wrong but not exactly right ether:lol
 
Well, little 80s Joes are freakin awesome, but 70s Joes started it all. The amount of awesomeness in the 70s was mind blowing for kids..... Evil on the bike was the sh** LOL 12'' Steve Austin with BigFoot, Megos covered Star Trek, Marvel, DC, etc..... that era will never be topped.
 
I had one of these when I was a kid with lighter brown hair. Had a bunch of equipment too, but no clue what happened to it. My dad probably ended up throwing it out one day with a bunch of other stuff. He had a habit of rounding stuff up in a garbage bag and tossing it out when nobody was paying attention :thud:
As a parent myself I can empathize with your dad. But of course for many years when I couldn't find some of the toys of my childhood I was so furious at the idea that parents could ever do such a terrible thing.

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I had a Mike Power joe way back as one of my earliest toys. Most of my childhood toys were destroyed by me. A 84 firefly and 12" Mego Hulk are all that survived it. Still have Hulk sans original pants. FF ran off somewhere.
 
As a parent myself I can empathize with your dad. But of course for many years when I couldn't find some of the toys of my childhood I was so furious at the idea that parents could ever do such a terrible thing.

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Well, I don't have any animosity towards my father for cleaning house every few years cause I'm the oldest of three boys and we had a ton of crap. Who knows if he burned it, donated it, or threw it in the trash. He was notorious for filling a trash can up and burning stuff, or slipping the garbage guy a few extra bucks to take some extra bags. Most of my toys didn't survive over the years, which is a shame. I have two kids and they have a lot right now, so I understand what happens when you don't stay on top of it. We donate our stuff to goodwill when the time is right, but I'm not gonna lie and say we get rid of it faster than it comes in :lol

I had a Mike Power joe way back as one of my earliest toys. Most of my childhood toys were destroyed by me. A 84 firefly and 12" Mego Hulk are all that survived it. Still have Hulk sans original pants. FF ran off somewhere.
Only had one Joe in the 70's, but he had several outfits, gear, and equipment that I kept in great condition. I always did my best to keep my figures in great shape and not break them. No clue what happened to it. Disappeared one day and that was that. Anything that survived the dad walkthrough was passed down to my bros. My youngest brother and his friends did a number on most of these hand me down toys. Only a small handful of stuff made it and it's with my middle bro. He was the only one smart enough that said you know what I'm keeping this, or that. If it wasn't for him there would be nothing, so he deserves to keep it. Mostly little joes with broken thumbs, broken crotches, and missing gear. The only thing he has that I would love to have back is my original 85 Flint. It has some missing paint on the beret and eyebrows, floppy knees, missing shotgun & backpack, but the thing doesn't have any broken parts. I would never ask him for it, but if he offered it to me I wouldn't hesitate on taking it back :)
 
I'm not gonna lie and say we get rid of it faster than it comes in :lol
Yeah, this is a problem for me. Compounded by the fact that I do still collect crap myself, and am very nostalgic about my toys as a youth of course. So, I don't want my kids to lose anything they may care about later. But you can't keep everything! I made a run to the donation place last week with some books, in fact. And when I got there, I didn't have the heart to donate all of them :lol
 
My kids tell me I will get rid of something if you do, so that would be never. Now that they are getting older it's easier to get rid of the younger kid type of junk and pass it on to my bro-in-law's two year old, or grandma's house :lol But almost impossible on Barbies and action figures.
 
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