Sgt. Slaughter

I had made a few preorders on Big Bad Toy Store months and months ago. I like to use them for preorders, because they don't charge you immediately for the preorder, but instead wait until the product actually comes in.

Of course this time around that may have backfired on me, because I got the email saying that they would be charging me for my order on the day my wife told me that we needed to be very careful with our money until payday or else we might run out.

I tried to take the kids to McDonald's after their dentist appointment, and my card was declined. Luckily, they would let me use my credit card on Apple Pay, or I would have been out of luck. My wife had to transfer money over from savings.

Rish keeps saying that my toy buying ways are going to land me in the divorce courts, and I'm sure when that happens, this will be one of the reasons stated on her long list of grievances.

One of the two figures that came from Big Bad Toy Store this week was the Sgt. Slaughter produced by Action Force.

I guess he was bashful, and hid his face under his hat in the box. But when I got him out, he quit that racket.

It's an absolutely beautiful figure. I love it. They just announced at Hasbro that they will also be doing a Sgt. Slaughter figure.

I've been collecting many of the GI Joe Classified Hasbro figures, but when Action Force put out their Sgt. Slaughter figure, I assumed that they had some kind of an exclusive deal for his image rights and that Hasbro wouldn't be able to make their own version, so, even though the Action Force guys cost about $10 more than Hasbro figures, I went ahead and preordered one.

Two days after my card is charged, Hasbro announces their own. Of course. I should have expected that.

Then again, This Action Force figure is really, really nice. It comes with tons of accessories which gives Sarge a lot of different looks. I have to say that I really like it, and I think that in the end I'll be satisfied. I think this figure will probably be better than the upcoming Hasbro one.

And I have it now, which is a lot sooner than I will have the Hasbro one.

He comes with a jacket that he can wear instead of that pouch harness thing, and removable glasses (although I think those might be trouble. They want to fall off really easily. I hope I don't lose them. I may have to glue them on).

He also comes with a second hat that he can wear instead of the wide-brimmed one. Or you can just have him walk around hat free if you don't mind the bald look.

I can't abide the bald look, because I remember him with his wide-brimmed hat in the figure I mailed away for as a kid.

So, for me it's hat or nothing.

I gotta make some space on the shelf for him, though, because my Joes have filled their allotted slot.

I ought to say as well that when I was a kid, me and my friends picked GI Joes that were our avatar characters, so when we played with them, we were playing with a toy of ourselves (almost said we were playing with ourselves, but added a few words to make that sentence mean what I actually wanted it to mean). 

The GI Joe that was me was Sgt. Slaughter. So, I have an even larger attachment to this figure than most people would. 

I even built a special little wooden house that was Sarge's house, and tried to make it a crazy place to be a la Pee-wee's Playhouse.

I ought to make a new modern version of it for my new Sgt. Slaughter, eh? An all new  Sgt. Slaughter's Playhouse may be in the future.