Welcome to the collection of Aaron Luck Owner: Aaron Luck, Monterey, CA E-mail Aaron at this address: webmaster@kungfugrip.adventureteam.com Or visit his website at: http://kungfugrip.adventureteam.com I'm the same age as our beloved Adventure Team, originally from Caroline County in Virginia. I have a wife (sorry Carin) Tamar, twin sons, J.D. and Andrew and I work for the U.S. Army. I'm an Infantry Major stationed at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA where I'm studying Astrophysics (like rocket science) and will work, after graduation, in Army Space Operations. My relationship with GIjOE began around 1974 when I was a whopping four years old (just like the fuzzheads). All I got for Christmas that year were Joes because I had been bugging my parents about them since my best friend had gotten one. So, there I was, a young toddler with four or five Joes, a footlocker full of gear that I ripped out of all the bright packages, and a helicopter (still one of the coolest AT pieces ever)---I was in heaven. Unfortunately, all of my original Joes, which had grown to over a dozen at their high point, are somewhere in the Caroline County, Virginia landfill about 20 years down. I rediscovered GIjOE around Christmas of 1996 soon after graduating from college. My wife and I were at Sam's Club and I saw one of the new Masterpiece Edition GIjOE Soldiers. I picked it up for $15.99 and took it home to play with it. It was a weird GIjOE with a bald head, but it had that certain familiarity about it. I jumped on the web and found out that not only were there these new Joes, but the Classic Collection was new, and there were still tons of folks out there collecting and playing with their Joes. I rushed back to Sam's Club and picked up about a dozen assorted ME Joes which were then down to $9.99 (I have since traded away all but a set of four in the boxes because they are just kinda neat shelf items). More searching on the internet resulted in discovery of alt.toys.gi-joe newsgroup, affectionately known as the "Sandbox". This is a open forum discussion group about GIjOE (and his modern clones) and is inhabited by a generally great bunch of folks. I spend more time reading the "box" than I do my own email. I even got my first original GIjOE from a trade in the Sandbox. I collected all of the Classic Collection releases for 1996, 1997 and 1998. At that point, my AT collection had grown to be rather sizable (about 20 figures) and I was running out of space and money. I knew that I couldn't have it all, so I liquidated my Classic Collection Joes through trades mostly, some sales (usually for a loss). I got rid of the last of it by giving half away to my younger cousins who still "play" with their Joes, and I sold the rest dirt cheap at our pre-moving yard sale. Still, Joe has taken over a good portion of my life and a big portion of my house. I now have over 100 Adventure Team figures, a handful of helicopters, jeeps, and other sundry vehicles and play sets. Most of them are pieced together sets and Joes that I managed to buy or trade for over the last few years. What can I say? Joe is Joe and there is nothing else out there like him. He stands for all those things that are so rare in our society now, like honesty, duty, sacrifice, and commitment. Anyway, enough of that babbling, that is where Joe and I stand. ---Aaron Luck "These are pictures of the majority of my collection in my newly built shelf system. They were not really organized yet, just pulled out of their boxes and placed up on shelves. The shelves are 10' wide with four 14" height shelves to accommodate the size of the Cotswold (clear-lid) figure boxes." "A recent survey (done by myself of course) listed the break down of loose figures at roughly 9 Air Adventurers, 8 Astronauts, 24 Land Adventurers, 8 Men of Action, 10 Sea Adventurers, over a half dozen Mike Power figures, about 10 Talking Commanders, a Talking Astronaut (sweet), a black Commander, and a couple of black Adventurers. I also have a couple of Eagle Eye Joes, a complete Bulletman, one solitary Defender figure, three Intruder Commanders, and one regular Intruder." "I've been able to acquire a few Adventure Team vehicles for my collection. Probably the nicest pieces in my motor pool are two minty AT Helicopter that I got from Keven Chapman a few years back. They are in great condition, one being the first edition release and the other being the later version. I've also managed to collect a Big Trapper, Mobile Support Vehicle, Yellow ATV (with working winch), Troubleshooter ATV (somewhat complete), Escape Car, Drag Bike, Turbo Swamp Craft (finally complete), a few rubber rafts, pontoon boat (from pygmy gorilla), Windboat, a Rocket Pack, a Turbo Copter, a Jeep (not the AT one, but an earlier 7000 series Joe vehicle), and last, but not least, a boxed mint Sea Wolf submarine. I also just recently picked up a nearly complete Capture Copter." "I "I also have about 25 complete nude Joes that I either haven't gotten around to clothing or haven't enough uniforms for them; about 20 more that are complete except for heads (I really need to ship those off to Craig Blankenship for reflocking); and then my Frankenstein hoard (I have a couple of those 6 drawer rolling organizers from Wal-Mart full of various Joe parts....If I get off my butt someday there are probably 40-60 figures in there minus some hands, feet, and heads.) So, Thor, stay away!!! I guess you could call these guys potential "Franken-Joes" as they will one day LIVE AGAIN!" More 1:6 Scale Collections Return to Collections Index And Don't Miss... Collections Indoor Dioramas Outdoor Photos Custom Figures Custom Vehicles Tips & Tricks Club Websites Feedback Submit Your Collection About GIjOE Collections Cool Links HOME Address any questions or comments to webmaster Mark Otnes, at 303 E. Sherwin Drive, Urbana, IL 61802, or Phone: 217-337-1706 or Email: sterling@shout.net

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