Last week, I posted my first installment in the League of Extraordinary Bloggers challenge, which focused on my favorite Saturday matinee “comfort movie”.  I went outside my normal G.I. Joe comfort zone and spent some time talking about the Amazing Spider-Man, the 70’s television series that I was always glued to whenever it was rebroadcast on Channel 56’s “Creature Double Feature”.

This week, however, I did want to try to keep my focus on G.I. Joe…but when the following topic came up, I really had to scratch my head:

You have an unlimited budget and space is not a problem. What piece of Hollywood memorabilia would you want hanging around in your batcave?

Hmm…  movie memorabilia and G.I. Joe…kind of an oxymoron.  What was I going to do, get a lifesize Molepod for my house?  Not so much.  Click the read the rest of this story link below to see if I can salvage this one.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge movie buff, and I can think of countless items of Hollywood memorabilia that I might want in my home, especially if budget and space is not a problem.  But let’s face it, the only toyline I really collect intensely is G.I. Joe, so that would really be my main focus if I were to be a movie memorabilia collector.

There in lies the problem.  While I didn’t have any major personal issues with G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, I’ll be the first to admit, the aesthetics were a head-scratcher.  Skintight black leather “reactive armor” uniforms, cybernetic chest pieces, and white trench coats aren’t really the first things I think of when I think about “G.I. Joe”, and I’m really not sure I would want any of that stuff in my “batcave”.

Yeah, not so much

I mean, if space were really not an issue, and I had an unlimited budget, would I load up my “man cave” with mannequins and put reactive armor on them?  Buy a Rise of Cobra Snake Eyes suit, lips and all and stick it proudly in my display area?

No freaking way.  Rise of Cobra was fine and everything, but it failed to capture the energy or spirit of what I would consider my G.I. Joe.  But the question then remains, if it doesn’t, what does?

I love hyper-realism as much as the next guy, even when it comes to a crazy 80’s cartoon and flamboyant property like G.I. Joe, and I would think if I were to purchase Hollywood memorabilia for my personal collection, I’d need something that was uniquely tied to that era of G.I. Joe.  Of course, then I remembered that back in the 80’s they often had G.I. Joe characters come to various events dressed in their uniforms, and I seemed to remember that being pretty interesting.  So I did a little search.

Yikes!

Okay, back to the drawing board.  I mean, I know mannequins don’t have hairy chests, so in that way, this uniform would probably be pretty cool.  The crazy hockey gloves, the pissed off metal-faced expression…and he looks a lot like the 80’s figure!  But alas, I just couldn’t justify it.  Besides, do costume props for out-of-work actors really count as “Hollywood Memorabilia”?

I had to keep thinking.  If I was going to display something from media, it had to be something that brought a smile to someone’s face when they walked in the room, because they remember it on their television set from their youth and it calls back to a better time. Something more nostalgic. Something classic. But how?  When was G.I. Joe ever a film property back then?  And then I remembered.

 httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsQTkshMASM

In my 90’s youth when G.I. Joe’s transformed into something brighter, more cybernetic, and just all out fun, these commercials hit the air, and I LOVED them.  Seeing G.I. Joe characters in all their 90’s glory jumping around on the television screen and blowing up Cobra troopers with fake explosions.  This was the best.  Is it almost painfully cheesy?  Of course it is.  But isn’t G.I. Joe, at its core, painfully cheesy?  I knew I had my answer.

So, if given unlimited space and unlimited budget, I’d have to say the Cobra Commander uniform from the above commercial would serve as my “Hollywood Memorabilia” of choice.  That huge Cobra symbol on his chest, the ridiculous preformed hood…it’s so aweful it’s awesome, and I would very proudly display a mannequin wearing that right smack dab in the middle of my collection.  Wear it proud.

To see what other members of the League of Extraordinary Bloggers say, click a few of the links below:

• Over at Tupa’s Treasures, he choose the One-Eyed Willy Pirate Ship and Cave from The Goonies
• At Flashlights are Something to Eat, the choice was painfully nostalgic for me, and made total sense the minute I saw it.  Trolly, from Mr. Rogers.
• Nat not Nate went a bit outside the box and chose Thunder Road from the film Explorers
• That-Figures chose the all familiar (to us nerds, anyway) and ironically timeless TARDIS

As always, keep your eyes on Cool and Collected for the latest info about the League of Extraordinary Bloggers, and to see how you can be a part of it, click here.