I love going through old catalogs from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s to reminisce on the fashion trends, gadgets of the time, and especially the toys.  The Sears Christmas Wish Book is the jackpot of catalogs as far as all that is concerned.  They almost act as time capsules, taking you back in time for a look at how things were each year.

Today I’ve got a heck of a page from the 1982 Sears Wish Book, as it features almost all of the original toys from the G.I. Joe:  A Real American Hero line!  This G.I Joe line is my favorite toy line of all time, so it has been a lot of fun looking back at this page.  Let’s take a tour of it.

As you can see, this page has all the heavy hitters…with the exception of the HAL.  There are a couple of the larger action vehicles at the top, along with the exclusive Cobra Command Missile HQ, sets of different figures, the smaller vehicles and action sets, and a sweet G.I. Joe tent!  Let’s go in for a closer look.

So here is a closer look at the Cobra Missile Command HQ, and from reading the description at the bottom of the page, it comes with the three Cobra figures in the box above, which means you get Cobra Commander, a Cobra Officer, and a Cobra trooper!  Seems like an absolute bargain for just $10.99 even for 1982

Here is a zoomed in look at the MOBAT and the VAMP jeep.  I was a little young in ’82 to get these when they were new, but I remember my Mom bringing home the MOBAT from a yard sale at some point a year or so later.  The MOBAT came with Steeler, while the VAMP came with Clutch.  However, in the price listings, no code names are given, just “G.I. Joe Driver”.

Now we get into the figure 3 packs.  Again, the price listing doesn’t list code names, just the figures specialties.  The first set features “Mortar Man”, “Bazooka Man”, and “Officer”.  These original Joes are better known as “Short-Fuze”, “Zap”, and “Breaker”.

The second set features “Infantry Man” aka “Grunt”, “Laser Rifleman” aka “Flash”, and “Machine Gunner” aka “Rock ‘n’ Roll”.

The final figure 3 pack features “Explosives Commando” aka “Snake-Eyes”, “Sub-Machine Gunner Ranger” aka “Stalker”, and “Counter Intelligence Officer” aka “Scarlett”.  Each of these figure 3 packs featured a list price of $7.99

My older brother must have gotten a lot of these figures early on, because I inherited them from him around ’85.

Here we have the smaller vehicles, and again, we don’t get them listed by the names we have grown familiar with.  Instead, we again get a generic name.  Item #7 “Attack Cannon” is better known as the FLAK.  #8 is the “Mobile Missile System”, aka MMS.  #9 is the “Rapid Fire Motorcycle” aka, the “RAM”.  And #10 is the “Jet Pack”, aka the “JUMP”.

And last but not least is this sweet tent!  I had this bad boy and slept in it many times.  Never outdoors however, just in the living room or basement of our house.  It had a blowup mattress, and  the tent itself was a kind of plastic.  It probably ended up getting shredded with all the playtime I put it through.

Well this was a fun trip down memory lane via a catalog page from 1982.  I can’t wait to hear YOUR memories of these items in the comments.