Hey JBL – Where Have You Been?

It’s been pretty quiet around JBL for the past 13 months.

No new reviews, no news postings, no snarky nostalgia-filled pieces about things that just happen to pique the admin’s interest.

Instead, it’s been quiet.  Or, in the words of Elmer Fudd “vewy vewy qwiet…”

What’s the reason for that silence?  Well, I can’t really say but there are several things that have contributed to it. Continue reading

Merry Christmas from your friends at JBL!

Merry Christmas from  your friends here at JBL!

JBL christmas 2015

Today is Christmas Day!  Whether or not you celebrate it for its religious significance, today is day in which much of the western world seems to set aside differences and grievances and instead focuses on a spirit of giving and compassion.  For children, it’s a day in which brightly wrapped packages appear under a decorated tree– each promising hours of excitement to come.  For parents, it’s a day to watch over their children or even grandchildren as they embrace Christmas with open arms.

For all of you who read this, I’d like to express my wamest wishes for a safe and happy holiday to your and your families.  While our favorte brand of adventurers, soldiers, and Real American Heroes are no longer in stores, we can still enjoy the spirit of the season and look back fondly on the days when boxes of familar Hasbro products were unwrapped and new adventures with G.I. Joe were ahead.  G.I. Joe will return– and whether or not it is in a form familiar or in a brand new aspect, we all hope that name “G.I. Joe” will continue to foster the imagination of future generations.

Or rather, as the “Great Snake” himself once put it so succinctly:

 

Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at JBL!

JBL would like to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving!

JBL Thanksgiving

(Yes, it’s that same picture again.  I’ll update it someday!)

Today is the day that is dreaded by turkeys across the land– where groups of friends and family gather round the table to share a meal and enjoy some time together.  It’s also a time to look back and consider all the things that we have to be thankful for.

Sure, there’s a lot going on the world that can, as individuals, raise our blood pressure and cause us to raise our fists in the air but there’s also still a lot of things that are going right. As such, Thanksgiving can be a day in which we reflect on everything that has actually gone right for us and our friends.

At JBL, we’re thankful for each and every person who reads this post, visits the forums, reads the reviews (when I get around to publishing them!) and even who stops by our Facebook page.  Without each of you, this page would literally be a series of random musings thrown into the wind.  Thank you for making JBL a part of your G.I. Joe life!

To everyone out there: Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Christmas G.I. Joe

 

Merry Christmas from JBL!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from JoeBattlelines.com!

I’d like to thank everyone who still visits this site for stopping by throughout the year and hope that you all have a wonderful day with family and friends. May the Grinch be kept at bay, may Shipwreck not hit the egg nog too hard, and may you have a blessed holiday.

JBL christmas 2015

Happy Thanksgiving from JBL!

Thanksgiving Christmas G.I. Joe

 

Happy Thanksgiving from JBL!

Sure, it’s not “Joe news” but this time of year it’s nice to take time out of a crazy schedule to appreciate the things that you have.  In the United States, today is the day that millions of Americans sit down with family and friends over a sumptuous meal and try to remember all of the things that they have to be grateful for.  As such, JBL would like to extend some “thanks of our own” on this blustery morning here in Central Illinois.

I’d like to thank each and every person reading this message right now.  It sounds corny but it’s true.  JBL isn’t a for-profit site– content here isn’t created to try and generate revenue.  Instead, new reviews, articles, and the occasional bit of news are all posted to help serve as a resource for the G.I. Joe fans around the world.  As such, I’d like to thank you for stopping by for you’re the reason this site exists!

I’d also toss a shout out to all of the various G.I. Joe creators I’ve met and interacted with over the years.  Without each of your unique talents and vision, the brand that we know today wouldn’t exist.  I know I’m going to miss a plenty of names but to folks like Larry Hama, Kirk Bozigian, Chuck Dixon, Buzz Dixon, Ron Wagner, Herb Trimpe, Brandon Jerwa, Josh Blaylock, Mike O’Sullivan, Ron Rudat, the late Don Levine, the crew from Boss Fight Studio, and others– thank you for your vision, creativity, and perseverance. Sure, Joe seems to have fallen on some hard time lately but the vibrant fandom is keeping the memory of “Man of Action” and “Real American Hero” alive today.

Also, to all of the friends that I’ve made through this hobby, just a quick note of thanks.  I won’t list all of you but I just wanted to say thanks for the support and the acknowledgement that “JBL is still there!”

Lastly, to the men and women of our Armed Forces, I’d like to say thank you.  Past and present, you are truly the REAL American Heroes!

May you all enjoy a blessed day!

Plus, check back next week as we round out the 50th Anniversary Reviews!

JBL Thanksgiving

JoeBattlelines Turns 11 Years Old!

JoeBattlelines birthday

 

Today is JoeBattlelines.com’s 11th anniversary of going online!

It was 11 years ago today that the domain “JoeBattlelines” was registered with Network Solutions and that Sgt.Savage.com officially changed hands.  Who knew that a simple offer of help with a website would result in over a decade of being a website admin?  In internet terms, eleven years makes both me and this site practically a fossil!

It was back in 2003 that I reached out to Brian “Savage” Peterson, owner of SgtSavage.com to ask if he could use any help with the website.  The reply I got back wasn’t at all what I expected– he apparently was familiar with my work at the now-defunct RingofCollectors.com and told me that I had 24 hours to come up with a domain name because he was turning the keys of the site over to me.  What followed was a hasty brainstorming session with my friend Thad and the result was “JoeBattlelines.com”.  To this day I don’t remember who came up with the name or why– I just remember that this was the best option we had.  (Back in the day you couldn’t use “G.I. Joe” or any Hasbro copyrighted term in your site name w/o express permission.)

It was a real learning curve experience for me.  I’d only helped create content for websites before but any experience that I had in managing the “behind the scenes” technical aspects of a site was entirely self-taught.  Heck, JBL’s oldest archived design was created by Brian Savage Peterson!

I won’t lie to you– the site isn’t nearly as prominent as it once was.  Part of this is due to the shifting patterns of the fandom, first toward newer website and then to Facebook groups.  There was also a period of burnout that hit this particular site admin starting around November of 2008 which lasted for a few years.  In that time, the site languished as only a ship without a rudder can.  It wasn’t until just a few years ago that I decided to blow the cobwebs off and re-stoke the boilers to build up some steam around here.

If you’re reading this, thanks for sticking with the site.  Thanks for following the topics in the forums, the event coverage, and the rambling reviews of a guy who discovered G.I. Joe back in 1982 and who never lost that love of those Real American Heroes.  Thanks for putting up with an update schedule that can only be described as “inconsistent” at best.  JBL has never been the biggest site, nor has it been the most talked about, or the most promoted, but it’s been here for far longer than I’d ever envisioned and it’ll be around as long as I’m able to keep the lights on.

Happy Independence Day!

Freedom is the Right of All Sentient Beings
JoeBattlelines.com would like to wish everyone a Happy Independence Day!

Today is more than just a day filled with cookouts, days off of work, and fireworks.  For those of us in the United States, it’s the birthday of our nation.  More importantly, it’s the birthday of a nation based upon the principles set out in these words:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Dated “July 4, 1776”, the document quoted above was signed by a group of brave men who sought to free their friends and neighbors from what was then an oppressive government and establish a bold new experiment in representative government. Their actions forever shaped the world and helped create a nation that has forever changed the way people view the notion of “Freedom.”

So, to all who read this– we here at JBL wish you a happy and safe 4th of July.  Whether the time be spent with family, friends, or even in some quiet reflect, take a few moments today to be thankful for the freedoms that you enjoy.

A full copy of the Declaration of Independence may be found here.

The JBL Forums are Back! (Also, Brand New!)

JBL Forums Banner 8

 

The best laid plans of mice and men…

Yesterday, during an attempt to reduce the JBL forums database to a reasonable size (according to our hosting company) I inadvertently wiped out everything.  That’s right– the last nearly 7 years of the current forums were obliterated with a keystroke.

There’s good news, however.  The forums are back!  However, there’s a change.

They’re brand NEW forums.  The old data is gone and that means the old registrations are also gone.  To resume activity on the forums, you’re going to need to re-register.  So, stop on by and join in the rebuilding of the community!

https://joebattlelines.com/phpBB3/index.php

Now I can get back to working on reviews that will post next week!

Well… the JBL Forums Just Got Wiped Out…

homer-simpson-doh

Well, it wasn’t Cobra, the Dreadnoks, Serpentor’s Coil, or even the Fatal Furries that killed the JBL forums.  It wasn’t even an outside hacker or malicious attack.

Nope, it was a well-intended admin who had received a “database size exceeded” notice from his hosting company.

This morning about 11:00am CST while doing some maintenance I accidentally wiped out the database containing the JBL forums.  That’s right– the entire forums.  Every post, every poll, and every member from the last 7 years was erased in one quick keystroke.  There is no backup, there is no turning back.

What does this mean going forward for the individuals who still used the forums?  Well, it looks like I’ll be doing some rebuilding over the next few hours.  I can put the structure back as closely as I can but the content will be gone.  However, this is where you come in.

Let’s face it– the forums have been wiped out before.  When we left EZboard and merged with the now-defunct RingofCollectors.com, the forums were rebuilt.  When our database crashed after that, they were rebuilt.  From the ashes of the old can arise the new– but only if people want it to.  Once the new forums are rebuilt, stop on by.  Register an account and post something.  Start a topic, post a custom, create a poll– whatever you feel like.  This is a chance to build something new from the ashes of something that had become a bit of a dinosaur.

Keep your eyes peeled both here and on our Facebook page– that’s where the announcement that the new forums are LIVE will go up.  Until then, all I can say is “Sorry gang… I’ll fix it.”

So What’s Up With the JBL Forums?

 

forums update

 

“So, what’s the deal with the JBL forums, Mainframe?!!”

That’s a question that some of you might be asking after an earlier post teased that the forums were getting an update.  There is some news on that forums update– some good and some bad so I’ll break it down as follows:

  • The forums are updated and functional for all registered users.
  • Registration, however, isn’t quite working for new members.

In a nutshell, the current iteration of JBL’s forums is approaching its seventh birthday.  That’s right– there are nearly seven years worth of posts, registrations, uploads, attachments, etc cluttering the database.  Our hosting company, GoDaddy, has informed me that the database is a larger than it should be by nearly a factor of 150%!  This meant that the forums needed some serious attention– something that they’ve not seen in an administrative sense for a long time.

After a few hours work, the database has been pared down somewhat but there is still more work to do on the back end.  However, for anyone who has previously registered on the site, the old forums are back in business.  This means that anyone who has posted to JBL in the past 6+ years should be able to log in use the old site just like they used to.

It’s a fact that the forums traffic has dwindled in the past two years.  Much of that came from the hiatus of the site admin (namely me) from the hobby failing to generate new content to the site.  Further attrition is probably due to the ups and downs of the brand over the past few years as well as the rise of social media sites like Facebook.  Let’s face it– the advent of Facebook groups means that just about anyone can set up a group, invite their friends, and start posting.  Plus, the average net users spends over 10% of their daily time on the net on Facebook.

The point is– the JBL forums are still open for business.  If you’re so inclined to log back in, poke around, and discuss the world’s greatest toy line we’ve left the lights on for you.  So, why not stop on in and check them out once more?  You might just enjoy yourself.  (In the meantime, I’ve got to get the user registration settings fixed!)

https://joebattlelines.com/phpBB3/index.php