By AUDREY PARENTESTAFF WRITER
When a generation-old ninja toy named Snake Eyes comes to life on the big screen in the new movie "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" opening at local theaters on Friday, Tim Vester hopes the role model rises to his expectations.
The combat character is among thousands of G.I. Joe team-member action figures and related items the 36-year-old has collected and displays in his rented bedroom. Some are in boxes, or jammed into his closet.
But the toy U.S. Army Drill Sergeant -- whose back-story has given the Seabreeze High School graduate hope and motivation since his youth -- has been the Port Orange man's idol for about 18 years.
"I see myself closest to Snake Eyes because his parents died, and my parents are deceased -- my pops had a heart attack when I was 12 and my mom died when I was 18," said Vester, who bears a matching tattoo to the fictional fighter. "No matter how hard things get, Snake Eyes keeps struggling, and so do I."
Vester, a food plater at a Red Lobster restaurant, began collecting
G.I. Joe figures at 8 during the late 1970s, more than 10 years after
they were introduced by the Hassenfeld Brothers (Hasbro) toy company.
"I think the first one I got was in third or fourth grade. The first figure was Grunt -- that was the figure's code name. I still have all my original 12 in a collector's case," said Vester, a Washington, D.C., native who moved to Ormond Beach when his parents bought Desert Isle Hotel. "I got them for Christmas and birthdays. Sometimes we went shopping and picked them up. If I was good in school, mom would say, 'Here, pick a hand,' and there would be a figure."
As a boy, the toys provided "escape time," but by high school the focus changed to snagging special issues and one-of-a-kind editions, some of which he acquired by buying displays during a stint working for Toys R Us.
There are at least 46 styles of Snake Eyes figures, some with and some without swivel arms, according to collectors' blogs and eBay listings. Plus, there are comics and animation. All show the ninja character as a quiet, quick and loyal member of the Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, and a Vietnam War veteran whose parents were killed by a drunk driver before he made it home from combat.
But G.I. Joe figures are timeless. In the upcoming movie, the adult
Snake Eyes character -- played by Ray Park (Toad in "X-Men" and Darth
Maul in "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace") -- joins a G.I. Joe
team equipped with next-generation high-tech spy and military
equipment. The team fights a corrupt arms dealer and growing terrorist
menace that threatens to plunge the world into chaos.
Vester's high school friend, Shane Brayla, 34, of Deltona said collecting G.I. Joe figures is a shared obsession that cemented their longtime friendship.
"We would set them up like a giant battle going on, but we never really played with them," Brayla said. "He has bought a large chunk of my collection, although I now have actually turned my 7-year-old daughter Marah onto collecting. She's taking me to the movie for my birthday."
In fact, Brayla said, he expects he and his daughter will probably go to the new movie with Vester, since Marah's mom isn't into the whole G.I. Joe thing.
"We go to conventions, and I give him (Vester) things to try to sell for me," Brayla said. That happens every six months or so, said Vester. He keeps track of the re-release figures and watches for deals on the old ones, like the table-sized U.S.S. Flagg aircraft carrier that takes up most of one corner of his bedroom, easily worth $300 or $400, he said, for which he paid $180. Most of his original toys, some of which are displayed on the carrier, were purchased for less than $3. Those with all their gear are worth about $35, he said.
"If you have Stalker in the package, he's $100 to $200," he said.
Vester has a cell phone, a TV, a vehicle and a bicycle he rides when the vehicle breaks down. He doesn't have a computer -- yet -- but hopes to get one soon so he can play the new movie-related G.I. Joe games scheduled for release. Vester doesn't for a minute think he'll become the 40-year-old-virgin-type character from a movie of a similar name, where a collector gets the girl. But he did complain he lost his girlfriend because of his obsession. He has his own idea of how it will end.
"I would like to open a museum/store. I think I have more G.I. Joes than Toys R Us," Vester said.
"And I went to Phillips Junior College and Keiser College (now University) for film and video, and one of my goals is to make a movie with all of my figures," he said. "I just need to get a computer and the editing equipment."
"I think the first one I got was in third or fourth grade. The first figure was Grunt -- that was the figure's code name. I still have all my original 12 in a collector's case," said Vester, a Washington, D.C., native who moved to Ormond Beach when his parents bought Desert Isle Hotel. "I got them for Christmas and birthdays. Sometimes we went shopping and picked them up. If I was good in school, mom would say, 'Here, pick a hand,' and there would be a figure."
As a boy, the toys provided "escape time," but by high school the focus changed to snagging special issues and one-of-a-kind editions, some of which he acquired by buying displays during a stint working for Toys R Us.
There are at least 46 styles of Snake Eyes figures, some with and some without swivel arms, according to collectors' blogs and eBay listings. Plus, there are comics and animation. All show the ninja character as a quiet, quick and loyal member of the Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, and a Vietnam War veteran whose parents were killed by a drunk driver before he made it home from combat.
But G.I. Joe figures are timeless. In the upcoming movie, the adult
Snake Eyes character -- played by Ray Park (Toad in "X-Men" and Darth
Maul in "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace") -- joins a G.I. Joe
team equipped with next-generation high-tech spy and military
equipment. The team fights a corrupt arms dealer and growing terrorist
menace that threatens to plunge the world into chaos. Vester's high school friend, Shane Brayla, 34, of Deltona said collecting G.I. Joe figures is a shared obsession that cemented their longtime friendship.
"We would set them up like a giant battle going on, but we never really played with them," Brayla said. "He has bought a large chunk of my collection, although I now have actually turned my 7-year-old daughter Marah onto collecting. She's taking me to the movie for my birthday."
In fact, Brayla said, he expects he and his daughter will probably go to the new movie with Vester, since Marah's mom isn't into the whole G.I. Joe thing.
"We go to conventions, and I give him (Vester) things to try to sell for me," Brayla said. That happens every six months or so, said Vester. He keeps track of the re-release figures and watches for deals on the old ones, like the table-sized U.S.S. Flagg aircraft carrier that takes up most of one corner of his bedroom, easily worth $300 or $400, he said, for which he paid $180. Most of his original toys, some of which are displayed on the carrier, were purchased for less than $3. Those with all their gear are worth about $35, he said.
"If you have Stalker in the package, he's $100 to $200," he said.
Vester has a cell phone, a TV, a vehicle and a bicycle he rides when the vehicle breaks down. He doesn't have a computer -- yet -- but hopes to get one soon so he can play the new movie-related G.I. Joe games scheduled for release. Vester doesn't for a minute think he'll become the 40-year-old-virgin-type character from a movie of a similar name, where a collector gets the girl. But he did complain he lost his girlfriend because of his obsession. He has his own idea of how it will end.
"I would like to open a museum/store. I think I have more G.I. Joes than Toys R Us," Vester said.
"And I went to Phillips Junior College and Keiser College (now University) for film and video, and one of my goals is to make a movie with all of my figures," he said. "I just need to get a computer and the editing equipment."
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