Tall tales of the backyard Adventurer

Update: October 12, 2021

The following photo-stories entitled: Phantoms in the mist and The Titans awaken feature several alternate Adventure Teams who discover a threat (in the first story) and join forces to face it head on as a unified front (in the second story).

Update: September 20, 2020

This alternate reality story features the Adventure League beginning where Hunting Trip ended and is entitled: Scavenger Hunt.

Update: August 22, 2020

Another alternate reality story with the Adventure Corps, this time, entitled; Hunting Trip. 

Update: June 28, 2020

We're back with Adventure Team Canada (Reborn), in a photo-story entitled: Peril of the runaway dinosaur, where the whole team are hunting the allosaurus that nearly killed Forester, in Dinosaur Hunt. 

Update: June 2, 2020

Here's a first alternate reality photo-story featuring exclusively the Adventure League and entitled: The Valley Beyond Time.

Update:  May 28, 2020

I just uploaded this first alternate reality photo-story of the Adventure Force: Manhunt. I'll make more with the team from that reality as well as that of the Adventure League's.

Update: April 22, 2020

I just finished this new multi-verse photo-story: Reassignment which follows Death Traps and further presents alternate Adventure Teams from other realities, such as the Adventure League with a giant mech and the Adventure Force. This hobby is really helping me cope with the Covid-19 pandemic situation and losing my job as of next week.

Update: February 15, 2020

This new photo-story: Multiple Death Traps follows Multiple Confrontation and further explores some of the new developments with characters introduced in Back in Action.

Update: December 7, 2019

I just posted this new photo-story: Multiple Confrontations that follows Back in Action and introduces my own take on the alternate realities concept. 

Below are links to different timelines of the adventures of Adventure Team Canada in chronological order as I've created those photo-stories so far. At first I didn't have a specific plan for the photo stories aside from coming up with individual stories for fun using G.I.Joe Adventure Team action figures. Later, I began to come up with gradually more elaborate story lines that started to link together. I tried to incorporate the first stories within that new developing direction I was now on. So, for the fun of it, click on each link to view the photo stories timelines:

Update: November 3, 2019

I just put together a photo-story entitled: Back in Action, which brings back characters that appeared in Mission in Action and introduces some new ones.

Update: July 26, 2019

Here is a fun little story near a river close to home, that I'm using as a "swamp", entitled: Swamp of Doom.

Update: July 12, 2019

I just finished putting together another photo-story: Land of the Giants. Which features Scout on an unexpected adventure in another quantum reality.

Update: July 1, 2019

Happy Canada Day! I've just managed to complete this photo-story yesterday and post it this morning: Search for the Lost Idol. I took the pictures in Mont-Rigaud near my home a few weeks ago.

Update: April 6, 2019

This new story: Outpost 54 is related to the comment Kinahan made in Missing in Action.

Update: March 5, 2019

Here's a new one that takes place just before The Scorpion's Deadly Sting: Missing in action It explains why we don't see Ranger, Duststorm and Eclipse in later stories, but they may be back at some point.

Update: January 26, 2019

This story takes place right before "Changing of the Guards" which becomes the last story during the time of the old commander: The calm before the storm

Update: December 9, 2018

I wanted to introduce some characters and intrigues that are seen later and have a fun little story with my Godzilla puppet that make such a great monster for my 1:6 scale figures to fight : Night Terrors.

Update: October 6, 2018

Here is the first of the adventures of Scout, Adventuress and Forester exploring other dimensions: The Ghost Dimension Mystery.

Update: September 15, 2018

I just finished the second photo story I took the pictures for in my mother in law's front yard during our summer vacation in Nova Scotia: The Cyclop's Pet I didn't plan that one, but made it on the spot, after I bought a Rampage toy set on sale at Walmart that week in Truro, that I found by accident.

Update: September 9, 2018

The high heat and humidity seems to have finally receded out here, a week after my kids have started back school. I'm glad, since they don't have AC or much ventilation in their schools. I took the opportunity to complete this photo-story: "The Scorpion's Venom", while my wife was off doing her second Spartan Trifecta and I was home alone with the kids.I got two more to complete and post in the next couple of months, but probably earlier.

Update: August 22, 2018

Despite the severe heat and humidity we've had out here for a month and a half, I managed to take some fun pictures for a story in the desert with dinosaurs entitled: "The Death Valley Mystery". I enjoyed putting that one together a lot.

Update: July 1st, 2018 

Happy Canada Day! Hotter than it's been in the last few years, unfortunately. 35 degrees Celsius, 46 degrees with the high humidity index. We don't have a pool and with my daughter's asthma, we just stayed indoors with our one air conditioning unit at the highest setting, unable to cope, and a couple of fans going at maximum. Ate a cold chicken Caesar salad for supper the night before and waffles on Canada day (with Tim Horton's doughnuts), so as not to heat up the kitchen. It's actually Monday morning, July second, as I'm writing this, but I wanted to finish yesterday on Canada Day, so close enough. So here's my latest photo story, made with pictures I took in the yard earlier this spring after the leaves all came out in May: Attack of the Automatons. It was a lot of fun to do. Take a look.

Update: June 28, 2018

Here is the last confrontation with the Iron Phantom. It's my longest photo-story yet. The longest so far was the Scorpion's deadly sting with 291 pictures, but this one ended up with 316 pictures. Couldn't help it, with so many characters and locations. Go and have a look: Phantom Threat

Update: March 26, 2018

One more photo-story, a short one this time, but I'm working on a big story featuring a last confrontation with the Iron Phantom's forces. I'm planning to finish it before summer, if I find the time. In the meantime you can look at this on: Phantom Recon.

Update: January 12, 2018 Happy New Year!

I've just uploaded my latest photo-story entitled: Dinosaur Hunt, with pictures I took in September.  It's set right after, or rather simultaneously with Search for the Golden Dragon.

Update: December 16, 2017

I've just completed two photo-stories featuring adventures during the time of the first Adventure Team Canada Commander, that are reminiscent of the G.I.Joe Secret Mission to Spy Island play set I had gotten for one of my birthdays as a kid. I wanted to do both versions; the one with the black outfit Expedition to the Mysterious Island (the set I got and played with as a kid with my bearded G.I.Joe from the Secret of the mummy's tomb, that I'd gotten for a birthday a year or so earlier) and one with the camouflage outfit (earlier version featured in the mini comic book that came with the set) Spy Island Mystery. Check it out, they're fun short little stories that fit in my Adventure Team Canada story arch.

Update: November 25 - Happy Thanksgiving America!

I just posted my latest photo story entitled Search for the Golden Dragon and I also reconfigured this homepage, to reduce the size of it, since, even in low resolution, all the pictures with links to all the stories in chronological order further below, were becoming too large in size. Now you can click on each timeline (First Commander, New Commander, Afterwards and the New Team) so that you can view each timeline in chronological order but not from the same page, as to reduce the size of this welcome page to my blog.

Update: November 11 - Celebrate our heroes on Veterans Day

I posted a new story the day after Veteran's Day entitled The Sea Serpent Mystery, that let me reminisce on my Secret Mission to Spy Island G.I.Joe play set that I got as a child. Unfortunately I didn't keep any of my old G.I.Joe Adventure Team figures, equipment, vehicles, outfits and accessories, except my very first G.I.Joe figure that came with the Adventure Team vehicle in the Secret of the mummy's tomb. This little story was fun to do by the river in a park near home and I took pictures for two other stories I intend to put together this winter.

Update: October 8, 2017 - Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

I've just completed this photo-story entitled: Return to Phantom Island. I've been working on that one this summer along with several others that I hope to finish before winter. It follows Operation Phantom Island and further presents the new reconstituted Adventure Team Canada.

Update: July 8, 2017

 I've finally put together a photo-story I wanted to do for a while: A day at the office. It's a story where we see Earth Adventurer interact with two colleagues that he would later bring into the folds of Adventure Team Canada in "Changing of the guards".

Update: May 15, 2017

Here is another cross-over photo-story with both the Adventure Team and G.I.Joe a real American hero, in a story I call: The Dragon and the Cobra. My new job just keeps getting more stressful and complicated, so I really need to kick back on the weekends and have fun with some of these photo-stories to relax and try to cope.

Update: May 5th, 2017

I just finished uploading this latest photo-story; The Ghost Alligator Adventure, that takes place shortly after Earth Adventurer managed to secure funding for the disbanded Adventure Team Canada. I wanted to do another story from before the passing of the old commander. I feel the need to do more of these photo-stories as they help me cope with the excessive stress I'm experiencing at my new job. It's a simple short little story but worth a look, I think.

Update: April 30th, 2017

Take a look at my new photo-story, featuring Snake Eyes, Recondo, Beach Head, Lady Jay and Clutch pitted against Cobra Commander and Destro. The Joes enlist the help of a young Earth Adventurer to help stop Cobra's sinister plan in an adventure I entitled: A snake in the old mine. I managed to take the pictures for this story (and for a couple more) before I started my new job, after being unemployed since Christmas. I have a lot of ideas for other photo-stories that I want to do this summer, so there will be more stories posted before the fall.

Update: March 25th, 2017

Check out this new photo-story, featuring Snake Eyes, Snow Job and Alpine, against Cobra Commander and Destro, while helping out a young Earth Adventurer in the North Pole back in 1985, for a fun and nostalgic adventure I call: Arctic Cobra. I wasn't sure if I would be able to make this photo story this year, since I thought we were done with the snow, but I was wrong. We got 50cm to 70cm (20in to 28in) of snow in Ile-Perrot, Quebec, on March 14 and 15. The temperature remained freezing that week and through the weekend, so I was able to take the pictures in a nearby park that Saturday morning. I'm glad because I'd been wanting to make that photo-story for a while.

Update: March 3rd, 2017

I just finished uploading my second winter photo-story (Hunting the Windigo). I managed to take the pictures for this photo-story before most of the snow we had in the last few weeks melted, regardless of the freezing temperatures we've had in the last few days and that have been forecasted until next week.

Update: February 2017

I managed to make a couple of photo-stories in the last couple of weeks with the generous enough amount of snow we got. I just finished uploading the first of these (Attack of the Abominable Snow Beast) and will upload the other one in the next two weeks.

Update: January 2017

Happy new year! I just finished uploading my latest photo-story; (The Lair of the Cyclops). I took the pictures during the holidays, although it's not a winter story. I used my smartphone to take the pictures as a test, since my old camera gave out last fall.

Update: November 2016

I've just uploaded  one last photo-story before the holidays. If I have my way I'll make a couple in the snow this winter, but I'll have to wait and see how things go. In the meantime, feel free to take a look at this one; (Fallout Mission).

Update: September 2016

I just finished two more photo-stories this weekend; (Time Out) and (Suicide Mission on Terror Island) which are both action stories. Time Out is about time travel set around World War II with the Scorpion, while Suicide Mission on Terror Island pits Scout and several others against the Iron Phantom, who hasn't forgotten their last encounter and intends to get his revenge.

Update: August 2016

I've just finished editing and uploading the latest of my photo stories (Secret Mission to the Lost Outpost) and (The Lost Quest). I have one more to finish editing and uploading and should do so in a week or so. After that I may have a couple more before Christmas and that should be it for 2016.

Update: July 2016

I've finally finished one of four photo stories that I've been working on in the last few months and hope to finish the rest before the fall. It's an action story (Spy Probe Down) and I have two more of those coming up soon along with a dramatic one.

Update: Spring 2016

 I didn't get around updating this welcome page since last year, but I managed to post two stories since The Scorpion's Deadly Sting last summer; Operation Phantom Island and Just like in the good old days. Operation Phantom Island is inspired by the infamous urban legend of the Philadelphia Experiment, that I read about when I was a kid back in the 70, and that I found intriguing. I wanted to do my own version in the context of my Adventure Team Canada photo-stories. Just like in the good old days, is inspired by the myth about the Knights Templar, that some believe could have sailed to America with part of their treasure. I used that idea as a basis for an adventure that would include some flash-backs of Adventure Team Canada's past. 

I have several new stories in preparation, that I intend to finish and upload this summer or this fall at the latest. They follow Operation Phantom Island chronologically and wrap up some of the Adventurers collaboration with Major Jonathan Brave's team. Thanks for looking.

Update: August 2015

I just finished the longest photo-story I ever did. This one ("The Scorpion's deadly sting") features a lot of characters, including the Scorpion himself, with a new host of villains, who survived his last encounter with Scout, Captain McCarthy and his new band of mercenaries, the son of Colonel Blake, several adventurers, including Scout, and Major Brave and his team. I enjoyed working on this story, without planning too many special effects shots, but having fun setting up each action scene. I'll probably make another one next summer when I go back with my family to visit my in-laws in Nova Scotia. In the meantime I have a few other stories I need to finish and add to my blog.

Update: April 2015

Here is my latest story, featuring the character of Carl Scout ("Prehistoric Expedition"), and is related  to "Temple of Danger" and "Perilous Journey". I've been having fun with Photoshop and I'm using it to put elements in my pictures that I couldn't before, for lack of resources. However, I still enjoy taking a handful of figures and setting them up outside in a suitable area, without spending lots of hours fidgeting with the pictures later on the computer, so I'll still do some of that. On the other hand, since I took all the pictures for this story during the winter months (and we had a particularly cold winter here in Montreal, going to work in the morning in -25c plus windchill), that I didn't care to take pictures out in the snow, to avoid freezing to death, and took those in the basement with a bunch of rocks, a bag of sand and the magic of Photoshop.

Update: February 2015

I just finished completing three new stories, two of which ("Temple of Danger" & "Perilous Journey") feature a neglected character (Mountaineer) that I always wanted to use more than I had so far. I also managed to make use of some pictures taken during my last summer vacation ("The Initiation") that shows how Scout was brought in by the old Commander who explain why they must recruit new adventurers if the team is to survive.

Update: August 2014

After recently finishing "In the end" which is the last story with an official Adventure Team Canada, I decided to do another one which I intended to call "Loose ends" but changed the title to something a little more fun: "Dinosaur Island", since it goes back to the storyline developed in "Monstrous Adventure" and "Dinosaur Mystery".  I placed it in "Action Stories".

I also just finished uploading the conclusion to that dinosaur storyline with "Time Portal Countdown" which is also placed under "Action Stories" and I hope you enjoy both of them.

Thanks for looking 


New UPDATE: April 2014

My son has decided to make new stories involving his Lego Hero Factory creations and I've  uploaded his three new photo stories this spring, that you may view by going to "My son's photo stories".

Old Joe Adventure Team UPDATE - Happy New Year 2014

I've just finished uploading the new winter photo stories that I've been working on since the Christmas holidays. I always wanted to have some stories in winter, this being the adventures of "Adventure Team Canada" after all, but since I took the pictures for all the previous stories between the end of March 2013 and early November 2013 (exception being the outdoor shots for "Terror of the Sasquatch" taken in May 2012) I didn't have an opportunity to take pictures in the snow until now. I hope you enjoy those new stories. Thanks for looking.


Welcome to my Adventure Team Canada photo story corner/blog entitled “Tall Tales of the Backyard Adventurer”.

Since I have nothing but good happy memories related to playing with my old Adventure Team G.I.Joe, I decided to do this for my own entertainment and yours, hopefully, as a way to relax and forget about everyday issues, among other things.

I’ve published my own comics and been published sporadically in collective prozines and a local newspaper for the last three decades now, but I just don’t really have the time to work on projects like that lately with two young children and a full time job. I was also making home videos with friends based on my comics back in the nineties, but that also was time consuming, and free time is not something I have aplenty anymore. Doing this little project is more feasible because, if I have a free evening or afternoon, I can just grab a few figures, some cardboard sets and accessories, take a bunch of pictures, based on a script I’ve written during my lunch breaks, and have a photo story nearly ready to upload here.

I will post more photo stories as I make them, so if you like this you may want to check occasionally for new stories. I hope you enjoy checking out this project. Thanks for looking.