Straight from the floor at Toy Fair, 2014, Bloomberg Television sat down with Vice President and G.I. Joe historian Derryl DePriest to talk about G.I. Joe’s history and it’s present incarnation.
I’ll be honest, it’s not a softball interview. The host asks some hard questions about G.I. Joe’s military ties, about the role model it sets for boys, and about what the brand is doing to innovate, and to his credit, DePriest answers those questions, but quite artfully.
I find a lot of these interviews to be somewhat “more of the same” but this one stood out…it’s a good five minute watch, check it out.
G.I. Joe fans everywhere had been jumping up and down waiting for the reveal of the 2014 G.I. Joe Convention Toxo-Zombie, and now that they have it, we’re getting a second helping of detail in the form of an awesome control drawing by the designers Boss Fight Studio.
I suspect yesterday’s image was a Photoshop mock up, and I cannot wait to see this head sculpt live and in person. Until then, check out the amazing art below. If you like what you see, make sure you hit up Boss Fight on Facebook and give ’em a Like.
I will admit, I’ve been waiting for the Toxo Zombie with some trepidation.
At this point I’ll act like a big ole hipster and say “I liked Zombies before they were cool”… but I actually have proof! I have about 10 vintage Toxo Zombies as a little undead squad, and back in the 90s I thought those guys were pretty bad ass, even if they were pink and neon green.
For that reason, I must admit I was taken aback by the concept case presentation of the Toxo Zombie. By and large the concept case in New Orleans was mind blowing stuff, but the Toxo Zombie, was… well… kinda blah. I think some folks were nervous that the Collectors Club would try to replicate that with this figure (myself included).
Thankfully that’s not the case! They went all out with this one, leveraging the skills of the awesome folks at Boss Fight Studios to generate some great new parts and make it awesomely vintage. That new “battle damaged” head sculpt is terrific, and I kind of like that they went with the same colors as the Toxo Viper’s uniform rather than the bleached out colors of the vintage version. I am in LOVE with this thing.
Check out the full details on GIJoeCon.com and also see the mirrored images below. Down to Repulsor and Dawg (as well as Clean Sweep’s face)! Looking forward to seeing how this set rounds off.
Now that may not make a whole lot of sense on its own, but when you consider that Cobra Troopers who are “bad” at their jobs are transferred to the Toxo Viper corps, it sounds like we just might be getting a peek at a Toxo Zombie today!
Of course, the last time I assumed this was happening, it didn’t exactly turn out that way, but fingers crossed that I’m right this time.
That would leave just Repulsor, Dawg, and Clean Sweep’s big melon as the last three items to see… Registration time GOOOOOO.
Oreobuilder has been doing simply amazing things over the past several months. Even if you somehow missed his fantastic work on “Battle Corps” month last year, I think his spectacular job on his tribute to G.I. Joe’s 50th Anniversary most likely got your attention. I’ve actually seen many folks saying that Oreobuilder’s tribute was far more fitting to G.I. Joe’s legacy than Hasbro’s own offerings at Toy Fair, and it would be tough to disagree with that.
Well, now he’s taken things even one step further, and working alongside long time Joe Customizer Bucky, they are tackling something near and dear to my heart. The new sculpt era!
I was a huge supporter of the G.I. Joe era from 2002 – 2005 and have often reminisced about how great the coalescence between direct to DVD films, comics, and the toyline was back then, and that Hasbro was actually charting new territory and weaving new stories. The designs for many of those new sculpt figures were terrific, unfortunately the execution was just not quite there. Whether that was due to technology or desired format still isn’t really clear, but what is clear is that many of the new sculpt figures would greatly benefit from modern era treatment. Over on OreoBuilder’s blog he is already hip deep in the project and has already given some new sculpt figures fantastic overhauls in the more modern style. Agent Faces? I mean, come on! That stuff is gold.
Make sure you book mark and visit often, as we’re sure to see plenty of updates and check some of the past work while you’re at it. I’ve mirrored a couple of images below.
