I know there has been a lot of recent discussion about the G.I. Joe Collectors’ Club newsletter, especially with the announcement of Dial Tone as the 2011 incentive figure. Well, in my mind, even if many fans weren’t wild about Dial Tone, the newsletter is still a pretty cool commodity, and John Warden is a big reason why.
Warden is the lead designer on the G.I. Joe line these days and has a deep impact on the figures you see on store shelves, and over the past few months, he’s contributed to the newsletter with some fantastic articles about recent figures. He’s already spoken about the SDCC Exclusive Sgt. Slaughter, the upcoming Wave 3 Snake Eyes, and this month, he talks at great length about the awesome Jungle-Viper. Some of the insights are fantastic.
He mentions that he came up with the figure in a dream, and immediately sketched the basic idea, and yes, the Cobra Night-Vipers were a very strong influence on the overall design. The red dots scattered throughout his optical “ghille suit” are actually miniature cameras, which give him a great view around him and “eyes in the back of his head”.
Speaking of eyes, many Joe fans have wondered why Jungle Viper’s eyes are white…according to John Warden, the “…eyes are a ghostly white, a side effect from relying on the optics for sight for months on end.”
Insight like this is awesome, and really makes for an interesting read. The details I mentioned above are just scratching the surface…there are three whole pages of text and great pre-production images that answer a LOT of fan questions about this character…and it sounds like there is plenty more to come! If you like what you hear, hit up GIJoeClub.com and join up! It’s worth it.
Yes. Honestly, this is the first of these articles with Warden I’ve read, and it made me even more stoked about the JV. Now I’ll go back and read the other two.
It would’ve been nice if some of that info had gone into the file card. Remember when file cards were actually worth reading?
“Remember when file cards were actually worth reading?”
What is this joyous time you speak of/ You mean to tell me there was time when filecards were well written and fans would want to cut them out and collect??
Oh WHEN were we EXILED from this Eden and cast out into this cruel existence where file cards don’t give us insight into a character? OH GOD what have we done to offend you??!!
*”What is this joyous time you speak of/ You mean to tell me there was time when filecards were well written and fans would want to cut them out and collect??
Oh WHEN were we EXILED from this Eden and cast out into this cruel existence where file cards don’t give us insight into a character? OH GOD what have we done to offend you??!!”
That was about the time the filecards just basically give you a laundry list of extraneous chatter to make it seem like you are being told anything about the character, such as what he wears or what equipment comes with him for his “mission”. You know, back before the one dimensional aspects of the RoC filecards which SAY very little and yet tell you a whole lot of NOTHING.
What is worse, since RoC and even with PoC, they tell you zero about the actual character’s (brief) history, what got him/her into his branch of service and ultimately on the Joe team, why he is the best at what he does and why the Joes really need him (even if they don’t, as in the case of Scoop or the Ice Cream Soldier, for example). Now, we get nothing of significance to offer any real insight into the character’s character, not even a quote.
Basically, we now have the pre-school filecards with important sounding items, yet are very elementary and basic, just read Tornado Kick Snake Eyes’ filecard and see for yourself. At least the old cards prior to RoC offered some entertainment, even if they weren’t heavy reading.
That help you Eduardo?
Ah, yes, anyway, the Jungle Viper info sounds very cool. Although I still don’t care for the look of flabby Sarge vs. muscled cartoon version, which was quintessential Sarge, IMO.
Incidentally, is the newsletter available online or something with the free membership, or do you have to pony up the dough to get access to those articles?