In Part One, Tim flew to Atlanta and realized that attending this show wasn’t a mistake, and in Part Two, Tim chatted with people, attended panels, and heard rock music. Read on for Part Three, and click to enlarge photos!
Sunday
Jogged, and again inspected the weird no man’s land of the office park next door. Looking across the street, I saw this tall sewer drain. Do you see what I see?
Oh, maybe you see this.
Oh, is the highest grossing film of 1983 not on your mind? Maybe you see this:
Alright, let’s get back to the world of G.I. Joe. Had breakfast, and headed over to the con area. I wanted to talk with the Maker Guys. Their tables were just outside the door to the exhibit hall, but still very much a part of the convention.
The Maker Guys are three friends who live somewhat near each other, and who all produce toy related objects. Two of them had been on the Friday State of the Hobby panel. And at this con and I think some others, they get together to sell their wares, give demos, and answer questions. But the feeling is less the former and much more the latter two, that this is about encouraging people, demystifying the process, explaining materials, and making making seem possible.
Steve Bugg was selling items from his vacuform, and was happy to demo:
I’m not a 3-D guy, so I’m occasionally fascinated with physical 3-D making processes. These reminded me of old school Halloween masks.
While I’m not a Bulletman fan, I couldn’t help but want to pick up a spray painted, plastic Bulletman mask. And here is Bugg’s homemade vacuform. The holes are where air is sucked downward. Bugg lays a flat sheet of plastic (not in place here, but you can see a stack on the left) over his form, in this case, something carved to look like a brick wall, and presses down on the flat metal piece to keep it all in place.
Turns it on, waits, turns it off, lifts up the metal piece, and here’s the copy form, ready for trimming and painting:
Next to Bugg was Clay Sayre. His set-up was different, but also involved background and diorama pieces. Here in the center (look between the “10”s) is a heated wire, ready for cutting:
It stays in place, while Sayre navigates a piece of foam — just a junk castoff to demo for my photo — across it.
With larger pieces and a plan in mind, plus glue and paint, Sayre had assembled this bit of backdrop, in front of which I could imagine a desert camo G.I. Joe, a Mandalorian, or a Fred Flintstone figure:
The third Maker Guy was Buddy Finethy (appearing in Part Two of this report), who wasn’t with Bugg and Sayre when I stopped by, and who I saw walking around the con, chatting with attendees and dealers throughout the weekend, so I imagined he had more organizer duties.
Inside the panel room it was time to inspect a few tables I hadn’t gotten to, like Cotswold Collectibles. I think part of why Costwold has been off my radar, besides the fact that I don’t collect 12-inch figures, is that its website is not a variation of “Cotswold Collectibles dot com,” but rather gijoeelite.com. That’s because the company has its own brand, Elite Brigade. Cotswold, in the late ’80s, discovered a cache of vintage Action Man Joe parts in Uruguay, and started manufacturing and selling 12-inch accessories, then bodies and heads, and then outfits. That is notably before Hasbro brought back the 12-inch scale during the heyday of ’80s/’90s Real American Hero.
Here’s some of Cotswold’s spread:
I sat with Greg Brown behind his table and we talked about his business. Brown worked for Cotswold Collectibles, and later bought the company. He mused how much things have changed in a few decades as fans-turned-entrepreneurs have turned their passions into saleable products, and what is made possible with the global economy. This felt like he talking both about his company, and also the fan community around JoeLanta/ToyLanta. As an example, he pointed out this:
Martial arts guy in yellow — Cotswold makes this Elite Brigade body in China and wholesales it to Grungatoys, which is based in Brazil and owned by a Japanese guy there. Grungatoys, in turn, manufactures the head and the costume for sale in Brazil and as wholesale back to Cotswold for the US market. Amazing!
Here’s Greg Brown, owner of Cotswold Collectibles, and co-dealer Keith Holmes (with whom I had had dinner and to whom I had shown my book Friday):
My Sunday morning was more relaxed than the final day of the previous Joe conventions I had attended, because there was more breathing room due to a later airline departure time. I didn’t have to rush through breakfast, and had an open stretch to take photos, talk a bit with some of the vendors, and shop for podcast-Talking Joe host/producer Mark.
All throughout JoeLanta I was feeling not just like a book author doing research and networking, but also a journalist, that what I saw and who I interacted with would end up here on the blog. And at this show and the last one or two I’ve been a little more interested in not just photographing close-ups of toys, but a few dealers in front of their tables, like taking portraits. So below is a little of that.
This dealer had some new G.I. Joe Classified toys, which continued my “will I or won’t I?” with the Alley Viper.
This dealer was in one of the two side rooms. I wondered how foot traffic was there. I believe I overheard him later saying to Finethy it had been a good show.
Note the Super Shogun Optimus Prime above on the far left, and pictured prominently below. I had forgotten that existed, a funny “crossover” of Transformers into the format of another toy line.
These dealers had a brick and mortar store in Macon, Georgia, called Dragon Layers. You might think there are only two people pictured, but in fact there are three.
Nearby, a different dealer was selling Super Ninja mint on card from Chuck Norris and his Karate Kommandoes and I was slightly tempted. My wife and I occasionally watch an episode of the show, and I love it as an alternate reality animated G.I. Joe. But as I’ve written before here, I’m pretty much out of toy buying, my modest collection somewhat frozen at around 2005 or 2015, as my interests shifted to comic art and toy pre-production paperwork. And writing this darn book!
In the corner of the main room, I was fascinated by this big Barbie display. With the hit Barbie motion picture in theaters, would more people be buying dolls at cons this summer? Had this dealer brought this spread because of the Barbie movie? And in general, what are the counter-programming choices a dealer makes for a con? That is, what non-G.I. Joe toys might a dealer have at a G.I. Joe convention? Transformers, Marvel, and Star Wars make a lot of sense. Power Rangers feels like a step more daring or risky. Barbie even moreso. But you never know who might show up, or who might show up with an attendee, a friend or family member who’s not there to buy Joe toys.
These next two would have been of no interest to me at my first toy shows, a beaten-up box and something a full generation previous to me. But now I see them differently. For this first one, a reminder that this is a drawing, that someone drew this, and stipled all that ink or applied all that mechanical tone, and yes, absolutely, this is from a photo and is supposed to look that way.
And for this one, I’m struck by the gorgeous graphic design on the left, the bold fonts and color choices, the simple line art under the words, and the pasty color-photography-reproduction-wasn’t-so-great-back-then on the right.
Also, my brother had a small Dukes of Hazzard electric racing set around 1982, so it’s fun to compare — this one pictured here is a) older, b) bigger, c) more complex, d) has more cars, e) has two brothers in it!
And a little of my wanting to capture “portraits” of a few dealers with their wares was to limit the decontextualization of close-up shots of toys for sale. Like I wrote in my JoeFest report, it’s hard to know what toys to photograph. At a Joe con, that’s probably mostly Joe toys. But to take it all in, to shoot from 10 or 20 feet away, is to create a busy composition of tiny bits that becomes nearly indecipherable. And to shoot a close-up on a single toy (as I tend to do), does focus us on one or two elements — the logo, the painting, the sculpt and paint of a face, the silly proportions of a body — but it also loses the human element — who brought this here? What is the character of their dealer table? Are they selling mostly pricey mint stuff? Is their set-up fancy, with glass cases? Is there a mix of junky and pristine? Is there a mix of Joe and non-Joe toys? Is there a variety of American and foreign? Old and new?
I think what I’m realizing, as I recall informally shooting some weddings and friend parties, and Hub Comics events, is that after I’m done with this book, it might be nice to attend a toy convention just as a photographer, and to catalog the fascinating dealers, professional and amateur, full-time and casual, brick-and-mortar and online-only, there.
One more dealer-with-table. Here’s Big Earl Seegers:
Seegers had tabled at JoeFest two months prior, but I didn’t examine his wares until JoeLanta. Amongst his many Six Million Dollar Man toys were signed Six Million Dollar Man publicity photos. I’m not a Six Million Dollar Man fan, but I appreciate a dealer with such a great spread of merch, that his shirt matches, that his banner is clear and pops, and that he’s there to do one thing and do it well. There wasn’t time, but I wanted to chat with him, and ask something like “What is it about this show that you connect with?” That’s a feeling I know I have when I talk about my book to someone who doesn’t know about G.I. Joe, who casually asks “Oh, is G.I. Joe worth writing a book about?” And I rattle off a list of firsts and bests and historically significant milestones. Because I bet Seegers has a lot to say about Steve Austin. And yes, certainly I also hoped that The Six Million Dollar Headquarters had a good sales weekend or at least a nice social catch-up with friends, because of course the focus of JoeLanta is mostly people buying and selling Joe toys, right?
Back to walking around and tracking the schedule: Oh, there is a panel on Sunday after all? The con schedule had no panels listed. That’s a pleasant surprise.
As I had come to expect, this was a tiny crowd. But I don’t wish that to sound disappointing. First of all, a small show is likely to have small panel turnouts. That’s just math. Also, having taught and presented in classrooms and at conventions and in movie theaters, a lot of it is expectations. I’d much rather present to five people all sitting in the first three rows of a small room than all spread out in a giant one. And I’d rather present to a few people who are actively listening and asking questions than 50 if they’re arriving late and leaving early and looking at their phones. And again, to reiterate a theme of this convention, this was very much a gathering of friends (and a welcoming of new friends), so if the incomparable Steve Bugg is presenting to nine people (plus two that got cropped out past the left edge), and they’re all paying attention, and one is recording it and another is taking notes, why, that feels like a successful panel!
Here’s Steve Bugg:
I mean, look at all that stuff on his table. Don’t you wish you’d been there for this panel?
Back in the exhibit hall, I chatted with Ricky Zero, (reminder: he played music the night before) who it turns out was tabling in the con hall, selling toys. (The above Ewok Village and Torture Track were amongst them.) I asked him about the band’s history and its connection with JoeLanta. Radio Cult was founded in 2005. It has toured all over the States and Europe. Back then, the band was on the road, and did a show in Charleston SC, which presumably went late, or the band members were up late, but Ricky Zero made the band wake up early the next morning so they could drive a great distance and he could attend this G.I. Joe convention he’d heard about, JoeLanta. And the band has played at every JoeLanta and ToyLanta since. In keeping with the rock n’ roll theme, we went with a dramatic photo:
This gent (pictured) and his pal (not pictured) flew from Argentina to attend Power-Con in Ohio for Friday and Saturday, and then they flew here to Georgia on Sunday for the final day of JoeLanta! This answers the unspoken question — could I have attended that other show if JoeLanta turned out to be a dud? I believe he bought a premium figure set from DePriest.
Mike and Glynnis W., who I’d chatted with at breakfast the previous day, approached DePriest’s booth to say goodbye. Mike reminisced about a fellow collector, and how the two of them had installed a pair of large 4-foot by 6-foot dioramas at the Pentagon in… 2002, I think. That sounds great! By comparison, what I was doing in fandom in 2002? Thinking about the final issue of my Transformers fan comic, and attending BotCon, and skipping the “new sculpt” G.I. Joe Vs. Cobra two-packs.
Several hours before the show ended, one dealer cleaned up his wares and left early, leaving an empty table. One of the convention regulars, someone that everyone seemed to know, set up there impromptu, to sell some 12-inch accessories, and a half-dozen attendees and dealers jaunted over to look and shop:
In one of the side rooms there was a dealer with a particularly spectacular object, or should I phrase it “series of objects” for sale. At first glance I thought it was a one of a kind custom piece, something too big for the art contest. But no, you could build one yourself. Starting with the instruction manual, a paperback book:
Do you know Chris Dortch? I don’t, but maybe you do if you follow 3 3/4-inch fan-made accessories.
Taking up a third of this side room was Dortch and his very big, custom USS Flagg, and after you purchased the instructions, you could buy specific pieces to enhance your own Flagg, or sets of them to assemble this custom, larger/more detailed-than-the-Hasbro Flagg!
Oh, hey, an arrester cable! And LED lights!
Here’s the whole set-up. While I’m posting these images to “Sunday,” I took them Saturday, when Dortch’s below-deck lights were out. I was going back to take a few more photos, but he packed up a little early. I regret not being able to show you the rest of this cool piece!
Besides the incredible amount of work and entrepreneurship on display, what also jazzed me about this was that at last, the homemade, 3D-printed spirit so embedded into the 12-inch community here at JoeLanta was now made manifest in the smaller G.I. Joe scale. And as a former kid who never got a Flagg, there was a tiny, tiny part of me that thought “Well, I could start buying these pieces and finally have one, and a better one!”
While walking around taking photos and looking at toys, I realized I’d overstayed my late checkout by one minute. This is not the first time this has happened to me at a Joe convention! Ran to the front desk to apologize and ask for leniency. The hotel employee there was nice, and I headed up to my room to quickly pack. Back in the lobby, I dumped my suitcase behind the front desk.
Chatted more with DePriest. He plays Magic: The Gathering regularly, and then he told me about his ten major collections. I could already guess one was 12-inch G.I. Joe and another was 3 3/4-inch G.I. Joe, but I didn’t know he is a major collector of Disney theme park posters. But not offset printed ones, rather, the earlier silk screened ones. DePriest also showed me photos of how he stores and displays parts of his collections. As I sit in my messy studio room surrounded by little piles of things to scan, and things I’ve scanned that should be filed away, and three-ring binders of Hasbro paperwork and animation history books, I am relieved to know that at least one person out there has a tidy collection room (rooms!) and also, since DePriest sells items on ebay, also deals with some piles and disorganization.
DePriest told me of trip he took to China around 2016 with a few Hasbro employees, and about his LEGO habits, and what cultural institutions he’s most interested in when he travels to a new city. (For my part, I like art museums and comic book stores. Once, while south of San Francisco, my wife and I managed to hit five comic shops in one day. Also, it was my birthday.) Here is a picture of a LEGO brick to break up all these blocks of text.
A few dealers were packing up early, like 1 or 2pm, although the show went ’til 4, and — this is great and a smart hook on the part of the organizers — admission was free for the final two hours. Attention convention organizers: please do that. I’m always a little sad on the final day of a weekend con. You see people with suitcases heading away for the hotel front desk, and fewer attendees in the con room. Sure, a few dealers might have last-day or last-hour discounts, but the energy of the event dissipates.
That this was a small show, I wondered how many people might actually take advantage of the free admission, but also, how would I know if they had just arrived? A gent came up to DePriest at 1:50pm and said he’d just heard about the show and had just driven up from Atlanta. We were tickled that he’d made the trip, but wished he’d arrived ten minutes later!
I headed to Ace Allgood’s table and we chatted about his fall schedule. He and I have an idea to get together so he can photograph a toy or five from his (or someone’s!) collection, for me to use in Chapters 1 and 2 of my book. And we said our goodbyes.
Walked back to DePriest and we said our goodbye. He mentioned the 13-year rule, which is an observation he made about toys, but since that’s kind of his thing, rather than type it out here, I’ll let you ask him in person if you see him at a toy show. I will certainly cite it one day if I’m on a book tour and musing to an audience at a convention appearance or store signing.
My cab was outside waiting, and one last time I was reminded of the warm and humid air in Georgia this time of year.
Wrap-Up
Several people at JoeLanta described and encouraged me to attend the next show, which would be ToyLanta in 7 months; or the next show of a similar ilk, which would be in Kentucky just 5 months from then. I’m not sure if I will, but the feeling of momentum was great, this parallel circuit of G.I. Joe fan shows celebrating both small Joe and large Joe and the modern cottage industry of small batch-made accessories. Were my schedule clear and bank account infinite, of course of would! But there are other trips throughout the year that get booked first, like family gatherings, and Real American Hero!-focused shows like Assembly Required might take precedence. But I noted, several times over the weekend, that I never regret attending a G.I. Joe convention, that it’s always great for networking and momentum. And I kept chuckling at my Friday first impressions of JoeLanta, that I had made a mistake in attending this show where I didn’t know anyone (not true) and no one cared about Real American Hero (not true) and I had nothing to gain from an older demographic celebrating Action Soldier and Adventure Team (not true).
Thanks to Derryl DePriest and Ace Allgood for all the lively conversation, and Greg Brown and Brian Finnethy for lively conversation and a welcoming atmosphere at a lively and fun event.
One last photo. Here’s what I purchased, figures for Mark in the UK, and smaller bits for the vending machine at my shop.
Relive the thrills by reading Part One and Part Two of the A Real American Book! 2023 JoeLanta Report!
Up next: probably some Hasbro toy paperwork from the ’80s!
Then: a toy convention a half mile from my home!
A Real American Book! 