INTRO——
Going into JoeFest, held in Augusta, Georgia, I was excited. This would be my third year, and I had made more friends, so the socializing would be, should be, a little easier and enjoyable. Attendance at 2023’s show was 10,000, and I heard an estimate that 2024 was 12,000. Would this year’s be higher, as more people hear about the show and maybe the Skybound comic books get more people (back) into G.I. Joe? Yes. I don’t have a number, but I do have confirmation that this year’s attendance was over last year’s. Neat.
Also, click any photo to enlarge.
An important context, following up from several Joe cons of the recent past: Aaron Detrick has died. His brick and mortar store, ROMA Collectibles, in Springfield, Ohio, was a destination for many a toy collector heading across the country. It was known for its selection, its clever exclusive merchandise, and the outsize personality of its owner. He, as ROMA, sold at many toy shows. I had only met Detrick briefly two years back, and finally put the two together — this guy with that store that people had talked about. Last year, Detrick was in attendance, but looked a little slim, and had a scooter nearby, and I’m trying to remember, an oxygen tank? Whatever it was, he was sick. In November at Assembly Required, a G.I. Joe convention in Iowa, Detrick and his wife, Sara, renewed their vows in front of a crowd of 200 Joe fans. Officiating was his cousin, Kenny Koepnick, who helps out when ROMA sells at JoeFest, but who works at a different toy store. During that con there was a neat fundraiser, but in January, Detrick lost his fight with cancer.
In all of these convention reports I interrupt myself with photos of toys for sale. This is partly to break up long stretches of text, and also to remind myself what most people are there for: toys. Of course the con hadn’t opened yet, so all these photos are from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, but here are some toys for sale! Remember, click any photo to enlarge, and marvel at my old camera phone.
Ahead of JoeFest 2025, con organizer Ed Schumacher announced that the Lobby Swap (more on that later) would henceforth be called the Aaron Detrick Memorial Lobby Swap. Further, there would be a memorial service for Detrick at JoeFest. I thought of all the people who’d known him for years or decades, fellow con dealers, store owners, collectors, comics readers, who’d drank with him, played pranks on him or been pranked by him, who bought from or sold to him. Of the people who loved him. And from the outpouring on social media when he died, I know that he was loved. I didn’t post anything then because I didn’t much know him and it felt appropriate to let others speak. I’d sent a “get well” card after JoeFest ’24 and at Assembly Required ’24 he came over and noted his appreciation. That was the last (and third) time we spoke.
And there’s another layer here, and that is Gary “Goggles” Head. He was a big Joe fan/collector/investigator, who made a splash in online fandom and at conventions, and then who died too young ten years back. Sometimes at cons you see someone wearing a shirt depicting a pair of goggles, or actual goggles on their head, so you know they knew him. Hasbro named a G.I. Joe figure after him, and Skeletron, a small but potent design and toy company, made a figure that looks like him AND is named after him. (He has goggles. I think I have a photo for Part 3.) If you walk around a G.I. Joe convention, you might see these for sale, so Gary is still present.
All of this is to say that before JoeFest 2025 even started, there was a lot to think about and people to hug. There would be some tears amidst all the buying, selling, and joyous socializing.
And there is much to celebrate! New G.I. Joe comics are great and plenty, so are toys in various sizes and types. G.I. Joe-like toy lines from non-Hasbro entities proliferate. The guest list at this year’s JoeFest was great. And a big stress of last year — two Joe cons in different cities during the same weekend — was fixed. This year’s JoeFest ’25 was June 20th-22th while the DFW (Dallas-Forth Worth) G.I. Joe Action Figure Show falls a week later, June 27th-29th.
Hey, some toys for sale!
LINKS FROM PAST BLOG POSTS——
You’re here to read about JoeFest 2025, but for more on Gary, click here. I skipped walking around town and got right to socializing when I arrived in Augusta, so for more on the downtown around the Marriott from a past year, click here. And for a bit on Detrick’s vow renewal, click here and scroll to the fourth-from-last photo.
THURSDAY——
Dealers tend to drive. They are hauling toys from stores, garages, basements, and storage lockers. I’m in Boston, so I flew. So many minivans, box trucks, and trailers in the vendor parking area!
Upon arriving at the hotel Thursday, the day before the con started, I noted that at 6pm, people were already gathered in the Marriott’s upper lobby. These were all dealers or a few hardcore attendees who are friends with dealers who help them set up. I’m a hardcore attendee of these shows. I’m there to work. I carry around my laptop to show people my book, I might moderate a panel or conduct an interview, take photos for this blog, take notes so I remember what I did, and check in with the guests who I know from my research. I forget there’s a whole ecosystem of casual attendees arriving the next day, who are only here to relax, shop, and have a vacation. Such fans may buy a day pass and not know any of us regulars, not know there even are regulars! But for the regulars, these hangouts are key. Friends who see each other online, who only see each other in person at shows, want to talk, drink, and catch up.
I needed a quick run, and then got to socializing. Funnily enough, folks were already buying and selling. Loose figures in baggies and small vehicles were spread out on a table or two, so 24 hours before the first scheduled Lobby Swap was a Lobby Swap. (Lobby Swap: after the exhibit hall closes, dealers and attendees both may set up toys in the lobby or a hallway to sell. Not as formal as the con itself. Some attendees help pay for their trip this way, or as a way to thin out their collection. Sometimes it’s a person sitting with five toys, other times someone carts in several tupperware bins and you wonder why they’re not official convention exhibitors! Also: Room Trading, or room-to-room trading, wherein someone posts a hotel room number in the elevator, having taped a piece of paper near the buttons, or on a cork board or dry erase board in the lobby with a want list, a selling list, or a room number — this is an invitation to go to that room and shop whatever items are spread out on a bed.) And this is an easy way to make friends, because you’re asking where a seller got something, or where they’re from, of if they have anything else, and they might reciprocate, and then you’re telling them about yourself and getting a deal.
Before I get dinner, hey, toys for sale!
I needed food. I headed downstairs and got the cheese pizza at Augustino’s. It’s one of the more highly rated restaurants in downtown, good Italian food, a pretty good menu. As the hotel bar and restaurant, it serves a vital function, since it’s the closest place to get a drink or a meal. Alexander Murrell walked by, and I waved him over to join me for a bit. He’s in middle school, and the son of podcaster/panel moderator Jason Murrell. They’ve attended many conventions over the years, and Alexander is actually into G.I. Joe, and not just dragged around by his dad. Several of us regulars have seen him grow up, so it’s a little startling, now just seven months since the last con, that he’s a little older and taller, and less of a kid. We talked about school plays.
I said hello to artist John Earl, who liked my Cobrember drawing challenge a few years back, has been drawing ever since, and was a guest this year with his own table. I had barely eaten, so when my pound cake and ice cream arrived before my pizza, I was happy.
I co-host Talking Joe, a weekly podcast on G.I. Joe comic books. Host and mastermind Mark (no last name, any and all references to Mark in these posts are just “Mark.” Any other Mark gets a last name) was already in Augusta.
This would be his second time attending. Last year, he and his fellow English and Irish travelers had flown across the Atlantic, arrived Thursday, and had a tough time adjusting to the time zone. This year, they would arrive two days earlier. Smart! Mark and Simon Goodall joined me at Augustino’s. They told me of flying from Heathrow to Charlotte, driving the three hours to Augusta, trekking to Target for snacks for the weekend, and hitting a great comic book store for G.I. Joe back issues. I zoomed back several years and told them about the early days of taking over Hub Comics, that fun and hectic spring and summer of 2011. I did not get a photo of us, but this photo of the entire Ireland/UK contingent at the same restaurant, having a different meal, can stand in. Left to right: Stefan Brown, Simon Goodall, Chris Desira, Stephen Kelly, and Mark LastName.
Back in the upper lobby, I talked with some con pals. Say, there’s Patrick Stewart! He just read two chapters of my book this past month as proofreader/fact checker!
It had been a long day, so I retired a little early.
Two more toy photos and one cosplayer, both pulled from my Friday/Saturday folders:
And to place this properly in time, since this post is Thursday, and in the timeline the dealers haven’t started loading in yet, here’s Mark’s shot of the con hall the night before:
——-TO BE CONTINUED!
In our next episode, Tim meets up with friends, does not play the G.I. Joe Deck-Building Game even though he lugged the box all the way to Augusta, attends some panels, and allows someone to take a photo of him holding an alcoholic beverage!
[Jump ahead to Friday/Part Two]
A Real American Book! 