Hey, all. Sorry for the delay. End of school and store events. But, hey, G.I. Joe!
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Category Archives: Toys and Toy Art
Kurt Groen’s Cobra Zombie
Filed under G.I. Joe Behind the Scenes, Toys and Toy Art
Toy Trade News – Feb 1982
This industry publication is a fun time capsule because it was published after G.I. Joe debuted at Toy Fair 1982, but before the product really started hitting shelves.
Filed under G.I. Joe Behind the Scenes, Toys and Toy Art
Merrill Hassenfeld Obituary, 1979
Here’s an item that’s a little different than the art artifacts I usually show… Continue reading
Filed under Behind the Scenes, Toys and Toy Art
1992 Duke alternate colors
Here’s Kurt Groen’s presentation art (marker over photocopy, not paint) for 1992 Duke in green, brown, and black, as opposed to the beige and red that made it to market.
What other colors might that trash can have been?
Filed under G.I. Joe Behind the Scenes, Toys and Toy Art
Star Brigade Cobra Commander by Ron Rudat
While Ron Rudat is best known for designing the G.I. Joe figure line (and a few vehicles) from 1981 to about 1987 (for the ’82 to about-the-’88 lines), what’s less well known is that he continued to contribute after that. Case in point, Star Bridgade Cobra Commander. Remember when Cobra Commander was an astronaut? You don’t? Oh, that’s because you perhaps stopped paying attention to the Real American Hero line before its end in 1994. Well, to catch you up, those final two years had a bunch of favorites (Duke, Roadblock, Destro) in astro-gear. And some aliens. (A topic for another day). Anyhoo, full disclosure, I added the color above. Today’s art is a black and white photocopy. Continue reading
Filed under G.I. Joe Behind the Scenes, Toys and Toy Art
Rock & Roll Hasbro development sketch
As I’ve noted here, when R&D was concepting a G.I. Joe figure, that character would go through quite a process. A multitude of pencil sketches, input from other members of R&D, line reviews for higher ups, and even a rendered, full-color painting, all before sculpting commenced. As fun as it is to see proposed designs of toys that didn’t make it, it’s also fun to peak behind the curtain on favorites that did. Like ’89 Rock & Roll here. Continue reading
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G.I. Joe commercials – 1987 Effie award winner
No doubt you’re familiar with the Academy Awards, given to films and film artists, planners, and scientists. Or the Emmys, given for television, or the Grammys and Tonys, for recorded music and Broadway theatre. You’ve maybe heard of the Clios, which we think of as the Oscars of advertising, but that category is more broadly defined on the Clio website as “advertising, design, interactive and communications.” And there are the Effies, for “marketing communications” — given to marketers by the marketing industry.
G.I. Joe won a silver Effie in 1987. Continue reading
Filed under Animation, Comic Books, G.I. Joe Behind the Scenes, Toys and Toy Art
1993 Leatherneck test shot
While I was glad to see my favorite Joe Marine, the ’86 Leatherneck, get an update in ’93, I wasn’t thrilled by the color scheme. It’s interesting, but it doesn’t say “Marine” to me. But it’s unfair of me to want that since this update isn’t a Marine, or just a Marine, but an Infantry/Training Specialist and Marine Drill Sergeant. And maybe such a person would wear burnt ochre, yellow, and teal. So while the G.I. Joe line was moving back towards realism in the Battle Corps subset in ’93 and ’94, that wasn’t a guarantee that Leatherneck, one of the more realistic-looking figures of the ’80s, was going to stay realistic. To be clear, though, I do like the design, just not the color choices. My first reactions are the words “giraffe” and “banana,” and I’d only want to have that for some fanciful Jungle-Viper.
Which is why I was so struck by this test shot. Continue reading
Filed under G.I. Joe Behind the Scenes, Toys and Toy Art
Unproduced Cobra sketch
Here’s an unproduced Cobra I don’t know anything about. Continue reading
Filed under G.I. Joe Behind the Scenes, Toys and Toy Art
Battle Force 2000 Blocker sketch
Yikes, has it been a month since my apology? Here’s another: Sorry! Movie review coming soon. Honest.
Dipping my toe back in the blog pool, here’s Blocker as a just-about final design, before he was “Blocker” (one of Hasbro’s least inspired codenames), when Battle Force 2000 was still “Future Force.” Continue reading
Filed under G.I. Joe Behind the Scenes, Toys and Toy Art
A Real American Book! 
