Monday will be RAW!

This Monday my son and I will be celebrating Labor Day by attending Monday Night RAW in Des Moines at the Wells Fargo Arena.  We have really good seats, 2nd row floor, right behind the timekeeper.  The shows have been really good lately, and I'm really looking forward to seeing CM Punk, Paul Heyman, and Daniel Bryan perform live.

Say what you will about professional wrestling, but these wrestlers are some of the finest live performers in the world.  I plan on doing a full report right here the Tuesday after the show, stay tuned.

GI Joe Through the Decades Signature Board

The 2010 GI Joe Collectors Convention in Providence, Rhode Island was memorable for many reasons.  The Hasbro Tour, the chance to meet up and hang out with old friends, and just having the opportunity to be around all things GI Joe is something every collector should do at least once it their life.  But what really sticks out to me is the one of a kind collectible I picked up at the Awards Dinner auction on Saturday night.

Due to gambling regulations in the state of Rhode Island the usual casino night and auction was replaced by a regular auction, with the proceeds going to Hasbro Childrens Hospital.  Looking over the usual line up of interesting and unique items up for auction, one thing in particular caught my eye.  The day before at the tour of Hasbro Headquarters the different stations of the tour were marked by signs roughly 12"x18".  Each sign was labelled with a description of the part of the tour you were currently at, Design Shop, Model Shop, etc.  Out of the ten or so stations on the tour, four of the signs were brought to the dinner as auction items.  I knew the second I saw them that I wanted them, only I didn't know if they were going to auction them off individually or as a set.  I set sight my sights on getting them as I made my way back to my seat as the auction began.

Long story short, at the end of the auction I was lucky enough to walk away with the sign to "Station-2 Timeline GI Joe Through The Decades".  The sign had already been signed by John Warden, Desing Manager for Hasbro, and another person whose signature I don't recognize, if you know, drop me a line.  That got me to thinking, this convention had a lot of Hasbro employees past ans present in attendance, why not make this sign really represent GI Joe through the decades and get it signed by as many as possible?  So on the last day of the convention I went around and got as many people who worked on GI Joe as I could to sign it, and I have been getting them to sign it ever since.

As of today, this is what it looks like:

 

 And here are the names of the signers, as well as the year I got them to sign it.  So, from the top we have:

Mary MacDonald-Lewis (2013) The voice of Lady Jaye of the Sunbow GI Joe Cartoon.

Bill Ratner (2013) The voice of Flint on the Sunbow GI Joe cartoon.

Robert Atkins (2013) Artist on the IDW GI Joe Comic.

Ron Wagner (2012) Artist on the Marvel and IDW GI Joe comics.

Virginia Perry Gardner (2010) Scuplted the heads for the GI Nurse and the GI Joe Soldiers of the World figures.

Larry Selmon (2010) Painter who has done boxes for the GI Joe Classic Collection and GI Joe Collectors Convention boxes.

Dwight Stall (2010) Hasbro designer.

Larry Hama (2010) Writer of GI Joe comics for Marvel, Devil's Due, and IDW, also worte most of the filecards for th 3 3/4" Real American Hero figures.

Sam Petrucci (2010) Painter who did many of the vintage boxes from the 1960's.

Ron Rudat (2010) Artist who designed many of the early Real American Hero figures.

John Warden (2010) GI Joe Brand Manager.

Sam Speers (2010) Designer of the orignal 11 1/2" GI Joe body.

Bob Prupis (2010) Vice Presidentof Boys Toys and one of the major players in the relaunch of GI Joe as a 3 3/4" action figure.

Janet Downing Taylor (2010) Credited with coming up with the name "GI Joe".

Norman Jacques (2010) Package designer for the early GI Joe figures and accessories.

Kirk Bozigian (2010) Marketing Director for GI Joe A Real American Hero.

There are three I can't identify, if you know whose signatures they are please let me know so I can give them proper credit.

 The Mystery Signatures

I've tried to get as many signatures from all form of GI Joe that I could, the only media I am missing is from the GI Joe movies, and I'm working on that!  I'm also trying to get a few more key signatures from GI Joe's past, such as:

Derryl DePreist

Alan Hassenfeld

Don Levine

If anyone has any connections, hook me up!

Stuff From My Collection: Astro City Confession Hardcover

I'm a big hardcover collector, in fact, most of the comics I read today are hardcovers.  I have no patience anymore to wait 5 or 6 months for a storyline to conclude, I'd rather wait a few months more and get a hardcover and read the entire thing in one sitting (that reminds me, I have to hop on Amazon and order Volume 9 of the Walking Dead).  Besides the convenience of having an entire storyline in one place, I just like the way hardcovers look, and with that I bring you one of my prized hardcovers, Astro City: Confession.

Published in 1998, this hardcover collects the Confession storyline, featuring the Confessor, an Astro City hero and his sidekick, Altar Boy.  The story mixes super heroes and horror, and is one of the best Astro City stories out there.  It also includes on of the best and most emotional stories ever, "The Nearness of You" from Wizard's Astro City 1/2.  For a short story it packs an emotional punch, and stays with you long after you finish reading it. 

 


The Confession hardcover is also the rarest Astro City hardcover, limited to 1200 and featuring a signature plate signed by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, and Alex Ross, my copy is number 964.

My favorite part about this hardcover is the story behind how I got it.  Back in the Summer of 1998 there was a comic convention in Des Moines, and one of the guests was Brent Anderson.  Mr. Anderson was the artist on the comic book that got me into collection, X-Men Annual #5, so I was definitely going to see him.  When I met him at the convention I want all gushing fanboy, telling him how influential he was in turning me into a Geek and all that.  He was very nice and accommodating, as I am sure he had heard all of that before hundreds of times.  As I finished my gushing, I noticed the Confessions hardcover he had brought and I asked him if it was for sale  He said it was just a display to show people that it had just been published.  a bit dejected, I thanked him for his time and went off to enjoy the rest of the convention.

As I wandered around looking for bargains, my eyes caught a glimpse of another Confession hardcover at a dealer table.  Not wasting a second, I produced $50 and scooped up my new prize.  I immediately made my way back to Brent Anderson.  When he saw that I had found a copy not five minutes after we talked, he was a bit surprised. and I decided to use that surprise to make my copy an even more limited edition.

I asked Mr. Anderson if he would do a quick pencil sketch of the Confessor, and he was gracious enough to comply, even though he told me it had been a while since he had drawn him.  He took my copy and a few minutes later I had a beautiful sketch of the Confessor, which really looks great on the parchment of the pages.

There is no substitute for going to a comic book convention, large or small, and it's moments like this that really make it worth while.  Thank you to Brent Anderson, I really hope I said that enough back them in 1998!

 

 



 

My Disney Infinity Review

So last week I bought the new Disney Infinity game for the PS3.  This is kind of a big deal since I am notoriously cheap when it comes to buying video games, the last new one I bought myself was the Collector’s Edition of Uncharted 3, and I only but that because it was 75% off.  Ok, so we’ve established that I’m cheap, but every now and then I will pony up the buck and get a new game like I did last week with Disney Infinity.  So, $75 later, my kids and I have a new game to play together, and long story short, it was worth every one of those 7500 pennies.

Here's what I started with, one week ago.......

Before I get too far into my review, I do have one gripe with the PS3 version of Disney Infinity.  While my kids and I were playing it for the first time it froze up, corrupting the save file we had, so we had to delete everything and start over.  This meant going through the 12-minute long introduction again since there is no way to skip it.  So we got through that and it froze up again.  So another round of deletions and introductions followed, as did another freeze up.  At this point I was getting a little miffed so I hopped online and found that there was an issue with the PS3 version.  Apparently with patch you download at the beginning was causing the issue, so it was advised that you do not download it until an updated patch is released.  So I turned off the internet connection, and we haven’t had a problem since.  At this point I’m a little leery about installing anything, I really don’t want to lose all of our progress.

Disney Infinity’s basic setup is a lot like Skylanders, only with some major differences.  Like Skylanders, you can put different characters into the game by placing a figurine onto the portal, but in this case you can have two players in there at the same time, which really adds to the fun.  The Starter Set comes with three figurines, Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribean, Mr. Incredible from the Incredibles, and Sully from Monsters University, the game, a portal, and one Power Disc.  The figurines are approximately three inches tall, and are really well built, I can see some people get into collecting just the figurines and not play the game.  My favorite out of this lot is Mr. Incredible, I don’t even think I’ve played the other two yet.

...and where we are currently.  I'm such a sucker!

Also sold separately are additional figurines and play sets from various Disney properties like Cars and the Lone Ranger, and it’s real easy to just start buying them up in bunches, I know, less than a week into it we already have 9 figurines!  

You can also buy Power Discs, which enable you to power up your characters, change the play environment, or put extra accessories into the game.  One Power Disc comes with the Start Set, and you can buy additional Power Discs in blind bag packs of 2 for $5.  The discs feature an eclectic array of properties like TRON, Tangled, Alice in Wonderland, Lilo and Stitch, Wreck It Ralph, and so on.  Much like the additional figurines, it’s easy to get hooked on buying the Power Disc bags, I know we already had to but an album to keep them all in, remember, these haven’t even been out a week yet!

 Power Discs with album (Sold Separately, of course!)

             Ok, other than showing you what an easy mark I am for these type of things, I haven’t even touched on how the gameplay is.  Well, it’s fantastic.  Disney Infinity gives you two modes of play: the Play Set Mode and the Toy Box Mode.  The Play Set Mode lets you play in a particular character’s world and complete various missions for coins and accessories.  In Play Set mode only characters from that world can be used, so forget having Captain Jack Sparrow and Sully roaming around the Monsters University campus together.  The missions themselves are relatively short, and can be completed fairly quickly.  Hidden throughout the work are capsules that contain additional accessories that you can use in the game or in the Toy Box (More on that later).  The Starter Set has a Play Set adventure for all three figurines included, and so far there are additional ones available for Cars and the Lone Ranger, which run about $35 each.  We’ve already bought the Lone Ranger Play Set (The Lone Ranger has always been one of my favorite characters, so I had to get it!), and it’s the one Play Set we’ve played so far.  I thought when I started playing it that we would finish it quickly, but three hours later we are still going with no end in sight.  By itself, the Play Set Mode is very fun and interactive, and would probably be worth the $75 itself, but it’s the Toy Box Mode where Disney Infinity really shines.

             The majority of the time we have been playing Infinity has been spent on the Toy Box Mode.  This mode allows you to build your own world, and your only limit is your own imagination.  It’s a lot like Minecraft, only with much better graphics and more possibilities.  You start off with a blank terrain square, adding more terrain, buildings, people, objects, etc., as you see fit.  I recently began building the world I call Wally World, so far it has Cinderella’s Castle, an ESPN soccer stadium, and Epcot’s Spaceship Earth, and I’m just getting warmed up.  You can also earn spins which you can use to get more items to customize your worlds, and with over 1,000 items, you’ll need a lot of spins!  This is the kind of thing I can lose myself in and spend weeks playing, and is the reason I bought Disney Infinity in the first place.  My kids are into this too, and it has already become an effective incentive for getting homework done quickly, so for that, thank you Disney!

             As with the Toy Box, the possibilities for Disney Infinity are practically limitless.  They have already announced a second set of figurines featuring Jack Skellington, Wreck It Ralph, Toy Story, and characters from the upcoming animated feature Frozen.  I can’t help but hope that Disney’s recent acquisitions of Marvel and Lucasfilm mean that we can have those characters show up at some point in the future.  If you’re a Disney fan I highly recommend picking this up, and even if you aren’t a fan you will still enjoy this game immensely. 

Always Search TJ Maxx

A TJ Maxx store is like going to a brightly lit garage sale that is going on all the time.  When you walk in you never know what you are going to find, and this evening was no exception.   I had to buy a shirt for my son's school pictures, so while he was getting his hair cut I stopped in at a TJ Maxx to see what cheap clothes they had.  I managed to score a polo shirt fairly quickly, so I made my way to the toy section and browsed around, seeing the same Star Wars, Avengers, and Battleship Kre-O sets I have seen over and over.  Feeling like this was going to be another strike out, I took a quick glance at the clearance shelf, and saw a figure I didn't recall seeing before.  Upon closer inspection I saw that it was a Sorcerer Fury Loki, a figure that I had never seen in the wild.  Looking at the back, I saw the hard to find Sif figure, and thought to myself how cool it would be to finally get one of those, and then I saw Sif herself laying on the shelf below Loki.  Faster than you could say "Great Odin's ravens!" I scooped them up and headed for the register.

The best part?  Both figures were on clearance for $4 each!  So I guess the moral of the story is,always be sure to check out TJ Maxx, you'll never know what's there!

 

Eight Bucks well spent!

The Mighty Kwinn!

After only 31 years, Hasbro finally released a Kwinn figure in his khakis, and now he is mine!  

With GI Joe's presence in the toy aisle wasting away to almost nothing, I bit the bullet and ordered a full case from Entertainment Earth, and I'm glad it did.  The full case of 12 Wave 3.5 figures was $114.99 and had free shipping, so not only did it save me the hassle of trying to find these figures at retail, I got them for less than they would have run me at the store to boot!  So if you haven't ordered these babies online already, do it now, you won;t be sorry!

I would love to stay here and go on and on about how cool these figures are, but I still have an entire case of these figures to open up and play with, so if you will excuse me, I have some liberating to do!

 

Random Hasbro Tour Photos from 2010

A while back I posted some photos of GI Joe box art from the 2010 GI Joe Convention in Providence (You can see them here).  I have more shots from the Hasbro tour, mostly from the GI Joe product they had on display.  Since it was one of the few places along the tour we could take pictures, this is where the majority of the pictures are from.

 You know you're in the right place when you see a sign like this!  Welcome to the Headquarters of Hasbro.

 One of the first displays to greet us.  I knew it was all vintage equipment the second I laid eyes on the Action Sailor's wetsuit that was in the process of dry rotting off his body.

A display of the first GI Joe: A Real American Hero figures from 1982, although I don't recall that Action Pilot being one of the original members of the team....

 A life size Iron Man In advance of Iron Man 2. A glimpse of things to come, this statue is only slightly less articulated than the Iron Man 3 figures that were released this year.

Many collectors stood here for a long time, gazing into this awesome collection of boxed GI Joe figures and accessories.

 Not to be outdone was this case of incredible Adventure Team goodness.  

 Also on display were almost every GI Joe RAH from 1982 to 1994.  This was the case with the first figures from 1982 to 1986.  Take a minute to study the figures and there color schemes, as we now go to the last couple of cases....

Wow, what a difference.  To get a better idea of why GI Joe went neon, read Toy Wars by G. Wayne Miller, it's an excellent history of Hasbro, and a must read for any GI Joe fan.

 There you go, a look at the 2010 Hasbro tour, if you ever have t opportunity to visit, do it, and don't forget to ask there where the Flubber is buried!

I Finally Took That Big Step, With a Little Step!

After years of talking about it, I finally bit the bullet and opened an eBay store.  I have been on eBay since 1999, but I decided I want to try to make this a full-time thing, and this is the first step towards accomplishing this.  Right now, there's just a few Marvel Hardcover trades on there, but I am steadily building my inventory of comics, action figures, and other unusual things, so check it out!  

Here are just a couple of things for sale right now!

More Joe Photography n Stuff

It's amazing how much stuff I am finding while going through my computer's backup file.  This time around it's more GI Joe photos I have taken for the GI Joe Collectors Convention and other various contests.

 This is one of the preliminary pictures I took for an entry at the 2009 Convention.  I was trying to really make it appear the the guy with the parachute was really high up, as evidenced by the Air Adventurer way off in the background.

 And here's another 2009 preliminary shot.  The Action Marines were the same ones from my 2007 convention photo, just in a different environment, which is actually about ten feet away from where the picture about it was taken.

Now its on to 2010 and two D-Day paratroopers from the 17th Airborne Division.  These two were from the GI Joe Millennium Salute series, which you can tell by their "Lobster Claw" hands.  This was taken at a railroad bridge that was converted into a bike trail.

 

 "The Search for the Yeti" was my favorite new Adventure Team set, mainly because of the awesome Yeti figure.  This shot sees the Yeti emerging from his bone littered cave to confront the Super Articulated Land Adventurer, dressed in his Arctic Adventurer outfit. Yeah, I really like that Yeti.....

This Christmas shot was done for a contest the GIJCC ran on their forums (Remember those?) a few years ago.  The two things that make it stand out are the Eagle Eye Action Man scoping out the presents, and the Yeti playing the part of the Abominable Snow Monster, with the Arctic Adventurer doing his best Yukon Cornelius impression.

Joecon 2002 Flashback

In preparing the 2010 Hasbro Box Art review I came across the pictures I took at the 2002 GI Joe Collectors Convention in Norfolk, Virginia.  That Joecon was the first one I ever went to, and it is notable for being the first convention to feature a 3 3/4" attendee set: the Crimson Strike Team (I got the other one the 12" Battle of Leyte Gulf set).  Here are some pictures I took of the event, check them out and see how they compare to this years convention in Indianapolis.

 The Parachute Drop on Friday morning, the figure was a Paratrooper Dusty figure.

The Paratrooper Dusty figure.  His parachute is not shown because he lost his on the way down and I caught him in an empty shoebox I had with me.

The 12" "Battle of Leyte Gulf" set.  Being into 12 inch figures at the time, this is the set I got, instead of......

The 3 3/4" "Crimson Strike Team" set, with the attendee exclusive Crimson HISS Tank.  You almost need a second mortgage to afford this set now.

Part of the Hasbro display, compare this to their display from this year, a folding table and glass case.

The other half of the Hasbro display, the Yeti vs. the US Army.

Hasbro display case, featuring the first appearance of everyone's favorite: molded on T-shirts!  yay

 My custom figure entry "Dark Skies Over Roswell" Adventure Team set, complete with hand-sculpted alien.  For some reason this never made it in with the other entries in the GIJCC convention coverage.

 One of the large diorama entries, I included this to show how there is a definite lack of entries in this scale at the convention these days.

 The USS Wisconsin, as part of the tour we got to go onboard and take a tour of this huge warship from World War II.

 The Nautica, where the convention awards dinner was held, this photo was taken from the deck of the Wisconsin.

My convention haul, as I was just getting back into 3 3/4" figures, all of my purchases were either Funskool or T-Crotch figures, I wised up after I got back.  

That's it for the look back, I'll see what pictures I have from the other conventions I attended, next up: 2005 in Minneapolis!

GI Joe Box Art from the 2010 Hasbro Tour

As part of the 2010 GI Joe Collector's Convention in Providence, Rhode Island, attendees had a once in a lifetime chance to take a tour of Hasbro Headquarters in Pawtucket.  One of my favorite parts of the tour was seeing the original painted art for the boxes and cards, words cannot express how neat they were in person.  It was a shame that in many cases the original paintings were repainted to reflect new color schemes and factions.  GI Joe set the standard for box art, and I hope they go back to showcasing each individual figure with their own paintings, instead of the generic Retaliation art we have now.  Take a minute and enjoy this look back.

The Dragonfly, repainted as the Tiger Force Tiger Fly

 The JUMP, with Silver Pads Grand Slam

 The Bridge Layer

Cobra Trooper, repainted as a Python Patrol Officer

Shockwave, repainted in Night Force colors

Destro's Dominator

 

Stuff From My Collection: Part 1

In almost 40 years of being a Geek I've managed to acquire a few things that might be considered cool/rare/valuable/interesting, so I decided: what fun is having these treasures if no one else can see them?  So what that I am kicking off the first installment of "Stuff From My Collection".

This installment covers the card art for an Iron Man Power Blast foil chase card, from the 1994 Marvel Universe Trading Card Set.  This set was produced by Fleer, and the Power Blast set featured art by Marvel artist Tom Morgan.

 

The Iron Man Power Blast Foil Card

I got the original art for this card directly from Tom Morgan, who I came across in Artists' Alley at the 1995 Wizard World Convention in Chicago.  He had several pieces of original art from the MU set, and since the art for my favorite Marvel character, Cyclops, was gone, I settled on the Iron Man card.  Tony Stark's armored alter ego was going for $35, a steal compared to the $60 the Carnage card was going for (Especially nowadays).  After I paid Mr. Morgan for the art, he personalized  the border the art was mounted on.  Looking back, I am so glad I chose 'ol Shellhead.

 The Original Card Art

Original art is something I really enjoy collecting, especially offbeat things like this, I just wish I had more time/money to get more things like this!