EDIT: 01/22/2014

Originally this thread was going to concentrate solely on 2ups and the process, and so forth. Going forward, this thread will concentrate on all things Declassified. Obviously, following Joe Declassified on facebook is a swell idea if you want to keep up-to-date with everything we are doing. Also the GI Joe Discussion Group on Facebook.

G.I. Joe Discussion Group on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/540476526008915/ .

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The first image is of the memo announcing to R&D and other departments that the "Cobra Action Team" is coming down the pipe. The second image has been seen before on other forums. It is of the original hand-sculpted 2up pattern of Golobulus. The rest of the images are of 2up sculpts for Nemesis Enforcer. His full 2up sculpt and then the "bat wings." The 2up images of Golobulus and Nemesis Enforcer are photos of Polaroids. So these have not been found by collectors that we know of. All we have are photos of these artifacts. Not the actual sculpts. So unfortunately we can't take better pictures of the sculpts. You'll just have to suffer as we have, two dimensionally and with drooling jowls. The Golobulus Polaroid is from the collection of the person who sculpted Golobulus, Bill Merklein. The Polaroid images of Nemesis Enforcer and the Cobra-La memo are from the collection of Chris "TOPSON" Murray. Next week I think we'll cover Cobra-La's "opposition" a bit. I hope someone gets something out of this thread as it goes along.

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Hasbro Boys Toys in the 90's seems like such a fascinating place to have worked.

Thanks for posting this, and to those who have consented to share this stuff. Always a pleasure reading up on this stuff, even if it is Cobra La.

The little decisions like 'R&D is responsible for accessories but sculpting does the backpacks' are always so intriguing up me, the where and why and who.

And it's fun putting a name to a hero I never knew I had. Bill Merklein is an amazing talent.

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I wonder, since the work is so scaled down, If we weren't meant to get a larger Nemesis Enforcer. So much of the detail seems to have gotten lost in the smaller version that I feel like maybe they were expecting it to be larger than it turned out to be.

I really don't understand how the 2ups become the toy. Are they what the larger molds are made from and they somehow shrink, or is another copy somehow made of the pieces to create the mold?

Please, keep going with this thread Gyro, it's fascinating.

- R

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It is pretty cool to read about. I agree with Raptor, a break down of how the 2 up to store shelf figure would be great to go over. Many of us hear about the 2 ups and while some know how they translated, many do not. Over all, this should make for a great thread.

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Very interesting and looking forward to learning more. Thanks for sharing.

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They sculpted in 2-up scale to get more detail into the final sculpt. Then a pantograph machine would scale it down for the mold creation.

Today, everything is sculpted in 1:1 scale and 3D imaged and milled from that digital image.

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Just to Nit-pick, At least where GI Joe is concerned, Modern figures are sculpted at 104%... just a touch larger than 1:1 to allow for some shrinkage as Plastics cool after molding.

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I wonder if this was standard, or is mentioned because the "backpacks" for Cobra La were things like wings and tentacles.

Love this stuff, please keep sharing!

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//this should be your user title

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Thanks nova.

Done.

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I have no proof, but I suspect it has a Lot to do with the shape of Golobulus' Gun... because of the way it "clips" to his arm... There probably needed to be some specific engineering done to make it work.

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So... 1 Question... The Photos of the Sculpts are Mirrored... was that done as part of Bill taking the Polaroid, or as part of the Water-marking these pictures for sharing?

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The Golobulus photo was taken by Bill. But scanned by Josh (Roshan). I mostly want to blame Josh. But then again it was the 80's. Who knows what went on there. The other Polaroids were taken by their respective sculptors. But photographed by Chris Murray (TOPSON). Sounds like this is all your fault, Brian.

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Based on what I've been told by numerous sculptors, it came down to the varying skills sets of in-house sculptors and freelancers alike. Also time and TIMING were very important. People like Bill could do anything AND FAST. Fast was very important. So he did Lightfoot's helmet in the same sitting as Lightfoot's sculpture. He did Spearhead and did Spearhead's backpack. Some people just had different talents. OR if they were in-house, had other responsibilities. So they didn't have time to do accessories AND figure sculpts. There was one sculptor who did a lot of the backpacks and weapons and maybe only like a head or two. There were sculptors who only did heads and maybe one or two backpacks. I think it varied very much between time and speed and skill. Or time and speed and specialty. Dave "Ambush" Bilyeu did full figure sculpts, heads, accessories, even pets. Bill did the unproduced Scarhead's panther/cat and Rocky. Dave did Raptor's bird and Goro (http://www.joecustoms.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=35114). Dave was in-house, Bill was freelance. We talked about this in the Facebook group but Bill was only asked to do one of the Crimson Twins but two different heads. One body though. This might have been because they needed both sculpts at the same time or faster than normal. So maybe they had someone in-house doing one sculpt of one twin, but not the head, while Bill did the other twin and both heads. OR when they got Bill's sculpt they kinda remixed his sculpt after making a mold and cast etc to make the other body. OR they were only going to do one body to save money and decided in the end to go ahead and have another sculpt done. It is conceivable that they got Bill's twin body sculpt and used it as a base for the other twin. How? Why? Who knows. You're the customizers. You figure it out. HAHAHA. It is one of those mysteries that there is an answer for out there somewhere..... just a matter of pinning it down.

The only one of these sculpts pictured below in THIS post that we know has been found is the Lightfoot
sculpture. It was shown in a few Declassified Booths over the last couple years. I think it has changed hands now. But it is out there.

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Wow, Spearhead looks so much better in sculpt.

- R

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