does anyone ever wonder who designs the vipers, and other characters and where they got their inspiration from. were pit vipers inspired by stormtroopers or buck rogers villains.

was the guy who designed shipwreck a village people fan?

who designed our joes and can we ever interview them.

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I believe Ronald Rudat helped design some joes.

Rudat interview.

http://www.yojoe.com/faq/rudat.shtml

A) I think it's pretty clear that the PitViper, or at least the head, was inspired by HYDRA goons from the Marvel Universe. If Hasbro doesn't use this head for their upcoming 5pack of Herr Strucker and 4 HYDRA goons (and it better damned well be coming down the pipe, Hasbro), they're stupids.


B) Last I heard, which was several years and design teams ago; Hasbro's policy is to not publicize their sculptor's names for fear they'll become 'stars' in the industry like the Four Horsemen. The guy they had at the Con last year is the first I've ever heard of such publicity about their sculptors.

C) I think it's possible to tell when a certain person (remember, some sculptors could be chicks) worked on certain figs due to their common, *a-hem*, identifying characteristics.

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During the new sculpt era (GvC, Spy Troops, VvV, and DTC) the figures were done by Draxhall Jump Comics. They would submit concept designs to Hasbro for approval, which would then edit or correct them (sometimes change the proposed name, ie the Spy Troops Overkill was originally a Night Creeper) and then send them to the sculptors (different team).

- JM

Awesome site. I wish they had made a figure based on that unused crimson guard art (or the "Crimson Guard 04" which is very, very clearly Toxo-Viper v2)

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That's not entirely accurate.

While Draxhall Jump did design package art based on figures and concepts provided them by Hasbro's GI Joe team, they did not design the figures themselves. Those were sculpted/frankensteined/repainted by Hasbro's in-house GI Joe design team, many of whom have attended the Con.

Anybody notice the EEL V1 mold in there repainted in Crimson? Also, apparently Imperial Procession Cobra Commander was to have a different torso and waist.

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Draxhall Jump used to have the concept drawings posted on their site, not the package art. Especially for GvC & Spy Troops, including the exploded figure schematics.

I also got to meet Walter McDaniel during last year's local ToyCon, who did some packaging artwork such as the Patriot Grizzly, and had a figure named after him (the Spy Troops Rampage).

From what I understand, it was Draxhall Jump that did the designs and Walter McDaniel (among others) who did the packaging art.

- JM

They did concept art for the first few waves of the 2002 GVC line which was followed somewhat loosely, but after that it was all packaging and promotional art.

In fact most of their "concept" art is frankensteined figures made of 20 year old parts. Unless they went back in time to 1982 I don't think they designed any of the orginal 13 molds.

And many of their "concept" drawings appear directly on the TRU 6 pack inserts and the figure's filecards.

It's not fair to Hasbro's talented sculptors and designers to give the credit for these designs to Draxhall Jump.

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Ahh... I understand. That makes more sense now. Most of the concept schematics they had were only from GvC up to the first wave of Spy Troops. All the rest were just packaging & filecard art.

I guess that also explains the sudden change in styles from GvC to SpyTroops wave6.

- JM

Buh-bye Aocean.

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Snap!

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Boom.....outta here.

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Knew there was something familiar about him even said it in chat and was told NO.

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Wow, I just thought he was regular-annoying....had no idea he was freak-annoying.

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