I got a VERY interesting surprise last night. I was watching an episode of the Netflix show, “The Toys That Made Us”. This was the G.I. JOE episode, and it featured interviews with a number of people that I have had the pleasure of meeting at Joe Conventions in years past, including Kirk Bozigian, Larry Hama, Derryl DePriest, and Dan Klingensmith. It also featured a decently comprehensive look at the history of the line.

That wasn’t the surprise. At one point, specifically about 30 minutes and 45 seconds or so into the show, Larry Hama is talking about how he wrote dossiers for all of the characters so he could keep track of them, and these formed the foundation for the file cards on the toy packages. Interestingly, the handful of character sketches that appear were of characters that were never actually made into the product line, which was unfortunate.

And THAT wasn’t the surprise. The surprise was – the first two character drawings shown…

WERE – MINE!

Yeah, you read that right. Take a look at this picture. I couldn’t figure out how to pull an image directly from the video, so I actually took a photo of my laptop screen. So sorry for the diminished quality. But that Submarine Commander named Periscope (and for that matter, the submarine), and the Demolitions Expert named Shell-Shock – THOSE ARE MY DRAWINGS! The others are not, but those first two? Yeah, came from me.

In the mid-1980’s, more or less just for the heck of it, I came up with a series of new characters and drawings for some new G.I. Joes, somewhat based on specialties that I felt the line was lacking at the time. And I sent them to Hasbro. If I received any sort of response, and I honestly don’t recall, it was probably along the lines of how they don’t accept outside solicitations, etc.

Given that this Netflix show was produced in 2017, over thirty years after I sent them those drawings – APPARENTLY THEY KEPT THEM!

Now, I realize I have no claim to those characters or drawings. I sent them off just for the fun of it, and obviously I was “playing in someone else’s sandbox”, so to speak. Nor were any of them ever made into toys. And I certainly have no cause to complain, given that in 1997 and 1998, I DID have something of an active role in the toy line, writing a number of file cards in both years, and preparing the prototype for the figure that would become Oktober Guard member Lt. Volga in 1998. I am honored to have been a part of that.

Still, when that image went by on the screen, my first thought was, “Hey, that drawing style and lettering style looks awfully familiar – HEY – THAT’S MY DRAWING AND LETTERING STYLE!”

Just putting a little credit where credit is due here, that’s all. Really, I thought it was rather cool – once I got over the shock of it. Yo Joe!

That's pretty cool.

Have you ever attempted to customise these characters?

That Demolitions guy looks interesting.

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No, I think I came up with these long before I did any customs. I'm not sure who you could put them together from, although rather obviously some Flash/Grand Slam parts would work for portions of Shell-Shock, and I'm pretty sure that either Shipwreck's or Cutter's legs would work for Periscope. The ability to customize these (and about half a dozen others I came up with) from existing parts was NOT a factor. I wonder if I've still got copies of the whole lot around here anywhere...?

Cool!
Did you ever think that perhaps those 2 things you sent in contributed to you getting the Volga job?

For Periscope I would get copy of Adm Keel-Haul's head, Shipwreck's legs, Gen. Hawk v2's torso and arms. Then make the coat black.

That's awesome.

I tend to doubt it, because of the time interval involved. I think I got the Volga job because in 1997, a number of collectors that were more or less affiliated with a group that was known as the Steel Brigade Club were called upon by Hasbro to evaluate the prototypes for the 1997 product. That same year, at the 1997 Convention, I showcased a number of Oktober Guard customs I had made. Hasbro knew this, and since I was already in touch with them as part of the group that had evaluated that year's product, I think the combination of those two things led to the Volga job more than anything.

David Lane was the head of that group, and he and I were selected as the writers of many of the file cards for both years.

Granted, I was shocked to see that Hasbro had even SAVED those drawings after all this time, so who knows?



That'd work pretty well, really.