Here are some guidelines :
Rules:
1. Questions cannot be about anything they havent revealed yet ( as you will see from the first four answers, they wont answer them )
2. Questions have to be on either : last years AF themed exclusives (or the comic from last year ) or this years stuff ( that has been revealed )
3. Don't be rude
I will choose 4 questions that people have submitted ( please post the questions in this thread ) and send them on their way
Here are the first four questions that I asked to start things offf
Part 1:
1. I personally love the switch from SAS ( on the original toy ) to SAF
( on joecon 2009 ) on Blades from last years convention, but what was
the primary reason for the change?
A) We created the S.A.F. (Special Action Force) title as both an homage to
the original brand and to maintain ownership of future products that will be
used under this banner for the GIJCC as approved by Hasbro, Inc.
2. For last years and this years convention we were/are lucky to enough
to get a slew of foreign characters, was it more difficult in using
these characters than more common American characters, when it came to
TM ,checking available names that can be used ect ? ( From a legal
stand point )
A) The GIJCC is excited to offer a variety of products from the
international G.I. JOE collection. Hasbro Global Marketing handles all legal
and copyright name usage.
3. Can you tell us who the writer and artist is for this years con Comic ?
A) We will make this announcement when the comic book is completed. Keep
watching GIJOECON.com for updates on the convention set and comic story.
4. Lastly, last years hints led many people to believe it was the RED
SHADOWS and that we were getting them last year. Was this intended ? or
were you suprised that people thought of the Red Shadows ?
A) This was not intended, all the clues led to the CRIMSON STRIKE TEAM or
the souvenir sets offered at the 2009 convention.
Part 2 :
1) We are currently waiting with baited breath for the 2010 Red Shadows
to be unveiled! The Black Major figure looks to be a fantastic tribute
to the original design. What made you choose Palitoys classic scheme
over the Devil's Due revamp?
1) Our convention exclusive G.I. Joe toys are based on the original
international action figures as approved by Hasbro, Inc.
2) We'd love to know more about last year's SAF release! In the last Q&A
you hinted that there may be more to follow. What other characters did
you consider doing last year, if any, for a 25th sculpt release of the
origial Palitoy AF characters? Perhaps the unreleased Scarlett figure in
Z Force colours? (the prototype was first seen in November 2008 and, so
far, no information has come to light )?
2) N/A
3) In your Direct to Cobra comic issue #2 there was a clear reference to
Baron Ironblood in a dialogue panel. We at BFTB were overjoyed to see
it. Was this suppose to be a nod to convention goers, hinting at next
years/this years, convention set being a Red Shadow based one, or was
plans not that far along when last years comic was being done?
3) Yes, the reference was a nod to fans of the Red Shadows.
4) The transformers convention and club has had a big year to year,
ongoing story, featuring the combiners as each one was released each
year. How come the GI JOE convention / Club not done a similar ongoing
story arc in such a manner? I believe a BIG story could benefit the
club if all the current years stories would lead up to the con ,
especially if it featured the club and con toys.
4) Each year we offer GIJCC exclusive products and convention sets that
are "Special Mission" themed. The story events do not necessarily occur
in sequential order. The Transformers combiner figure predicated that
we have a 5 year story arc as he was 5 different pieces of the same
'bot. There is no such vehicle (pun intended) in the Joe world.
Altenate question if for some reason you dont want to answer any of the above
5. Can you tell us what is the inspiration of giving the whip to the
Black Major? was it a homage to Baron Ironblood using it? or will we
find out later in the comic?
5) Yes, the Black Major's whip is a mantle of leadership in the Red
Shadows army.
Round 3
1."we here at bftb are intrigued about the creative process. How far in
advance is the subject matter agreed? Do you have full freedom to select
a subject matter before submitting it to hasbro for outline approval?
Once the concept etc is approved is it then a matter of producing a
prototype for hasbros final approval?"
Each year we have a couple set ideas that go through the approval
process with Hasbro. Once the concept is chosen, my staff helps the
factories locate the action figure molds needed for the set. This is an
arduous task as many molds were either lost or destroyed over time.
There is no exact timeframe.
2. "I see from the collectors club news that one part of this years
convention figures caused real problems and had to be retooled several
times. Out of interest - which part was it and what were the
difficulties?" and was it one of the figures that you have already
shown? or one that we haven't seen yet?
Several action figure parts had to be re-tooled to complete the set.
O-ring tools are old and or missing. Often a figure will be listed but
part of the tools are missing.
3. Thanks for finally giving us a Red Shadows set and an original troop
type, what was the inspiration for the Red Torch?
We wanted to give fans another unique "army builder" style figure in
the set. The Red Torches have a dual purpose in our story that works
towards the Black Major's master plan!
4. The Red shadow trooper is perfect, the head looks exactly like it
should great job, Did you have to make an all new head mold for the RED
SHADOW TROOPER from scratch or did you use the original head and mod it
with a ball joint. Again Just looks fantastic
We created a brand new head based on the original head sculpt for the
Red Shadows Trooper.
Round 4 FINAL ROUND
1) Is Flint's paint scheme a homage to the Z-Force uniform?
It could be, or Flint just has a different wardrobe and unique fashion
sense when he goes on vacation.
2) Does Interrogator's weapons give clues to who he is or are they clues
to this year's storyline?
Yes, the clues are in the Comic storyline.
3) Why is there no blue paint apps on Interrogator's chest or legs? The
mold has a perfect place for it and it would be yet one more nod to the
original who had these blue paint applications.
Again, the reason is revealed in the Comic storyline. We don't always
want to be a slave to past figures. We make the in the image, but there
is no reason to be exact as that is very limiting creatively.
4) Why are the new Red Shadows done as O-rings instead of the 25th style
sculpt? Is it to help them blend in with the original O ring released
Red Shadows like RED LASER and RED JACKAL ?
Yes, this year we wanted to provide our O-Ring collectors a unique set
that fits with the classic international figure releases. As we have
stated at past events, we recognize that there are many different kinds
of collectors in the fan base and we want to be able to offer from time
to time, something that fits in exactly with what YOU collector. This
is why we embrace all body styles and work at being very diverse in our
offerings.
Thats it, originally there was to be ONE MORE ROUND but no questions were asked so thats it!
Big thanks to Brian Savage and the GI JOE CLUB and Convention for doing this Q and A with us !
NOW ON TO THE CONVENTION! BLOOD FOR THE BARON !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Special One offs
Been doing a little digging around for convention comic info and asked long time club and Hasbro comic penciler DON "SHELDONGOH" ( which you can find here : http://sheldongoh.deviantart.com/ ) the following question .
1. Are you doing the RED SHADOW Convention Comic this year for the club ? And would you be willing to do a short Q and A about it after the issue has been released?
I just finished the pencils on the Red Shadows story last week and yeah, it looks like that's the convention comic for this year.
I'd be happy to help out with the interview as soon as I'm able to talk about the work on that comic. I'll let you know when that is.
Thanks again for the support. It really means a lot.
Take care,
Don
