JoeFest 2023: Special Report

** Editor's note: This post was started on Thursday evening, 06/15/23, however I ended up having to take my wife to the ER before I could finish. So instead of completing this post before HeroesCon, I'm completing it on the evening of 06/18/23 instead after HeroesCon.

One the eve of attending the annual Heroes Convention in my hometown of Charlotte, NC, I thought I'd first recap my first ever JoeFest that was held last weekend, June 9-11 in Augusta, GA. While I've heard of this show before, it would sneak up and pass me by in previous years. Late last week however I started seeing all the social media blitz so I looked into it a little more. I had no idea that August was just under a 2 hour drive from my home so I took a look at my calendar to see if I could swing attending the show. As it turned out my family already had plans on Saturday, but Sunday was wide open. I called my older brother to see if he'd want to ride down with me and shortly there after we were on our way to our very first JoeFest!

Going in I really didn't have many expectations. I saw some awesome panels scheduled for Saturday, which I was sad that I missed, however the pictures I saw of the sales floor made the show look pretty massive. Once I got there, paid for admission and slipped on my cool rubber JoeFest band and walked inside, I was in awe. I was immediately taken back to the first few Botcon shows I attended, however at this show there was a great mixture of vendors and exhibitors. One of the first exhibitor tables we visited was Fresh Monkey Fiction. While I can't say I had heard much about them prior to the show, I did see some of the early pictures online from Friday night and Saturday at the show.

One of the lines being worked on is Operation: Monster Force. These figures look fantastic and I can't wait to see a more finished product. The werewolf character is an instant buy for me. I had a chance to talk with one of the guys at the booth and he told me this line of figures was actually being manufactured by BigBadToyStore! I was very impressed with everything that had on display.

I didn't get the chance to ask about the Zombie test shots they had displayed, but they looked equally as awesome as the Monster Force stuff. Over on the edge of their table was some 3 3/4 figures, but what really caught my eye were these small Cops 'n Crooks figures! These were done up in the same vein as Hasbro's old GI Joe Combat Heroes (remember those?). This wouldn't be the only appearance by this what I thought was a forgotten Hasbro brand...more on that in a bit.

The next booth I stopped by was the Valaverse/Action Force setup. Again, I've heard of this brand before and I've seen some pictures of their 6 inch figures, but that was about it. One side of their booth had a really cool SUV type vehicle on display that apparently is in the works. I'm not sure why I didn't snap any pictures of it though, I guess I was just in awe so much. 

The opposite side of their square shaped both had a large castle diorama with some very cool action scenes. I'm familiar with blast effects for guns and such, but blood effects? After gazing over this awesome diorama I decided to go around to the front of the booth to check out the figures they had for sale as I knew I wanted to buy at least one figure to get a hands on feel for them.

free Action Force stickers!

Being that it was getting late into the day on Sunday, the selection of figures being offered was starting to become slim pickings, but they did have some of the figures from the first wave still in stock as well as the JoeFest exclusive Warpath Eclipse. I really didn't know which direction to go, but as you can see I ended up with more than just one figure! Condor is the leader of the good faction and he had a GI Joe Steel Brigade look so I figured he'd be a good choice. If you get a good guy you need a bad guy too, right? I ended with The Bone Collector as he just looked pretty tough looking. I believe all of series 4 is comprised of women characters and this version of Eclipse I purchased was the show exclusive. I say they twisted my arm a bit, but I also didn't put up much of a fight. Look for more detailed reviews of these figures on the blog at a later date.

Continuing to make my way around the outer aisle of the show room floor, the next table we stopped at was Chicken Fried Toys. I had previously seen they were working on some western themed 3 3/4 figures, which I thought was cool, but what really caught my eye at their table was this "press release" and blister card mock up for Cops 'n Crooks! 

I had no idea that this was a even a thing. While I didn't own many of the original toys, I always thought it was a pretty cool line and enjoyed the cartoon series. Chicken Fried Toys and Fresh Monkey Fiction are tag teaming to bring back this futuristic line, this time in 4 in form. As you see above, they had the test shot for Marshall Sundown on display and looks fantastic. I believe they said they are shooting for fall of 2023 so you have time to prepare your wallets if this sort of thing is up your ally.

The next booth over was for Keone Young, the voice of Storm Shadow from the original GI Joe Sunbow cartoon. He had a nice spread of different photos for sale of him from various movies and shows he's been a part of. I got to talk to him briefly, however when he learned I was from Charlotte, NC he went on to tell me how much he hates the airport (Charlotte Douglas International)! Apparently the concourses are too spread out (which they are) making it hard to catch a connecting flight if you don't have much time in between. He also asked if I had been to Greenville, SC and asked if I've been to Retro-Toy Con. This was another show that I've not been to, but really want to go. Greenville is about a 2 hour drive for me so it's easily doable. Every year I put it on my calendar, but when November rolls around I swear something happens and I haven't been able to go. One day however, I'll make it there.

Once we made it around to the next aisle we stopped and looked at several different booths and talked to some great people. Whether it was Needless Toys or Crimson-Toys, it was awesome talking to the guys and taking a look at their offerings. Needless Toys had some great stuff available while Crimson-Toys had some freakin' awesome diorama pieces available. Definitely check out both of them and throw them some business if you see fit.

Another great group of guys I got to briefly talk with was the team behind the forthcoming Delta-17 line of o-ring figures. They had several test shots on display at their table and they looked phenomenal, check them out.

I wished I had taken more photos of the figures they had on display as they looked fantastic. They looked so good it started to fire up that competition for my wallet between 3 3/4 (4 inch) and 6 inch figures! I believe these figures will be offered through BigBadToyStore along with their own website later this fall.

The booth I probably spent the most time at talking GI Joe shop at was the table for After Action Report. If I'm being completely honest, I don't recalling seeing or hearing much about this project that first started on Kickstarter. I think in the days leading up to JoeFest I may have seen something, but overall the authors, Roger Taft and Josh Eggebeen schooled me on what their project was all about. 

While I didn't read a lot of the Marvel GI Joe comic series growing up, my older brother did and I had a few issues here and there. I was more into the original Sunbow animated show personally. However when Devil's Due was awarded the license I was "re-introduced" all over again to the Joes in comic format. Volume 1 of the After Action Report covers the Marvel era of 1982-1996 while Volume 2 covers the Devil's Due era of 2001-2008 (I got mine autographed by Josh Blaylock!) Both of these volumes are chocked full of information on the various comic seriess. The layout on each page is fantastic and what I've read so far has been great. I look forward to delving into these deeper as time allows.

I don't know if it's because this was a late day purchase of the final day of the show or if they were just excited knowing these books were going into the hands of another collector/fan, but they gave me a lot of freebies with my purchase, including several Ashcans, prints and more.

Above are some of the prints given to me. I hope to have these framed so I can hang them, but first to find a place on the crowed walls in my toy museum/room. I also was given a poster that was rolled up, but I wasn't able to get it flatten good enough to photograph.

The last items I was given were these metal bookmarks which features an image of Grunt along with a small "file card" on the back and a cool dog tag.

All in all it was a great show and one that I'm very much looking forward to going to next year. The whole show reminded me of Botcon conventions from years past. I miss attending a dedicated show as such so it was a lot of fun being surrounded by fans of the same property like GI Joe. If you are within driving distance of Augusta, GA and you are available next summer, I highly recommend putting this convention on your calendar. I believe the dates for the 2024 show will be announced on Wednesday, 06/21/23 if my memory serves me correctly. Until then, Yo Joe!

You should Play With This Too - A Kickstarter Campaign you must check out

I"m going to take a few moments from reviewing toys, to talk about some new toys in the works that you must simply check out. While this may be new to some of the readers, to many you've probably already heard of a new company called Play With This Too. PWTT for short, is comprised of many former guys from the likes of Hasbro, Mattel, IDW and other companies. Having worked on such popular toy lines as Transformers, G.I. Joe, Star Wars, Masters of the Universe and many other lines, these guys have come up with a new series of action figures they are calling the Lost Protectors.

They just launched a new Kickstarter campaign on Friday, February 27th for their new series of figures and in less than 24 hours, people had pledged nearly 40% of their initial $80,000 goal. Now these guys don't need me to help them achieve their goal(s) as I'm sure they'll hit their marks, but how could I not say something about them when they have, basically, new versions of some of the classic Generation One Pretenders that I so dear love?

One of the first figures in the series is Desolataur...or Skullgrin as I'll refer to him. Now this is an early resin prototype here, but look at just how awesome this thing looks. You can read up on the Kickstarter campaign page to learn more about the figures and the series in general, but I just wanted to share a few pictures and see if those alone will be enough to entice you to check them out.

One of the neat things about these figures are that the pieces will be interchangeable with other figures in the series...or with other 6 inch action figures (to some degree). Think of Hasbro's new Mashers figures, but way better sculpted and with more accessories.

Where as the original G1 Pretenders had smaller transformable robots that hide inside the Pretender shells, these come with what PWTT is calling Tech Drones. These are 3 inch tall figures assembled via 5mm ports or pegs. You can also disassemble the drones and use their parts with the larger figures as weapons or accessories.

If you aren't familiar with how Kickstarter campaigns work, here is an example of how this particular campaign works. If you pledge $55 and the main goal of $80K is met, then you'll receive the awesome Bloodbath figure (aka TF G1 Pretender Bomb-Burst) sometime next February or March. Simple as that.

Or you can pledge $55 and receive the awesome Desolataur figure. I'm currently on the fence over with character to back, as you can only choose one...unless you have a 2nd Kickstarter account I'm assuming.

Now there are other versions of these two figures, some exclusive to this Kickstarter campaign that you can check out as well, but I'm mainly interested in the G1 Transformers themed characters...such as the two above.

Larger, closer look at the pending Desolataur figure

They also have several stretch goals to meet after the initial goal has been met. What is a stretch goal you may ask? Well essentially the more money that is pledged to them, the more items available for purchase will be unlocked. Some of these are new heads or accessory packs that are compatible with the Lost Protectors figures or other similar 6 inch figures. Some of the later stretch goals include new characters such as...

Jetstrike, an obvious homage to TF G1 Pretender Starscream! They even have plans to do the other seekers using this mold!

"Thundercracker and Skywarp"

Check out their version of TF G1 Pretender Grimlock, aka Boneyard. Nice, right? Looks like the Tech Drone even turns into a little T-Rex.

There is so many cool things they have planned...assuming they can get the initial goal met. I for one hope they succeed as I can't wait to see what these look like in person. I'm in the process now of trying to decide at what level I can afford to support. I encourage you to take a few moments and check out the Kickstarter campaign if anything you've seen here intrigues you.