#g.i. joe: first strike

[mikeywayarchive]

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Full interview under cut:

Mikey Way & Shaun Simon Expand on Collapser, Young Animal’s Newest Series

By Steve Foxe  |  April 10, 2019 | 12:00pm

Main Art by Ilias Kyriazis

Just a few short hours ago, Paste helped break the welcome news that DC and Gerard Way’s “pop-up” imprint Young Animal will be ending its hiatus by launching a brand-new slate of comics. In addition to a new volume of flagship title Doom Patrol, now titled Doom Patrol: The Weight of Worlds, Young Animal will introduce an original Green Lantern series called Far Sector and a brand-new concept known as Collapser. 

Co-written by former My Chemical Romance bassist Mikey Way and The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys writer Shaun Simon with art by G.I. Joe: First Strike contributor Ilias Kyriazis, Collapser introduces struggling DJ Liam James, whose anxiety-ridden life gets a lot more complicated when he opens a package containing a black hole—which quickly takes up residence in his chest. Collapser stands apart from the wider DC Universe, but Way and Simon have big plans for addressing mental health, early adult melancholy and that whole power/responsibility thing with their cosmically powered protagonist. 

In advance of Collapser’s announcement, Paste chatted with Simon and Way to learn more about their long friendship, tackling mental health via superpowers and why Collapser protagonist Liam sports a pea coat.

Collapser Cover Art by Ilias Kyriazis

Paste: Shaun, you worked with Gerard Way on The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, and Mikey, you obviously spent years growing up, and then making music, with your brother. But how did the two of youcome together for Collapser and how long has the project been in the works?

Mikey Way: It’s crazy, me and Shaun go back a long time. He was in a band called Pencey Prep, that My Chemical Romance shared a practice space with, and we just became really close friends through so many similar interests—we all like the same music, we like the same comics and movies, we have the same points of reference. When Pencey Prep kind of dissolved for a bit, Shaun had come out on the road with us. He was selling merch and helping out and hanging out, and I vividly remember us all trading comic books around. We were in a van at the time. We’d be talking about which comics we were reading, and everyone borrowed our graphic novels. There were no tablets back then and you had to physically bring the issues with you. I remember all of us having really heavy backpacks full of graphic novels and whatnot. But yeah, we’ve known each other a really, really long time.

Paste: And how long has Collapser specifically been in the works?

Way: Two-plus years, I think?. 

Shaun Simon: I think so. Mikey had done an issue of a Batman Halloween special for DC, what was it, 10 years ago, Mikey? 

Way: It was a decade now. A decade ago. Initially, there were a few projects that I was working on with DC and then life just happened. Do you know what I mean? Different things pulled me in different directions. At the time I was really bad at multitasking. I would always write pitches or have series ready to go, and then My Chemical Romance was so consuming, that I honestly—it falls on me, I’m bad at multitasking. So I was like, “I’ll do this when we have a break, I’ll do this when we have a break,” which is what I would say—and then we never really had a break.

Paste: Mikey, It’s pretty common knowledge that your brother pursued a comic career before My Chemical Romance got off the ground. But are you also a lifelong fan of the medium, and is Collapser a story that you needed to tell with or without Young Animal?

Way: Yeah, I think comic books—I mean, it’s how I learned how to read. My brother got into comics at a really early age and so I did I. We would walk to this store that was a couple of blocks away that was an old newsstand, and we would go and buy comics there and eventually, you know, as we got older, comics shops became really important to me and him. They became like our clubhouse. It’s kind of like your home. We played Dungeons & Dragons there on weekends and it became your home away from home really. We met lifelong friends that we still talk to at the original comic shop that we hung out at in Bloomfield, NJ, called Metropolis. We still talk to those guys pretty regularly. But yeah, it was just always there for me. I was always interested. I always kept tabs, even when life got busy and I would fall in and out of following storylines, I would always be aware of what was going on too. I’m almost 39 now so that’s probably 36 years of comic books.

Paste: Getting to the book itself, what can you tell us about Liam James and how he gets the abilities that upend his life as a struggling musician? Are we seeing the birth of a new hero, or is Liam planning to stay pretty far removed from capes and tights?

Way: I think he stays away from the tights. [Laughs] He finds his own costume of sorts.

Simon: He prefers pea coats. 

Way: Yeah that’s the thing. Me and Shaun, we’ve always been pea-coat enthusiasts. I remember like 15, 20 years ago, walking around Willowbrook Mall trying to find one. We were like, “Yo, we want a really good coat!” and me and him, we’re both really skinny, so we’d get a small and it’d be draping on us.

Simon: Yeah, we’d get women’s coats that actually fit. 

Way: We’d have to go in the women’s section, we’d try it on. I remember we’ve always been into pea coats, so the fact is that our hero, the pea coat is kind of his Superman shield. That’s his costume. It’s funny. That’s something from our past that has come up in the story.

Paste: Well, aside from his fashion choices, what can you tell us about where Liam’s life is when the series opens and how he comes to possess these powers?

Way: He’s kind of in a strange spot where he’s like—it’s the second coming of age when you’re done with high school, and there’re some people, they don’t quite know what they want to do yet. 

Simon: They’re in a limbo.

Way: Limbo, yeah. And they’re trying to figure it out. They know what they do like, but they don’t know how to make a living doing it. Like for instance, Liam is very into DJing at his local club that all his friends hang out in. And he knows he loves that, but he doesn’t know what that means necessarily. Until he figures that out, he’s got to have a regular job; he works at a nursing home. So yeah, it’s about that in-between, like Shaun said, it’s kind of like a limbo. He’s in that second coming of age, a second adolescence of sorts where he’s trying to grow up. He’s trying to figure it out. But he is very much struggling to find his footing in the real world. He’s also apprehensive to give up this stuff that, you know, some people would say is childish or it’s like a pipe dream. He doesn’t want to give that stuff up quite yet. So it’s like one foot in the door, kind of dipping his foot in the pool kind of thing—he doesn’t know how to attain his dreams.

Paste: And about the actual event itself that kicks off the book—is there anything you want to tease to readers about how Liam gets his powers, or is that a surprise that they’re going to have to pick up the book to see?

Simon: I think we could we could say that. Liam also suffers from anxiety, which is something that I know a lot of people, Mikey and I, friends and this generation has to deal with. That’s kind of a driving force in his life, that he has to deal with this anxiety, this voice in his head nonstop. And when he DJs, the music kind of calms that voice down. So right in the beginning of this issue, he gets a package from his mom, his mom who he hasn’t seen since he was little, and in the package is a black hole. And the black hole takes up residence in Liam’s chest.

And then the story goes: how does this affect him and what does this mean for him? You become this superhero and does that help you when you have an issue like anxiety, or is that just a distraction from an issue like that? And is the real solution to it something other than what he’s doing at this point?

Paste: I’m glad you brought that up because I wanted to ask—you’ve both worked with mental health issues before, Mikey with My Chemical Romance, Shaun, with books like Neverboy. Was it important for you to bring a theme like that into the pages of a superhero comic?

Simon: That was one of the first things we talked about, like who’s this main character? The music, the kind of Goth music and the New Wave stuff is stuff that Mikey and I grew up with. And also dealing with issues like anxiety and depression and all this kind of stuff, I mean this is all where we came from. So it was no question—how then would someone like this deal with becoming or getting these powers that he’s about to get?

Way: I feel like this generation is very open about their internal struggle, which is cool. I think a lot of our parents, growing up, they were told to repress that kind of thing, or it wasn’t classified what some of it was. Medicine wasn’t there yet, things weren’t diagnosed properly yet. I feel like this generation, they kind of wear it like a badge of honor, which is cool.

Simon: They’re not afraid to get help. 

Way: They’re not afraid. I know some people probably think it’s a bad thing, like a stigma. But I feel like the way the world is evolving, that it’s not seen that way anymore. But yes, it was super-important for us to get that in because, again it’s something me and Shaun and so many people we know struggle with. I see it being brought up in comic books, but this is another opportunity. I can’t remember the comic I saw it brought up, but there was a comic book a couple years ago where one of the characters had some kind of anxiety, but I don’t remember it. But I feel like it’s something that will probably become more commonplace now because it is such a big problem. I don’t know many people without anxiety. I talk to friends and people about it and everyone can kind of relate. 

Paste: Yeah, it’s not an easy era in which to feel relaxed and carefree.

Way: Yeah, you’re plugged in and you’re told to be scared all the time and you’re told all these awful, terrible things. And it’s hard to not take some of it to heart. There’s a degree of shellshock. With the news and world events and tragedies, it’s a lot of process. Especially, I can imagine a young kid having to absorb some of this stuff.

Paste: I do want to talk a little bit more about the plot of the book and the new cast of characters, because based on the art in the first two issues, it seems like Liam’s story is full of new faces, not necessarily familiar DC characters. Can you give us any teasers about the supporting cast or anyone who might be making Liam’s life even harder?

Simon: There is no one from the DC Universe—this is pretty much a self-contained story and universe on its own. However, there will be people from Liam’s own life making appearances, old friends, new friends, stuff that really affects him in very personal ways. 

Way: Initially the allure to kind of scratch the itch of wanting to use some of the beloved characters we all grew up with—the temptation was there, [but] we kind of felt it would be best to go our own route, that this is actually an opportunity to create all our own stuff. We got excited at the idea of getting to mold the whole universe. Kind of almost like the ���90s Vertigo stuff where nothing else existed around it, that’s kind of the vein we wanted to hit with this.

Paste: And is there anyone from the supporting cast that readers should keep their eye out for? Or would you rather keep that closer to the vest for now?

Simon: I’ve been saying that this dude is a late-night DJ, suffering from anxiety, getting a black hole in his chest—I feel like that might be enough for now. [Laughs]

Paste: Before we go, let’s talk about your artistic collaborator, Ilias Kyriazis. How did Ilias get attached to the book, and what’s it like working with him to bring Collapser to life?

Simon: He’s great. We were looking for artists for a while and a big part of it was finding the right tone because there is comedy in this, there’s drama in this, there’s horror in this. So we needed someone who would kind of tick all those boxes. We were looking for a while and then I believe Ilias got in touch with someone at DC and was just like, “Hey, you know, I’m available to do stuff,” and I had seen his stuff, his Dirk Gently stuff, which I was really drawn to, the art in that book. And then we got an email from one of our editors and it was like, “Hey, this dude is available and he might be great.” And Mikey checked out his stuff and he got on board and he’s been fantastic. 

He brings a whole other level to this whole thing. He makes things look lived in. [Liam’s] apartment has been lived in by people for generations, and that stuff is all important to us. Not so clean and crisp but lived-in and like it’s really happening to this guy, which is important for Liam because he’s such a ground-level character when he starts out.

Way: What I was really taken aback by with Ilias is how fast he is. I have tons of friends in the industry and they tell me stories—I’d be like, Oh, how long does something normally take to draw, etc., etc., and he’d be finished in days and it would be amazing. He’s really fast and really good which is getting to be his currency.

Simon: He’s very excited about this book too, so I feel like that adds to it. And he’s very involved in character design and the design of the world. It’s very good to be working with someone like him who is as invested as you are.

Way: He got all the references, any time we would send him references or a quick description. He was always right there with us where we were, Exactly, that’s exactly what we were thinking, and he got the vibe right away.

Paste: Collapser helps kick off Young Animal’s return this July. Shaun, like you said, a black hole in the chest is a pretty great hook, but are there any final teases you want to give fans to tide them over until this summer?

Simon: Hmm, that’s a good question.

Way: I think what’s cool about this story is it’s kind of like science fiction/horror. Anything I do has a horror element to it—no matter what I try to do it ends up having a horror aspect to it. As I grew up, all I did was read Stephen King. [Laughs] 

Simon: There’re some Twilight Zone elements to it. Stuff like that inspired us. I think overall, the whole process has just been a blast. Mikey and I are really great friends and we know each other so well, and we connect on so many things, getting to work together on something like this has been like we’ve been hanging out every day even though we’re across the country from each other. It’s just been a really great experience. 

Way: It’s a dream come true. The funny thing is, what we’re doing with Collapser, we kind of would do with other things anyway. Whenever you had a story idea, you’d be like, “What do you think?”

Simon: Oh yeah, all the time. 

Way: Or back when I was doing all my pitches, I would send them to you. It’s like a bullshit detector—is this good or does it suck? And we know from the reaction of the other how it was. Getting to finally do that with something that we’re both working on—I don’t know, it seems like a powerful combo.

In advance of Collapser’s announcement, Paste chatted with Simon and Way to learn more about their long friendship, tackling mental health via superpowers and why Collapser protagonist Liam sports a pea coat.

[snickerdoodie]

“Sugar and Spice”

Summary: Everyone knew Jake Seresin was a charismatic player. Whether it was flirting with girls at the bar or charming his way out of any situation. But what happens when the blond pilot finally meets his match?

Pairing: Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin x f!reader

A/N: hey guys..I’m not even gonna lie I completely forgot to post this lmao, I got a liiittle busy with everything and it completely went over my head. But here it is! Finally! After two months. This also isn’t proof read, per usual, so sorry if anything sounds off. Enjoy!

Jake’s chatting along with Rooster and the gang when the door suddenly chimes open, taking a quick glance as any human would, but what he sees isn’t what he’s expecting. In comes you, dressed up in a simple white tank top and probably the shorted daisy dukes he’s ever seen, not that he’s complaining though . His eyes rake over your body before he travels further upward, smirking to himself when you accidentally make eye contact. Giving him a nod and a classic small smile, you make your way over to the bar, soon getting into a quick conversation with Penny.

“Well I’ll be damn,” He says into his beer, taking a long sip before wiping his lips with a grin. That causes Rooster to quirk a brow at the unexpected comment.

“What’s up with you? Find a new pair of tits to ogle at?” He quips, noticing Hangman’s intense stare across the room. Seresin shrugs, a smirk still plastered on his handsome face.

“‘Could say that. Could also say I might have just found myself my girl tonight.” And with that, Hangman scoots himself out of the booth he was sitting in and makes his way across the room, gaze dead set on you sitting at the bar, drink in hand. He ignores the unwanted calls and shouts narrowed to him from his friends, too caught up in his next words. Taking a seat on the empty stool next to yours, leering on your exposed skin before continuing.

“Hey there, what’s a pretty thing like you doin’ here sittin’ by yourself?” You turn your head to the sound of the voice, not even hearing him come up beside you. At first, you do a once over at the man, taking in his striking green eyes and Hollywood smile. Then you take notice in his uniform, his sunglasses perched on the fold of his shirt. Must be one of those pilots you keep hearing about. Turning your upper half to him, you smile.

“Doesn’t seem like I’m sitting alone now, does it?” You quip back, setting your drink down on the countertop. The man’s smirk grows wider as he rests an elbow on the wood.

“Aw, no need to thank me, just doin’ what’s needed of me.” You just now realize his country accent, standing out in certain phrases; it makes you fight back a blush. You raise a brow nonetheless.

“Is that so? Did you magically think I wanted you here, Blondie?” You know he wasn’t expecting the nick name when his brows raise for a split second before shooting back down to their original places.

“Eh, I don’t need’a think, I just know by heart. Y’know, with my magical powers ‘n all.” He imitates quotations at the end of his sentence. You huff out a laugh at his words, eyes cascading down to your watered down drink. Taking a sip, you focus your attention back onto the man in front of you. That stupid grin still plastered on his lips.

“Well can your magical powers tell you the name of the lady you decided to make your next target?” It came out a bit harsher than you intended, almost regretting your words. Truth is, you *were* enjoying his company and that southern drawl of his. He honestly was making your night a bit better than just sitting there alone, drowning in your drinks and mind while some overplayed Toby Keith song played on the jukebox.

“I’m afraid that’s somethin’ I can’t do. Care to help me out here?” Relieved he didn’t say anything about your earlier statement, you bite your lip with a smile, nodding.

“(Y/N),” you state, almost missing the way his eyes light up more at your declaration. “What about you, G.I. Joe? Got a name to the face?”

“As a matter of fact I do, gorgeous. Most people call me Hangman but I’ll make a special case and let you call me yours.” He winks with that cheshire grin. You fight back both a blush and a large smile this time at the cringy and overused line.

“Is that so?”

“I’d sure so hope so, ma’am.”

You both stay silent as you stare at each other. While you bite the inside of your cheek, he scoots himself closer to you, knees brushing against each other. You can smell his sandalwood cologne and the beer he’d been drinking previously before coming up to you. Hangman notices your lack of response and licks his lips, eyes flickering from your glass to your hair then to your lips before continuing.

“Tell ya what, sweetheart” he starts, catching your attention, “You name the game. If I win, you’re buying me dinner. But if you by some miracle manage to beat me, you won’t have to endure my charming company ever again.” He finishes, looking very confident in his proposition. You tilt your head and fully face your body towards him, your legs scooting between his as he widens his stance to make room. You swear you could have seen his adam’s apple bob harshly at the movement but you payed no mind.

You narrow your eyes slightly before a small smile stretches across your lips. With the confidence that this man passed on, you carefully lean forward so your palms are resting against his firm thighs. Bracing yourself as you lean in closer. Hangman bites his lip before tilting his head down, his chest heaving in a breath before he speaks,

“You gonna take up on that offer, darlin’?” He drawls out, voice raspy, almost sultry. You look him in the eyes as you lightly squeeze his skin, his smirk growing.

“Y’know what? I will, s’not like I’ve got anything to lose now is there, cowboy?”

I also tried to make my format for my fics a little more..interesting looking. I felt like they’re too boring so tell me your thoughts. Feel free to comment if you liked or disliked something! :)

[gijoe-forever]

Night Force is a G.I. Joe subteam. They are a covert team outfitted and equipped for nighttime surveillance and defensive operations. They have skills, advanced technology and sophisticated hardware, relying on the element of surprise to strike the enemy under cover of darkness and accomplish their mission. It is the largest of the G.I.-Joe subteams.

The first version of Night Force was released in 1988

[kharmii]

the narrative goes more and more into hate hate and even more hate... it's tiring... I'm sure it is for you as well...

so with this ask I want to know something that you enjoyed recently. Something making you feel better. You can also infodump a little about one of your favorite topics.

I hope you don't mind this blunt question. Just think it's important to take a break and focus on the positive as well.

Just so happens I have a facetious rant. When I first got into Dabiten, I thought....why are there no videos on YouTube of Geten with his hood down? There are a few with glowing eyed gremlin Geten fighting Dabi, but fans might have made them for Dabi because Geten is the most background of background characters. I was all set to make my own compilation video months ago, but then I realized one can't download episodes off Crunchyroll onto a PC, just mobile. I'm old, and I like to do all my work on the PC. The project was abandoned.

Fast forward to two days ago when I had all the episodes I needed to make my compilation video downloaded thanks to the My Hero Academia wiki which is one of the most edited there is. One can look up a character they like and find data on every appearance they've made in both the anime and manga. I also had to relearn how to cut and splice together edited scenes. The last time I did this was six years ago when I made the Best of Renegades Mindbender video from G.I. Joe: Renegades.

Before I made the Geten video, however, I wanted to make a compilation video of the absolute best most funny thing I've ever seen on MHA -that is still funny six months later- and that is during S6.E.12 Dabi's Dance when Best Jeanist asked Bakugo if he was able to look beyond himself and pick out a good hero name. Bakugo replied he had a name and wanted to tell him in person. It was Great Explosion Murder God Dynamite!

Five episodes later in E.17 The Wrong Way to Put Out A Fire, Best Jeanist passes Bakugo in a hospital hallway and asks, "Great Explosion Murder God Dynamite, are you okay?" I about died. I put those two scenes in a compilation video, along with two more scenes with other characters -Ingenium and Rumi Usagiyama- calling Bakugo by his new hero name. When I went to upload it to YouTube, it was immediately blocked for copyright so only I could see it. In order to get it unblocked, I'd have to cut the first fifty seconds of a minute and a half video.

I appealed the decision claiming 'free use for entertainment purposes'. After all, everybody and their grandma is putting up similar MHA content with no problem. I also credited the people who owned the franchise. Looking at the details of the copyright issue, it turns out the owner has a content ID claim against the content (which might be why my idea hasn't been done before). I still disputed it. The owner of the copyright has a couple options.

After you dispute

After you submit a dispute, the person that claimed your video (the claimant) has 30 days to respond.

What the claimant can do

Release the claim: If the claimant agrees with your dispute, they can release their claim. If you were previously monetizing the video, your monetization settings will be restored automatically when all claims on your video are released. Learn more about monetization during Content ID disputes.

Reinstate the claim: If the claimant believes that their claim is still valid, they can reinstate it. This means that your dispute was rejected and the claim stays on your video. You may be eligible to appeal this decision.

Submit a takedown request: If the claimant believes that their claim is still valid, they can submit a copyright takedown request. If the takedown request is valid, your video is removed from YouTube and your channel gets a copyright strike. Learn more about options for resolving a copyright strike.

Let the claim expire: If the claimant doesn’t respond within 30 days, the claim on your video will expire and be released from your video.

I still haven't heard back from the owner of the copyright. Best case scenario is they release the claim, but I'd be happy if they'd ignore it and let the claim expire. That would be the ultimate in delayed gratification, but at least I'd get to share the damn thing twenty-eight days from now. Expect to see it here in exactly four weeks if that happens.

In the meantime, I'll eventually get working on the Geten video for fun. We'll see if that also gets a content ID claim against it. If so, hopefully that too will expire after thirty days, and I won't have wasted my time for nothing. Sheesh, this never happened after I posted all those G.I. Joe videos. Hasbro Studios, LLC, the owners of the franchise, just put a copyright claim against all my fan videos so that they were advertised and had a link to the movie The M.A.S.S. Device | G.I. JOE A Real American Hero | 40th Anniversary Special | G.I. Joe Official put on all my videos.

Side note: I love how all YouTube videos somehow automatically generate a transcript of every bit of text in any given video. That's amazing programmers were able to make that happen. I'd like to see the punctuation be accurate and have the ability to cut out the timestamps every other second, but the fact it exists is amazing enough. Maybe someday...

-Like seriously, why do we have this on YouTube.....

.......but not this:

[hasbr0mniverse]

G.I. Joe A Real American Hero! 1993 - Code Name: Long Arm - Primary Specialty: First Strike Specialist - "I'm always the first one into the firefight, but I wouldn't have it any other way."

[graphicpolicy]

Snake Eyes Strikes! Your First Look at G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero #317 #comics #comicbooks #gijoe

[comiccrusaders]

Cobra Commander Strikes Back! Your First Look at G.I. JOE: A REAL AMERICAN HERO #309! @Skybound #comics #comicbooks https://ow.ly/SzzH50SNxMm

[urbancobrastrikeforce]

Skybound G.I. Joe Destro #3 - Ki is Chameleon?

Az újabb Skybound beharangozóban láthatjuk az első pár füzetlapot az újabb Destro megjelenésből. A kiadás pedig okot szolgáltathat arra, hogy végigvegyük, ki is lehet Chameleon. The Chameleon is striking. But WHO is the Chameleon?! Theorize with your first look at Destro #3 pic.twitter.com/EhXEKUhvWy— Skybound Entertainment (@Skybound) July 30, 2024

[scentedchildnacho]

Yes....the help at the polite father oration was from italy......so if i ask the nuns opinion about maternal fertility i haven't ever learned Europe about tolerating China coal policy and energetics is good for my temper

Dont touch me because laTin during my period I get cramps and aches all over my body from japaneese photography sediment in the ground and rain

I more guessed these communications from the private equity wine they wanted to share with me

Its more that if I study with edinburgh philosophy about using mind as cognitive relaxation states of being and light..........that I get g.i. Joe syndrome or my mental health advocate won't get into rock and roll...religion is the talk on a cereal box......

Im not aware of too many things i know what I know if you know what i mean

I hate striking public showers so much people can shove me in the shallow water

That just means I get tunnel vision about paying attention to the virtual cage when eye sight liminal spaces or clear vision and blurred can see a lot more of the radioactive space

And that's view wine as stronger then I think

The paper to me is about liberation....perps know that humans have perp needs why did you sell drugs they wanted to save a good community to them.....so it stops allowing perps such easy tracking stalking

It it girl.....

I was watching first date eire Ireland......and this bisexual had to date this very very emancipated anti femininst.....who told her she doesn't like children prefers to get drunk and order off the kids menu

The ameri indian as provocative of anne frank

If Anne franks secret best ally had been a smoking pork soda loving crack head ameri indian she wouldn't have died

So the bisexual orders salmon and wine and I was like I like the blond for her because she is starving herself about achievement and not admitting something molestational to herself because it's salmon.....

But I don't think the fusion occurred of envy of her cheap habits and won't dikeness.....because she is a bisexual not a woman....

Pace and rapid habit and persona change

[astropithecus]

For my first decade or so, I got a lot of toys second-hand from my cousins (actually fourth-hand in some cases - I was a few years younger than my uncle's youngest son, which meant I was the last stop for their three-boy-household's outgrown toys).

An interesting effect is that my "nostalgic toy era" stretches haphazardly all the way back into the late 70's, well before I was born. I didn't usually get the really good stuff, e.g. no 1980 Kenner AT-AT, but in 1989 I got the "Dagobah Action Playset," sans any figurines, or moving parts, but including rapidly-deteriorating quicksand foam.*

These toys came in bags or bins, not cardboard boxes or blister packages. I was five and I'd never seen Empire Strikes Back. Consequently, I had no idea what this tree stump with a crumbly hole even was.² I loved it, though. Sometimes over the years it was a secret lair for a villain. Other times it was strategic cover for a retreating force. Often it was a garage for Hot Wheels cars. I crumbled a fair bit of foam sinking Hot Wheels cars in the quicksand. It didn't really matter what it was supposed to be, consequently it was a lot of different things, and I enjoyed all of them.

Similarly, the G.I. Joe cartoon was cancelled before my episodic memory begins, but I had a ton of early-to-mid 80s G.I. Joes by the time I was 8 or so. I had some that I'd gotten new in the late 80's or early 90s, too, after the tie-in cartoon had been cancelled, and for those I usually at least sort-of-remembered some details about them from the packaging. But the ones I'd inherited, they were blank slates. I made up my own names and gimmicks and personalities for them.

Sometimes when I got new ones and I'd clip the "G.I. Joe Command File" off the cardback, I'd get a kind of pang that I'd never know who those hand-me-downs were supposed to be. This was well before anything we'd recognize as "the internet" now, so those cardbacks seemed like the only available source of information in the entire world. I wasn't any better at keeping up with G.I. Joe Command Files than I was homework so it's not like I wanted to complete the set or anything, it was more that something intangible had been lost - they'd come with an identity a long time ago, but that part didn't make it to me, and now I'd never know. My cousins were useless in this regard, the oldest had already left home and the youngest, as the third-hand owner, usually didn't know any more than I did.

Thanks to the internet, I could now go look up all the G.I. Joes I ever had if I wanted to, but I usually don't. I have to admit, now it doesn't really matter to me who they were supposed to be, really I just wish I remembered more about who I decided they were. There is one I'll never forget, though.

I decided this guy was Vincent Price.

With adult eyes, "Crystal Ball" (apparently that's his name, do his friends call him "Crystal" or "Ball"?) could plausibly be a rip-off of the crystal-ball-toting warlock from crappy 80s Scrappy Doo cartoons (voiced by and modeled after - you guessed it - Vincent Price). I remember connecting "Vincent Van Ghoul" to the guy in the movies we watched at Halloween, and that guy to the Muppet "Vincent Twice, Vincent Twice" - so animated Vincent Price to live-action Vincent Price to Muppet Vincent Price - and after that I guess it wasn't much of a leap to then decide he was a G.I. Joe, too.³ And even without a G.I. Joe Command File, the purpose of that swirly lenticular shield was unmistakable to my 8-year-old mind - G.I. Joe Vincent Price was a hypnotist.

So, while I usually don't care to peruse the bounty of G.I. Joe-related information available on the world wide web, I was curious about the real story behind this one figure that grown-up logic tells me couldn't have actually been Vincent Price. So I turned to an apparently highly-regarded source of G.I. Joe information, "Joepedia":

Crystal Ball is almost universally considered the most disliked figure. Fans hate this guy.

Oh.

I'm not posting the actual cardback, because it turns out his official backstory is basically just some tired anti-Romani tropes that feel tonedeaf now. But here's the thing, in my lived experience, for a brief time before I understood how plagarism works, Vincent Price was a G.I. Joe with a shield that hypnotizes people (and apparently also a gun, if that doesn't work). That's so much better than what that little plastic guy was supposed to be.

If there needs to be a moral to this story, I think it's that focusing too much on what you're supposed to be prevents you from coming up with something even better instead.

* There is actually a cottage industry for replacement quicksand foam for Dagobah Action Playsets, because apparently the foam insert it was produced with just sort of dry rotted in crumbly clumps after a few years. This is actually why this example came to mind, because Empire Strikes Back came out four years before I was even born (let alone playing with officially-licensed sci-fi movie tie-in action playsets), so the shared experience of crumbly Dagobah quicksand is something more the purveyance of Gen-Xers than my Millennial cohort.

² While I later spent a few awkward adolescent years as an encyclopedic Star Wars nerd, I was raised in a Trek household, TOS specifically. Perhaps ironically, by the time I got into Star Wars, the Dagobah Action Playset had long-since been discarded, I never made the connection that I'd had (what was left of) an original Kenner playset from ~1981 and threw it away - I might have wept. Luckily I was in my 20s before I had the realization that hadn't been just any slimy mudhole.

³ It might be this sort of conflation is what Hasbro was banking on in the first place, but Vincent Price seems like a weird celebrity for G.I. Joe to try and cash in on specifically. Adult me suspects more that Hasbro's inspiration was Doctor Strange (who was also modeled after Vincent Price), comic book characters seeming a more plausible source for a toy company to rip off for action figures. I didn't know anything about Doctor Strange back then, though - I wasn't ever big into superhero comics, and the few I had over the years were almost all DC.

[dragon-snoots-a-boopin]

Okay, so in my little discussion post about Transformers: Rise of the Beasts I outlined in basic detail that I wouldn’t want to see several movies that formed a sort of Hasbro cinematic universe and said that I’d elaborate in another post and so, this is the one I am going to elaborate that in this post.

I am going to start in the realm of the IDW comics. I believe it was in 2016 that they did like three comic books that where they decided to make a connected universe of Hasbro properties by smashing together Transformers, G.I. Joe, Action Man, Micronauts, M.A.S.K and ROM The Space Knight. Heck, there was one comic that they paired the Transformers with another Hasbro property called Visionaries too but that was its own thing.

So we got these three comics, two of which were event comics and one was a follow up to an event one. We first had First Strike, then we had Revolution and it’s follow up, Revolutionaries. All three of these comic did not sell well at all. Now, I feel like part of the issue is the nature of event comic themselves, because before you can read the First Strike event books, you have the read the Transformers, G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K, Rom, Action Man and Micronauts individual tie-in issues and that’s something most people are not willing to do. Again, these books did not sell well at all. Also, aside from Transformers and G.I. Joe, the other individual books didn’t sell well either. I remember that post Revolution, they launched a new M.A.S.K comic series that was canceled after six issues because it sold so poorly.

This leads into why I think that an on film version of what they tried to pull off in comic form also wouldn’t work because none of it would sell well. Look, I know this is probably going to offend some people, especially those remaining fans, not very few people are actually familiar with properties like Rom The Space Knight, or Action Man, or M.A.S.K or Visionaries or Micronauts. Most people probably have never heard of these properties so, ask yourself, if they made a movie based on any of those, who would the target audience be?

I’m not crazy when I say this because at least both G.I. Joe and Transformers still have current toylines. When was last time that M.A.S.K or Visionaries or Action Man was on the shelves and selling well? So please, don’t make a G.I. Joe/Transformers movie and don’t try to make a Hasbro cinematic universe either. As much as I did enjoy reading those comics, I just don’t see it doing well in the sense of a movie.

[lobocomicsandtoys]

SCARLETT’S STRIKE FORCE TRADE PAPERBACK VOL 01

Advance solicited for June release! They've fought back invasions from home and afar - now, they're back on Earth, and ready to take on the wildest, weirdest threats out there! It's Scarlett's G.I. JOE team, the Strike Force, against a brand-new Cobra Commander, a revitalized Cobra, and everyone else trying to conquer Earth... or destroy it! Featuring all-stars of the Hasbro line as M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand and the Transformers bots join G.I. Joe in the fight against Cobra! Collects issues #1-3, the G.I. JOE First Strike One-Shot, and the M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand First Strike One-Shot.

Available at Lobo Comics & Toys this coming Wednesday, 05/02/2018

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[fuck-yeah-romantica]

The love of my l- Sada. Just, Sada.

Romantica photoshoot

- Position: guitar / bass

- Birthday: april 3 (no there is no year. Being lucky, only ten years later than Karen)

- Zodiac: aries

- Height: 170cm.

- Weight: 53kg.

- Bloodtype: A

- Previous musical projects: ...

Sada's first look, claims Karen Fox, 2004 (look at him. Look at him. L o o k.)

- Favourite bands (Japan): X japan, Baiser, Kuroyume, Shazna, Velvet eden, Art marju duchain, Luna sea, Malice mizer, Moi dix mois, Raphael, Hizaki grace project, Izam, Lareine, Metis Gretel, Sadist, Parasite, S (visual kei era), Syndrome, Phantasmagoria, Jun solo, hide, Anti feminism, Madeth gray'll, Je*reviens, Dir en grey (visual kei era), La:sadie's, Aliene ma'riage, Noir fleurir, Eliphas levi, Noi'x, Missalina rei, Neil, Celestia le ciel, Eze qul, Luinspear, Marry+an+blood, Misery, Orugo/ru, The piass, Loon eye's millye, Verfe gorl, Schwardix marvally, Due le quartz, Kagrra (visual kei era), Da'vid shito:al, Alc A dia, Kar maria, Allegory pill, Lanus dune, Aikaryu, Kamaitachi, Gargoyle, Kuroahega, Sex Android, Angel heart.. and a looot more....

- Favourite bands (Outside Japan): Sex pistols, Specimen, Siouxsie and the banshees, Cinema strange, London after midnight, Heart Throb Mob, Queeny Blast Pop, The devotchkas, The damned, The adicts, Vice Squad (80's), Misfits, The Ramones, Motley crue, Visage, Dead or alive, Boy george, Mayhem, Dana International, The horrorpops, Dick dale, Dead can dance, Karen Fox, She-ra. (Damn that goth strike)

- Favourite Videoclips: Fade to Grey (Visage), Out of fashion (Boy George), Long Hard Road Out Of Hell (Marilyn Manson), Zero (Smashing pumkins), Sad Mask (Velvet eden), Omocha no miisha (Noir fleurir), Metamorphose (Lareine), Gekka No Yasoukyaku (Malice mizer), Sumire september love (Shazna), Sister (Kuroyume), Koi shite kura kura (Izam), Weekend (X japan), Tsuki ni kasamura kumo hana ni kaze (Omnyouza), To.ki.me.ki. (Missalina rei), Sangeki no yoru (Dir en grey), Michi no sora (Psycho le cemu), Hoy no (Entre Rios), Paris (Romantica).

- Hobby: ...

- Interest: Hollow earth, Nazi esoterism (ufo), not official science, comics, manga.

- Personality: dejado (ditzy, out of touch with the surroundings), dreamer.

- Favourite colour: black, violet.

- Ambition: youth.

- Your first love: myself

- Would you like to be in love again?: here I am.

- Romantica in one word: machos (alpha males)

- Favourite phrase: y.. ya no se puede confiar en naides!! -by: shinjidark- (well... Neinbody is to trust!!)

- Favourite book: ...

- Favourite writer: Pierre Boulle, H.P. lovecraft, Julio Verne, John uri lloyd, H.G. Wells, Ray Bradbury, Ellis St. Joseph, Edward Bulwer Lytton.

- Favourite movie: Hedwig and the angry inch, Star wars (original trilogy), Dagon, Glen or glenda.

- Favourite t.v. series: Lost, The outer limits (60's), The twilight zone (50's).

- Favourite politic: Gral. Juan D. Peron.

- Favourite word: ...

- Type of woman liked: Real doll.

- Type of woman disliked: Real women. (Somebody should tell this guys homosexuality isn't the answer to mysoginy... Or maybe it is?)

- Treasured thing: my body.

- Who is your rival: myself

- Favourite anime: NHK ni youkoso!, Neon genesis evangelion, Arbegas (El rayo custodio!), Mononoke hime, Gunnm, Magic knight rayearth, Petshop of horrors, Robotech, Berserk, Gantz.

- Animated series: The smurfs, South park, The simpsons, Batman the animated series, Transformers, Spiderman and his amazing friends, Dino raiders, G.I. Joe, Thundercats, Birdman.

- What did you wanted to be as a child: pope

- What subjet did you like at school: none, I hate school.

- When did you discover music: 14 years old

- Something you always carry with you: Brain.

- Time of the year: autumn

- Where you would like to go: tokyo, inside of hollow earth.

- Who you would like to meet: ...

- What song defines you: sad mask - velvet eden.

- Message to fans: I don't know who you are, but I don't believe you anything!!!.

[decepticon-spydrone]

Have I mentioned lately how much I love the relationship between Rock ‘n Roll and Skywarp?

[quetzalpapalotl]

Ok, so Visionaries is... I mean, it's boring. It's not offensively bad, is not like the characters don't make sense, it's just that there is nothing interesting in it. I mean, the Spectral Knights have an interesting conflict of loyalties here, but I don't care about these people. And it really suffers from the fact that I just read The Falling which is so good. Going from that to this is ah.... (really, I should have put it before it, it would have made more sense).

Thing is, even for Hasbroverse standars, it feels pointless. At least something like G.I. Joe helps make the Earth feel bigger than what we see from a Cybertronian POV and there is something in it about the Earth's response to Cybertronian intervention. The Visionaries show up literally out of nowhere, this stuff doesn't even make sense with the events of First Strike. So bringing this stuff as we are supposed to be wrapping things up it's just... I'm tired, I've been good at putting up with all these crossovers and try to read good things into them, but I'm tired.

Well, it doesn't matter, because that's the last one. And I have Wrequiem to looks forward to!