Package art

[miked]

I think the new figures look great and even though I'm pretty disapointed with Duke and Gung- Ho all of the other figures are really sweet. That having been said, I want to point out something that has REALLY been bothering me about this whole revival. We' ve been sold on the idea that these figures would be apearing on cars that sport this nastalgic original artwork- and that is just NOT the case. The original package art for GI Joe: A Real American Hero was simply BREATHTAKING. At best the stuff that apears on this packaging are POOR POOR POOR copies of these original, vintage gems. Does anyone know why Hasbro decided to change these original works of art? Is anyone else bothered by this? That package art is a huge part of my nastalgia... it was so inspirational to me back then. I remember seeing these figures in a local five and dime store before I even knew that their would be a comic book with an animated commercial, etc- and they looked pretty much like the flavor of the day. Mego was doing Buck Rogers and the Micronauts which were very similiar (these GI Joe figures had cooler accessories which immediately caught my eye), but the cool art on the package sold me! those realistically painted soldiers in action poses with an exploding background made me want these things even though I didn't know anything about them. The art on these new cards looks like real amateur copies. Anyone else agree?

mike

[Colder Soldier]

Yeah, the artwork on the 25th stuff really does'nt compare to that of the original. It is a lame, digital "enhancement" of the OG stuff. Even though package art is a very important, I think it should be one of our lesser worries about the 25th Anniversary line.

I'm going to start another thread about the state of the modern G.I.Joe toyline. I guess it will be a venue for everyone to voice their own complaints and HOPEFULLY offer some input on improvement that might someday influence the people at Hasbro.

I'll call the thread "Please, don't keep ruining G.I.Joe."

[Shin Densetsu]

The intent was to make the paintings more accurate to the new figures, however even in that case, some of the alterations are still not accurate(Single pack Storm Shadow's card has the old ankles, not the wrapping padding from the new figure). The irony being that the figures themselves were supposed to be homages to the original figures shown on the card art. I understand how you guys feel. I grew up admiring those illustrations. One thing I still haven't figured out is who illustrated them.

[miked]

The intent was to make the paintings more accurate to the new figures, however even in that case, some of the alterations are still not accurate(Single pack Storm Shadow's card has the old ankles, not the wrapping padding from the new figure). The irony being that the figures themselves were supposed to be homages to the original figures shown on the card art. I understand how you guys feel. I grew up admiring those illustrations. One thing I still haven't figured out is who illustrated them.

That's an interesting question. Whoever it was was fantastic, but the artist was seemingly changed in '86 and the work wasn't as good. It's strange that even with the information available today that the artist that inspired so many of us even before a cartoon or a comic book remains anonymous. There's also some really fantastic painted art (it looks like poster paint on board- more like the vehicle box artwork than the figure card stuff- a little looser and more painterly as opposed to the tighter more sharp pieces done for the figure card art) that apeared on book covers (one was a text version of the comic issue #3 "the Trojan Gambit). I always wondered if this was the same artist. He (she?) was really fantastic.