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06-13-2009, 01:07 AM | #1 |
VALKYRIE
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Over the rainbow where your mom is at son
Posts: 23,515
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HT: Now that the 2nd edition of your Ultimate Guide to G.I. Joe: 1982-1994 has been released, is there anything that you would want to change about it?
MWB: Yup. I’d LOVE to add about 50-100 extra pages to the THIRD edition. You see, at the eleventh hour I had to cut out about 100,000+ words for space’s sake. I had SOOOOOO much information gleaned from Hasbro-to-Hama communiqués over the course of twelve years that it was a bit overwhelming at first to include everything I wanted… plus the fact that during the most frenetic point of writing the book, Larry and I were talking two or three times a day (poor beleaguered Mr. Hama!!!). The problem with talking about Joes with Larry is that HE REMEMBERS EVERYTHING. And some of the stuff he remembers is CRYPTIC. For instance, when I was performing research on Tollbooth (1985’s Bridge Layer Driver), I was studying where Tollbooth earned his master’s degree at MIT and then I typed Tollbooth’s file name (“Chuck X. Goren”) into google and what do you know: the most famous bridge player (e.g. the playing card game) was named Charles Goren! Larry was always very allusive in his writing… for a deeper explanation to this idea, see my foreword in IDW’s G.I. Joe: The Best of Larry Hama. It’s CHOCK full of insight into Hama’s writing and drawing style on Marvel’s G.I. Joe. And it mentions how Donald Duck and his three nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie PROFOUNDLY influenced G.I. Joe. As for changing anything in the 2nd edition? OF COURSE. No author should EVER be completely satisfied with their work. That’s sheer laziness. I suppose… an index would have been nice in the book (no room, no room). And after 1990, I’d like to include more notations on the figure and vehicle variations: the ’93 and ’94 Battle Corps figures in particular… but since there’s very little change in terms of price for these variations as opposed to the “standard-released” figures, if I had to cut SOMETHING… that was it… Also, I would have liked to include more ephemera in the book. Combat Pay. Micro Figures. Live Action Trading Cards. Mail away posters. But then, figures and vehicles come first… and the new vehicle images took up a BUNCH of space. The book is MUCH improved. HT: In the introduction, production illustrations for various characters are shown in color. Were there more that were available to put in, but had to be cut from inclusion? MWB: Those images are from original prints as rendered by the talented comic book artist Dave Dorman. I have about twenty of them. The original introduction to the 2nd edition was about twenty pages long… and was solely on disseminating Grunt v1’s file card. Again, for space’s sake—it was axed along with the rest of the prints. I have both prints of the twenty original paintings and pencil sketches of each character that was rendered in the paintings as well. All these excised paintings and sketches will be available when I present at G.I. Joe conferences/conventions throughout the year. Furthermore, I have a LOT of text that was excised from the 2nd edition’s manuscript that die-hards might like to see… and this info is usually relegated to conventions as well… but Justin Aclin (the Editor-In-Chief) at ToyFare Magazine liked it so much that in this month’s G.I. Joe-laden issue of ToyFare, we’ve put together an article titled “The Untold Tales of G.I. Joe.” LOTS of cool info I found that you may have never seen before… (Dreadnok Monkeywrench was a Skinhead?!? Whaaaaaat?). HT: When did work on this edition begin, and how long did it take from beginning to end? MWB: I began working on this book the very day that the 1st edition was released to the market--way back in May of ‘05. The 1st edition of The Ultimate Guide to G.I. Joe was the very first collectible book I’d ever written, and so—it was a LEARNING EXPERIENCE. I’m a PASSABLE photographer AT BEST (for more on this, check out my G1 Transformers: Identification & Price Guide…). HT: Will a hardcover edition of this book be released? MWB: No plans for a hardcover edition of the book, but there is one small unseen part of the book that may be released as a poster… that’s all I can say right now. HT: Were you able to implement every change (or addition) that you wanted done to the 1st edition, in this book? MWB: Mostly. I believe I corrected every MAJOR flaw in the 1st edition: duplicate pics of Tomax, missing a few major variations, etc…. with the exception of the post-1990 stuff. For instance, I had done extensive research on (even) the lowly Street Fighter II figures and vehicles, and every one of those figures had about a paragraph each dedicated to him or her. Cut. Crop. Excise. Just not enough room... also didn’t get a chance to throw in images of all three Starduster variations… auuuuuugh. HT: Did production of this edition go smoother than on the on the 1st edition? MWB: Nope. On the contrary. Listen—right now book companies are tightening their belts because of the economy. I did most of the copy-editing myself, and Paul Kennedy—my SAINT of an Acquisitions Editor—helped out tremendously with images, copy, etc. If it weren’t for Paul Kennedy, I’d be lying in a ditch by the side of the road somewhere… babbly incoherently to myself and brushing the flies away from my tears. With no book to show for it. Paul saved my derriere. Again. HT: There are some excerpts in this book from former Hasbro employees. Were there more excerpts that due to time constraints, or page limitations, could not be included? MWB: Oh, heck yeah. I have literally hundreds of pages of info that may or may not ever see the light of day. I wonder if that’s why I finally got off my butt to register markbellomo.com as a domain name? To give this info a forum, perhaps? Hmmm… HT: How was your experience working with Larry Hama? MWB: Larry is a genius. I do not bandy that term around lightly. I have a literature background. I’ve read a LOT of books. Larry Hama can go toe-to-toe with me about Hemingway, Faulkner, Penn Warren, Twain… he’s well-read, and BOTH his I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient) and E.I. (Emotional Intelligence) read off the chart. Genius. And he’s a LOT of fun… I like talking to smart people. HT: Do you plan on making a new guide, this time based on G.I. Joe toys from 1995-2006 (this includes the 1997-2000 Toys 'R' Us reissues, 2002 G.I. Joe re-launch at mass market retail, Sigma 6, and the Direct-To-Consumer line)? MWB: I get asked this question fifteen to twenty times at every Joe convention I’ve ever attended. A book about vintage G.I. Joe figures (1982-1994) will sell in the amount that Krause wants. Our goal is approximately 10,000 copies in a publishing year. If we offer a 2nd Joe guide that may only sell a couple of hundred copies in a publishing year, then how can we justify a 10,000 unit print run for the tome? The book company would be EATING these remainders at $27.00 each. Economically speaking, unless you’re printing and selling these 1997-2008/09 G.I. Joe books yourself, no (smart) book company would ever, ever bite on the project. Furthermore (and MOST importantly), if you pitch a book to a big company that does NOT sell… then you’re not going to see work thrown your way from that company ever again… it’s almost like book comapnies are in business to MAKE MONEY. The sooner action figure fans understand this, the sooner they’ll be able to accept the fact that no sane book company is going to publish a collectible guide on Thundercats variations. It’s not profitable. But I digress. The long and the sort of it is this: if there’s enough outpouring of demand for a second volume of the G.I. Joe book, then I’m all over it… I’ve got everything I need (toy-wise). But can’t justify it to myself (much less Krause)... yet. HT: Do you plan on making a guide for the 25th anniversary and G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra movie toy lines? MWB: See above. Rinse. Repeat. HT: Were there rare items that you had to track down for inclusion in this book? MWB: Yes. Some of the mail-away variants (bright-red Firebat, bright-blue Ferret, no-camo APC, Sears VAMP (with shovel)/HAL two-pack, Battlefield Accessories, no-camo Slugger, etc.). The worst problem: I had lost my chipboard-back Cobra Commander v1 file card for a pic… had to buy one on eBay at the last minute for WAAAAAAAY too much coin. And I just needed the dang file card. There was one item that is NOT included in the book that’ll make it into the 3rd edition, along with those post-1990 changes/additions that I mentioned before… HT: Are there plans for a book that documents unreleased G.I. Joe A Real American Hero toys? The reason I ask this, is because Hasbro had a large volume of items that never saw release at retail. The book would be a good way to clear up the myths surrounding the brand, and show prototypes that were never seen before. Even the Skystriker was planned to be reissued during 2002-03, as part of the G.I. Joe VS Cobra line, and was going to be exclusive to Toys R Us. It would be cool to see what Hasbro had planned for it, with regards to paint scheme, stickers, included pilot(s), modifications, or retools before the item was cancelled. MWB: Neal Hoffman (Hasbro’s G.I. Joe point man) and I have discussed this idea before. Not sure there’s a HIGH demand for a book like this. For instance, what’s the print run? The readership/target audience? How would you pitch this book to a marketing team—as a “collectors only” book? How could you justify spending $15,000-$20,000 on a licensing fee to print 500 copies of a book? That would make the book cost to the consumer about $65 (calculating $30 each book for licensing fees--at the LOW end). There’s no guaranteed return to the company that produces these books. I’ll tell you what goes through my mind when I pitch a collectible book. Here are the criteria: 1) Can I make a book that is both READABLE and ACCESSIBLE by a large audience—casual fans and collectors alike? And does it have a “WOW FACTOR”? I don’t want my guides to be chock full of huge images and no flavor text. But I still need a two-page spread of the USS Flagg: you strike a balance; but ultimately pictures sell collectible guides. Furthermore, I don’t want any “corny” or “off-color” jokes in my guides… for God’s sake--KIDS read these; I’ve received numerous e-mails about fathers and sons flipping through my books together. High praise. 2) When the local Simpsons-esque Comic Book Guy gets a large box full of loose Joe figures and vehicles, can he dump the box onto a table and pair up the accessories to the appropriate toy? The guide must have UTILITY! 3) Does the book effectively cover EVERYTHING THAT WAS RELEASED DOMESTICALLY (even if it was an exclusive—or released for a limited time [i.e. Night Force, “Hooded” Cobra Commander, Dino-Hunters playset])? I feel that including convention exclusives and foreign variations in my guides is more of a “slap in the face” and a “tease” to many fans with tight budgets: I want to make collectors feel good if they’ve assembled a full figure or vehicle collection up until ’87, or what have you… (and some of those Argen 7 prices are downright ridiculous...). 4) Does the book flow LOGICALLY and CHRONOLOGICALLY? Is it easy for a reader to negotiate through the pages and find the pieces that they’re looking for? Can you get from Snake Eyes v1 to Snake Eyes v3v quickly? How do you manage this feat? 5) Have the guide TELL A STORY… make these inanimate toys seem more like long-lost friends than pieces of plastic. As kids, we played with these darned things so much they WERE our friends… so give each character and entry thoughtful consideration. HT: Thank you for taking the time to make the 2nd edition of your guide. It's a significant improvement to your 1st guide, and the additional text, excerpts, information, and redone photos, are great to see and are enjoyable. MWB: Thanks, brother-man. BTW—any corrections you’d like me to make for the future edition of the book, PLEASE e-mail me directly: I’m (once again) compiling a list. And thanks—everyone—for your support. Without you folks, my books don’t exist… now off to work on The Ultimate Guide to He-Man, She-Ra, and the Masters of the Universe and The Comprehensive Guide to 80’s Toys (working title)… might also have to pitch a book soon on that late 70’s early 80’s sci-fi trilogy with the laser swords and battles in outer space... Also, if you want to see where I store my endless amount of comics and toys (and some behind-the-scenes film of my constructing the new Joe book), check out The Collectible Spectacle that’ll be posted on Youtube by the end of the month... For suggestions, and corrections for Mr. Bellomo's list, feel free to email him at: [email protected]
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The Transformers! More than meets the eyes! For those who collect multiple toylines! Thundercats, HOOO!!! Kamen Rider, Super Sentai and more! CHECK OUT OUR RESOURCES! GI Joe Database Transformers Database Watch me FIX the Sky Striker XP21F! CLICK HERE! Last edited by Shin Densetsu; 06-13-2009 at 11:12 PM.. |
06-13-2009, 01:15 AM | #2 |
VALKYRIE
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Over the rainbow where your mom is at son
Posts: 23,515
|
Introduction and instructions for using the book:
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06-13-2009, 01:16 AM | #3 |
VALKYRIE
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Over the rainbow where your mom is at son
Posts: 23,515
|
1985 Series IV Intro
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06-13-2009, 01:18 AM | #4 |
VALKYRIE
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Over the rainbow where your mom is at son
Posts: 23,515
|
The USS Flagg section
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06-13-2009, 01:19 AM | #5 |
VALKYRIE
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Over the rainbow where your mom is at son
Posts: 23,515
|
Sample of the transition between figure and vehicle pages:
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06-13-2009, 01:44 AM | #6 |
Gone Fishing
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Playing Outside In B.C. Canada
Posts: 8,615
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I gotta get me this book !!!
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Quote:
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06-13-2009, 01:49 AM | #7 |
COBRA Televiper datatech
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Everett ,WA
Posts: 788
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I got mine thursday it is so nice. I am so happy with it..
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http://www.hisstank.com/forum/buy-se...tml#post704820 |
06-13-2009, 01:51 AM | #8 |
COBRA Televiper datatech
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Everett ,WA
Posts: 788
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the picture of the missiles is all messed up on the bottom look at it
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http://www.hisstank.com/forum/buy-se...tml#post704820 |
06-13-2009, 01:52 AM | #9 |
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: So. Cal, the Inland Empire
Posts: 5,722
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Yeah... I've gotta pick this up too.
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06-13-2009, 01:53 AM | #10 |
The Mic Ruler
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Next Door To Carl......
Posts: 1,709
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What's this book run retail? I really want it.
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