At the end of 2023, collectors of the 1980s G.I. Joe toy line received a wonderful gift in the form of a huge coffee table book documenting The Art of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (reviewed here previously). Supporters of that project’s original Kickstarter campaign were additionally promised a supplemental Blu-ray set to follow a few months later. After several unfortunate production delays, that package has finally arrived, shipping first to Kickstarter backers but also available for direct purchase even for fans who didn’t go in for the full book.
Formally titled The Art of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Blu-ray Digipack (and yes, the misspelling of “digipak” appears to be intentional), the four-disc set contains close to ten hours of content related to one of the most ambitious and successful children’s toy lines of all time. Like the book that preceded them, the hours of interviews on these discs make a compelling case that the artistry and craftsmanship put into every aspect of designing and marketing these products during their historic twelve-year dominance of retail toy aisles are worthy of study as genuine art, not just disposable merchandise.
| Title: | The Art of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero – Blu-ray Digipack |
| Released: | 2024 |
| Format: | Blu-ray |
| Number of Discs: | 4 |
The Art of G.I. Joe project, both book and now Blu-ray, are the brainchild of R. Carson Mataxis, curator of the 3DJoes reference site, who has exhaustively documented seemingly every piece of packaging or other artwork created for G.I. Joe toys and related merchandise during the line’s primary run from the years of 1982 to 1994. A self-described “art kid,” Mataxis’s fascination with G.I. Joe grew not only out of the toys themselves, but also the colorful and dynamic art that adorned their action figure cardbacks and vehicle boxes. As an adult, he’s made it his mission to uncover and celebrate the artists who created that art, typically without any public credit, for packaging that most kids just threw away.
While writing the Art of G.I. Joe book, Mataxis conducted interviews with a number of surviving personnel who had worked on the G.I. Joe brand during its heyday, both from the Hasbro toy company and its related affiliates. Portions of those interviews made their way into the text of the book, which was unquestionably thorough and informative on its own. However, for the benefit of obsessive fans who need to know everything, the Blu-ray set contains the full-length interviews, the longest lasting almost two-and-a-half hours.
The content breaks down as follows:
- Disc 1
- Ed Morrill – Marketing executive (50 min.)
- Kirk Bozigian – Former Hasbro VP of Boys’ Toys (77 min.)
- Ron Rudat – Action figure designer (6 min.)
- Disc 2
- Mark Pennington – Action figure designer (36 min.)
- Doug Hart – Packaging illustrator (two parts: 35 min. + 79 min.)
- Disc 3
- Vinnie D’Alleva – Hasbro G.I. Joe Brand Manager 1990-1994 (146 min.)
- Disc 4
- Bill Merklein – Action figure sculptor (50 min.)
- Disc 4 Bonus Content
- 2016 JoeCon convention panel with Kirk Bozigian and comic book author Larry Hama (42 min.)
- G.I. Joe’s First Live-Action Micro-Movie! – Convention panel with Carson Mataxis and Kirk Bozigian about the 1991 G.I. Joe live-action TV commercials (47 min.)
- Covering G.I. Joe #1 – Comic book art study (2 min.)
- Packaging G.I. Joe – A 2015 video hosted by Mataxis highlighting points of interest on a typical G.I. Joe action figure cardback (7 min.)
Needless to say, this Blu-ray set is a niche interest product targeted at a very specific audience. I cannot imagine that general viewers would have much desire to watch ten hours of content devoted to the package art of a 40-year-old toy line. Even among fans who embraced the Art of G.I. Joe book, I expect that some may find their patience tested, for example, watching nearly an hour and a half of illustrator Doug Hart flipping through photos of old figure art and trying to remember which ones he painted versus which ones were the work of other artists.
Nevertheless, for the select group of enthusiasts who are deeply into this topic, these interviews provide a wealth of worthwhile information. Some of the talk is very technical in nature regarding the way the artwork was designed and created, while other interviews (especially Bozigian and D’Alleva) explain how Hasbro tried to keep G.I. Joe relevant in the marketplace over its lengthy run while facing intense competition from newer and hotter brands.
The interviews are all well shot and edited (no low-res cell phone footage here). Mataxis mostly remains off-camera and allows his subjects to tell their stories, prodding them with relevant questions when needed to keep the conversation flowing. Not counting the bonus material on the final disc, the interviews essentially comprise an eight-hour documentary about the development, evolution, stratospheric success, and eventual demise of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toy line during the 1980s and early 1990s.
I binged every piece of content on all four discs over the course of a week and found it all fascinating. As either a companion piece to the Art of G.I. Joe book or standing on its own, this Blu-ray set merits the attention of any G.I. Joe fan or toy collector.
Blu-ray Details
The Art of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Blu-ray Digipack is a four-disc set packaged in a fold-out digipak cleverly styled to mimic the 1983 G.I. Joe Pocket Patrol Pack carrying case. It’s a fun design, although not very sturdy.
The discs are professionally authored with interactive menus, but I discovered a problem with Disc 4. If you watch the interview with figure sculptor Bill Merklein, the disc will automatically jump to the Bonus Content sub-menu and the “Main Menu” option brings you in a loop right back to the same spot. There’s no easy way to return to the actual main menu or watch the Merklein interview again, except to start a different piece of content and use the pop-up menu – or watch the Packaging G.I. Joe piece, after which the disc will return to the main menu on its own. (Weirdly, the “Main Menu” option does work properly if you go to the Bonus Content sub-menu without watching the Merklein interview first.) This amounts to a minor nuisance, but not too difficult to work around.
All video content is photographed in 16:9 full-screen HD, encoded with MPEG-2 compression and PCM 2.0 audio. The interview footage is sharp and well-lit. Most pieces are also interspersed with old photos, home movies, stock footage, and vintage commercials, in varying states of quality or condition – some admittedly barely watchable. The audio is clear and has no issues with dialogue intelligibility. However, some of the interviews seem to be very slightly out of sync at first, only to catch up after a minute or two. I assume that’s an editing issue. It’s not too distracting for the most part, and some viewers may not even notice it.
As mentioned, Kickstarter backers of the Art of G.I. Joe book were shipped copies of the Blu-ray Digipack first. The set is also available for direct sale on 3DJoes.
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