 Everybody hooded Cobra Commander 788 here. We continue with Cobra Convergence 7 and I have a special guest. We have the Photo Viper. Photo Viper, please introduce yourself and tell the folks what you do. Hello, I'm Mike Horsley, known as a Photo Viper on YouTube. And I'm into toy photography with a focus on mostly G.I. Joe. Um, modern and vintage for the last year or two, it's been mostly a focus on vintage. But but I dig the modern stuff, too. Not too much into classified. It's not my scale, but, you know, four inch guys just are awesome. So you stick to that one 18 scale that three and three quarter to four inch, four inch scale. So you said you you do toy photography with both vintage and modern. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? Like, what do you like to do with the modern that you can't do with the vintage? What do you like to do with the vintage that you can't do with the modern? That's a great question. Of course, this is just my opinion. You know, everybody has their own their own biases and everything. I feel that modern is superior in every way as far as articulation, sculpting, posing, basic photogenicness, you know, they just look a lot better on the camera up close, more realistic and it's easier to stand them up and get them in real dynamic poses and stuff, you know, but the the drawback is well when I pick up a, when I'm holding a vintage figure, I'm 12 years old again. And it doesn't work like that with the modern stuff for me. They're great for photography, but just something magic happens with the vintage stuff. So I've been kind of focusing back on that lately. How did you get into GI Joe the first time way, way back in the day? Well, in 82, my mom picked me up a breaker figure and it's some thrift store. It was like a pick and save or something like that. And it was on after that. I mean, I had to have them all, you know what I mean? I was just discussing with this with somebody else that it seems like almost everybody's first figure, if they started in 82 was either breaker or flash. And I also started with breaker. So it's nice to meet a fellow breaker. So did you get back into GI Joe as an adult? How did that happen? Oh, yeah, well, I collected as a kid, obviously, and turned to teenagers, started girls and cars and everything, got rid of my entire collection, which I regret so bad. And then I grew up, joined the workforce and one day it was in 2009. I was working retail and my store got some GI Joe products in some modern stuff, some 25th stuff. And I was like, what, GI Joe? Oh my God. So I started collecting them again and it's been out of control ever since, but. But you do primarily toy photography. How did you get into that? And how did you pick that up and decide that that's what you wanted to run with? I've just always, I've always been a photography buff. I've always liked cameras and taking pictures of things, landscapes and weddings and parties and stuff like that. And it just seemed like a natural thing to go into toys and I had a bunch of toys laying around and it just seemed natural to just start shooting them. Do you have any favorite shoots that you've done? I like the ones with fireworks. I like pyrotechnics with my toys. That's awesome. That's awesome. You actually get fire and I've seen some of these. They're very dynamic, right? How hard is it to do that though? I mean, you've been doing this for a while. I'm sure you have all the techniques down, but for those who are not familiar with the process of how these amazing photos are taken, kind of walk us through how you do some of these things. Well, with pyrotechnics, it's all about shutter speed. You want the fastest shots you can get to capture every little spark. And then of course, with photography, it's a balance between your shutter speed and your aperture. And so you've got to kind of balance it out. But it's hit and miss in a lot of practice and trial and error. A lot of it's trial and error until you get it down. But yeah. Photography seems to be growing. Like toy photography seems to be growing. People are starting to get into that as a way of enjoying their collection, enjoying their toys. But for those who might be thinking about it, but haven't tried it yet, do you have any suggestions, any thoughts for folks who might want to get into that, things that they should look out for or just in general ideas of what they might expect if they try to take on this art form themselves? Absolutely. I would suggest that anybody that's thinking about shooting their toys, pick up a camera and start doing it. You don't have to have an expensive camera. Most people are shooting with their phones nowadays. I started off shooting with my father with a potato 20 year old Samsung. And it just went from there. Eventually I did buy a more expensive camera that does help with the faster shutter speeds and all that was shooting fireworks and that sort of thing. But I mean, today's phones, my Canon camera is like a 21 megapixel and my phone is like more than that. So I mean, most iPhones are like double that, you know? And honestly, a phone can get really down there and really close to the figures and into little tight areas, more than a bigger camera can. So sometimes I actually substitute my phone for shots for certain shots because you can just get right in there, you know? Not disturb the scene or anything and get those upward shots that really look dynamic and realistic, you know? But I would say pretty much just get in there and start doing it, grab a camera and grab a figure and start shooting. I think I always recommend if people wanna try something new, you start with what you have, you know? You don't necessarily have the best equipment and you don't necessarily have the most skill when you're starting out, but you start with what you have and you build from there. Absolutely. So Cobra Convergence 7, by the time folks see this, we should be in it. But we are recording this, of course, well in advance of that. This is prerecorded, but it will go up on the same day that you will present your Cobra Convergence content and we're all looking forward to that. Now, I know it's early right now, as we're speaking, but do you have thoughts? Do you have inspiration? Do you have ideas of what people might expect when they check out the photo viper for Cobra Convergence 7? I have some ideas. Nothing solidified just yet. I do have three or four things that I'm working on. Expect something unexpected. I am working on one thing with Scrap Iron and it should be interesting. Scrap Iron is a favorite. Scrap Iron underutilized and often forgotten guy. He deserves a bit more attention. That's awesome. So you said that you focus mostly on GI Joe. Do you have any other passions, any other collections or just anything else that you really love outside of GI Joe that you'd like to share? Of course. Every now and then I shoot He-Man stuff, Motu. And actually, every time I post a Motu video, they blow up pretty good. So there's a lot of Motu fans out there. Yes. It's not my main cam, but I do have a decent collection of them and I like to shoot them every now and then. They're pretty fun. Yeah. And an audience when he says shoot your toys, he's talking about shooting with a camera. Yeah, of course. And it's things are old and expensive now. He's talking about shooting with a camera. Yes. Making sure we're clear. So yeah, Cobra Convergence 7. I know that you have submitted some things in the past. Do you have any Cobra Convergence memories, any favorite moments and anything? I know that it's maybe a little bit of a sneak preview because you're in on the planning phase and you're in with the groups where we plan everything. But do you have any favorite moments or anything that you're looking forward to this year? My favorite moments of the Cobra Convergences were mostly when you guys got together and did the storylines. I love that. They're awesome. They're a crack up and they're just amazing. This is the first year I'm actually an official participant, although I've submitted every year since it started. Even before, when it was just Cobra Month. I would always submit. Yeah. Yeah. But it's cool to be an official participant this year and I'm gonna do something real special, so. I'm really glad you're in. You probably should have been in in years past. I take that responsibility on myself. I need to make sure that folks like you who are committed to creating fan works like you are are included. I'm working on that. I'm trying to make sure nobody's excluded, but I'm really glad they're in. I'm so happy that you'll be joining us this year. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do. You mentioned the storylines. You're not the first to mention the storylines. We may have to do another one in the future. Is that something you would do though? Would you participate in a storyline? Oh, absolutely. All right, all right. Well, we'll have to come up with an idea. Timmer had the last idea. That was entirely Timmer's idea. So we'll have to see what we can come up with. So Masters of the Universe is kind of a side thing that you do as well, mostly G.I. Joe, mostly photography or you do a lot of photography. Do you like non-toy photography as well or are you focused on the toy stuff? Mostly nowadays, mostly toy photography. If I'm out somewhere and I see a nice sunset or something, I'll still shoot it. If I see a butterfly landing on a flower or something and it looks real awesome, I'll still take the pictures, but mostly focus on toys. And where can folks find you? We talked about YouTube, you are on YouTube and your link to your YouTube channel will be in the description of this interview. Any place else people can find your work? Yes, I'm on Facebook, Michael Horsley, and I'm on Instagram at Mike Horsley, Horsley Mike on Instagram. That's excellent. I did remember you being on Instagram. I wanted to make sure we got that in because I want people to be able to find what you're doing, find your work. But as we know, YouTube is videos, it's not necessarily like still photography, but you do still photography. So although I've seen plenty of your work, some of those folks out there may not have. So describe for us how you integrate your photography into a YouTube video and what might they expect to see if they catch you on YouTube. Okay, well, generally I put together a scene with basically a storyline in my head and I'll build the dioramas and I'll set the figures up and I'll shoot them all. And then I kind of put it together like a, you know, like a movie, set to music usually. I get a lot of copyright strikes for my music that I play. But they usually let them slide because I'm not monetized, so it doesn't matter, you know. But I kind of just set it up like a story and sometimes I just set up one scene and shoot everything and put it all and just lay it to music like that. And sometimes I'll kind of move stuff around if it's a longer story or more dynamic story, not like stop motion, but more like chunking motion, kind of, you know. And sometimes there's motion in them a little bit, sometimes there's not. Now and then I'll add a little bit of video like take a video camera and just pan across, you know, the diorama or something, or you know, if I'm using like fog machines or something like that, just to give a, you know, the general feel of it. And then just still shots and a lot of stuff, everything going on, you know. So, and you're very experienced with still photography and toy photography, but just reminding everybody that on YouTube, you have the creativity to do some of those things and to add some additional dimensions to it. So I wanted to make sure that people knew that they were gonna catch some really creative stuff if they check out your channel. So before we, I usually ask everyone who their favorite Cobra is, but before we get there, I wanted to, since we're on the topic of your YouTube channel and we've talked about your Instagram, for us right now, Cobra Convergence is still a little ways away. What do you have planned other than Cobra Convergence for the future for your creative endeavors? Honestly, I'm just, I think a lot more of the same with, you know, hopefully, you know, obviously we improve with age and experience, but, you know, I'm really enjoying what I'm doing. I don't have a really huge channel, but the fans that I have, the subscribers that I have are really into it and I get a lot of good feedback from them and it's really fun. Good, good. You mentioned getting better with age and you have been doing this for a while. Do you ever go back and look at your old stuff and like what's the eye that you have now and think, ah, I'd like to shoot that again? Well, yeah, absolutely. And I have done some reshoots before too. Not necessarily shot for shot, but, you know, themes, stories that I've done with certain characters that I really enjoy. I wanted to revisit, yeah, I completely reshot certain things years later even. And... Those years that makes a difference. I mean, that's experience, that's probably better equipment. So, yeah, but you are right. Over time and with practice, we get better and I mean, that's the name of the game. So let's talk about Cobra. This Cobra convergence, let's talk about Cobra. Do you have a favorite Cobra character, one that's the most important to you, one that you connect the most with? I do. I would say if he counts Zartan, although he is Dreadnought, if it was just straight Cobra, I would say Cessbull. Now that's, see, both of those are interesting choices. So you got Zartan, I mean, he works for Cobra, he's worked for Cobra a lot. He's on Cobra Island all the time. He almost became a permanent resident on Cobra Island, but he escaped. But you have Zartan counts, absolutely. And then you've got Cesspull, now that's an interesting choice. Zartan's real popular. I mean, I don't think anybody would wonder why you like Zartan. Zartan is awesome. But Cesspull is maybe less known, especially by fans of like 80s G.I. Joe. Talk us about how you connected with that particular villain. I've always, I don't know, I really love the Toxa Vipers and the orange stuff. I'm not really a 90s kid. I'm older. I grew up in the 80s, you know. But I've grown in appreciation for the 90s stuff. And Orange actually works for Cesspull and the Toxa Vipers because it's kind of a hazard color, you know what I mean? Yeah. And it just kind of, it kind of all fits together. And of course growing up, we had, you know, Captain Planet and all that kind of stuff. And then it kind of goes right along with all that, you know? And he just wants to destroy the environment and release toxic chemicals and I love it. I love it. Yeah, I'm glad you pointed that out. I think we do have, I mean, we have a lot of fans of 90s G.I. Joe, but there is a little bit of maybe a dichotomy between 80s fans and 90s fans. A lot of 80s fans may not know that much about Cesspull. But if you don't know about Cesspull, check that figure out. It's wild. It's wild and crazy. There's a lot. There's just a lot to it. So for those out there who are not familiar with Cesspull, you know, definitely one to check out. He's got like the facial scar and all of that too. That's wild. It's wild. One of the best sculpts in the line in modern and vintage. Yeah. Absolutely. That huge cobra, it's impressive. A lot of work went into it. I'm glad you pointed that out. That is one that we don't hear a lot about. I've not reviewed that figure yet, but I gotta get to it. I gotta get to it. So, but when you were a kid, well, when you were a kid or even now, are you with Cobra or are you with the Joes? Are you a saint or a sinner? Are you a good guy or a bad guy? Cobra for sure. All right. That's all right. It fits with the theme. So I guess that's definitely okay. All right. So now we've established now that you are for the villains. So thanks for that. And you're in Cobra Convergence this year. You're coming up with, it's gonna be something special. It'll post on your YouTube channel, right? Yep. Okay. So like I said, there will be a link for that. I wanna make sure that everybody checks you out. You've been doing this for quite some time. You have a lot of experience at this now. So you and you've been part of the fan creative community for quite some time. And I wanna make sure that everybody knows where to find you and we'll make sure to get that link in. So we have a few more minutes here and you've given us a lot to think about. Cesspool, that's a lot to think about. But before we wrap up, I guess I'd like to open the floor to you and I'll let you say any parting words that you might want to say to our audience. I just like to say that I'm proud to be here. And I'm glad to actually meet you in person, talk to you face after all these years. It's awesome. And I never get to make it to Joe Fest. I'm kind of landlocked, but it's nice to have a face to face with you and actually communicate. And it's pretty cool. Nice to meet you as well. Yeah. And everybody else that obviously anybody that's watching this is already watching your channel, but man, you're the best GioGio YouTuber out there right now. Oh, thank you. Thank you. I do appreciate that. I want to make sure that people know about you though. You've got your own thing going on and we want to make sure that people are aware of it. But thank you. Thank you very much. And it is nice to talk. We have communicated. We've been in the same circle for years now. And this is the first time we've actually talked like one to one, isn't it? That's funny how that happens. So yeah, I think we'll go ahead and wrap it up. I will reiterate everybody should check out your YouTube channel. At the time this interview goes up, we will be in Cobra Convergence. It will go up on the same day as Photo Viper's presentation. So skip over to his channel right away to check it out and see what he's come up with. Something that will be a surprise, expect the unexpected. But for now, I guess we'll wrap that up. And thank you very much, Photo Viper, for spending some time with me. And I look forward to seeing what you do for Cobra Convergence 7. Thank you. Have a great day. All right, catch you later.