 Hello hooded Cobra Commander 788 here. We are still in Cobra Convergence, and we have another Cobra Convergence Collaborator here. It's Chad. Hello. It's Chad. How do you know? This is your first year participating as a featured presenter in Cobra Convergence For those who don't know you could you just introduce yourself talk about yourself and tell them what you do here on YouTube Well, obviously my name is Chad, right and my channel is it's Chad previously articulated Chad Anybody who follows me knows why I changed it. So that's its own story I've been on YouTube for a year I'm just about to hit my one year anniversary and I only do it Just to share in the love of you know toys and I believe that as collectors and lovers of these pieces of art that we're kind of the stewards of these things and I believe in caring for them and cleaning them and restoring them and that sort of thing so we can pass it on to the next generation I Am active duty military. I have been my entire adult life that's the only career I've ever known and My decision to join the military and have my life go in that direction is a direct result of my love of GI Joe Ever since 1982 when I picked up my very first figure who was flash That's actually I was gonna ask that because yeah, that flash seems to be a lot of 1982 fans first figure. I guess that one just kind of jumped out at people and right like flash breaker Yeah, yeah, and I was a breaker. I got breaker. I Don't know why I was I was seven at the time So yeah on what kind of stuff will people expect to see on your channel because I'm hoping that a lot of people will be Checking you out right now I talk Almost predominantly about 118 scale three and three-quarter real American hero 82 to 94 stuff I also do a lot with modern construction four inch 118 scale. I don't just talk about GI Joe there's a lot of stuff about Action force like the the Palatois action force. So I talk about all the action force teams especially Red shadows and things like that. I talk about Marauder gun runners Eagle Force stuff like that and some of the off brands Like this like the soldier force stuff. Yeah, I just did a video on this cool little attack hovercraft and I just unboxed this and built this and you know, this stuff's kind of cool So this is the stuff that was that third-party off-brand when we were kids But now it's just it's just really awesome and it fits it fits in really well Like with with all my GI Joe and action force stuff over here So I I kind of love that stuff and I talk about things like that as well and I make a lot of customs I show a lot of my customs a lot of 118 scale mega force and mass custom stuff that I built So there's a lot of that and then there's car rents Yeah So, yeah, you showed us a third-party Vehicle and that's something that maybe doesn't get talked about a lot It's as probably not chronicled very well anywhere because I mean it wasn't these things were kind of Made to complement GI Joe and other lines in that skill because they were so popular Well beyond GI Joe, I mean you talked about some of the things talk about some of the the other things beyond GI Joe That you're passionate about and that make it into your collection So I'm I'm passionate about the palatory action for stuff Mostly when they had the the team so you had you know the SAS and the Q4 some things like that versus the red shadows Really passionate about that and also the history When you talk about the the action force comics how Baron iron blood became Cobra commander and things like that when they rolled into International hero, so I'm really interested in that stuff a lot of the palatois Toys are very amazing So you have the GI Joe a PC that Palatois took and made into the ATC and they actually improved upon that vehicle design and I've got one sitting right over here on the shelf and big fan of those and The Robo skull, you know Bob Rickens designed for the Robo skull. I think is really amazing So I talk about that stuff a lot. I Have several Masterpiece transformers, I'm one of those people and you and I have discussed this before where I like Mask and transformers kind of mixed into my GI Joe universe. I'm not necessarily a Real American hero only sort of purist and so I I do a bi-weekly stream talking about only 90 to 94 A real American hero stuff called neon at night where I really sort of celebrate the 90s stuff that a lot of GI Joe Collectors tend to disregard the 90 to 94 stuff. There's a lot of really awesome figures in there I've gone in depth into the commercials The live-action commercial serialized stuff how that doesn't get a lot of attention, but it was really unique for its time and I just sort of talk about just Stuff like that the 30th anniversary Releases of the o-ring figures that came out. Those are really awesome. I Came out in 94 so neon at night and what it makes me think of like Oh those of us over here doing the 80s stuff. We're Baywatch and you're Baywatch nights. That's just what comes to mind So you're you're the you're the David Hasselhoff of of neon at night For whatever that's worth Yeah, my original idea Sorry, my original idea for neon at night was do you remember night flight that old yeah music video show? Yeah, it was like I want to do a show about 90s Joe's but I wanted to be kind of like night flight where we wear like Neon colored, you know, really annoying shirts or Hawaiian shirts And it was it was too show love to those four years of Joe But it was also like sort of tongue-in-cheek at the same time. Well, it's that's a what that's a lot better than Baywatch nights So what well well thought out there night flight But it is true that like for those of us who became fans in the earlys Especially the early 80s a lot of us were out of it by the 90s And I suspect there are a lot of fans of GI Joe that grew up with the Sunbow cartoon in the Marvel comic and like those 80s toys may not be fully aware of what happened in the 90s. I was what that's something you're exploring of What what would you say to a Joe fan who is not aware of the 90s? What what what should they look at that might appeal to them? What's what jumps out at you that you think they should see I? Would say take a really hard look at the general flag figure Take a good look at shipwreck version 2 ace version 3 with the ghost striker The head hunter stormtrooper to me is my favorite army builder The sculpt is amazing and it's just a great figure There's a lot of stuff in the 90s the blockbuster vehicle right there. That's a great vehicle There's a lot of stuff that came out in the 90s the general It's the last really large vehicle slash play set So there's there's a lot of good stuff that I think some people just tend to overlook because it it's post 87 88 Yeah, there was there doesn't seem to be a dichotomy there and you said mention 87 88 Around the time that the the movie came out and then there was a gap between the animated series There does seem to be a dichotomy there So it's nice to see somebody trying to try to bridge that gap a little bit. So that's really cool We this is your first year as a featured presenter in Cobra Convergence You know what your topic is I know that we're recording this in advance of that but I Talk to us a little bit about what your idea is for your Cobra Convergence presentation and where you would like to go with that Well it the theme that you had put out there was Try to keep it around espionage and since my wife and I are both members of the finest costume club And her main is the Baroness right obviously I Wanted to not only celebrate My wife's main costume in the finest but also The Baroness as a character in herself So just when you look at the history of the Baroness and how she was designed with Ron Rudette specifically gave her glasses. So she came across like the visual language that she was intelligent and She's deadly. She like in the very first episode of the mass device the Baroness is her introduction is she's She's in a costume because she snuck into that base And she just sort of tears it off And so I think that sometimes the fact that the Baroness was doing it long before Zorana is Lost on some people and so I just kind of wanted to talk about that. Yes She's you know Cobra's intelligence officer, but she's also counterintelligence and espionage and things like that So I really wanted to center on that We talk a lot about Cobra commander and we talk a lot about Destro and how they're sort of You might say opposite ends of the the Cobra leadership spectrum with Cobra commander being perhaps a bit more cynical and Destro being perhaps a bit more honorable both bad guys But with totally different characters, but then there's the Baroness who's sort of Right in between she sort of triangulates those positions and Yeah, you mentioned that her Animated appearance, but in the comic book as well. She kind of had divided loyalties So is that is that one of the appeals that you of the Baroness and and where do you see her in? Cobra's hierarchy, how does she fit? And like how does she balance these conflicting loyalties that's It's a good question and that's it it shines a light on the interesting fact that there are a lot of layers to GI Joe So you have the comics you have the file cards written by the same guy you have The Sunbow series and then you have you know on and on and on then you get into the live-action movies But Baroness was always described as in the early years being Cobra commander second in command So that is kind of where I see her However, having to take in all that other aspects of those layers She she has a loyalty to Cobra, but at the same time she has a loyalty to Destro because of her Relationship with Destro and her feelings for him and then in the cartoon they made it a little more that She was in an abusive relationship with Destro because he didn't treat her all that great But in the cartoon it was completely different. So I still see her as Cobra second in command, but she will also She will switch her loyalty to Destro When it affects her on a personal level And then there's also in the comics You know the the killing of storm shadow and how that all went down on the beach Yeah, yeah, she's so yeah, she certainly holds her own It's a shame that we only got one vintage figure of the Baroness Given that she was in the animated series in the comic book throughout the whole run She was in the deep series. She was in the Sunbow series But one and only one action figure I believe there was one planned for 1995 carry, but we never got that we never got that what it's just too bad Yeah, the battle core Rangers they did they did plan one for her and I will say at least in them the modern The modern runs of the figures they did correct that so there are numerous Baroness versions in the modern Yeah, and that is nice to see The the black uniform is awesome. That's really cool and it's really like that is actually one of the uniforms that have been updated really well and fit really well with more modern sculpting and You know molding it just it translates really well to a modern figure. I think you have a favorite version of the Baroness I like the Her original blue with the yellow accents and the green glasses. I'm a really big fan of that original design of the Baroness Yeah, and that's not that's not the first version of the figure. We got we got the the black version We at least in that era we did not get the blue uniform, which is how She was presented for at least the first year that she existed Her very first comic appearance and her first animated appearance. She was wearing that outfit and they did eventually Get to that right they have done that but that's it's a lesser-known one, right? But yeah, that's that's for those of us from that era that was the Baroness before you know the The the dominatrix costume, right? So We talked about Well, I was gonna ask who's your favorite Cobra? Is it the Baroness? Or do you have any that that stand out to you more than the various I Want to say storm shadow, but again, right layers because yeah, I'm shadow. Is is he really a Cobra? I guess it depends on how you look at it If we're going at face value in those early years, I would say storm shadow. Otherwise, I would say the Baroness It's a good choice and that yeah, you're right Complicated when you talk about storm shadow, right? Very very complicated, which is awesome. Yeah So you your channel it's Chad you've been going for a year now and Really happy to have you in Cobra convergence this year. I know that again. We're recording this pretty well in advance, but What do people have to look forward to so hopefully people will go to your channel check out your Cobra convergence presentation They will subscribe Do you have any plans for the future? What can people expect when they check you out and you know just going forward? well I'm just kind of sticking with my formula because It works for me and I I really only like to talk about stuff that I'm passionate about otherwise I don't really I don't feel like I put all of my heart and soul into it I don't really discuss 112th scale or classified stuff. It's just it's not my wheelhouse I'm happy for anybody who's all about it, but it's just not my thing so I don't really get into it I do a lot of You know when it when it applies I do a lot of unboxings like I unboxed a sealed 1994 blockbuster I unboxed a 93 co-redeignator things like that again. I This you know the off-brand the soldier force. I unboxed and built this and put the stickers on it on camera And I don't necessarily do a lot of figure reviews, but I show customs How I build my customs when when the Buzz Lightyear XL 15 fighter came out I kind of went over the vehicle and how you can customize the cockpit to either fit one classified scale figure or two 118 scale figures and how you can put seats in it and things like that That's just sort of what I do if something rubs me the wrong way. I'll do a car rant on it But generally it's just customs unboxing You know things like that. I do a lot of live streams talking with other other creators I have a couple of different live streams that I do but the primary one Once once the whole road to Joe Fest is over that the primary stream that I do is the bi-weekly neon at night Because I think that 90 to 94 doesn't get enough love But I generally stay around the 118 scale because I enjoy world-building in play sets and vehicles That putting that spotlight on the the 90 stuff. I think that is gonna only become more valuable as People from that era start to come back and look at At their collections and look at, you know, their nostalgia So I think that's only gonna get bigger as that audience grows But you mentioned Joe Fest now we're recording this before Joe Fest, but it'll go up in the past Yes after Joe Fest, so we're talking to our future selves now So yeah, but I know that both of us has been have been to Joe Fest and it's not entirely on topic But what the heck let's go for it Um Because I'm hoping to meet a lot of people at Joe Fest. What do you like about it? Why do you go and what do you look forward to? I? like Joe Fest because it's kind of the premier event for GI Joe people it's it's that thing, you know It was Joe con and then look luckily ed and some other people You know sort of took that ball and ran with it and carried the torch of a GI Joe centered Con basically even though it's you know It's independent, but I love Joe Fest because I can always go there and I'm that toy hunter that I do lists I don't just kind of go in randomly and like a shotgun approach But I do lists like why I'm lacking this vehicle from this year or so on and so forth like you and I talked about I'm trying to find a crossfire and I did see some crossfires last year, but it wasn't what I was looking for last year So I do go for the toys, but mainly I go for The friends the people I only see at Joe Fest You know last year I got to see you a couple of times and I won't see you again until this year and things like that I Do go for the celebrities, but most of them I have seen before but it's still nice to kind of re-engage them but it's just for The one-off things that I can't get from eBay or toy hunts or things like that Seeing the people in person, you know shaking hands hugs getting things signed You know, I have some art from you I have some art from Ron Rudd at on and on and on I get those things where I I Covet them as pieces of my collection that I can't just go grab off eBay So that's why I really enjoy Joe Fest and Joe Fest It's different from a lot of the other cons that you know, I've been to or experience either annually or whenever I can because It's it's so much more Intimate like more down-to-earth. There's there's not that stress at Joe Fest It's really just like okay, like I know it may sound weird or cliche But it's like these are my people and and this is where I'm most comfortable and you can talk to anybody Anybody you could be standing at a vendor's booth looking at something and a person comes up next to you And you could just just strike up a conversation about figures that you're looking at and oh, yeah You know and I got that last year and blah blah blah and oh you're looking for this that guy has it over there And it's super cool It's the one place you can go where people will know about this stuff Any basically anybody in that room is gonna know that's about this stuff. Yeah So, yeah, you mentioned that you You do customs you do custom figures. I do. I do. Have you ever thought about Taking some customs out to Joe Fest and showing them off No, no, I I've never really thought about that I've never I've never sold a custom I don't the only times I ever really show my customs is And it's a fine line. It's not to show them off. It's to maybe spark Creativity and somebody else who may have that base vehicle or would want something like that And they've never maybe either seen it in their head like that and I just kind of share it as like a it You know creativity sort of I've had people ask me for customs before and I've given some I am part of a quarterly toy exchange with a group of people and The person I got for the second to the last one She's a really big fan of alley vipers and I make a lot of custom his tanks for myself So I made her a custom alley viper his tank the red with the that weird blue kind of Sharp camouflage pattern like I put some custom armaments on it for her And I actually built that for her and I did make a video It's on my channel of how I made that but I didn't post the video until after she opened It's amazing how many Alley viper fans are out there aren't they so that's a it's a Surprisingly a fan favorite lots of right lots of a big following Well, we got a few more minutes and I like to wrap up by asking you to take those few minutes to say any parting words or thoughts that you have with the audience and Making sure that everybody knows that they need to check out its Chad there will be a link With this video to to check it out So I will give you the floor for however many reasons we are however many minutes that we have Left so that you can Give your your your parting wisdom. That's That's always a challenge because I'm even though my name is Chad and Chad's are supposed to be super extra all the time I'm I'm very much that quiet sort of person. I just I Do what speaks to me and and I hope people enjoy it I I do it from the heart and I only do it for fun, right? It's just for the love of it and I just want to share those things with other people so the the 90 to 94 I Am glad that I get to sort of Plant my flag on those years that a lot of people don't really talk about and it's it's caught on and I really appreciate that That people enjoy it. I like I like talking with other creators when I first started my Articulated chat show it was to sort of highlight other content Creators that maybe don't have such a presence on say a YouTube or social media that just do like podcasts and smaller things like that or Independent toy lines, which I'm a big fan of I think that fans kind of do the best work these days and you and I have discussed that before And I think that that's something that you know, we vote with our dollars and I enjoy supporting and talking about the customs I Like sharing that creativity with people and I like talking with other Custom creators because I I think it's a skill set that anybody can learn it shouldn't be a very daunting thing And you know, we we all had to learn at some point and that's kind of how you learn is you talk to other customizers I Don't really talk too much about costuming even though being part of the finest is it's It's something that I really appreciate and enjoy because we do a lot for charities, but That's that's just kind of something that I do discuss it, but I don't really make videos about costuming too much That's that's pretty much it. So if you like 118 scale Be it GI Joe or independent lines say like marauder gun runners or you're looking forward to call sign longbow and operation recall and things like that if you like Playsets and vehicles and and again, you know things like these off brands like soldier force that you normally wouldn't think about but look at that That fits right in would say action force Q-Force or yeah, it's right in with Played with stuff like that as kids. We all augmented our GI Joe worlds with those I had this exact hovercraft as a kid and I remembered it and that's why when I went to look for it. I found it on eBay Inexpensive sealed in a box and there it is 100% complete and you can find these things and you can you can augment your 118 scale collection and I'm just a big fan. One thing that I think is important about what you're doing with with your your discussion of 90s GI Joe is that What I would like to see is GI Joe fans in general at least appreciating these things even if it's not specifically what they do because we can Have different eras and we do have different eras, but that doesn't mean we have to have different factions That are at war with each other and I hate to see that one other fandoms do it and I think it's important I think it's important that That we acknowledge that we do have these other eras, but they also like come together and talk about it and Look at what we can enjoy together and I'm really glad that you're doing that. I appreciate that very much I appreciate that and that's that's kind of where I'm at with it for for every Eco force flint There's a general flag or a shipwreck version two So it you know it balances out and people they they always want to ride off the 90s, but 92 was Joe's 93 was Joe's second biggest year And that there is you you mentioned a couple figures the 90s has maybe justifiably a reputation for being quite a Loud you know Colorful, but there were some nice military themed figures through every in every year But and you mentioned a couple of them and I hope that people will check out your show will also listen and discover something new and And Right now as you're seeing this it's Chad. I should have his Baroness Cobra Convergence 7 Presentation live on his channel check the link in the description and And that's it. Everybody go check out Chad subscribe to his channel support what he does and Chad, thank you very much for being here. Thank you for having me on your show. That was a lot of fun Absolutely, it was my pleasure Brian. I appreciate it and and thank you for all you do And with that I will let the audience go so they can check out your show Very cool. All right. Thank you. Yo, Joe