 Hello everybody hooded Cobra Commander 788 here. We are back with more Cobra Convergence 7 and this time we have Ryan from the Island of Misfit Toys. So Ryan please introduce yourself and tell everybody what you do and where to find you. I'm Drednack Ryan. I am the Island of Misfit Toy Collectors. You can find us on YouTube. I also am one of the co-hosts of a Toy Kind of Mood. We review GI Joe classified figures, some modern figures, and also O-ring from time to time. Just absolutely a huge Joe fan. I want to thank this gentleman right here. He was actually one of the folks that got me back into GI Joe to make it cool to collect toys once again. So thank you hooded Coco. Well thank you and thank you for being here and you're back for Cobra Convergence. As you said you are one of the co-hosts for Toy Kind of Mood. So in that capacity this is a return isn't it for you for Cobra Convergence. So for those who missed it talk about your previous experiences with Cobra Convergence kind of how you got involved and what that was all about. So I found your YouTube channel I'm going to say right around 2009. So you're doing the reviews doing some of your live streams I'm like this is really cool. And then when you put out the first Cobra Convergence I'm like this is really awesome because you a lot of YouTubers back then will just say didn't open up their subscriber base or their fans to other YouTube channels where Cobra Convergence brought in a whole bunch of different channels that folks didn't know for BX257 I mean you had Joe Berg just a number of different Joe channels. So I have been a follower of Cobra Convergence since day one and have been absolutely in love with it and having the chance to do Toy Kind of Mood and then my own this year it's like you know it's the dream that came true so really exciting though. That is awesome and you mentioned some some great channels that I've been privileged to work with and I'm glad I'm glad that you enjoy it I hope everybody else enjoys it too. Form BX257 and Timmer from Half the Battle the three of us kind of we were at the start and I think all of us have been very pleased with how it's grown and I'm thrilled to have you in now for a second year so that's really awesome. So for those who are unaware we are recording this of course before Cobra Convergence starts so so you will see this on the day that Ryan's presentation for Cobra Convergence goes up but we're recording this well early. Do you have some thoughts feelings or ideas on what you might do for Cobra Convergence this year? Well since this is recording early I do need to kind of you know preface this I've already started recording and and and what I'm going to do for Cobra Convergence is Zartan is my favorite G.I. Joe character he's been tied to Cobra of course he's tied to the Dreadnoughts so I'm going to go through the evolution of Zartan from the obering figure to modern and then into classified and then of course you know I'll you know create my ode of love to Zartan and why I think he's you know the best figure that's ever been made by Hasbro so. Oh that'll be awesome Zartan you might say is a fan favorite so that there that as a deep well that you can draw from that's really cool and you you go sometimes by Dreadnought Ryan so what what's your what's your fascination with the Dreadnoughts? You know when I saw the commercial for Zartan and of course the color change feature was like as a kid you're just like this is the most amazing thing ever and I remember when we went to a Kresge which is was a subsidiary of Kmart way back in the day and he was on the shelf and he came with a swamp skier and then you read the file card and Larry developed so much depth for a lot of these characters and as a kid you weren't talked down to back then so if you didn't understand a word you had to go look it up so we had to get the dictionary out and you had to actually find out what all of them were I think for a lot of kids if you ever felt like an outcast or you're not part of the crowd I think that's another reason why Zartan kind of always you know was was the bigger I was attracted to I was an only child I lived on a big four lane highway so I didn't have neighborhood kids to play with so you know it just he just sang to me and then of course when the rest of the dreadnights came out the next year it's like these are awesome and then Zorana and Zandar and I was hooked from there the thunder machine was like okay I'm done well you touched on what my next question was going to be I was wanting to ask you about your experience with G.I. Joe as a kid what was that like you say you didn't have a lot of neighborhood kids to play with or anything like that so how did you how did you get into it and kind of how what was your play experience like with G.I. Joe back then so for me you know I was born 76 so by 82 I was in that perfect range and I had a lot of family and friends of my parents who either served in you know World War two or were in Vietnam so those folks always met something to me so when 82 when they came out you saw the commercials for them and they were those you know cartoon mix with here's a comic book you know Joe was like the first comic book ever had and then they came out with the Sunbow series so you had two parallel running story lines that you could flip back and forth from but as a kid you know I'd get done the school I'd ride the bus home and I'd have to walk home my dad worked third so he was sleeping so I had that time frame from when I got out of school to when my mom would get home where I would play with my toys or watch TV and G.I. Joe was always the first toy line that I went to you know you'd you'd play with your house plants and you put your Joe's in there you know the best play spot was behind the couch because it was a cave or you know and I had the house all to myself so it was just fun and that's that play pattern always just kind of kept building from there and every time I we could go to the store and I could get a Joe or you know for your birthdays and for holidays you get you know a vehicle it was just awesome I think for 82 83 I got the dragonfly and then the next year I got the sky striker and it was just like downhill from there that's I mean that's fantastic and G.I. Joe was an introduction to comic books in general for a lot of people me included but I think a lot of us also had a period where we kind of got away from toys and and what we considered kid stuff but then as adults we came back into it what was it like coming back into it which brings you to where you are now gosh it was probably 2008 we were shopping in a Kmart and my wife's like you know take Dylan over to it's our son you know let him go look at toys and I go down the aisle and it was the modern version of G.I. Joe but they had that throwback to the card back of our generation and just seeing those on the pegs again it was it took me back to being seven years old and I was just like oh my god it's G.I. Joe and then I'm using the excuse of yeah well my son's only three but he'll play with these in a couple years we can pick up a few and and then you know you go on to YouTube and I find your channel I find Kevin's for FormBX257 and you guys are going through these great reviews and it's just bringing everything back and then Joe Berg's like it's okay to play with toys and that you know the feeling you get that you know I would see your your K-faving that you're a toy collector back in the day because you didn't want people to know because it was embarrassing that kind of went away and then I started going and buying figures and you know it made me feel good again happy magical whatever you want to say and then I discovered that's why kids are so much happier than adults because they use their imagination and they play with these objects and it makes them happy and they don't care what anybody thinks so that you know a lot of you guys I blame for for hooking me back on this this drug we call plastic crack yeah I think I think Joe Berg should share some of the blame for that those guys are great I love Joe Berg so but now you are creating content all about toys how did you kind of get into that what inspired you to actually appear on the internet with you with your face just as you are now so a buddy of mine Chris he had his own YouTube channel and we're like you know he's like hey let's let's create an island of misfit toy collectors where we can just talk about the stuff that we like and so Robo Skull had come out it for the you know the pre-order for the Kickstarter and I think that was that was the first show that we did and it was just like you know hey let's just go have fun I don't care how many people we get to view I don't care how many people subscribe to it it's just we're gonna talk about the stuff that we like to it and a lot of shows you'll see or even in social media there's there's a lot of negativity out in the community right now so I didn't want my channel or our channel to be negative so we try to bring more of the positives and try to remember what is so great about this community and toys in general so that's how it started and then it's just kind of grown from there I mean I've met you know Zazel from Sergeant Slaughter's you know Slaughterhouse Ken from Toy Connection and you know just built out more and more friends from here I got to be on a show with you know Sergeant Slaughter I got to meet Ron Rudette, Mark Pennington you know things that I never thought could happen because of YouTube so it's it's been just awesome that is fantastic I'm really thrilled for you I'm really thrilled that you are here you mentioned Robo Skull what kind of what what what non GI Joe things are you into and that inspire you you know mostly it's been GI Joe but the Indiana Jones figures they've just come out I I was always a slap slap you for Indiana Jones I just thought it was a great movie I number two Temple of Dooms not my favorite but you know one and three and then four it's okay but I just loved Harrison Ford in those movies I loved Harrison Ford and Star Wars too so but you know I picked up those figures and I'm picking and choosing on those Robo Skull it's when I found out about the original Roller Skull from Palo Alto as an adult and I saw what Action Force had is when we were kids I'm like you know there's this stuff's way better than what the Joe stuff we had and I thought that was great and then you meet Ben you meet Mark you know Chris McLeod was involved with it and then you see this giant flying death skull and I'm like I've got to have that and they brought so many people from the community together you had marauders you had you know grindstone toys and it's just a super positive you know project that they're building and they they're only ones that figured out hey we can put O-ring we can put modern forage and we can put six inch into a vehicle and I didn't hear any collectors whining or crying about it because they were all into it so that positivity just keeps help building and now I just can't wait to get my two skulls and I can put them up in my display and take a whole bunch of pictures and do some videos on them and you know go in the backyard and play and put them in the car seats and drive them around town so I have seen it at shows at conventions it is sizable it is it's pretty special and and and you mentioned I guess for a lot of North American Joe fans may not be aware of what Action Force had in the UK they had some of the same stuff some of the same stuff but they had some of their own stuff and yeah check that out you Joe fans if you're not turned on to UK Action Force especially the early stuff there's there are some surprises there and Robo Skull is one of those surprises absolutely the the APC for Z Force I mean oh yeah the decisions that that you know Bill or Bill Brickett added on to that it's like that's just perfect we can we get that here in the States you know they turned you know the Minesweeper oh I can't trip wire into a pilot for the Fang and you're like that makes so much more sense yeah so yeah but yeah the great toys I mean it just shows you how GI Joe was more than just the US it was it was worldwide absolutely yeah it was and that's something that hopefully people are being having their eyes open to is that even though for at least where I live it was called a real American hero it was everywhere everywhere anywhere in the free world where a kid could get a plastic toy it was probably there so even though somebody may live on the other side of the world they may have play experiences as a kid just like that yes absolutely so Phil from Treasures for Triggers sent this to me and this is actually a Japanese GI Joe puller battleware so I had to go and find a vintage snow job to put on it so this is one of my most cherished pieces in my collection because a friend thought hey I'm going to send this to you because you know I sent him a couple classified figures but you know that's what makes GI Joe GI Joe is it's your buddies your community looking out for one another when somebody's down you pick them up you don't kick them you know that's what this community has been about for so many years and I want to see that it continues that way I hope so as well I hope so as well so you are you're collecting classified and other things right now what what are the what currently like what right now is hot in your in your collection pickups um I just recently got the retro carded storm shadow and Zartan oh yeah no I haven't seen those oh nice so now here's the other thing I collect gridiron so if you don't know the gridiron is they are a third party company Mark Bakun and his sons but they create the accessories that can go with your GI Joe figures and you know they have this loadout kit which is the classic storm shadow loadout kit so um I have my ultimate storm shadow this is a brighter white than what the classified line release was he has his hand without the gloves it also comes with you know the hand with the throwing star plus grip hands too um but you know just an amazing figure the Zartan knocking over everything is a great callback to uh the cartoon version so you get the blues the the reds he has the the bright green eyes which I think are just amazing um so you know I'm happy with both of these retro card figures I hope we get some more throwback types for those for the classified line but I think Lenny and and crew have done an amazing job in updating and still staying true to what we had for a real American hero me too me too I um it wasn't that long ago when we had no GI Joe at retail whatsoever and now we've got all of this it's it's really thrilling I'm really happy to see what's going on so the the question I ask everybody but I think you may have already answered it is who is your favorite Cobra and why is it Zartan so again with Zartan I think I just reading that file card and then understanding the loner aspect but also having like the different personalities he had the depth instead of just the you know I'm a bad guy you understood why he was bad you understood the pain that he went through and you could sympathize with him and you could see that you know he was bad but you know oh he's still there's still a little bit of good in him and then Larry writing the comic books with him and just some of the stories that he expanded on when you know he he killed you know the snake eyes master and and you found out why he did it and then you know even with some of the other comics that he's come out with it's just like that character is the closest thing I think to you know like the vigilante batman but you know um but my favorite Joe character I think we share this in common is stalker yeah I remember getting comic book number one or as a comic book store near my grandparents house and he had it and I picked up I think one three and like four um but stalker I found out he's from Detroit which is you know Detroit Michigan I'm from Michigan of course he comes my favorite but then you start reading his back story you read his file card and you see you know where he came from and again I could relate to a lot of that stuff from him and plus you know let's be honest Duke is a great leader but in those early comic days stalker was the leader absolutely and he was the one that held everything together and then when Larry wrote the you know the comic with stalker snake eyes and storm shadow all together in Vietnam it's like oh this is just gold yeah so yeah um out of curiosity do you remember uh who was your first uh G. I. Joe action figure that you got torpedo torpedo okay cool huge fan of Jack Cousteau and Omaha Mitchell of Omaha's you know where they would do the animal shows back in the day when grandpa and I would watch that underwater was always big for me so I got torpedo that figure was just absolutely amazing uh for for those who weren't around uh in 83 when that line came out um when you when you can actually get G. I. Joe's that weren't all green uh it was like a revelation you had guys in white you had guys in tan you had you had torpedo in the black and gray um it was like uh the first wave of G. I. Joe was awesome um but that second wave just was amazing so torpedo that that is awesome that is awesome um so a reminder to everyone Cobra Convergence 7 uh this is Ryan there will be a link to his channel uh in the description of this video so make sure you check him out um he's already given us a hint at what he's doing for Cobra Convergence 7 and by the time you see this it should be up so go check it out immediately after this go check it out subscribe to his channel um so uh but you you've been uh involved in a toy kind of mood for a bit talk about that relationship and how that's been going so those are those are my brothers from another mother uh you know K. J. Tony Figgs great customizer K. J. Bobby um you know we just kind of all met through this community and you know they're they invited me on you know what's on the terror drone uh because we you know I do a lot of custom figures too um and and we just kind of all have bonded from that you know just talking to each other on Facebook or Instagram and and you build those relationships and then Travis is like well you need to come on our show I'm like okay and then from there it's been you know I think over a year now that we've all been kind of just you know bebopping in and out uh you know just with each other and they're great guys it's great um I I think classified figures brought in a bunch of new collectors that we didn't have in the Jill community for a while um so getting some of those those that fresh blood in fresh ideas I think has been good for for a lot of folks so um the more the merrier and then let's just keep this brand going you know for another generation absolutely that's that's my hope that my hope is always that we will bring in the new fans and that we will have another generation of fans but you're also on the island of misfit toys for those who are just about to be introduced to it for those who don't already know talk about uh that show and what you do there so I do figure reviews and then we also get together from time to time we have a stream with on crew again with you know sergeant slaughter uh zazel ken treasures for triggers adam from go figure we also have kelly uh slaughter you know sarge's daughter which will do from time to time um I did not too long ago you know in interview ben conway from robo skull so it's if you go on joe news classified what's coming out I have that information out there too just want to keep everybody informed show you some great cool figures and then invite guests on I'm hoping to have brian on sometime soon after joe fest covert convergence we get through all of this stuff um just to you know shoot shoot the breeze and talk to you joe that that is awesome and see this is the importance of a show like this I am no good at disseminating the news I'm not the truth is I'm not I'm not your your hard-pitting journalist with the finger on the pulse of of the news so um so that's great and I would encourage everyone there is there's a lot of stuff going on with g i joe right now a lot um and uh and someone like ryan is more on the cutting edge uh with that with what's happening so uh so I try to point folks towards towards you and towards people who are actually um hip and up on the news because I I'm always behind I'm like two weeks behind on everything so uh so you're a busy man I mean you're a busy man but yes so covert convergence a reminder everyone covert convergence for the entire month of july um ryan from the island of misfit toys will be presenting for us you should check it out link will be in the description of this video and his presentation will be up probably by the time by the time you see this it should be at the same time that you see this you should be able to roll right over there and and and check it out so um I think I think it's about time to wrap it up we're close to to time but um what I like to do uh before we wrap it up is to give you the floor uh to say anything any last words that you might want to last words maybe not the best choice or that's that implies that you're about to pass away I mean any closing thoughts to our audience I want to say thank you to you ryan um bringing the community together giving us all the opportunity to showcase what we do is huge go to hoodedcobertcommander788.com look at the calendar and please review all of the content creators it's every day in july it's worth it you're going to get to meet new people that have great content timmer is it's absolutely hilarious you know the stories that have been put together over the years it's you know from america is asked to you know everything else it's been worth it um but you'll also get to meet other people in the community who put out some amazing videos you know podcasts not only youtube channels but you know it's just it's a great way to meet a whole bunch of new people and expand you know what you love on gi joe so don't miss it check it out it's worth it next year if you have a channel you have a blog you have something reach out to this gentleman here and come and join us all it's worth it well thank you and i'm grateful to you and i hope everybody heats that because um i do want to be inclusive i want people to be in um i understand that not everybody who collects is into the the community thing but if you are there is a community out there to to meet and to talk with and to work with and i'm just thrilled to see you to see everyone working together uh and building each other up i i just love it so thank you my my gratitude to you for participating uh and uh for doing everything you've done for for quite some time so thank you very much hey you get you get as much as you put in so you know support one another if you have the opportunity do it give people likes give them subs you know give them a note let them know things are you know you appreciate something you don't like something that's fine too but just you know let them know that it's worth it for them so absolutely uh and with that i guess we will wrap it up with one more reminder uh check the link in the description of this video go check out island of misfit toys um and hcc788.com for the calendar of all of the presenters for cobra convergence in 2023 uh thank you very much ryan for talking with me and i look forward to seeing what you come up with for cobra convergence this year thank you brian and again thank you for everything that you've done for the community i hope you do have a great time at joe fest because we're taping this before that's right joe fest is after that you're at joe fest and you didn't sign his card i'm disappointed in you so if you it's too late but just remember that no i'm kidding the card will be there yeah i'll have the card and sharpies so let everybody sign it all right thank you ryan and again everybody check out his channel and for now i guess we'll wrap up so thanks again and i guess talk to everybody soon and we wrap we should wrap up with a cobra ready three two one cobra all right