 Hello everybody, Puddecourt Commander 788 here and I am G.I. Joburg. So guys, in the United States you made it. Well tell us first of all about your trip, about getting here. Tell us how that went. Steve won't do it this time. Steve O'Rourke can do it this time. I've done it a lot. He's told the story so now it's your turn to tell us. Well what can be said about a 15 hour flight other than I'm glad it wasn't a 15 hour flight followed by another 8 hour flight. We got a direct flight from Johannesburg to New York, what a deal. So that was a once in a lifetime experience. I've never flown direct before. I've always been by Dubai or Qatar or Doha. And should we show everybody how he slept in the plane? Yeah, by all means. Give a demonstration. I didn't. You didn't have a neck pillow? Yeah I didn't. Everyone else had a neck pillow. How long was the flight again? 15 hours 45 minutes. That's long enough. But you guys took a bit of a road trip once you got to the stage right? It seemed like the most prudent way of seeing the maximum amount of the US in the allotted time. And also it worked out cheaper than domestic flights for the three of us. So we got in one car, threw our bags in and just burned it. We actually managed to make a stop-off at Kokomo Toys in Indiana. That's why I have this awesome t-shirt from Kokomo Toys. Amber is a legend. And their inventory is legendary. If I hadn't been coming to Jocon, I would have left that store a much poorer man. But yeah, it took us to the west and then we ducked down towards Chattanooga. We managed to stop-off at a friend's place on the way who very kindly gave us a meal, showed us his hospitality and then showed us his toy room where he hooked us up with a lot of goodies. I mean the generosity that we've been showing on this trip is unparalleled. So you made it to the last Jocon. How was your experience here? It was mind-blowing. I mean, it's just amazing. We have a local comic-con in Cape Town, but it focuses on a bunch of different things. But here you enter the room and there's this GI Joe stuff. You just, there's too much. It's like that dream that we've all had where it's 1985 again and you've got wall-to-wall GI Joe toys stacked to the ceiling and like four or five rows deep. Okay, maybe not as opulent as that, but like everything that I could ever have wanted and more was here. And the one roof. Yeah, in fact it was kind of bewildering to just set your priorities straight or reset your priorities because, you know, we've all made little lists and to try and meticulously go through a wants list of parts or vehicles, impossible. So you aim for some heavy hitters and you might just get lucky. I am overjoyed. This was always the top of every list that I've written out for the last 15 years. Now I have it. And Stephen, you said that one of your goals was to go through, see if you could find some just loose kind of beater figures. Oh, yes. Did you find any, did you see any there today? It's disgusting to say this, but they were mint and they were in a beater's bucket. So if you look hard enough, you can find treasure at a very affordable price point. You know, a minty, original Joe, no rust, not even elbow cracks for like two bucks if you just find it in the right spot. Okay, accessories, that's going to start hurting you. But yeah, Brian, I expected to find figures in far shoddier conditions than I did. Yeah, there was definitely treasure to be had at Jocorn. And I should point out that in one bargain bin, I found it not in terrible shape, mind you, but a stardustry. Just there. Yeah, it was pretty bad shape, though. But yeah, those loose figure bins, I thought you might enjoy going through those. So let's talk about best experiences of the convention. Let's go down the road. Actually, let's turn up the whole time. Best experience of the convention. Meeting Larry Harmer is on the top of my list for that. That was an incredible experience. And not just Larry Harmer, also Robert Atkins. That was magical. I mean, that's at the convention. Best experience being here, actually at the convention, not the convention, was actually meeting all the cool people. Like, this man over here, you can't see me off camera. Mr. Bart Simon has been a great sidekick today. And this whole weekend, I don't know why they call him sidekick bigger than me. Finally getting to meet you was really cool. Those kind of things are highlights. Oh, and maybe finishing Tiger Force. Oh, you finished Tiger Force? I finished Tiger Force. Nicely done. Now what are you doing? Pissue Night Force. Okay. No, I don't know. Anything for us. Let's go with the Eco Warriors. That's probably easier. Yeah, okay, yeah. Yeah, that's just, yeah, reasonable. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Robert, best... For me, the best thing was realizing that how much people really enjoy what we do. Like, you're so, like, removed from everyone. Like, any DIY fan, it's just us. And how everyone just kind of... How much they enjoy what we do. It's just incredible. I just find that amazing. It's just bringing me away. I was like, okay, cool. You watch our videos. Make comments. But, like, people recognize you. They come up to you and they're like, oh. And children as well, it's just... That's what we're here for. Yeah, it's not difficult to just, like, narrow it down. Because it was just a great experience, not the great experience, not the great experience, when Dan Schumanski going out and getting drinks with some of the dudes. I mean, that didn't happen at the convention. Enlisted parachute drops, which may or may not have happened. That was really cool. There's so much cool stuff that happened at this convention. I have to admit, I was enjoying vicariously every time someone would come up to you guys and recognize you guys. I wanted to make sure that this experience was worth the trip. Every time somebody came up and wanted to get their picture taken, I was like, yeah, there you go. What's even the best experience of the convention? I fear I'm going to have to just repeat what's already been said, because if I'm honest with myself, toys are one thing, but the community that surrounds these toys is something altogether special. And we've been so isolated from that. The internet friendships that we've accumulated are wonderful, but when you get to meet someone in the flesh, shake their hand, pull it in for a hug, in fact, they want to meet their kids who put down the iPad for like 10 minutes and watch a bunch of grown men playing with action figures and are absolutely mesmerized by that. Yeah, it was emotional. There was the youngest of four boys who would just climb up onto me. This kid called Henry and he just would not let go. Maybe it's his thing, maybe it's something he does with strangers all the time just to wind Mommy up, but I was extremely touched by that. Good kids. So, alright then, let's bring it back to the plastic a little bit. Please. I think we know Steven's favorite thing didn't he? I don't know if that's a commentary on the Havoc, the Moabats doing its own review of the Havoc. I got a Moabats to pull a rolling thunder. Yeah, that can be done. This thing will pull two rolling thunders. Wait, I don't have two rolling thunder. Well, a rolling thunder and a thunder clap. How about that? Would you pay money to see that kind of train? I would. Put that on pay-per-view. Might put the tow hook under some strain there. I'll have to hitch it up to something else, but I'm sure this thing is powerful. Yeah, it's powerful. Robert, you're this fan of scoop, right? Yes. Okay, so how many scoop action figures did you pick up? Well, during the entire trip, I managed to buy two. All right, we'll see. Yeah, all right. I was hoping you'd at least get one. No, yeah, no. I got one at Kokomo, which is because my current scoop actually here's thermostone. It's very cool. I'm like, I have to get a replacement. And here's the mic. Here's the mic. Oh, you got the mic? Yeah, yeah. Steven made me a cool kind of custom one, but I mean, it's cool to have the real one. And I got a modern era one. No! No. I did not know that. It was literally the only one on the entire floor. And fries! Another guy said, he was like, oh, you know, there might be another one there somewhere. But it was awesome. Oh, that is killer, dude. Holding out on us. Nice. I bought it. I was like, okay. So Rob, should I open or not to open? I will open it, but I'll probably make a video. Yeah, I think that's a little bit cool. Yeah, this is pretty exciting. That is great. It's amazing, but it's not scooped. Now we've got like two flavors of scoop. Oh, incidentally, our custom project that we represented came in second. So we got some show bucks, which we put towards the Havoc for Rob, the Ninja Force, complete 1992 Ninja Force team for Paul. And I got a hot seat for my radar. Yeah, that's not euphemism for anything. Oh, it does look cool. What did we get for those men? Yeah, yeah. What is it like? Okay, so I mentioned earlier that I finished Tiger Force and what was called like the nail in the coffin for that was Bazooka. Tiger Force Bazooka, but no, that's not the best thing I bought it for. I got a tiger cat, a tiger fly. Tiger rat. Animals. That's not so much you don't know things. The Tiger Rat, the rattler Tiger Force, so that's the Tiger Force Rattler, but I also got the modern hero one, which is great because I like modern hero figures, and I got a rattler for both flavors of GI Joe or both flavors of GI Joe that matter to me. And that was really exciting. I got it for a really good price, because the guy was like, he doesn't want to take it back home. So yeah, that was one of my favorites. And then that was one of the coolest thing coming and I'm talking about such that I purchased. So that was definitely one of them. The other thing, well, this was purchased at Kokomo, so that's not fair. There's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. I think I need to actually go through it before I know which is my absolute favorite, but I do know that I couldn't leave the convention without this guy, which is a quick kick. But you bore? Yeah. But let's not undersell the fact that it's been a thrill to meet you, Brian, because, you know, we are constantly inspired by the fact that you are able to put out comprehensive GI Joe content on a weekly basis, sometimes more than one video a week. It's like, yeah, this guy's an inspiration to us all. And to meet him finally for the first time, I mean, like we've corresponded enough. We've collaborated once or twice. We had that debate, didn't we? But yeah, any time I feel like, you know, doing this on the side is too much work, when I see what this guy puts out, I'm like, I'm a slacker. I was walking from the one convention hall to the other, and I'm like sort of walking, I see HCC on the way there, and I'm about to go, hey, and I see him like recording videos. And then every time, most times I see him, he's like working. He's like talking to the camera, talking to the phone. I mean, not like hi honey, whatever. I mean, he's doing content. I haven't talked to my wife on all this weekend. So, ladies and gentlemen, you folks out there, we're all very lucky to have this guy putting out videos, putting out content, keeping G.I. Joe very much alive. I saw at least one moment, we were sitting in the bar, but on that way, whatever, and it's actually that way. It was quite an act. Yeah, lots of drinking. And we were all talking, and this girl walks up to HCC, and she's like, my mom's a really big fan of your show. Can I get a picture with you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hi Susan. Hi Susan. Yeah, well, thank you. I have no life, and now I'm reaping the rewards of that. So yeah, that's how that works. If this is a substitute for a life, I'll take it. It's more permanent than a life. It's plastic, it lasts long. It'll last a little longer. Was there anything about the show or the weekend that was drastically different from what you would expect? I stumped the band. Yeah, well, I think I didn't know what to expect, so anything that happened was pretty awesome. Oh. No. Hang on, the airdrop was there. The night parachute dropped. Sorry, I'm still caring about that. And buying G.I. Joe is out of somebody's boots. I did not expect that. I did not think that those kind of shenanigans took place in the... That's a trunk for Americans. Oh yeah, sorry. It's not out of a boot. Yeah. We're driving away. Incidentally, we did find a defiant there. The defiant in his back seat. It's like a kind of defiant in my back seat. It wasn't that shady though. It wasn't actually shady at all. It was just convenient. It was like... I did not expect that. I think the reason why this con wasn't a vast departure from my expectations is because I didn't have expectations. I was like, apparently Larry Harman's going to be there and a whole bunch of Joe fans. That's already kind of closed the door on making any more expectations of an event because already it's kind of... It's at a level where it's a worthy ticket. You know, you want it to be there. The vast amount of stuff that I suppose comes as a surprise. I'm like, I expected there to be a lot, but not that much. Like, it's insane. I went over things for two days straight. I still don't think I've really scratched the surface. I think you guys maybe had the same experience that I had when I first saw Larry Harman. I couldn't say any. I wonder if he actually... I introduced myself twice. I forgot that I had said where I was from. He was like, oh, so what part of South Africa do you from? I was like, how did you know I was from South Africa? Mr. Holmes said, well, you told me. And that's actually a pretty good Larry Harman one. Thank you very much. All right, well, so this is the last one. Actually, I guess one more thing. You guys did a crap funding to get here. Is there anything you'd like to say to all the folks who contributed to that? Because a lot of people wanted to get you here. And this is kind of a victory for not just for you guys, but everybody who really, really wanted you guys to make it. Yeah, I think there's no amount of thanks, actually. I would just say Mission Accomplished. Yeah, you and us, we're all team G.I. Joburg. And I know this is your line, actually, Brian, that we're all part of the same team. But like, yeah, everyone part of this community are on G.I. Joburg's side. Thank you for rallying behind us. And as I say, Mission Accomplished. We did it. You did it, everyone. We, this is Team Accomplished. And they ate all your sweets. They did. They did. Did you guys make it to the last panel? Yes. I mean, who's going to miss the last panel at the last Jocon, right? That is literally wrapping up. Any emotions as they went through all the years? Sad I missed all of this, yes. Yeah, me too. I mean, I've gone to a few of them, but I wasn't around for all of those. Yeah, there's some good ideas. Sota came and Roddy Roddy Parker as well. I mean, those would be amazing. So, we're wrapping up this, the show's over. We're here in the hallway at the hotel room. How do you come down after this? What's next? Sleep. A little bit of a road trip, actually. Food. Density. We're going to see a bit more of the states on our way out. We've managed to stretch our budget to afford us four nights in New York. Very nice. Well, Hoboken, we'll take the bus in every day, but yeah, no, it would be criminal to come to this country and not see a little bit more of it. We'll see the maximum amount of it. Yeah, I think we have a very good idea of what the north-eastern section of it is. Well, sure, actually then, what, if you care to share your impressions of the United States, how is it, what you expected or different from what you expected? I mean, the amazing thing is that we basically consumed American media in our high lives. So, you know, New York is this, you know, but it's so novel to actually be inside the movie. Yeah, we're in the state, yeah. You guys all drive on the wrong side of the road. That's okay. But everyone is also friendly as well. It's incredible. They love the friendliness of the people. So much so, I was just saying to Stephen, so much so that if you run into somebody that's unfriendly or kind of has an attitude, they really stand up. Yeah, they do. They really stand up. They kind of really irritate you as well, thanks. Yeah. They're like, everyone else is nice. Why aren't you being nice? Yeah, well, for Americans, it's kind of like that too. It's like, what's wrong with that guy? Yeah, exactly. So that's probably what keeps everyone nice. Yeah, yeah. They're cracked down and they're not nice. Total on, dad. Everybody's got guns, so they're all afraid. They're terrified, yeah. So I guess we're probably winding down. I want to give you guys a chance to share any additional thoughts, any last thoughts with everyone before we wrap it up. You stumped the band again. I'm sorry. I asked for thoughts. I don't know what. We don't have thoughts. Yeah, I think right now, we are fried. It's going to take us a little while to get our thoughts in order and just reflect on this event. But just going to circle back to the fact that we met some incredible people this weekend. So many memories. Yeah. I think that's the biggest take on. The plastic is one thing, and it's what got us all started. But the people who die hard to this day, who get it, our clan in other words, the people at this table, this gentleman over here, that guy, maybe not so much. But to have us all in the same place at the same time, we are G.I. Joe. We are the flame of this hobby, and it's a good flame. And it needs to survive. Yes. I don't think Joe Kron is the end of G.I. Joe. I think there's a bit of that sentiment locked in the back of people's heads. I know that for a lot of people who rely on G.I. Joe as an income, like the guys that are selling parts and whatever, I think they are very much working on trying to take it the next step further. Trying to create smaller cons, whatever it's for G.I. Joe. But I think it's important to remember that the brand is not dead. And even though there's new stuff, there's a lot of cool Joe stuff out there. There's even a train set, as I found out today. And cool sunglasses. Oh, now you know. And knowing is one of the better ones. I'm going to wrap it up with a PSA. Now, actually, Brian Savage closed with that line. And what did he say the other half was? Doing. Doing. Yeah. So I think we're some of the doers. And so we're just going to keep doing it. Absolutely. That was good. My privilege to meet you guys and also all these folks that are behind the camera that haven't decided to show us what he looked like, but still. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Poor sidekick. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll wrap it up from Katanuga. Great to meet you guys. And we'll just keep on spreading the love of these toys. Watch this space. There will be collaborations happening very shortly. Yes. We are already hard at work. So that's it from Katanuga. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Do the voice. Oh, do the voice. Do the voice? Stormshade. Oh, no. Thank you for having us at GoCon. Now I will use my whip and like body to destroy this tank. Watch those tabs, man. They're unbroken. The tank is mine. All right. Thank you, guys. Cheers. It really is.