We know how America’s Movable Fighting Man was a huge success when he was first deployed in 1964.  However, his effectiveness on the toy shelf started to decline a few years later; mostly due to the unpopularity of the Vietnam War. In an effort to keep GI Joe on duty, Hasbro released a less military […]

New York Toy Fair comes around each year at this time.  For a span of twelve years, I would have to work eighteen hours on – then sleep six hours before beginning again. This would last for almost a month to keep up with all the demands from clients for Toy Fair models.  This year, […]

Ever since Spiderman became a success in the early 1960s, various toy companies made sure Spiderman was available on shelf for us to buy and play with.  The earliest large Spiderman I can remember is the 6-inch solid molded version by Marx.  They had released a set of six Marvel Superheroes in their popular 6-inch […]

I was extremely young at the time, but I remember all the adults sitting around the living room watching the first astronauts land on the moon.  At that time, I did not understand it.  Later, in color, I remember seeing the splash down of a few capsules in the ocean.  One I specifically remember as […]

One of the unexpected aspects of toy design is that sometimes people will give you a project and forget to give you the reference.  This what happened on this project.  When I sent in the models, I received a call saying, “Hey these don’t match the reference.” “What reference?” I asked. “The reference from Disney […]

People often say to me, “Wow being a toy designer must be fun all the time.”  It is a ton of fun, but not all the time; mostly due to heavy deadlines. However, some projects are just magical to work on. Working on GI Joe for five years was a dream come true.  Creating the […]

Adventure Team Sinbad – Legend of the Seven Seas represents a rare confluence of needs between Hasbro and DreamWorks.  DreamWorks had a new boy-targeted animated film they were creating. Also at the time, Hasbro was courting DreamWorks to produce a GI Joe movie – which later was made through Paramount Pictures. DreamWorks often worked well […]

And now, the reveal of all the final suspects shown in the pictures… SUSPECT #3 The third figure is a new one released by Mattel with the launch of the Wonder Woman film.  It is one if the best sculpted figures ever. I purchased her as I am still building a full ensemble of DC […]

In case there are some who may think I was only a designer concerned with new figures, please note the line up images.  These are some of the rarest figures that I have collected over the years.  It is more accurate to say, since I started playing with “Joes” that I never stopped collecting them.  […]