JoeFest 2020: A Con Review!

I was wandering in a comic shop and was told of an upcoming G.I. Joe convention in Augusta, Georgia called JoeFest! At the time, I was only about an hour away, so on Saturday, September 5, 2020, I decided to check out what the other Joe convention in the peach state had to offer!

JoeFest's info pages were a bit of a mess, so I could not find a proper opening time. Unfortunately, my gamble of 10 a.m. forced me to pay the early bird admission of $20. I had other adventures planned that day, so I bit the bullet because I did not want to waste time.

Aerial view of JoeFest.

The first thing I do in a con is walk around snagging any "must-buy" bargains. There were NOT many at this show. In fact, this was the priciest toy convention I ever attended. The prices for modern 3 3/4 scale Joes and Marvel Legends were astronomical. Sellers were overly nonchalant about $100+ price tags for only somewhat desirable items. I gave most sellers a polite, "Are you out of your mind?" look and went on my way.

Small tags but BIG prices...

I noticed that this was primarily a 3 3/4 scale Joe con. I love the Real American Hero (RAH) series, and had many of the Spy Troops and Valor vs. Venom line when I was growing up. As I developed into a teen, I still loved the fight for freedom and invested a lot of my spare change on the 25th Anniversary stuff. I treasure my RAH Joes, but I did not want to pay the prices these dealers were asking for them. 5 years ago, I could go to cons and get complete 25th Cobra Soldiers for $5 each. The dealers here would not budge below $10 even for incomplete Cobra chumps.

Toy Fans Assembling

The Finest Cosplay Club - Blizzard, Cobra Viper, Iron Grenadier, Firefly, and Steeler

Marauder 1:18 Scale Figure Company - been making solid 3 3/4 Joe accoutrements for a while now.

The classic Lego 'compatible' seller. Never pay more than a $1 for any of these knock off building block minifigures!

On the floor, I also stumbled upon a few of my favorite G.I. Joe characters!

Flint - I did not catch this fan's name, but he was a super nice guy!

EJ White, the 'Soul Santa' of JoeLanta, finagling a 70's Battlestar Galactica Cylon! 

One of the spotlights of the show was the presence of Sgt. Slaughter and his incorporation into the new 1/12 Action Force line! These are not G.I.Joes, but Sgt. Slaughter signed on with this independent line because Hasbro had essentially abandoned their greatest action figure name until recently. Action Force are extremely nice figures, and the folk running their panel and booth were immensely polite and enthusiastic. The real Sgt. Slaughter was actually sitting right next to their booth. I met and interacted with the Sarge back at the official 2006 Joe Con in New Orleans, but with the prices of this show, I was weary to talk to him again for fear of being charged something.

Action Force Wave 1 Prototypes

More Action Force Wave 1 Prototypes

Action Force Panel

One of the reasons I attended this show was because in their mess of an advertisement page, JoeFest mentioned an action figure photo contest! After asking many clueless staff members about the competition, I finally entered my Canyon pics (Joe & Ghost Rider). There was also a small custom figure contest too. I did not plan on setting anything up, but they had no 1/6 scale Joes there! I had a few of my photo-taking batch figures in the car, so I put my beloved Sea Commander on display with his ocean entourage!

My entries in the photo contest!

Adventure Team Sea Commander and Crew!

My Joes did not place (this con did not know how to appreciate 1/6 scale figures anyway), but I won first place for my photos! Ironically, for a con so costly, I did not even get an additional prize besides a first place medallion.

1st Prize!

Me and my award winning photos!

I left the show after winning the photo contest to explore more of Augusta; JoeFest was not the type of convention to snag rock bottom bargains at the end of the day. I only spent about $80 at this show and was only moderately impressed with what I could find. My claim to fame on this haul was a complete Ghost Rider Movie Caretaker figure for $30. Along with him were some cheap Joes, jointed Ronald Reagan figure, and some uncommon authentic Lego minifigures.

My moderate show loot for $80...

I was very appreciative of my photos winning first prize at this convention, but I was ultimately disheartened by the atmosphere of this show's inflated prices. JoeFest did not possess the magic (or dioramas) of JoeLanta, nor the modesty of KYJoe. This show was coincidentally convenient for me this year, but I will probably not go out of my way to attend again. Collectors know what toys are worth, and most of the dealers at JoeFest seemed to think otherwise.

-Chuck