Kentucky Joe 2021: A Con Review!

On July 30-31, I had the privilege of attending another pulse pounding iteration of the summer Kentucky Joe Convention in Louisville, KY!

Scroll below to see the goodies of the show!

James Hardie of Action Man Wolf Pack asked me to photograph his Cotswold stand, so I brought my two favorite Wolf Pack figures to pose with it! The black stache figure is like an anti SGT Slaughter for the forces of Shadow, and the awesome ginger mutton-chop figure is my Sea Wolf!

Some lady brought a display of 40th Joes dressed in Dragon outfits. Most of it was not anything striking, but these banditos were kinda neat. I would have definitely made them more colorful and ethnic.

1/6 vehicle customizer, Bo Harris, brought some groovy custom Jeeps to show off! His work is extremely clean and sleek. Above was his concept of what Hasbro would have made in the 80's if they never cancelled the 12 inch Joe line in the 70's!

This was my personal favorite! This is a custom Jurassic Park Jeep that included a custom classic Joe Muldoon! Pity Muldoon died in the movie!

Here is Bo standing behind his custom Adventure Team Jeep utilizing last year's con exclusive! He was a very nice guy and loved talking about his work!

Another huge spotlight of this show was Greg Autore! Greg worked for many toy companies bringing awesome designs onto the shelves. He had a huge hand in various Joes during the Classic Collection era. I bought MANY figures from his table, and every figure came with a story of its development at Hasbro! He was super fun, had phenomenal prices, and I really hope he comes to next year's show!

Sadly, this year's customs were a bit of a disappointment. He are Classified style Outback and Shockblast! They are not very playable, but they did look nice!

This was the third prize winner, an 1830's Seminole warrior! War of 1812 enthusiast, Myers Brown, made this figure, and he was a treat to chat with. I am unaware of many people who study this era of American history, so it was refreshing to see some good souls are still very enthusiastic about it!

This was my entry, the Adventure Team Man of India! I worked very hard on this figure and was extremely disappointed he did not place at all. I rooted his beard, wrapped his turban, and hand sewed his outfit and shoes! The only figure I did not mind losing to in this competition was the Seminole, but he only placed third.

As for the goodies I picked up... Greg Autore had a ton of loose, rare, preproduction, and unproduced pieces at his table! Above are some variants of G.I. Joe 2010 heads, Francis Currey with brown eyes instead of blue, and a loose Medal of Honor John Fox! The goatee Joe on the right is the unmade Kodiac Attack Adventure Team figure! I think I paid $35 at most for this whole lot!

I do not normally buy third party 1/18 figures, but Marauder Task Force (MTF) brought this badass Kukri-wielding Viper-esque exclusive to the show! For $25, this figure possessed Hasbro quality and a ton more accessories! With the box office bomb of the lousy Snake Eyes movie, I do not see Hasbro investing heavily into any of its future ARAH lines. That being said, I will probably be looking into other lines to fill this thirst!

As I mentioned in previous posts, each Joe convention always seem to have a great abundance of deals on one particular line or figure. This year's convention had masses of well priced Classic Collection Joes! The figures above have shot up way too high on eBay over the years, but luckily, I snagged each of these at the con for $15 or less! My favorite of the bunch is the front and center Crowd Control Joe! He is a bash of a loose Delta Soldier Joe with the Crowd Control accessory pack!

I picked up plenty of other 'odds n ends' at the show, and of course there was always more at the show than I could afford. This was my 3rd trip to Kentucky Joe, and thankfully it still paid off. Although I was disappointed with the results of the figure contest, the rest of the show was still action figure heaven: great deals and great people! G.I. Joe forever!

-Chuck