|
As many of you know, Hasbro Direct offered a “personalized” mail-away figure in 1987. This figure was part of the Steel Brigade Team, and for many kids, including myself; it was an exciting task to create your own figure. It was challenging to create a Code Name that matched all the military/martial arts specialties, traits, abilities, and personality of the figure that you were creating. After much thought, the name “Shadow Master” came to me.
Although it may seem as though I created the name based on the Ninja Masters featured in the G.I. Joe comics, I honestly didn’t own any of the older comics when I was kid. I had bought random issues here and there, but never followed the series in detail. I remember wanting my figure to have an extensive background in the martial arts, but it was challenging to have a “ninja” character since the Steel Brigade figure resembled a pilot, and was standardized for everyone.
Since I started becoming an avid collector in 1997, I always wanted to create a figure or character that would resemble what I thought “Shadow Master” would look like. I had an idea of what I wanted him to look like, but never had the skill or talent to start the project of creating him. I thought that this was a lost cause until recently.
A few months ago, I was able to get in contact with the agent of a previous artist/designer of the G. I. Joe line. I talked to the agent, and asked them if they could find out whether the former G.I. Joe artist would design a customized figure design based on my input. After a month of negotiations, we both finally came to an agreement.*
While the negotiation stage was taking place, I was trying to create a story behind the character of “Shadow Master”. At first, I thought about basing “Shadow Master” after Billy, Cobra Commander’s son. After much thought and inspiration from the Devil’s Due series entitled “Master and Apprentice”, I came up with an original concept for the character. I researched old Marvel issues of G.I. Joe to help with an accurate depiction of the characters backdrop. I also did extensive research on the origins, weapons, and practices of the “ninja”. This helped me in creating the figure, and also making suggestions in the design process. If you would like to read more on the background of the figure, please click here. Once I created the background of the character, the artist read it, and started the design process.
|
