It’s Dead Jim!

I guess it’s time to finally admit that, after a bit over 4 years without an update, Republic Of Geektopia is dead! Anyone who was a regular reader back in the day will probably have noted that the associated Instagram account I set up no longer exists. There are numerous reasons, including the increasing expense, the aging out of some segments in the hobby, the increasingly despicable nature of social media, the lack of room for new toys and honestly, just a personal loss of interest. I’m getting older and finding escapism less appealing. Blogger itself is about as relevant as MySpace nowadays, although I actually prefer the long form blogger format to the toxic waste dump that is Tumblr and the crap fest of Twitter.

To be honest, it’s really no longer any fun for me. I’ve long since lost contact with most of the folks I knew through this blog, so the social aspect is pretty much dead too. 

My intention is to shut this all down at some point. My daughter has expressed an interest in many of the dolls I’ve shown here and she’ll get first choice of the collection before anything is sold or given away. Expect to see RoG go off line sometime after the first of 2021. Thanks for playing along in the past and take care!

Blah Blah Blog....

Hey folks! So you noticed August 1 came and went without a post, huh? Yeah, I have it written but there just hasn't been a lot of time or motivation to do the photo session. Actually, work is delayed on September and October's entries as well. I've decided just to take a little break and step away for a little bit. It may be a few weeks or a month or two. I don't really know yet. At this point however, I do intend to keep blogging here at RoG until at least the end of 2016. Beyond that, I think I'm going to go on hiatus after the first of 2017 and I may start blogging at another page more exclusively about GI Joe and related subjects. We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, as I've said before, I don't plan to simply disappear without a formal announcement. This isn't a "goodbye" so much as a "see you later". Thanks for sticking with me!

Independence Day- July 2016 Photoblog

I have to admit feeling a bit ambivalent about an Independence Day themed blog entry. I love my country but I'm feeling pretty unhappy with the state of things right now…. Well, let's not get in to socio-political stuff.

At the suggestion of the lovely Mrs. Geektopian,  this month's entry is General George Washington. Hasbro made this figure as part of their Famous Generals GI Joe series way back in the late '90s. (Way back? Holy heck! Really?) He's pretty much a standard Classic Collection Joe body with a rather nice head sculpt and accessories and he had remained in his box right up until I did the photo shoot. I had plans to switch his body with a later GI Joe Super Articulated body but I've decided to leave him as he is for now.

First, the standard views that I post with every entry-

Now some detail shots-

 The very nice map table and accessories.

The 13 star flag, which proved to be surprisingly difficult to photograph.

Finally, some shots of the elaborate box. He spent around 18 years in this box but he's happy to be out and ready to kick that Cornholio guy's ass! Oh sorry, that was Cornwallis! LOL

Brief Delay…. Again!

Hey folks, just like with June's entries, July's entry will be delayed. I plan to post on July 4th to coincide with US Independence Day. For many of you, this means it will appear later in the day of the 4th or even possibly on July 5th. After this, the monthly photo blog should hopefully return to its regular first of the month schedule.

D Day Special, pt. 3

After I finished the photo session for the previous entries, I started scouting around for what else I had in my collection that would tie in to my D Day theme. And while I'm not an avid completist collector of WW2 figures, it turns out I have a nice little selection. This isn't everything but for my next D Day tribute installment, I wanted to show a couple of my older figures and one in progress.

Here we have Dragon's 1st Infantry Division "Sgt. Dave" and a GI Joe Collector's Club 2nd Ranger Regiment figure. I have left them both as close to out of the box as possible and while Sgt. Dave still holds up pretty well, Joe could use some changes and upgrades to his gear. At the least, he needs a smaller helmet and more to-scale weapons, although I will probably switch his body for the later Super Articulated style I normally use.

Here are my normal four-view shots; sorry, no "in action" shots this time! First up, Ranger Joe-

Next we have 1st Infantry Sgt. Dave-

Dave is special to me because he was a birthday gift from my wife some years ago and was my first Dragon WW2 figure.

Finally, a brief look at BBI's 101st Airborne paratrooper, Cpl. Bud Norris-

Cpl. Norris is a really nice figure in spite of some early-2000s era details but I haven't been able to get much work done on him recently. Also, to be honest, I'm getting a little done with the D Day theme right now (Short Attention Span Theatre!) and I want to switch out some of his gear and weapons before I consider him finished.

I hope you've all enjoyed this D Day tribute and that you'll stick around for more bloggy adventures in the coming months. My wife has managed to convince me to stick with this format at least for the near future and so I've started compiling a list of possible subjects to post here during the next six months.

D Day Special, pt. 2

Continuing with the the US D Day theme as promised, our next subject is a 101st Airborne paratrooper.  Like the previous entry, this guy is a "neo-retro" GI Joe style figure. In this case, the entire figure was produced some years ago (early 2000s?) by Cotswold. The one change I had to make was replacing his rifle, a folding stock M1 carbine, with an item from 21st Century Toys after two cast metal   Cotswold rifles broke in transit.

A couple of close ups of our trooper's headsculpt and face up. You'll notice the Mohawk haircut and warpaint worn by some units of the 101st Airborne.

Finally, a few "in action" shots:

I realized there are no actual German soldiers for this guy to fight against. The closest thing I have are my East German-inspired troops but that wouldn't really work. Oh well!

A bonus "buddy" shot with infantry sergeant Joe from the previous entry:

D-Day Special- Photoblog June 2016

June 6, 2016 marks the 72nd anniversary of the Allied invasion of France, better known as D-Day. One of the most significant invasions in military history, it would mark the beginning of nearly a year of intense bloody fighting in Europe leading to the defeat of Nazi Germany and her allies. While I am well aware of the contributions and actions of all Allied nations, I have chosen to focus on US forces simply because these are the figures I have in my collection. Nothing more complex than that.

First, we have a retro-vintage style GI Joe (really, Action Man) dressed as a US Army infantry sergeant from mid-1944. One small but unavoidable error is the unit patch on his shoulder. This is from the Kiska Task Force that fought in Alaska's Aleutian Islands nearly a year earlier. This unit wasn't involved in the D Day invasion, as far as I know but the insignia was already on the jacket when I bought it!

This is about as close to a typical grunt rifleman as I could get with the parts I had on hand. Everything here aside from the base figure is from Cotswold's Elite Brigade and Gearbox lines. I borrowed the pants and boots/leggings from a Cotswold Ranger, so eventually, this guy will be pantsless and shoeless again. I swapped the hard hands with reproduction Action Man action hands, Palitoy's original version of what became known as Kung Fu Grip. These repro-vintage Action Man figures have so far proven to be among my favorites of the new/old style Joes.

Now for a few action shots which turned out pretty cool but reminded me of why I don't get down in the dirt and play anymore.

While this entry is running long, there's still more to come. Please stay tuned!