As Nomad put forth in the front page entry (here:
http://www.joedeclassified.com/?p=626)... I bet you're wondering what a Mortal Kombat character run is doing on a GI JOE forum?! Sure MK and SF figures alike used bits and pieces from the Joe line, but not many collectors seem to weave them into the Joe mythos let alone consider them part of the GI JOE line, sometimes not even Street Fighter, which of course has an official connection to said GI JOE line (for better or worse). Unlike Street Fighter, however, Mortal Kombat was never officially part of the line at retail. As in... the words "G.I. Joe" do not appear on any of the packaging. So what IS Mr. Goro doing here in all his four-armed bipedal glory? Well there's two reasons actually. #1 is specific to the GI JOE line and #2 is more related to what it is we try to do here with Joe Declassified, digging up lost GI JOE history and the such. This is going to be enough of a “history lesson” as is... so I urge you to visit JoeIntel.com’s preproduction glossary before continuing. Especially if you are not familiar with vintage preproduction vocabulary terms. Here is a link to JoeIntel’s Glossary and their Preproduction run-down:
http://joeintel.com/subcategory.php?cat_id=7&id=#1:
Despite what you might think, there was in fact a point, when Mortal Kombat was going to be part of the GI JOE line and from what I've been able to gather (and as you might assume), in a similar fashion that the Street Fighter line was bolted to it. However, as most people know, Mortal Kombat was receiving pretty hefty criticism around the world for its hyper-violence, hyper-gore, and depiction of said hyper violence and gore. With GI JOE being Hasbro's own brand… its “home brand” as it were, and with the powers that be already taking issue with GI JOE’s “suggestive” war themes etc (lasers not bullets and the like)… splicing in the ever-bloody, fatality-inducing Mortal Kombat line just didn’t seem like a good idea and eventually the idea was trashed and Mortal Kombat was released as something separate from GI JOE entirely. Obviously Hasbro wasn’t going to ignore their bottom line and still wanted the super popular and successful Mortal Kombat franchise in their house… but just not in their bunkers, so to speak.
#2:
Pictured in this thread are mostly things related specifically to Goro. However, there is a photo (pictured first…stay tuned) of what is loosely called a “muscle buck.” A “muscle buck” was an experimental attempt to create a sculpting buck that would do a few things… a) allow sculptors (read the following as: Hasbro hopes to save time thus money in the long run) to “skip” certain sculpting responsibilities, by being able to avoid steps in the 2 up sculpting process and b) give the Joe line the ability to possibly feature diverse body structures and sizes (this was not the first nor last time they experimented with the idea of different sized Joes and body types for the 3 ¾). A standard sculpting buck has a very skeletal look to it. As you can see the “muscle buck” (pictured below) would require less sculpting since the shape is already there. There is "no" (read as: extremely less) building necessary in the muscular areas. But if you can imagine, for a moment, not building outward, inward, or around from a skeleton but building outward, inward, or around from a preexisting condition of "musculaturity" (that's so a real word...cough cough)… and then having to use that foundation to sculpt pockets or shirt sleeves, gear etc… does not leave much room for invention or uniqueness and probably ends up being almost too much or leaving room for too little. Well, for more than a few reasons (stiffness, cookie-cutter aesthetics, very little surface to sculpt upon, and in the end it actually took LONGER dremel-wise in several areas, thus more time, thus more money)… the idea was scrapped… or rather… re-utilized. Ryu, Ken, Goro, and a few others etc… would go on to use these “muscle bucks” in one way or another (or variations/expansions of the "muscle buck") after all (notice the “bare feet” on the "muscle buck" and the bare feet on some Street Fighter figures).
So the first picture is of a “muscle buck.” The pictures after the “muscle buck” are of the following:
- Goro 2 up paint master (again, if you’re unfamiliar with the terms please head over to JoeIntel).
- Goro 2 up wax head
- “Goro buck” (this was a hybridized fusing of two standard buck upper torso pieces and then a mutated waste piece. Inserted, of course, into the fused torsos, would be the "muscle buck pieces"… as pictured. And see the comparison pic of the “Goro buck” waist piece to the Goro 2 up paint master’s actual waist).
- Goro sketch (internal copy for 2 pack Goro).
- Goro retail version (white arm bands).
- Goro preproduction figure (silver arm bands… matches the 2 up paintmaster in that respect).
- Goro test shots (one has darker shades of skin tone and the green etc than the other).
If you are wondering why the paint master has two arms removed… one of the curses of 2 up paint masters is that they are horribly fragile. More than a few 2 up paint masters have suffered the broken arm fate. That being said, in this instance, having Goro’s arms removed on one side allow for pictures like the one you will see below where they have been placed on one side of the “Goro buck.” And the other "good reason for broken off arms" is not pictured… but if you were to look inside of Goro’s arms and torso, you would see the muscle buck structure and the special blue plastic pins that (at one time) held him together. So at the very least, his injuries allow sight into his anatomy, and allow for presentation comparisons to his preproduction origins. Without further delay… GORO!!!!!!
(Well, first the “muscle buck”).
"MUSCLE BUCK"
GORO
"Goro buck"
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