I love GI Joe in all its forms, but even with 27 different variations of Snake Eyes and a small army of Destros, I've always felt like my action figure collection was missing something. Like, say, a godlike figure who could walk among them, shaping their extremely complicated destinies.

And now, I finally have the chance to add that with the Larry Hama: A Real American Creator action figure, currently available from Bill Murphy in an unofficial, not-at-all-affiliated-with-Hasbro-or-GI Joe Kickstarter campaign.

 

Larry Hama Action Figure, via Kickstarter
Larry Hama Action Figure, via Kickstarter
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Hama is, of course, the creator and primary writer of GI Joe, writing the file cards that came with the figures and all but a handful of the original 155-issue run of the series --- and the 85 issues that have been published since IDW revived the series in 2010. He's a pretty fascinating character in his own right, too, a comics creator who broke into the industry as a teenager and worked on BatmanAvengers, Nth Man: The Ultimate NinjaWolverine and more, as well as briefly working as an actor in New York, appearing on television and Broadway. And, you know, also as a guy who legendarily uses his concealed weapons permit as a form of picture ID when he goes to the bank and who was given the tongue-in-cheek nickname "Lethal" Larry Hama in the Bullpen pages of his comics.

It's worth noting that Hama once served as the basis for the design of Tunnel Rat, but unlike fellow real-world residents "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and William "The Refrigerator" Perry, he has never been an official figure himself.

As for the Kickstarter, Murphy has previously had campaigns for the Amazing Heroes line that included public domain Golden Age characters and creator-owned heroes like Nexus and Jon Sable, of which I was a backer. Those "Retro Style" figures were both larger and less complicated than the 4", highly articulated style that Hama would need in order to fit in with his greatest creations, but his more recent campaign, Eagle Force, was much closer to that sort of design.

The campaign has already smashed through its initial goal, and if you'd like to get a Hama for yourself, the standard figure can be yours for $25.

 

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