It’s Yo Joe June again, celebrated because that’s supposedly when the 3 & 3/4ths inch G.I.JOE: A Real American Hero line started. I have to cut it short due to some commission work and getting ready for the big throwdown in July, but I’ve still got a little something to post.

Custom Sprites – G.I.JOE: While working on something else, I started working on a G.I.JOE (and possible all-around soldier) template template for poses and fixing their height scale. The first results from that are the new Zap and Breaker sprites, and I adjusted Breaker’s 2022 pose to match the height of his new one. Both characters have alt versions with different facial hair, and I also gave Breaker a mini-gallery because he also has versions with him blowing his bubble gum. Then I noticed that I forgot to add Short-Fuze’s sprite to the custom sprite gallery in 2022 (but he did show up in the “G.I.JOE team – other” slot in the GFX Generators), so I fixed that. Coincidentally, Breaker and Short-Fuze were the first two G.I.JOE figures my late grandma got for me when I was a kid, and this is the second update where I’ve grouped them together. I’ll be adding more sprites and fixes based on that template in the near future.

GFX Generators: Besides adding the new custom sprites, G.I.JOE “Original 13” characters who were in the “G.I.JOE team – other” slot are now in “G.I.JOE team – rest of Original 13” slot.

So what was that “working on something else” I mentioned earlier? I’m about 90% done with it but most of the hardest work is done. Definitely enough to show you a teaser from a Moho/Anime Studio testing some of the moving parts. If you’re a G.I JOE fan, there’s a really good chance that you recognize what’s in that GIF. I’ll be making and posting more pixel art based on that series in July and even more in the near future, along with more added to the ToyBoss section. Right now I’m waiting for my retro card classified Rock ‘N Roll pre-order to hit BigBadToyStore, and looking forward to that Classified versions of V.4 Snake-Eyes (seen in the Konami arcade game) and the Mobile Missile System with V.1 Hawk. I’d be getting more, but the Marvel Legends Gamerverse releases like Gigantos (Shuma-Gorath) are making it tough to pick-and-choose. The main things I’m kicking myself for missing recently are the ReAction O-ring versions of Cobra Commander and Cover-Girl. How are your figure collections going these days?

I’ve mostly been busy working on new things for the 25th anniversary of the ScrollBoss site, which hits July 19th. If you can figure out these teasers you’ll see one sprite finishing a playable beat ’em up crew, two overdue heroes from a classic series, and a new pose for a superhero I’ve already sprited. My plan is represent a bit of everything with the new sprites (and more) to make sure there’s a little something for everybody. This anniversary isn’t just about this site, it’s about all of you who have made all this work worth doing. It’s always been fun to make things, even if people don’t see it, but the fact that other people enjoy it or things like the Marvel vs. Capcom-style mini-logos are useful for fan projects helps keep me going even more. Thanks for stopping in and I hope I see you again in mid-July!

GFX Generator
– Fake Screenshot and River City Ransom: added a brand-new 8-bit Jason Voorhees sprite, because I couldn’t let the day go without at least a little something.
– Fight Size: Added idle and weird left-handed salute sprites to Guile. The custom Justice League Task Force Vs. Screen was fixed, the background now shows up. Then I noticed that the example screenshots for that and the group shot were so ancient that they still had Capcom DC sprite edits in them! One was from 2011, and I hadn’t made 100% scratch-made sprites of any classic Justice Leaguers by then. I’ll add them to the custom sprite gallery later, because I may make some more adjustments to them.

I finished a commission earlier this month, and, besides getting in a little rest and some actual game-playing, my main focus has been getting new things finished to get ready for this site’s 25th Anniversary on July 19th. I’m going to try and get a bit of everything represented in it, but the first three sprites I’ve finished for it are game-related. One finishes a beat ’em up crew and the other two heroes are from a highly influential action-adventure arcade series that people have been asking about for years. I’ve also improved and re-animated one beat ’em up hero’s idle stance and I’m working on making some adjustments, improvements, and surprises to the toy-related series I’ve worked on the most.

There will be another small June update before July’s madness, so keep an eye out then for some previews.

This site may not ever exist if the original Pac-Man game didn’t get me even more hooked on video games, so I couldn’t let the 45th Anniversary pass without an update!

Custom Sprites:
– Pac-Man: Puck-Man, Ruby-Spears Hanna-Barbera Pac-Man, Sour Puss, and an updated version of Pinky with the face (including eye-lashes) from the early Namco artwork.

All new sprites were added to the main GFX Generator (Sour Puss is in the Pac-Family character slot) where I made the pic at the top of the page.

And here’s a new Pac-Man video to celebrate the day! It’s similar to the short Pac-Man video I posted in 2021, but nearly every old clip was redone and you’ll see some new clips immediately:

It’s not enough to be called a Sprite Showcase, this was rushed all over again, but it’s REALLY close this time.

While we’re talking about Namco, West Mansion: The Splatterhouse fan-site got an update this week!

The Gaming Hell had its 17th anniversary on May 20th, and celebrated with The Quest of Ki! It’s the site’s latest fun read that’s exhaustively researched, alternate versions of the game, and screenshots with fun hover text. Congrats to Gaming Hell and thanks for all that work to shine on those games!

edit: Hanna-Barbera made the Pac-Man cartoon, and Ruby-Spears made “the Amazing Rubik” half of the Pac-Man/Amazing Rubik, and reading about that years ago really messed up my memory about that.

Been working on commissions lately, so I didn’t have a lot of time to make new things. But I still wanted to drop a quick update separate from what’s coming next week.
ToyBoss – added an updated TMNT Villains pic with the new NECA cartoon Shredder, all-new heroes and villains line-up pics for DC (a mixed DC Direct, Mattel, and McFarlane collection) including that new “Silver Age” Superman (really the José Luis García-López, artist of DC Comics Presents and the legendary DC Comics Style Guide), new Marvel Legends S.H.I.E.L.D. lineup, and my modern Autobot Transformers.
edit: added a pic that I just took of Jakks Sonic holding a Mattel Electronics Football game from a Super Impulse Toy Box I just got.
edit 2: added a pic I forgot: my updated Jakks Pacific Sonic 4-inch figure with added Classic Amy figure.

So what’s coming next week?

It’s a borderline random update, but I’ve been working on borderline random things this month.

Now that I have separate Superhero Sprite Showcase episodes for all the characters I’ve done them for so far, I’m embedding them in their sub-galleries.
Superman – Wolverine – Iron Man – Batman – Storm

Mini-Logos: Bucky O’Hare added to Comics – other and Crystal added to Marvel.

All new custom sprites and mini-logos were added to the PHP-powered GFX Generators where I made the screenshot at the top of this post! The fighting game-scale sprites are in this big graphic maker while the Kunio/RCR stuff is used in this screenshot maker that focuses on 8-bit screens.

Game Index: Avengers in Galactic Storm: added a page for it that also contains scans of the very early behind-the-scenes article on the game from the 1995 “Captain America Collectors’ Preview” comic. If you didn’t see the post I made about it before, this was from when the game was almost a side-scrolling beat ’em up/fighting game hybrid and had more playable characters. I have more to add to this entry in the future, but I really just wanted to get this update out there for Easter!

The Trick or Beat ‘Em Up project, the horror-themed side-scrolling brawler, is currently taking donations for fund work on the game. One of the goals is to “Immortalize Batsy The Cat” in pixel art that lives on in the game. Please read the plea and give if you can!