Ron Rudat worked at Hasbro from 1971 until 1999, and served as the primary G.I.JOE figure designer from 1980 until he moved off the brand in 1986. Ron was followed by Mark Pennington, who served as the primary figure designer from 1986 until 1989. Pennington was succeeded by Dave Hasle, who served from 1989 to 1990. Kurt Groen joined the team in 1989, and would take over as the primary figure designer from 1990 until the end of the line in 1994. Ron recalled arriving at the decision to step back from G.I.JOE in 1986: “I really enjoyed working on Joe. I didn’t want to get off Joe, but I felt I had more creativity in me to do other things.” Ron went on to work on dozens of other Hasbro brands, but his desire to work on G.I.JOE never completely faded. He laughed: “Occasionally they’d throw me a bone and I’d do something, but not very much because I was working on other projects.”
Ron returned to G.I.JOE in late-1992 to assist Kurt Groen with the development of “Out of This World,” which was shortened to “O.T.W. ’94” by Groen. This line of figures would ultimately be released as the Star Brigade segment in 1994. Six of the 1994 Star Brigade figures used previously existing molds, including Countdown (1989 Countdown), Gears (1992 Barricade), Ozone (1991 Ozone), Payload (1992 Barbecue), Roadblock (1993 Roadblock), and Techno-Viper (1987 Techno-Viper). Ron Rudat designed the all-new G.I.JOEs and Cobras, including Cobra Blackstar, Cobra Commander, Duke, Effects, Sci-Fi, and Space Shot.
The illustration below is from the Collectible Toys & Values (1993) article, seen on Kirk Bozigian's Creator Profile page. This "design sheet" was also known as a "control sheet" and was created by Kurt Groen to guide the sculptors as they molded the figure.
Ron returned to G.I.JOE in late-1992 to assist Kurt Groen with the development of “Out of This World,” which was shortened to “O.T.W. ’94” by Groen. This line of figures would ultimately be released as the Star Brigade segment in 1994. Six of the 1994 Star Brigade figures used previously existing molds, including Countdown (1989 Countdown), Gears (1992 Barricade), Ozone (1991 Ozone), Payload (1992 Barbecue), Roadblock (1993 Roadblock), and Techno-Viper (1987 Techno-Viper). Ron Rudat designed the all-new G.I.JOEs and Cobras, including Cobra Blackstar, Cobra Commander, Duke, Effects, Sci-Fi, and Space Shot.
The illustration below is from the Collectible Toys & Values (1993) article, seen on Kirk Bozigian's Creator Profile page. This "design sheet" was also known as a "control sheet" and was created by Kurt Groen to guide the sculptors as they molded the figure.