I was very sad to hear about the passing of Eddie Wires earlier this week. The staff of the Fwoosh put together a small article with our remembrances of Eddie. Some of us had just seen him a few weeks back, during San Diego Comic-Con. Eddie – we’ll miss you.
If you’re an action figure fan, chances are you’ve got a toy on your shelf that Eddie Wires helped create. Some of you probably have shelves full of toys Eddie had a hand in. After Eddie was done painting a prototype, that figure was the best it would ever look and the best it would ever be. That’s because no factory production process could ever hope to match what he created by hand.
I wasn’t lucky enough to spend a lot of time with Eddie, but it seemed to me that he had the same effect on the people around him as he did on the toys he created – life was better when he was there. Always friendly, always smiling, and it was certainly infectious.
If you look through his body of work (see his online portfolio or his Facebook albums), like I do from time to time, you’ll be reminded of what might have been in the world of toys. With him gone, I’ll ask myself that every time I see a painted prototype, and every time I’m outside on the balcony at Jolt’n Joes.
