G.I. Joe customs : Spring Break!

It's been about three months since my last incomprehensible ramblings, and about a week since I've had to provide tech support (Whoo! Spring Break! Everybody pull down your pants and riot!)


Between talk of doubling our iPad deployment, adding a new lab, seizing control of the school newspaper offices and a ground war in Asia our ARD install, I've barely been able to wrap my head around my last After Effects project, much less get much done on the Joe front.

Add in Wave 4 finally hitting in decent numbers (ask me about army-building Airtights...) and for that matter having to go 30 miles afield to get a Zombie-Viper and I was chomping at the bit to get some WIP fleshed out, and maybe even begin painting again.

Destro : I'm a big fan of Destro. Not only is he a suave motherfucker with a personal army, he's the guy who brought wrist-rockets to a gun fight. Cobra has a wide assortment of weaselly schemers and brutes, but Destro is the guy who can build a Weather Dominator and stomp you into a crack.

I wanted to use a Night Adder to make Destro v10/ Crime Boss Destro, but thought it just looked too plain. So I took a spare Destro, hollowed out his gauntlets, drilled a small hole to mount his collar and added a res Destro head. I'm going to switch the holster to the left, because why use your wrist-rocket hand to draw a pistol?

Law & Order : I may still paint those sleeves red, but what bugged me was the leg holster. You can see the holstered revolver on the jacket, but right below that was a leg holster. Maybe somebody can give me an OPERATORS OPERATORS OPERATORS explanation for carrying both your main and your backup an inch from each other, but it bugged me.

I just switched with SB Delta legs.

Skullbuster : I like guys who are the toughest "*", due to my love of hyperbole. The Range-Vipers are kind of like weaponized hobos (says the guy who always polices the bodies/ scavenges the ammo), but Skullbuster is the most famous reindeer of all. Or something. Imagine Cobra recruited Bear Grylls.

I actually plan on casting the skull-head, since I think it would make a good replacement for the skull-brain helmets.

Recipe: Firefly arms and torso, Dusty legs, Stalker and Tunnel Rat gear, Cobra Commander head.

Topside : Since the Club FSS seems to be dosed with Compound Z at the moment, I thought I'd try and whip up a Topside.

Ren. Cobra trooper with Shock Trooper legs, greenshirt head. May loose the floatation vest and paint the armor texture orange.

Wild Weasel : I just added Shock trooper goggles in place of the visor. No big whoop.

Outback : Man, those oddly proportioned legs on the 25th bugged me. I picked up a spare Tunnel Rat since I thought his colors matched Crankcase. When I looked at his shirt, I thought "Survival"

Tunnel Rat with Stalker lower legs and gear. Need to dig up my dry transfer sheets.

Static Line : Part of the fun of new versions of old guys means getting to make the repaints.  Thanks to Strato-Viper, Nitro/Motor-Viper, Slipstream, Skydive and Lift-Ticket, most of Sky Patrol is a new head and a paintjob away.

Whither Static-Line? There's no modern-era Backstop, except for LeeMarvin80's custom (where I took the charbroil armor from).

Used a res. Cobra Trooper, with ren. Ripcord's legs and head. A little off-white on the waist and forearms and I'm golden.

Toxo-Viper v2/ Toxo-Zombie : I know, my reputation as the Byronic Man is in jeopardy if I enjoy something popular (and despite my dismissal of Zombie movies as a socially acceptable vent for the desire to kill everyone around you. I actually like Return of the Living Dead though, since I think it's one the most realistic depictions of Something Really Bad No-one is Prepared For. C.A.T. loved to talk about it when we had duty together.)

Anyway, I tried to figure out a base that would do double duty. Dusty/Ren. Trooper torso, Air-Viper Commando/Swamp Viper limbs, switched for Zombie-Viper parts as necessary. I think for the Toxo-Zombies I'll keep the light purple since their outfits are sorta bleached out from the Plasmatox. If you could see the back, it would have Airtight's blue tank on it.

4" Face turns

I've still been working through my to-do list, but took an aside to make two Scrap-Irons. It's not quite as ridiculous as it sounds. I picked up RoC Scrap-Iron and the Ferret awhile back, and didn't mind the odd Cobra Trooper limbs on Viper torso recipe, until I saw the unreleased Wave 16 Scrap Iron. Unreleased Scrap Iron used a Shipwreck torso and Airborne limbs, gave him a holster instead of a knife (Scrap-Iron doesn't seem like an up-close and personal guy), better sleeves, and a more disco collar, closer to his card art (and he originally used Airborne arms and lower legs anyway). Technically, I used Spirit's torso, and Rollbar's limbs, but hey.

Now when I saw the Accelerator suits, the first thing I thought was DTC Scrap-iron (I blame the shoulder armor.) Mine is the top half of a Accelerator Ripcord, with Resolute comic Destro legs.

Now what's up with the title? Scrap-Iron is a mercenary jerk who switched allegiance from Cobra Commander and Serpentor, all the while purportedly working for Destro. And yes, even by Cobra standards he was a jerk:

That's him blowing up the Soft Master (like Yoda, but nicer), Cobra Commander's son Billy (he got better), Candy Appel (Ripcords's girlfriend, Professor Appel's daughter, totally not a porn star) and an NPC.

Now wait, you ask, how do you get better from an Anti-Tank round? Larry Hama, that's why. See, as the franchise continued, the characters got more complex. Tooling around with Destro, Cobra Commander finds out that Billy survived being used as a pawn by the Baroness and Major Bludd, fleeing to train with Storm Shadow and Jinx, and tearfully decides to quit Cobra and become a better father. Which gets him a bullet in the back from Fred VII, then he gets better, and buries everyone who betrayed him alive. Eventually, nearly everybody goes through a change, as Storm Shadow comes back to life in Dr. Mindbender's clone tank, and forgives Snake-Eyes, Baroness learns Snake-Eyes didn't kill her father, and gives up terrorism, Destro gets tired of Cobra Commander's shit ("What's a firefight between old friends?") and Zartan shanks the Blind Master, and re-evaluates his life (stabbing an old blind ninja in an alleyway is far from the worst thing Zartan's done, but whatever.)

Leading up to working-with-GI-Joe Storm Shadow, and Ninja Force Zartan. I know there's already a Storm Shadow 88' in the modern era, but it doesn't have the rolled up sleeves and leg guards, and I do have the original, so I know it had different leg guards, but hey comic books:

Yep, that's some sort of ninja-fasces flying past J. Jonah Jameson's head. I can't find any sort of documentation of ninjas having bundles of sticks (bamboo?) wrapped around their legs, but I'm fairly sure the Arishikage death-trance isn't real either. Anyway, good-guy Storm Shadow uses the body of Arctic Threat Storm Shadow, with the lower arms and legs of Devil's Due SS, with version 25's bow, and the Red Ninja leader's rope and quivers.

And happy Zartan? Partly leftover's from Zandar, Zartan torso/legs w/ Arctic Assault Storm Shadow arms, wearing SRO Wild Bill's vest, hair by greenstuff.

Why would I call him happy? Well just look at him:

Man, everybody's so happy...

Oh yeah, Dr. Mindbender put post-hypnotic loyalty commands ("morality overrides") triggered by Cobra Commander's unmasked face. Which results in Destro and Zartan hunting the Baroness and Billy through Silent Castle, and destroying Darklonia with an ICBM. I told you, Cobra Commander got better.


(I still can't believe people object to the newest re-boot starting from this continuity, instead of Cobra takes over Hawaii, the Red Shadows, or some of the other bizarre continuities. And yes, I consider the G1/G2 Transformers crossovers less bizarre than the continuity where Unicron teamed up with Cobra-La...)

I have not been thinking about this for twenty-seven years

So while looking through cobra.custom's photo stream (Fantanauti Skeletor, that's why), I realized Blackstar's space ship was a Gundam Core Fighter.

Wherein I keep putting off work

 Midpoint of Spring Break already? Just got back from the Illinois State Museum's Alaskan photography exhibit with granddad, which makes an unprecedented two days on the road, only exceeded by our tour of the 1993 flooding. (Hey, I had to blow off steam after senior year. And the last one was in 1927, so shout out to Big C.) Interestingly, Felecia has a giant Lincoln themed sculpture on the way into the museum, so I don't feel so bad about missing her show opening a couple weeks back. (Well, I still feel bad no-one gave a shit about what I wanted, which was to go to her show.)

Speaking of things no-one else cares about, GI Joes. I finally broke down and picked up James Barney, from the Target glider set (Read the file card, and figure out why I empathize enough with the guy to address him by name.) This makes a full run of 82-83 figures in 25th/Modern Era form for me, and the last few 84s I need are commercially available. A few customs are fairly simple (Tan glider pilot Grunt is a headswapped UBP Steeler, with different web gear, for example), but I'll talk about a couple more complex ones.

On the left, my Cover Girl.  I've seen a lot of customs use a Lady Jaye body (mostly due to Scarlett's legs being a pain to remove, and being of different construction, I'd imagine.), mostly with an Indiana Jones jacket (or the comic pack Cover Girl jacket) and Hawk sleeves. I'd see a few variations (fur trim on the boots, f'r example), but it seems out of character to make a custom figure that looks like everyone else s version (not saying I haven't or won't, but seeing the same recipe every time is irksome.) I went with a repainted PP Baroness top and arms, Lady Jaye upper legs and belt holster, and Cover Girl boots. (I don't mind Ripcord Wayans, but bad-ass tank driving Cover Girl being a paper-shaker that gets about a minute of screen time before getting shanked by Zartan? That pisses me off.) And topping her off, Pilot Scarlett (nee Glenda with red hair) head. So, basically I made her from every other woman in the GI Joe line. Bride of Frankenjoe, if you will.

On the right, Zandar. Honestly, we haven't seen a Zarana (4 versions) yet, so the chance of Zandar (1 version) is less than zero. Remember how I was complaining about recipes? Well, everybody in Swiss Family Zartan has those armored shoulder pieces, so no escaping that.  I did pick up Arctic Assault Storm Shadow, aiming to use his neck scarf, and he ended up being the first torso I've cracked, swapping the Zartan arms onto his scarred torso (and the neck wasn't long enough on Zartan, so there's that, too). The upper legs are Tunnel Rat, and the lowers are standard greenshirt joes (I think a spare Breaker).

So why is Zandar more flamboyant than usual? Simple, I used the Order of Battle illo to work from. I think it's hilarious that a guy whose super-power is no-one notices him to be decked out like a 64 color Crayola box melted on the Road Warrior.

Speaking of flamboyant, Super Ninja (forced transitions are a theme today.)

Superninja here is from Chuck Norris's Karate Kommandos, and is made from a greenshirt Joe, Storm Shadow head (with Doctor hair), Destro arms, and Neoviper legs. I made him because, hey, Superninja.



And yes, I used the gold from the Black Super Ninja with the Purple from regular Super Ninja.

Spring break masking party

A while back I picked up a Storm Shadow (v33), to check out his legs. More to the point, to compare them to standard Snow Job legs, since I was thinking of turning a Barbeque into a Sonic Fighters Lamphrey.  Thanks to yojoe, I know a 25th Lamphrey is an Alpine chest (cannot have), with Snow Job arms and legs. Once I had Storm Shadow, though, I had a thought.

I had seen some 25th Tele-Viper customs where the lower legs were switched out for Snow Job lowers, to make it look closer to the jumpsuits of the original Tele-Vipers. I still wasn't too happy, since the 25th has Viper bracers, instead of bare arms. So I took a Cobra disguise Flint, added Breaker upper legs from training Ripcord (I have a couple Rescue Mission Dukes slated for this too), and the Storm Shadow lowers. The fellow on the left is the base for a Python Patrol Tele-Viper (Tiger Force Flint, with Dusty/Pit Commando legs), who I've been jonesing for since seeing the thread on Joeintel. I had originally slated Res. Gung-Ho for the job, but couldn't find any spares around here. (While I didn't have any cash, I could find piles of them. Once I had money, there was just dust left.) I'm waiting to recover my will to paint yellow (I'll probably try a rattlecan this time), and experiment with masking for the stripes.

Maybe excrement is more accurate than experiment. After a good priming, I laid down a coat of Haze Grey, cut tape for masking, and spayed a coat of German Grey. Now, I don't know if it was the ambient temperature (50F), but there was some bleed from the German Grey. Which meant I had to hand brush to trim out the stripes, which is what I was trying to avoid.

I'm aiming for Relampago, the Forca Naja (Python Patrol) Motorcyclist-Sniper, a Brazilian repaint of Ripcord. Back to that Storm Shadow, one of the comments I've read online was "What's up with the motorcycle jacket?". Well, recalling that Relampago is the "Naja Motociclista" (He shares a name with Zapata's white horse, after all, so I've got to get him a white motorcycle at some point.), I thought motorcycle jacket was exactly right for him.

He's made of the aforementioned v33 Storm Shadow, lower legs from RM Duke, a "Chatum" Duke head, and a helmet from Rollbar. Rollbar, might well become Gatilho at some point, since I'll need a Python Gunman, too.

Night creepin'

A little while back, I was reading General Joe's review of City Strike Duke, a figure I had passed on a couple of times. Why?

1. Channing Tatum
2. Duke
3. Ninja Duke
4. Giant Handlebars

Then, I had the thought, Cobra Strike Team Urban Division Night Creeper. He already had a remake in the RoC 2 pack with Night Force Shockwaveblast, but the camo party pants, and the Reactive Suit armor looked like they'd work. So during my twice weekly sushi run to Wal-Mart (only one guy in town makes Inari), I picked him up.

At first, I was stuck on two things, a head and boots. The Night Creeper lower legs simply wouldn't fit the leg pegs, and with ventilation non-existent in wintertime, I can't cast a head (though sculpting one isn't out of the question.) Then, from the pile of Neo-Vipers (as one review put it, everyone's army building NeoVipers, whether they want to or not. I've got about a dozen without even trying.), an answer arose. The Target Rescue Pack Naval NeoVipers had about the same blue lowers, and the Techno-Gothic boots looked about right, and I used the cyclops pattern technique on a NeoViper  head to make the visor (the eyebrows are obscured thanks to the headscarf.) It also had the nice side effect of simulating the "Steel Surprise" all the Night Creepers wear. a little sanding to remove the crocodile smile, and away.

(Defense of Cobra Island, RoC 2pk, Frankencreeper.)

I do think the silver line in the visor might be the way to go. His face looks a little indistinct otherwise.

Bonus: April O'Neil (after I found a Rowdy Roddy Piper, and found out he had a microphone (1:18 scale promos to cut) it was inevitable. I suppose Hector Ramirez is in my future as well, once I get the camera from the Best of the 80's set.) and the Shredder, WIP.

April is a Cover Girl, with a Helix head and some conspicuous green stuff additions. The legend of the Press badge that was removed from her action figure (the company thought kids would expect an action feature, and press the badge, and be disappointed.), made the Cover Girl base a natural. Now, to get some decal paper, and make it happen.

Shredder is the torso and hood of Resolute Comic Pack Storm Shadow, with NeoViper legs, Firefly head, and Cobra Commander cape. I still have to figure out a way to make tiny blades (styrene?) for his arms and legs, and maybe dye the cape a proper purple.

Dice is where the Storm Shadow legs went to, attached to a "battle damaged" Snake Eyes torso and arms, and the Dice mask from the Storm Shadow pack.

I still do stuff

Thanks to morticoccus, I didn't do much between Halloween and MLK day (when I got my clean bill of health), so cabin fever didn't really set in until recently. Last weekend, in place of Winter War, I put together the parts for some GI Joe customs, and been painting, coating, and screwing-up for the last week.

 

First up, Haiku squadron. (Terrordrome uses Haiku to describe simple part swaps, HISStank uses LBC, for "Lazy Bastard Custom", while being a lazy bastard, I try not to admit it.) Nunchuck is a MARS Trooper head, and painting Stalker's skin black. I'm hoping the Dusty re-issue makes it into production, since I'd like to use a Dusty helmet for his head scarf. In a pinch, I can use the CP Storm Shadow Shredder hood. Leatherneck is a RoC Gung-Ho head on a TRU PIT Commando body, and will have a Mutt vest eventually. Night-Viper uses a SRO Ace body, HISS driver lower legs, with a MARS trooper head and helmet. I'm not sure whether to go with a night vision monocle, or tactical Snake-Eyes goggles.

Doc started when I found the Arctic Threat Doc (neither of my two entries into the Save Doc campaign worked, and I'm not hot enough on Doc to pay $40-70 for him.), so I used a Comic Pack Duke (ironic, since I only bought it for the Doc points) with Cobra Commander legs. Crankcase, I missed out on,  (when given the chance to buy another HISS tank, or an Awe Striker, I naturally chose HISS tank) and I went with the production recipe of Breaker head and Shipwreck torso, but I went with Duke legs instead of Cobra trooper legs, since he had a holster, not a knife (or kneepads, for that matter.) Also, that Breaker head might lead to a future Magnum PI custom.

Dialtone (Touchtone? Ringtone? Like Mainframe, he sounds like a dinosaur.) went together really well, an Airborne body, with TRU Barbeque upper legs and a spare Flint head, and TRU Snake-eyes webgear. Airtight finally came together after getting TRU Doc. Once I saw his legs, I thought of Airtight, and put the legs on TRU Barbecue's body. Might go back and repaint the torso, and still have to decide on a helmet. I'm thinking Res Duke's helmet, but having seen how well Copperhead's head worked in a custom thread, I might give it a shot. 

Cobra de Aco is a Snake-Eyes head on a Tripwire body. Cobra de Aco ("Iron Cobra") is a repaint from the Brazilian GI Joe series (like all laser troopers, he has sporty quilted armor). Major Bludd needs an eye-patch, and I'm thinking of dyeing his chestplate (the tampo should be dye-resistant). I saw someone use the Jungle Ripcord with a Major Bludd head, and while I was managing my parts box, I saw the GI Joe pack #2 Flint head (Why the long face?), and thought it might work instead of the not-quite-right open mouths of the 25th Major Bludd headsculpts.  I love the never explained cyborg arm, but in reading up on him, no other version had it. So I suppose it would be my RoC/PoC Major Bludd. Not Resolute, since he still has his heart (Kali Ma! Kali Ma!) Evy uses a Cover Girl body and head, with Range Viper mask and RoC Tunnel Rat's holster.

Wait? Who's Evy? She's a Range Viper from the DIC GI Joe cartoon, and I haven't seen any customs of her, despite many calls that there needs to be a figure of her. See what a team player she is:

She has some baggage:

And she's the nemesis/best friend of GI Joe Ambush:

Gotta catch 'em all: Legion of Doom

Replaced the Crisis Luthor and Brainiac combo.

MIA:

• Bizarro (don't like the sculpt, plan on making one from a Superman)
• Scarecrow (DCSH)
  
• Riddler (Wave 5)
  
• Toyman (unreleased)
  
• Cheetah (unreleased, thinking of converting a Catwoman)