A Custom Year Review
Posted by kingphilbert | Filed under Customs
A semi belated happy new year to any visitors I may have or have had. I started this blog in August and knew my attention wouldn’t be ultimately focused within, but with the onset of 2010 I am hoping that will change. To kick off this new year I present to you a look back at customs completed and presented in 2009 prior to the post below featuring my What if…Snake-Eyes, one of my last, and most well received of the year. As always, check out the Customs section to see more pics, or if you don’t want to read the article.
Skull Buster
The Range Viper was in the tail end of my time as a child playing with GI Joe figures, but the leader of the this group of Cobra wilderness troopers didn’t come about until sometime later as Joe and Co. had gone to the sideline of childhood memories. When I was finally introduced to this character in the DD World War 3 storyline that closed out the mythos that began in 1983 with the original A Real American Hero comic from Marvel he was a lone wolf living off the land overtaken by his own insanity. Looking back at the action figure released in 2002 he was a garish metallic purple repaint of the original Range Viper. Not overly attractive. As for my modern interpretation of Skull Buster my goal was to keep him in line with the modern Range Viper hinting ever so slightly to the original figure while giving him an edge and distinction that allows him to standout from the rest.
Roadblock
The difference between adding a few minor tweaks to an existing figure as opposed to a full blown custom can still make a huge difference. One item that is highly anticipated in the new year are Resolute figures. A few that have already seen some level of production have leaked into market places such as ebay. One in particular was the Resolute Roadblock. When will we see these figures at retail still remains to be seen, but this holiday season we were treated to a RoC exclusive Roadblock using the very mold of the Resolute figure minus his accessories. We also saw the new Cobra security agent Night Adder made with the same mold including the tactical vest we weren’t given with the Roadblock. Most took advantage of these two releases by customizing their own Resolute Roadblock. Me, I bought an advance/prototype off ebay months back so I went in a different direction with this mod. Pleased with the camo paint job and not minding the black “under shirt,” I painted the vest from Night Adder with minor color touch-ups to the figures feet and hands to create a new look for a classic character.
Clutch
Who would customize Clutch? I would. He was always there when I was younger to drive the VAMP, but I was let down by the modern interpretation. A solid figure, I felt the updates to be a bit of a let down. I also really like the desert tan look he had in the Sunbow series which influenced this customs direction beyond a simple Sunbow repaint of the aforementioned modern figure. Oddly enough this figure wasn’t even intended to be Clutch, but was planned as a desert Outback until I received the vest I needed. I was torn over the torso and which figure to use it for as it was a great base that needed no paint on the chest or arms.
Cover Girl
One thing most modern era collectors can agree on was the lack of this female teammate. Scarlett, check. Lady Jaye, check. Cover Girl, add a check. She may also be the most customized female Joe I have seen on the net so I had to take a crack at her as well. Many struggled for that classic look. Some even went so far to make her MASS Device series counterpart with long platinum blonde hair. I was happy to work with what was readily available upon the release of all the female Rise of Cobra figures to make an updated CG for the double zeros. I stuck with the classic colors and chose the reddish brown hair to keep her recognizable.
Repeater
This fall saw the release of a Rise of Cobra off-screen collectors set featuring characters from the ARAH line that weren’t given to us for the 25th Anniversary. Unfortunately they were in a horrendous desert camo pattern with no real likeness to their classic counterpart. Using roughly 75% of parts from the Repeater, sorry Zartan in disguise, I was able to customize a classic look that I think is spot on to how accurate he could have been. When this set hit this was one of those characters who started to show up left and right as either a redress of the desert camo base he came in or made to look like his 1988 release. I looked at the ‘88 and the ‘89 Nightforce version and decided to go with the later as I had neither when I was younger to influence the final version.
Law & Order
Another “off-screen” team member of the above set was Law with Order. I may have used even less parts from the set to create this custom, but the dog, helmet, night stick and left arm were key. He also needed a vest and of all available the Pit Commando tac vest was best. I used a belt buckle as the badge : ) I was incredibly happy with how this turned out, esp when one of my very first cutoms was intended to be Law. I had the basic build up until this one, then trashed it so the crappiness could not be compared.
Snake-Eyes
After the disappointment of the majority of the Rise of Cobra action figures I found that I had what I needed to throw together a Snake-Eyes that was more accurate of his movie appearance with one major change, a lipless mask. For whatever reason he had open bottom BDUs on is byeond me, but that was completely over looked for the figure. I just had to add the cargo pockets to the legs I used. I kept the Oakley SI boots of course and changed the torso and gloves for aesthetic reason.
Shipwreck
I was pleased to see an “off-screen” Shipwreck in the RoC line. I didn’t even mind the Reactive Armor torso as it looks like a plated dive suit or something Snake would be seen in in the Metal Gear games. I couldn’t stand the blue camo of his lower half, nor the bone thin legs. One quick swap and a little paint and I ended up with a Shipwreck that I think is freakin’ sweet. Also kept me from needing to make a DD Shipwreck in the beanie hat and blue sweater as it look essentially the same. Looks great with my modern Cover Girl too.
Cobra Commander
It hit me that Cobra Commander could be more of a field leader and a bad ass than the behind the lines sissy that he was in the cartoon. Even less bumbling than he was in the comics. Maybe more like he was in DDs World War 3. Whatever the influence was I had a lot of fun putting this modern CC together that fits in well the Resolute line due to the base figure used for him. Little paint was needed on the torso, but the cape and gear are fully painted as well as the addition of a few washes for detail. This is also one of the first figures I used a wash on.
Knowing the Rise of Cobra figures hit shelves in mid July one might ask why only 6 months worth of customs in a year in review post? Well… 1) I see customizing as a cool weather activity, 2) earlier summer months had more minor mods than straight up customs, and 3) it was my first full year and some of the earlier works aren’t up to par with these or were sold on ebay and not photographed in line with all the above. However, I do plan on writing a post to cover the “Lost” Customs soon. I promise.
