Head: NS Heavy Duty w/pushmold Chap Mei Dino/Safari man
Base of neck, front/back, arms: Jonny Quest- Race Bannon (SUV driver)
Legs, feet: ROC MARS Trooper
Personal Floatation Device: 25A Shipwreck (comic pack)

Design:

The Bad Guys were the team of villains introduced by Remco in 1982. They were made of repainted Sgt. Rock parts, molded in black uniforms. Remco's non-Nazi rivals for its Sgt. Rock line and GI Joe, they were even brazen enough to fight your MASH action figures. I've wandered off into too many non-Joe lines at this point. MASK/VENON, Eagle Force/RIOT, Johnny Quest, Centurions, James Bond, Action Man/Council of Doom, and even Marvel's Tony Stark. Some of those strain logic a bit to get into a GI Joe continuity. But The Bad Guys? They fit as snuggly as Eagle Force/RIOT. The Bad Guys are mercenaries eager to make some coin.

The ROC legs give just enough height to fix the overall proportions. The PDF denotes Hippo as some kind of amphibious operations specialist. Unlike my Hammerhead and Shark customs, which have partial wetsuits, the PDF is Hippo's only water-specific component. I want to keep him somewhat visually parallel to Scorpion.

Character:

At this point, you're probably saying, "There was no 'Hippo!', what is this nonsense?!" You'd almost be right. You see, there was an unnamed figure most collectors decided was just Scorpion wearing a gold helmet and gold boots instead of blue. Nowhere on the package is that figure identified as Scorpion. Not too surprising, given Remco's habit of phoning-it-in.

Hawk and Shark are both Sgt. Rock repaints, distinguished from each other only by paint applications. There's no reason that Scorpion and not-Scorpion shouldn't also be different characters.

So, I could make an alternate Gold helmet for my custom Scorpion figure- or I could make a whole new figure based on the lack of a name. Obviously, I went the more labor intensive route.

"Hippo" is just a bland enough name that Remco might've used it, and it fits the character better.

Colors & Paint:

Black and gold based on the Remco figure, plus some slate for the PFD.

About the raft:

Included with the unnamed Remco Bad Guys set was a raft. It was a silver repaint of the Sgt. Rock raft. The Fisher Price Adventure People raft is a perfect stand-in.