Code Name: Rictor
Affiliation: 19th Division

While serving with a detachment from the 19th Division, Rictor's team becomes embroiled in the brutal wars being waged underground in the Grey Area. In the midst of battle, he spies an all-too-familiar face...

In some ways, i really got the shaft at JoeCon. Not only did the skin colors clash on the arms and head, but the uniform pieces didn't work together at all. Fortunately, the head i got was Hardball's which i had already used in a previous custom from years past. I had also planned to make different versions of the Large Army characters for purposes of the story, so this became a fun opportunity to try another one. I had to substitute Blowtorch's upper legs for Recondo's due to losing half a calf during the customizing process, but it really added to the overall effect.

I tried some techniques I've never experimented with before on this guy. I dyed all the pieces except the Spy Troops armor and the head in blue denim Rit dye. I knew it would leave a lot of variations in his color scheme which sounded very interesting, hopefully achieving the effect of a hastily-thrown together suit assembled for a dire emergency. Although i wish i had let the dye set for a longer period of time, i really liked the results.

I purchased a pot, a strainer, and a new dremel in my efforts to build Rictor version 2, so maybe it will get me more back into customizing.

I wish i had been more careful hollowing out those shoulder pieces. The plastic is soft enough to make them quite functional in a similar way to the Spy Troops armor. The rushed approach i took left them just barely usable, but they did stay on well enough to take a few photos. The attachments actually made it a worthwhile figure, not the throwaway i had initially feared it would be.

I could have gone digging for the proper Joe helmet to fit into the Hawk torso, but i came across the Chap Mei piece first and figured if i was using the shoulder pads, why not try the helmet? It very nearly fit, and after some dremeling it was working fine.

The Hardball head required substantial dremeling, i was going for a look similar to the Flash astronaut figure. I got the pieces sanded down to where everything was fitting just about perfectly. But after the dye job and the paint apps to the head, it was once again ill-fitting. Still works well enough for photos, tho!