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Head Sculpts With Character
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Author:  MarkM [ Fri Sep 02, 2016 3:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Head Sculpts With Character
I thought I'd done this thread before. I meant to, but I didn't find it in a quick search of all my previous blathering.

What are some of your favorite head sculpts, or faces with a lot of character or personality to them? It can be from any line (even non-Joe) from any time (modern or ancient). Just list the heads that make you say, "That's a real person" and maybe the reason(s) why.

My Top 10 list (in year order, simply to make it easier to add links) I tried to include figures based on truly seeing personality in the sculpt, rather than just pick my favorite characters. For instance, #6 is a character I don't really need in my Joe-verse, but he definitely oozes personality and #7 is not my favorite version of the character, but it is the one with the most personality. I also avoided movie-likeness characters, since, well, they look like the actors, so they're going to have that going for them right out of the gate :
1) '83 Gung-Ho - Being one of my first figures certainly helps him, but there's just something about that head sculpt that just screams personality to me. He's one of the few figures where I preferred the actual sculpt to the card-art. Part of it may also be that he looks a lot like a cousin I greatly admired when I was a kid, but even still, that sculpt just evokes an image of a character with so much personality. The set of the cheeks and the lower lip peeking out from underneath the mustache - he looks like the kind of guy who could be the scariest guy in the room one minute, then the guy making everyone crack up the next. He'd fill the room with his boisterous laughter. None of his sculpts since the original have quite captured as much personality for me as this one did.

2) '84 Thunder - I don't know if the resemblance was intentional or not, but he always reminded me of Albert Finney (well, Daddy Warbucks, since "Annie" is the only thing I'd seen him in at the time). His is the face of a man who speaks little and when he does, he uses as few words as possible.

3) '85 Tollbooth - The cocked hard hat, that puckered mouth, the Robert Mitchum face with the sleepy eyes - put that head on a body with the shirt unbuttoned down below his chest, as Hasbro did, and you get a guy who swaggers instead of walks. He's not a braggart, but he could be and his actions and results would back him up. He's just very sure of himself and makes sure you know it.

4) '85 Frostbite - Calm and collected and always in a good mood. Not the type to crack jokes, but is just at such ease he automatically makes everyone else feel calmer, no matter how intense the situation.

5) '89 Rock & Roll - His initial sculpt was okay, but was obviously, even as a kid, shared with two other guys. It was a serviceable head, but didn't really have any personality to it. This one has personality in spades. The crows' feet show he's not the young surfer guy he was when he first signed up. He's seen stuff and been places. The scowl/frown shows he's all about taking care of business. He's tired. He wants to rest. But he knows he can't. Not until the job is done.

6) '94 Effects - Not a lot of love for this guy, and yeah, he's kind of goofy/ugly looking, but they can't all be GQ models. He's an FX and explosives specialist but the one explosive thing he can't master is his own personality. He angers easily and blows up at anyone and everyone. Not a guy you want to spend a lot of time with.

7) '02 Sgt Stalker - It's '80's Keith David in toy form. I look at him and I practically hear Keith David's voice. I think that says it all.

8) '08 Matt Trakker - Another one that seemed to get some hate when it came out. It never really bothered me, and I actually kind of like the sculpt. He looks intense and driven. This is the face of a man who would not put up with Scott and T-Bob's antics. He's here because of his sense of duty. He also looks just enough like Bryan Cranston that I could see him coming to a crossroads and having to seriously debate which path to take; only his is the face of the guy who would take the right path.

9) 08 Red Star - Another "yeesh, kind of ugly, but that's how the real world is" figure. He looks like the voice of methodical reason and experience. He's actually a good counterpoint to my #10. Red Star looks like the kind to listen intently to everything that is said and contemplate it before commenting on it.

10) '12 Voltar - This Sean Connery-looking gent has a look to him like he's already thought of everything you are about to say and has already dismissed it as foolish. He's haughty, arrogant, and has earned the right to be through years of fighting.



Honorable mentions to original Mutt and Freefall, sculpts that have some personality to them, but not strong enough for me to say, "Yeah, this is their personality." Also gotta give props to '02 Agent Scarlett - if you look past the terrible proportions of the body and just focus on the face/head, she really does have some personality, probably more than any other Scarlett figure out there. There are several other good sculpts out there and I could easily have done a top 10 from each of the Joe eras, so I tried to mix and match a bit. There are also other lines out there with fantastic sculpting, but I wanted to start off with just Joes.

So, what's your list (remember, doesn't have to be just Joe figures)?
Author:  MJTanner [ Sat Sep 03, 2016 2:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Head Sculpts With Character
One of my favorites was 25th anniversary Lift-ticket.
It captures some of the character of the original without being too wacky.
http://www.yojoe.com/action/09/liftticket2.shtml
Author:  MarkM [ Sat Sep 03, 2016 11:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Head Sculpts With Character
Good call. I almost did 3 lists, OG, 2000s, current, just to get my favorites in. The OG get a bit of an edge simply for getting so much character into sculpts simplified for the processes of the time. I just love seeing figures that seem alive without being scans or models of deal people.
Author:  AdrienVeidt [ Sun Sep 04, 2016 8:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Head Sculpts With Character
Battle Corps Roadblock is still one of the best 18th headsculpts of all time. Also, Overlord has crow's feet!
Author:  pluv [ Mon Sep 05, 2016 11:29 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Head Sculpts With Character
Effects looks like he'd taking a painful poop.

I'd add Outback. Those eyes have seen things.

I really like the 30th Law and Renegades Duke head. Solid sculpts that are pretty versatile.
Author:  Tapper [ Mon Sep 05, 2016 5:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Head Sculpts With Character
I really like the unmasked BeachHead from the comic pack. My kids think it looks like me.
Author:  The Spectre [ Mon Sep 05, 2016 5:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Head Sculpts With Character
Tapper wrote:
I really like the unmasked BeachHead from the comic pack. My kids think it looks like me.


I always saw a Simon Pegg likeness in that head.
Author:  OreoBuilder [ Mon Sep 05, 2016 8:46 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Head Sculpts With Character
25th Duke :shifty:

Attachments:
DVD Duke.jpg
DVD Duke.jpg [ 83.65 KiB | Viewed 849 times ]
Author:  GITrekker [ Wed Sep 07, 2016 2:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Head Sculpts With Character
'89 Deep Six -- so much better than the first, and an incredible amount of detail for the time, especially the hair and ears.

'91 Roadblock. Best - Roadblock - ever. THIS is Roadblock as far as I'm concerned.

'91 Big Ben - Somehow, he just looks British. Has that sort of unflappable air about him, as if he's saying, "Right, then, chaps, let's go deal with Cobra, shall we?"

'84 Duke - One of the early "highly detailed" headsculpts, especially the hair. But it was also a really good, straightforward headsculpt with a lot of character and a good facial expression. Exactly what was needed for someone who would become such a prominent character.

Comic Pack Oktober Guard Colonel Brekhov - A friend of mine who has done a fair amount of global traveling, including to that part of the world, saw Brekhov, and declared, "Now he looks Russian!" Who am I to argue? :)

Zanya - Gotta love those complex dreadlocks.

Comic Pack Kwinn - I swear it looks like Herb Trimpe sculpted it.

Lobotomaxx -- How to make a seriously freaky-looking alien.
Author:  DarkJedi [ Wed Sep 07, 2016 2:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Head Sculpts With Character
GITrekker wrote:
'91 Big Ben - Somehow, he just looks British. Has that sort of unflappable air about him, as if he's saying, "Right, then, chaps, let's go deal with Cobra, shall we?"
.


I cut off the hat and sanded down the mic on one of the later reissues of Big Ben one day and then looked at my work.

Was pretty surprised to see Cary Grant looking back at me...
Author:  Wowboy [ Wed Sep 07, 2016 1:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Head Sculpts With Character
GITrekker wrote:
'84 Duke - One of the early "highly detailed" headsculpts, especially the hair. But it was also a really good, straightforward headsculpt with a lot of character and a good facial expression. Exactly what was needed for someone who would become such a prominent character.


I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with this.

20 years ago I thought the Battle Corps Dukes far surpassed the original 84 sculpt, but over time, I have moved back to the 83-84 figure. I even find myself gravitating towards it over the comic pack version that looks like it fell off the cartoon cells. I know it has a goofy smile, but that head sculpt just IS Duke.
Author:  MarkM [ Wed Sep 07, 2016 1:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Head Sculpts With Character
Yeah, '84 Duke would be in my Top 10 of just RAH. It's a solid sculpt and has a lot of personality, but my list already skewed toward being RAH-only too much, so I had to scrub a few.
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