Insecticycle
Cobra-La Fast Attack Vehicle

The Insecticycle was a planned release for the Cobra-La subteam that was cancelled when the movie villains were dropped from the Joe line. The inspiration for the toy was pretty clearly the Tron Light Cycle, the toys of which were made by Tomy in the 1980s. So I picked up a beater one to customize. I added some styrene to add some bits to the back end, and made some antennae and put some strips along the sides to improve the look before hitting it with some spray paint and some Cobra-La faction stickers from Toyhax.com. The driver is a custom called a Creeper.

All parts – Tomy Tron Light Cycle (modified)

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Creeper
Insecticycle Driver

When I decided to do a version of the Cobra-La Insecticycle, I knew I would need a driver. The obvious chioce would be to use a Nullifier, since that figure was originally going to be Cobra-La, but that character's design lends itself more to an infantry type than a driver to me, and it's probably too big to fit nicely in the Tron lightcycle I used for the Insecticycle. I came across a series of figures by Lanard called the Bio-Wing Battle Squadron, one of which is sufficiently insect-y to fit with the vehicle. All I did was give him a paint job and a weapon, and add a ridge on the top of his head for a little extra flavour.

Cobra-La Creepers share a single mind among them. Or rather, each individual Creeper forms part of the Creeper hivemind. They act as one, as one mind, swarming their enemies with ruthless efficiency. This allows them to react to threats with incredible speed, and to operate their Insecticycles in complex close-quarters maneuvers that befuddle opponents and make them very difficult to defend against.

“Cobra-La Insecticycles are spooky. You'll see a whole pack of them coming at you, and when you activate a defense they react instantly, all at the same time, like they're one creature made up of smaller parts. The only good thing about it is that if you manage to fool one of them, you fool all of them. It's pretty much all-or-nothing with these guys.”

All parts – Sky Terror (Corps Bio-Wing figure)

Gun – Sea Slug

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Nullifier
Cobra-La Juggernaut

It's well-known that the Nullifier figure that was released as part of the Iron Grenadiers was originally designed to be a member of Cobra-La, but was reassigned to Destro when the latter subteam was discontinued. Since I've done several new Cobra-La figures, I wanted to return the Nullifier to its roots and make them servants of Golobulus. This will require making a new pilot for Destro's AGP, of course, which I'll do at some point. I gave himi Dee-Jay's gun, which looks like it might have been intended to be Cobra-La as well based on some of the texture on it and the general design. It's a pretty lame Joe weapon, but in the hands of Cobra-La it works. I painted it and drilled out the end of the barrel as well for a little extra detail. File card info is below:

Cobra-La Nullifiers are selected from the surgically-enhanced Royal Guards by Golobulus himself, and are further enhanced to serve as the front line of his armies. Instead of skin, they have an adaptive organic carapace, and weat chitinous reactive armor which makes them impervious to any man-portable ordnance, and highly-resistant to smaller artillery rounds as well. They are intimidating as they march inexhorably forward, but due to their limited mental capacity, are more or less limited to commands of “advance” and “stop.”

“Golobulus doesn't have many Nullifiers among his forces, but since they're nearly invulnerable he really don't need many. Pit a handful of them against most conventional forces, and they're going to be the ones still standing at the end of it all. You really need tactics and subterfuge to beat them – in a straight fight, they're going to win every time.”

All parts – Nullifier

Rifle - Dee-Jay

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home run! the insectacycle looks like a factory production and nails your source pic, hard! i'm glad you posted a source to highlight just how perfect it is.
that lashor screams V, in a very good way!

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I hadn't noticed that, but you're spot on. Maybe subconscious inspiration?

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I've only ever seen one other Insecticycle before, but yours looks more like what Hasbro would have released back in the day. The figures are nicely done too, but that cycle is awesome.

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I love all the new stuff, especially the vehicle and driver. Great source material choices!

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Thanks I appreciate that. I am really happy with how it turned out.

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These are really well done. That cycle is fantastic.

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Cobra AAG
Amphibious Assault Gun

GI Joe issue #8 was one of my favourites way back in the day. At the time, Cobra had a paucity of vehicles to use against the Joes, so the creative team went all-out in that issue in creating equipment for the bad guys. They had an undersea base, a boat/submarine called the SRV-9 (Submersible Reconnaissance Vessel Mark 9), attack walkers called SEA Legs (Surprise, Engage and Attack) and finally tracked cannons called Amphibious Assault Guns. This custom is inspired by the AAG (an abbreviation not actually used in the comic), though not really based on it because it's at a smaller scale. The comic AAGs were the size of tanks, while my custom is smaller and operated by a single soldier. The operator is a custom Cobra Marine.

All parts – Star Wars mini-rig MLC-3 (Mobile Laser Cannon)
Stickers – Toyhax.com


Cobra Marine
Amphibious Trooper

A few years ago I bought a lot of unpainted Black Major Cobra troopers. I used the opportunity to create a variety of Cobra troopers. Blue uniforms (the originals) are infantry, light grey uniforms are transportation (based on the Stinger Driver), and red are armor (based on the HISS Driver). White uniforms are aviation, green uniforms are rangers and black uniforms are special operations. Finally, purple uniforms, as seen here, are marines. I needed a driver for my custom Amphibious Assault Gun, so a Marine was the obvious choice. I made an underwater rifle similar to an APS out of a Marauder Inc. submachine gun.

All parts – Cobra Soldier (custom-cast)

Rifle – Maruader Inc. (modified)

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RAM Mark II
Heavy-Duty Motorcycle

Other 3-3/4” toy series can be a great source of custom vehicles for your Joes. I picked up a Cyclone motorcycle from the Matchbox Robotech series, and knew that with a green paint job it would fit right in. Rather than coming up with a new name, I went the VAMP route and made this the RAM Mark II, a heavy-duty motorcycle since it's so bulky. I drilled out the ends of the exhaust pipes for added realism, and used reproduction Silver Mirage and RAM stickers for the details. The driver is Buzzard, a character based on MASK's Brad Turner, in homage to the Condor motorcycle/helicopter.

All parts – Matchbox Robotech Cyclone
Stickers – Toyhax.com


Buzzard
Counterintelligence

I needed a driver for the RAM Mark II, so I took the remains of another custom (an early version of Cool Breeze, before the final version I finished last year), added some new arms and head to arrive at a pretty basic-looking dude to ride a motorcycle. I used the Johnny Cage head since the character is based on MASK's Brad Turner. I haven't done a full file card for him, but I do know that he has mountaineering training and plays rock guitar in his spare time.

File Name: Turner, Bradley G.
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
Service Branch: Army
Grade: W-2 (CW2)
Primary MOS: Counterintelligence
Secondary MOS: Rotary-Wing Pilot, Motorcycle Driver and Mechanic

Head – Johnny Cage (Mortal Kombat)
Arms – Dial-Tone v3
Torso, waist – Hollw Point (Built to Rule)
Legs – Frostbite

Carbine - fodder
Cap – Marauder Inc.

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Roadrunner
Reconnaissance Motorcyle

Last year I did a custom of Six-Gun, a character who appeared in a couple issues in the IDW run of comics before being killed off. He wasn't complete, though, because Six-Gun's supposed to have a dirt bike. I found a cheap one of the appropriate scale on a Walmart clearance shelf, and after some paint and reproduction RAM stickers from Toyhax.com, Six-Gun had his ride. It functions as a lightweight reconnaissance motorcycle, as opposed to the RAM Mark II, a much heavier vehicle that I did up at the same time as this one.

All parts – cheap Walmart dirtbike toy
Stickers – Toyhax.com

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Courage
Strategic Commander

Col. Courage is a good mold from 1993, but needs some paint upgrades to remove the neon green highlights that plague it. So this custom is a simple paint touch-up, with new accessories as well. I have omitted the “Col.” from his code name, since including rank in the code name doesn't make sense. On his next promotion, would he then be called “Brigadier General Courage?” Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it?

Speaking of names, the character's file name is Cliff V. Mewett, which is identical to the file name of Airwave of the Sky Patrol, released three years earlier in 1990. It's strange that Hasbro would re-use a file name like this, especially given that the name does not appear to refer to a real-life person that might have inspired it. So in my Joeverse, Courage's file name is Victor C. Mewett instead.

All parts – Col. Courage

Carbine – Marauder Inc.
Machete – Col. Courage
Backpack – Mercer

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Firefly
Red Master

In a number of issues in the 120s of the Marvel comic, a group of Red Ninjas appeared who were led by a warlord, once referred to as the Red Master. Ultimately it was revealed that the Red Master was actually Firefly. This custom represents the Red Master both before and after the reveal, which is accomplished with a simple head swap. I had an established recipe for a Red Ninja, which formed the starting point. Knowing I would be using a Firefly head, I would need a 1983-84 era torso with some body armor on the front and back. Tripwire was the obvious choice, but his back isn't actually fully armored. But Major Bludd, whose front torso isn't as good for this figure as Tripwire, is fully armored on the back. So I decided to use Tripwire's front torso and Major Bludd's back. The Red Master head is Bushido – I did some precision Dremelling to cut the neck down to a swivel joint.

It took a bit of work to get the two torso pieces to mate. Most of it was just trimming edges, and the bottom of the back piece needed to be cut down a bit to fit in the waist. I also had to shave the texture off the straps on the back to match the front, and modify the front to make it have side straps that meet up with the back, all done with a craft knife. Other than the heads and torso, the rest of the figure is the same as my established Red Ninja custom.

Head – Bushido (modified) / Firefly v12
Arms – Armadillo
Torso front– Tripwire
Torso back – Major Bludd
Waist, legs – Storm Shadow (Black Major casting)

Swords – Marauder Inc.

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A couple of reference pics for Red Master Firefly.

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