It's definitely a nod to toy soldiers that came before, from Little Green Army Men to 12" GI JOE, all the way through ARAH. Sprinkle in some Metal Men Corporal Chrome and a smidge of GI Robot and you got this little fella.

As far as colorways go, I'll be sorta skipping the initial all-green O13 and jump right into the '84-'88 ARAH colors I loved so much as a kid. They'll also utilize different head sculpts, so, like Duke, Robo-JOE's grin will be character-specific...

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I definitely like the look of him. It's weird that your LGAM head looks fairly good on that figure (he looks like a normal sized guy with a lot of armor on) but when I tried it, the guy looked too squished-headed. I can't wait to see more from you in this vein.

If it's any help, the head is from the Green Army Man holding a pistol and binoculars. My army has thinned considerably since I was boy (gee, wonder what happened? ) and this was one of the only surviving ones.

I chose it because it didn't have mold lines and the sculpt was decent. You can even spot a little cleft in his chin. That little quirk & character gives me the '83-'84 ARAH face sculpt vibe.

More JOEs planned; just gotta design them. Next colorways I'm considering are for divers and medics/firefighters... and COBRA. Lots and lots of COBRA

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The 1986 Battle Android Trooper is probably my favorite GI JOE figure of all-time. Maybe it's the design. Maybe it's the fact he's a robot soldier. Maybe it's all the cool arm gadgets. Or.. dare I say it... the lenticular chest sticker that every elementary schooler called a hologram.

The figure came out at the perfect age and I HAD to have one.

Being the boy I was, I lost all the pieces almost immediately and his chest sticker came off. It wouldn't be for another 20 years that I'd track down one in near-mint condition for a reasonable price and be reunited.



When I added GI JOE to my Dianauts, I knew I had to make a B.A.T.

In fact, the Mega Construx B.A.T. is part of the reason why I bought into the concept in the first place, after finishing Robo-JOE.

Recipe:

-Gundam Assault Kingdom head
-HALO Mega Contrux blind bag figure
-Mixed HALO MC shoulder armor & belt
-25th Anniversary B.A.T. hands & arm attachments
-Color copy of 1986 B.A.T. chest sticker
-Belt buckle from B.A.T.-legged Viper ARAH reissue figure waist



Though I love how the chest looks in the photos, the effect is creepy in person. I used a brand-new color copier at Kinko's and placed my whole 1986 B.A.T. figure in the scanning bed... it really managed to capture something about the original. I swear it looks like it moves sometimes.

How B.A.T.s fit in:

In the Dianauts' timeline, there is an urgent threat facing the galaxy: The remnants of what was known as the terrorist organization COBRA have grown from splinter cells into a full-fledged army of Battle Android Troopers and their seemingly-endless variations, for almost every environment possible.

This all seems possible due to the machinations of the immortal mad scientist Dr. Mindbender and his resurrection of the cryogenically-frozen Cobra Commander. Fleeing the fall of COBRA, Mindbender escaped with Overkill, an army of B.A.T.s, and the preserved body of The Commander, vowing revenge on GI JOE, Destro, and Serpentor.

In peacetime, the original GI JOE team disbanded, and happily settled into retirement. Now that COBRA has returned, so have the JOEs; albeit with new missions and new faces. Now a Galactic Initiative, the Joint Operations Elite are the best every alien species has to offer. Spanning throughout the galaxy, the Dianauts are just one species supporting a much larger special missions force.

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I like that one so much! perfect translation into your scale!

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That is perfect. At first I was like, "That claw looks a little big," but then I realized a big ol super powered android would be able to wield somethign like that pretty easily.

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Thank you dude! BATs just scream "Strange Labs!" and I knew I had to nail this one. The key (to me) was that chest sticker. Often replicated, never quite duplicated, I was straight-up lazy and just color copied the original. It somehow, creepily, still gives the proper 3-D vibe. Definitely one of my favorite new pieces.



Plus, how big a brick would you s___ if you saw a giant robot clearing a jungle and coming at you with that?

And this dude's just a standard B.A.T... got some fun variations planned, including a Mega B.A.T.


...But first a little detour through Gotham City...

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CUSTOM 1" BATMAN MICROFIGURE



Custom Dianauts were the plan all along, even before I ever placed my first order. I even printed a photo of the prototypes in black & white so I could design my colorways ahead of time (current WIP).

As soon as I began fiddling with my newly-arrived Dianauts, though, I NEEDED a Batman.



Almost 100% Dianaut-based, Batman is my smallest, most detailed super-poseable custom to date. While there is very little figure to modify and paint, working on something this scale presents a unique set of challenges.

If you're not careful, your primer can blow tiny pieces away. The slightest slip of your Dremel can erase a whole face. Finding a clearly printed bat symbol is almost impossible in the scale.

The base figure is the black Dianaut that came in the 8-pack. The head is from a Batman microfigure I had kept since I was a kid. The chest symbol was done on the same night I did the color copy of my '86 B.A.T. for the Mega Construx custom.



I thought the piece was finished a couple weeks ago, but the proof was in the initial photos I took... the original chest symbol I used was too pixelated in the hi-res images, and my first cape looked like garbage. It had been nagging me for a few days, but now I HAD to fix them.

Found a much better version of the symbol in the right scale and copied it at Kinko's. When I got it on the figure, it was just magic. While I'm not the biggest fan of the yellow bat, it really does make this tiny figure. I added the requisite teeny (scalloped!) cape and was completely sold.

Since the Dark Knight is just so much better with his rogues, I did build some buddies for him. One I've done many customs of during the years, the other is my first successful attempt at a villain I've wanted to make for 10+ years...

Keep it locked...

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One more bonus shot because... what the hell, I love it.

This Batman isn't based on any one version, per se, but I sorta see him as the serious version of LEGO Batman (loved it, btw). I like how the movie integrates a lot of Batman's previous vehicles & costumes as he upgrades, so I have the same sorta thing in mind here.

I dig the way the Hot Wheels '89 Batmobile looks with Bats, but man, he looks so bas-ass with the Tumbler...

More to come!

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That is outstanding

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who's afraid of the teeny black bat?

seriously those are hotwheels? I can't wait to see what is next!

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Does he fit in the Batmobiles? H'es fantastic no matter what but if he actually fit in those it would be a game changer.

You probably figured something out but for anyone else, you can use painters tape to stick to cardboard an the piece so it won't go flying off every time. Sometimes I'll even pull the can back to almost a foot and a half to two feet away, but weather can make that overspray dangerous.

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Most of your stuff is pretty solid, but those last 2 (the B.A.T. and The Bat) are show stoppers!

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WHY are there no images of Batman fighting the BAT!!??



Those look great.

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Thank you, sir! It had to be perfect before I debuted him! Means a lot coming from you. Your thread is inspiring and jealousy-inducing all at the same time.



Thank you, man!

They're the new Batmobiles hitting Target/Toys R Us now. It's a bunch of '66 Batman vehicles and the movie cars, too.

As for who's next, I'll give another couple clues:

-The base figures are from Mega Bloks, but are meant to be displayed with Dianaut Batman.

-Both are villains featured in classic episodes of Batman: The Animated Series.



Batman doesn't fit fully into the Batmobile, but that's because his feet can't get all the way under the console. The little nooks in front of the seats don't go all the way, unfortunately.

Guess that just means I'll have to make one, huh?

The Dianauts have magnets in their feet, so I stuck the lower legs onto an old coat hangar and lightly hit it with primer.

When working with the other parts, I was constantly worried about losing them, either while priming outside or dropping them during assembly.



Show's staying stopped. More fun stuff on the way...



Because Batman was too busy fighting the next two figures I'm going to reveal! Heehee

Thank you so much, Dan! I always look forward to new customs from you, dude!

Glad you guys like tiny Batman. He's the first of quite a few Dianaut customs I've been cooking up. Wrapping up some custom colorways, but there're still a couple more stops in our tour of Gotham City...

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