Okay, so the Plague has been kind of simmering in my brain...incubating, as it were, since I first got that old DTC 6-pack.
I hated the figures at first and the idea behind them. But as we've all been discussing the idea of a team of named Cobra specialists and how they might've come to be, I have to admit it's grown on me. And so have those original three character designs.
I've already shown my Guillotine, but I've gone back at him a bit:
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Most notably i added a knife sheath under his shoulder-holstered back-up pistol but I also took the gray on his legs a little lighter (because the gray on the original was lighter than on his compatriots).
His backstory remains pretty much as it was -- ruthless Eel that made an impression on the higher ups. But, like the rest of my version of the Plague, he was jailed for disobeying a direct order. Now they let him out every once in a while to lead Cobra's version of the Dirty (Baker's) Dozen -- and they keep him and the rest of the team in check with a specially engineered virus that will kill them inside a week if they don't return to the prison for special treatment.
Next up was Gallows:
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I wanted to preserve his core color scheme and helmet design, but I also wanted to individualize his look a bit and tie it in more closely with my S.A.W.-Vipers (I use suitcase Destros as the base for those).
Gallows killed the officer leading a doomed operation he was assigned to and, thanks to pure determination and endurance on his part, helped the rest of his squad survive...long enough for them all to be reassigned to the Toxo-Vipers. All except for Gallows, who got the Plague instead.
Then came Grim Skull:
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Like my custom Sand-Vipers, I wanted him to sport the standard Viper vest. I also wanted him to not exactly mirror but definitely visually complement Gallows.
A Sand-Viper with a particular penchant for explosives, Grim Skull buried his squadmates beneath the rubble of an exploded desert temple...one he blew up on top of them after they helped him loot its treasures. Now he's one of the least trusted of the Plague -- particularly among his fellow members.
I've already shared Munitia as well, but here's the updated prototype:
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I'm working on a new one just like this but with a blue accent color, more like the original figure. So consider this a visual placeholder.
Her story is tragic. Contracted by Cobra to infiltrate The Red Shadows and provide intel on this rival terrorist organization in preparation for a poential European Cobra expansion, she decided to double-cross Cobra for a bigger payday Baron Ironblood was offering. But the Baroness sniffed her out and, impressed by both her skill and ambition, offered the young female freelancer a choice -- death or service with the Plague.
That's actually where my overlap with the Plague as most folks know it ends, at least for now. I know the comics fleshed out the concept more but, frankly, I was unimpressed with a lot of those character choices (the recycling of existing named characters felt like a waste of an opportunity). So Im filling in the ranks with new blood.
Here's my first original Plague member, White Noise:
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Note that the backpack has several removable piecesof tech...including a tablet computer (he's an early adopter).
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The most experienced member of the team, White Noise was a talented Tele-Viper whom Mindbender snubbed for promotion to the Techno-Viper program because the Bad Doctor felt threatened by his savant-like technical brilliance. White Noise can build amazing and fully functional gadgets from the contents of an average parked car's trunk and can fix almost anything electronic, but that's not his real passion. He has more fun making sure other people's toys don't work properly -- which is exactly why he was imprisoned after Mindbender suspected (but never could prove) that White Noise sabotaged an experimental technology demonstration (for the Commander himself) in retribution.
Here's a group shot of the team so far:
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More characters on the way.
What do you guys think?