Got some pictures taken of some customs I've done. Some recent ones. Some that I've been sitting on for a while waiting for parts or accessories.

Capt. Grid-Iron

Head, thighs, gear: Vintage figure
Torso, arms: Bazooka
Lower legs: Resolute Duke type
Armor: Spytroops Heavy Duty

I know this character is far from realistic but I've always liked him regardless. When I decided to do a modern era version, I wanted to try and make him a little more legitimate but not loose his football connection. His filecard says that he was the quarterback for the West Point team so that's where I started, researching the uniforms. I found that their uniform colors were black and gold and while I figured the pants would work, I thought he wouldn't look much like Grid-Iron with a black shirt so I decided to compromise. I did some more searching and found a place that sells army licensed football jerseys and they had one that was green and gold, meant for infantry which I felt would be perfect for Grid-Iron, especially since Infantry is his secondary specialty. I also decided to paint his "pads" black to bring in more of the West Point football connection. I tried to use some water slide decals to put some numbers on his jersey (O3 which is his rank) but they didn't turn out as well as I hoped and just blend in with the jersey. Oh well. I figure it can be explained away as just being faded due to battlefield wear and tear over the years.

Cutter

Head: TofuJesse cast
Hat: Broken Arrow
Arms: Crimson Twin
Rest: 5-pack Shipwreck

I was never really planning on making a Cutter figure and had gotten the 5-pack Shipwreck figure to use with something else but when it arrived and I took a good look at it, I changed my mind and decided to keep it until I could decide if I wanted to use it for something or keep it as Shipwreck. I saw that TofuJesse had a cast of the Club Footloose head and I had gotten some of those ballcaps from Broken Arrow and thought that those together along with this Shipwreck body would probably make a great Cutter. I always liked Cutter's DEF mold too so decided that I would use the Crimson Twin arms to bring some of that into this one. Aside from the head and hat, this figure has no other painting.

Desert Scorpion

Head, gear: Vintage figure
Torso, thighs: 25th Snake Eyes type
Lower Legs: Retaliation Kamakura
Arms: Crimson Twins
Armor: Ragin Spoon
Bandolier: Duke

I've always thought the Desert Scorpion was a cool looking figure so naturally I wanted to try and make a modern update. I've seen other takes on this that have done different things, one going so far as to create armor out of the vintage torso. I had considered doing that myself but liked the idea of using this armor from Ragin Spoon because I felt that the way the plates layered over each other resembled the segmented pieces you might find on a scorpion

G.I. Jane

Head, torso: Slayer
Arms: Don't remember
Thighs: Don't remember
Lower Legs: RoC Hawk

GI Joe could certainly use more female figures so it makes sense to me to start with updating some of the ones we've gotten that haven't had modern era updates yet. I don't remember who's arms I ended up using. They may be RoC Baroness but I'm not sure. The thighs come from a vintage figure. Again, I don't remember who. I thought this head and torso would work well together as an update to the GI Jane figure that came out in the DTC line.

Heartwrencher

Head, torso: Slayer
Upper arms: A Comic Pack Luke Skywalker
Lower arms: Zanya
Hands, legs: RoC Baroness
Skirt: MU Mystique
Wrench: Broken Arrow

I don't really know anything about Heartwrencher as a character but I'm always looking to fill out my Dreadnok ranks plus I liked the idea of a Dreadnok mechanic who was a woman who had no problem flaunting her "womanly wares" but also knew how to take care of herself. That head and torso probably are meant for other characters but I liked the idea of using them hear since they seemed to work with my idea of the character.

Kurai Mizu

Head: Retaliation Zartan
Torso, arms: Mace Windu
Legs: RoC Shipwreck
Feet: 25th Storm Shadow
Hood: Retaliation Kamakura
Sword sheath: JvC Snake Eyes

Kurai Mizu is Japanese for "Dark Water'. I've seen other people use these type of legs for Ninja customs and I wanted to try it myself. I also wanted to try and use a Jedi torso as a ninja character so I figured I'd try to do both together. We don't have many ninja characters that are blue so I decided I would paint this guy blue. My thinking on this guy is that he's part of an ancient ninja clan that was thought to be long extinct until he shows up out of the blue (heh) and allies himself with Cobra. No one knows who he is or if he truly believes in Cobra's philosophies. Some think he's a renegade Arashikage using the garb of the ancient clan for deception in order to persue some kind of vendetta against Snake Eyes and other Arashikage. Some think he's just a hired merc posing as an ancient clan ninja for intimidation. Not even Cobra Commander knows his identity or true intentions. He just knows that Kurai Mizu is out for blood and will not give up until every last Arashikage is dead and that's good enough for him for now.

Kraken

Head: 30th Stalker modified
Torso: Gung-Ho
Arms: Ripper I hink
Legs: Ripper
Webgear: RoC Leatherneck with Spytroops Scalpel and other bits and pieces
Whip: Indiana Jones

Filling out the Dreadnok ranks with some more pirates for Zanzibar to pal around with. I love that Stalker head and thought it would work real well for a pirate character with a little bit of mods done to it. I dremeled down his beret and attached the tails from JvC Heavy Duty's head turning it into a bandana. I cobbled together webgear for him using the Scalpel shoulder pads and RoC Leatherneck webgear and added a couple bits here and there. I gave him a whip and called him Kraken. Yeah.

Lt. Falcon

Webgear, scarf, backpack: 25th Falcon
Rest: Marauders Falcon

The 25th version of Falcon was a joke. He had those horrible Suicide Duke arms and an obnoxious color scheme with a head that made him look constipated. Then we got the BBTS Marauders version which was a huge improvement but I still had a few minor issues with it. He looked really plain without some kind of webgear and the shirt was a little bright for my tastes. I also wasn't hot about the blue but considering that was the point of the set, I could understand it. Originally I was just going to paint over the blue and give him the 25th version's webgear but then I decided to paint the entire torso anyway as well as whatever other bright green he had. Over-all I think this brings him far closer to the feel of his ARAH figure while bringing him up to date with modern figures as well.