The Shadow-Viper always annoys me.

I mean its a repaint of the Astro-Viper (including the same gear)...which is fine if they simply called him Astro-Viper v3 and his file corresponded to it...but noooooo his reads like a spy or ninja or commando...here...



So that conflict always annoyed me.

So in doing a custom I wanted a more 'Commando' vibe than astronaut vibe.

I used the ROC Flash body but painted the red parts dark gray.
The head is a POC Alley-Viper head.
The helmet is 30th Anniversary Ace helmet.
The web gear is from an Ultimate SE figure.
The back pack is an ROC Neo-Viper.
The guns are from Marauder going wayyy back IDK if they even cast them anymore.

The idea here was more commando, someone who would stay in the shadows (hence the Shadow-Viper). A character that could sneak get what was needed...and yet have the firepower to walk out if things went sideways.

The web gear evokes a more commando look and coming from SE that only reinforces that. AND it also is VAGUELY similar to the web gear of the Astro-Vipers gear.

The helmet feels like its a night vision type helmet, and also reflects back to the Astro-Viper helmet as well.

The back with flip out guns pack clearly also hearkens back to Astro-Viper backpack, with out it ACTUALLY being the same gear.

I wanted to both honor the look Hasbro sought fit to use, and yet come closer to a character's name and file card.





A more clear picture...I just can't seem to get a good one outdoors...

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Looks great. I need that helmet

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i dig the all black it really makes that helmet pop.

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To say that you perfected the concept is an understatement. As the world's leading hater of head-to-toe repaints, Hasbro recycling of a spacesuit just made zero sense, and irritated me more than many of the other htt of the day.

You took the idea, fully cooked it, and seasoned it just the right amount of Astro-Viper.

Great work.

Thanks.

I think sometimes for me half the battle (pun intended) is putting some perspective on the figure or character.

Shadow-Viper is one of these cases.
The figure itself as a straight up Astro-Viper v3 is fine. I always sorta differentiate repaints as units within the division. Sorta like Star Wars did with the Clone Troopers...all Clone Troopers with blue accents were Anakin's division, while orange was Kenobi's troops. Each with their own unit numbers.

So if the original was the Astro-Viper 101st division, and the Star Brigade version was the Astro-Vipers 201st division that this third repaint (the Shadow-Viper) would be the 301st division.

If that makes sense.

And at some point I might even make a third Astro-Viper custom in those exact colors (that's the completest OCD in me).

But for me the Shadow-Viper needed a figure that represented what the file card presented.

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