So after many months of part hunting and painting, I think I finally have the last characters I needed/wanted for my Plague project.

First up is Deadfall, the team's second-story man:

A former Rock-Viper, Deadfall was tasked with extricating two deep-cover Cobra operatives from a highrise office building and getting them to the extraction point on the roof where a chopper was waiting. But the Joes were tipped off and had Snake Eyes in position to foil the operation. When Deadfall burst in through the 30th-floor window and grapped his to objectives, the ninja gave chase -- right up the side of the building. Realizing that he was too weighed down to outpace his pursuer and had too many passengers to juggle, preventing him from drawing a weapon, Deadfall made the logical (or pathological) decision to drop one of his passengers on the ninja. The gambit worked, knocking Snake Eyes loose (though he managed to catch himself before hitting the pavement) and Deadfall got one of his charges back to the chopper. But the agent -- a Crimson Guard -- was so incredulous about losing his counterpart that he began berating Deadfall and threatening his career. Exhausted and irritated, Deadfall pushed him out of the chopper shortly after takeoff. Deadfall was taken into custody the minute the chopper landed on Cobra Island. And while the Crimson Twins were intent that he be punished for killing not one but two of their precious CGs, they were also too shrewd to waste the talent and ruthlesness Deadfall had demonstrated. Instead of execution, they recommended he be attached to the Plague.

Next up is Road Rage, the team's wheelman:

Compared to most Cobra recruits, Road Rage was a mechanical genius. His aptitude test scores put him near the top of those selected for the Techno-Viper program. Trouble was, he had his heart set on being a Motor-Viper. In his off time, he began stealing parts from the motor pool and armory and built a custom ground assault vehicle. His plan was to drive it out onto the proving range during a parade of new H.I.S.S. tanks show the Commander himself what a talented combat driver he was. He destroyed two of the new H.I.S.S.es before a third managed to disable his ride. Then he took out the third with the custom, one-man escape vehicle he'd built into his design. When he stepped out of the tiny cockpit to take hisbow, he was greeted by the barrels of more than fifty guns. He was in the Cobra prison more than a month before Scrap Iron filed his report on the remains of the vehicle Road Rage had designed. it was the first time anyone had seen the munitions specialist use the word "brilliant" about anything he hadn't created himself. Between that and the obvious driving skill he had demonstrated before his arrest, it was decided that Road Rage would make an invaluable addition to the Plague.

And finally comes Shuriken, the team's air-assault specialist:

One of the most talented Strato-Vipers to ever graduate the A.V.A.C. program, Shuriken had his sights set on being Cobra's undisputed top gun. Only Wild Weasel stood in his way. So Shuriken decided to challenge the veteran ground support pilot to a simulated dogfight. His plan was to "accidentally" load one live missile into his fighter's racks and claim one of the ground crew's incompetence had cost Cobra its most prized pilot after blowing Wild Weasel out of the sky. But he underestimated his opponent's skill. After determining the heat-seeking missile was, in fact, live, Wild Weasel performed an amazing loop in his Rattler, releasing countermeasures at exactly the right moment for the missile to detonate in close proximity to Shuriken's engines. Shuriken ejected just in time, but found a Cobra security detail waiting for him after parachuting to the ground. He was arrested for the attempt on Wild Weasel's life and for destroying the plane. Fortunately for him, the Plague often needs air-ferrying to its often-hopeless missions.
I also made some tweaks to some previously seen team members.

For Blackout, I brought his hair color closer to what the actual figure was sporting:

And for White Noise, I decided to put a little more of his accent color intoo the mix by whitening up his knee and wrist pads:

So what do you guys think?

Make sure you take a group shot before you box them up to send to me. It'd be a shame for folks not to see these all together before they go on my shelf.

Seriously, these are awesome and I want to see them all in one shot. I really like that you took the idea of the Plague and made it your own with these new characters. And they are all really well done. I am most impressed.

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Fantastic looking figures. Uniformed yet unique I like them all,especially Blackout.

Blackout just keeps getting awesomer.

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Thanks, guys.

This has been a big part of my customizing life for a while now.

Can't exactly call it a labor of love, because I HATED the idea of The Plague when I started. But the characters really grew on me (like a disease) as I worked on them. Now they represent some of my favorites in my Joeverse.

I'm glad you dig them, too.

Oh...andhere's that group shot you wanted, Mysty:

I'm working on some unmasked shots as well.

They are all great but Road Rage really jumps out to me as looking awesome. Nice job.

These are all great, nary a bad one in the group.

Question though, have you made a list of all the Cobra Specialty-Vipers and then filled in a Plague version of it?

I ask because you mentioned making more Plague and we're seeing more of them, but I'm curious if you might seriously look at having an elite trooper from each specialty.

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excellent, gotta say I really dig Deadfall, love the parts you used and the story.

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Amazing work! I must say that just as good as your figures, is the amount of detail you put into their back stories and your play on words, you've done an excellent job of sticking with the theme all the way through!

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I put a lot of thought into which Viper classes would be represented. Obviously I swiped some of the character templates from Devil's Due. For others, I tried to kill multiple birds with a single stone (Road Rage representing both the Techno- and Moto-Vipers, for instance). I knew right off I didn't want a ninja on the team (besides, what ninja in the Joe universe would a prison actually hold?) and ultimately I eliminated the Snow Serpent because he felt redundant with the Eel.

That said, I do have Bayonet (the Snow Serpent) still pieced together and I started playing with ideas for a Medi-Viper (name TBD), so ultimately I may roll out additional characters in a way that mirrors the way Hasbro added specialists. But that's probably a ways off.

Meanwhile, here are unmasked shots for the guys with full-face coverings (Black Out, Munitia and White Noise don't have alternate heads):
Thanks for the comments, all.

Best uses of those heads, ever. Each one looks like they came that way straight from a package.

Awesomely knocked out the park.

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Those are awesome. I really like the backdrop stories for these...especially Deadfall and Road Rage. Pure win bro! Lovin' it.

Road Rage is a great character concept and even better design. The tweaks on White Noise round out the figure, too.

Envy,Envy,Envy with a pinch of Gellousy...... WOOOOOOOOWWWWWW, absolutrly Awesome, man I would fork over a good part of my pycheck for those cause there is no way in Hell I could ver duplicate them. The sculpts, the paint job the back story.......very creative and perfectly done.

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I love the whole set. I like that you took what you liked about the DD Plague concept and added and expanded on it to suit your tastes. The new characters are really cool, and I think you made the right move going with accent colors and varied unis for them. It really helps keep the concept from getting boring on a visual level. Great stuff.

Oh, and I like the idea of using the original heads for Grimskull and Gallows. I will have to think of a way to work those pieces back on to my Plague team too.