September 2nd - Red Shadows Black Major, Red Jackal and Hyena
Red Jackal
I resisted making this custom for years as Destro is really recognizable and I believe that a repaint of him to make a different character is impossible. The repaint will always look like Destro. Still, while playing around with spare parts, I threw this guy together. It’s a simple recipe and one that other customizers have already probably done.
I figure he could be Destro’s cousin or uncle, someone who represents MARS to the Red Shadows so Destro himself can focus on selling weapons and keeping Cobra happy.
Head: Marvel Drax
Torso, arms: 25th Destro v1
Legs: 25th Destro (IG)
Hyena
This was a super simple custom inspired by RelenaWarcraft’s version. The custom only required removing the original Operation Crimson Sabotage stickers and replacing them with Reprolabels.
For a long time, I told myself that I would not make this custom. I felt that the HISS is too recognizable as Cobra’s weapon. Making it red did not change that fact. However, seeing RelenaWarcarft’s version as well as finally putting together a Red Jackal custom make me change my mind and take the plunge.
All: Operation Crimson Sabotage HISS with Toyhax labels
Black Major
In the early 80's, Palitoy released a line of 3.75 inch figures based on their popular Action Man line from the 70s. Most of the characters were made from 5 POA figures. The Action Force’s enemy were the Red Shadows and their top lieutenant was the Black Major. My version is a straight forward re-do of the original and is heavily inspired by HypnoHustler’s excellent custom. I changed a few details to try to replicate the original figure as much as possible.
Head: MTF
Torso: ROC Paris Pursuit Snake Eyes
Legs: ROC Cobra Commander
Feet: DG Cobra Commander
Upper arms: 25th Duke
Lower arms: ROC Zartan
Cap: 25th Red Star
August 27th - SAS Squad Leader - Eagle
Eagle was part of SAS, Action Force’s special ops team. I tried to pick parts that best mimic the original’s look. I skipped the holster on his hip because there is already one on the vest.
Head: PTE (?)
Torso, arms: RoC Aqua Viper Officer
Legs: RoC Snake Eyes
Vest: ROC Pit Commando
August 23rd - SAS Barracuda and Attack TrooperHere are couple of simple ones to add to my SAS ranks.
Attack Trooper
Head: Retaliation Airborne
Torso, arms, mask, helmet: 50th Shock Trooper
Legs: ROC Snake Eyes
Barracuda (SAS)
SAS Team:
Head: Marauder MTF
Torso: 50th Shock Trooper
Upper arms: ROC Snake Eyes
Lower arms: ROC Duke (Training)
Upper legs: ROC Dr Lewis
Lower legs: ROC Eel
Backpack, mask: ROC Shipwreck
August 21st - Action Force Dolphin and Moondancer
In the UK, Zap was repainted as Dolphin, a member of a member of Q-Force, Action Force’s amphibious strike team. My version is a straight forward re-do of the original, including using a vintage style helmet.
Helmet: ARAH vintage Battle Gear
Visor: 25th Flash
Head: Retaliation Kwinn
Everything else: DG Duke V2
In the UK, Short-Fuze became Moondancer (version 2), a member of Action Force’s Space Force. My version is a straight forward re-do of the original, including using a vintage style helmet.
Helmet, visor: ARAH vintage Battle Gear
Everything else: DG Duke V2
August 11th - Adventure People Frogman and Construction Workers
The Adventure People Frogman was one of the later figures released in the original line. It did not include any accessories and was repaint of other diver figures. When picking parts, I wanted to avoid simply repainting a 25th Torpedo, so I changed things up with a different torso and arms. After that, I wanted to add some proper accessories. Now, I'm one figure closer to a complete modern Adventure People collection.
Parts
Head: 25th Torpedo
Torso: PoC Shock Trooper
Lower arms: RoC Duke
Upper legs: 25th Cobra Commander
Upper arms, lower legs: 25th Cobra Diver
In 2016, I made a bunch of customized Adventure People figures. Among them were Barney and Frank, the Construction workers. When I posted them, someone commented that I should make them their scaffolding to complete the original set. It took a little while to get back to this, but an online Playmobil sale allowed me to pick up a perfect scaffold to use with them. I painted the boards yellow to match the original toy and found Frank and Barney some accessories. Now, they are ready to get building.
Scaffolding: Playmobil repainted
Accessories: Various Playmobil and other lines
August 6th - Adventure People Clawtron and Space Commander
Clawtron was released on a card and not part of any set. It was a franken-figure made up of parts from previous figures and a new paint scheme. As far as I know, no back-story was provided for the character so kids could make up their own. I imagine that Clawtron is one of the blue-skinned alien henchmen, a cyborg allied with Brainoid, doing his nefarious deeds. The custom itself is pretty simple. Most of the parts were already black, so it was just a matter of painting some details.
Head: RoC Snake Eyes
Torso, hands: 25th BATS
Arms: RoC Neo Viper
Legs: RoC Barbecue
After making customs based on the Alpha Probe Astronaut and Brainoid, I started looking at other space based Adventure People for inspiration. The Space Commander jumped out as a cool retro space dude. The Marauder Task Force head oozes character. I picked the body parts with two criteria in mind. First, the original figure was a repaint of various diver figures, so I looked for parts that mimicked a tight-fitting body suit. Second, I wanted to avoid painting as much red as possible. Fortunately, the 25th Cobra Diver checks off both boxes.
Head: Marauder Task Force
Torso, arms, legs: 25th Cobra Diver
Collar: PoC Steel Brigade
Feet: 25th Cobra Commander
July 15th - Cobra MSVVAMP: 50th VAMP with vintage gun and PTE clip
MMS: Vintage
The Cobra MSV was originally released in 1983 only at Sears in Canada. Because it was produced in limited numbers, it has become a highly sought after collector’s item. Since I don’t want to pay secondary market prices for this set, it has been on my customs to-do list for a while. The recent announcement of the 2017 SDCC exclusive Missile Command HQ kick started my interest in all things early ARAH, so I whipped out my WIP and got it completed. It is a simple custom. Paint everything black, add Cobra stickers, done. However, I kept some dark gray parts of the 50th VAMP unpainted to break up the black.
Yup, all that to say that it's an all-black repaint of vehicles with no mods.
March 26th - Concept Renegade Back UpHead: AVAC cast
Torso, scarf, beret: 50th Falcon
Arms: 25th GI Joe Trooper
Vest: 25th Beachhead
Legs: Poc Steel Brigade
Hands, gun case, knife, holster, pouch: Marauder Task Force
Back Up was a concept for a Renegade on Sergeant Slaughter’s team originally conceived sometime in the ‘80s (probably circa 1985-86). In 2016, a concept drawing for the character was shown by Dan Kligensmith on Facebook. To my knowledge, that is first time that anybody outside of Hasbro learned of the existence of this concept character.
The two-week challenge for Custom Celebration 11 was to create a custom based on the 1987 movie, either Renegade or Cobra-La. I had forgotten about this picture and found it while looking for inspiration for the challenge. As it turns out, Back Up came together pretty well with modern parts. For the color scheme, no official one exists. I decided to make him an ex-member of the Steel Brigade that was reprimanded under suspicious circumstances and shipped to Sgt Slaughter to be reformed. His color scheme flows from that back story.
March 20th - Spy Troops and Valor vs Venom Heavy DutyHead, lower arms: 50th Heavy Duty
Torso, upper arms: Retaliation Roadblock
Legs: 25th Copperhead
Gauntlets: PoC Firefly
Backpack: RoC Arctic Snake Eyes
I have wanted to make a new sculpt version of Heavy Duty since bucky and I worked on Project New Sculpt in 2014. I have been waiting for the right head to come along. In 2016, with the release of the Heavy Duty/ Stiletto 2-pack, the right parts came along. I quickly assembled a WIP. However, I could not decide which color scheme I liked best. I decided to try to make two different versions and fortunately I had all the necessary parts to make that happen. I settled on the Spy Troops and the Valor vs Venom versions.
March 13th - ShooterEverything: 50th Shooter
Holster, pouches: Marauder Task Force
I had been planning to repaint a 50th Shooter figure since the line got released in late 2016. After seeing the great concept art that was released a few weeks ago showing Shooter in green like the Original 13, that gave me the kick in the behind I needed to get it done. Before painting, I made a couple of small changes. First, I cut off that awful oversized holster on her right hip and replaced it with a Marauder one. I also trimmed a bit of plastic from her elbows to improve articulation. I toyed with replacing her head with a Marauder head. However, I decided to keep the original.
February 23rd - BarbecueHere is another custom that I can't take credit for. This custom is heavily ''influenced'' by Stronox’s terrific Barbecue. I did make some small changes. Personally, I like the 25th gear as it is vintage accurate, so I kept it. I also gave him a removable helmet and his signature red hair. I added a holster on the right hip so he can carry a sidearm. Color-wise, I kept the clean look to match my previous customs.
Head: 25th CG Fred
Torso, upper arms, backpack, gear: 25th Barbecue
Lower arms, legs: Renegades Hazard Viper
Helmet: RoC Flash
Holster: MTF
February 22nd - FlashI can't take any credit for this custom. A few years ago at New Jersey Comic Con, Boss Fight Studios showed off some awesome custom GI Joe figures. One of those figures was a modern take on Flash, GI joe's original LASER specialist. Their version was a great mix of vintage (colors) and modern (vest, armour) elements. I changed some parts from their version according to what I had in my fodder box, but it is pretty close to the original
Head, helmet, visor: RoC Pit Commando
Torso, backpack: PoC Duke
Arms: RoC Duke
Upper legs: Retaliation Airborne
Lower legs: Retaliation GI Joe Trooper
Rifle: Star Wars
