Since I'm out of work now, I am also gonna take the time to work on some projects I've put off or have worked on in limited form.
1) Tiger Force. I've never been a fan of just taking known characters, slapping a new color scheme on them, and then having them be an even eliter squad than the JOEs. Mentally I had just rearranged the parts to get more matching color schemes. I've been looking for inspiration for some time and after some thinking, I have an idea of where I wanna go with this.
I looked at the origins of Tiger Force in the real world, and although there was a team called Tiger Force in VietNam, it has some negatives associated with it. I went back even further and looked at the Flying Tigers in China, where US military personnel withdrew from the service and defended China from Japan before WW2. That got me thinking of former JOEs or other US military becoming a small paramilitary force.
I was reading Robin Hood one day and noticed the use of small team military tactics. Using Sherwood Forest as a base, the Merry Men launched essentially guerrilla style missions.
I was going through a list of movies I had seen a long time ago and remembered a Jeremy Irons/Robert DeNiro one called, "The Mission". Felt I could utilize some elements from that.
From there, I decided to use Captain Claymore as the head of Tiger Force. He would be, in effect, Robin Hood, and his Merry Men would be made up of other Special Ops soldiers to create a small unit that conducted operations in Central and South America.
Next I am taking the figures that were part of the JOE version of Tiger Force and including some others that I felt were a better fit for my version.
Below is the list of figures I will be recombining into new characters. This is the just so you get an idea of what I'm including:
ARAH Tiger Force and others: Bazooka, Claymore, Duke, Dusty, Flint, Frostbite, Leatherneck (Battle Corps), Lifeline, Recondo, Roadblock, Tripwire, Skystriker.
Unproduced: Recondo (ad), Rip Cord (ad), Sabretooth (ad), Steel Brigade, Wild Bill (ad).
Funskool/International: Ar Puro, Blizzard, Duque, Felino, Flint (Falcon head version), Hit & Run, Lifeline a, Lifeline b, Marujo, Outback, Psyche-Out, Skydiver, Sneek Peak, Tunnel Rat.
ARAH Tiger Force II: Jinx, Big Brawler (red beard), Big Brawler (black beard), Dial-Tone. Stalker, Wreckage.
Con Set: Beachhead, Mutt, Payload.
New Sculpt and others: Alpine, Cross Hair, Roadblock, Scarlett v7, Wild Bill.
25th/ME/Con/Others: Airtight, Alpine, Bazooka, Big Brawler, Blizzard, Claymore, Dial-Tone v10, Dial-Tone v11, Duke, Flint, Frostbite, Hit & Run, Jinx, Lifeline, Mainframe (2011), Marujo, Outback, Psyche-Out, Recondo, Roadblock, Skystriker, Sneak Peek, Sparta, Stalker, Tripwrire v6, Tunnel Rat, Wild Bill, Wreckage.
So far I have 13 characters from all of the above figures. Since I don't have any of the 25th style Tiger Force figures, it's mostly mental recipes.
-TF Commander-Claymore (using the Con Set Claymore)
-TF Demolitions-Wreckage (Con Set Wreckage)
-TF Commando-Sabretooth [former Royal Marine Commando] (H/A/W/L PoC Beachhead, T 50th Beachhead, in TF colors)
-TF Special Operations-Sparta (Con Set Sparta)
-TF Communications-Hotline (H RoC Breaker, TAWL Con Set Dial-Tone)
-TF Sailor-Marujo [former Brazil Navy] (FSS TF Shipwreck)
-TF Infiltration-Tiger Lily (FSS TF Jinx)
-TF Pilot-Skystriker (Con Set Skystriker)
-TF Weapons Specialist-Ikalka [Hawaiian born former 25th Infantry/29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team] (HTAW Con Set Big Brawler, L RoC Heavy Duty v10)
-TF Tiger Moth Glider Pilot-Monarch (HWL Hit & Run, TA Beachhead)
-TF Jungle Warfare Trooper-Felino (Con Set Felino)
-TF Counter-Insurgency Specialist-Shepherd aka 'Friar Ruck' (HTA Flint, WL Duke)
-TF SASR-Digger (TF Recondo)
2) Since I have acquired so many Black Major/Red Laser torsos recently, I have dived back in to creating more of the GIJOE Reserves. These characters may have been part of the original GIJOE Team, and the 13 we know as the first, were only the basic readout that was shown on the screens way back in Marvel GIJOE #1. If you recall, there were almost 20 computer screens shown, and only 14 named JOEs appeared (including a male Shooter). It is entirely possible that Ace, Airborne, Doc, Gung-Ho, Cover Girl, Snow Job, Wild Bill, Torpedo, Tripwire, Duke, Roadblock, and others from 1983 couldhave been on the others screens, I am creating needed specialties I felt could have been useful. I have been going through my notes and geting these ideas in my computer to then flesh out.
3) As part of that, another idea is that what happens if all thirteen JOEs went on a mission and then some Chaplain's Assistant comes along knocking, looking for a ride? Somebody has to stay and get Motor Pool jobs done when the JOEs leave. From that POV, I set out to make up several mechanics, office staff, drivers, and ancilliary crew.
4) I also have looked online to see how far Maguire AFB is from Fort Wadsworth. Transporting heavy military equipment from Staten Island to central New Jersey is bound to raise some eyebrows, including any Cobra operatives. So, I decided it would be best to have another PIT under a secure hanger at Maguire AFB with another small dedicated group of JOEs. This PIT would have in storage multiple MOBATs, VAMPs, RAMs, and other towable items. When a notification comes in from PIT one, then a support crew will load up whatever is necessary onto a MAC C-130.
5) I also finally figured out how to include MASK into my JOEverse. MASK is a DARPA style think tank that creates high tech military vehicles for the JOEs. This would be why the JOEs always had that '5 years in the future' tech that the regular military didn't. Part of the tech is reverse engineering NEST items (so I can get Transformers in too). Camaros don't fly, and motorcycles don't turn into helicopters, but the tech led to Battle Force 2000 and the Advanced Warrior programs. VENOM is a somewhat splinter group of Cobra agents.
6) Transformers. To be honest, I was never a big fan. Never watched the cartoon, never got the toys. Knew of the characters, just had no interest in it. I couldn't accept the whole robots/mechanical lifeforms/transforming aspect. However, the movies opened my eyes to possibilites. Maybe there are robots in disguise here already and we just don't know about them. Maybe we don't know about them because there is this shadow group that goes around in black suits and makes sure no one knows about these robots. So, from that, I know have Transformers and the MIB included. I think I finally decided that if a person actually did get to see a Transformer, the actual transforming aspect is simply what our simple primitive human brains is thinking what is happening. "I don't understand what I'm seeing, but my brain is telling me I just saw a car morph into a giant robot and back again!" It's more like a combination of light projection and a type of phasing so the parts can repositon themselves into another form.
7) Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat/Centurions/etc... I may have spoken of this before, but my approach to Street Fighter is that M Bison was a former Cobra bigwig that went off onto his own forming Shaddaloo. He, in turn, recruited agents to do his own evil plans. Others rose up to oppose him. No one had energy projections. As for Mortal Kombat, most people might think it is some kind of whisper of an 80s underground martial arts tournament, like 'Bloodsport'. No one knows there might be some alternate 'Stargate' type way to bring one universe into another. Some survive the fights, others do not. Centurions are a group using advanced mech suits/exo-skeletons as part of an Advanced Warrior research program.
8) Marvel/DC. I do not have any 'superheroes' in my universe. Peter Parker is a photographer. Lois Lane, Clark Kent, and Jimmy Olsen work for the Daily Planet in a metropolis this side fo the Midwest. There is a vigilante running around Gotham City. Diana Prince works for some UN related group. There is a school for Gifted Youth in Westchester, NY. Hal Jordan is a test pilot. The same chemicals that took Matt Murdock's sight also altered the DNA of some turtles, which Cesspool was transporting to a secure location. Dr. Mindbender's Venomization work explains why some individuals have mutated and others have not. No one is 'outed' as a superhero. Tony Stark makes munitions and has done research in military grade exo-suits, and was behind the JOEs Accelerator suits. The Baxter Building in NYC is a think tank. The age of superheroes has not come yet.
9) Through all of this, another goal is to finally complete my own version of yojoe in Dropbox. I want to have every filecard, a pic of each character release, and a pic of each vehicle release in file folders by year so I don't have to rely on the internet if I am looking for something. I only have a few years worth to go.
10) Organize and clean up. I haven't really had hours of time to do this and I really need to. Spectre and I have been talking about a trade for some time and I need to step up. In some slight fairness, he keeps adding stuff for me to send.
Anyway, that's where I am at. Would love to hear your thoughts if you've gotten this far. Thanx to every single one of you for the entertainment, joy, inspiration, and friendship over the years.
May we all see each other on the flip side, healthy...
