Hello everyone! New to the GI Joe forums scene but not new to the customizing scene. I actually started customizing on 3 3/4" figures when I was about 5, unscrewing them and swapping parts around, even repainting them with my mom's fingernail polish. Oh man that brings me back. When I heard about the GIJoeClub.com's custom contest, that got me on the ball. The 25th Anniv figures are perfect to fit my customizing style! Normally I'm a Marvel Legends and Transformers guy, but I whipped up some customs for the contest. Since this is the critique section, I'd love to know what you all thought of it. And if you really like it, vote for it at the GIJoeClub here! http://www.angelfire.com/mech/jinsaotom ... Swarm.html

Name: Cobra S.W.A.R.M.

Parts used:
Head: Patlabor 'Phantom Labor' model kit head
Body, upper arms, upper legs, hands, feet: 25th Anniv Firefly (80%)
Shoulderpads: Superhero Showdown Iron Man
Lower arms, lower legs: Microman
Flightpack: Sigma 6 Cobra Commander weapon piece
Wings: House of M Iron Man wings.
Lower leg panels: Destroyer Droid shoulderpads
Chest circle, neck hoses wires: random parts
LED unit: Dollar store toy
Base: Firefly's base

The flightpack is removable that reveals the battery/LED unit. There's an on/off button on the flightpack which operates the LED in the unit's chest. The figure can be mounted on the display stand or flightstand. The custom was painted with Testors Model Master acryl paints. The tiny silver Cobra logo on the chest was painted freehand as well. The idea for this was an Iron Grenadier T.A.R.G.A.T. crossed with a Cobra B.A.T.



Wanna view the rest of the images? Head here! ----> Cobra SWARM



I'm going to be making more original characters for the 25th Anniv series and any kind of critiques would help!

_________________

Excelenty work there mister..and welcome to Joecustoms!

_________________

First off: Welcome!

Secondly: I'm not sure what to critique. This figure is pretty darn neat. My only VERY slight suggestion is to replace the hand drawn Cobra sigil with a waterslide decal.

Can't wait to see more 3 3/4" work from you!

_________________

WHAT!!!! Are you f%&?** kidding me!! This is a absolutely perfect custom! This look right out of hasbro production shop. You are defenetly one of the best customizer I have seen. If all your custom look like this one, you should defenetly think of making a living out of it.

By the way welcome.

He does make a living out of it.

Jin I'm happy to have you here. You're a minor legend in the craft, and your stuff is flat out amazing. I've followed your TF stuff going way back. I hope that you like it here and want to come back, as I am sure that we could learn a lot from you.

And now that I've blown sunshine up your hoop, I can honestly say that I don't particularly like the custom. The head doesn't work for my personal aesthetic, and it throws me off liking all the other really cool mods. But just because it doesn't work for my personal asthetic doesn't mean that it isn't expertly executed.

Putting the light in the chest - well that's so advanced, I can't even figure out how it's done, much less replicate it...

- R

_________________

brother, you need to go away and come back in about 2 years when the rest of us (well, 5 for me) catch up with you!

//just kidding everyone..

Welcome! I hope this is just a preview of things to come, and if it is, we are in for some treats!

_________________

That's Some great F'en work there mate, i wish when I get all my materials and stuff I can produce stuff to a calibre of that quality.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again; that custom is fifty pounds of awesome in a ten pound bag. I've been a fan of your TF and ML work for awhile now. I always hoped you'd make the jump to 3 3/4" Joes. But for the sake of my customizer self-esteem, could you attempt to be a bit crappier at it?

_________________

Jin, welcome to JC. I'm very familiar with your work from TNI. And as I posted there. I'd buy 10 of these if they were produced. Simply a great looking figure.

_________________

Great looking figure. I really like it as it is. The head is different, but it reminds me of some of the weirder helmets we got from Hasbro over the years, so I think it works really well.

You already got my vote in the custom contest. Maybe the prize should be a contract from hasbro.

_________________

Great to see you posting here. I can't fully express just how awesome this figure is though it's no suprise seeing somehting this awesome given all your other work. I'd try to say more but I'm posting from o'hare airport thanks to flight delays.

_________________

yeah, I like your stuff I've seen before too and welcome, you do great stuff. I would buy this guy too.

I like this figure. Great to see a thorough original character. Nice addition with the LED.

_________________

Jin - welcome to JoeCustoms! We're a fun community of customizers and I think that you will enjoy posting here.

Your S.W.A.R.M custom is great. A perfect example of your customizing skills. It's nice to see you working in the 3 3/4 inch scale. Most of the better known customizers in the community at large seem to shy away from this scale. It's nice to see that your style still translates on a smaller canvas.

I think what has always caught my attention to your work is your fantastic paint work and parts selection. Both are gifts that you use well.

Again, welcome aboard. Hopefully you will like it well enough to hang out and spend some time here. While it's mostly Joe-centric, we do have other discussions in Off-Topic and we always welcome customs of all kinds (not just Joe) in the Critique section.

_________________

Thanks! I was thrilled to see a whole site dedicated to Joe customs!


Thanks for the welcome! That's one thing I was gonna ask, what resources do you all use for your Joe customs, like decals and cast parts, etc? I know reprolabels.com has some cobra symbols, there any others? I'd need pretty small ones.


Naw, not perfect, I think the head is a little big/odd shaped. But I do make a living from customizing, yup!


I hear ya, it's a little big for me too. I didn't sculpt anything on him as I was trying to adhere to customizing using parts, so that was the best fitting small-scale robot head I could find. He needed more of a helmet look to resemble the TARGAT theme. And the light-up unit is a dollar store toy of some sort I picked up. Get a unit, drill a hole through his chest, put a piece of clear lucite through the hole to focus and act as a 'light pipe', hide the led unit under the backpack, you could do that easy.


Heheh, thanks! I have like, 15+ years of customizing under my belt so I'd have to put myself in cryo-stasis for a bit. I'll be working on more original characters, like my Cobra Reaper I'm posting now!


You can, just takes practice. I have basic customizing guides on my site to help people as well. Need to make a GI Joe one now too.


Thanks Darko, heheh. Look through a blurry piece of blistercard plastic when viewing my customs, that'll work!


If he wins and I get to send him to Hasbro, that's what I'm hoping! I'd buy and army too.


My prize would be just for them to make the fig if it wins! I'd be thrilled. Thanks for the vote too!


Gah! Airport delays... eeeevil. Heard about those, I feel for ya man.


Thanks!


I'll be making more original characters, definatly. I'll try my luck with more LED stuff too.


Hey Sidewinder, thank you! I have to agree, most customizers stick to one scale and one scale only. Me, I jump all over the place. I got my start in the painting doing those tiny D&D minatures so I'm use to working with super small scale stuff. Looking forward to sticking around!

_________________