Glenda G.I. JOE International Hero (Custom Action Figure)

When G.I.JOE toys were sold internationally, often the characters were changed in name and appearance. Was it so they could tell whatever stories they wanted in comics and other media and not have to worry about kids confusing them with their American released versions? Was it the availability of the tooling molds? (I find that hard to believe because of the sheer creative use of parts on some of these international figures.) Or was it simply to make the characters easier to identify with in that country? I don't know the answer but I don't think it was the latter and Glenda is the case in point.

Glenda used the Scarlett figure body as a base with a chrome torso, a completely different deco, and different accessories including Breaker's headset and Flash's laser gun. You can check out the original figure here at YoJoe.com. Her file card explains that she's the Co-Pilot (which seems kind of sexist), test pilot, and intelligence officer named...Jane Mullighan. Jane Mulligan? I never would have expected that the test pilot for "Commandos Heroicos" to be of Irish decent. But if you look at the names and the background stories of the rest of the team, none of them appear to be native to South America.

So when I decided to make a new version of Glenda, I not only wanted to make her look like a badass pilot (not just a co-pilot) but also try to explain how someone named Jane Mullighan who wears a chrome leotard and light blue body suit fits into the Argentinean branch of G.I.JOE.



My initial thought was to make her chrome torso look more like body armor and give her a pilot's headset that she could actually wear unlike the original figure that had no means of keeping the headset on her head. To those ends, I painted her leotard a gun-metal finish and after much experimentation with different removable headsets, I drilled a hole in her hairdo and attached a microphone. (Sometimes simple is the best solution.)



Along the way, I saw a cool fan made vintage-style pin-up of Glenda. In it, she was wearing an Air Force patch on her arm...and in that moment, her back story came to me and I added the patch to her left shoulder. The result is below...


(Please pardon my typo in sentence #2. - Eric)
Despite using a "Pilot Scarlett" figure as the base, the entire figure is completely repainted including the blue bodysuit and face.










I hope you dig her. If you do (or you don't) let me know your thoughts. Until next time, I remain "The Insidious One."

G.I.JOE The Rise of Cobra Behind the Scenes (Custom Figure Comic)

Roadblock and Shipwreck are two iconic characters that would have helped make G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra a better movie. And while we can't add them to the movie, we can add their figures to our collection. Unfortunately, the ROC Shipwreck figure's deco followed that of the other movie figures...black and gray. And sadly, Roadblock wasn't even released. Luckily, with some paint and head-swapping, we can do both of these characters justice!










After being generally disappointed with the movie, and then reading Dennis Quaid's comment about wanting to see more action in the sequel; "I want to ride a horse and shoot a gun. I want a horse with an accelerator suit." I couldn't pass up doing something in response. I hope you enjoy it.

Until next time, I remain The Insidious One.

Top Shelf: G.I. JOE Custom Action Figure Art

Thanks to everyone who voted for "Top Shelf" in the "New Recruits" contest on hisstank.com. With your help, I made it to the next round! Thanks also to Daremo who hosted the contest. Here are a few more pics of her and more info.


Here's her "file card"...

Codename - Top Shelf

Allegiance - G.I. Joe

Specialty/Function - Long Range Recon

File Name - Williams, Melissa

SN - 354-88-3728

Primary Military Specialty - Reconnaissance

Secondary Military Specialty - Bar Tender

Birthplace - Chicago, IL

Grade - E-4

Bio:

Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, TOP SHELF spent her formative years as the roughest "Derby Girl" on Chicago's Windy City Rollers women's roller derby team. At the same time she was working nights as a bartender at EXIT, the toughest biker bar in the city. She was a wild child who would have fit in well with the DREADNOKS until she learned that her older brother was KIA in Iraq. On that day she resolved to change her wild ways and enlisted in the Army.

Graduated Ranger School, Marine Sniper, Advanced Infantry Training, and Airborne. Qualified expert: M-14, M-16, M-1911A1, M-79, M-3A1, M-700 (Remington Sniper Rifle), Mac-10, as well as multiple forms of hand to hand combat.

Duke says: "Some of the Joes write her off as crass and rude. Yeah, she's tough, aggressive, and a bit of a troublemaker but in the field that all fades away, replaced by a steely discipline. Once on a mission, I saw a whole family of scorpions cross over her and she didn't even twitch. But take one look at her and you'll see the demons waiting just below the surface biding their time until she lets them out again."

Top Shelf says: "Most people think I got the nickname Top Shelf 'cause I used to be a bar tender. But really it's 'cause of my big rack."

Head - Juno Eclipse
Torso - Scarlett
Lower Arms - Lady Jaye
Legs - Lady Jaye
Feet - Pilot Scarlett
Gear - Various

Several years ago, a good buddy of mine took me to see the Windy City Rollers women's roller derby team play at some place called "The Stadium" in Cicero, IL just outside Chicago. It looked like a glorified High School gymnasium but when we got inside the place was packed and I discovered that this kind of roller derby wasn't anything like that fake crap they used to show on Saturday mornings. The women who participated were unlike any I had seen before. They were tough but feminine and real athletes ready and willing to fight in order to score points for their team. Since then, I have been to many bouts and the team has achieved great success, even moving to the much larger venue of the UIC Pavilion.

So when this contest came up, I knew I wanted to make a female Joe because there are so few of them. But I didn't want another nice girl like Scarlett or Lady Jaye...and that's when the idea of a Derby Girl came to mind. I also felt that reconnaissance was an empty spot that needed to be filled on the team. (C'mon, Sneak-Peek?) 

While her head is Juno from Star Wars, she sports a completely newly sculpted hairdo and face paint. Her Scarlett torso and upper arms also got an upgrade with a sculpted chest and biceps. After all, she was a rough and tumble "Derby Girl." The sleeve tattoo is a dragon, the left shoulder tattoo says "born lucky" and the little heart with the knife through it says "bitch." 







The design on the t-shirt is the official Windy City Rollers fan t-shirt contest winner designed by the extremely talented Bradshaw Baldonado. The white on the wings and skull didn't come out at boldly as I wanted so I'm going to redo the chest decal soon. She also has a floppy green khaki hat that she would wear during her long patrols but after I sculpted her hair, it wouldn't fit her head anymore.



Be sure to join Hisstank.com so you can vote in the next phase of the contest! I have a sneaking suspicion I will be creating some sort of vehicle for her to use. Also, if you'd like to add her to your JOE team, I've made her available at my Etsy store. Click here to check her out!

Happy Halloween! 1:1 1/2 size Cobra Commander from G.I. JOE!

My ultimate custom...er costume. Happy Hallween, everybody! Yo Joe!

Forget Harold and Kumar...Cobra Commander and Iron Man go to White Castle!

Lifeline: G.I. JOE Medic (Custom Action Figure)

I'll admit, I'm not a fan of Lifeline. In fact, between his "bulls eye" colored uniform and his winy pacifist banter on the cartoon I have to say that I can't really stand the character. But I know he has a lot of fans including two buddies of mine. And I seem to remember an issue of G.I. JOE Special Missions where he showed some redeeming qualities. So I bit the bullet and made a 25th Anniversary version of him.

Head - Ultimate Battle pack Short Fuze

Body - Hard Master

Lower Arms and Hands - Crimson Guard

Web Gear - Breaker

Holster - Star Wars Biggs

Helmet - Duke

Goggles - Scuba Baroness

Pouches - Cut from some other military figure

RESCUE and chest symbol - Water Slide Decals Made by Me





"Those guys in the PX know I'm a pacifist, yet they found it necessary to put a holster and gun on my web gear. I bet they think they're really funny but I'll show them! I'll show them all someday that pacifism is the way to go."



"Here I come to save the day!!!"
BLAM! ZING!
"Hey, no fair shooting at the Medic!"

"Stalker's looking pretty bad. Should I use the silver duct tape I carry around in this case or just put him out of his misery with the hand gun...hmmmmm?"

Cover Girl G.I. JOE Custom Action Figure Art

Cover Girl made her first appearance in the comics way back in issue #16 along with some other 1983 Joes like Tripwire. However, her appearance was overshadowed by another event...Hawk being shot in the back. But she did take part in several missions afterward including the mission in the Swiss Alps that captured Cobra Commander.

I've always felt that Cover Girl was an underused character on a team that (at the time) had only one other female member. I didn't even have her figure as a kid because she only came with the Wolverine vehicle and was never re-released. But I always liked her background which was Supermodel turned tank driver. There has to be a great story behind it. Did she get some minor scar that ruined her? Was she just fed up with the artifice? Or as fellow Hisstanker Badgumbo and I conceived while we were researching her arm patch; did her grandfather serve in the 104th Infantry Division in World War II and she wanted to follow in his footsteps?

I finally bought her vintage figure a few years ago. Using it as reference, I combined the vintage figure look with her appearance on the package artwork to create the look of this 25th Anniversary style piece. I hope you dig her.

"Okay, Clutch, give me back the keys."



She's a combination of 6 different figures with all completely repainted parts. The jacket is a custom tailored Indiana Jones jacket. The patch is a waterslide decal created by me.



And, "yes," she does fit inside the vintage Wolverine!



Yo Joe!

Cobra Commander's Son Billy in Cobra Youth Uniform (Custom Action Figure)

In issue #33 of the original G.I. JOE Marvel comics run, we get a glimpse into the inner workings of the Cobra organization. It's not just a terrorist group of extremists, but a "family" where even children become indoctrinated into the Cobra mind-set. The "Cobra Youth," a group similar to Hitler's youth organization was taking part in a rally. Unbeknownst to The Commander, his long lost son Billy was a part of this group. But unlike all the other kids, he was additionally brainwashed by Major Bludd and The Baroness to assasinate The Commander.



I originally made this figure because I had the parts and thought it would make for a funny diorama. I'll let you be the judge bellow.

Mara Jade Star Wars Expanded Universe Custom Action Figure Art

While I'm mostly a dabbler in the Star Wars "Expanded Universe," I've had a crush on Mara Jade since her appearance on the cover of Star Wars Insider. With her tortured and dark past and eventual redemption, she's a character I can admire for taking life's lemons and making lemonade. The flaming red hair and black bodysuit also don't hurt my eyes either. ;-)

So when Hasbro announced an updated Mara Jade action figure, I was really psyched they'd get it right this time. You see, the first one they released had orange hair, fish eyes, and only 5 points of articulation. Unfortunately, the second time around wasn't much of an improvement. She still had had orange hair, but now she had a sleepy eyed face deco, a pink complexion, and a purple outfit. Below is my improved Mara Jade.






I dyed the entire body black as to not have any "paint rub" issues on the joints then repainted all the details giving her gear a more worn and "battle used" appearance. I also painted her hair deep firey red and completely repatined her face. The finishing touch was adding her trademark gray cape.


Mara Jade VS Juno Eclipse?

I hope you dig her, if you do, leave a comment, sign up for updates, follow me on Twitter, or contact me for a commission. Until next time, I remain "The Insidious One."

The Hard Master (Custom Action Figure)

As I mentioned before, Snake-Eyes is one of my favorite G.I. Joes. So when Mr. Hama revealed more about his mysterious past in issues #26 & #27 of the Marvel comic book series, I read them and re-read them until the pages were warped and torn. In them, we are introduced to the Arashikage ninja clan who trained not only Storm Shadow but also Snake-Eyes. The leader of the clan, who also happens to be Storm Shadow's uncle, is a quiet, wise, and extremely perceptive and deadly ninja called "The Hard Master."



This man, or more pointedly, the death of this man would have far reaching ramifications for many characters in the Joe universe but especially for Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow as it would set them on separate paths that would eventually pit them against each other many years later.

Yes, Hasbro gave us a Hard Master figure whose head and lower arms I use for this custom, but the rest of the figure was a repaint of Snake-Eyes' V3 uniform. It was very "modern commando" looking and nowhere near the Hard Master's gi as depicted in the comics. I remedied the situation by combining the above parts with a red ninja body, sculpting sleeves, and repainting the entire figure. The Arashikage symbols on his gi and his arm add the final touch and are water slide decals created by me.

I have another one in the works, but I haven't yet decided if I should take a dremel to his face to give him his wrinkles or I should find an entirely different "old man" head. I haven't found a suitable one yet. Anyone have any ideas?